To Cry No More

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the line: "Don't go out there."

To Cry No More

“Ellen, don’t go out there. If you do, you will die.”

She looked at the radiation counter where the needle was deep in the red. It hadn’t moved in over a month. She no longer expected it to move – ever.

She sat down and tried to cry … but there were no tears left.

A month ago, she’d cried when her husband called her.

“Get to the shelter!” he’d said, just before the line died.

She’d raced home only to have the sky light up like a giant camera flash. The car died moments later. EMP – Electromagnetic Pulse is what the news shows called it. She’d learned a lot about what to expect from a nuclear war lately. Every news show warned it was coming. It seemed the entire world was terrified while giant egos with itchy trigger fingers played chicken.

Bluffs were called and it turns out, no one was holding the winning hand. Everyone lost and the world began to burn.

When it all went down, a flash lit the sky, a car stopped and Ellen cried.

She cried as she ran the hundred yards to the house and she cried when her daughter didn’t answer her cell phone.

She cried as the nuclear wind started blowing houses into the air, visible from blocks away. And she’d cried as she ran down the basement and into the shelter.

Ellen cried the most when she finally pulled the massive door shut, locking out the nuclear fire along with everyone and everything she’d loved.

Ellen cried as days stretched into weeks.

But now, there were no more tears to cry.

She stood up and looked into the mirror one last time.

“Ellen,” she said to herself, “It’s okay. You need cry no more.”

She opened the hatch and stepped outside.

Word Count 300