The Journey (a story of a man in a post apocalyptic world)

Well... here it is. I haven't been dropping hints at all on account of lack of followers. But here you are. My college paper which is about to be published actually. I hope you enjoy it! :D 

God bless! 

Thayne Mitchell

November 22, 2013

English 102

Michael Borich

The Journey

(A record of my journey to the East coast)

February 3^rd 2055

                February 3^rd 2055           I find it hard to believe it’s been five years since it happened. I find it even harder to believe that I’ve survived. Most of the country didn’t even see it coming. I was in my basement when I heard the sirens go off. I looked at my security camera footage the next day and what I saw shocked me almost to the point of insanity. After viewing the recorded news broadcasts, I thought I was seeing Noah’s flood happen right before my eyes. Earth had been blindsided by a group of small asteroids on the South Pacific Ocean. When that happened, California’s shelf on which it stood collapsed on account of the Tsunami that resulted in the crash of asteroids. A quarter of the United States went down into the Ocean with California. The water froze over in minutes, and millions of lives were lost. The rest of the country experienced flooding, and subfreezing temperatures, but not near to the extent the West Coast did.

                I live outside of Denver Colorado, above sea level, as did many of the survivors in my area. I managed to survive the flooding, and emerged after two days. What I saw blew me away. I guess I should say what I didn’t see blew me away. There was total darkness. I checked my watch, and it was three in the afternoon. There was no natural way midafternoon could have been that dark. Facing east I could see nothing, but west of me, was the strangest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on: A sun glowing through ash in the atmosphere from the burning asteroids. From what I saw in the news footage, the entire western hemisphere was in total darkness. I and some other survivors were lucky enough to find flashlights in what remained of our homes and were able to burn enough wood to keep warm. We were also lucky in that most of us were hunters and knew how to get food. The only type of food we were able to catch at that point was fowl; Penguins or Snow Petrel. For the first two years, we worked on creating tools to survive. Shelter was easy to find, thank God. Our houses hadn’t been totally destroyed, and we were able take refuge in them during a storm or when temperatures dropped.

                Today I found this journal in an abandoned house about two miles away from where I live. I was hunting for food and actually caught several penguins and bartered some of them for a jug of water. I feel a need to record my experiences as best I can in this journal.  

February 4^th, 2055       A storm hit last night and has continued into this morning. I’ve been keeping a fire going in my basement as best I can with what wood I could collect. Last night someone came to my house and told me they and several others were planning a journey to Washington D.C. They asked if I was at all interested in going with them. I considered morning and am still at this moment. Washington is the only place with a normal climate, and I am running out of resources, as are the rest of the people in my area. They plan to move in a couple of days. I’m going to make my decision tomorrow when I’m well rested.

February 5^th, 2055 I’ve come to a conclusion. I am going to journey with the survivors of the asteroid attack to Washington and try to rebuild my life. There is nothing else here for me, and I have to move on before I die of the elements. If the cold doesn’t kill me, starvation will.

                It is now evening and I’ve gathered whatever gear I can carry. It was approximately a month and a half journey to Washington. We were all to bring our own supply of food in case hunting didn’t go so well. I’ve finished preparing, and now I plan to get as much sleep as possible.

February 6^th, 2055            Today has been quite eventful. We started out from where the city of Denver used to be and headed east. One of the group members had a military compass and pinpointed the exact direction we needed to follow to get to Washington. There were ten people, including myself, going on this 1,661 mile hike. Josh, a man in his forties and slightly overweight carried a lot of the camping gear. Quinn was a hunter like me and my next door neighbor Nate. The rest of the group included a former math teacher Carl and his wife Stephanie, a geography teacher, two younger men in their twenties, Jason and Aaron, an older gentleman named Ron, and his wife Shelly.  Each of us has different skills or tools that came in handy on different occasions in the past five years. Nate, Quinn, and I were able to catch tonight’s dinner, some snow petrel sitting in the snow, with little trouble. We’ve settled in for the night and will hopefully be able to start at 6:00am tomorrow.

February 7^th, 2055            It is now time for our midday rest. Weather has been warmer today.

We’ve managed to walk at a steady pace all morning, and will hopefully be able to continue that for the rest of the afternoon. We encountered some leopard seals at around midmorning, and had to make a large circle around them to avoid trouble. I suggested we try to take them for food, but the rest of the group voted against it. I forget that we were still where Eastern Colorado used to be. The majority rules mentality had stayed strong through the years, and the asteroid attack hadn’t changed any of That.

                It is now evening and we’re settling down after another day of hiking. I hope the group’s strength keeps up the way it has thus far.

February 10^th, 2055         It has been three days since I’ve had time to actually sit down and write in this journal. It’s been a hard journey since last I wrote on these pages. Two days ago Josh fell through a thin sheet of ice and landed in the seemingly infinitely deep ocean underneath us and drowned, carrying all of his supplies with him. Our entire group has been downhearted since it happened and the pace has slowed down as a result. Quinn wanted to turn back and give up the attempt, but as before, the majority of our group, myself included, voted no to his proposition. Josh and Quinn were close. I should have known the hammer would have hit him hardest. He hasn’t said much since yesterday morning. I’m worried about him, and the rest of the group. I only hope that we can push forward.

February 11^th, 2055         Today went much smoother than I thought it would. We were able to catch enough petrels for an adequate meal for this evening and everyone seems in better spirits than yesterday. Even Quinn has been joking around with the group and making the journey easier. At midday we were surveying the area, when the most unexpected thing happened. A polar bear jumped out of the snow and ran swiftly toward us. Quinn had brought a spear he crafted in his shed two weeks ago in preparation for the journey and he flung it at the beast screaming at the top of his lungs. He managed to wound the bear enough to where we were able to run up and finish it with our machetes and wood axes we had brought along. That provided a great meal for later in the evening and would hopefully for many more evenings.   I stared out into the sunset tonight hoping we would all get through this. Our journey is a long, but worth the making. Our home, the United States of America, has been destroyed. We might as well try to make the most of what is left of it, and pray for a better future.