Life has always been complicated nowadays, it's not even life anymore. It's a battle for survival in the endless wilderness that has left our planet decimated. Inside our underground bunker, I always felt alone, even with my mother, father, and expected baby brother or sister. It always felt like we were just trapped in an endless game that wouldn't end until death saves us from this miserable planet. The only true joy I got was from stories, I always loved the books I'd read on my free time, they made the world seem like a happy place. Talking about forests and waterfalls, and such things as birds that I always imagined what they looked like, or what they were for that matter. So much was wrong with this world, so many stories of future societies, not a single one of them come close to the horror we are forced to live through today.

The screams of my mother were nothing new, but they did seem to get louder and more often now. Soon enough there was another scream along with her, a small cry. Throwing back the curtain I looked to see my mother holding a little baby, covered in blood I didn't know whether to think it was cute or disgusting. "Zack, go clean up your new sister." My father handed me the baby.

Holding the little thing in my arms, she seemed to stop crying. Carrying her gently to our little washtub I carefully washed away all of the blood that was masking her beauty. She was adorable, in my arms I held the precious gift of life, but soon even she would succumb to the savage ways of our world. "Hey there," I smiled down at the small thing. Noticing she had a small patch of discoloration behind her collarbone. If what I read was correct, it's called a birthmark.

All of a sudden I heard my mother's screams again, just like before. "Honey, I think I'm having twins." My mother was able to gasp between her screams.

Holding my sister in my arms I went back to the curtain that separated her from the rest of the depressing prison we call home. As she started crying in my arms again, I could hear her be joined by another baby. My father pushed the curtain aside and carried a second baby girl to the washtub. My mother looked defeated, worn out and finished. "Mother, how are you feeling?" I asked.

"Zack, would you be a dear and go with your father to find food. Your ten now, you should be helping us around the bunker more." She was breathing heavily.

"Sweetheart, I'll be fine. You should have Zack here to help you with the babies." My father protested.

Still holding one of them in my arms I just had to know, "What are their names?"

"The one in your arms is Lisa, and this little one doesn't have a name yet. We weren't expecting her." My mother looked to the small child my father placed into her arms.

Handing Lisa over to my mother, I looked to my father. We both started heading out, my father knowing not to fight with my mother. Her smiling face looking down upon my two sisters, she looked as though nothing in the world was wrong, like nothing could ever go wrong.

That was the last time I ever saw my mother alive, when we returned later she was dead. Both the little ones were crying in her arms. Only I was able to sooth their cries, as my father was stuck deciding what to do with her body. Either we could bury her as they did in the old days, or she could rejoin us and help us live longer. When faced with death you do whatever you have to survive, including eating your own kind, but we just couldn't do that to her.

~ * ~

Three years later

I stood outside my mother's grave, it's been exactly three years since she died. Lisa and Jessica are now three, I named the other baby in honor of my mother. It was just us three, the twins and I. Our father couldn't take one year of her not being there, so on the day of her death, he killed himself. Having them both being buried right outside of our hidden bunker, it felt as if my life was suddenly zooming through, all I ever did now was watch the girls and scavenge for food. There was no more happy moments anymore, no more fun times with your family. While Lisa and Jessica played, I would be out keeping us alive. I rarely even slept anymore, too worried that they would come.

Holding them both close to me, it was the only way they'd sleep. They both started growing their brown hair out, such beauty in their blue eyes would make them ideal. If they ever went outside, they'd be taken immediately. I can't allow them to go outside when such horrors would await for them. And on this particular night, they seemed restless, I felt something was going to happen. I held them even closer with every passing moment. I won't let anything happen to them as long as I live.

For hours they slept restlessly in my arms, constantly kicking my chest and trying to roll over one another. Meanwhile I watched the small crack we use as a window. I could briefly see the stars looking in at me, even though so much has happened to our planet, the stars remain unchanged. Calmly and gently placing the twins into a small cradle, I started off to the outside.

You can only be outside during the night now, there's nothing protecting us from the sun, like the once called ozone layer did. The stars gave me hope that there would be some sort of better future out there, somewhere maybe among them. I'd sit and watch them from my cliff, the only place I ever really felt okay, felt as if my life was going to hold some meaning someday, but with no society how will it ever come to be? Those stars, free and independent, probably are holding their own little world that's experiencing its own difficulties, not even bothering to worry about the other stars and the worlds they cradle around them.

The smell of food started calling to me, as if it was burning or cooking, awaiting me. Carefully I checked my surroundings and tried to track down where the mysterious smell accumulate from, we haven't eaten for almost a week and I can tell the twins are starving. Crawling about I looked for anyone, the smell could be a trap. And I, the food someone is searching for. The thought of returning to my sisters kept lingering, as if something bad is about to happen. But if we don't have food, we'll die. Disputing between paranoia and survival was sticking in my mind. A small cry alone, was enough to bring me from my trance and start sprinting back to them.

Every sound I heard set off my senses, I became aware of everything around me. As my feet tracked through the ground, I became weary but knew I must continue. More and more cries from them became almost painful to my ears as I feared for my sister's lives.

Breaking my pride and throwing in a little bit of embarrassment, I tripped over a rock and fell flat on my face. Allowing the pain to surge through me for a mere few seconds, I pushed myself off of the ground, but when I looked towards our bunker an immense light was coming out of the opening, I believe this is known as fire. Running faster than I ever had I had to get to my sisters.

In the distance two figures emerged from the bunker's secret door, holding my sisters. When I was just close enough I was able to tackle one of them to the ground. I watched as little Jessica go rolling out of their arms and towards a steep downhill slope. On instinct I dived for her, just barely grabbing her before she started tumbling down. "We'll get the other one eventually boy, and you can't stop us." One of the hooded figures spoke.

Before I even thought about going back to attack them, they disappeared in a strange bolt of light, along with Lisa. I was able to save one of my sisters, while fully neglecting to save the other one. Lisa would be gone from my life forever, I held Jessica closely to my chest.

"You're all I have left in this world, I will protect you forever. I'm your big brother and I will always watch over you to every ounce of my ability." I kissed her forehead.

For the next few months she wouldn't stop crying, and as time passed she didn't even remember that she had a twin, and from that day on, I vowed she never would know about that day or that she had another sister. A sister who I failed to save and was now gone, because of me.