PROLOGUE

 May 16,

The world is falling to shambles. I thank god everyday now since the bombings had ceased. I used to wonder if the world was ever going to wake up and see the blinding hatred we have for each other as people. I suppose I got my wish. The end of the world began with the Civil War in Africa. The bombings began 2 weeks later, and World War 3 began. Now the news is alerting people that the wind is carrying nuclear radiation worldwide.

I worry for my daughter, well, I worry for everyone really. The world is going to hell in a handbasket and the people are burning alive. The governments are nearly gone; all of Europe has collapsed with the exception of the UK. And we’re just barely holding on. The First Minister of Scotland has all but stepped down. Soon I doubt they’ll be any countries at all.

    First the governments will go, then the countries. The people will lose themselves and begin to attack each other. The mutations from radiation are worsening every moment we spend analyzing it in the lab. At these massive levels of nuclear fallout, transmutation is at an all-time high. And it is creating more problems than we ever could’ve  predicted. The hair loss, body mutations, drastic burns were all expected. But now there are signs of significant muscle degeneration, people are struggling to control their body. That and pain tolerance has risen tenfold amongst affected collectively. And the strangest part to me is the highly coagulated blood inside the body. When cut, the blood is  released excruciatingly slow, decelerating mortality by 60%. I predict this situation will only worsen. Folks around town have begun to classify them as another race. I even had to scold my daughter for referring to them as ‘Nukies’ just last Monday.  

I’ve heard about the plan the Americans have stewed up. They intend to extract one child from every country, the fittest of them all. There had been talk about funding it, supposedly being humanities last hope. I just want my daughter to be safe. She’s 13 years old, the world is falling apart; radiation is disfiguring and slowly killing our population. And the only thing we can do about it is put 196 of OUR children into a facility? They’re hardly competent with the guidance of their kin, but to have children leading children is worse than blind leading the blind. It’s the naïve leading the ill experienced, they’re walking time bombs. They want to plant them in New Zealand , build a structure not too far from the towns, big enough to house them. Give them supplies to sustain them, teach them how to be self-sufficient.

    I can honestly say that I don’t like the idea one bit, but I’m going to submit her name into the running for Scotland. What other choice have I got? I want my daughter safe, and I want her to have the best chance. She’s smart, I’ll give her that, and quick. I pray it is enough.

Even if it wasn’t enough to save me. My symptoms have  worsened, and I am struggling to conceal them. The lab is running tests, but the outcome is bleak. I have to take some time away from my dear girl, it breaks my heart in pieces, but she has to be safe. She has to be, I need her to be.

My prayers and wishes to the world,

A. N. C. Breckinridge