Epilogue, 10/23/2077:
The explosion was devastating, glass shattered, wood splintered. He'd swear he went deaf.
"Ay dios mio" he said, or shouted, Ramon couldn't tell any more.
"What happened?", He asked while collecting was just eating breakfast with his wife maria and their 13-month old daughter evelyn, he was finishing up breakfast, getting ready to go to work at his engineering job at the local Corvega assembly plant. He was preparing to get to work early to avoid any possible U.S. military checkpoints on the drive there when it happened. Then, the boom rocked him to his core. Maria was trying to console their daughter, who started bawling her eyes out from the immense shock wave.
Through the sounds of car alarms, dogs barking, people screaming, babies crying, he heard a loud siren and a voice over a PA system, "por favor, evacue el área y mantenga la calma. Please evacuate the area and remain calm".
Calm? How was he supposed to stay calm when his daughter had a small bloody gash on her forehead and he and his wife were covered in plaster and debris after an ungodly explosion? Oh god, he thought. This is it isn't it? Those bastards actually did it! They launched the nukes! A million thoughts rushed towards his head, unsure of what to do, then it came to him.
"Apurate, sigueme!" He called his wife after she picked up their daughter. He ran as fast as he could making sure Maria wasn't far behind. He quickly hopped in his Atomic V-8, quickly opening and closing the passenger side door for his wife and precious daughter.
"Where are we going?" Maria cried.
"My armano Robert has a bunker on his ranch" he replied.
"Do you think we will make it in time?"
"Honey I know we can."
And with that he sped off into the eastern countryside, trying his best not to crash into other cars and fleeing pedestrians. After what seemed like too many close calls and 15 minutes later, he heard the second boom. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw a very distant mushroom cloud.
"We're not going to make it" said Maria in a sad tone, while rocking Evelyn in her lap.
"I'm going to take you two there if it's the last thing I do" he said with an astonishing level of confidence.
Speeding along the highway looking for the exit sign of his family's ranch, he saw them. There were 6 of them, dressed in green combat fatigues , combat armor and armed with laser rifles. But most frightening of all was the heavily armed and armored soldier in T-51b power armor holding a minigun.
"What do we do?" asked maria.
"We drive right by them, we need to hurry, god knows how long they'll keep the bunker doors open" he said.
"HALT" shouted one soldier.
"BY ORDER OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, I ORDER YOU TO STOP THE CAR"
"We need to stop the car," said Maria.
"No, we keep driving"
"But what if they shoot?"
That thought worried him. What if the soldiers decide to fire on the car if he doesn't slow down? Those guns will burn them all to ashes. And poor Evelyn, he thought. Will she be left all alone in this new world? Or will she be considered collateral damage to them?
He slowed the car to a screeching halt in front of the checkpoint. The soldiers quickly moved towards the car keeping their weapons pointed at them, itchy to pull the trigger.
"Get out of the car" ordered the same soldier who shouted at them to halt.
"No, we're trying to get away from here," said ramon.
"We're officially commandeering this vehicle" said the lead soldier.
"Please let us go" Maria begged.
"Why do you want our car anyways?" Ramon asked the men.
"We're getting the hell out of dodge" said the lead soldier, loud enough for his fellow troops to hear him,
"Please sir, we have a 13-month old daughter with us" Ramon told the man as a desperate plea to let them pass.
"He's right sir" one of his subordinates said."they have a kid with them"
After a few seconds of contemplating whether to kill the three and dump their bodies in a ditch nearby, he made his choice.
"Alright fine you can pass but here take this with you, it's a dangerous world and it's about to get more so" said the lead soldier as he gave Ramon a 10mm pistol with a spare magazine.
"Thanks, I hope I won't have to use it," said Ramon, nervous about the whole situation.
"Hurry get outta here before another one of those warheads go off"
And with that Ramon sped off down the countryside hoping to reach the bunker in time.