The year is 2013. I can’t believe it. I turned 19 about 3 days ago and my dad just surprised me with a 2003 soft top Jeep Wrangler. It was dark green with a black soft top, and I was in love.

My name is Fai. I have black hair and dark blue eyes. Im about 5’6” and Im pretty thin built. But I can lift a lot. Thats why my dad never tried to help me when I lifted the spare in to the trunk.

This would be amazing to Sam. She likes to go to the beach in her buggy to do donuts in the sand. It will be awesome to see her face. I decided to show her this minute. I hugged my dad thank you and I got in.
I drove to Sam’s house on instinct. I couldn’t help but smile, this was so great. The engine was rebuilt so now it will last me forever, the gas mileage is great, too, my dad had told me. So this will also be useful on my road trips.

Sam and I met in a corner coffee shop, I can’t remember what brought us together. maybe it was because we ordered the same coffee in the same size and grabbed at it at the same size, or because we got caught staring at each other because we were dressed alike. Either way, it didn’t surprise me that she ran outside her house and knew it was me as soon as I pulled in.

“Oh my god! That jeep is amazing!” She exclaimed. She is funny looking when she gets excited. her cheeks are like balloons when she smiles, it makes her look like she is 3 years old, even though she is 22 and very petite. Sam is a lot shorter than I am. She is 5’1” and only 104 pounds.

“Isn’t it great? My dad just bought it for me,” I said. “I was thinking you and I could to the beach and Donut-it-up.” I laughed, we make up words like we are 5.

“Did he buy this for you because of your exam?” She asked. Sam and I take online courses at a Ivy league college about 2 hours away. That was the main reason we met at the coffee house. We needed internet access. I had just completed my associates degree in biochemistry, literature and sociology. I felt like a success.

“Yes, he did. I never told him, but they sent in a letter and it said I passed, highest in my class.” I was excited, all three exams have taken away a lot from me, i hadn’t been out of the house in a month because I studied so much, and to make things worse, all of my exams were 2 hours apart each, and each requires two hours. So immediately after finishing one test i had to go and take another. It was stressful. “I was so excited when he pulled in the drive way, I couldn’t help it.”

“ Well? What are we waiting for? Lets go to the beach!” She yelled. She hopped in the passenger seat while I took the top completely off and put it in the back. I got in the drivers seat, revved up the engine, and we drove off to the beach, which wasn’t very far.

Sam and I live in Los Angeles. We aren’t rich or anything, it took me all 4 years of high school to get a full length scholarship to go to this college. When we arrived at the beach we didn’t get out. We did donuts. Every circle I went faster and faster. Out of the corner of my eye a few times around something caught my attention. I slowed down and drove straight for a minute and stopped to turn off the engine. I looked to my left, there he was.

Jake is a muscular built, 5’10”, green-eyed, good looking guy. Jake is one of the life guards here. And He’s Sam’s boyfriend. Thank goodness he’s not my kind of guy, really muscular guys may be good looking but I prefer personality and style, not body type. Sam would have killed me.

“Sam, hey darling. You can’t do that here I’m sorry” He said. With Jake being a lifeguard, he’s no fun at all.

“Oh c’mon,” Sam pleaded. “You know it wouldn’t hurt anyone if we stay over here away from everybody.” She pouted her lower lip.

“I’m sorry, Sam, but we can’t let you. The pedestrians will start complaining.”

“Oh, phooey” Sam kept pouting, but went to her bag in the passenger seat and grabbed a towel. She laid it down on the sand and looked at Jake before he left. “ I guess I’ll just be sitting her, tanning, and being lazy.”

I laughed, Sam tried to hard to try and win Jake over. I sat down on the sand and watched the surfers and the waves. It was 3:00 so the sun wasn’t setting but it wasn’t up high either. It was really warm today, it had been raining the past couple of days, so to feel heat after feeling a few days of cold felt good.

“Hey, Sam? Wanna get us a couple of Cokes? I’ll give you the cash.” I asked her.

“Alright. Do you want Diet?” She said.

“ No, regular is fine.” I said. I rolled on to my stomach and closed my eyes. Fifteen minutes later, Sam was still not back, she must have been talking to Jake. I heard a woman scream, I didn’t think anything of it until three more people were yelling. I looked up to see people running to their cars, I looked back at the beach and saw something very horrific.

There were lines of smoke shooting up in the sky, coming from under the water, possibly from a submarine.

World War 3 is here.

I got up quickly and looked for Sam, she was running back to me with the drinks in hand. I slammed them out of her hand. “We need to go now, to the nearest bomb shelter. Call your parents, Sam.”

“What’s going on, Fai? Why should I call them. Oh my god! What is that!” She pointed at the smoke being made in the sky, there were eight of them now.

“That Sam, is nuclear warfare, we got to go, now!” I pulled her into the jeep and i hopped into the drivers side. I started the engine and sped out of the beach.

“Wait! We forgot Jake!” She screamed. I stopped abruptly and waited, I didn’t turn around but I heard Jake get into the back. I stepped on the gas hard.

I drove on to a main road and drove to an intersection, I dialed my house, Dad picked up. “Hello?” He said.

“Dad! You need to go to the nearest shelter, the war is starting. We were at the beach and we saw nuclear bombs being shot up in the air.” I explained.

“Hold on a second”, on the other end I heard a radio saying an emergency statement. I patted Sam on the leg and pointed to the radio, where we heard the message.

“This is the United States Government Emergency Broadcast, this is not a test, please remain calm, and report to the nearest nuclear shelter. Do not try to evacuate, please remain calm. This is not a test.” It said, and repeated.

“Fai, Fai, listen to me. We are going to the Los Angeles Shelter, try and meet us there if you can but--” Just as he was finishing a car drove past me at the red light and got smashed I the intersection by an eighteen wheeler. It burst into flames almost immediately. “Fai, will you meet us there? Call us okay?”

“ You got it, Dad, love y--” The phone cut, confused I looked up and a plane was falling down about 20 miles from us. I pressed the gas petal at the green but it didn’t go anywhere. The car was off. I looked at my phone and it was off. But why? i didn’t turn it off. I looked at the sky and thought to myself that anything with a computer chip in it just got shut down.

Jake spoke up. “ What do we do?”

“We go to the nearest bomb shelter for now. We have to wait it out.” I replied. I looked around. There wasn’t a car in sight. The roads were creepy empty.

Sam looked to her right. “Hey, didn’t the broadcast say not to evacuate? There are people bumper to bumper on the highway trying to leave.”

I leaned over her and tried to see what she saw, and she was right. People were backed up on the highway trying to get out of the city. Jake looked out as well, he kissed Sam’s cheek. We tried for about a half an hour to start the car again, with luck. We started to drive again.

Up ahead, after about another half an hour, we saw the Los Angeles Bomb Shelter. This was it. I hoped Sam’s and my folks were there. Jake’s parents were away on vacation in Italy, he had no way to contact them, and they didn’t either. He was shaking behind me.

I pulled my jeep in their “underground garage”, but first going through security and a I.D. tag on my car. When I parked we were escorted out and into a white room with 30 other people, none of which were mine or Sam’s parents.

“Excuse me, but are there other rooms?” I asked a nearby soldier.

“Yes,” he said. “ we have multiple tunnels underground, all the bomb shelters connect one way or another. It was a law the President put into place in 2010.”

I nodded. At least I could still hope my parents were okay. I hugged Sam for comfort, who was already clinging to Jake. She was scared stiff, as was I and Jake. I led them over to a spot nearest the door. If there was a need for a quick get out of there, we would be the first out. I listened to the worried conversations other groups of people were having. I heard the radio with the soldier nearest me. Saying that the first nuclear bombs were being dropped now, and the U.S. Nukes won’t be far behind.

Great. We are all going to die. I tried to listen some more, but the soldier caught me and removed his radio. He said something in it, and then turned it off. He looked at me, he was young, about my age if not a little bit older, he was terrified. As any Marine would be in a nuclear war.

It wasn’t long until we felt the after shock of the first bomb above us. Some soldiers were given orders to go to the surface. We could feel the vibrations, and the ceiling was cracking and some pieces of it were falling down on top of us. Most people were panicking, Sam was as well. A man and his wife got up to try and exit thru the door and were told to sit down, but they never made it to their spot. a huge chuck of the ceiling dropped down on the man before he could take another step. His wife screamed along with the others.

Panic. Devastation. If they didn’t calm down now, they were going to die from the panic, possibly if they panic just enough, they might all try to riot to get out.

The soldiers that remained were telling the citizen to remain calm and to remain seated. Some men were screaming that they were holding us prisoner, and that they were just as bad as the terrorists out there. Some soldiers were even equipped with riot shields. I thought to myself that they must always be prepared for this kind of thing. About half the men and women in the room pushed soldiers away so they could make it through the door. Jake was one of them. Sam was next to me crying, she was afraid of what might happen.

I don’t blame her. Shots were fired. A soldier shot a man with his rifle, the man instantly fell dead. The room fell silent.

The soldier exclaimed, “ If you want to stay alive, remain calm and seated. You cannot leave the shelter until we get the okay from our higher authorities.”

People started shouting, and yelling out profanities. They questioned and rioted. They demanded to know why they were being held somewhere where they might die. If I didn’t know any better I would think they would all ban together and bust out of here with no problem. All it takes is for one soldier to go down with all of his assets in open availability and they can leave at will.

I believe I thought to myself too soon because a second after shock caused a huge chunk of the ceiling to fall on the soldier near by myself and Sam. He was definitely killed on impact. On instinct I grabbed the loosest items I could, which included a knife, a rifle, a handgun and a few grenades. Everything else most of the men scrambled for. Some were even trying to coax me or even threaten me to give up the items I had. I was not about to give these up.

I pointed the rifle at him, the hand gun was tucked in my pants behind my back, and the grenades were stuffed in my cargo shorts pockets. I had about four. With the rifle pointed at him I said, “ I dare you to try and take them, get out now, thats what you wanted isn’t it?” I motioned him to the door and still remained seated. He walked out empty handed, but with brute force, he shoved his way past the soldiers, some shooting with the guns they took of the dead one. There was blood on the floor from where the ceiling fell on the soldier’s and civilians heads. I peaked in the hall, there was blood spatter and dead unarmed soldiers in the hall. A horrible way to die. Serving your country, then dying by the hand of your own countrymen.

We waited about a half an hour and there was another shock wave, it was not as bad as the first ones, buildings must be falling, or another one was dropped. I grabbed the empty pack off the dead soldier, and put the items I took in it. I got up and walked down the hall, where there was a storage room. Sam and Jake were following me. I grabbed as much canned food I could pack in the bag. Sam gave me a confused look.

“Fai, I don’t think this is a good idea. We should stay here for a while.” She said.

I looked at her. “Your right, stay here until you think its completely safe. There’s loads of food here, help others around here wondering. And most of all protect yourself. People will bring weapons by, trade with them, guaranteed they don’t have food.” I told her.

“Wait there is no way in hell we are letting you go out there on your own!” She screamed at me.

“ She’s right, Fai, you can’t go on your own, especially armed the way you are. Remember what happened with that guy before? There could be more out there.” Jake agreed.

“If I am armed, what would drive them to attack me? I have the advantage. Plus I’m going to be driving. And that is where the majority of these arms are going.” I said. “Will you please stay here, unless really needed you leave in an emergency? This is a pretty safe place from the nukes, plus its stocked with supplies.”

“We’ll stay, but can you call if you get signal? Or if you find a Pay Phone that works? The shelter phone is over there.” Jake pointed over to our right down the hall. It had the number pasted on the top, I wrote it down on the available pad and slipped it in my pocket and buttoned it.

“Stay here.” I said. I hugged Sam and Jake, and left.

When I got to my jeep, the spare tire was missing...but why? What use could that be? I shook my head and threw the bag in the passenger seat. I closed the door and locked all the doors. When i revved up the engine people came out and were walking around. Some spotted me and pointed, I put my jeep in reverse and sped out of the garage and into the now blackened sky of Los Angeles.

I was astonished at the sky being as black as it was. The smoke covered the sky like dark storm clouds... or even night itself.