Bliss

Chapter One

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"Some people survive chaos and that is how they grow.  And some people thrive in chaos, because chaos is all they know." -Unkown

The idea itself that even with the entirety of the world in ruble, that we continue to attempt the structured life is beyond my belief.  Nearly all of humanity was dead from numerous causes, impact of nuclear weapons, radiation poisoning, or human killing human out of despair and insanity, most of us were dead.  However depressing and dreadful the reality is, somehow I am still sitting in a school desk being taught things that no longer pertained to the presence. But above all, I couldn't manage to understand that I had survived the second, let alone the first. I was one out of 2,000 people that made it through.

You see, America was where it all broke out into horror. We were truly a superpower above the rest, so therefore an obvious first target . The feeling of superiority instilled in our hearts was never going to be enough to protect us from reality.  Still to this day, we do not know where the nuclear bombs arrived from. We do not know our enemy, the people in command of our very undoing. And so it began, the Third World War. It was every country fending for themselves. America was holding fire back, trying to regain some of our power, until we were hit a second major time, then we let loose. We called the first round of 13 nuclear missiles that hit us, The Beginning. It wiped out over 1/3 of our country's people. The second round, The Threat, of 21 nuclear bombs killed off 5/6 of the survivors. Leaving America with approximately 2,000 people living; and I, Penelope Tamer, had survived both...

I sighed to myself as I continued to sit through English class, awaiting for the moment I could go home. School had continued to go on despite the circumstances. After The Beginning, the government had fallen apart, leaving each section to have their own rules. My brother, who is 23, moved us to Selma, the section that covers Texas to Florida, the old states. We live in the most populated section that remains. The other three sections, Delta, Central, and Burris, are all far less populated then Selma. My classes, which are all taught by the same instructor, carry about 50 students total.

I continued to rub my cold tiny hands together seeking friction to warm them. The instructor carried on through the lesson ignorant to the fact that what was left of our country was in danger. We all were in danger.

Seconds later the alarms sounds from our poor excuse of speakers. Our teacher's eyes widened as we all recognized the alert.

"Get into position, code black, explosives coming from the south, and they are soon to hit within the next two minutes." the speakers blared out to us.

We all got up calmly from our makeshift desks not suspecting what lay ahead. We have had many explosives hit us sporadically throughout The Beginning and The Threat, but they were simply one or two, making contact far from us. Code black, meaning closer near us, which worried me a little, but I pushed the fear deep within.

We all headed towards the basement shelter room and scurried our way down the steep steps just as the first bomb hit. I could feel the shudder vibrating through my bones as it hit the ground. Judging by the thud, it appeared to be about one mile away.

We all sat silently, arms and hands covering our heads. The age in our class ranges from 13 to my age of 17. The younger stayed together, most in tears; and the kids around my age, spread out around the room, covering the remaining flooring.