A Life Sentence

July 6th, 2026

July 6th, 2026

It has been a long time since I last wrote in this thing, not since the night of my bender. The memory still makes me shudder a little when I think about it. Lucas forgave me for acting like an ass. Apparently it was far worse than I remember, but he said he realized I lost something important to me in the worst possible way. I actually gained a new respect for him. Perhaps he does understand the bond Elena and I had, or at least recognized it, if he had never experienced it.

It still hurts to think about her, a lot. Though it is not as bad as it once was. I think I am getting better at hiding the pain from myself. During the day it isn't too bad since I usually have enough work to do to keep me occupied. The night though, during the night is terrible. All the memories and emptiness come flooding back. I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider eating my gun. I am glad I only had that one night of drinking. If I had made a nightly thing of it I probably would not be here now.

As it turned out Lucas was having similar issues, but he called it boredom. We never ran the generators, they were too important so we couldn't just waste gas playing video games and you can only read so much before even your eyes get sick of looking at words. As luck would have it though we finally got a break in the monotony at night.

So Lucas had gotten into the habit of going for walks at night. I told him he was stupid for doing it, that someone might see him and kill him, but he accurately pointed out that we had not seen anyone since we came out here. Besides, I wasn't his dad, I just made him promise not to be a dumbass. That would be hard for him. As it turned out his walks possibly saved both our lives.

One night I was sitting on the front porch listening to the bugs and looking at the sky. By now most, if not all, the power was out and without the ambient light it was easy to see how beautiful the night sky really was. I guess that was one good thing about the world as we knew it ending. It turned the entire planet into a giant dark sky park.

Suddenly Lucas came running up as if his life depended on it. As it happens it was a full moon that night and I could see him pretty good. Once he got closer I could see that he had a gun in his hand.

There were five people coming down the road. Lucas watched them for a bit and saw they were stopping at every car and every house they came across. It was clear they were looking for supplies, a set of wheels or something. Well our house would be like hitting the lottery.

We sprang into action. We rigged up some boards over the doors and made sure that all the warning signs were in place. We made sure every candle and lamp was out. We chopped small holes in a few boards that covered key windows on the house. Just big enough to see through, but not so big as they looked like peep holes.

We had actually drilled for this. One of the few times in our lives we took something seriously, at least until Omega. We knew what each of us was supposed to do and also planned out an escape plan. We had plenty of weapons and the wood we hoped would provide some cover. Within minutes we were ready.

So then all we had to do was wait, and it was excruciating. The entire time I could hear my heart beating in my ears, but oddly enough I wasn't afraid, not really. If I had to describe it I think it was more like excitement that I felt. Something was finally breaking up the tedious monotony, and for a moment Elena was pushed to the farthest reaches of mind.

Of course I spent that wait going over everything in my head again and again. Then it occurred to me. There was a huge hole in our plan. The car, the damn car. It was sitting out front and while it was filthy it was obvious it was working order. We made sure to never leave anything in it, but I started to wonder if it was too clean on the inside.