Lost But Not Forgotten (NaNoWriMo 2013)

20.

20.

*Flashback*

The white snow falls silently as the family car slowly drives through, the engine splutters out fuel as the vehicle approach a large group of houses. There are people hurrying around, carrying stack piles of random objects. The car then stutters to a stop and the family sigh a sigh of relief. They had finally made it safely.

Snoring in the back seat are the two children, April and Jesse; they both lie on each other, making them look so young and innocent. Joe’s eyes now have large bags under them, his eyeballs are bloodshot red and he struggles to keep them open.

The family of now five had survived a tiresome travel that took nearly two months but they had finally made it at last.

Bethany Thorne was born about half way during the trip, the family luckily were in a town that had not been affected yet and they were able to use the hospital facilities even though seventy five percent of the workers had not shown up. While they were there, they had gotten to experience everything that they left behind in their old life and had taken for granted: Hot showers, clean cold drinking water, warm meals, juice and other normal things which had now become luxuries. They were even able to take in some TV but there was only one channel left on air, BBC news which was some news company in Britain.

For the few days they had stayed there, they could finally watch and experience how bad everything had gotten and how the world that they once knew as being tranquil and serene was now descending into utter chaos; riots, robberies and countless murders raged in cities across the country, even across the world. Crime rates now climbed to record highs, hundreds, thousands of people had left their homes and jobs with only twenty percent of the population still working, this meant food was scarce and electricity supplies depleted. Almost half the country was in complete darkness, only the strong willed could now survive. The government fled and the president was now nowhere to be seen, the US had now lost communication with everyone except places like Canada, Australia and Britain. Wars were breaking out everywhere, complete destruction, the population was now falling. Everyone was falling. The humans had now lost.

The family had only a map with them for travel so half the time they didn’t know where they were going. Numerous times, the Thorne’s passed hundreds to houses, towns, hoping to find refuge or survivors but only to see them deserted and empty. They were so glad when they approached the small town of Garston, halfway through Washington, the place was still steaming and busy, the locals decided to stay together and fight through it so naturally they survived during that time and Garston was located in literally the middle of nowhere so there was a large chance they wouldn’t be discovered for possible a few more years.

While staying in their only guesthouse, Julie’s water had broken forcing the whole family to move into the almost deserted hospital which now, like many other parts of the town was starting to lose power causing regular blackouts, the halls were so eerily quiet and ghostly that no one dared to leave their assigned room. The Thorne’s finally felt safe for once but that didn’t last long.

During their last night, the power had finally had given its last poof and the whole town descended into darkness, chaos ensued and they heard planes fly overhead. The whole hospital raced into its emergency underground bomb shelters where they stood there, barely able to fit or breathe for more than five hours. It was so quiet and no one knew if they were safe and if anyone else had survived, they weren’t even sure about when the bombing had been done.

When someone had finally decided that it was safe and the robots were definitely gone, everyone slowly went outside to witness the pure destruction the bombs had caused. The place was like the war zone, everything, every building, tree or person within a ten mile radius had been obliterated and flattened. The hospital was the only area with a shelter so we all correctly assumed that there were no survivors except the fifty or so of us who were lucky enough to find shelter.

Fires raged everywhere you looked; everything was just flat ground with tiny bits of razor sharp glass that littered the large craters. Gruesome body remains were scattered all over the town, it made the area strangely smell like bacon and sausages.

Everyone then said goodbye and parted their ways, the Thorne family were the only people headed north towards Alaska while most either were staying and trying to rebuild the place or were heading the opposite direction- down south.  

Ready to face another month and a half’s worth of danger, the family re-fuelled and headed there way hoping maybe to find another town just like Garston