The Blackout

He awoke in the ashes of a dead city. The cruel sun glared showing neither pity nor mercy. He shook himself. It was no dream.

Jack didn’t remember what had happened before he blanked out but he got up, slowly examining his surroundings. The town was turned upside down. Not a person in sight for miles and miles, clouds of dust everywhere. Homes and public facilities... ruined! Roofs were caved in and the glass which was once held together by window panes lay in trillions of smashed glass particles on the ground in front of each building. From the corner of his eye, something caught his attention. An abandoned warehouse possibly? Maybe an old factory or some rich couples old house which they left in order to find better. All three were possibilities. The faint red paint upon the entrance to the building drew him towards it. Before he knew it, Jack was walking towards this old construction. His feet were moving at a pace that he himself could not keep up with. He tripped over a rock lying on the ground and stumbled, ending up at the front door. On it, it read in faded writing:-

“Home of Mr and Mrs Smith”

Which had a line engraved through it and below it was a gold name plate which looked fairly recent and slick, which read:-

“Casa di Dio”

Jack was slightly baffled not knowing what to think of this phrase. He stared at it for a brief minute thinking some sort of word equation would jump out at him. He then remembered that he took an Italian class in college and these words translated to “House of God”. He wondered what it meant but shook it off and decided he would go in, he placed his hand on the old-fashioned door knob and opened it with great struggle.

Lowering his head down and looking at the floor not sure of what he was expecting to see, Jack took a small step, shuffling his feet. As soon as he stepped inside the building the smell of dampness and decay overwhelmed him and he had to catch his breath before he was physically ready to take another step...