Apocalypse (l.s)

T w o

It was cold inside, not temperature wise. Just the building itself was cold and menacing like something really bad had happened here. I could see goosebumps on Louis' skin and I knew he felt it too.

But no one said anything as we were led up the stairs and into the main hallway.

"This is were we'll split up, the most valuable supplies will be in these rooms, this is where most of Chernobyl lived, it was the most popular housing, and it is the farthest away from the nuclear power plant which means these are the safest things you'll ever recover from Chernobyl. Anything past the Red Forest has been exterminated due to contamination." Brendan stated.

"So this stuff isn't contaminated?" Zach asked.

"No, it is, but not enough to hurt you, don't worry if it looks dirty we'll clean it once we have set up shop, just grab anything you think might be valuable to the group. If anything goes wrong just yell for me, I won't be too far, do you understand?"

We all nodded and Brendan headed out with his wife.

"This place gives me the creeps," Phil said rubbing his arms up and down.

"It smells bad too, almost like walkers but not quite, it smells old, like it smelt bad a long time ago and this is just the aftermath." He said again.

Everyone thought for a second like they agreed and then headed out to different rooms.

I stayed with Louis of course, I never liked to leave his side, not after what happened in Odessa.

I stepped in front of him and opened the door slowly.

"Is it safe?" Louis asked timidly.

I poked my head inside the room and scanned it quickly. "Yeah, it's safe,"

I opened the door fully and closed it after Louis. We both looked around and took in a deep breath.

"Looks like a nursery was built in here," Louis whispered.

"Must have been a baby girls, almost everything is pink," I added

I walked over to the other side of the room, everything was so dusty and old like it's been here for hundreds of years. I picked up a little brown teddy bear from the dresser and shook the dirt off of it.

The fur on the bear felt matted and dry and one of the eyes was missing, like something you'd see in a horror film. But other then that it was comforting in a way, it made me think of when I was a child, when everything was so careless and free.

"Sandra might like some of the stuff in here for her baby, don't you think Lou?" I said smiling down at all the toys and crafts.

He didn't answer so I turned around "Lou?"

He stood over something I couldn't make out with a hand clasped over his mouth. His shoulders shook like he was crying and I instantly became worried.

I walked over to him and followed his eyes. "Oh my god." I whispered.

There was a pink, velvet padded crib underneath the window sill and in it laid the skeleton of a toddler. The bones were thin and cracked like the radiation wore them down.

She was wearing a white dress with pink flowers sown around the trimming and most of her hair was still attached to her head.

I pulled Louis into my arms shielding his eyes from the tragic scene. "Shhh, Louis calm down, it's okay."

"Why would they leave her?" He asked his words muffled against my chest.

"I don't know Lou, I really don't,"

He stayed there for a minute until I heard the door opening and Brendan walked in.

"Have you guys found anything Sandra and I, we found so-" he stopped and looked over at us.

"What's wrong, what happened are you guys okay?" I nodded and pointed to the crib in front of Louis and I.

He peered in and gave us a sad look. "Believe it or not, this isn't uncommon. Chernobyl only had a couple minutes to evacuate, there was hardly any time to collect person belongings."

Louis looked up from my chest, eyebrows knitted together in anger. "She wasn't a personal belonging, she was a fucking child." Louis yelled.

"Either way they didn't have time, and if the parents weren't home police wouldn't let them go back into their houses," he said staring out the window.

"That's not right," Louis said again leaning on me. "I'd go back in even if they told me I couldn't."

"Many tried but they were either shot or arrested, the Ukraine government was very strict, they couldn't have citizens disobeying their orders,"

Louis didn't reply just stared at the skeleton for a minute then walked out of the room.

"He's very sensitive," I sighed.

Brendan nodded understandingly then looked towards me, "we should get going we have a lot of ground to cover,"

I hummed and we walked out together. Everyone was all gathered into the hallway carrying miscellaneous objects. I was gonna tell Sandra about the toys but I decided it'd be best for her not to see the remains of the child.

"Alright, we should start heading out now before it gets dark, it's too dangerous to breathe this air over night so we're gonna have to go quick,"

I grabbed Louis' hand and headed after Zach who like everyone was rushing to get out of the building.

Louis' eyes were still red from crying and his face looked distressed. I wish he hadn't seen that, he didn't need to see that.

Once we reached the exit, I could tell it was near sunset, and I guess Brendan did too because he sighed.

"It's getting late, we are going to have to head back where we came in instead of moving forward, it'll take too long, we've had more than enough radiation already."

"Are we gonna try again tomorrow?" Ben asked.

"No, I don't want to risk anyone's health, we are gonna have to go around." He said looking towards the horizon.
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This chapter is a bit short so I apologize for that, I hope you guys liked it. Remember comments are always appreciated. 😊💕