A Brave New World

It had been almost two months since Luna and Evan had left the bunker and they still had not acclimated to the present circumstances that they had found themselves in. Upon leaving their bunker, they had found out how little they knew about the present world. The land that they walked on and saw was completely blasted and destroyed; trees were felled, the water they found was stagnant, and the air reeked of rotting vegetation. What surprised them was the lack of noises. Even as they walked through felled trees and what used to be dense forests, there were no animals to be heard. Not even birds or insects. It felt as if only Evan and Luna were left in the world.

It was a hard reality to accept, but it was one they had too. This was until they found some sign of civilization. As they headed south-west from their original location, they slowly noticed that the trees appeared to be greener as they gained altitude. This characteristic seemed to stay consistent as Luna and Evan made progress. It proved to be exhausting to walk in this foreign land and multiple times a day they had to stop to take a break. Both of them were starting to lose a lot of weight due to extreme rationing. If they did not find food then they would end up with the animals that were supposed to roam the land they walked through.

It was on an especially cold night that Luna collapsed in the mud and did not move from her spot. Only when the cable between Evan and Luna tugged did Evan notice what had happened. Rushing to her, Evan dropped to his knees and made sure she was breathing.

“Luna! Luna! Are you okay? Are you in any pain? Answer me!” Evan yelled at her in the dead of night. When no answer came from Luna, Evan took off her backpack and started to do CPR. It did not take long for her to come back to life.

“You’re hurting me, Evan. Stop it,” Luna managed to wheeze out.

On further prodding from Evan’s part, he managed to decipher that for the last few days Luna had been feeling pain in the lower right quadrant of her abdomen.

“It’s appendicitis, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I believe it is. You should have told me you weren’t feeling good. Why didn’t you?” Evan asked her.

“How could I tell you? There’s nothing you can do. You are not a surgeon and we are running out of food too fast. Leave me behind, please. At this point, I am just a burden to you.”

“No, I won’t leave you. We are come this far to not have any results. Stay with me please. Don’t let the pain take over you. Please fight. I’ll find a way to see us both safe.”

Hearing a grunt from Luna, Evan took that as an approval. Transferring all of the necessary equipment from her backpack to his, Evan then hoisted her over his shoulder. Setting out at a faster pace, he hoped he wouldn’t be too late to save her.

Jogging through the forest, he soon found his legs cramping up, but made himself forget about the pain for Luna’s sake. As a new day approached, Evan could feel Luna’s fever through the layers of clothes separating them.

“Luna, are you there?”

“Yes,” replied Luna in a weak voice. “It hurts.”

“I know it does, love. I’m going as fast as I can.”

“Dear heart, I have something to tell you,” said Luna.

Noticing the urgency and sadness in her tone, Evan stopped jogging, slowly placed Luna on the ground and himself collapsed. Luna sat there looking at him with a foggy look while he caught his breath again. Once Evan was contained and ready to listen, Luna started talking.

“You know, Evan. These past fifteen years have been the most traumatic ones as well as the most fantastic ones. Even though I lost my parents very early on, I found you in the process. And with you, I felt safe and loved. We have had our fare share of arguments over the years, but I think that these drew us together even more. Given our present circumstances, I wish we had more time. I wish that we could have had a family of our own, but it seems our time has been cut short. Therefore, I release you from your vow to protect me and always be by my side.” As Luna said this, her gaze slowly lowered until her eyes closed, she stopped talking, and she did not move from her spot on the ground.

Evan had watched this all unfold with tears in his eyes as he realized the severity of the situation, but when Luna closed her eyes and lay still, Evan heard noise in the forest coming closer. Panicking, he stood up, took out his knife, and placed himself in front of Luna. He would protect her until his last breath. Waiting for the right opportunity to strike, Evan did not notice the knife placed against the back of his neck until it was too late.

“Do not move,” answered a guttural voice. “Who are you? And what have you come here to do?”

“We are Evan and Luna. Please help her! Please. Forget about me, but please take her. She is all that matters to me.” Evan stammered, fearing for his life and Luna’s.

Evan felt the knife lower from his neck, and the guttural voice answered, “Hmm. You are different. Very different. I guess I’ll take you along with me.”

Without any further talk, the stranger took off through the forest, and left Evan to make the decision to follow him or not. Deciding to follow the stranger, Evan took Luna in his arms once again along with the backpack, and ran after the man.

It did not take a long time for them to reach a gate of some sort. That gate was guarded by other humans who did not seem happy to welcome more people. As Evan walked through the gate, he found out that this was just the beginning of his new life. The compound inside the gate was filled with people from various corners of the globe.

At some point, Luna was taken away from his arms, where he was told that she was going to be taken care of. Evan was brought to the elders of the town and there he explained his story about how he and Luna had come to survive the apocalypse and what his expertise was. Upon learning that he was an adept at coding and that Luna was an herbalist, the decision was made that they could stay in the compound.

Once Evan was given a small apartment for him to live in with Luna, he anxiously awaited news of her well-being. It did not take long for a doctor to come and tell him that she had survived the surgery and that she was lucky to have done so.

Reunited with Luna as last, Evan could finally plan the future that he had always wanted to plan with her. With stability now in their lives, they could now face this brave new world together with the support of others.