Salvation

Hope

"Boys, wait here," Daniel said to his children as he and Lilly climbed the stone stairs.

They were standing outside of a townhouse, the red brick kind, the kind that looked exactly like every other townhouse smashed in beside it.

Jeremy felt as if they'd been walking forever and happily accepted the chance to sit down. He slumped on the cold bottom step and his younger brother plopped down right beside him.

"Do you think there's someone in there?" Isaac asked, his tiny voice carried away on the wind.

They hadn't seen anyone for months since the bombs fell on the city. They'd been in the countryside at the farmhouse when it had happened, thus missing the bulk of the catastrophic events. Even though the fallout hadn't reached their small village, the cat had definitely dragged something in.

Their parents whispered about dead neighbors at night when Jeremy pretended to be sleeping, wondering why only their family had been spared.

"I doubt it," he said, completely out of hope after weeks of fruitless searching.

"Maybe it'll be a chef," Isaac rambled, kicking at rocks on the ground. "Or a grocery store owner. Or a farmer whose crops didn't die."

Jeremy was only fourteen, but he wished he could still cling to the childish optimism of a six year old boy.

Daniel knocked loudly on the door and pushed in the bell. The sound tinkled through the house uninterrupted. After a few moments of waiting for the call to be answered, Daniel tried it again.

"Do you think we should just go in and look around?" Lilly asked. "Whoever's face that was we saw in the window...They might just be scared. There's no way in hell they'll open the door."

Daniel stopped to think for a moment, feeling the weight of his extreme hunger and fatigue.

"No," He said, turning around and starting the short descent to the sidewalk. "I don't think I like this idea anymore."

Lilly almost protested, but sucked the words back into her mouth as if they were a four course meal. She'd follow wherever Daniel would lead her.

"Let's see how far we can get before sunset," He planned as his foot graced the step his boys were planted on, rallying them back to their feet.

"Okay," The boys said in unison, masking the sound of dashed hopes.

The group had begun walking away dejectedly when a scraggly female voice took hold of their ears.

"Where are you going?" Said the old lady from the doorway, holding it open only just far enough to reveal a glimpse of her fragile, wrinkled face.

Not one of them knew what to say. The parents and their children just stared at her, mouths hanging open and prepared to catch flies.

"Well, please come in," She invited, opening the door wider. "My husband and I were just about to have dinner."

The couple cast each other hesitant glances while Isaac begged to proceed at the promise of some sort of meal. Daniel and Lilly both nodded permission, but not without a healthy  amount of trepidation.

"Well come in, come in," the woman sing-songed as the family retraced their steps and made their ways through the door.

A putrid scent greeted them in the entryway, but they attempted to put on smiling faces and grin through the olfactory assault.

"Ew, mom, it stinks in here!" Isaac complained, and Jeremy quickly jammed an elbow into his ribs.

"Isaac, dear, don't be rude!" His mother snapped at him, still remembering etiquette at the end of the world.