| Wave Goodbye by Janilou |
| This Science Fiction short story won First Place in FanStory's "After The End Of The World Contest." You can see the original version here. |
No! This can't be happening! Run! Hide!
The people, the unbelievers, are running for their lives. Their screams cannot filter through the
sound-proof shelter we created a year before this tragic day. Mouth open, I stare through the observation
screen in fascination.
The wave overtakes them. I'm spared the sickening reality of seeing them dissolve in the radiation bath,
because my computer system melts into the stone wall above our underground haven, immediately sealing
off our last connection to the outside world - for now.
Sobs wrack my body as I sink to the ground and start to scream. It is a primal scream of desperation and
despair. My husband throws his arms around me, but I cannot be comforted. The world is gone. History is
gone. Only hope remains.
************************
January 1, 2345
Dear Diary,
Today marks the beginning of the third year since The Wave destroyed our lives. Michael
claims we may be able to go aboveground this year. Of course, we already know the psychological
devastation such an excursion will inflict upon our group. Dr. Arthur has calculated this year as being the
first year of limited sunshine. No vegetation. Ice everywhere. Floods are expected as the ice melts. Still we
are excited. Does anyone else exist? There must be other survivors across the planet. I hope so. Can it
really be three years already?
I'd like to write more but I have to help Mrs. Green with her newborn baby, David, the third child born this
winter. Funny how everyone has named their baby after someone from the Bible. We have a David, a Saul
and a Peter so far.
I can't help but marvel at the human spirit. Bringing babies into this remnant of society in which we exist. I
lost the baby boy I carried in utero two weeks after the wave hit. Michael and I hope for a new pregnancy
and yet, we fear it also.
March 14, 2345
Dear Diary,
The men have been exploring the cave and found a new tunnel filled with the most glorious
crystals. Baby Peter is crawling now. Sari is learning how to weave fabric and he's keeping her busy. The
constant temperature down here helps a lot. Marcus tells us we will run out of our supply of vitamins within
a year. Bad news. Sunlight will be a must if we are to stay healthy after that and who knows. Does the sun
even exist anymore? Does anything?
May 17, 2345
They did it! Marcus and George removed the seal from the far opening to the cave. The glass
thermometer registered 82 degrees. The sun is back! Tomorrow we will attempt our first outing. We drew
straws to see who would go out there. Marcus didn't allow any of the mothers of infants to participate in the
drawing. If we are the only surviving humans, our thirty-five people have a giant responsibility and we can't
afford to lose any women of child-bearing age, let alone those already nursing infants.
July 23, 2345
Dear Diary,
If only paper were not such a scarce commodity, I would write every day. But we have learned
to follow the survival code rules to the proverbial letter. One posting every two months. No more than three
paragraphs. So why am I wasting space? I don't know how to describe my grief. Baby Saul died last night.
His mother followed the first team outside. She didn't have protective clothing on and radiation exposure
poisoned her breast milk. The atmosphere outside is still barely tolerable. Nothing exists, except some
mutant plant life the men didn't recognize. We know it is not safe to venture back to the surface.
September 19, 2345
Dear Diary,
Exciting news! We have new colonists! The men discovered ten people wandering across the desert when
they went out last week. We brought them here to the Cave. They are lucky to be alive. They wore
protective clothing but were on their last two days of rations. Their original shelter collapsed in a recent
earth tremor. I guess God led them to us. They brought a sled and they have books! We can't wait to
exchange reading material with them. One of the men is an agriculturalist. He claims there are very
promising signs of life in a valley about twenty miles away but sometimes I think we will die here. He tells us
the ice has retreated leaving fertile farming ground in that valley and between our two groups, we have
enough resources to begin farming it and growing our own food. We have seed corn, soybeans and
wheat. They claim there is wildlife, but very few species survived the wave.
May 16, 2347
Dear Diary,
I can't believe it! We are leaving the cave! It has been two years since my last entry. How
things outside have changed. The twins are a year old already and I am expecting once more. Our
numbers are fifty-strong now and life is returning to this battered planet at last. I must keep this brief. Time
to pack up our supplies and prepare for the grand departure. God has given us a second chance. We've
been spending time above the surface so as to become accustomed to the sunlight once more. Gloria and
Angel are even becoming tanned. They look like little monkeys!
Margaret
*********************
"Look! Gloria! Here it is! The diary she told us about. Wow, I can't wait to get this back to the valley and
show everyone. Mom will be so happy," Angel said, stooping over and picking up the small journal from the
stone floor. She handed it to her sister. "Come on. Let's get back."
Gloria ran her fingers over the soft cover. "Wait. I want to write an entry in it."
"Now?"
"Yeah, right now. I want to sit here and write like she used to. You know, by candlelight."
"You're not using a candle, Gloria."
"Funny, sis. Come on, just give me a moment."
"Okay. Go on, then. You always were just like Mom, wanting to write about everything!"
May 16 2367
Dear Diary,
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the day my parents ventured out into the sunlight
and began their trek to the Valley and a whole new world. When I read Mother's entries and the books
she gave us about the planet Earth before the wave, I shudder. What a horrible place it must have been!
Wars, disease, racial intolerance!
Tomorrow we are leaving the valley for a new town on the west coast, where a mega - colony of three
thousand people now lives. Mom asked us to come here and pick up her journal. She forgot it in the rush
of packing all those years ago. They tell us there are fruit trees there. I've never seen a fruit tree. I love
watching her and Dad when they describe how delicious peaches are. The look on their faces is classic!
Technology is creating many new wonders for us now, twenty years later. We even have televisions and
radios again. But there is no war, no intolerance of others Most of the diseases my mother tells us about
are gone. Very few viruses and bacteria survived, and people seem to have a better ability to ward off
infections.
My brother, Luke, who was born just two months after they left this cave, will be staying behind with his wife
and child to continue farming. We are going to miss him, but he would never adjust to life in the city.
We are so lucky to live on this beautiful, peaceful planet. I guess God knew the only way to sort out the
mess was to make us start over the hard way.
I must sign off now. We are off into the wild purple yonder! Mother tells us the sky used to be blue in the
old days. I've seen the photos or I would never have believed it.
Goodbye!
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