Five point five billion human lives ended on March twenty-first, two-thousand-twelve. The survivors of the nuclear fire called it Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare, the war against the machines.

She lay on her left side, her left arm bent underneath her head, her back turned towards the open door. Her eyes were closed but it did not block out the horrors of the day. In fact she relived them all over again. The missile field, the field on fire, the mushroom clouds drawing the horizon. There was no escape.
Her head and heart ached like they had never done before. She knew what caused it but there was nothing she could do to make it go away. The stress, the overwhelming feeling of utter and complete helplessness, the all-consuming thought that they should have done more to prevent this day from ever happening. They had done all they could have done. It just had not been enough. Humanity’s fate had been decided in less than a microsecond.
She rolled onto her back, opened her eyes and stared at the high ceiling. An uncontrollable restlessness welled up from deep within, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. A deep sigh of annoyance with herself passed her slightly parted lips.
Why wasn’t there anything she could do to make this terrible feeling go away? She could get dead drunk in an attempt to drown today in oblivion, but it would only make her forget for a short while and come tomorrow she might even feel worse. Or she could go to him, beg and plead with him to take away the pain, but just like her he would need his time and space to deal with today’s events.
The deep gashes this day had struck into their souls could not be healed in one night. Everything she, they would do would be a diversion to take the attention away from the pain, so raw and exposed.
Someone cleared his throat and she turned her head a little to see Tyler standing in the door opening with their daughter on his right arm. He managed to grin, but she knew he was faking it.
“This little girl wanted to see her mommy,” he said, his voice raw with emotion.
At that her resolve dissipated and she burst into tears. Her poor little girl. What world had she left to give to her?
“Why mommy cry?” Wilder asked.
Quickly she wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her pullover and managed to fake a smile. It felt like something had gripped her heart and was now squeezing it tightly.
“She’s just happy to see you,” Tyler said with a trembling voice before he tapped her playfully on the nose with his left index finger.
The squeeze on her heart tightened and she fought for all she was worth to keep back the new wave of tears welling in her eyes. He had been so incredibly collected and calm during their helter-skelter drive to the fallout shelter, but even he was showing signs of deep grief and sorrow for the world lost.
She had failed her son. She had failed her daughter. She had failed her lover. And she had failed the world.
Looking at father and daughter, she could only reach one conclusion:

Our destiny was never to stop Judgment Day. It was merely to survive it. However with a changed past came a new future and nothing would ever be the same again.

Chapter 25: The Fate Of The World Will Be As Such As The World Deserves

Chapter Index - The Fate Of The World Will Be As Such As The World Deserves