Eternal Winter

It had been three years since Lance had left the Secret Service. It had been three years since shshsh died. Lance grimaced as he thought of her. The blurred name thwarted him from thinking straight, the doctors called it “traumatic dementia”. Lance glanced out of the corner of his eye at the people walking past along the sidewalk. A man trudging with a hand in a sleeve, Lance could practically see the outline of the blade. A woman with an L-shaped bulge in her bag. He continued to glance sideways in the reflections of glass for the possibility of people following him. Lance’s breath came quickly. He swallowed down the anxiety, these old habits weren’t needed for an afternoon stroll. He took a deep breath and looked up at the large buildings around him, watching the news flash on a billboard.

“The tensions between Israel and Iran have reached an all-time high as riots have broken out in both countries.” Lance watched the female news reporter, her mouth moving majestically, and admired the air of elegance shrouding her. The thought of his wife bubbled up from inside him, and he glanced down. He was just noting her beauty, of course, nothing more, but that never did matter. “Nuclear experts say that the probability of a nuclear strike is extremely high, but not all hope is lost as our president-” Lance stopped listening to her as he reached his car on the side of the road. He sighed as he dug his keys out of his pocket, and clicked the button. The 2047 GMC Denali started with a roar, to which some pedestrians looked at Lance in disgust. Cars whizzed past him without a sound, the hum of his car by far the loudest noise. The hum brought a smile to his face as he slid in, buckled, and rolled down the windows. Disengaging the parking brake, he switched to drive and pulled away from the parking space.

As Lance drove away from the city east towards his cabin out in the woods his eyes flicked from the road to the dash as he switched on the radio to his usual station, but it had been interrupted by the news. He narrowed his eyes to the familiar sound of the same news reporter,

“-have the capacity of one hundred fifty megatons of TNT ″, Lance tried to imagine the reporter’s face, the lips he had so recently admired. He huffed, ever since shshsh died he had tried to find someone. Someone different. But he could only see the look in her eyes as she fell to the ground. The shock as she saw the blood running down from her dress, her glasses falling to the ground and shattering…

Lance pushed his hand against the side of his head, gritting his teeth against this pain. He drove along the road in silence, occasionally nodding to passing vehicles. The news reporter playing in the background of his mind

“The riots in the streets of Jerusalem have killed twenty today, with the police department unable to stop the-” The woman paused, and Lance’s brow furrowed at the delay. “I’m sorry. Breaking news has just come in. Two nuclear detonations have just been confirmed in Israel and Iran, the location hasn’t been confirmed nor has the-” The woman was suddenly cut off as the Emergency Broadcast system alarm sounded on the radio. Lance looked down, eyes wide, then quickly looked back up at the road. A monotone voice sounded over the system,

“This is the emergency broadcast system. Multiple high-speed missiles have surpassed the U.S. Air Defense System. They are targeting unknown locations in the continent. Take shelter underground immediately. Detonations have been detected in Europe, Asia, Africa, Indonesia, and South America. Take your loved ones and get to shelter. The missiles will arrive in fifteen minutes. Get to shelter with the ones you love. Armageddon has arrived.” Lance slammed the pedal down as sirens began wailing from the city and in nearby towns. His hands gripped the steering wheel, turning white. He had little time.

Jumping out of the car, Lance bolted towards the cabin. Not having time for keys, he slammed his shoulder against the door, causing the latch to splinter and the door to swing open. Alloura, his dog, approached him, but he rushed past and into the bedroom, opening a cabinet to reveal a gun safe. Pressing his thumb to the lock, he heard a beep and swung the door open. He turned around and grabbed a backpack from the closet, then Lance moved back to the safe and quickly took the extra ammunition and stowed it. He grabbed his two matching .44 magnum revolvers that were painted light blue and tossed them in. He pressed the final weapon, a chrome Beretta 92FS, to his lips. Lance placed it in and moved to the kitchen, where he dumped all the food and water he could. There were already both of those things at the place he was going, but more couldn’t hurt. After stuffing his backpack, he bolted to the door, whistling to Alloura.

“C’mon girl! Let’s go!” She came running past him, and they both sprinted to the rumbling truck. As he got in with her he could hear the radio counting down,

“9:00 minutes until detonation.” The car wheels screeched as he pulled away and raced off towards the mountains behind the cabin.

“C’mon, c’mon,” Lance muttered as he drove. The car jerked and banked over the rough ground, the engine thundering as it was pushed to go faster. Lance pulled up to the mountains, and there he saw what he was looking for. His bunker, the Malevolence. He grabbed his pack and threw it on his back as he heard the radio say,

“One minute until detonation.” Lance raced to the door with Alloura at his heels, barking, where he found the keypad. He punched in an 8-digit code, and the light flashed green. The door hissed as it was depressurized, and Lance grabbed the circular handles and twisted the mechanism. The door clunked, and he pulled, the heavy door opening into the airlock. Alloura raced inside, and Lance stepped into the doorway, onto the metal grating, turning around to close the door, but paused.

Nothing. There was nothing. The birds were chirping. The sun was shining. Lance’s heart pounded as his eyes skittered around. It was surely past one minute, but there were no bombs. No fire. What was happening? Was this just a big joke? There are no nukes. Sweat coated Lance’s body, perspiration dripping into his eyes. His muscles tensed up, but there was nothing. No-

A blinding flash to his left made him flinch as he raised his hand over his head. The light streamed through his fingers, Alloura whined as he lowered his hand and looked out at the sky turning a glowing shade of red and orange. The head of a mushroom cloud was slowly rotating as it raised into the sky. A shockwave extended out from it leaving nothing but destruction in its wake as it hurdled through the land. Lance stared in horror at the regal sight. Suddenly a large gust of wind slammed into him and Lance stumbled backward. He seized the door and it began screeching closed. He watched as the forest and his cabin became alight in flames, only to be engulfed by the shockwave, approaching ever closer. The door squealed as Lance pulled harder, his bones vibrating from the force of the nuclear blast. With a shout of defiance, Lance slammed it closed and the door clicked as the mechanism locked with the thunderous roar of the shockwave reaching him.