… And To The Dust We Shall Return.

Prologue.


“Through thorns and thistles, Shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we are taken from the dust we are... And to the dust we shall return.”

I remember this line, The line my mother recited and preached to me many times. It rang in my head day to day, Never letting up, Never fading away... During the rumors of 2012 being the end of the world. She spoke it at least once a day To me, Herself, Or my dad, She knew it was true But didn't know how it was going to happen. It haunted her for weeks before we were taken to an underground shelter by the Army. Even under protection of a mile thick of lead, It unnerved her extremely. Though I never believed the rumors, Part of me wanted to.

We asked everyone we could about what was happening. No one knew the answer, We even asked the soldiers that guarded the shelter and the shelter administrators. They claimed they didn't even know. They kept this act of playing stupid even though every shelter resident knew they were bluffing.

On December, 31st, 2011. At seven o'clock, My mother hugged me and said “Zhanna. Nothing will be the same after this is over.”

“Why wont it?” I asked her as my ears flattened.

“A great power is going to wipe out the earth. It will come from many locations and land in different nations. Destroying all that is exposed.” she quietly said.

“Mom... I don't want to believe this. You believe in God to protect everyone and everything. Why would he let the world be destroyed.” I said as I backed off and looked at her in the eyes as I continued “No offense, But I thought God could do anything. Do you really believe he is going to wipe everything out.”

She looked back at me and began reciting the line once again.

“No Mom! I don't want to hear this again!” I shouted in annoyance as I interrupted her. “I've heard it all my life! I don't believe the world is going to end. And I don't believe some 'Great Power' could possibly be great enough to destroy the world”

I left our room and walked to the main room of the shelter. My dad followed as he called out to me. “Zhanna, stop right where you are!”

I didn't want to here him go on about how our situation has been, And how I should try to keep my temper down. So I ran to the other end of the main room and into the other set of halls to lose him. I was always a fast runner so I was confident he would lose sight of me quick.

I found myself a place to hide and curl up behind some huge recycle bins at the far end of the shelter for awhile to give myself some time to think. The cramped rooms were such a stress to everyone. The hallways were narrow, The food the administrators gave us was terrible. I just wanted to leave the shelter forever and live a normal life again and have my own room, my own bed, and good food.

Nothing made sense to me. My mom always told me that God protects us, And that he would never let anything happen to us. Yet, He was going to let the world be destroyed. God really seemed like a hypocrite to me at that point. If what my mom told me was true that is.

Hours passed before my parents came looking for me. When they found me I was asleep.

“Zhanna” My mom spoke softly as she tapped my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see both of them standing over me.

“Lets get you back to the room. Its eleven o'clock.” My dad said. I could tell he was slightly agitated and trying to hide it.

Once we got back to the room I plopped onto my bed and went back to sleep. But before I drifted completely. I heard my dad tell my mom about a rumor he overheard as they were searching for me. Saying something about a bomb or a missile, But thats all I heard before sleep took me from consciousness.

My parents and I woke up around four in the morning to the sound of someone knocking on our door. My dad got up to answer it as I sat up in my bed and stretched tiredly. He opened the door to two of the administration people. I couldn't make out what they were saying behind my semi-consciousness. But after my dad closed the door he quickly woke up my mom and I.

“What did the administration want?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

“They said to get ready.” He said franticly.

“Ready for what?!” I said as my heart started pounding.
Just before my dad opened his mouth to say something. My mom interrupted him. “It's happening isn't it. The worlds going to be destroyed”

“I have no idea. All they said is to be ready. Because the quakes are going to be massive” My dad replied with the look of terror on his face. He had us all get underneath their bed. All I could hear was my mom reciting the line over and over again. I was scared to death enough and my mom going on made it even worse.

After almost an hour, It happened, What ever bomb or missile my dad heard about hit. A minute later the massive quakes slammed the shelter viciously. I could barely hear myself and my parents screaming over the frighteningly loud rumble of the quakes. They lasted for two minutes before it stopped, Those were the most terrifying two minutes of my life, ever.

We finally emerged from underneath the bed after we were certain the quakes had no aftershock. I stumbled over too my bed and curled up, Trembling as I tried to catch my breath. My mom and dad came and sat down next to me to comfort me.

“It's done.” My mom said looking up at my dad. He just nodded and held onto her and I.

A year passed and over that time I grew even more weary of the shelter everyday. I think every week I asked someone from the administration about when we were able to leave, Every time I asked it as the same answer “Uh, I don't know.” I wanted different answers, More comforting ones, But I knew I couldn't get my way on that. In that time, others as well were growing even weary. Some even going so far as to attack officers and administrators for answers.

Attacks got worse and worse until a final decision was made. Martial Law was declared. Guards were allowed to beat (but not fire on for the reason of scarce ammo) any residents that attacked them, administration, or other residents and throw them in the holding cells. Schedules and curfews were ordered unto the shelter to keep order. They even gave key cards so they could buy lunch. I had no idea why they didn't do all of that before. The administration could have prevented a lot more incidents prior to the attacks.

Yet of course to most of the residents idiocy, Rebellions were formed against the schedules and curfews of administration, As well claiming some guards wouldn't give anyone the privacy they wanted. Well over half the residents were in on the rebellions, Many even tried to get my family in on it all, even going so far as to bribe us. After a month or so guards began to notice all of the suspicious behavior. As soon as they did, They went into every aspect of everyone life. There was no more privacy, No more rights. No one was free.
I wanted out... It was almost as if the walls closed in enough to touch my shoulders and hips. Paranoia set in deep as I fell mute to anything personal. It was like being in some kind of asylum and studied day by day to see if the conditions were getting better or worse. I began to live inside my mind, Creating my own world and my own friends. My parents would tell me about waking up in the middle of the night to me talking in my sleep to someone who wasn't physically there. I lost my grip of reality.

A few months later in a dream, A man came to me, A mysterious stranger. He told me where my dad has been hiding a gun all this time. A .357 Magnum, Under a tile underneath my parents bed, Loaded along with two other revolver clips. He then told me to sneak into the administration offices around lunch time. Explaining that the head administrator would forget his key card to the main terminal that controls the shelter door when he left to get his lunch. Before the dream was over, he assured me that my task shouldn't be a problem.

Later that day when my parents were out of the room I packed my backpack full of tools, medicine, and other items for whatever was on the surface. I dressed in my favorite hoodie, shirt,cargo pants, and knee-high boots. And walked out the door.

It was as if everyone was gone, the halls were empty and there wasn't a guard in sight. I made my way to the shelter door and set my backpack in a dark corner. Then, Making my way to the administration offices just down the hall, I pulled out my .357 to be ready for anything to come. I opened the administration offices door slowly and slipped in before anyone noticed, No one even noticed anyway. Most of the admins were in the lunch room, So that made my task so much easier. Making it to the main office was a breeze.

Once I picked the lock and got in, I saw the key card right on the head administrators desk just as the mysterious stranger told me. I slipped it into the terminal, typed a few commands to change the password to a simple 'hahahacked'. Restarted the terminal, typed the password and the door was open. I was surprised after almost two years that my computer skills weren't rusty at all. I then grabbed the key card and hid it in a tough place to buy myself some time if I were to get caught.

I slipped out the door, Being sure as to lock it back as I left. As I was half way through the offices. I heard the administrators walk in from lunch. I leaped into an empty cubical even though it was inevitable I would have to use the .357 I had in hand. As soon as one of them passed by, I fired a bullet into his head and ran as fast as I could passed the others. The second I bolted out the door I saw guards out of the corner of my eye. There was no time to waste, I grabbed my backpack which weighed me down drastically and ran out the door. They followed me passed the door as I ran down the mile long 'Hall to Freedom'. I counted five bullets in my revolver, and twelve in unloaded bullets. Only eight guards followed, So my chances were great, I fired behind myself blindly. I couldn't tell if I hit any of them, But a decrease in the sound of footsteps told me I at least got three of them. I loaded the .357 as quick as I could under the stress of running and fired behind myself once again. A bigger decrease in the sound of footsteps and a quick peek behind me told me there were only two of them left. But three quarters of the way down the hall of freedom they came to a halt and turned back. I was finally able to sit and catch my breath.

Then after about fifteen minutes, I heard the door at the far end shut, Which meant the door to freedom was going to begin to close any minute! So once again I was on the run. My heart began pounding as I saw the door begin to slowly close, 20 feet away and one mistake could cost me my freedom. As I got close I took my backpack off and threw it through the door before I lunged sideways for my attempt of fate, It seemed like I was in slow motion, As if I was in some cheesy action movie. As I landed my feet were still inside the door, I quickly curled up before they could get crushed off by the door.

I laid there on the ground breathless as I looked up to the sky, Dark clouds loomed overhead. I stood up and brushed myself off before putting my backpack back on. I looked out to what was left of the world, It was nothing but a barren wasteland. Completely demolished by whatever hit a year ago.

As I starred out at the wasteland. The one line played in my head. The line my mother always told me. Realizing she was right. I spoke to myself...

“Through thorns and thistles, Shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we are taken from the dust we are... And to the dust we shall return.”