The Beginning of the End (Peterick)

Chapter 1

-Pete-

I walk down the empty streets leaving footprints in the ash with my boots, hand in hand with Bronx. This city has nothing left to offer us. Its been stripped of all resources leaving a shell of civilization as a reminder of what once was. Abandoned cars, shattered glass, and the bodies of the dead decorated the street. You get use to the smell. Eventually.

"I'm hungry, Daddy." Bronx said to me.

"I know buddy. I'm looking." I told him and squeezed his hand. Through the ash in the sky, you could see the faint glow of the setting sun, and walking through the streets, you could feel the temperature drop with every minute.

"Come on, Bronx. We gotta go home. Its getting too cold to be out."

"Can we eat tomorrow? We haven't had food since the day before yesterday?" He said with sad eyes.

"Of course. We'll find something tomorrow. I promise." I could feel the tears forming in my eyes as I picked him up and hugged him. He's gotten frighteningly skinny. It breaks my heart that I can't provide for my own son like I should.

We walked back home in the dark with the little sunlight that breaks through the clouds of ash as our guide. I looked in all the empty buildings and empty stores that we've already hit looking for food. Rarely do we come up with anything, but when we do, Bronx gets most of it.

When we get back to our home, a small apartment on the 4th floor of and apartment building, I start a fire in the fire place. One the benefits of living on the top floor is that we get fire places. I watched the orange light dance throughout the room proving both the warmth and light the sun no longer gives.

Just for shits and giggles, I check the kitchen again for food. I do this every night when we come up empty, but I can't ever give up the hope of looking. Empty. I go sit next to the fire with Bronx.

"Daddy... Is... Is mommy d.. dead?" Bronx ask as he looked into the fire. My heart stopped at the mention of her and memories came flooding back. Memories of our first date. Memories of our marriage. Memories of our little Bronx.
Memories of her death.

"Why do you ask?" I still don't know how to explain it to him.

"She's not home anymore, and I see you look at her picture and cry." He said looking at me, his blonde curls falling into his face, tears rolling down his cheeks. Then I can feel my own tears go down my face.

"Y-yes. She's dead... She died helping us so we could live." I said through tears. Then he started crying. I picked him up and set him in my lap, hugging him as he cried and sniffled into my chest. We sat and cried together for a good half hour

When he eventually calmed down he looked up at me with big scared eyes "Are we going to die too?"

"No Bronx. You're going to live a full life... I will find a place for us that never runs out of food and is warm and doesn't have ash in the streets or in the houses. A clean place. A place away from here." I reassured him.

"You promise?"

"Promise."

"Pinky promise?" He asked holding up his pinky.

"Pinky promise." I said laughing. I gave him my pinky and we locked them together and smiled at each other.

"When are we going there?" He asked.

"As soon as possible." We sat in silence staring into the fire.

"What was it like before they put the sun out?" He asked suddenly.

I remember what it was like. It feels like such a fantasy. A faint memory that hasn't came to mind in 3 years. Its a blurry memory now. Like a story you never forget, but never tell.

"It was.... It was warm and it was bright. During they day the world was light up and the sun was blinding, giving a warm heat to the world. Birds sang and flew in the air and the grass was so green. God you probably don't even know what grass looks like." I started telling him. "The world was so alive and everything on it was alive. People drove their cars, they walked to work. I use to hate how many people there were but now I miss it. There was always something going on. The sky was so blue some days. You can't see it now through the ash in the sky."

"It doesn't sound real...." Bronx said in a slow disbelief.

"Haha. I know. Everything is so different now. I'll be right back." I got up and stumbled into my room, getting a box full of memories and bringing back to.Bronx. "These are pictures of before. You were only 3 when it happened."

He pulled out pictures and looked.

"That's you're mom and I at our wedding... This one is the three of us at the park... This one is your 2nd birthday... This is when we took you to the zoo..." I.showed him countless pictures. If he got tired of it he didn't stop me. I kept going mostly for me because I needed to relive these memories.

"Daddy, I'm getting tired."

"Alright bud. Goodnight. I love you." I said kissing his forehead.

"Goodnight. I love you too." He wrapped himself up in his pile of blankets and drifted to sleep while I kept looking through pictures.