Happiest Day of Their Lives

“This was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives,” Meredith whispered into Todd’s ear. Todd took Meredith’s twisting fingers and held her hand.

“We’re survivors,” he said. “It’s been a year since we’ve been in the bunker. We can survive in here at least five more. There will always be another happiest day.”

Meredith dropped her head forward, unable to look Todd in the eye. “I feel like a failure.”

Todd swept his free hand up Meredith’s arm and shoulder to land on her neck, his thumb pushing her chin up.

“You’re one person out of a dozen others on the team working on the vaccine,” Todd reminded her. “It’s not your fault. Everything works out for a reason. We will get out of here. Ellison and Tate, our boys, will get out of here.”

Meredith graced him with a tiny smile. Todd leaned forward, kissing her forehead. He lingered there, letting the seconds together relieve the stress of what was about to happen. Meredith pulled back first, a determined crease to her brow.

“Let’s go.” Meredith turned from Todd and entered the cafeteria where the bunker community took their meals and held important meetings. They were one of the last to trickle in. Mason, the bunker’s leader, stood at the podium waiting for everyone to settle.

“I’ve called you all here,” Mason began, dabbing at his sweaty bald head with a handkerchief, “Because I have very important news.” Todd reached over and took Meredith’s hand as the crowd let out a few whoops of excitement. Mason cleared his throat and the crowd settled. “We’ve been counting down the days. Our original calculations for a vaccine was one year. We are supposed to be celebrating that benchmark today. However,” the silence in the room weighed heavy. “The vaccine has had a few setbacks.”

“What do you mean a few setbacks?” A voice cried out as others added to the outrage.

“It appears,” Mason raised his volume to speak over the crowd, “That trials need to be pushed back for another four months, perhaps longer until we can verify safety. We will continue to live as a peaceful society in the bunker for at least another year.”

People started to push from their seats, their voices raising to a fever pitch. Meredith caught sight of Ellison clutching Tate’s shoulder looking pale and her heart broke.

“It’s like these scientists don’t even know what they’re doing,” a person criticized. At that, Todd stood up, pulling Meredith up with him, and guided her out the door as more harassing comments hurled towards the science team.

“Should we have grabbed the boys?” Meredith asked when they arrived back at their quarters. Todd shook his head, sitting down heavily on the worn brown couch. He patted the space next to it and Meredith snuggled up to him.

“They’ll be alright,” Todd said, stroking Meredith’s hair. Meredith let the heaviness of the day settle on her bones and before long, she fell asleep.

A sharp clamor at the door had Meredith jerking awake, feeling like she’d been asleep for days. Todd was gone and she was stretched out on the couch alone. The entry door slammed, jolting Meredith upright.

Ellison dragged Tate forward as Meredith jumped up at the sight of them.

“What’s happened?”

“I’m so sorry, mom,” Ellison sobbed as he laid Tate out on the couch. Tate’s eyes slit as they looked at her and Meredith noticed a faint gurgling sound when he breathed.

“No,” Meredith denied. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

Ellison looked up at his mother with big, brown eyes. “We broke into the lab and we took the trial vaccines anyway. We were going to escape and live topside. Tate took it and then collapsed.”

Meredith’s strength left her in a rush and when she came back to herself she was kneeling over Tate on the floor next to Ellison.

“Is he going to die, mom?” Ellison sobbed. Calculations of how deadly and contagious the virus was ran through her head. She blinked tears away as she ran a cool hand over Tate’s sweating forehead.

“We’re all going to die, El. The bunker’s not safe anymore.”

“But mom,” Ellison pleaded, his hands tugging at her elbow. “I took it and I feel fine.”

Meredith looked at her son. Ellison’s eyes were bright with likely fever and a light sheen of sweat glistened of his skin. She pulled him into a tight hug. It wouldn’t be long before Ellison was wheezing a bad as Tate. Not too long after that, both her children would be dead.

“I’m glad you feel alright, sweetheart.”