Natalie grew up in this world, one where there have been five World Wars, with another just around the corner. But her mother had told her of a different time, so long ago now that no one else seems to remember. It was a time when most people could read and write, when they had jobs in tall buildings and went to places called stores to get food, when they got to those places by sitting in a moving piece of metal. The world used to be filled with people, her mother said, but now it was normal to go weeks without seeing another human being. Natalie enjoyed daydreaming of this old world, where she wasn't being trained to fight and hunt, where she didn't have to step over dead bodies or ignore hungry kids because she was hungry as well. But this nicer world was nothing but a fairy tale, one that her mother could have made up. Besides, how can only one family know how to read and write? This could all be something fake that was made up to give her hope when there was none. Either way, it wouldn't stop Natalie from imagining a better world, from striving to find a small slice of that in the period she lived in. The world needed to be saved, it needed to be made better. If no one else would be willing to do it, then Natalie would have to step up and do it herself.