Post Apocalyptic Aquarium

Chapter 2 – When it started

Rise was a dreamer and the apocalypse didn’t stop him. He strolled around and looked at how torn up his town had become, how damaged the world had been. He thought about how to save it, create a better world, a new world where peace would be found and nature would replenish. He stumbled over rubble and turned his body as he looked up at the radioactive glow of the sky witnessing horrific scrapes of claws against buildings from unknown entities. He was in the middle of a nuclear apocalypse.

Rise, the man who protested nuclear power, who longed to save animals from torture and immoral testing was looking at damage done by humans who’d unleashed the punishing wrath of toxicity and nuclear energy upon the world and of course the poor creatures they tested on, Rise knew these claw marks must have come from disorientated mutant animals, the poor things, no clue of what they’d become. The towns nearby nuclear power plant had been testing unethically on animals for a long time but when Rise tried to spread the word nobody cared and looked at him as if he were a mad man. Rise could almost taste the hazardous dust in the air, bitter; he needed to do something. He always thought that humans would have to see the world at its worst to start making the world its best but in no way could he have predicted this catastrophe. Now was the time to rebuild a better world. But first the thing that was most important to him in that moment was finding someone to help him.

He felt his breathing pick up. The destruction all happened so quickly, he never even saw the mutants, all he remembered where screams, noise, destruction. He sat in his apartment in the corner of his room hearing the chaos outside too scared to move an inch. He didn’t know what was going on. A warning crackled through his radio, a contamination breach at the nearby nuclear power plant he protested outside. Signs and megaphones, screams of anger, frustration and determination for change had now turned into smashing windows, screams of fear, horror and confusion.

Something big crashed around the lower levels of his apartment, broke through walls with blind anger. He thought to himself briefly that this poor mutant animal that was tested on must hate the world, scared of what it’d become. But this thought became instantly devoured by the onslaught of other rushing thoughts ploughing through his head.

That was when it started, the terror washed over his town so quickly, the tide of anarchy dragged away the residence of what was once a bustling town taking chunks of manmade landscape with it and stripping the odd tree of its once bright, freshly grown leaves. But now he was outside. The silence almost as terrifying as the screams where. That complete eerie. Silence.

His heart beat fast. He felt a gentle breeze push his hair into his face helplessly frozen, taking in his surroundings. He could hear buildings crumble, the impact of brick against tarmac. He could see clouds growing slowly bigger consuming areas of the city leaving behind a thick layer of dusty poisonous residue. He placed the tip of his index finger from his left hand gently onto his lip causing a stinging pain and a flinch. Raising his hand up he looked at his fresh blood dripping from his finger and painting the dirty ground beneath him. He was grateful that he escaped with only a scratch. With a deep inhale he pulled himself together, his legs quivering he began to walk readily turning the walk into a stubborn march. He knew he had to be strong and he had a goal to work towards: Find another survivor, another human life to show him hope is out there.

Music? Rise wondered. He could hear music muffled and warm radiating out from further up the street, words incomprehensible but the tune comforting. Who knew how long he’d been walking for? He welcomed this familiar sound as a mixture of hope and anxiety stirred within his guts. He tried picking up his pace. Legs shaky as they pushed his feet towards the ground. The music played as it churned out of a rundown building. Half of the structure seemed like it had been torn down during the destruction but the rest stood strong. ‘Canny’s Aquari...’ Read a sign positioned at the top of this small building, the rest of the name mangled. Why the hell was there loud music echoing out of an aquarium? He hadn’t heard this loud music earlier. Somebody must have turned it up. “Human life finally...” Rise thought to himself. But would this be a friend or a foe? Surely the last thing a person would want to do is blast out music from a wrecked aquarium after apocalyptic anarchy had just occurred around them. They must be insane.

A pillar of some kind suddenly collapsed within the structure with a thud creating a plume of dust which promptly followed with coughing and gasping noises. There was definitely someone in there and they needed help...

He stumbled forward into the building as he heard the gasps and coughing get more desperate. It sounded like a man gasping for air. The dust almost blinded Rise as he entered and he waved his arms around frantically, pushing away rubble on the way closer to the noises of this man. He reached out grabbing what felt like shoulders, the man was barely visible yet he tugged him out of the building, his feet scrabbling against the concrete ground tripping him as he used all his strength to pull the older man. Brick and rubble stabbed at his thin legs at each fall.

Finally as Rise felt he’d dragged the man a safe distance away from the dust ridden building he collapsed onto his hands and knees catching his breath, dust irritating his throat causing him to hack between breaths. Once he’d built up strength Rise shakily turned his head and allowed himself to sit up. He could see the man through wavy curtains of hair, his chest rising and falling and his eyes closed, the man must have blacked out. As Rise’s eyes gazed upon the gentleman’s face he took in his features. A well groomed moustache despite being scattered with dust, slick black hair brushed backwards, a strong jaw dotted with stubble, pale white skin, sharp cheekbones and handsome eyelashes reaching towards his cheeks. He looked peaceful and kind in his unconscious state unaware of his surroundings.

Not before long Rise was snapped out of his staring as scared cries of a baby could be heard. To Rise’s surprise they where resonating from within the clutches of the man’s arms.