When Hell Freezes Over

A young tan girl fiddles with a heart-shaped locket as she sits on the floor ignoring the adults arguing in the center of the room. Her face is a crust with previous tears and her fiddling only serves as a distraction to her disturbing surroundings. The children around her complain and cry as the adults bicker louder and louder.

“You can't expect us to live on 1000 calories a day!” yells a woman to the uncouth colonel with soldiers around him. The woman has dark dreadlocks and is unrelenting in her rage while unabashed by the soldiers standing at attention.

“Our orders are to sit tight until the government responds,” the colonel stammers, sweating profusely.

“The government hasn't been in contact since the bombs. We are running out of food and supplies!”, Yells the women in increasing intensity. A soldier to the colonels left steps in front of the women and brandishes his weapon trying to intimidate the women. “On top of this you're not holding your soldiers accountable! So many of us have been at the receiving end of their abuses!”, she rages while staring back at the soldier. The adults around her yell in support and push back the soldiers also seeking to intimidate the crowd. The soldier in front of the woman raises the butt of his gun to hit her. A blonde man in glasses steps in front of the woman and takes the blow to the face, falling to the floor. The woman softens and rushes to the man.

“Stop!”, yells the colonel. The soldiers reluctantly cease hostilities. “Fine! You'll get a small amount of food for your departure.” Half listening to the colonel, the woman coddles the blonde man on the ground and straightens his glasses. “Take all your trouble makers as well!”, he concludes. The couple walk to the child with the locket. The blonde man picks up the child with the locket, still messing with the locket catatonically.

“It's okay, lovely. I've got you,” whispered the blonde man while cradling her back, “we're leaving tomorrow.” Barely listening, the child just stares. The dreaded woman comes from behind the man, cups the child's face and hugs the man from behind.

“You've been through a lot, baby girl and I'm sorry I can't promise things will get better.”, The dreaded woman softly speaks while trying to invigorate the child with her eyes. “But WE will get better!”

The next day the silo elevator platform begins to raise up a group of people dressed for winter and radiation. As each bulkhead opens the anticipation rises. It's been several months since nuclear bombs devastated the surface. Firestorms raged above ground shaking the Earth. The second to last bulkhead opens. The soldiers around the group are anxious as well. The blonde man, dreaded woman and child hold each other's hands in the middle of the group while the surface comes to them. Everyone in the group holds backpacks full of supplies and food for their journey.

“Ready?”, ask the blonde man under his gas mask. His loving eyes pour into the young child's as the latches for the last bulkhead creak to release it. Icy winds seemingly pull open the doors to grab at the new explorers and throw them into the abyss. The man and woman hold on to the child as the elevator comes to a halt at the top. Lightning undulates through the sky, pounding the ashen landscape. White poison floats from the forever cloud cover to bury the skeletal remains of a broken civilization. The Earth shakes even more as the explorers reach the surface, as if the Earth trembles in fury of what has been done. The child struggles to grip the locket under her clothes to no avail. Though in shock the explorers have a target in mind to reach and begin to walk forward.

The soldiers then spring their plan. They point their guns at the people demanding they relinquish their supplies. Some relent and place the supplies at the center of the elevator. Others realizing there is no survival without the bags begin the struggle. One tries to grab a gun and is shot, another tries to grab a bag and is shot while running away. The soldiers panic and they begin to shoot everyone. The dreaded woman acts quickly and grabs a bag while the blonde man runs with the child to cover. A soldier aims and shoots the man. Two bullets hit him from behind and he stumbles but still runs to cover behind a shredded tree stump. The anxious soldier then wheels on the woman but is providentially struck by lightning. One of the explorers is also struck by lightning subsequently. The woman joins her husband behind the shredded stump in the chaos. The soldiers continue to shoot while people run to escape the lightning and bullets. The woman pulls the daughter to her feet from the man's arms. He nods to her clutching his chest and she nods to him in understanding. They lean their heads together in consolation and the woman takes off with a bag over her shoulder and the child running behind her gripping her hand. As she runs the child looks behind her and sees the blonde man waving kindly back at her as if he's going to see her again soon.

Lighting and thunder pound the ground as the woman and child are now walking through what seems to be a broken city. “Hello!”, yells the woman, hoping to find anyone from their exploration group or any survivors. There's a howl in the distance and the dreaded woman freezes. She then hears soft four legged footsteps in the distance. “Come on love!”, the woman exclaimed urgently. She pulls the child away from the sounds of running and barking.

The child almost falls as the dreaded woman pulls her into a decrepit building. They quickly run into a room where the woman abruptly tries to stop. The momentum carries her forward to a large hole in the middle of the floor. She pushes the child in the opposite direction as she falls to the floor below. A loud thump is heard from the child as she steadily crawls to look over the ledge.

“Ahhgggg!”, bellows the woman in pain. A small girder protrudes from her shoulder as she struggles to find a position to belay the pain. The child gingerly stares down at the woman. Staving off the pain, the woman begins to focus on what's important. Breathing heavily, she looks up at the girl. “Listen baby… I need you to be brave. I need you to run.”, the dreaded woman tries to say calmly, trying to connect with the child. The barking and growling get closer and the woman begins to panic. “Baby! Run!”, yells the woman. The child finally gets the message and begins to run. In the distance she hears the woman yelling continuously, egging her forward.

Going further and further into the charred building she almost slips and falls on icy floors but continues. Feeling the monsters closing in on her, she begins to climb a fallen column. Reaching a place where she can sit, she looks down on the monsters and is paralyzed in fear. The beasts begin to close in around her and are even able to slowly climb the column. The child can no longer hear the dreaded woman's yells to run and begins to recede back into herself, gripping the locket to her chest. From around the building white moths seem to come out of the walls and flutter towards the center. One appears close to the child and lingers near her face as the beasts stock closer. One, about to strike, notices the moth in front of the child and begins to cower. The moth lands on its nose and in an instant the beast falls from the column and lays dead-still on the ground. The beasts whine and retreat from the room, careful not to touch them as the moths invade. The child, astonished by the spectacle, is completely still. The moths for a time linger and then phase into the walls.

The child, seeing it's safe, climbs down the column. At the door where she entered she hears slow breathing. Hoping to see the dreaded woman, the child spins around but is taken aback when she sees an old man with a breathing apparatus and clothing to protect him from radiation. He walks up to the child and kneels down with his hand outstretched her. The child in fear clutches the locket in both hands. In her mind she continuously hears the woman yelling for her to run. But where? There's only darkness and unknown in front of her. Cautiously she takes one hand from the locket and grips the man's hand. The old man rasps from beneath the mask but is very pleased.

They looked for the dreaded woman at the location where the child last saw her and only found a pool of blood with no body. The old man takes her to a glass dome at the edge of the city. The dome is well lit and radiation free with cultivated plant life which seems to have sustained him. “Ghost…”, says the old man sitting down to eat, “those white moths are ghosts that can take away your soul. I've lost so many friends to them, even more than the wolves.” The man gestures to her food, “Please eat child we can't let anything spoil.” The meat looks delicious on her plate. It's been years since she's had meat. For some reason though the child feels uneasy in the dome as she sits across the table from the old man. She keeps listening, grabbing onto the locket for support. The old man takes a bite from the meat on his plate and looks at the child annoyingly. “I'm hoping you can feel safe here. The woman is gone. I can take care of you now.”, mumbles the old man between chewing. He gestures again to the food. The child looks to the plate again, then to the man and then to her anti-radiation suit on the wall. The old man gets up still chewing, stands behind the girl and cuts up the meat. “You won't get any better acting this way,” he says, trying to force her mouth open to feed her the odd meat. The sudden force startles the child and she unclasps the locket, grabs the knife from the table and stabs the man in his eye. The man screams and curses, releasing her. The child runs to her clothing and puts it on to escape the dome. She begins to run out the door when to her left she sees a room with the door cracked and dreadlocks under a light. Hoping to see the dreaded woman, she flings open the door only to see the remains of her on a table. Wide eyed, the child begins to recede within herself to escape while gripping the locket. Looking into the dreaded woman's eyes she is reminded of her last words to her: “Run!” The child sees the backpack of supplies in the room and grabs it. She exits the dome with the odd old man screaming and cursing in the background. The child runs as the lightning and howling fill the landscape. She hears the words of the dreaded woman in her head as she runs, “You've been through a lot baby girl and I'm sorry I can't promise things will get better but WE will get better!” The tan girl grips the locket and then yanks it from her neck. She throws it to the ground as she keeps running into the unknown. The locket opens on the ground revealing a happy family picture of the blonde man, dreaded woman and tan child. Snow begins to pile on the heart-shaped locket where it will soon be buried in this new world.