Radioactive

Prologue

Prologue

I was home alone with my older sister, Lynn, when it happened. My parents were out partying with their friends while my older brother, Steven, "studied" at the college. The T.V went black and a multi-colored screen popped up. I heard my sister gasp, but my eyes were glued to the T.V.

"Hayley." she gasped.

Lynn grabbed my wrist, snatched up our emergency bags and hauled me outside. I remember my legs felt like they were being dragged through mud, and my eyes couldn't quite adjust to the orange tint in the sky. A deafening sound seemed to crack the world around me. This incredible boom almost covered the blaring of the air raid sirens.

Our designated bunker was Bunker 128. We made it there just as I felt the air pressure change and my hairs stand on end. The warhead had broken through the clouds. Lynn pushed me inside the bunker as quickly as possible but, just as she was about to step in, an army officer pushed her back and closed the thick steel door tightly and yelled to the giant crowd of terrified people.

"Maximum capacity! Everyone get into the fetal position on the floor and cover your head!" he shouted, getting on the floor himself.

I didn't listen and looked out the round window on the metal door. My sister was just outside with hundreds of others, banging on the door as hard as they could, shouting for salvation. My sister saw me and smiled at me sadly, with tears streaming down her face. She put her hand on the glass. I pounded the window and tried in vain to open the door.

Then, a blast that had shaken me to the very core, and a mushroom cloud in the distance. Screams from inside the bunker and the echoes of the doomed on the outside made my ears ring. I watched the whole time as the people outside died one by one, either just falling to the ground dead or screaming as they were forced to their knees by an invisible force. My sister scratched at the glass and cried out in pain as the radiation finally reached her. After her first scream there was a silence, followed by her hand leaving the glass, and the thump of her body falling to the ground.