3 Explosions

Lucas woke up, opened his eyes with great difficulty and quickly closed them when he saw an intense white light. Just by this vision he already knew where he was, he was sure he was in a medical room. He didn't remember very well what happened, just playing chess with his father and nothing else.

He tried to move, but to his surprise he couldn't feel his legs, his arms were very sore, so he didn't try to move them. Suddenly, he heard a vague and distant voice, even with his thoughts clouded and confused, he could recognize the voice.

It was his father who seemed to say:

"Lucas! Am I -coming?"

He didn't quite understand, but he could feel his father's worry and despair. Not understanding why he was like this, he forced his mind to remember what had happened and thus felt a headache like never before.

His effort gave him an answer, he remembered a white and dark light, after that he felt as if a strong wind had blown him away. Still, those memories didn't help him understand his father's despair. So he waited until his senses returned to normal to try to understand what really happened. With about 5 minutes waiting, his senses returned to normal and he was finally able to talk to his father.

"Dad, what happened?"

His voice was still weak, but his father could understand.

"Lucas, don't think about anything right now, just concentrate on recovering!"

Ferdinando's voice was still a little desperate, but he was relieved that his son could speak, and apparently he didn't have any head problems.

He could see his father's concern, but he was determined to know what happened. His father, helpless, had to tell him everything.

"So, it's been two days since we played chess, that black and white light was the beginning of it all. Apparently, the president of North Korea went crazy and dropped all his dark matter bombs on the biggest countries in the world, but that wasn't enough, NJ with its 'fanaticism' took the opportunity to get involved in it too, and dropped its bombs , other countries had no choice but to retaliate."

"Now we are in the 3rd world war and Brazil, together with the US and company are dropping their bombs, the world is in chaos! Those old shits!"

"Lucky that we, some doctors and others managed to escape to a fast bunker, if not, I don't even want to imagine what could happen."

The young man heard everything and was scared, after all, he had only seen about wars and bombs on TV or the novels he read. Now, witnessing this was totally different! He didn't have the slightest power to stay alive, nor did he know where the next bomb would fall.

He was totally helpless and scared, not having control over his own life was hopeless. Then he realized that his father didn't tell him what happened to him so he couldn't feel his legs and again, out of fear, he refused to try to lift his head to see something he didn't want.

So he asked:

"Dad, what happened to me?"

Ferdinando shuddered, he thought he could get away from this subject by telling him about the war, but apparently… he couldn't. Ferdinando had to calm down now, he wanted to pass on all the confidence he had to his son. He stopped a little and said:

"Well, it's no big deal, we just immobilize you so you don't take any risks, and we apply anesthesia to make sure."

A simple sentence, short and not revealing. However, Lucas noticed his father's sudden change in attitude, he went very quickly from someone desperate to someone confident and calm. This young man was not stupid, he knew of all his father's efforts, he knew how much Ferdinando sacrificed for him.

He said:

"Dad, what really happened?"

His tone was calm, he didn't want to be the crybaby who needs care. He was now 19 years old, and despite being raised with the greatest pampering that his father could give him, he knew he was not a child and from what he knew of society, at that age he should already take care of himself.

Ferdinando then realized that his son was no longer a child who needed to be 'protected' from the truth of the world, he deserved to know.

"Lucas, when the first bomb fell and we saw that black and white light, we were thrown against the wall, we passed out and most of the medical equipment inside the hospital was destroyed or rendered useless. I woke up about 40 minutes later and when I realized what happened you were still out."

"I carried you up the stairs until I found the nurses and doctors, but it wasn't much help, we were all disoriented and still a little confused, when we finally got some basic equipment to see your condition…"

Ferdinando stopped for a moment, he would always be strong in front of his son, but now he didn't have that much strength. With watery eyes he said:

"His daily blood drainage was delayed, the only way to save his life was through an operation. The doctors did everything possible, based on the equipment available, but in the middle of the surgery…" Ferdinando stopped once more to swallow his tears and continue, "a second bomb fell, despite not having the same impact as the first one, it still managed to affect the surgery by causing one of the doctors to accidentally cut one of her nerves."

At this point Ferdinand couldn't contain himself any longer, he couldn't look his son in the eye and tell him he couldn't walk anymore. Lucas, in turn, asked:

"And my arms?"

Ferdinando said:

"They have been displaced and cracked since the first bomb, the doctors have already put them in place, but we didn't have splints in the hospital. It's only now that we're in the bunker that we found the splints and plaster, but this delay has hurt them even more."

Lucas was stunned, he had a lot of information to process, first it was the war, then his legs and now his arms, well, at least his arms had hope.

The young man finally had the courage to lift his head and see his body, but he didn't find anything strange, his legs were still there, even though he couldn't move them, they were there. He saw the natural dark gray room of a bunker where the priority was survival rather than comfort. He saw his father with some minor injuries on his face and body, when he turned his head he also saw a small medical team of 5 people, in it there were three he already knew and two new faces.

There were a doctor, a doctor and three nurses. He kind of tried to smile, but after seeing the downcast, listless faces of the team, he hesitated. He recalled that he was not the only one with a family, these doctors probably had parents, children, siblings, spouses, friends and even a pet who didn't know if they were alive or well.

Being safe now while not knowing if his family and loved ones were all right was agonizing. Even more so in a situation like this, where no one knew where the next bomb might fall, so he lowered his head and lay down, so he waited for time to pass, constantly hearing and feeling tremors and explosions.

Almost three weeks later, father and son were in a room with tables spread out like a cafeteria, they were playing chess as usual to pass the time. Other people were around, eating or talking, totaling 13 people, there were doctors, nurses, secretaries and a few more.

Despite the conversation, everyone's tone was hopeless low. On the radio they listened to the desperate news of the war. They heard how a quarter of the world's population died in the war. Most had already accepted the death of their acquaintances.

When they heard about the beam of energy that would hit the earth, those few who had hope just collapsed, life was so unfair! Why would this happen?

In these last 3 days the bunker was completely silent, even Lucas and Ferdinando had nothing to do.

Father and son were in their separate room, the father was lying on the bed and the son who was in a wheelchair asked:

"Dad, do you regret something?"

Ferdinando thought for a moment and said:

"I could have spent more time with you."

Lucas teared up at that. He approached his chair to the bed and with his arms already recovered he moved to the bed and lay down beside his father saying:

"I love you dad, see you in heaven if he exists."

Ferdinando couldn't control himself anymore either, hugged his son and cried with him. So they awaited death and as predicted the light from the red and green energy beam arrived.

This light enveloped the entire Earth, there was not a corner of the planet that was not penetrated. Everyone on Earth lost their senses and awaited death.