*”Don’t look back, don’t look back,” Anna’s father kept repeating as they struggled across the fields, their bodies buffeted by the winds whipped up by the explosion behind them, unbalanced by their heavy packs. The twin cities were gone; radioactive vapor beneath the mushroom clouds hanging orange and obscenely beautiful beneath the night sky. Beside her, her sister Lin struggled on, weeping silently, tears cutting tracks through the dust and grime on her cheeks. Behind them, their mother, blinded by the first explosion as she looked back at their home despite the warnings of their father not to, disoriented by the winds of the second, slipped into the river as she ran, blind, swept away before they could reach her, forced away by the third.*
*No time to mourn. Over the ridge, into the national park. Must hurry now; the wind is picking up and the fallout is drawing near. No other survivors with them. They were one of the last cities to get hit; no other survivors anywhere.*
*Anywhere.*
*Through the park, quickly now. Rainclouds gathering, gathering, drawing closer. Time’s getting short, must find shelter. First raindrops fall, hot and burning where it lands on bare skin. Draw her hood closer, protect her neck, tuck her gloves beneath her sleeves. Turn faces towards the ground, to protect the eyes.*