The Burden on Her Shoulders

The End Part 1

The world is gone. Only those chosen and able to buy a ticket are alive and well. The survivors inhabit nuclear contamination - proof bunkers. Coco, Mallory, Gallant, Evie, Dinah, Andre, and Stu sit in the common area for the second week as they listen to "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" by the Carpenters. Each of them wears purple clothing inspired by the Victorian era. (I guess that's about the time period where the clothes look like.)

Rosalyn sits in an armchair near the fire as the others relax around the room.

Gallant sits on the back of one of the couches, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This song - the same one every night. Where is it even coming from?" He stands up. "And why do we have to listen to it. What are we missing here?"

"About 99% of the world's population," Stu replies.

"Would've been better off dying with them."

"Speak for yourself darling." Evie comments.

Rosalyn opens a book as Gallant continues. "Wouldn't have to drink this, what ever it is."

"It's mineral water," Andre tells the hairstylist.

Mallory, dressed in a gray servant's uniform, kneels next to Coco with a tray holding a glass. "You get a chance to talk to Venable?"

"No, she creeps me out," Coco takes the glass.

"It's not fair that they get to be Purples and not me."

Rosalyn walks over to the two women before Coco can respond. "How about this? We all be happy we're still alive. Things could've gone three ways: die in the blast, die from exposure, or be saved miraculously."

She walks off, pausing to ask a Gray to fetch her when it was time for dinner. Rosalyn reaches for the door handle just as Timothy pulls open the door for Emily. "Oh, fun, the new ones are teenagers." She pushes past the newcomers as Venable comes up the hallway to the room. "Dinner already? I need a clock in this place." She walks to the dining room and the others come in after a few minutes.

After everyone receives their gelatinous vitamin cube, Rosalyn mentally says a quick blessing before cutting her own into painfully small pieces, having learned to slowly eat small bites from her years of eating just her share. She slowly eats as the other explain the cube to Emily and Timothy. 

Coco, however, shoves her entire cube into her mouth at once. "I'm still hungry. I am so tired of the hunger. Fuck this bullshit!" She stands, pushing back her chair. "With all the thought that went into this place, they don't have a single bag of Pirate's Booty in the pantry? For a hundred million dollars a ticket, I expect goddamn Gordon Ramsey in the kitchen cooking us real food!"

Ms. Venable walks up behind the raging woman, tapping her cane once on the floor, effectively making Coco stop. She quickly turns to face the older woman, only to get back-handed across the face.

Timothy catches her as she falls from the force. There's a moment of shocked silence before Venable speaks.

"I'm going to be very clear so there will be no misunderstanding. We have enough nutrition to get through the next 18 months. And if our situation doesn't improve, you can count on less and less."

"Situation?" Gallant asks. "What is our situation?"

"We had a perimeter alert this morning. Something penetrated the grounds. It was a carrier pigeon, delivering a message from our benefactors."

"Wait." Coco interrupts. "A pigeon? Can we eat it?"

Mead answers, "It was contaminated by the fallout."

"Can we boil it?" Evie asks, almost sarcastically.

"There are no more governments." Venable reads off the paper. "Only rotting mounds of corpses, too many to bury. Starving people kill for a piece of bread. Three outposts have been overrun. We are the last vestiges of civilized life on the planet. Be vigilant."

"Everything we know is gone." Mead summarizes.

"In two weeks?" Andre asks, shocked. "That's all it took?"

"It was always fragile." Mead says. "They made you think the system was a rock. It was a water balloon. One prick of the needle and pop, that's all it took."

"We will only survive if we follow the rules." Venable says as The Fist comes up and tells Mead something.

"There's a problem," Mead says. "We've detected a spike in the background radiation, centered in this room."

"It's them-" Gallant motions from Timothy to Emily. "They just came from the outside."

"No, no." Emily protests. "We were checked when we got here. We're clean!"

"No, we went through decontamination." Timothy confirms. "We were cleared."

The Fist gives Mead a geiger counter. "Place your hands on the table. And don't move." She waves the wand of the counter around everyone at the table. Everything is fine, until she gets a hit off Gallant.

"No. No, no, no, no." Gallant denies. "The only thing I've touched is Coco's hair. The machine is wrong."

But Coco is clean, and Gallant is pulled from his chair and out of the room by the guards. The next person to get taken is Stu. Andre is visibly distraught as they pull his husband from the dining room. (I'm giving them the benefit of having known each other pre-bomb because of how close they seem to be.)

~

Later, Rosalyn is comforting Andre, who has become worryingly still. She manages to make him drink water often.

She keeps her guard up, feeling the energy from the running water as Gallant and Stu are scrubbed roughly with hard brushes. The energy stops as the water is turned off, but shortly after there is a quick but silent output of energy. She jumps as she feels it. Only one man will return from decontamination. But Gallant and Stu never reappear.

As time goes on, Rosalyn slowly leads Andre to his room, seeing as he's physically and emotionally exhausted from dinner's events. She sits him in an armchair in his room so she can pull back the covers on his bed.

"What are you doing?" Venable suddenly appears in the doorway. "I thought the rules were clearly expressed."

"They were. I've no interest in anyone in the outpost, but I cannot stand idly by as someone needs help. Stu and Gallant were contaminated, but Andre's done nothing wrong." Rosalyn helps the man stand, guiding him to bed.

She lays him down and pulls the comforter over the man, before silently leaving the room. She pulls the door shut before facing Venable. "I've done nothing wrong. I've not been out of line or complained about the circumstances, minus wanting a clock, and I most certainly have not slept with anyone in this outpost, nor do I plan to in the foreseeable future.

"Now, given that dinner is over and we've been cleared for the night, I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Ms. Venable." She promptly turns and walks to her room before Venable can respond.

But Venable is speechless. Most people Rosalyn's age would've yelled, gotten in her face even. And almost certainly there would be fooling around with the other survivors. But she didn't. She said every word with the utmost respect for the woman. She can tell that Rosalyn is different from the rest, a pure, kind soul that doesn't deserve to scrounge by in the outpost.

Venable lets out a breath before going to her office. She may seem a rock, but the day's events got to even her.