Nuked

Chapter 1

"Brook..."

I stare at him. "What is it?"

"I'm bored..."

I sigh and look at Mom and Dad. They shrug and give me the look that says, "keep him entertained."

I look back at my little brother. "Okay... What do you want to do? Draw, or play cards?"

"I wanna do something different! I wanna go outside, Brook! Don't you?"

I give him a small smile. "Everyone wants to go outside, Ty."

"Then why can't we? Let's go back inside the house." Tyler suggests.

"Ty, we just can't, okay?" I say, trying not to lose my patience. "I'm sorry. This is all we have."

In the meantime, I could hear Mom and Dad talking softly in the corner.

"I'm so scared, Hugo." Mom whispers. "I'm so scared for my baby..."

Dad puts a hand on Mom's giant stomach. "It's okay, Libby. I promise it'll be okay."

"But Hugo, how are we going to live? We're so unprepared, and with 2 children, and one on the way, how is it going to work?" Mom's voice cracks and I can tell she's near tears.

"I love you, Libby. And I love Brook and Ty, so nothing will happen to us. I know the baby's coming soon, but we'll deal with it."

"I did bring diapers..." Mom says thoughtfully.

Dad smiles. "See? We'll be fine."

"Brook." Tyler says, interrupting my trail of thought. "Do you wanna play war?"

I smile. "Sure, Ty. I'll shuffle."

"Can you teach me?" Ty asks.

I nod. "Sure thing."

I spend the next half hour teaching Ty how to shuffle. He's a fast learner for his age, to be honest. But all throughout that, I think about my older brother.

Jack Reyes. He's 20 years old now. He graduated high school 2 years ago, and he moved to Colorado to go to college. I've really missed him, and so has Ty. Ty's 6 years old, and I'm 13.

I'm really scared for Mom, too. She's having another child, which is fine, but she's a little... Let's just say she's older than most pregnant women. And we're in a nuclear apocalypse. The baby is due in a week.

"Brook, put down the next card, okay?" Ty says, tapping me on the shoulder. I snap out of my reverie and put down the card.

Suddenly, we hear a loud knock at the door. Instantly, just like I've practiced, I put a hand over Ty's mouth. Dad grabs Mom's hand, and I hold my breath.

A few minutes pass by, and just as we're about to start talking again, a more harsh knock comes. I quickly put a finger to my lips. Ty nods in understanding.

Suddenly, the person knocks again, and they start yelling. I can't hear what they're saying, but they're definitely yelling loudly. Slowly but carefully, I stand up and pick up my little brother, carrying him to the table. I put him down and, very silently, push him under. Then, I squeeze under myself.

Suddenly, the door flies open.

I gasp in surprise as two men, armed with axes, step into our shelter. Jumping out from under the table, I step in front of it and grab the nearby knife.

"Brook!" Ty shouts.

"Stay under, Ty!" I scream back.

The men drop their weapons in front of us.

"We aren't here to hurt you," the bald guy says.

Dad gapes at him. "Wait, are you..."

"Yes. John Locke," the bald guy tells us.

My eyes widen. Dad's told us so many stories about John Locke. The guy who, when Dad lost his father, told him that everything would be okay. The guy who told him it was just a thing that happened in life.

"Dude!" Dad gasps, running up to him. "It's so good to see you again!"

John laughs and hugs Dad back. "You too, Hugo."

"Um, who's your friend?" Dad asks, looking over at the guy with the mustache.

John smiles. "This is my good friend Richard. We have a shelter a few miles from here. We've been trying to get a signal from the radio, and we finally got one. The government announced they're doing a supply drop.

I look at them suspiciously. "How come we didn't hear it on our radio?"

John shrugs. "I'll check the battery."

I step in front of him. "If you're really John Locke, you'll tell me the name of your ex-girlfriend. The one you broke up with. You asked her to marry you and she said no."

A sad look comes over John's face. "I don't think..."

"Just tell me!" I shout, pointing my knife toward his neck. I feel Ty grab my leg from under the table, his hands cold as ice.

"Helen." John says. "Her name was Helen."

I slowly move away from him, knife still in hand, and walk towards the table. Ty holds on tightly.

"Battery's dead." John says and puts the radio down.

I sigh in annoyance. "You serious?"

John nods. "Afraid so. Supply drop's at noon tomorrow. Richard, if you will."

Richard grabs a watch from his wrist and tosses it towards Dad. Catching the watch, Dad studies it and nods. "Thanks."

"We gotta go. We've been warning everyone." John tells us with a smile. "See you later, Hugo."

"Bye, dude." Dad says. Dad calls everyone dude, even Mom and his kids. I call everyone by their names.

I watch as John walks out the door. I put down the knife carefully on the table and sigh.

"Brook?" Ty asks. I grab his hand and drag him out from under the table. He throws his arms around me. I hug him back with a smile.

Mom suddenly gasps out of nowhere. I quickly look in her direction. She's clutching her stomach with Dad's arm around her.

"Libby, what is it?" Dad asks worriedly.

Mom gasps and grabs her stomach tightly without answering. Tears and sweat roll down her cheeks.

"The... The baby!" Mom shouts. "It's coming!"