Aftermath

Aftermath

Author: Matthew Cooper

Clare sat by a small fire, enough to keep her warm but not enough to attract too much attention. She nervously fiddles with her necklace which is the last physical memory that she has of her mom. Her mom gave her the necklace on her tenth birthday because, in her family, the first double-digit birthday was seen as a sign of growing into an adult. It was a beautiful heart-shaped locket that sparkled in the sun. Clare had come from a low-income family, so the necklace was probably inexpensive, but it now takes her back to a better time. While she fiddles with it, she is also trying to wipe the dust and dirt off to see some resemblance of what the necklace used to look like. She often wonders if her mother dying in the rioting was a better way to go than be alive today.

In early 2020, the world was as it always has been, war was either happening or on the brink of it. Technology was becoming more and more advanced, which meant that people were becoming less dependent on physical activities. The wars that were waging were starting to become technology-based, rather than attack a country with troops, hackers could attack from across the world and shut down the country with some clicks of the mouse. Pretty people could make millions with social media and teenagers could make millions through gaming. The older generations still had to go to work every day while their kids made more money than they do. The interesting part was that the end seemed to be coming since the universe will always correct itself. It just came from an unexpected source.

There is rustling in the bushes about a hundred yards away. Clare immediately stops fiddling with the necklace and moves to her handgun. She does not know the type of gun that it is, she got lucky and came across a raver that had succumbed to an animal attack. It is late at night, which makes it the most dangerous time of the day. Without electricity or any other kind of light, the night is dark, darker than she ever remembers it being before. Outside of the small fire she cannot make out many shapes, she just relies on hearing. Her eyes adjust to the light of the small fire, but not to the dark past that. I wish stars were brighter she often thinks. After thirty minutes of terrifying stillness, Clare puts out the fire and lays down. She has not had a peaceful sleep-in year.

NASA was the first to find the object. They dubbed it ME-32456, although as more people found out about it due to the media, they started calling it the Phoenix. Perhaps the name was appropriate given that it was destined to start the Earth on fire and the survivors would rise anew. The media gave the people of this world too much credit. NASA was unsure of where this asteroid was going to hit because of its size and speed. It was roughly the size of almost two football fields and going at a speed of 123,000 kilometers per hour. They decided to keep it out of public knowledge because of the fear of what may happen in the world. While they were correct, all secrets eventually come out.

Clare awakes at sunrise and goes to the bathroom in the weeds and puts her backpack in order. It is safer to travel during the day and hide during the night. This routine has kept her alive for almost two years. Food is scarce, which makes it valuable, and all fresh food has gone bad, and most canned food has already been scavenged. Clare was never a hunter and has often found it difficult to catch or hunt anything. Even fishing continues to be a struggle since the beginning. Clare has a weapon, but she knows you should never fire a weapon because it draws too much attention. She has spent too many days surviving off bugs since it gets easier the hungrier you are. Clare swore she would never resort to cannibalism. However, desperation and starvation do not make good bedmates.

Peter Gingerhiem was the first person outside of NASA to notice the Phoenix. He was born into a wealthy family in Finland and had a passion for astronomy. Peter built one of the largest privately-owned telescopes in the world. As soon as he confirmed his findings he immediately went to every news and social media channel available. He was arrogant and cocky and wanted the world to know that he, Peter Gingerhiem, found the most dangerous asteroid to enter our solar system. NASA tried its best to downplay the potential effects of the asteroid, but pandora was already out of the box. With no perfect way to determine the impact area, everyone acted like they were going to die. Fear leads to violence; violence leads to death. The mere existence of the asteroid led to almost as many deaths as the impact itself.

It is midday and Clare is walking through the woods trying to find anything but people. There are generally not a lot of people in the woods. Groups formed after the impact tended to stay in their zones. The most dangerous are the ravers. They are the largest group in the area and are the ones that horde the alcohol and drugs for themselves. They are very unpredictable which means that they are extremely dangerous. Cautiously she comes over a hill into a clearing and sees a very peculiar sight.

The asteroid hit Ottawa, Canada at 2:38 pm on July 13th, 2021. Half of the world was obliterated by the impact, and another quarter by the tidal waves that caused a massive number of lives and land. Clare lived in Finland with her parents and her younger brother pre-impact. Clare was only 16 when the news broke about the asteroid. The world broke into a panic that had never been seen on Earth before. Riots and looting started almost immediately. Everyone that had a gun was using it to defend their homes, regardless of what the person’s intention was. If you did not have a gun, you were going to loot one or obtain one by any means necessary. Governments started using their armed forces to control the carnage. However, many soldiers would go AWOL to protect their families. Soon it was the civilians against the soldiers. People were at war with themselves while an earth-destroying asteroid was on the way.

Clare’s movements become slow and cautious as she takes in the scene. At the end of the valley, against a stone embankment near the woods is a small fire. Sitting with a shotgun on her lap against the stonewall is a woman who Clare believes to be in her 50’s, but with no personal grooming, it is hard to tell. Clare sits and watches for hours until the night falls. She does not make a fire this night, she just watches.

The announcement of the asteroid came during 5th period for Clare, now in her junior year of high school. There was an announcement, but all that the students heard was school was being released, which was immediately followed by happy students heading home or to some other place. When Clare arrived home with her 13-year-old brother from school she arrived to find her parents in a panic. They were going through the cupboards and packing bags. A very strange sight for two children that were so happy before walking in the door. Once her parents explained in a very rushed statement the kids now started to become scared. The whole family was not nearly scared enough.

Clare always carries a water bottle that she fills up every time that she can. It was half gone after two days of watching the woman in the valley. She would dig for grubs to eat for nourishment. Clare did not understand how this woman was surviving in this area. She would watch her movement and have determined she had a tent set up in the woods. But where did she get her supplies? She never really left the area after three days. She would eat small meals that Clare could not make out and had a small canister of water. She looked around nervously as it started to dawn on her that this woman must have traps laid out.

It was a week after the announcement when they broke into the house on July 6th. Clare’s father was a teacher at an elementary school, and her mother worked in a daycare. They did not own guns or weapons or have any kind of sadistic anger that it was going to take to survive. Her father took boards and nailed them to the door and windows. That was just a slight irritation to the would-be intruders. It happened around 5 am when everyone was sleeping in the main bedroom. There were constant explosions and gunshots outside of the house that almost became white noise until the door downstairs was kicked in and men yelling and laughing poured into the household.

Clare contemplated the situation and how she should proceed. She could keep moving on, but something about this was unusual. She decided that the woods were surely trapped which protected the woman from intruders and helped capture animals. The valley was very wide and open. The woman was in a good spot for protection. Unless of course, numerous invaders decided to attack one single lady. But they had not so far…. why? Her only way to get close was to wait for a night when the stars were covered so that it was as dark as possible in the valley.

Clare’s parents heard the noise and jumped up panicked. Her mom grabbed her brother and told her to hide in a part of the closet that would not easily be found by the normal eye. She sat there and heard her mom scream as a gunshot rang out. She heard her screaming “no don’t, he’s my son” as another shot rang out. The last thing she ever heard from her mom was her screaming in terror while being carried out of the house by a group of men. After two days of sobbing in the closet, she eventually came out due to hunger. She walked downstairs cautiously and tried not to look at her father and brother’s body. She filled a backpack as full as she could and started walking east. Her parents said wherever it hits, it is better to be more inland in case of tsunamis.

Clare had managed to move closer to the woman who appeared to be sleeping. It was roughly 3 am with a lot of cloud cover. Outside of the small flame, she was nearly invisible. Clare was extremely cautious with her movements assuming that there are traps nearby and that the lady could awaken at any moment. When she was close enough, she cocked the hammer of the gun which caused the woman to jump up with her shotgun pointed at Clare. It was not the shock of a person with a gun that startled her, it was looking at Clare. She saw a teenager with barely any meat on her bones, a face was so sunken from starvation, a trembling hand on the gun that looks like it can barely support it, tattered clothing that looks like it fit fifty pounds earlier. The woman lowers her gun slightly and says, “Poor Child”. As the gun fires the look of shock on the woman changes. As the woman slowly died out, Clare grasps the dirty necklace and wondered how old she would be when the next person would come to take her place.