hello world

It was fortuitous, accidental, a mistake. An impetuous and rash decision that would cost me all I’ve ever known.

Every morning, I wake up and check the perimeter, making sure no wall is damaged. I make sure the dome is still intact, and that the generators are still running. Then I head to the kitchen and take stock. My once copious supply of can goods is getting smaller each day. What once was full of succulent and delicious food has turned into the perfect image of the apocalypse.

I spend the rest of the day doing chores and checking livestock. The animals all look ill and abject, not a sliver of hope in their eyes as well as mine. Soon, I’ll have to put them down, with barely enough food me as it is, that will be a mercy.

Then finally, when the sun is setting, I can go back to my work.

On the table of my lab sits a blue metal cube. The lines carved into their shell paints a picture, a nebulous painting of humanity and these unclear times. After I was privy to the once-secret outbreak, I knew what I must do in clandestine, for my colleagues would be better off not knowing the truth.

But through it all on thought stayed with me; Something has to live on, to tell whatever lives what the world once was. Before the fighting, the fear, and the end. And as I sit here threadbare in health, with the minutes getting longer. I understand the irrevocable ending we have caused. And I know this box will be a treasure.

With a push of a button, and flickering lights, theirs eyes open and I hear the angelic chime:

“HELLO WORLD.”