The Final End

The entire city trembles under the force of the bombs. They'reChinese, I think. I can't be sure, not anymore, however. They might as well be British as Chinese or Russian or any other of the remaining countrys. All the alliances that existed before the war crumbled the moment we dropped the bombs on Russia. It's getting hard to find even a shred of hope that the world will ever go back to the way it once was.

No one talks about it, but everyone knows, deep down inside of them selfs, that eventually, this war is going to kill us all. The world leaders never considered the future of our species when they started dropping the bombs, but what's done is done.

My younger brother hides his face in my shoulder as another bomb smashes into the street above. I try to comfort him, but there's no point. He needs a mother, and ours is off fighting in some other country. Far away. I doubt well ever see her again. The fighting is so intense that most of the people who go off to fight are dead within a day. My father was drafted at the beginning of the war, and killed a month after. That just leaves me and him. His name is Peter, and mine is Annie. Peter's ten years old, and very quiet. Growing up in a world without sunlight can do that to a person, I suppose. I'm nineteen, and every day I relize that I'm one day closer to twenty, when I'll have to leave peter and join the army.

We live in a shelter deep under the train tunnels that were once used as transportation, in a time when electricity and gasoline could be wasted on such petty things. There are two levels to the shelter, one for living, and another that's purely for bombings. In the bomb shelter, there's almost nothing. Just a vast cavern with a low sealing, and enough space to hold three thousand people or so, even if it's a bit cramped. The living quarters are a whole lot better. It's mainly the same as the bomb shelter, but you're able to rope off five square feet for every member of your family, even if there dead or at war. So, my brother and I have a very comfortable amount of space. Much better than that of the family next to us, which has a one leged woman with four children. Since you can't have other people sleeping in your assigned space, we can't help them like we want to. Oh well. Most nights we don't get to stay in our living spaces anyway. There are always bombs falling, so there's always a mad rush to the bomb shelter. Another thing I find remarkable is the integrity of the other people in the shelter. No one steals anything. Not even the children who have no food and no clothes or blankets to keep warm.

Food is challenging. I have to leave the shelter every morning and try and find food. Almost all of the old trading places have been picked clean, but now, in the parks, there are lots of plants that we eat. We have a trunk that I keep extra food in. That food, though, are the things I find like crackers or dryed meat. Right now, I've got it full. I want Peter to have a fair amount of food once I'm shipped of to battle.

After a few hours in the gloom of the bomb shelter, the man in charge of the shelter comes down and tells us we can go back to the living quarters. Peter has fallen asleep, so I pull him onto my back and walk silently back to our small square of living space.

That was my last night with my brother, because the next morning, the men who come and collect the twenty year olds woke us up by shining a flashlight in our faces.

"Are you Annie?" The mans voice speaks in a flat, bored tone.

"Yes..." I know what's coming next

The man with the flashlight starts reciting the speech that I've heard being said to so many others...

"Today, on your twentyth birthday, your services are required by the army of the United States of America. You will have fifteen minutes to complete any unresolved business, and then you will be required to board the government train, one level above this one."

The man finishes his speech, then turns away from me and walks off. I expect Peter to start crying, but he surprises me reaching into the food box and taking out a small object wraped in cloth.

"Mama told me to give this to you when you had to leave" his voice is tiny, but brave.

I open the cloth and gasp. It's a ring! A real gold ring! I've never seen one in person, but oh, it's lovely! Small flowers are etched onto the inside with two letters. AΩ. One of them I recognize, but the other I've never seen.

"Did... Did she say what it meant?" I look at peter and he smiles a little as he says "no. All she wanted me to say was happy birthday, Annie. I love you. So does she. Now go, so your not late." I kiss his forehead and run off, up the steps before I start crying.