Darker Days

Chapter 6: The New Hope

For the next few days, Tommy and Frank were consumed by grief. The weight of Jane's death hung over them like a dark cloud, leaving them in a heavy, silent sorrow. They barely spoke, and when they did, it was only in hushed, broken words. The loss of Jane left a void in their small world, one that was impossible to fill.

They stayed close to the camp, both of them too heartbroken and exhausted to move or plan their next steps. Tommy spent a lot of time sitting by the stream, staring at the place where they had buried his mom. The soft sound of the running water was the only thing that offered him any sense of peace, but it was fleeting. The memories of Jane—her laugh, her comforting words, her strength—were always there, painful reminders of what they had lost.

Frank, on the other hand, spent much of his time near the shelter, his head bowed, lost in thought. He would sit with his face in his hands, grief heavy in his heart. Occasionally, Tommy would catch his dad muttering softly to himself, talking to Jane as if she were still there.

There was little conversation between them. Every attempt to talk led to more tears, and both of them were still too raw to fully process what had happened. They tried to carry on with the basic necessities—gathering water, maintaining the camp—but it was hard. The weight of their loss made everything feel overwhelming, and more than once, Tommy found himself staring off into the woods, wondering how they would ever recover from this.

At night, they sat around the fire, the flickering flames offering little warmth compared to the cold emptiness they felt inside. The silence between them stretched on, broken only by the occasional crackle of the fire or the distant rustling of the forest. The quiet, once a source of comfort, now felt oppressive. Without Jane, everything seemed darker, more uncertain.

Frank was the first to speak after two days of grieving. His voice was hoarse, filled with pain, but steady. "We can't stay like this, Tommy," he said softly, his eyes fixed on the fire. "I know it hurts, and I don't know how we'll ever get through this, but we have to. For her."

Tommy looked up from where he sat, his eyes red and swollen from crying. "I don't know if I can, Dad," he whispered. "Everything feels... broken."

Frank nodded slowly, his own tears threatening to spill over again. "I know, son. I feel the same way. But we have to keep going. She wouldn't want us to give up. We have to survive. That's what she'd want for us."

Tommy wiped his face, taking a shaky breath. He knew his dad was right. Jane had always been the strong one, the one who had kept them going even when things were at their worst. Giving up now would feel like a betrayal to everything she had stood for.

"Okay," Tommy whispered, his voice barely audible but filled with determination. "We'll keep going. For her."

They sat in silence for a while longer, the grief still heavy, but a new sense of purpose slowly beginning to take root. They had lost so much, but they were still alive. And as long as they were alive, they would fight to survive.

That night, Tommy couldn't sleep. As he lay by the fire, staring up at the dark canopy of trees above him, his mind raced with thoughts and memories. His grief for his mother weighed heavily on his heart, but something else had started to creep into his mind—a flicker of an idea, a realization that wouldn't let him rest.

He remembered overhearing the soldiers talking before everything had collapsed, just before they had fled the town. One of them had mentioned that the attack—the chaos, the downfall of the government—it was focused on the U.S. It hadn't spread everywhere. *What if it was only here?* he thought to himself. *What if the rest of the world is still intact?*

The more Tommy thought about it, the more it started to make sense. The soldiers had seemed desperate, not just because the situation was bad in the town, but because there had been no support, no resupply. They had mentioned that the government had fallen, but they never said anything about the world beyond the U.S.