I wake up on the cold, hard bed. The other prisoners do the same. We all look similar. Cuts and bruises mark our worn-out bodies. We're still strong, but hunched over, with dark circles under our eyes from a lack of sleep. And then there's the other problem.
We all have to wear torn up suits covered in dust. Then the enemy comes into the room.
The world is at war. After hearing stories about World War II, I'd think we'd never go down that path again. But what started as ISIS lead to World War III, which lead to a massive brawl between countries. America is weak right now. So many soldiers have been put in prisoner camps. Other soldiers have died, and the ones that are alive and free are in hiding to train.
Only few are actually fighting, and I'm not one of them.
A young Islamic man comes in along with others, but this one seems especially young. Maybe 16 or 17. He comes up to me, and shoves me towards the door.
"Go!" He shouts and shoves me harder. I don't.
He hits me hard and shoves me. Other soldiers are getting shoved around as well. It isn't unusual for us to be treated this way. I've been here for about a week or two, the shortest time out of all of us, and I already feel pain and weakness like never before.
We're guided to a dining hall. There aren't any seats, and the table is just a long wooden board flat on the ground. It isn't a hall either, since we're outside and there's no roof. It happens to be snowing and it's freezing cold, but it won't make a difference. We'll still have to work. And I'd rather eat in the cold than eat nothing at all.
We get a bland meal of rock-hard bread, a small container with old water, and a tiny pot of cold broth.
The harsh soldiers that are in charge of the camp bark orders around. We're forced to do jobs like collecting wood for their fireplace, cutting stone for their buildings. If we don't do it, they gather everyone around and we all have to watch as the person that disobeyed the order gets beat. Hard.
I sit around, not doing my work. I should be unloading wood from a truck and transporting it to a different one. I don't. A strong yet hunched over man with mouth ulcers and a bleeding ear comes up to me, asks me what I am waiting forr with a rough accent. I give no response. My lips are sore, anyways.
He beats me up. He kicks me in the chest, but I bleed from my nose. I vomit everywhere. No surprise, all of us have been vomiting everywhere recently. harder than I have ever felt. I wake up. I snap out of it. I wake up more than I have ever woke lookn up in the past while. He punches me multiple times in the chest.
I go. I leave, I start doing my work. I don't do much, though. I am deep in thought. I am slowly dying. I feel it in my body, in my bones, in my head. My body is dying. One week ago, a nearby power plant exploded, emitting large amounts of radiation.
We are all radioactive. We are all slowly dying. I am, my fellow soldiers are, my enemy is. We are all radioactive, all dying.
At the end of the day, I decide that we're going to break out. When me and my fellow soldiers arrive in our barracks.
We all know this is the new age for us. We are all experiencing something we never have felt, and hopefully never feel again.
I explain something to them. We're dead if we don't leave now. We will never see our families again, never live again. I do not want to let go of myself, Dan Reynolds, like this.
We agree to break out within the next few days. One man pulls out some strange container that holds a blue liquid.
"First step: give me your clothes."
I painfully pull my shirt over my red, sloughing back. I give it to him.
Our clothes were once Grey, they're now stained with blood. But with this man's plan, our clothes will become a brilliant cobalt blue. He plans to dye our suits blue.
We arrive to breakfast the next day as a line of Smurfs. We are colorful.
The next day, we paint two long, large, vertical red stripes on our blue suits.
The day after that, we add the stars, and become Amercica. We are a group of flags, a group of soldiers, we are, in a way, indestructible.
We grow weaker every day. Yet now, we have grown stronger.
All of us are beaten that day. My whole body aches by the end of the day. I'm about to lay down when a man, no, an American rushes in.
"I overheard them. We're getting attacked tonight. Don't go to sleep."
We plan an ambush. We'll attack them when they come inside to kill us, then escape.
The sun hasn't died yet, it still lives as a crack peeking over the horizon. We hear the enemy storm down the hallway, and the door bursts open. I feel myself dying in my bones, but I attack, from my heart, with my whole body.
All of the enemy soldiers are on the ground. One of our own is on his knees, retching.
A few minutes later, we storm into their armory. We grab guns. Someone forces a pistol into one of my hands. I grab a slim rifle in the other, and when we have all geared up, we storm out.
Hours pass. We fight until the sun disappears, and even after that.
But when the last enemy soldier is shot dead, we make our escape.
We leave, radioactive yet alive, nearly dead but free, we are American soldiers, we are radioactive.
Lyrics to "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons
I'm waking up, to ash and dust, I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust. I'm breathing in the chemicals.
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus. This is it, the apocalypse.
I'm waking up. I feel it in my bones, enough to make my system blow.
Welcome to the new age, to the new age, Welcome to the new age, to the new age.
Whoa, whoa, I'm, Radioactive, radioactive. Whoa, whoa, I'm, Radioactive, radioactive!
I raise my flag, dye my clothes, It's a revolution, I suppose. We're painted red, to fit right in.
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus. This is it, the apocalypse.
I'm waking up. I feel it in my bones, enough to make my system blow.
Welcome to the new age, to the new age, Welcome to the new age, to the new age.
Whoa, whoa, I'm, Radioactive, radioactive. Whoa, whoa, I'm, Radioactive, radioactive!
All systems go, sun hasn't died. Deep in my bones, straight from inside.
I'm waking up. I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow.
Welcome to the new age, to the new age, Welcome to the new age, to the new age.
Whoa, whoa, I'm, Radioactive, radioactive. Whoa, whoa, I'm, Rdaioactive, radioactive!