Playlist for the Apocalypse

Chapter 1: Escape

The building had seen better days. The gas pumps had been emptied and destroyed long ago. The door to the small convenience store hung loosely on its hinges and glass was sprayed across the entrance. Even from the outside, Evelyn could tell that most of the stock would have been picked over already. She leaned her bike against the garage door, careful to avoid puncturing the tires on the broken glass shards and unshouldered her shot gun. Slowly, she poked the barrel through the doorway. The gun had been out of bullets for some time, but she figured it would be intimidating to any hostile survivors, and perhaps act as a blunt instrument to throw at the soulless. After confirming the coast was clear, she maneuvered into the store. There wasn't much selection. The leftover dairy products in the long since out of service fridge were growing a questionable green substance worthy of a science fair and it was clear any useful supplies the store had to offer had already been scavenged. Evelyn climbed over the toppled shelves towards the counter and reached under the glass to retrieve a handful of scratch lotto's. Thumbing through them, she carefully selected the one featuring an obnoxiously shiny image of a rabbit and then stored the rest. She produced a nickel from her pocket and traced her initials into the card. For good measure, she scratched the bonus slot. Winner! The card exclaimed in bold capital letters. Evelyn suppressed a smile; $20 held no value in this new reality. She circled back outside, and carefully tucked the card with her initials into the cashier's window. Like breadcrumbs, she'd left her initials scattered around the city, hoping that perhaps if she could not find them, her family might find her.

With a final glance at the lotto ticket shuddering in the breeze against the window frame, she climbed on top of the ice box and boosted herself onto the roof. Vancouver's temperamental weather had not been kind to the rooftop and water damage had left an abundant amount of leaks and puddles. Evelyn sighed. It would have to do. Finding a dry section of roof, she sat down and rolled up her pant leg to assess the damage from earlier. The graze was small and already had started to scab. She gave it a quick cleaning and spared a small bit of ointment from her provisions to keep it from getting infected before setting up camp. She set down her backpack and rummaged around for her radio. Placing it down on the roof beside her, she flicked the switch that caused the little device to blink to life. Turning the dial gently, she began scanning through the channels until finally, she found the station that she was looking for. With the comforting sounds of the radio static humming in the air, she got to work on her shelter. It didn't take long to prepare the single person tent and sleeping bag. She'd been doing this for the last two weeks and she had it down to an art.

"Good morning, Vancouver! It's Jonathan Johnson here, coming to you live and alive from the heart of our post-apocalyptic reality, Metropolis at Metrotown."

As the familiar voice crackled over the radio, Evelyn allowed herself to smile. It had been mere months since she'd first heard his voice on the air waves, a stranger reporting on an impossibly vast collection of records. Why anyone would think to host a radio show in the apocalypse was beyond her comprehension and it was a waste of resources to be sure, but strangely she found herself looking forward to tuning into his broadcast each day. She opened her pack and retrieved the can of beans from her backpack. After a quick glance to make sure the coast was clear, she pried open the lid with her swiss army knife and removed her face covering to shovel the unsatisfying beans into her mouth.

"Happy Valentine's Day by the way. You know what's crazy to me? The fact that such a trivial consumer holiday would survive the apocalypse. Go figure."

Evelyn smirked at the host's remarks. No one had ever called her a hopeless romantic, but she probably was one, after all, she couldn't deny that Valentine's Day was secretly her favourite holiday. She knew how dorky it sounded, but she'd always loved the pink and red, the flowers, balloons, the punny Valentine cards that non-ironically made her laugh and she loved eating all the chocolate she and her siblings could get their hands on. But most of all, she loved what Valentine's Day stood for. She loved that there was a day to celebrate the only real magic left in the world. She looked up and smiled at the old mall in the distance. She'd found a fallen sign pointing there a few days ago and after several wrong turns she'd finally spotted its silhouette in the distance. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she was in the right place.

"I'm no romantic, in fact far from it, but I'll give the people what they want. 88.3 is now your one and only stop for all your love song needs. We're talking love, loss and all those stupid feelings in between. First up we have "Escape" more popularly known as the "Pina Colada Song" by Rupert Holmes, a classic of 1979 and a perfect way to kick off my Valentine's Day broadcast. What better way to celebrate this ridiculous holiday than by playing a cute love song about a seriously messed up relationship," the voice continued, "but I'll let you be the judge of that." Suddenly, the sweet sounds of the old 70s pop song filled the air and Evelyn hummed along as she watched the sun come up.