Doomsday Sailors

How We Got Here

It's a wise decision for anyone to follow a few simple rules to survive society. Those rules being: Don't get involved in politics, keep whatever friends you can, and snacks are always a necessity no matter what anyone tells you.

In the course of two weeks, I think we've all neglected at least the first and last rule.

I didn't think one day I'd ever get to say I live on the coast of the ocean, but thanks to the war, now I get to! Right from the burning hell hole that is now Idaho.

How it all went down is a long story, but the basis of our problems stems directly from our president, Mr. Gilbert Elijah Quinn. Why anyone thought having some named Gilbert in office and it be a good idea is beyond me, but I digress. This man was only a year into his Presidency when his major malfunction occurred.

Some say he snapped, some say he planned it all to try and get total world control, whatever the reason, President Quinn launched 37 missile attacks in one day.

These missiles went around the globe, bombing enemies and allies alike. Within the course of a day it became us against the world, and not in the cute way people usually use that phrase for.

It took only two weeks for America to be reduced to a crispy potato chip wasteland. Bombs and airplane raids happened on a daily basis from that day on. People in cities were evacuated to "safe houses", which turned out to be big warehouses that were fashioned into a big cage. They were like big targets, but the President's word was religion, no one was to question him. In almost every safe house, a small group of people, adults and children alike, defied him by escaping and finding shelter somewhere else. For my best friend Colby and I, we took shelter in the broken shell of a downed fighter plane.

The decision for us to leave the safe house ultimately came when we got the news that other safe houses were being taken out. This would be worrisome to anyone, but for Colby it was different. Colby's parents were away in California on the day of the missile launch. After that day, every state and city was on lockdown, no one could leave. They found shelter in a safe house but it was only a few days before California was hit. The middle of California and most of the southern half is now fully gone, sunk into the ocean. Most of the middle of the United States is now sunk into the ocean, with small islands formed from the leftover pieces of states. Colby's parents were apart of the debris from California.

After an emotional breakdown that ended with Colby being detained and breaking a guard's nose, we knew we had to get out. So, when everyone was asleep, we packed up the few possessions we had left and ran. We found the plane not far from the rubble of Colby's old house. Their car sat not far away on the curb, only slightly scorched from the fire, nothing permanent. We pulled the car closer to the plane shell to hide it and waited.

We sat inside that wreck for nearly a week, doing nothing but keeping watch in turns and reading the two books we had between us. Occasionally, Colby and I would switch off on sneaking out to find food, being careful not to alert any patrolling police or guards. As the days wore on, we slowly watched people be blown to bits or shot for escaping.

It's a weird feeling watching people you know die before your eyes, and not be able to do anything to fix it.

I wasn't all too worried about my family, they didn't care about me enough to care if I left or not. My dad was the only one who really cared, but he died three years ago. He'd be turning in his grave if he saw what we were going through.

On the last day of the bombings, when we thought we were one of the only people left in the city, my boyfriend, JJ, came tumbling out of the rubble of the police station. He was burned on his arms and on the face, but alive and well otherwise. The burns looked to be first degree, maybe second but nothing we couldn't tend to. We tended to his wounds and kept hope that we weren't the only ones left.

But we were the only ones left.

We kept up with the news from the radio in Colby's car, which died three days after the bombings stopped, it was old to begin with it so it was only a matter of time. The rest of the world just assumed that everyone was gone from America, that it was a burning wasteland now. Anyone alive? Well, they were considered not a threat because there could hardly be anyone alive if even the President and his colleagues were gone.

It didn't really set in that we were alone until we heard that and saw the aftermath of our town. All the buildings and houses, just piles of smoldering ash and rocks. The people we worked with or went to school with just charred corpses now, and let me tell you, a charred corpse does not smell like bacon no matter what anyone has told you. 

Everyone was really gone.

JJ's family was gone.

My family was gone.

Colby's family was gone.

We only had each other now, which was was terrifying to think about.