Orion

For the first ten minutes, the crew was too rattled by the hot sun to notice that they were alone on the surface, the only humans to leave the bunker in five years. But the shock wore off when Jade let out a strangled cry.

From the shocked expression on her pale face, Orion gathered she had never seen a dead body before, nor had smelt one. There were at least six bodies by the door, each at different state of grotesque decomposition...Yet for Orion, watching Jade recognize a dead body was less alarming than what he saw moments beforehand.

Charlotte was by the door. Unprotected. And unsuited.

When she first appeared by the door, he thought for sure it had been a hallucination. The chances he was losing his mind from hours of not sleeping was infinitely higher than the Commander's daughter getting near the deadliest door in the bunker unprotected. He'd been shocked enough when, after hearing his name called for the mission, Charlotte's best friend, Jade, had been called too. And now, what of Charlotte? It seemed impossible, but there was no denying it. For a moment, an old instinct gave him the urge to comfort Jade. But Sebastian reacted first. Because of Jade, Charlotte left him with a broken heart. Her insecurities broke down the confidence Charlotte had in him. Whatever frightening thing she saw, and whatever she was feeling was no less than she deserved. 

"Orion."

He glanced to the side and saw Jo offering him a small smile. Jo looked at him, the only person in the group trying not to stare at the destruction around. Despite the grim circumstances, Orion couldn't help but smile back. Jo had that effect. Especially when she wasn't on the move to give someone a piece of her mind. In the days after Orion lost Charlotte, when his heartbreak seemed so heavy that it was difficult to breath, Josephine had actually made Orion laugh with her impression of the former president whose voice was so peculiar that whenever he had to address the public he would lower his voice to be taken seriously.

"Jesus Christ on a toothpick..." It had really happened. For the first time in five years, humans had left the Boston Bunker. He glanced at the others and saw that they had all gone quiet as well, a spontaneous moment of silence for the safety they had left behind.

But the solemnity didn't last long. For the next twenty minutes, the group wandered near the door. Sebastian and Atlas already held out their radiation monitors, both beeping in high frequencies. All too afraid to truly look up, and too afraid to leave the perimeter of the bunker. What other horrors were ahead?

"So much for being able to take our masks off..." Sebastian spoke. Jade looked at him and shook her head. He shrugged his shoulders, they all had this silent wish that the situation wouldn't be as dire as it was. But alas, it was just as bad as they thought. The Gray radiation reading measured incredibly unsafe levels. 

"I would recommend we keep this gear only at all times, unless we find a radiation free zone. Most of the city built small, short term shelters when foreign policy negotiations were going south." Jade said. "They may be the only places safe for us as we figure out what to do."

Orion looked around him, he was only aware of the colors, not shapes. Blurs of blue, brown, black,  and orange so vibrant his brain could barely process them. A gust of wind passed over him, his suit slightly rustling, but flooded his nose with the ghoulishly fruity scent of death. It came from every direction, drowning his senses as tears welled and threatened to fall. 

At first, all he could see were craters of overturned dirt, laden with broken steel spines and crushed concrete. There were hundreds of them, littering the ground, revealing where bombs and debris had fallen on that day. Beyond and between the cavernous craters lay crumpled buildings, some familiar and other unrecognizable. The Prudential Tower asleep horizontally where it had once stood vertical, glass from the windows protruded from the ground, casting broken rainbows across the ground. Steel bent in unnatural angles. Beantown had become a high-rise city graveyard. The ground stretched in all directions- ten times farther than the longest hallway in the bunker.  The amount of space was almost inconceivable and Orion suddenly felt light-head, overwhelmed by the destruction. He forgot what the outside felt like.

He became vaguely aware of the voices behind him and turned to see Jade, Sebastian and Josephine  had come to join him. "It's really gone," Jade whispered as she reached down to run her trembling hand along the rusted remnants of broken steel. Atlas was still looking near the door, his back completely to them.

"Everything will be fine one day," Sebastian said, his voice a mixture of sadness and confusion. "We will live on the surface again, even if its our grandchildren."

"You don't know that," Jade replied. "Just because we are on this mission now, doesn't mean the soil or water, if any, is arable, clean or fertile." She twisted around to face him and her held her gloved hand up, gesturing to her radiation suit. "The Bunker didn't give us much to protect ourselves. They want to see what happens to us. It's not like we can take these off and breathe normally."

"You can breathe normally," Atlas told her,  still looking around to see if he could find any memory of Samantha. "With your mask and purifier on." He couldn't help being rude, it was just an obvious answer. All they could do was follow procedures and do their mission. Then maybe they will be able to take their masks off.

Staring at the ground, Orion knew the soil wouldn't be usable. It couldn't be.

"Either way, the compound needs to be finished. The President demands it be done before the Green Party knows what is going on," Orion's boss said as he paced the length of the long conference room. He walked back and forth, his leather shoes wearing holes into the carpet. "Musgrove this cannot be late. They've been strict about deadlines lately. Some trouble is brewing, and we need their support."

"Yes sir, we will be finished," Orion said, gesturing towards the update he had given everyone at the meeting with a detailed project timeline. For a company like Sonsata, their corporate higher-ups left something to be desired when it came to being attentive to details. Although they gave him freedom with his research, it was unlikely they truly cared about what he did or the consequences that came with his results. Just that the project  done and they got paid. 

"Good, Musgrove. I have high expectations for you this year," his boss said with calculated carefulness, as if the thought had been on his mind a while.  In fact, his boss had been complimenting  and encouraging him every day since he received the new project assignment.  The government  specifically chosen Sonsata for this top-secret project, as the company was known for accepting all types of offers. No questions asked...

And Orion had been one of their top Biochemists.

"I will not fail you, sir," Orion reaffirmed with a tight smile.

"This is a dangerous project,"  his colleague spoke from where he sat at the end of the table, chemical formulas and projected side-effects in front of him. "Especially with the Green party and Environmentalist movement building."

Orion repeated his promise until the meeting ended and he was finally able to return to his project, though he couldn't help wondering what his family and friends  would think if they knew what Orion truly did for work. Orion was normally indifferent towards his Sonsata work, but this job had left him torn. Instead of another predictable project on anti-radiation medication, this project had requested the biochemists to create an agricultural compound that would actually kill any land all life in the soil that it is placed, in deeming the soil unusable for many years. Years that surpass the traditional human lifespan. Such a project would sabotage and harm the holders enemies.  Yet while the project had lined his pockets better than any other project, he dragged the project out,  because when he was finalizing  the project he couldn't help feeling guilty for this.As the months passed various governmental figures would come for numerous demonstrations; all leaving with villainous smiles and hurried whispers. Every time someone showed up, Orion froze. It almost felt like he was being drowned in ice water. He always forced himself to take a deep breath.

In the end of the project, it was not Orion who gave the final product away but his boss. Orion scolded himself for not throwing it away. He should have never made it. 

At first Orion thought nothing of the chemical compound he made. It made perfect sense for a government to have a threat to fall back on, especially in during the political climate at the time. Months passed as the secret gnawed at his stomach  wishing to share the burden with someone, but he signed a non-disclosure agreement, 

Months later Orion's gaze settled on the newspaper as a chilling realization slithered out of the dark place in his stomach. He tried  to fight it, but it coiled around his denial, suffocating all thoughts except  a truth so horrifying, he vomited.

The United States government used it. They moved on to agricultural warfare.  Russia. England. Germany. China. All these countries were dying from famine and starvation.  And in return, it had been spilled on American soil.

All arable land was gone. He killed them. And there was no coming back from that.

They had exited the bunker on what had once been Boylston Street. The Boston Public Library just a mound of broken marble, most of its twenty three million volume  collection destroyed in what seemed to have been radiation fires. The only familiar landmark left was the Boston Marathon finish line, that struggled to be seen under thick layers of dirt and debris. 

For nearly an hour, they wandered up and down Boylston Street, assessing the damage. Josephine and Jade knelt silently outside the remains of the Trinity Church, its only recognizable part being its center roof and cross. They were on their knees with their faces between upwards, praying. From a distance no one could see their tears.

"It really is gone," Sebastian spoke after some time, he had attempted to explore the ruins of the Old South Church and surrounding abandoned cars. 

"Any of them work?" Atlas asked, returning his attention to the horizon where he saw the Charles River, which had once been blocked by six blocks worth of buildings. 

"No, not that I gave it too much effort." Sebastian shrugged. Broken glass and radiation protection suits did not match.

"We need to find shelter soon," Orion spoke loudly, grabbing the girls attentions. "We do not know what it's like on the outside anymore." He shouldered his bag quickly, walking slowly towards the ruins of the Prudential tower. Talking what Jade had said earlier, it would make sense that there would be a micro-shelter in the former building. The sun had begun its descent.

When they reached the building, the group found one entrance intact and carefully walked down several levels. There it was, a bunker door.

Jade was right. They hurried down and opened the door. Someone had been there, old blood stained the floor, but there was no body and the lock seemed to still work. "This is years old," Jo whispered, grabbing an abandoned journal on the table before them. "This journal mentions wanting to open a year after the bombs fell. They had no idea about the radiation." It sounded emotionless on her lips and not reassuring like it should have been. 

This shelter had been abandoned in its darkest hour. No one knew what would happen if they opened that door. How many died under the same pretenses?

Humans had abandoned Earth years before its destruction, and many died at the hands of the others. But the five were thankful for shelter. They were grateful to hide from the ugly truth that was outside.