Duck and Cover

by Omega 505 Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:42 pm

Prologue: Diary of Renita Evelyn, March 12, 1966

There was a turtle by the name of Bert
and Bert the turtle was very alert;
when danger threatened him he never got hurt
he knew just what to do...
He'd duck!
And cover!
Duck!
And cover! He did what we all must learn to do
You, and you, and you, and you!'
Duck, and cover!'

Yeah… duck and cover, wish they had taught me that. In the end, it all comes down to duck and cover. Those who cower in the dark corners of the earth, they’re the ones who live. They are the ones who survive. You know what I truly think? I think this world deserves to burn. Anything mankind can come up with to destroy themselves, in the end it is their own fault. Bureaucrats who know nothing of war, nothing of the destruction of lives, deciding who lives and dies at the push of a button? What has this world come to…?

It’s been two years since the bombs were dropped. Two long, dark years since the United States and Soviet Union fell simultaneously at the turn of a key. No one knows who fired first, all we know is that enough nuclear weaponry to destroy the world ten times over was fired into the air, aimed right at ourselves. I heard that some places will never be habitable by man again, and that there are underground paradises where the fallout never reached. I doubt these stories, but I do not disbelieve them.

The world is a wasteland, yes. Ninety-eight percent of the planets surface is flat desert now. Nothing but ruins and dust remain of the old cities. These are ruled by the outlaws of old, smugglers and raiders that were locked up safe in a concrete prison. It’s ironic that that was what kept them alive. Any one stupid enough to venture close to the major cities are usually shot, or worse. It pays to have fresh meat out here.

My name is Renita Evelyn, and I am a survivor of the 1964 nuclear holocaust. And you know what? In the end, I don’t know if I want to be.