Unlivable+Days

▐The blast shook the Earth. Anything in a radius of 50 miles flew off its supports and into the air 100s of yards away. Fire and death flooded what used to be happy residential areas, and radiation killed who was left alive. No one could have predicted that an attack could be this bad. But it was not the end of humanity. Still, humans survived tucked away in the corners of the Earth not scorched or radiated or blown to pieces. Towns were formed again, and civilization was brought back to human kind. Still, there are areas where life is unlivable, and the only things that are there are mutated creatures. Life will never be the same again, but compared to the world covered in bombs and fire, at this time, everything was looking up.▌  =:|: Unlivable Days :|: = “Jack Folland. 36.”   “Where’d he live?” “Baltimore.” “How’d he survive the attack?” “Dunno. Ask him yourself.” “Jack!” I heard someone speaking on the other side of the glass. I opened my eyes. “Jack,” the man said, “Do you see the intercom button over there on the wall to your left?” I looked left. On the wall there was a red button. Next to it was a dresser, with more pairs of orange jumpsuits I was given when I was thrown in here. I nodded. “Good. Push it and you can speak to us. We have a few questions for you.” “Go ahead and ask away.” I’d have not spoken in a while, so my throat was dry and my voice was cracking. I must’ve been asleep for longer than I thought. “Good. Seems you haven’t lost your voice yet, eh?” I chuckled. “Not yet.” “First off: How did you survive the bombing?” “The what?” I had no recognition of the past. The last thing I remember was going to sleep at 9:45 on August 5, 2190. “The bombing. It directly hit Baltimore. Hundreds of thousands dead. And yet you live, Mr. Folland. How did you live?” “I don’t even remember a bombing. Last thing I remember is going to sleep on August 2, 2190. What year is it now? I feel like I’ve been sleeping a long time.” The man had a long pause. I couldn’t see him, but I could tell he was pondering. “It’s June 9, 2201. You can’t remember what happened to you for 11 years?” “I guess not. I wonder why? I couldn’t have been asleep for 11 years.” “No. You must have blocked it out from you knowledge. Come with me, I’ll get that info out your head, if it’ll kill both of us.” The door to the right of me opened. A tall, blond man, in tattered clothing came up to me. He had pale skin and wrinkles. He looked like he was in his 50’s. He wore an earring, an eye patch, and he walked on a crutch. His leg, which he was obviously using the crutch for, was shriveled up, being almost half the size of his functioning leg, which was big and buff. He wore a tattered green shirt and Bermuda shorts. “Come on, Mr. Folland. Butcher is waiting.” “First off. What’s your name?” “My name? Peter Rift. Now come on. We don’t have as much time as the world.” He chuckled. This made me afraid. = 1 = = Couldn’t Catch My Bearings = What I expected to see when I was to exit my room was terrible. I expected fallen over burning buildings, the smell of death and smoke, burnt trees. What I saw was worse. The buildings were destroyed. Pancake’d to the ground, in piles of blood and fire. Bodies covered what looked like roads, all mangled and bloody, in parts like a puzzle. Holes covered the ground. There were no grass, or trees, just green stumps where the trees should be. I could see makeshift houses covered the areas not full of death and radiation, people treating the wounded, men and boys shooting huge furry animals that looked like bears but had the tails of rats. And Peter looked at it all like this was all normal. “Come on! It’s only a couple blocks this way,” Peter called, a few feet in front of me. He seemed content, almost joyful, about going through this wasteland. I, on the other hand, was stunned in my place, unable to move from shock. “Hey,” Peter came up to me. He being close got me out of my trance. “It looks bad now, but all you need to do is focus on the good things. Like how humanity could survive this,” He smiled, “Now come on. We’ve got work to do.”