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I said I'd never save you.

#1 {lang:macro__useroffline}   Res {lang:icon}

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Posted 24 August 2008 - 07:19 AM

Revamping the story taken from earlier post titled "Fallout Chronicles" and using the basic premise for a completely new storyline. If you visit that link, this passage is essentially the same as my second post, but remade. This will have more substance, as this is easier to write. If you read, disregard much of the information there. This section here contains much of the up to date information, as well as ideas and plot devices planned for future use in the book.

Thank you. I will update this as time/ability allow, and as ideas progress.


QUOTE (Exhibit A: Remains from the Pre-World @ before the Nuclear Annihilation of 2011. Artifact discovered in a fallout shelter in the remote mountains of what was once known as South Carolina)
Some month through January and December, 2011.

I'm not even sure why I keep this little book nearby anymore. It may be to keep me from insanity. I think I'll reach that stage eventually though, whenever the pages run out. That, or I'll have to go salvage another little book from somewhere.

I feel I left on a bit of a bad note in the last entry. Though it was the first, I don't want to seem... -too- negative, considering our circumstances.

I'll be honest. I chuckled as I wrote that.

So here's entry number 1. This is me recapping everything that happened to get me and my group in the predicament we're in now. Maybe I'm hopeful. In the back of my head, I think there's a chance someone in the distant future will find my body wrapped around these little books and read them, and they'll better understand the distinct level of Hell we all endured. If you happen to be the person to find this, allow me to congratulate you for surviving as long as you did. I hope you're well, and I hope this book helps you get an idea on what my life was like when the world ended. Take care of yourself. Don't let the mistakes of the past happen again. Thank you.
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Way back around 2005, it's general common knowledge that wars broke out between countries over suspicion of nuclear weapons. At the time, it had just about everyone focused on everyone else to the extent we weren't worrying about the homefront.
To make an incredibly long story short, yes. Weapons WERE found eventually, but not truly accounted for. The media of course attacked any official that said nuclear weapons existed, saying "Well, you were right, but only kinda.", because the weapons were more bioterror weapons than nuclear.

Fast forward four years. March 2008. I remember that date for no specific reason, just like I remember the name of the guy that invented barbed wire is named Joseph Glidden. Anyways... March 2008. Some pissant little country nearabouts the area of Russia started making political jokes about having nukes. This wasn't taken too kindly by the people they directed it at (us), and we went after 'em. Well, being a pissant little country means it wasn't too hard to sweep the place clean in a search. They didn't resist, either. They WELCOMED our army and troops and special agents with open arms, basically saying 'Please! We're playing. Look for youself!'.
And we did. We spent roughly a year there, sweeping the entire place with little to no resistance. They found nothing. Some folks were satisfied, others weren't. But "officials" made statements saying we were okay and could leave.

Well, about a month after we left (April 2009), they start making more threatening 'jokes' about us and how they're gonna wipe not only us off the map, but everywhere else. Think of those little editorial comics you see in the paper. You know, the ones we have? Like those. But theirs were serious.

By the way. During the year we were inspecting the country, the stateside fellows did a good job trying to keep us safe. They spent so much effort and time replacing and renovating all buildings to withstand the blast of nuclear weapons, and they coated everything with some newly discovered mineral (Hell if I know what it was called) that has zero toxicity compared to lead, but neutralizes radiation almost bar none. They also gave classes and PSAs all around explaining what to do if a nuke blows up near you. Basic 'Duck and cover' stuff to make people feel good. Sad part of this scenario is, that with all the training and practice in the world, if you're caught in the center of a thermonuclear detonation, a table over your head and closing your eyes won't do much to prolong your ability to live.

So, as we were about to quit putting up with these things, we decided to send another search team to check the place out just to be sure again. When word of this reached our playful little 'jokers', they gave us the punch line.
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It was a difficult day when I realized it was ending. Here's my life at the time. I'm a technical engineer / foreman for what was a very prestigious construction company at the time. I'm not loaded rich, but I'm pretty well off, which was always a goal of mine. Do something I love, and make loads of money for it. The mineral compounds described earlier? I didn't create them, but I was director of all of the companies that implemented that particular substance into the framework of many of the most well known buildings of the world.

My house was located at the top of a mountain that overlooked much of the surrounding countryside of a small town in South Carolina. My home wasn't just on the peak, I had specially designed it to where it was a part of the mountain itself. An honestly priceless piece of real estate. To my west lay rolling hills, mountains and the most beautiful countryside bed for a sunset you'd ever see in your life, and to my east was the great Atlantic. Coastline ran for miles beneath me, and a sunrise brought tears to my eyes each time I was lucky enough to wake up and catch it.

Last, and most importantly, my little girl Sophie. I realize that no matter how bad in my life I wanted to be a dad, I could never have planned a worse time than when I did. Within the six years my daughter had been around, she had to live through the rest of the world going to Hell in the most ornate handbasket ever conceived. The condition of the world drastically marred my best efforts for her to retain her innocence in society. Any ideal plan I had to give her the perfect childhood was shut down almost immediately after it had been thought up.
Case in point, a few examples of my disrupted outlook for her future;
I had planned to allow her to grow in a higher class ideological 'perfect' family. I wanted to try and keep it simple. That changed when her mother was removed from the picture. The relationship had grown almost toxic prior to Sophies arrival, even though we were prepared for her. To not delve into that subject and keep it simple, I don't handle abuse well. Mental, physical, or emotional, and I sure as hell wasn't having my child raised in an environment like that.
Secondly, after the removal of Sophies mother, the plans for the National Renovation Plan were put into motion, and I was forced to leave her with my parents (Who did a fantastic job in my absence), so that I could go and orchestrate the correct application of our anti-radiation ... stuff. In my unwilling removal from her life, I missed out on a lot. Her first steps, her first words, and much of the quality time I was meant to share with my own daughter was taken from me.
Adding to that, by the time I was finished with the National Renovation Plan, Sophie had turned five, and was noticing some of the bad things and asking "Why?" And to your own child, you've got absolutely NO time to prepare yourself when she asks "Why does that man say someone wants to hurt me? Do I need to apologize? DId I do something wrong?" I tried to reassure her all the time that some of these people were just bad, and that she did nothing wrong. Why scare a child into thinking they've done something to deserve this horrible outcome? When our leaders try to rally us by saying "Someone wants you dead", the wrong people hear it, and it stirs up way too much trouble.

Anyways... My life story will surely come later in this book, but that's my humble beginning. You now know what kind of person I am, what kind of life I lived, and what I'm living for. Now that you get this, here's exactly what went down, to the best of my useable memory, and as clearly as I can recall.

Overwhelmed as one would be, placed in my position.
Such a heavy burden now to be "The One".
Born to bear and read to all the details of our ending
To write it down for all the world to see.
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#2 {lang:macro__useroffline}   Res {lang:icon}

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Posted 03 September 2008 - 05:31 AM

QUOTE (Page 4 of the Pre-World Artifact.)
Upon further review, I'm starting to think we're in the middle of March. You'd never be able to tell with the weather though. It's been snowing for the longest time.

Same old routine we have here. Sophie is asleep, and my restless nights are spend whittling the lead of a pencil away in this little book. I think about it, and the same sentence runs through my head; "Are you happy with what you did with your life?"

I always get quiet when I think about that. Because when it comes down to it, yes. I'm very happy with what I did with my life. I lived with more accomplishments that many others could say, and the circumstances I'm placed in now have no bearing on what I do.

It's late I guess... I'll come up with an entry worth reading. Something with more substance that my ramblings.
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I know we've all had those moments in life. Where reality is just too much to bear. People in general enter a state of such firm disbelief, that oftentimes drive them to insanity.

I wish that would have helped many people in this situation. But the sad truth is, when the radio broadcasts came out that people would be dying very soon, many left the sanctity (and most likely safety) of their homes when the crisis struck.

In their last moments, many people were caught in such positions that they were completely overtaken by the blasts. Cars piled up as workers raced home from their job, trying to get to their families. Teenagers flooded the streets on foot, trying to get to their friends, families, loved ones, or anywhere they might have thought would provide some basis of shelter.

I can fully understand their logic. Had I been a teenager at the time, I would have been calling my girlfriend and telling her I love her. Assure her we'd all be alright, and then try my best to get to her before time ran out. I could get to her, and take her far away from the danger. I could save her. I'm sure that's what I would think if I was young and foolish, but that's what many thought that day. And that's one of the reasons so many more people died.

But even for myself, I had people I wanted to save. But they were too far away. My primary concern was saving my own life, and then Sophies. As selfish as it sounds, I knew if I didn't survive, she stood no chance.

I made phone calls of course. I knew the basic safety procedures better than most, so I informed all relevant parties of what to do that would give them the best chance to live. It was heartbreaking, but things had to be done. But even in the shelter I constructed, we were still in for a trip through hell when the shockwave passed us.

For myself, and anyone else lucky/unlucky enough to have a bunker, we were only safe until the blast reached us. This crucial moment led me to believe that there would be absolutely no survivors topside, considering what it did. Let me elaborate.

In our little hole in the ground, we were surrounded by concrete holding nothing but earth back. When the shockwave hit our location, the energy released heated the ground to such an extent, it felt as if we were staying in an oven. I've never in my life endured that much heat. Working in my line of employment, you live through some hot days. But underground, I'm sure the temperature spiked at 150 degrees farenheit for a moment. Even worse, I had to make Sophie bear it, too. That's a memory I wish I could erase...

I've only ever been to the surface a few times. I know better than to expose myself to the elements these days...

Overwhelmed as one would be, placed in my position.
Such a heavy burden now to be "The One".
Born to bear and read to all the details of our ending
To write it down for all the world to see.
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