Warbird: The Sunrise After

Warbird:
The Sunrise After


By Dominic Herrmann


It’s been a lot quieter since they left.
No one’s been around to keep us in cages or…
Anywhere else.
It’s been twenty years since we last saw them.
Earth has transformed into something no one knows how to really describe.
Some say Heaven.
Some say Hell.
Some can’t say anything at all.
My first memory is watching one rocket launch.
Then another, then another.
I was only a hatchling; but it felt like yesterday.
Have you ever asked yourself; What if the human race disappeared without a trace?
There are many answers to that question.
You might think I grew up in a nest, with a mother to feed me worms, bugs or even roadkill if you’re into that sort of thing.
I still fantasize about wanting that after all these years.
My birth wasn’t a celebration with the father handing out cigars or the mother receiving shower gifts, it was in an underground bunker. Surrounded by other baby gulls.
I and the others were only bred for one purpose. To spy.
When the human world found itself frozen in a cold war, one side needed a way to make sure the other side wasn’t doing anything suspicious. For a while they used spy planes and humans, which worked for a while. But they needed something more expendable.
The solution?
Train seabirds like me to spy for the nation called America.
Warbirds. That’s what we were called.
We’d fly with cameras and tape recorders implanted in our wings.
If you were lucky, those were the only things they implanted in you.
Some had all their feathers removed.
Some went blind or deff.
Some were subject to chemicals that mutated them into unholy beasts.
For a few, their minds were so broken that death was their only freedom.
And their only privilege.
Some warbirds came back with news the other side was building rockets that would help mankind find new worlds to inhabit in case someone got too trigger happy with their missiles.
So America built similar rockets. Not knowing when to launch them.
But then the one they called God made the decision for them.
One day asteroids came charging down from space to Earth.
In a panic, all the rockets were launched. Like I said, that was the first thing I remember.
The alarm blasting.
The scientists shouting.
My fellow inmates crying.
Humans were fighting over spots in the rockets as countdowns were heard overhead.
Then all went quiet.
The next day was when tomorrow got its name.
The Sunrise After.
When we emerged from hiding, mankind was gone.
The first thing we saw was the bright orange sun rising over the sea.
Most of mankind either retreated into space or was erased by the asteroids.
Some thought the world would only go downhill from there.
But then something incredible happened.
Animals began to rebuild the world in ways that worked for everyone.
You might call that preposterous.
But try asking some mice or shrews, who’ve turned empty, rusted train cars into bustling metropolises with skyscrapers (from a rodents point of view) and their own currency.
Or the sharks, who’ve turned shipwrecked tankers into thriving market places where you can buy fish, pearls and decorative coral.
Or the owls, who discovered texts containing human knowledge like speech, science, writing, math and currency and spread that knowledge all across the planet.
Or the spiders, who after modifying human chemicals, grew to massive sizes and whove nurseries made of webs for the baby animals.
Or the rattlesnakes, who after using the owls’ knowledge, learned how to farm, irrigate crops and bring water to dying landscapes.
Now you’re thinking everything’s perfect right?
Right?
But there is one constant that is present across all animal species.
Fear.
The spider’s fear for their sick and injured young who often wander out of the nurseries.
The rattlesnakes fear for their farmlands and crops, which went through a worse than usual drought this summer.
Scotty, a Humpback Whale friend of mine, fears for his family. Winter’s coming early this year, and he has a whole pod of whales to feed.
I am afraid. I am afraid for all of them.
So, do you want the answer to the question; “What if the human race disappeared without a trace?”
Just know, we wrote that answer ourselves.