After the Bombs Fell Read online

  After the bombs fell

  Copyright © 2019 by Elyzabeth Johanna

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN 9781072660460

  For any and all enquiries please contact [email protected]

  After the bombs fell 1

  Prologue 3

  Chapter 1: Potatoes 11

  Chapter 2: Pages of the past 24

  Chapter 3: Riots 35

  Chapter 4: Frozen soil 47

  Chapter 5: The Central Square 58

  Chapter 6: the soldier 67

  Chapter 7: Chicken 76

  Chapter 8: 2026 86

  Chapter 9: The Letter 95

  Chapter 10: The wedding 103

  Chapter 11: A New Life 114

  Chapter 12: The files 125

  Chapter 13: Resistance 138

  Chapter 14: Cans 150

  Chapter 15: Nightmares 160

  Chapter 16: Grief 168

  Chapter 17: Founding day 176

  Chapter 18: The shoes 188

  Chapter 19: On the roof 196

  Chapter 20: Dancing 204

  Chapter 21: The prison 212

  Chapter 22: Leader 220

  Chapter 23: Marion 228

  Chapter 24: The Floods 240

  Chapter 25: Blood test 251

  Chapter 26: Fire and Flames 259

  Chapter 27: Sacrifices 267

  Chapter 28: Laundry 275

  Chapter 29: Martyr 283

  Chapter 30: Glass and Rubble 292

  Chapter 31: The Leader’s Building 300

  Chapter 32: The Wife 309

  Chapter 33: Waters 317

  Chapter 34: Where it all started 328

  Chapter 35: The Train 336

  Author 344

  Acknowledgements 345

  Prologue

  Everybody was sure they would remember where they were when that first bomb fell. Even though I wasn’t old enough to remember 9/11, people always seemed to feel the need to remark on where they were when those planes hit the towers. When that first bomb hit Poland, we all made sure we knew where we were. My mum was doing the dishes, and then rushing to the TV. My dad was in his office at the bank.

  Me? I was trying to come up with something new for my blog while smoking a blunt in the forest behind our house.

  The latter part was something I usually didn’t share with people.

  But when the second bomb fell, it was no longer something my mum would discuss with her friends at the supermarket, or something my dad would discuss over dinner or with his business associates. It had been enough though to be change the conversation at my university from the usual chatter of boys, tv shows, social media and even what bar we were going to frequent over the weekend.

  The days the bombs fell in 2026, it became our new reality. The world was ending and the long predicted nuclear war had begun.

  Within seconds of that bomb falling on the English – Scottish border, we heard reports about it. Within minutes, we lost all contact with Edinburgh, Glasgow. The last reports were from Aberdeen and York about the massive mushroom cloud, before we lost contact with them as well.

  The car radio warned me as I was about to get out of my car and walk into my university building; the wind was pointing southwest, and the radioactive cloud was on its way to us.

  I swear I could see the mushroom cloud when I looked at the horizon. Immediately leaving the grounds of the small private university I was attending, I drove home to see my parents. Without a care for the speed limit, I made it home in record time, parking my car in front of the door. I was pretty sure I skipped two steps upon entering our townhouse. Arriving on the doorstep, I got a text from my dad telling me to get mum ready to leave.

  Walking inside our house, I found my mum in the living room.

  ‘’Mum, mum, we need to leave!’’ I tugged her arm as she stood in front of the TV, motionless.

  ‘’The cloud is coming this way, we need to go right now!’’ I tried to get through to her, but she could only look at the TV, her hand in front of her mouth. Ginger, the cat, came strolling over our way, not a clue in the world what was going on.

  ‘’Maeve, Tina, grab your passports, we are leaving right now!’’ My dad came bursting into the house. Looking through the door, his Aston Martin was sloppily parked in front of the steps up. The severity of the situation sunk in. The car was his most prized possession after the house. When my dad didn’t even look after his precious car, shit had seriously hit the fan. Even though he didn’t show it, it was easy to figure out he was coming unglued.

  ‘’Dad? Where are we going?’’ I asked as I followed him around the house.

  ‘’No clue, I called Ron and he is flying us out of here.’’ My dad said, referencing the pilot of the private plane he chartered when he had to travel for work.

  ‘’Richard – we can’t just leave!’’ My mum finally spoke up, having torn herself away from the TV at last. The broadcast was struggling, the screen breaking up.

  ‘’He is trying to get landing rights for Iceland, maybe we can fly on to the US or Canada from Reykjavik. Maeve, we can’t stay here.’’ My dad said as he was pacing around the living room.

  ‘’I’ll get Ginger’s carrier.’’ I told him, as I hurried towards the kitchen, where Ginger was lazing on the counter, waiting for someone to walk in and give her a treat. The cat walked after me, looking up at me as if she knew deep down something was wrong. Suddenly, the chubby cat no longer seemed to care very much about the treat.

  ‘’We can’t take the cat.’’ My dad announced as he knelt down by the safe, hidden under the stairs in the hallway, where our important documents were kept.

  ‘’Dad, you are chartering the plane, we can’t just leave Ginger here. She is part of the family, we should take her!’’ I told him, but he shook his head.

  ‘’No, I am not risking our flight out of here for a cat.’’ My dad said strictly. ‘’Who knows how quickly we need to fly out.’’

  ‘’Dad-‘’ I wanted to argue again.

  Our bickering was interrupted as mum turned up the TV and we all watched the latest report in horror.

  ‘’A second bomb has been said to have just fallen in the south of France. There is no news about where exactly, or who-‘’

  The broadcast was breaking up again, my dad jumping up from the couch mum had just pulled him down onto, as his pacing around the room had made her nervous.

  ‘’I am not risking your life, or mums life for that stupid cat!’’ My dad yelled at me. ‘’We are getting on the first flight Ron can get us on out of here, I don’t care either if it’s to North America or Timbuktu, we are out of here! If they are doing this on purpose, we are too close to London to waste even a minute.’’

  Not objecting anymore, I grabbed my bag, tossing in my diary which I used to draft pieces for my blog, as well as some other stuff I couldn’t leave behind. My dad was right, we were so close to London we could not risk staying here.

  Grabbing a massive bag of cat food from the kitchen, I cut it open, throwing it all onto the floor. Ginger looked up at me and tears filled my eyes as I knelt down to her.

  ‘’We will be back for you, I promise’’ I told her as I caressed her head. Ginger looked up at me, confused.

  ‘’Don’t look at me like that, you.’’ I mumbled, picking up her up for a tight, close, hug before my dad stood beside me again, looking confused at all the cat food spilled on the floor.

  ‘’We need to give her a fighting chance.’’
I argued, although I knew Ginger wasn’t going to make it if a bomb fell close to our home, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

  My dad didn’t object once before pulling me up by my backpack and pushing me towards the car. Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I turned on the news.

  ‘’There is a report of a third bomb. News channels from the Netherlands and Denmark are reporting it fell into the north sea, but the splash impact has be seen from up to 200 miles away…’’

  ‘’Turn that off Tina, please.’’ My mum begged and I did so.

  ‘’Turn it back on, we need to know what place is safe to fly to.‘’ My dad told me and I switched it back on. My dad was rushing through the streets; we had moved close to the small airfield my dad used frequently for his work when he had to fly; it saved him a lot of time.

  Usually a drive through the English countryside was quite calming, but the red in the sky showed it was not a good time to stop and enjoy the scenery.

  ‘’We could go to Scotland, go to grandma’s farm – I mean, the cloud is coming our way, but above the impact zone –‘’ I tried to come up with an idea.

  ‘’That’s a stupid idea, Tina. We are leaving this continent – I am not staying between those two countries throwing shit at each other while we are the in the middle of it, while we are no part of the war they are fighting. Fuck – they promised us no more bombs after that bomb hit Poland and look at this mess-’’ My dad rambled.

  ‘’-shut up, dad, another bomb just fell in Germany.’’ I interrupted him.

  ‘’…the blast zone is said to be as little as 60 miles from Berlin, at this moment in time we need to start asking if this is not a planned attack.’’ The newscaster spoke.

  ‘’Damn right it probably is.’’ My dad mumbled under his breath.

  Our car pulled up near the small airport. Dad didn’t even bother parking in a marked stall as we scrambled out of the car. We were not the only ones arriving, but we were some of the few allowed through the gates when they saw my dad. The security guards struggled shutting the gates behind them, waves of people pushing against them.

  ‘’It is not fair-‘’ I wanted to say, feeling bad for all the those that were being pushed back by the airport staff. We were not the only ones being allowed through, I noticed some other business men and CEOs that had been at our home before, my dad probably knowing all of them.

  ‘’Shut up, Tina.’’ My dad told me as he waved at the pilot standing next to a smaller aircraft. Making our way there, Ron shrugged at us.

  ‘’Iceland closed it’s airspace.’’ The pilot sighed. ‘’Looks like we’re stuck here. You are mental anyway if you think we can fly around that mushroom at the border. You see the footage of that thing? It’s absolutely massive!’’

  ‘’Okay, so fly to North America.’’ My dad told him, ready to pull his wallet from his pocket.

  ‘’No Richard, no amount of money in the world is going to get me to fly anywhere near that cloud, plus the United States already closed its borders.’’ Ron sighed as he took another big draw from his cigar.

  ‘’Cana-‘’ My dad wanted to say but he was interrupted by the newscaster, still going over the radio on my phone. In silence we listened to the newscaster, sounding more panicked now, from my phone.

  ‘’Canada has also reportedly closed its borders as all flights to Europe have been detoured, and there is no place to land or shelter any more aircrafts.’’

  ‘’Somewhere in South America?’’ My dad sighed desperately.

  ‘’We don’t have enough fuel in this plane, and nowhere to gas up.’’ The pilot shrugged. Oddly enough, while my dad was still bargaining for us to get out, it seemed like the pilot had already given up and was resigned to his fate. He walked off towards his plane, lighting up another cigar.

  My mum sunk down on the ground, sobbing loudly. My whole body shaking, I started to walk the tarmac runway, as it was clear we were stuck here. My dad was still listing off possible countries to flee to, although Ron had long since walked away and was no longer listening. My phone was – although lagging and breaking up – still broadcasting as they were talking about another bomb that had fallen in Germany. My phone finally lost all signal and the newscasters voice was gone.

  None of us were getting out of here. That much was clear.

  The sky was turning red and dark and upon the horizon, more and more mushrooms clouds began to form.

  Chapter 1: Potatoes

  It was still dark when I left my room, closing the heavy wooden door and locking it before walking over the cold, concrete corridor.

  Pulling up the scarf to cover my mouth, I walked down the stairs. Down on the streets, a large stream of factory workers in their blue overalls were making their way to the same factories to which I was headed. The cold was cutting into my face and even with the thick jacket I was wearing, I was still shivering. Walking from block B, I passed the gates. Looking at the picture of my license, I realized it looked nothing like me after the past few years. My hair was a lot longer, but also a lot thinner, as was I.

  We got enough to eat to keep us alive, but it was barely living.

  ‘’Ve Klein?’’

  ‘’Yeah, that’s me.’’ I said as he handed my license back to me.

  Looking up, a train rushed by over the overhead train tracks. Disappearing between the buildings, I figured it was the produce workers making their way to the fields. In the summer it must be nice to be on the fields, but in this harsh winter, nobody in the city envied them. The factories were dirty, and the work was hard, but at least it was warm. Although there were enough rumours to discredit the fact that people were working the fields voluntarily. I didn’t know anybody that worked there and came back on a daily basis, neither did anybody else I knew. People usually went out there and never came back.

  As everybody was moving around the city, the trains kept rushing overhead. There were some stations scattered around various city blocks and in the main square where the field workers could step on the train and fresh produce could be brought in. I had never been on one, I always wondered what it was like. But with all the soldiers guarding them, it was hard to even catch a glimpse inside of one.

  I had heard that the people in the upper circle rode them for fun on the few days off we got. It seemed kind of odd, considering the rumours that people were forced to take them to the fields, only to never return again.

  Mostly the people working for the nation themselves were eligible for traveling on the trains on a daily basis. They were always easy to spot with their red and black uniforms.

  Walking between the tower blocks and the guards, I looked over the sea of workers. The large main square was coming into view and the snow finally stopped falling. From other entrances to the main square, workers from all the other blocks joined us. Getting onto the large road from the main square towards the factories. Above the door of every factory, there was the logo of the nation, as if it were always watching over us.

  I walked by the gates of the upper ring that bordered the side of the square. The gates were full of armed soldiers that followed me with their eyes. I wondered what life was like behind those gates. All I knew was that they probably had it a lot better than I did. The upper circle was reserved for the Nation leaders, soldiers and a few special Nation workers.

  Walking over the large square, people were still cleaning from the day of plenitude yesterday. It wasn’t quite what I would call plentiful for me, although I did get more food than usual. It had also been a work free day and for the first time in weeks I didn’t feel as tired as usual. I had slept well, not having to work early and eaten well with all the extra food I had gotten. I had wanted to save some, but being hungry, I couldn’t help but eat everything.

  On the side of the road was the monument to all the workers who had died in the flood. Although I hardly remembered the flood and the time before it, it did feel different. I wasn’t sure if it was because my family was still around then, or if i
t had been childish wonder.

  Not that it mattered. Even before that, life had not always been a joy. First there was the war, then the fallout and then the flood.

  In-between the large workers, I was one of the few women that had been unsuccessful. Wasn’t even due to any fault of my own, but the man I was matched to and supposed to marry, died in a factory accident. Not that I cared, I didn’t even know him. It just meant I would have to support myself doing shitty jobs in the factories, until the Nation decided it was time for me to get married again. My current job assignment wasn’t too bad though. At least I got to work in a warm kitchen and it wasn’t a dangerous job. Besides that, I was also eligible to receive cans of food every week, and that helped me out big time, as I could save them up.

  Walking into the large factory, I walked straight towards the kitchen. Most of the workmen were already here and the noise from inside the factory was deafening. Walking through the sea of blue overalls, I finally arrived in the kitchen. The rest of the kitchen crew was already there. Justine was finishing up her cigarette, as Tari was sitting beside Ailish, and Edin tying up her hair. I had worked with these women for the past year. We talked a bit while we worked, but I mostly spent my time socializing with Justine and Edin smoking outside, not really during work time. It was usually to get away from Ailish. Tari usually kept to herself.

  I didn’t care much for the gossip, but it was nice to get away from the potatoes – and I liked the free cigarettes.

  The loud bells rung through the factory, letting us know that the work day had begun.

  ‘’Did you all enjoy the day of plenitude of 2068?’’ Ailish asked with a big smile on her face. As usual, she was the first one I saw smiling on this gloomy, snowy day. She was also the only one who was a big fan of yesterday’s national holiday.

  ‘’Bet you got the motherload.’’ Edin said as she grabbed a knife and started on her first potato of the day.

  Edin was one of the few people in the whole Nation that I would consider my friend. She was a young mother of four with a no nonsense attitude that I admired. She had taken me under her wing during my first weeks in the factory, and I appreciated her friendship a lot. I knew her husband was of no good, spending his coupons from his work on liquor, and she was struggling to feed her family alone with the small amount of food and coupons she got from her work in the factory.