The Nuclear Catastrophe (a fiction novel of survival) by Barbara C. Griffin Billig, Bett Pohnka Read Free Book Online Page A

out and repair White Water. It has been destroyed, people! ”
    Their faces reflected the lack of understanding, the incomprehension of lay persons who had never heard of beta or gamma rays, radioactive wastes, or fission reactions. The word reaction, itself, had no more meaning to them than the collection of angular buildings that sat on the horizon thirteen miles southward.
    They were a younger generation for the most part. Atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs was internationally banned at the time they were listening to the latest music on their ipods,  surfing the web, and getting their first automobiles.
    As adults, they ’ d periodically notice an article in a local newspaper dealing with the installation of a nuclear plant or some group that was against the installation. Occasionally a blurb would appear about a leak of radioactive wastes and comments by a scientist as to its dangers. But that would be followed by officials denying that danger existed and stating that the public was ignorant for being spooked. These articles, though, had little bearing on the average man and woman as they thumbed cursorily through the news on the way to sports, the comics, and the food section.
    The day of the fallout shelters was gone. The shelters had only served as havens for down-and-out winos. Since the threat of the cold war had ended and atmospheric testing had ceased, the shelters had been eliminated.
    Perspiration rolled down from his armpits as Cecil tried to communicate the full scope of this disaster. “ Don ’ t you see, ” he pleaded. “ It ’ s not a simple matter of the lights being out, for God ’ s sake. It ’ s an atomic explosion that we ’ ve had! ”
    There were some murmurings at this. An older man spoke up. “ Like an atomic bomb? Is that it? ”
    “ I ’ m afraid it is something like an atomic bomb. Do you remember what the radiation did to the Japanese when we dropped our A-bombs? ” How could people who had been babies in 1945 or not even born yet  grasp this? Unless they ’ d been educated with the facts, they couldn ’ t understand. He absently wiped sweat from his forehead. “ Well, we ’ ve got that same kind of radiation in the air right now....right overhead. ”
    “ Lordy, I remember reading about where those Japanese got burned to death. And others got real sick from something in the air and died. ” Someone had begun to catch on.
    “ What are we going to do? ” begged a voice from the crowd.
    “ I don ’ t know....I just don ’ t know, ” said Cecil, relieved that he had at last aroused some concern. “ But there ’ s no reason for you to stay here. Maybe try to get your families together, because there ’ ll certainly be an evacuation. ”
    “ Leave our homes? ” asked a chorus of voices.
    “ I guess so. With the radiation in the air the longer we ’ re around here the more of it we ’ re going to absorb, ” he said.
    A female voice, near hysteria, shrieked, “ But where do we go? Which way? ”
    “ Away from here—from the White Water site—I don ’ t know. Someone will have to direct us. Turn on whatever you can get to work when you get home. Hopefully you  or someone in your neighborhood  will have an emergency generator.  Somebody is going to have to tell us the safe routes....but stay away from White Water! ” Cecil cautioned from the darkness.
    A few people began to panic at this. They turned and ran to their automobiles. Outside, one lady dashed across the lot, her head covered with a packing box as though to protect herself from the penetrating rays. The disbelievers in the strange danger of the airborne particles strolled, their lack of haste indicating their disdain for the fright that had begun to flow.
    “ Hell, I don ’ t feel anything in the air. I ’ ll bet you that guy Yeager is a crock, ” said a young man.
    “ Yeah, ” agreed his friend. “ He don ’ t know what he ’ s talking about. There ’ s nothing burning me. ”
    “ Naw.