The Year 2024

By Dan Mclaughlin

The year was 2024 in January and I was working in the woods way away from anything when it started. I don't remember why the war started but I remember seeing the smoke trails from the nukes cruising overhead. In the following months, the world was practically destroyed. Earth was changed into nothing more than an empty desert 99.999% of the world population was killed off, some by chemical weapons but most by nukes.
It's been twenty years since the war and twenty years since I've seen another person. It's been just O'dean and me for about twenty years. O'dean is my car and the only friend I have. When there is no one to talk to, you will talk to anything and it will listen and after a long time it will even start to talk back. I guess that I have gone a bit crazy out here on my own.
There are still lots of buildings left but no people. The easiest things to find are probably alcohol and gas roaches. All the food was consumed during the war so food doesn't come easily. There is a good supply of bat, rats, and lots and lots of roaches. Driving around in the desert drunk out of my mind eating bugs, the world was like some bad drug trip. However, I still had some swell times sitting there watching the sun go down, a rat on the B.B.Q. drinking JD. In all its insanity, it was sort of relaxing.
Then one morning looking around in some old gas station beside an old pile of porn mags I saw a footprint. It wasn't much but when you haven't seen anything that resembles a person in years, it's fascinating. The fact that the wind hadn't blown it away yet meant that the footprint was still fresh. I got up madden in a drunken rage trying to find the person who left the footprint, I had just missed them and they were on foot. I took off in a fit of fury heading any direction. Then I saw it--a silhouette on the horizon. I pushed the car faster and faster trying to reach whatever it was wondering what I would say. I remember hearing the car max out when I realized how close I was. There was no time to do anything or maybe I was just too drunk. The man hit the front of the car like a bug and for some reason in my mind I just cracked up. The years of lone desert life had driven me insane and I broke out into a fit of laughter. The full emotion hit me later on that I may have killed the only other human being left alive. But the events later that month would prove me wrong.
It was later in the month or so I think. I didn't have any real idea what year it was so how can I be sure of the month. It had just gotten dark and I saw lights on the horizon. I turned and headed for them, slower this time so I didn't make the same mistake as last time. As I got closer, more and more light appeared and I realized that they were buildings. I stopped. This was it. This was my chance to see people again. Fear crept over me and I dropped to my knees. What if they were evil? What if they knew about the man in the desert? Or even worse...what if they were giant man-eating fish that were living on land? It didn't matter what they were because there was no way I was going in there. In a scream of fear I leaped onto O'dean's back (inside the car) and took off the other way. I drank like there was no tomorrow screaming the whole time "NO PEOPLE, PEOPLE ARE BAD". Driving off into the sun leaving any hope behind. The dystopia finally became a permanent.

© Daniel Mclaughlin
2001