October 23rd 2077, Washington DC.
Dr Nina Barnes sat in the conference hall with a few hundred other doctors, nurses and others from the medical fields. She had travelled a long way from her home country of Australia to attend this conference despite the threat from the Chinese.
It was something she would later regret.
They were taking a coffee break from the conference when the warning sirens sounded. People stood up and looked around, the first sirens were a 'prepare' alarm. some people were muttering about it being another drill and went back to their coffees andnewpapers, while others looked concerned.
"What's going on Jim?" she asked one of her newfound friends from the conference
Dr Jim Hornsby looked at Nina. "It's probably just another drill. you know, with the Commies getting all itchy fingers over there I wouldn't be at all surprised if they did eventually press that button. But then again we are pretty itchy too!" he laughed.
Another siren wailed, higher pitched and with more urgency than the last. Coffee mugs dropped to the ground.
"Everyone evacuate now! Get to a bomb shelter or underground! The Chinese have launched, and they didn't hold back, looks like we got ten minutes until the first ones hit... oh Jesus Christ we launched too! "Screamed someone who sat near a radio.
Panic set in, men and women ran for the nearest exits, elevators were called, but the fire escape stairs were now flooded with bodies trying to get out to a fallout shelter.
Nina felt herself being pushed along with the rush, unable to stop the fear and panic overwhelming her. She looked about as some people fell beneath the rushing group of medical personnel, crushed beneath well cleaned shoes and high heels; their cries of pain were muffled beneath the panicked cries of the disorderly evacuation.
Sounds from down on the street greeted her ears as the sea of panic left the building, some broke away to find a basement further down the stairwells, while Nin was washed out into the streets where more people were panicking. There were some fallout shelters nearby, people were screaming about getting to the Vaults that were nearby, she knew she would have no hope of getting to one of the but that was ok, there was a small fallout shelter only block away, others in the area were filling up quickly.
She took off her heels and ran down the block through the throng of people who were running in the other direction. Her heart hammered in her chest as she reached the fallout shelter's doors just as someone was closing them.
The doors slammed shut with a finality that was as scary as the situation itself. People cried and whimpered in fear, others prayed to God, while some just sat and looked defeated. Nina looked over to a little girl who had a cut on her head.
"Hi sweetie..." she said, as she knelt down to the child. "Can I have a look at that?" she said as she pulled out a small first aid kit that she kept in her bag. The little girl held tight to a teddy bear and nodded. Nina smiled and pulled out a band aid, after cleaning the cut she put it on the girl's cut. She smiled; it was a Captain Cosmos band aid, with a picture of Jangles the Moon Monkey on it.
"There you go." she smiled and sat down next to the girl. "Where's your mummy?" she asked
"Don't know..." the girl said as she began to cry.
Suddenly the ground rumbled and shook. People screamed and the lights flickered.
"This is it..." someone said to the flickering lights above. A small amount of dust fell from the ceiling as more distant thuds and rumbles reverberated through the Fallout shelter.
They lost track of how many actually fell. But it was over in two hours. Two long hours of fear.
Nina held tight to the little girl and sang a children's song to her, each taking comfort in the other. "It's ok sweetheart, we will be fine." she soothed the girl
"Fine?" said one man, the look of terror deeply settled in his face.
"You think we are going to be fine? How do we even know that this shelter is radiation proof huh? We're all going to die in here, every last one of us," he got up and started pointing at the people who huddled in fear. "You, and you, you and you and you!" he shrieked. "You're all fucking dead, everyone!" he cried hysterically.
Another man stood up and grabbed the fellow by the collar. "You will shut your mouth, you're scaring everyone and I think we are all quite scared enough thank-you." he said as he shook the hysterical man for good measure.
The man broke down in heavy sobs and collapsed to the ground in a heap.
Nina looked up. "There a Geiger counter in this shelter?" she asked out aloud.
Someone went to one of the shelter's supplies cupboards.
"There's a bit of dehydrated food and bottles of water, though not enough to last the two weeks that they recommended in the Civil Defense preparation course I took. They said after two weeks from the first strike it should be safe to venture out, the Radiation levels should be negligible." he looked deeper into the cupboard. "Low on medical supplies as well, but no Geiger counter."
The man who had shaken the Hysterical fellow looked around. "Ok, then we have to ration what we have. If anyone has any food on them, or water, bring it here, and we will put it in the cupboard to keep safe and ration it."
Nina looked up. "Any alcohol too, we can use it for medicinal use, I'm a doctor." she said. The man nodded to her.
"That's a great idea, thank you, Doctor...?" he asked her name
"Nina Barnes." she replied with a small smile.
"I'm Garry, Garry Smith." he said as he took her hand to shake