The Locket

"We have just received a threat from an unknown source. All we know is that it is not of this world. Take shelter immediately." The radio broadcast came through while Ember was sitting on her bed. Ember and her parents hurried out to the shelter they had installed last month. Then came a loud crack that seemed to shake everything around them. Ember's father decided they would stay in the shelter for about a month before they came out. Om

A month had ended and they had plenty of provisions left. Ember's father had put enough in there for six months. They had been rationing their food and other things well enough that they could have easily made it the other five months. Her father opened the door to the shelter and it was freezing cold. This was very concerning for him since it was the middle of summer when they went into the shelter. Ember was thankful she decided to bring a couple of extra blankets when they went out there.

Her mother wrapped her in a blanket and exited after her father, carrying ember in her arms. What they saw was jaw-dropping. It seemed almost everything had been destroyed. Lots of buildings had toppled, cars were wrecked and strewn about the roads, and it seemed eerily calm. So they went toward what was left of their house to salvage what they could of warm clothing, blankets, and irreplaceable items.

They searched the town for any survivors. They found a few here and there that were still in their shelters, and a few that were out salvaging what they could. Ember's father had been a construction worker before the blast. He and a few other men got together and started making repairs to some of the buildings to make them habitable again. Her mother had been a therapist, so she was talking with people and helping them cope the best they could. There had been so many lost in the blast.

Months later Ember noticed a lot of large trucks driving around slowly and stopping in the roadways and at houses. They were taking the remains of the people that didn't make it and loading them in the trucks. She assumed they had a place to take them so that the smell wouldn't make the whole town stink. She was glad about that because she could hardly stand the smell.

A few years have passed now and it isn't as cold as it was after the blast first happened. It was still pretty chilly, like it was constantly late fall. Nature has now started taking over in areas the people weren't using anymore. Although it was mainly the hardier plants like pine trees, there were still some flowers and shrubs that were beginning to grow again. She still thinks it strange that there seems to be no animals around anymore, except for the pets that had been in the shelters with their owners. They had been surviving on unexpired foods, and plants that they could manage to grow.

Ember is now seventeen. There are a few opportunities for jobs. Money doesn't have much meaning anymore. Mainly people barter now. She was young when the blast happened so she has been used to this way of life. She has been helping local mechanics recover and rebuild cars from the roadways. The ones they can't repair they use for parts. She likes doing this because she loves cars. She gets a chance to drive and learn about a wide variety of them. Hopefully one day she will get to have her own shop. She hasn't learned quite as much as she would like before starting her own garage. Her father and mother travel sometimes to help people. Which she doesn't mind because that gives her opportunity to learn more from other mechanics herself. They have been asked to go to a new place next week. Ember is excited because she had never even heard of this place.

Ember is now getting ready to turn in for the night. Tomorrow they leave for a new place to work for a while. She is very excited. Her mother and father shout goodnight up to her. She tells them goodnight and smiles. She looks at the heart shaped locket her grandmother gave her on her sixth birthday, laying on her nightstand, open. Her grandmother told her that the locket was special and it held the future. She closes the locket and hears the radio, "We have just received a threat from an unknown source. All we know is that it is not of this world. Take shelter immediately." She grabbed a couple extra blankets and her heart shaped locket, and ran downstairs.