What Was Left Behind

A Goodbye

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"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it"

-Margaret Thatcher

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              Mathew's breathing seemed to be steady, and his burns weren't as much as a bother from what Lilith could see. She was crouched over in the corner, patiently waiting for her sibling to wake up from his everlasting nap. 

          Time kept ticking away, until she knew that she was wasting it. She slowly turned her head and noticed a small string dangling from the shelf next to her. She reached over and pulled it down, only to have an entire shelf of scraps fall down along with it. Her brother barely twitched when the metal sound rang throughout the shelter, allowing her to pick them and start to make ground traps encase the humans landed.

          She looked up when two dozen were done, only to be greeted by a rusty old shelter roof. There would be no point in fortifying  it from outside, considering the fact that it would collapse in on itself if she attempted to climb on top. But the next solution would take time that they didn't have.

          "Is there a hole up there...." Mathew said; his voice trailing off. He finally woke up and was facing his sister.

        "There's no way we can fortify it. We have to move to another shelter." She replied." That's even if we can find one still standing."

           Matthew was about to tell her how improbable that was, but stopped once he looked closer. She kept her gaze on the floor; looking as if she was concentrating on something. As she sat there he grew impatient as she slowly wasted what precious time they had left, and finally got up from the bed. 

     The burns were like needles being forced into his weak skin, but he only kept walking toward her. The cold floor felt nice against his feet, but didn't help the fact that they were going numb. He knew perfectly well that his wounds would just get worse if he kept this up. 

         "What is it Lilith?! We need to leave, now." Mathew looked down at her, hopeful that she would listen to him.

          "It's just..." She got up off of the floor and looked straight at him. "I have an idea."

       Knowing that he wouldn't get an answer out of her until then, Mathew grabbed his things and waited for her at the door. He hoped that she would move quickly so they could leave, but she insisted on taking her time. Lilith had everything packed from the start, but she was taking forever to say goodbye to the place. He had nearly forgotten about all the memories that she had here, whether they were bad or good. 

      "You ready?" Mathew said, trying not to rush her too much. 

       "I think so..." She was making her way toward the exit.

            Once there, she hesitantly took one look back, and opened the door. The afternoon sky was clear with no sign of clouds, meaning that they wouldn't have to worry about another storm anytime soon. Lilith also happened to know that most of the shelters here would either be destroyed, or not completely build.

         She looked over toward her brother, "Follow me, " Lilith said urgently. 

         He didn't say a word as they sprinted away from the broken down shelter. But as they did, Mathew couldn't help but notice everything decaying around him. There wasn't a single house that didn't cave in on itself, and the land around him was more just about as barren as the area behind the wall on Earth. The shelters seemed to barely be standing too, which only meant that it would be beyond difficult to find one that would withstand the attack. 

            "Up ahead," She said; her breath wearing thin.  

      He was already so distracted by the area around him that he barely even noticed the perfectly structured building up ahead. He couldn't help but notice that it almost looked as if humans  build it. Everything from the bottom up looked familiar and reminded him of home.

        Not wanting to ask her how she knew this place, Mathew just kept running until they reached the front door.

    "Lilith..."

    "I..found it when I was younger. Humans abandoned it when they left after the war." She looked over at him, but continued on in without further discussion. 

         The entire place was so well build that these storms had no effect on it. The only sign of age was the occasion cobweb, or some mutated creatures that were hunting for food. Lilith remembered coming here as a child to take out her anger on the humans. Her brother actually noticed a small smile spread across her face as she looked down at the floor. There were broken glasses and picture frames that she broke all those years ago.

                             But as she stood there her smile slightly faded, and she turned toward him. "Are you ready?" She asked. And as Mathew gave her one nod, she knew that it was time to begin.