Teddies and Pets

He left me at the altar, sirens blaring. He ran. The police guard beside me picked me up and carried me to the cellar. The church exploded in white hot noise.

This church was prepared for Armageddon. I was older and had developed the capacity to hide and store grief until later, if I didn't just shirk it entirely. The running man no longer concerned me. I assessed my surroundings. Perhaps twenty others had made it into the cellar before the blast and were quietly standing,milling, murmuring and staring in shock.

There was a piano, a fully stocked pantry and furniture in various stages of wear strewn about. In one corner was a flat screen tv, relatively new and out of place regarding the rest of the surroundings. And easels, some touting churchy slogans and offering salvation for the willing. While others stood, covered in sheets.

We lived in a society in which people were no longer attributed human qualities. Although some still possessed. People were classified into square lumps. I was still faltering at this new way, although I was familiar with snakes, and slime balls and such as analogy for character traits. But wasn't referring to someone as a teddy not just a nice way to refer to a sexual servant. Oh, but I digress.

So here we are in a church basement, at the end of the world. I had hoped to make it to a bunker before this. I hoped that as prepared as this basement was there was something bigger underneath. I had seen a door, that appeared to lead further down.

The peacekeeper was already there, the heart shaped locket around my neck began shrieking. The warning issued,however,was already to late. "All civilians return to your shelters....all civilians..." I touched it to silence.

If we were going to make it through this alive, we would have to go further down, the heat from some of the bombings could be fatal. I've heard of men being steamed to death, in their basements, during the fall outs, the fires rage for days.

The door is concrete, and thick. I can smell the earth and feel the cool sacred coming up from beneath, as the man wrests it fully open. The heavy air coming up seems to encircle those of us that are left, to pull us beneath and in. The others,myself, and the peacekeeper stumble and crowd onto the stairs. Woosh, the door slams shut, its automatic lock fully engages, just as the sound of splintering timber and the backwards subwoosh of fire as it claims more ground and retreats;content in the knowledge that it will now have time to lick and feast,in due time on the charred ground it has covered.

We are barely aware of who we are, the noise of the destruction, and shaken foundation having jarred our mortal frames.

We gathered on the landing, and drew a collective breath.

Now that we has escaped immediate threat I looked at who surrounded me with more scrutiny. Why had my locket gone off late? Who were these people and where were my guests? I was to be married when the air raid siren began its shrieking and undulating ascent and descent. The only one from the wedding party was me and the police guard, the rest were unknown civilians who had ran in, last minute, from the street. All at once, and in one breath, grief and knowledge hit me in the chest, and in the same knowledge, grief leaves me and the certainty that I had been ditched centers its resolve in the focal of my chest.

They quietly evacuated, leaving me to my fate. He ran because, he didn't want to miss the armored speed train. That had all been lined up. My mind did not question the why, I had lived long enough to know that sometimes people do strange and terrible things, inexplicably.

I don't look back.

We descend several more flights of stairs, and come to a marble hallway, an old world style subway and these instructions in English.

If you have made it here, you are aware of the neccessity of these precautions. This is a community that lives underground. We do not come out, we are self substaining. Once you make the desision, to come fully into this world, you will not be allowed to leave. Until the day that an all clear is reached, we will remain underground. For the safety of ourselves, those of us who are already here, those of which have made it here, and choose to stay, and the safety of future generations, strict adherence to this policy will be enforced.

This is what you are leaving behind: do so.

Love the ones you are with, do not be judgemental or intolerant. There will be no violence. Art is appreciated, kindness is mandatory. That being said, the people you will encounter here are diverse and possibly suffering their own traumas. Always respect, never pry. Hostility is a disease and will not be tolerated. Freedom of expression, freedom from judgement, and freedom from violence, these things are kept.

This is our last resort.

It may be yours, as well.