Rotten World

Prologue

Every night before it was time to go to bed my mother would always tell me stories that her mother used to tell her when she was younger. The stories were about the world before the bombs dropped. She'd tell me about how beautiful everything used to be, she'd talk about all the different and vibrant colours the flowers used to be not the dull colours we have now. The world before had limited amounts of radiation now we have too much, in some places it's bearable and liveable but in others, it's too much to the point that even stepping foot in the perimeter of the place would lead to instant death or mutation, it's a fifty-fifty chance for either.

" the world used to be so lively and generally safe, not to mention so beautiful. now it seems everything is out to eat us, it's a dangerous world now" my mom used to quote what her mother used to say and to be honest sometimes the things she'd say would scare me to the point that I wouldn't sleep that night or the next.

Moms favourite story to tell me was about how everything happened, and what caused the bombs to drop.  She'd start the story with " it was no secret that people were greedy but no one thought they'd ever go so far. in the end it wasn't worth it because they basically all killed each other and everyone else. The few lucky ones that made it into their division shelters made it and most lived long lives after that" " like grandma?" " yes like grandma, she was only a little girl no older than 8 when they fell. For the most part, she grew up in this world, she learned to protect her own and to survive the creatures of the new world." then she'd pause and think through what she was gonna say next.

"It all started when gas prices started to rise, no one could afford to drive their machines. this caused a downfall in workers and the start of the demise of our world. Canada was trying to work through it but America got angry, we had a better supply of oil and they didn't. They wanted to take ours along with other counties' oil, this caused a big fight to break out among the leaders. When nothing was being solved Russia thought to take matters into his own hands, but the only way he could see to solve this problem was to eliminate America from the equation. So he dropped the first bomb on America, it did so much damage. If you looked on a map it would show a big chunk of the county missing. the bomb caused so much radiation that it travelled the rest of the way through America and some even travelled into BC, it killed so many innocent people. what was left of the American government chose to retaliate by dropping their own bombs on Saudi Arabia and Iran."

"This caused a chain reaction throughout the countries, fearing for their lives they all fired their nuclear weapons on one another. there was nothing left anywhere, we used to have over 8 billion people living on earth now we have less than a million spread throughout the world, and our numbers are dwindling not because of the remaining radiation but because of what the radiation created. We are being killed off by hideous monsters and terrifying creatures" " mommy you forgot about the new plague." " oh god your right I did forget about that but that's a story for another night. it's past your bedtime." " awww but mom I'm not tired yet. Please tell me about it then I'll go to bed I promise." " oh alright, it is a short one anyway. the new plague is a very unknown thing. with limited scientists, we don't really know much about it except for what we hear from other traders or passing caravans."

"We know that it came from the melted ice caps. They melted from the immense heat that the bombs gave off, we knew this would cause problems but we didn't think it would bring a very old plague. It was in there when the ice froze and when they melted it got set free, air born they say. But we all know what it does to people and how others can obtain it. It could be a small scrap, a bite or coming in contact with the infected person's blood or spit but it only takes a few minutes for the plague to start its mutation process. We know it affects different people in different ways but the main two are either becoming a Redhound or it kills you. Redhounds are infected humans. The plague mutates their senses to the point of a blood hound's, it turns their skin a sickly red hints the name Redhounds. they mostly travel in numbers which makes it extremely easy for them to overwhelm you. The leader of their packs are the ones that have kept more brain function than only the need to hunt and eat, the leaders can carry and use weapons, which makes them the most dangerous of the pack."

"ok the end, now you promised off to bed. We have a long and hard day tomorrow" " Yaya, goodnight mom" " goodnight Reagan, sleep well."

that's usually how nights went back when I was younger, I don't get stories anymore mostly because I've heard them all. But also because I don't have her to tell them anymore.