By Ethan Kelley

November 19th, 1962. 

We’ve hunkered down in this shelter for a few weeks now. I haven’t written anything since the bombs fell. Everything happened so fast. One day you're coming home from dinner with some friends. Then the next day everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Sirens blared and people rushed out of their homes. Everyone tried to find anything and anywhere to hide. I’m sure some survived the bombs. I tried to grab what I could but we left a lot of things behind. There's so much stuff back there that doesn’t mean anything anymore. We made it to a fallout shelter not far from the house. James and his family were already there. Thank God they held the door open for us.

It's been a few weeks now and people here are still in shock, myself included. Jane and the girls are having a hard time. There’s not much room down here. That, and it looks like some people have gotten sick. Nothing to do with the radiation though. Rick the bunker admin swept the place with a Geiger counter. He checked to see if any radiation was seeping through, thank God there wasn't. So, there’s either a cold going around or, God forbid, the flu. 

It's terrifying how everything changed in a weekend. Things just got out of hand after that Soviet sub took out our boys in Cuba. Whatever they used that day, it was atomic. To think it all happened on a Saturday of all days. It would have made more sense on a Monday. Rick gave me a notebook this morning. They brought extras down here to help keep people occupied in any way they can. I’ll use it to journal. It’ll help keep my mind off things, I hope.

***

November 22nd, 1962.

We should be able to go up soon. Some of the guys here were able to rig a Geiger counter they had on the surface before the bombs fell. They’re able to track the radiation up there. Rick told us all this morning the radiation is starting to die down. You could hear the sighs of relief throughout the place when he said that, myself included. They passed extra rations and left-over Coca-Cola they saved. All to celebrate the good news and the holiday! Not the same as turkey and mashed potatoes but Thanksgiving down here sure as hell beats having it up there. 

The girls look forward to getting back above ground. Jane and myself not as much. Both Sarah and Mary are driving their poor mother mad. It’s awful to keep them cooped up down here but there’s nowhere else to go right now. In a way it will be nice to get out of here, I suppose. Other people are getting stir-crazy too. Still, I can’t help but wonder what kind of hell waits for us up above. 

***

November 26th, 1962.

More good news today! The radiation continues to die down and we plan to go up next week. Rick and the other staff have kept track of the temperature above. The radiation has decreased but so has the temperature. There’s also an old radio down here but it hasn’t worked since Rick and the others brought it, unfortunately. That damn thing has to be from the war as rough as it looked. I fiddled with it over the past few days. It helps to keep my mind focused on something. All the training from the army came in handy I reckon. It does feel good to be behind a radio again; even if the thing doesn’t work. It’s been what almost ten years? 

If we can get the radio to work, we can use it to pick up any survivors nearby. A part of me hopes that we find other people up there. Maybe others like us that are hunkered down in a bunker somewhere. Then again, I might regret that thought.

***

November 28th, 1962.

Hot damn! We got the radio to work! We reached out to a few stations nearby that survived the bombs. How they were able to survive, who knows. I figured the bombs would have fried everything electronic. Maybe they got lucky with their equipment. Or maybe they were able to repair what they had somehow. Either way, we heard that a lot of survivors have headed south or out west. It’s much colder now and people are trying to find someplace warmer.

***

It's colder down here too. A few people have gotten sick. So far, it looks like the ole common cold. A nuisance but it could be worse. The girls caught it too. Some of the staff came around the bunker and passed out what medication they had. The cold and what food we have doesn’t help much. Jane and the other staff members were seeing earlier today if they could make some kind of soup with what they had. That’ll be better than these rations they’ve been giving out. Only time will tell.

***

December 1st, 1962

We’re going up tomorrow, well, at least some of us. We all talked about it as a group this morning. Some are staying here to wait out the winter for as long as they can. Others are going to take a chance and go with what we’ve heard from the broadcasts. Some are heading south to the Gulf Coast and others out west. We’ll be heading with James to the coast for now. If that doesn’t pan out then we’ll head west to Texas or California, I reckon. An apocalyptic Oregon Trail, Christ.

This will be the last journal entry for a while. It will be a long walk down to Florida. A part of me wonders whether I should leave this journal here for the others to write in or take it with us. I don’t know. Maybe the girls can have it. At least they’ll have something in this world.

About the Author