Aftermath (1/4)

JULIA

Chuck gazed in horror at the towering column of smoke, transfixed by its terrible beauty. The harsh light illuminated the grocery store like a beacon, revealing a grisly tableau. Bodies lay scattered about the floor like discarded mannequins.

Julia's wits slowly returned to her, and she clutched Eva close to her chest as she made her way towards Bryan's lifeless corpse. Kneeling beside him, she saw the wound where the stray bullet had pierced his side. A fatal blow to the back of his skull had unleashed a torrent of blood and brain matter, leaving his once-vibrant eyes dull and lifeless.

She looked sorrowfully at his pale, still features, recalling the last time she had seen a dead body - her beloved grandmother. Even then, she had been struck by the eerie sense of being faced with a wax doll, bereft of grace, movement, and life. Bryan's corpse was an abandoned husk devoid of the spark of life that had once animated it.

The bodies were strewn throughout the grocery store in a grotesque spectacle, and the one before her was her husband's. It was an unbearable reality, one she could never have imagined, one that deep down she could already feel herself denying as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

"My poor love, what have they done to you?" she murmured. "What madness is this? I don't understand what's happening... I can't go on without you…"

In that moment, nothing mattered but the two of them. They were locked in a moment beyond time, a space where they could say their last goodbyes and find peace in the midst of chaos. The calm after the storm, the eye of the hurricane.

In this daze, Julia remained ignorant of the colossal mushroom cloud looming outside, growing at an extraordinary pace, an ominous threat that the other survivors in the grocery store could not tear their eyes from. And in her distraction, she had failed to notice the orphaned girl take advantage of the situation to sneak away from her supervision.

Julia lifted her head, searching frantically for Eva, her heart racing as she scanned the surroundings.

"Mom!" Eva stuttered, her voice trembling. "Mom, wake up…"

But her mother lay motionless, fallen near the counter. A fatal bullet had penetrated her throat, leaving behind a gaping hole. Her frozen hands clutched desperately at her neck, as if trying to hold onto her fleeting life. And though Eva, the innocent little girl, attempted to pry her mother's hands apart, the dark red stream continued to ooze from the wound despite her efforts.

With tears streaming down her face, Eva shook her mother's limp body, yet her unresponsive eyes bore no witness to her daughter's distress. "Mommy!" the young girl wailed.

As Julia rushed to Eva's side and held her close, the sight beyond the window caught her eye. A strange light permeated the horizon, blinding in its intensity. And for a moment, she was frozen in awe.

Stumbling back, away from the blinding light, her foot caught on something. Another body, a harsh reminder of the cruel reality that plagued their world.

"Ron?" she called out.

Julia bent down over the fallen gamekeeper, saw the bullet hole that pierced his abdomen, the blood spilling onto the floor. Unconscious and deathly pale, his fate was sealed.

Lost in confusion, she heard herself screaming for Chuck.

The trucker, his arm raised against the brightness of the explosion in the distance, stumbled back into the depths of the grocery store and approached Ron's lifeless body. Julia could see the terror etched on his face, his tremors running through his hands. The devastation had clearly taken its toll on Chuck, too.

Chuck knelt and forced himself to examine the gamekeeper's body, but the sight of the expanding pool of blood left him numb.

"I feel nothing... damn it, nothing!" he exclaimed, his nerves frayed. Overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation, Chuck struggled to process what was happening.

"We have to get out of here, Julia," he declared gravely. "Whatever's happening is far worse than we imagined."

"What's happening outside, Chuck?" Julia asked, desperation creeping into her voice.

"There's no time to explain," Chuck replied, his eyes still fixed on Ron's lifeless form. "We have to leave now. There's nothing we can do for him or anyone else here."

"I can't leave him, not here... I can't..."

Chuck grasped her by the shoulders, his intense blue eyes betraying a depth of distress beyond measure. The air was heavy with the scent of coffee, alcohol, and gunpowder. Blood, warm and thick, crept across the cracked linoleum floor.

"Listen, Julia," Chuck said. "You told me to save what could be saved, didn't you? Bryan is dead, Ron is dead. Those murdering lowlifes are dead. It's just us now. I've seen people die before, but this... this is beyond anything I've witnessed. We can still escape and save the little girl. But we have to go. Now!"

Julia stared back at him, shaken to her core.

"Do you understand?" Chuck pressed.

Julia nodded, tears slipping silently down her cheeks.

"Then let's go. Take what we can, and leave. I don't want to stay here a second longer."

Chuck turned, but Eva was nowhere in sight.

He scanned the dark grocery store and spotted her, not far away, bent over her mother's corpse. It was a harsh reality for a young child to face, but there was no denying the brutality of this world.

As Chuck approached, he noticed Eva's eyes were filled with tears as she begged her mother to wake up. He knelt down beside her, and in a soft voice, asked her name.

"Eva," she replied.

Chuck gently placed his hand on her shoulder and asked, "How old are you, Eva?"

"Six," she whispered.

Julia's heart ached at the sight of this innocent child amid the brutality that surrounded them.

"I have a daughter too, you know," said Chuck. "She's a bit older than you, thirteen today."

Eva looked at him, uncomprehending.

"Why won't my mommy wake up? What's wrong with her?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Chuck hesitated, knowing he had to break the news gently. "Your mother has gone to a better place, sweetie. But she'll always be with you, I promise," he said, trying to reassure her.

"In the same place as the lady?" Eva asked, pointing to where Chery lay next to her husband.

Chuck felt anger rising within him, but he kept his composure for Eva's sake.

"No, not the same place. A much better place," he replied, placing a cloth over Chery's face.

He then lifted Eva into his arms, holding her tightly.

"I'm sorry, little girl. We need to go now," he said, looking back to where Julia was saying goodbye to Bryan.

Chuck walked towards the entrance and set Eva down beside Julia.

"Just a moment," he said.

He returned to Jack's corpse, which Chery, frozen in death, held tightly in her rigid arms. He almost felt moved at the sight of the macabre embrace. He grabbed the abandoned magnum that had fallen at Jack's side.

Chuck had lost his revolver during the scuffle with Billy, and searching for it in the waning light would be too time-consuming. He reached into Jack's pocket, where he found the keys to the pickup.

There was a noise from behind the counter. Chuck advanced, gun in hand. The grocer's wife was quietly caressing her deceased husband's hair. A bullet had ended his life, and she had remained there, forgotten by all. Her terrified cries had faded away. Chuck addressed her gently.

"Come with us, ma'am."

"No, I can't," she stuttered. "I can't leave him."

"Are you sure? There's nothing left to hope for here."

"Don't worry, I'll manage. You go without me," she replied firmly.

Frustrated by her senseless refusal, Chuck circled the counter and grabbed the trembling old woman's arm.

"Have you seen what's happening outside?" he yelled. "It's a nuclear explosion! This situation is serious, far from a small power outage! We have to flee!"

The grocer's wife, her nerves frayed to their very limit, sprang to her feet. Tears brimming in her eyes, her hands reached for Chery's revolver, which she pointed unwaveringly at Chuck.

"I'm telling you, I'm staying here! Go without me!" she cried out, her voice trembling with fear and determination.

Chuck slowly raised his hands as he retreated. The magnum at his waist remained holstered.

"Very well," he murmured, his tone resigned. "As you wish."

He made his way towards the door, keeping a watchful eye on the woman. Julia and Eva stood by, transfixed. Chuck opened the door to the grocery store.

Suddenly, just as they were all preparing to leave, a weak voice spoke up. A man's voice, a faint moan accompanied by an almost inaudible breath.

"Ch-Chuck… don't leave me to rot here..." the voice pleaded.