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2021-03-01
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Extinction

Summary:

As the world breaks out in nuclear war, a couple attempts to survive by following the government issued guides. Set in America during the Cold War. Inspired by When the Wind Blows and As the World Caves in by Matt Maltese

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๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ‘

Sun shone through the blinds, waking the previously sleeping woman up. She laid in bed a little longer, admiring her husbands handsome face. As she caressed his soft skin, she smiled.

After giving her husband one last look, she removed his arm from around her waist and carefully got up, not wanting to wake him. She put on her robe, and made her way downstairs. It was time to make breakfast.

Making her way downstairs to the kitchen, she passed a window that overlooked the garden. Looking at her lilies and roses, she smiled. She thought about how lucky she was to have such a good home, a good husband, a good life.

Just as she finished putting the crepes and fresh fruit on their respective plates, her husband came downstairs. He was already showered and dressed in his casual clothes since it was his day off.

"Just in time," the woman said, setting the plate down on the dining table. After flicking on the switch for the radio, she prepared the kettle.

"๐ˆ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ, ๐‘๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐š ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐š ๐ง๐ฎ๐œ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ ๐š ๐ง๐ฎ๐œ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐š๐œ๐ค. ๐€ ๐’๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ญ ๐”๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐š๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐จ, "๐„๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐š ๐›๐จ๐ฆ๐› ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐ž๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‚๐ฎ๐›๐š๐ง ๐Œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ž ๐‚๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ. ๐–๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐š๐œ๐ค ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ." ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐ฑ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐จ๐œ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐จ๐ฆ๐› ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง."

"Those damn communists," the woman tutted as she poured the hot water into two teacups.

"It's a good thing I got those pamphlets from the library the other day," she said, setting a cup of black tea in front of her husband.

He hummed as he scanned the pages of the newspaper.

"I just hope those damn brats don't call me in to serve again," he said, taking a sip from the tea.

His wife laughed, "Oh honey, you're much too old to be doing that kind of work. They want strong, young men for that. Plus, you've already done your part in the last war. Now eat your crepes."

The couple ate their breakfast in silence. Nothing but the small clatter of their fork meeting their plate and the radio made a sound.

"๐†๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ž๐ ๐ฉ๐š๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐œ ๐›๐จ๐ฆ๐›. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ฉ๐ข๐œ๐ค ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ง๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐œ ๐ฅ๐ข๐›๐ซ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ž."

"I guess we should take a look at those papers now, huh," she said, grabbing her and her husbands dishes and loading them into the dishwasher. She grabbed a cloth and wiped down the table before hanging it on the ovens handle.

Grabbing the pamphlets from where she left them on the white marble counter tops, she began scanning through them.

"Ah, here we go," she said after finding what she was looking for. "It says here to have bread, nonperishables, and enough water for two weeks. 'Two liters of water is the recommended amount per average person, but quantities might change for children, the elderly and those who are pregnant.'"

"I think we have enough for the both of us in the pantries," she said, nodding, "Oh, Levi. It says here we need green beans, but I don't think we have any."

"Neither of us even like green beans, (Y/N)" Levi said as he continued to read the paper.

"Still, maybe I should make a quick trip to the grocery store, just in case," (Y/N) said, "I could pick up some white paint for the windows too while I'm there."

"What do you need white paint for," Levi asked, sending a soft glare to his wife, "You are not going to ruin my windows."

"It says here we need to paint all the windows white," the woman said, showing him the pamphlet, "See."

"Why in the world would we need to do something like that," Levi said, frowning. He really did not want to paint the windows. They had just gotten new curtains and fixed the floors.

"I suppose to keep out the radiation. Turn on the television, maybe they have more information there," his wife said as she made her way to the living room to turn on the T.V.

As they sat in the couch watching the news, Levi's hand rested on his wife's leg. (Y/N)'s head rested on his shoulder with her hands on his chest. She rubbed light circles with her hand through the thin fabric of his shirt.

Levi sighed, getting up, "This is all the same shit we heard on the radio."

"Yes, I suppose it is," (Y/N) said, also getting up from the cream colored couch. "But we should leave it on, just in case. Why don't you go pick up some food and paint while I get ready?"

"We're not ruining the windows just because of some damn radiation," the man said as he got the keys to his car. He gave (Y/N) a kiss on the cheek before making his way out the door with a simple, "I'll be back soon."

ย 

When (Y/N) finished getting ready, she made her way to the garden. She spent the next few minutes watering the plants and tending to the vegetables. Just as she finished watering her flowers, she saw her husband's blue corvette back up into their drive way.

"This is it?" she asked, staring in shock at the three bags of groceries in the trunk.

"It seems everyone's panic buying," her husband said, handing her the least heavy bag and closing the trunk.

"I guess that makes sense," (Y/N) said, making her way inside. "I suppose we can make this last for at least two weeks."

Levi nodded as he helped put the groceries in the fridge and wooden pantries.

"No green beans?" (Y/N) asked, looking around for the vegetables.

"Tch," Levi said, "I'm not going to waste money on food neither of us like."

(Y/N) tutted but didn't say anything else. She continued reading the pamphlet while her husband started cleaning.

"It says here underground shelters will offer the maximum protection," (Y/N) hummed, "Didn't your friend Hange make one of those?"

Levi tsked, "Hange's an idiot who thinks the government is out to get them."

"You know they've been teaching children to duck and cover under the desks in case something like this were to happen," (Y/N) said, said in a matter of fact tone.

"What the hell is a desk going to do," Levi huffed, "If we're all going to die then fine, but don't give children false hope and make them think a wooden desk is going to save their life."

Gasping, (Y/N) gave her husband a light hit on the head with the pamphlet.

"Don't say things like that, Levi," she said.

Levi grumbled, but before he could say anything, a loud alarm came from the T.V. They rushed to the living room and sat on their couch in anticipation.

"๐๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง, ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐œ ๐›๐จ๐ฆ๐› ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐‹๐จ๐ง๐๐จ๐ง. ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฉ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ซ๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐Š๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ. ๐–๐ž ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ. ๐€๐ง ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฎ๐œ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ."

The news caster relayed this information, looking troubled before sighing and saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to spend this time with my family. This is Jeremy Robers, signing off. Goodbye, America."

(Y/N) and Levi stared at the T.V in horror as the television went black for a few seconds before a new news castor took Jeremy's place.

"I'm sorry about that," he said, straightening his tie. "No new info has been given yet, and the only advice I can give is to spend this time with the ones you love. We do not know how long this will last."

Again, the television went black.

"What are we going to do," (Y/N) asked, still looking at the television, wide eyed.

Levi stayed quiet as he glared at the screen. After a minute, he got up, pushing his wife's hand away and making his way upstairs.

"Levi," (Y/N) called out, watching the man go up the stairs before hearing a loud slam from a door. She stayed on the couch, unable to move. All she could do was stare at where she watched her husband go. When she finally decided to follow him to the bedroom, she saw him taking out his best suit and laying it on the bed.

"What are you doing," the woman asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Put on your best dress," Levi said, ignoring the question as he undressed.

"But why," (Y/N) asked, still not understanding what her husband was trying to do.

Levi stopped what he was doing and stared pensively at the ground. He sighed before going up to his wife and grabbing her shoulders harshly.

They stood there staring at each other for what felt like hours but what really was only a few seconds. When looking at her husband, most people would only notice the lack of emotion that resided on his face, but looking at his eyes (Y/N) could see what he truly felt. She saw the fear and anger that raced around his eyes.

Laying a gentle kiss on his wife's forehead, Levi finally spoke, "(Y/N) we're going to die. You understand that right?"

"But the windows," (Y/N) said, tears beginning to pool in her eyes, "If we just-"

"(Y/N)," Levi said, "No amount of paint is going to stop all that radiation. You hear the news yourself. Counties have been wiped out. England. Ireland. Wales. The entire U.K is gone."

Choking back a sob (Y/N) nodded. He was right. There was almost nothing they could do. The radiation would be too much for a few layers of paint to handle, they didn't have enough time to make it to a underground bunker.

"So what do we do," she asked, softly as she held one of the hand on her shoulder with her own.

"We're going to put on our best clothes," Levi said letting go of her shoulders, but still holding her hand as he stared at his suit. "If we're going to go, we're going to do it looking our best, and we're going to do it together, okay?"

(Y/N) nodded and made her way to the closet while Levi continued getting ready.

ย 

Standing in front of the full length mirror, (Y/N) straightened out her evening gown. It was a simple floor length dress that was navy blue in color. It had a high neckline and synched at the waist. She wore matching shoes with simple makeup and a pair of short, white, satin gloves.

As she was staring at herself in the mirror, Levi came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist before kissing her cheek.

He was wearing a navy blue tuxedo that matched his wife's dress and black dress shoes. She had always liked that tux because it brought out the blue in his steely grey eyes.

"Ready?" he asked.

She nodded as he unwrapped himself from her body. He outstretched his hand, waiting for her to take it. When she did, he led her to the living room where the T.V had stayed on the entire time.

"๐€๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐จ๐ฆ๐›๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”.๐Š, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐›๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ง๐ฎ๐œ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐›๐จ๐ฆ๐›๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ค๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ž. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐’๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ญ-"

"We don't need to listen to that," Levi said after turning off and making his way to the kitchen. He came back with two glasses and a bottle of wine.

"That's the good wine," (Y/N) said as Levi filled the two glasses.

"I know," he answered, handing her a glass.

Together, they drank in silence, not once letting go of the other's hand. Nothing but the hum of their appliances and the dogs barking outside were heard.

While they drank (Y/N) thought about her life. She had a good home. Beautiful furniture, marble counters, wooden cabinets and pantries. She had a good husband. He treated her right and loved her as much as she loved him. She had a good life. She got to meet Levi and marry him.

They sat on a small table in front of a window overlooking the garden The sun was setting. The purples, blues, and pinks of the sky went well with the white of the lilies and roses.

'๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ข ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ,' (Y/N) thought, as she saw Levi turning on their record player.

He gently grabbed her hand and led her to the middle of the room. They danced to their favorite songs, holding each other until the blinding glow of the sun shone through their window.