Everyone stayed extremely quiet as they heard the planes fly past with whirling engines, and loud propellers. Until they finally retreated into the distance.
"A-Are they gone?" Kai whispered quietly.
"Y-Yeah." Cal slowly got out from underneath the table and stood up cautiously, careful not to make a sound. "I think it's safe."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they got back onto their seats.
"Do you think that that was the bomb we were warned about?" Dean asked.
"No..." Cal narrowed his eyes, "I don't think so. It sounded like all the others we've heard before."
"What makes you think they'll use a different plane?" Shaw asked suspiciously.
"Well, Shaw, if it's as special a bomb as they say, with a blast big enough to wipe out an entire capital city..." Cal explained, "I doubt they'll be able to carry it with their old planes."
"Maybe they're trying to trick us!" Luka suggested. He balled his hand into a fist and raised it high in the sky, "Maybe they're making us THINK that it's the same planes, but in reality, it's NOT!" He opened his fist suddenly, mimicking an explosion.
"They can try, my dear Luka." Dean slung his arms around his head and gave him a noogie, "But we are all well prepared. Everyone living in the cities has already been sent to the bomb shelters underground, where they will be safe."
"But how about us?" Orly raised a trembling hand, "Should we leave too?"
"Don't worry." Kai assured, "Shaw said that we're away from the e-pi-can-ter—"
"Epicenter." Shaw cut in.
"Correct." Cal scooped a spoonful of stew into his mouth, "That means that we're away from the blast zone, and we shouldn't be hit."
"But we might get hit by the radiation though." Shaw added.
"Ray-di-eh-sian?" Luka and Orly tried to pronounce the word together, but failed miserably.
"Yeah." Cal admitted grimly, "The government told us that after the bomb explodes, this wave called 'Radiation' will be emitted from the origin point of the explosion, and it would spread to a certain distance, though we don't know how far."
"But we were told how to deal with it too." Dean added to assure any doubtful souls, "'Paint Your Windows White And Do Not Leave Your Houses For Two To Three Days And You're All Be A-Okay!' That's what Mr. Radio told us, right?"
"Yep!"
Shaw crossed his arms, "...childish."
"But what's this 'Rae-da-eh-sion' anyway?" Orly asked.
Cal thought about it, "Well... they didn't really specify what it did to us... but it kinda sounds like 'Radiator'. So it must be some kind of heat, or produces heat."
"Maybe everything will get really, really hot" Kai exclaimed, "Even the grass and the trees! And if we touch them we will get buuuuuurned to death!" His tone became really dramatic. The younger ones squealed in terror and glee.
"Then don't go out and touch them then," Shaw explained as if it was obvious.
"But what if our house gets really hot too?" Orly fanned herself with her hands, like she was very hot.
"That's one of the reasons why we painted our windows white." Cal explained, "The color white is a poor conductor of heat, which is probably why the government asked us to paint them white, so that the radiation won't get in."
Luka sat still for a moment. Then got up from his seat and proceeded towards the living quarters.
"Where're you going?" Cal asked.
"I'm gonna wear my white coat." Luka answered.
This little remark caused the whole table to burst out in hearty laughter, but Luka looked clueless as to why they were chuckling and giggling.
"Anyway..." Cal cleared his throat, "Our food is getting cold, we should savor our stew as much as we can, and maybe after this whole bomb issue is over..." He smiled, "We could go to that carnival that's coming in a few months."
At the sound of the word 'carnival, Kai and Luka ones squealed in delight.
"CARNIVALLLL!!!" They screamed.
Shaw sighed, "Not again..."
"Carnival?" Orly tilted her head curiously.
"Yeah!" Luka raised his arms in wonder, "There's this carnival that comes every year! And it sells the best cotton candy ever!"
"It also has this place called an 'observ-eh-tori' where we can see the stars in the sky!" Kai added.
Dean chuckled, "How about that one ride you guys loved?"
"What ride?"
"Do you not remember the carousel?"
The brother gasped. "Oh yeah..."
Their eyes became misty as they recalled the ride on the carousel.
"It was magical, I had never felt anything like it..."
"Our feet floated off the ground, it felt like we were flying..."
Orly stared at both of them, slowly being drawn into their trance as well, "Was it that amazing?"
"Spectacular." Dean answered.
"It wasn't THAT good..." Shaw crossed his arms and pouted, but it was obvious that he enjoyed it thoroughly as well.
Cal chuckled, "Of course, of course, the carnival was a stunning sensation, but we first have to wait for it to arrive before we ca—"
ssss...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!
--
...
...
"I-Is everyone alright?!!!" Cal yelled, the ringing in his ears wouldn't settle.
Through that painful noise, he heard crying and screaming, but his vision was blurred, he could barely see.
He was shell shocked.
"Ergggghh..." Shaw leaned his arm on the table to support himself, "W-What was that?!" He was yelling too.
"Come here..." Dean was hugging the little ones, trying to comfort them.
Cal blinked the blurs out of his eyes, and popped his ears to stabilize the air pressure. And as he did, he had a frightening realization.
"T-The windows!!" He screamed.
The windows had shattered from the shockwave.
"Get some white sheets, blankets, anything!" He shouted as he pulled at the white tablecloth in front of him, scattering the utensils and bowls, spilling the stew onto the floor, "Nail it to every window frame! Never mind if the window is shattered or not. Ensure that there are no holes that can expose us to the outside!"
Shaw staggered towards the living quarters, trying to find the items that they needed.
"My God..." Dean said out loud as he squeezed the kids tighter. He stared outside one of the windows with wide eyes.
"Wha—" Cal gasped, as he also found out what Dean saw outside the window.
A huge, fiery mushroom. Those were the best words he could use to describe it. It stretched from the surface of the Earth, to the clouds in the sky.
A single bomb. Cal thought. A single bomb caused that.
--
...
...
...
"Are the kids fast asleep?" Cal asked Shaw and Dean. He rested his aching hands in a tub of warm water.
"Yeah," They answered in unison.
Shaw looked at all the windows around their little cottage. They were now covered by a white sheets, nailed firmly to the frames so the wouldn't fall off nor move.
"What is it, Shaw?" Dean sensed his uneasiness.
Shaw clenched his fists. "Nothing. I'm going to bed."
"Hey, wait—"
Shaw ignored him and stormed off towards the living quarters.
"Let him be." Cal told Dean, "It's normal for young teens to be a little sensitive."
"Was I like this when I was his age?" Dean asked in an irritated tone.
"To be honest, no." Cal averted his eyes, "It's just... have I ever told you how he became an orphan?"
Dean shook his head, "No."
Cal thought back a few years ago, "When he was around six years old, his house had been infiltrated by a madman. He, his older sister, and their parents were forced down into their own enclosed basement that had no windows. After that, Their captor began to torture his parents, until they eventually died from blood loss. He then moved on to their children. He originally picked Shaw to be his next victim, but his sister intervened and tried to save Shaw. She became the madman's victim instead. By the time the authorities broke in and arrested the madman when neighbors called in and told that there were unnatural screams coming from this house, his sister was already in a near-death state. She passed away two hours later, when she was in the ambulance."
Dean blinked, "That's... horrible."
Cal nodded his head grimly, "So please, go easy on him next time. It's not his fault."
Dean was in deep thought for a moment, then he nodded, "Alright."
"Good." Cal smiled, "Now you should go to bed too. I'll catch up with you later." He raised his wet hands, "Gotta clean up first."
"Alright. Goodnight Cal." Dean proceeded towards the living quarters.
--
Cal walked quietly into his own living quarters. He didn't want to wake the kids up.
The room was small, it only had space for a small desk, a closet, a couple of chairs and a twin-sized bed.
He walked up to his desk. It was extremely messy. Filled to the brim with notes, pencils, erasers, rulers, pens, the whole set.
Cal sighed and opened a drawer, taking out a black, leather bound book and set it down gently on the table.
He began to write in his diary.
...
After a few minutes, he finished writing every entry of the day's events, and set his pen down.
As he did, his eyes fell onto a picture frame in the corner of his desk.
In it, there was a beautiful woman, with hair as dark as night, and blue eyes that shined as bright as the afternoon sky. She wore a flowing white dress that made her look like a goddess who fell to Earth.
Edie... Cal thought.
He took the picture frame and held it below his face.
She stared back at him.
He could almost feel her presence with him again.
Cal sighed sadly, "Edie... I'm so sorry. I don't know how much more of this I can take..." A tear trickled down his cheek, "When you left this world two years ago, I wanted to join you in your journey, because you were the only one who helped me stay in this cruel world." Cal started sobbing, the lump in his throat was getting bigger, "...but, I promised, the day you died, that I would take care of the kids, and care for them, until the end of my own life... and I intend to keep that promise, now, and forever."
Cal kissed the picture of his wife ever so slightly, then set her back down on his desk, and went to bed.