Laying on her back, looking around with her eyes, Claire saw no tall buildings, no trees, no birds, no cars, no people. People, where were all the people? Laying before Claire - a young woman, pretty, honor student on the fast track to a top notch university, unmarried and absolutely terrified - was a wasteland. The four-story concrete block church that had stood above her bunker was now nothing more than rubble. Old crumbling rubble. In places the blocks were three to four feet high, but mostly, only one block or less. From her vantage point, laying there on the ground in the dark, all she could see were mounds of broken concrete and a few steel beams. In every direction her eyes could take her, Claire saw blackness. Black sky that met black horizon. All the structures had been leveled. By what, she wondered? There was no visible sign of fire or bomb, but she didn't have much to go on at this vantage point.
Cautiously, Claire raised herself to her elbows, then to a sitting position, and finally, slowly, stood upright. Being outside, fully exposed to the elements, her senses were reeling, her heart pounding so loudly she could hear it. She actually jumped at the sound, thinking it was coming from the distance. The breeze began to blow gently and again a fine mist began to fall from the heavens. Oh how wonderful a bath would be! The coolness of the drops on her skin sent a shiver up her spine momentarily distracting her from the gloomy environment. After looking around at her surroundings briefly, the next thing that caught her eye was a faint light on the distant horizon. Is that the sun or fire, she wondered, staring at the light until her eyes began to ache from the light. Raising her arms out to her sides, Claire turned around slowly, seeing and hearing and feeling and smelling her new world for the first time, all the while being showered by the mist.
From the standing position, Claire once again surveyed her surroundings. Where were all the buildings, street signs, highways, roads, trees, plants, or any sign of life ? All were leveled. All. She saw no intact buildings, only the horizon, in every direction. What did this, she wondered again and again? There was no sign of fire or bomb, hurricane or tornado - or was there? For as far as she could see the destruction appeared to have happened a long, long time ago. How long had she been in the bunker? No fresh signs of destruction, no smell of smoke or even of decay. It was if she had gone into the bunker in Florida and exited onto a different continent, a dry and desolate desert.
Claire's next thought, which had been at the back of her mind for a long while was of survival. "I'm alive. There must be others. If there are, where are they? God, you wouldn't save me, just to live and die alone, would you?" Doubt began to creep in, then fear in the realization that she might just be all alone in the world. Alone in the bunker, she at least had felt relatively safe in the small space, safe and secure inside the fortified walls. There, she had not thought about the future, of being alone, about what would happen in the event she were to leave. Now, outside, in the vast emptiness of what used to be her home, Claire looked back down into the hole, and thought, "Maybe I should go back down. I was safe there. I could leave the door cracked a bit to hear..no...no...I'm here... outside and alive. Besides, I have only enough food and water for a few more days. Oh God, what now?"
Remembering it was God who told her it was time to go, Claire built an alter of remembrance out of the pile of concrete blocks, then knelt to pray. "Dear God. Help me. I know it was you who told me to go. I did. I'm out. Now what do I do? Where do I go? Was it truly you who told me to go or am I going crazy from being locked up for so long? Lord help me. I must be here for a reason. Please God, show me your reason for my being. In Jesus name, Amen." Claire continued kneeling at the alter for a long while, listening, waiting, listening, waiting, slowing her breathing so her heart rate would lower to normal, inhale 2, 3, 4, exhale 2, 3, 4, inhale 3, 3, 4, exhale, 2, 3, 4. Finally, a calming peace flowed over Claire as she let out a deep long exhale. The rain had stopped and a cool breeze began to blow. Claire stood up, put on her back pain and began to walk.
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