Yellow Skies

Part 1

"The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one."

-Albert Einstein

The scream was so shrill I could have sworn my eardrums had burst if it weren't for the fact that I heard what followed soon after...

"Oh, God...Paul, put it down...please God make him put it down..."

Carly had her hands on her face and was peering between her fingers at the horrific scene that was unfolding in front of her.

Paul had found the key to the weapons cash, and had taken out some sort of pistol. His hand was shaking so bad it was hard to tell what he was aiming at. I blinked my eyes twice to make sure it was really happening and it wasn't a dream, or that maybe I was just going crazy. But no, there he was, shy Paul holding his own against Jake. I rubbed the dirt and blood flecks off of my glasses using what was left of my shirt, and placed them back on my face. I could now see the tears streaming down Paul's cheeks as he struggled to form words into a sentence.

"Y-you..k..killed her...."

There was fear in Jake's eyes, he had obviously thought that Paul wasn't a threat...none of us had. I backed away a little further, stumbling over some debris as Arthur tried to persuade him to put the gun down.

"Calm down Paul...I'm sure we can work something out..."

"Shut the hell up Art! He's too much of a puss to even do anything about it! Come on pussy, pull the trigger! Do it!!!"

Jake spit at Paul's feet and Arthur actually looked like he was at a loss for words...it was so unexpected...

We had come so far...we had survived for so long...I took a look around at everyone and realized how different we all looked. Carly's clothes were shredded so much that she was wearing practically nothing. All of us still had no hair, and our faces were covered in dirt and sweat. We all had terrible acne now, and Paul had some sort of boil on his nose that was taking over his face. Yet, for some reason, we all looked so much older...so different...how long had it been? I hadn't looked at the calendar we kept for a couple weeks...

I lost my train of thought as a shot rang out through the night. Carly screamed even louder than before, and Jake yelped in pain. He had been pinned up against some sort of fallen wall, and blood was quickly leaking out of his side. Paul's shaking hand had caused the bullet to graze his side instead of going directly through his heart. Paul threw the gun on the ground and immediately started bawling. He curled up into a ball and began rocking back and forth among the dirt and debris.

"I want my grandma back...I just wanna go home...."

Carly had rushed over to Jake who was clutching his side as blood seeped through his hands. Arthur was just standing with his mouth open, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"ARTHUR!! Get over here he needs help!!! You too Peter!! Oh Jesus he's dying...SOMEBODY HELP!!!"

I rushed over to them, and nearly tripped on Paul who was still whimpering on the ground. Arthur had ripped off one of his sleeves to rap around Jake's waist, and I was reminded how strong he had become as his exposed arm quickly wrapped the sleeve around the now very pale looking Jake. I suddenly felt light-headed at the sight of blood, and quickly turned away to release a stream of vomit.

"Christ Peter! Pull yourself together! Go get the others before it's too late!"

I stood there, staring off into space with vomit dribbling down my chin. It seemed that everything I knew, morals, rules, religion...none of it mattered now. We were all going to die soon enough, and Paul had just decided to speed up the process for Jake.

"PETER! Snap out of it!!"

I turned away once more to let out a second stream, this one not quite as large as the first. It was bad, we had hardly enough water as it was, and I had just wasted a full days' worth. I was crouched over, my hands on my knees and my glasses dangling on my ears. I wanted to push them back so they wouldn't drop into the puddle of puke at my feet, but I was breathing so hard and started to feel dizzy...way too dizzy...then I felt a soft touch on my shoulder.

It was Arthur, and he turned my shoulder so I was facing him even though I felt like I would pass out any second.

"Look Peter, none of us thought this would happen, but the last thing I need right now is for you to fall apart too. All I need you to do is to go back to camp and get the others. Can you do that?"

He was looking straight into my eyes, and he looked determined and ready for anything like always.

But I could sense a hint of something else this time...not fear, we all had it. Even Arthur would get waves of fear like the rest of us, but his facial expression looked more like defeated. Almost as if he was ready to give up, like he had lost. I had stopped taking deep breaths and I swallowed down a third wave of puke so I could respond.

"...yeah, I can do it. Are you alright?"

"Ha. Fuck, like any of us are-"

"ARTHUR!! GET OVER HERE! What the hell are you doing?! Peter can handle himself just fine!!"

Carly was totally breaking down, and nobody seemed to be paying any attention to Paul who was still rocking back and forth and mumbling under his breath. Jake was losing blood fast, and I could see the deep red color outlined against the white piece of wrecked wall he was leaning against. He was wheezing hard and cursing profusely at Paul.

"Fuck...you little bitch.."

He tried to get up to go after Paul but Carly pushed him against the wall and Arthur quickly ran over to help her.

He turned back to look at me and gave one last "everything will be ok," look and I started running back to camp.

It wasn't long before I started to jog, and then slow to a fast walk, and eventually just a gradual walk. I felt like I was letting them down, but I had to conserve my energy.

The hazy yellow sky was starting to turn darker, and I thought back to the nights when we could see deep into space and look at shooting stars and even other planets. It pained me to think that I might never see them again, but then something caught my attention. It was a light in the sky, a grayish white light that seemed almost ghostlike. The sun wasn't out at this kind of day, and it certainly didn't look that white...

I stopped walking and spit on my glasses to clear them off. Then, through the dirt smeared lenses I realized what it was.

The moon.

I smiled to myself, and I could have stayed there for hours just looking at it, just knowing that it was still THERE. Anything that reminded me of the time when the sky was blue and life was actually a thing to celebrate was something that gave me hope. It gave us all hope.

I quickly looked away as I remembered what I was supposed to be doing, and took off in a dead sprint towards camp. Maybe there was hope...maybe all the things Arthur said really were true...

As I neared the camp the sky had become darker and the moon was so incredibly beautiful I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I had tripped several times and fallen down, but it was definitely worth being able to stare at something so beautiful, so unharmed. I knew I was close when I heard The Beatles being blasted from the camp's giant record player. Secretly, I hoped that Jake would die because-

No. I didn't hope that, I couldn't. We all needed to live. No matter how much of a dick he was he still needed to survive...we couldn't afford another death. If anyone was to be shot, well thank God it was Jake. Screw Arthur's "every single person here is just as valuable as the next" crap, Jake was a down right piece of shit and he deserved to be shot. Maybe not die, but definitely shot.

I smiled as the searchlights homed in on me, and I was instantly recognized by the guards. I was sweaty, tired as shit and about ready to pass out, but I was still smiling when the guards ran up to me to ask what the problem was. I looked up at the moon and grinned.

There was still hope.