'Til the Fallout

Chapter 1

"Will you marry me?"

Four words. Fourteen letters. That was all it took for Mandy's facade to shatter and crumble to the ground. Drawing her hands close to her chest, she shuddered with each breath as tears welled in her eyes.

"No—" she choked out. "I'm so—I'm so, so sorry, Ethan— but I can't marry you."

A myriad of expressions crossed Ethan's face upon her answer: disbelief, concern, heartbreak. The ring was shaking in his grasp as he slowly put it back into his pocket. He turned away from her and looked out the windshield into the distance; almost as if he couldn't bear to look at her.

Mandy turned herself to look out the passenger window, her own guilt was wracking her mind. Picking up her clutch, she took out some tissues to dab away her tears. She didn't want to ruin the makeup her mom had spent an hour on for prom.

"Why?"

Mandy straightened up as Ethan's voice rang through the cab of the car. She turned to face him, and she felt her heart crack even further. His eyes were tinged red as though he were about to cry; his hair was mussed from running his fingers through it.

"I'm pregnant—"

"You're pregnant? Mandy that doesn't affect anything. I love you, and I'll love our—"

"It might not be yours!"

She watched him freeze for the second time that evening. Tears slid freely down his cheeks as all the color drained from his face. Seconds felt like minutes as they stared each other down.

"I can't—" Ethan rasped, breaking the silence between them. "I need a minute, Mandy. I...I'm going inside."

Mandy barely had the chance to reply as he opened the driver's door and exited the car. The boom of the door slamming shut felt like a physical blow to her chest. Her breath hitched as she watched him walk towards the high school, as he walked away from her. The floodgates opened as Mandy buried her face in her hands and wept. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her senior year, and instead, everything was crumbling around her.

A tremor rocked both herself and the car, bright light glinting between her fingers as she sobbed. Shocked and curious, she lowered her hands and looked out the windshield. Her face went cold as she watched a mushroom cloud bloom into existence on the horizon. Squinting to try and get a better look, Mandy noticed a shimmer of dust and heat that was racing from the cloud towards herself and the school.

Peeling her eyes away from the cloud she looked out the window to see Ethan frozen in the middle of the parking lot, staring at the mushroom cloud. Looking back, Mandy saw that the wave was picking up speed and more dust and debris as it rushed closer to them. Desperate to snap him out of whatever trance he was in, she reached over into the driver's side and pressed down on the car horn to honk and get his attention.

The blare of the horn seemed to snap Ethan out of it, and he turned his attention to her and the car. Mandy could hear a dull howl that slowly grew louder each moment the debris cloud sped closer.

She could see fear clouding his face as he ran towards the car, running the few yards between them like he was running the winning touchdown. He wasn't fast enough. Mandy screamed as the debris cloud that had been advancing on them engulfed their surroundings. The wailing of the wind was overpowering now. It thoroughly drowned out everything else, even her own thoughts.

Her shrieks of terror reached a new octave as she witnessed the gale-force winds pick Ethan up like he was nothing more than a rag doll. Whipped backward in the direction the wave was moving, Ethan slammed into the windshield. Mandy felt her eyes roll into the back of her head. Too much, everything was too much, and she couldn't handle it.

When Mandy awoke, two men in military uniform were removing her from the car. She tried to look around, but everything ached. However, she could still hear the chatter of the soldiers.

"...Is she the only survivor?"

"There was a boy on the windshield... The building collapsed, but we're combing for survivors."

"I heard the boy is rabid; he needs to be put down—"

"I'd keep your mouth shut, Lieutenant, if you know what's good for you."

When she was set down by the soldiers, a female who seemed to be a field doctor looked her over and asked her questions about how she felt and her health. The doctor explained they were a response team, sent to search for survivors and bring them to safe-zones away from the fallout.

"What happened to Ethan?" Mandy asked, interrupting the doctor mid-question.

Startled, the doctor replied. "You mean the boy? He's...indisposed. Whatever was in the fallout is adversely affecting people who are directly exposed to it."

"Will he still be coming with us?"

"Ethan will not be coming with us. He's a danger to himself and others—"

"I can't leave without him! He's my boyfriend, and I'm pregnant—"

"That's all the more reason to go with us," the doctor stressed. "The radiation could affect your child. You need to depart as soon as possible. I can't disclose what the fallout did, but I can tell you Ethan is no longer the person who you once knew."

Mandy looked down at her abdomen. The doctor was right. She had to start thinking about more than what she wanted, but what was best for her child.

"I'll—" She paused, placing a hand on her abdomen, "I'll come with you."

Grasping her other hand, the doctor said, "Thank you. You're cleared medically to travel. The first transport leaves in ten minutes. Stay safe."