Year 2086, world war six just ended, and its time to get back to normal life. Mari, 17 and waiting for her love, Thomas, to come back from war. Mari knew how bad it was out there, that the chance that her boy could come back to her was slim, but she held out hope as she cleaned up her sewing machine and clocked out of work with the package of letters, he sent her in hand. As Mari walked up to the gate, waiting for it to open, she imagined her life with Thomas, of course it would take him a little time to get used to being below ground again, and the radiation that he was exposed to while fighting would take a toll on his lifestyle, but that was ok with her, she loved Thomas and would be with him through every step of the way. Mari knew little about marriage and having a family seeing as her father was killed in world war five when she was two years old, and her mother passed away of old age at fifty-three when Mari was fourteen. The radiation from world war three effected all the generations to come making life end much younger. The world was broken after world war three, the radiation killed everything it touched and it was only the people that got underneath fast enough that survived, they created this new world, they where affectively ants, running around taking care of there tunnels, never to see the sun. the world separated into three sections C52, where she lived, around where North America used to be. R67, where South America used to be, and then A10, Europe and Asia merged. A10 had and still has for our knowledge all the nuclear weapons, and therefor has tried to take power three times now. If it wasn't for C52 and R67 combining they would have been over taken easily by now. Mari thought now about the stories her mother told her of the outside world. Her mother was six when her father, Mari's grandfather got the call to get underground and stay there. but Mari's mother still had some good memories of the world, and she made sure to tell Mari all of them. She tried to picture the rolling green hills now, and the ocean that seemed to go on forever, but as hard as she tried, she never could, the only images that came to mind was paintings and old photos taken. Mari thought back to the first time she met Thomas, she was graduating and he was two years older than her, he trained under Mari's mother as a technician so he always knew about Mari they just had never spoken. In till her grad, her mother had passed away days before and Thomas knew that, he also knew Mari had no other family so when she graduated he decided to be there, he came up to her after and explained the connection between the two of them and the rest was history, they danced, and played sports, they stayed up late just because they could, and they made love, every night, and Mari was loved and she loved. She thought about when he proposed, it had been exactly eight months and seven days, Thomas took her to the garden on the top floor of there building "closest to the sky" he had said, Thomas knew he was leaving the next day for war, he had no idea how long he would be gone all he knew was that he loved his girl. So, he knelt down on one knee and told her how much he loved her, how, everyday is easier with her by his side, and he asked her to marry him, and of course she said yes. Mari was getting impatient thinking of all these thoughts; all she knew was she needed to hold him and be held by him. And just like that the gate opened, Mari felt wind on her face, something she had only a distant memory of feeling when she was two waiting for her father in her mothers' arms at these exact same gates. All though she was young, there's no way to forget the sound of her mother screech out in pain when she found out he was gone, that she would never see her love again. Mari wiped away the tears and looked through the men that where rushing towards her. Some running, some limping, some being carried on stretchers. Mari thought that she might finally understand the feeling of the ocean going on forever because more and more waves of men kept coming, but not her Thomas. Finally Mari saw a familiar face, James, her fiancés best friend, but he looked sad, Mari got a lump in her throat as James came closer and she could see the tears in his eyes, Mari ran over to him and James held her in a tight embrace, "I am sorry Mari" James croaked "he saved so many, without him, so much more would be gone" and with that Mari though back to her mothers screech, she finally understood the pain, the pain of losing the person your supposed to be with for the rest of your life, Mari fell to the ground.
