War Angel: part one

From the Journal of Steven Keys- July 4, 2018

Today was supposed to be the greatest day of my life. I’d had it planned out for months; the trip, the ring, the timing. And it almost worked, too. My grandfather, though… he used to tell me the quickest way to make God laugh was to tell Him your plans.

Somehow, though, I don’t really think what happened today had anything to do with my plan to marry Nadine.

We woke up before dawn began to break, which is easy to do when you’re at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The hike down two days ago was long and arduous, but totally worth it. I fell twice, the second time taking a chunk out of my left calf as a sharp rock rudely decided to take a shot at me for being clumsy- though I did appreciate its efforts in slowing down my slide. Nadine reached the bottom unscathed, though she had not done well in rationing her water. On the bright side, we had both coated ourselves in enough sunscreen that we had barely begun to show any sign of a tan. Considering the skin cancer rate has exploded at an exponential rate over the last couple of years, and that neither of us wanted to wander down into the world’s largest ditch wearing full bodysuits, painting ourselves white was an easy sacrifice. Though we would sure be grateful if the ozone layer would start rejuvenating itself sometime soon.

Anyway, my plan was to wake up this morning, cook us breakfast over a small fire, and then pop the question as the sun crept over the Canyon’s edge. I got us off to a good start, tossing a couple of small logs into the fire pit and getting it cranked up. As it began to burn with some intensity, I took out my trusty old camping skillet, tossed some bacon in it and started cooking. Then I put our coffee pot next to the heat and started whipping up some fresh java. As the bacon began to finish, I tossed some hash browns into the skillet and used their grease to fry up some fresh potatoes. The smells began to waft, eventually waking up Nadine, and as she stirred, my heart began to palpitate.

I drained the grease from the pan after the hash browns were done and then tossed a couple of pieces of bread in to finish the ensemble. Now I fully admit that hash browns, bacon, coffee, and toast aren’t exactly gourmet eats for breakfast in bed, but this was breakfast in sleeping bag in a national monument. Plus, I had pulled some serious strings through my job in order to get us this private spot away from other hikers and campers. So sometimes you just go with what you can make work.

She began stirring a bit more, rolling over to watch me cook. Her beautiful black hair fell across her forehead, gently covering her eyes, yet not so much that she couldn’t see me. I fought the urge to step away from the fire and walk over to kiss her hello, but that would come soon enough. Instead, I turned my focus back to completing breakfast. I heard her get up and grab the bottle of mouthwash we had brought with us, take a swig, and then spit, which told me that I wasn’t going to have to wait any longer for that kiss. She slipped up behind me and slid her arms around my waist, hugging me gently from behind. I couldn’t stop the smile that crossed my face, that’s for sure. I am one lucky sonofabitch.

“Breakfast almost ready?” she asked me. I took my free hand and pressed it against hers as they locked around my midsection. “Just flipped the toast over, so should just be a few seconds,” I replied. She squeezed me tight, burying her face into my back, leaving a kiss, then released her grip and plopped to the ground next to me. I spatula’d the toast out of the skillet, spread some jam on the pieces, and handed her a plate as I sat down next to her.

We ate quietly at first, as is our way. Crunch of bacon, sip of coffee. Forkful of hash browns, nibble of toast. The two of us snuck glances at each other while pretending to be fully focused on the meal, and I wondered for a moment if she had me sniffed out and knew I was going to pop the question. Finally, she broke the silence and began talking.

“So what’s the plan for today?” she asked me. I took a swig of coffee and played it cool. “Well, I was thinking we could take a smaller hike, get a look around at some of the rock formations, maybe make it to the river and take a dip.” She seemed excited by that. “Then tonight is the night when that meteor shower they’ve been going on about is supposed to happen. I figure that down here the viewing should be perfect. No light pollution, nothing but clear sky.”

She squealed in delight. “Oooooh! That should be fantastic.” I nodded in agreement. I topped off her coffee cup and moved closer to her, taking her hand. My pants bunched up a bit in the pocket area, somewhat forcefully jamming the ring into my leg and threatening to draw blood. I took that as a sign, and shifted my weight to reach in and grab the diamond. That was to be the moment. I withdrew my hand from my pocket, keeping the ring hidden, and started to give her the “big speech” but it was interrupted by the loudest boom I’ve ever heard in my life. Our heads shot upward, where we could see the trail of something large arcing across the sky in a southerly direction. A second boom followed, and we saw something that time, unable to tell what it was, though. It was heading southwest, and behind it, with another boom, was one on nearly the same path.

Suddenly, the earth began to shake, and the sounds of another boom echoed through the Canyon. Rocks began to crumble down the face, and ancient artifices began to crack under what felt like a titanic earthquake. Nadine and I ran towards the most open area of the canyon floor we could fine and stuck ourselves in the middle. As we did, light began flowing over the edge of the Canyon rim, but it came from the north, not the east. Another quake followed, and light began expanding, though gentler, from the south.

I’ve never been more terrified in my entire life.

Nadine took my hand, and as absent as I was at that point, it didn’t register with me that she had grasped the one where I had been keeping a near death grip on the engagement ring. As she pried my hand open in order to hold it tight, she discovered the diamond, albeit one that had cut deeply into my palm. Her head shot up, eyes meeting mine in a fierce lock. She gently took the ring from me and slipped it onto her finger, nodding a gentle assent to me. Then she tore a strip from the bottom of her nightshirt and began wrapping it around my palm as a bandage. When she had finished, she took her hand in mine and squeezed as hard as she could. I know it had a medical purpose- trying to stop the bleeding. But I knew the real reason. She was just as terrified as me. What the hell was happening?

The quakes eased in the intensity, but they definitely kept coming over the next couple of hours. The bizarre lights from north and south began to fade a bit as the sun crept over the Canyon rim and daylight assumed its rightful place as king of the sky.

We had brought a small radio powerful enough for local signals only but were getting nothing but static on it. Whatever had happened up top, it had obviously damaged the transmitter. So we had to think about what to do. The quakes had shifted enough terrain around us that we were wary of trying a trail. It seemed like we were safest where we were, at least until we found out what was happening. So we went back to our camping spot, being very cautious at every step. Once there, we put out the fire and tidied up our mess. It was all just busy work, though, a way to stem the rising tide of fear. Something horrible had happened; we had watched booming objects slam across the atmosphere, followed by quakes and bright lights. Finally, Nadine broke the silence.

“Do you think… do you think they were nukes?”

I gritted my teeth. I had been asking myself that same question, of course. “I don’t know, ‘dine. I’ve been asking myself that same question, and the only thing I can think of is that if it was, that seemed pretty small, if that makes sense.”

“Four is small?” she scoffed.

“Comparatively, yeah. All-out nuclear war would see thousands of warheads get launched, including many from the northern part of this state.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek. “And if we got taken by surprise and never got the chance to launch?”

I had no answer to that, save pulling her close to me and holding her tight. After a couple of minutes, she her body went slack and she pulled away from my embrace. As she did, she took my non-injured hand and pulled me towards our sleeping bags. Once there, she let go and began stripping away her sleepwear. Not knowing what she wanted, I stood there blankly, which caught her eye. For a moment, a smile tinged with pity crossed her face, then she started undressing me. (I was never one for being good at reading signals, what can I say?)

As I finished stripping naked, Nadine wrapped her arms around my neck and looked me in the eyes. “The answer is ‘yes’, you know. Even if it’s the end of the world. It would have been ‘yes’ yesterday. It will be ‘yes’ tomorrow.”

We made love like we were never going to have another chance.

Later in the afternoon, we heard the sounds of a vehicle rumbling across the Canyon floor. We scurried to get ourselves dressed and together, anxious to end our private vacation for news of the world above. Finally, we saw a jeep rambling towards us, driven by a lone driver, a younger woman with a ruffled head of blonde hair caked with mud and dust.

“Folks, I’m Ranger Youngs. I’m going to have to ask you to pack up camp and prepare for departure.”

Nadine nodded at me, wanting me to be the one to ask. “Ranger… what’s going on? What happened this morning?”

Her face dropped. “You don’t know? Oh God.”

“We left our phones and laptops back in Phoenix, and the Canyon radio was putting out nothing but static.”

Ranger Youngs sat silently for a moment, before taking a deep breath and taking off her sunglasses. It was obvious then that she had been crying, and crying a lot. “Sir… ma’am… there is no Phoenix. No Las Vegas. No Los Angeles. No San Diego.”

My entire body went numb, and I began to quiver. I could barely muster the words to ask her how. “That meteor shower that was supposed to pass by us tonight is hitting us this morning. The news reports say that other rocks are headed for Japan, China, India, Russia, and others over the next few hours. There’s a mass panic happening, cities are unable to evacuate.”

Nadine broke down, letting out a terrible sob, and I have to admit I was hard-pressed not to join her. My brain seemed to stop functioning on all but the most basic levels, leaving me unable to document this part of the day with any real detail. The Ranger explained that refugees were being moved to the outlying areas of the upper Arizona country. I do remember asking her if the Canyon floor wasn’t likely to be the safest place for everyone and her telling me that the quakes and explosions had shifted things so much that the Canyon was expected to flood within the next twelve to twenty-four hours. A helicopter was to come and pick us up within the next two hours and take us to a safe area.

After the Ranger left, Nadine and I sat motionless on the ground and held each other for as long as we could. When we heard the helicopter in the distance, we finally picked ourselves up, rolled up the sleeping bags, grabbed what food and water we had left, and threw everything else into the fire. Whatever was going to happen from there, the world as we knew it was over. Our home was gone. Our friends were likely gone. The university where we both taught was apparently gone. The Ranger had told us to only bring necessities.

What exactly is a necessity at the end of the world?