Going Back

I remembered going back to Earth like it was yesterday. It was a really eerie feeling, it was. The air felt hot and sticky, and it smelled funny. The whole place had an almost radioactive tinge to it. I had my Immuno-Pack, so nothing there would harm me. I could feel the tiny bacteria that floated in the air land on my skin and try to burrow their heads in. We landed in what was LAX Airport, and we took a shuttle car to my old neighborhood.
I remember what the neighborhood used to look like, with kids playing basketball in the streets and mothers trimming their rosebushes, everything was great and everyone was happy, but now, the streets are littered with glass, debris, and the asphalt marked with old blood stains from the riots. I was about 8 years old when we left. All I remember was my mom scooping me up in her arms while I was playing with my new G.I. Joe and she ran into the car with my dad and our cat, Samson. We drove to this place where there was a rocket, a huge one. I fell asleep while my mom carried me into the rocket, and I woke up in a room. A really nice room. My dad was an engineer for the Space Counsel, and we were one of the first people to leave. I had heard stories about the people who had been left behind, how they became sick from the bombs, and how they resorted to fighting over food and water like cavemen, fighting until there was no food left. Then, slowly, they all died. Nobody had gone back to earth for 20 years, and nobody knew what to expect. I didn’t really want to come, but its my job. I have to research ground and air samples and try to figure out what happened. I had a team of 5 other scientists with me, and all of us were spooked as hell. We had been told stories of mutant alligators and rat people by the more senior scientists. They got a huge kick out of our white faces and shaking knees. I wouldn’t doubt it, though, what with all the radiation that was released.

“ Dr. Palmer, we’ve collected enough ground and air samples from this precinct, would you like to proceed?”, Dr. Molesko asked, in a heavy South Nebula accent.

I snapped to and said, “yes that’ll be all. Lets get back to HQ, the sun is setting”.

We all agreed, and took the shuttle car back to headquarters, none of us wanted to stay after dark. We were afraid of what we would find, or, more importantly, what would find us. That night, over a dinner of steak and potatoes, we shared our own stories of earth. One scientist, Dr. Sorenson, was 17 when he left, so he remembers it the most. He talked about baseball games at Fenway Park, the hot dogs at Coney Island, and the sparkling lakes of Michigan. All I could talk about was the tackle football I’d play as a kid with the other boys in the empty field between my house and the neighbor’s house.


We went to bed afterwards, and when we awoke the next morning, there was no sign of Dr. Molesko. We called him on his radio, but only static. Dr. Anderson, an intern, started to get really scared, saying
“ what if the rat people got him, or what if he was eaten by zombies? We gotta find him!!”.

I told her to calm down, saying that he probably went outside for a walk. We put our Immuno-packs on, and went outside into the dewy morning air. The dew seemed to sizzle as it floated in the air. I wondered to myself, why would Dr. Molesko go out without his Immuno-pack? I brushed it out of mind as we walked down the long and grey street. I heard movement in the alley just ahead, and I got out my gun and peeked in. I almost fainted at the sight. There, right in front of me, was a naked woman, her flesh decomposing and falling off of her body. She was eating what appeared to be an arm, and on that arm was a gold watch. Dr. Molesko’s gold watch. Apparently everybody else saw it too, and they ran. I ran after them, and the zombie woman gave chase, growling and spitting as she ran. I radioed back to the Space Counsel, babbling rapidly as I spoke.

“Zombie woman, Dr. Molesko, he’s dead, she ate his arm and his watch, oh he’s gone, he’s gone!“, I yelled. The Counsel told us to board our ship and come back immediately, and so we did.


Back at headquarters, I started up the thrusters and jets, made sure everyone was strapped in, and we took off. The computer knew the coordinates, so we sat in the dark of the closed shuttle, and we waited. I fell asleep, waking up to the sound of red flashing lights and blaring alarms. We were crash landing. I braced myself, hoping for the worst, and all I remember was hitting the ground with a terrible force. After the crash, I crawled out of the wreckage, and everything was dark. We had landed home, we thought, but everything was different. The air was different. The people were different. Everything was different. The people surrounded us, men, women, children. They had all walked out of their homes and businesses, and gathered around. They all whispered and stared. The other scientists walked out, and we all tried to get our bearings. Dr. Anderson was crying, “ what happened to our home? Did they get them too? Oh, my mother, my father, what has become of them?, what a world!” I could tell she had lost it. Maybe it was the crash or the way the people had changed. she fell down, and fainted. Somebody, I’m not sure who, switched off my Immuno-pack, and I fainted.



I woke up several hours later, in the darkness. I was in a small room, covered with a blanket. There was a woman watching me, sitting in a rocker, knitting. I asked her where I was. She didn’t respond. I walked out into the front porch, looking out on the street. Lights everywhere and beautiful green grass. And children playing basketball in the glow of the street lamps. I walked around, and saw the houses, beautiful colors of baby blue, cream, and white. Lawns with rosebushes and tall green trees. I walked and walked, marveling at how my home seemed so beautiful all of a sudden. I had never noticed these things before. It was good to be back and smell the fresh air. I walked to a pond and sat on a bench, watching people play Frisbee with their dogs or going for a walk. I sat and pondered so many things, the things I had seen, Dr. Molesko. Poor man.




As I was thinking, I felt a hand on my shoulder. “beautiful, isn’t it”, a voice said. Dr. Molesko’s voice! I was about to turn around when he sat down next to me. “you know”, he said, “ its strange, isn‘t it?. All these years without going back to earth, expecting the worst. When really”, he paused, “nothing’s changed”. “what?”, I asked. “You see, Stephen, twenty years ago, when everyone left in such a hurry, nobody really bothered to explain why. Everyone wondered, but nobody really asked, so no one answered the question.”, he said. I asked him, “well, what happened?”. He sighed, and said, “Turns out we didn’t exactly leave voluntarily. 20 years ago, all of the common people, including the president himself, wanted the rest of the average Joes to get a chance to make something of themselves, so he decided to move all of the engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and athletes out to mars, you know, give Earth a fresh start. Sadly, none of them wanted to leave, ignoring the president’s orders and just sitting on their pompous butts. Well, one day, the president threatened them with a heavy fine, so that’s when they finally felt the fire under their asses, packed up what they could, and left. All so they wouldn’t have to pay a measly five thousand dollars. The people were real happy about this, and to ensure their new found opportunity, they made sure that none would want to come back.”

“So what did they do”, I asked. He smiled and said “ oh nothing, just spread some rumors about zombies, a nuclear war, spilt fake blood on the streets, installed large air filters that made the air smell like death, released some small clear gnats, and built phony ghost towns and just recently, hired zombie actors. all with my help, of course.Cuz you see, when they heard that a group of scientists, that would be, you, me and our little team, wanted to see what happened, they wanted to scare them off. They did a good job, now, didn’t they? You shoulda seen your face when Gracie was tearin’ up that fake arm.”, he laughed.

“ But what about the Immuno-packs?”, I asked, “ we needed those to protect ourselves!” Again, he laughed, saying,

“ oh no, my dear friend. Those were to protect them. We’re the infected ones, you see. I walked out without my pack, I already knew all this, and I knew I wanted to stay. I even had my whole family moved out here a few weeks ago. I thought y’all were leavin’ so I faked my death, i was real tired of the scientist life, you see, but when y’all crashed, I decided to just let you know the truth, and send you back on your merry little way.” I asked him about Dr. Anderson and the others. “oh don’t worry, they’re fine. They’re having dinner at the steak buffet right now, and tomorrow, they’re going back home.” I asked to join them, and he said he would see to it that I returned home safely.



I thanked him, and I walked away, and oddly, I was smiling. I thought it was all quite funny, how, for years, everybody thought that the Earth was dead after we left, when really, it was much more alive than we’d ever expected.