R A D I O A C T I V E

                                      §  ~ PROLOGUE ~ §

         I open my eyes to a new kind of hell. Fire, smoke; pillowing around me and the screaming, oh god, the screaming; make it stop. I can't breathe; any attempt to suck in air is futile, my limbs heavy, weighing me down. I blink with difficulty and sit upright. The world blurs and shakes and a hoarse, desperate scream splits the air with the force of a whip.

                  I wince and stand, looking around at the chaos that was once Trafalgar Square. The ground is alight with fire, burning like lava; moving beneath my feet. Earth lies scattered everywhere as if a hand had reached down and repeatedly ripped chunks from the ground and threw them into the air recklessly; like a child playing with his toys.

         I stumble forward and a sudden loud whirring fills the air and makes me drop to my knees as I let out a gasp of shock. I glance up at the blackened, smoke-filled sky to watch as a noisy helicopter flies overhead.

                  "If you are able to walk, please go towards the remains of the London Eye," a voice booms loudly from within the flying contraption. "I repeat, if you are able to walk, please go towards the remains of the London Eye."

         I flinch, my mouth twisting in a grimace and look around slowly, so as not to test the limits of my ability to remain upright, trying to catch sight of someone - anyone, but my head aches and makes it impossible to focus; a darkness curves itself around the edge of my vision. A wailing fills the air, chilling and eerie, sending shivers down my spine as my breath huffs out of my mouth, short and shallow.

                  I stumble forward and almost lose my footing. The ground trembles beneath my feet, still reacting from... from the... the what? Whatever the hell it was!

         I keep moving, staring down hard at the shifting ground. I don't stop, even when I feel my body tilting in the wrong direction. I just right myself hastily and keep going, wishing to not be alone anymore.

                  I don't know where I'm walking. I'm just trying to make sure I don't step on the burning patches of Earth. I flinch when steam shoots out from a nearby wall, almost ripping a scream from my throat. I dodge and fall forward, landing on a sharp rock.

         I jerk upright, my heart hammering in my chest, knowing that I probably just hurt myself; but unable to feel any pain. I just have to keep moving, keep going - I can't stop, can't give in to the throbbing inside my skull, the pain coursing through my body. 

                  "Help!" A woman's voice screeches.

         I twist my body to see a woman, a few years older than me, with her leg trapped beneath an especially large boulder. I stagger forward, feeling slightly faint as I crouch beside her. I don't speak, can't; my mouth refuses to open and even when it does, I don't make a sound. I glance at her leg to find it mangled, crushed beneath the weight of the boulder; her shine bone protrudes to the side and her eyes are wilf with fear and desperation.

                  Instead of focusing on the state she's in, I put all my weight against the monster of a rock that is crushing her leg. I push, I heave, I struggle - but it won't be budged. I strain myself, grinding my teeth and causing my head to explode in pain as I use my weight against the heavy rock; but it's useless.

         I stumble backwards, panting and slightly faint from the effort. I stare down at her for a moment and her mouth remains twisted into a scream of horror and pain. It's the look in her eyes that will haunt me for all eternity. The desperation, the terror and the pain. Once more the ground begins to shake beneath my feet, almost knocking me over.

                  I glance across to where the helicopter hovers, lazily moving in circles, the voice booming the same orders. London Eye. Where is it now? Gone in a second; I spin in a circle after it, but the chaos remains; I can't see past it. It clouds not only my eyesight, but my judgment.

         I'm sorry.

                  I mouth the words to her as I turn, unable to speak them out loud; my stomach twisting and cramping from guilt as I struggle to keep moving, The shock in her eyes, the abandonment; again, it's something I'm not likely to forget any time soon. I struggle to remain upright; knowing I have to go somewhere, anywhere but here, anywhere but this hellish nightmare, with death tainting the air even as I struggle to inhale it. I can almost taste it on the tip of my tongue. It burns.

         I block out her screams as the world pulses around me and darkness seems to cloud, gathering force. It closes around me and threatens to overwhelm, to bury me. Suffocation - that's what it feels like. The darkness is heavy and damp, sticking to my skin like toxic slime.

                  I scream as the darkness drags me to my knees, weakens me to the core. My scream echoes for what feels and eternity as my body caves, succumbs to the darkness. As I fall into an unconscious state of being, I feel the heat burning at my skin and my last thought is a prayer to an empty god that I'll survive.