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Description
Nuclear Destruction

CHAPTER ONE

Saturday 13th of June, 2011

   It was an average Saturday afternoon. Out on the green, the kids were playing football with jumpers as goalposts. The teenagers were hanging around the shop, texting and drinking Monster. The sun shone down on the father, reading a book about the war. The day was good; people felt good and the whole world felt as if there was no bad economy or dodgy government. Everything was happy until they came.
   I was in the garage. My guitar in my hand, I was beating out one of the heaviest riffs I have ever created. My friend Keith was destroying his drum kit. My brother Sim was pounding away at his bass and my girlfriend, June, was wailing into the microphone. We were in a band, "Waiting for the Elephant Army", and we were at band practice. We finished the song and prepared to kick into the next one when my dad pulled up the garage door. He looked scared.
   "Get out now," he said. "Just come out for a minute."
   We did as he said and walked outside. Three camouflaged trucks were parked outside. A man stood beside them with a megaphone.
   "Good afternoon," he said. "My name is General Williams. I am here on behalf of the UN to give you an announcement."
   Everyone in the estate had stopped everything and was focused purely on the general.
   "In one week from today, the 20th of June, each and every one of you will be going to a new life. You will embark to your new home and will become part of the new way of living on Earth. School, work, college, everything has been closed down in order to give you time to pack your things. Thank you."
   He stepped into the truck and left the estate. Everyone was stunned. Our entire life was about to be changed. I went back into the garage and picked up my guitar. I switched on the amp.
   "So, are we ready to play the rest of the set?" I asked.
* * * * *
Thursday, 18th of June, 2010

   The atmosphere was tense. Everywhere I went people were looking scared. I saw people calling people on their phones and crying. There were hardly any cars on the road and everyone was inside, trying to pack up everything in their house before Saturday. I tried calling Keith and June but nobody would answer the phone. I called round to Keith but he was too busy. The world had gone to a stand-still and I was the only one who wasn't affected. I cycled home and headed up to my room. I grabbed a can of coke from my fridge and took my iPod out of my pocket. I found some Zeppelin and drifted off to sleep.
* * * * *
Saturday, 20th of June, 2011

   We stood outside our house. My guitars were packed up, my amp in its case and all my clothes and stuff packed in suitcases and boxes. Everyone was waiting for the UN trucks to come again. I took out my phone and checked the time. It was a quarter to four. The trucks came round the corner and parked outside the estate. There were people behind the trucks throwing sticks and stones at the trucks. A group of soldiers came out of the trucks and fired their guns at the angry crowd. They shouted at the crowd and pushed them back. The soldiers opened up the trucks and we began to load our luggage into the trucks. We were then asked to get onto a separate truck. We climbed up and sat on the benches.
   Half an hour later, the truck moved out of the estate and onto the main road. Everywhere I looked; the soldiers were loading people onto the trucks. It seemed normal until we stopped. I could see soldiers coming out of the other trucks, loading their guns. I quickly hopped off the truck and looked around. There were more people protesting against these trucks, this time they had weapons and were attacking the soldiers and the trucks.
   A soldier pointed his gun at one of the crowd members.
   "Get out of our way," he snarled.
   The member simply ignored him and went on attacking the vehicles. The soldier turned him around.
   "Did you hear me?!" he shouted. "Get out of the goddamn way!"
   The protester punched the soldier in the face. The soldier fell to the ground. He got back up, pointed his gun at the protester and fired. The protester fell to the ground and started bleeding. The protesters responded to this in anger and attacked the army men. One of the protesters ran towards me.
   "Listen to me," he said. "Get every single person in these trucks out of here and run. Run as far as you can. Don't stop for any-"
   The protester fell down. There was a soldier standing behind him. He had a handgun in his hand. He handed me the gun and grabbed my arm. He dragged me off to the growing fight at the front of our convoy. He turned to me.
   "Get into that truck and help the driver get through the protesters. If anyone tries to get in, you shoot them. Understand?"
   I nodded and he opened up the truck. I got inside and climbed into the passenger seat. The driver jumped into the truck and put it in gear. He began to move the truck ahead. The protesters were doing as much as they could to stop the truck from advancing. One of the protesters managed to get one of the soldier's machine guns and was firing it at the truck. He took out a new clip of ammo and I took this as my chance. I pointed the handgun at the protester and shot. The protester froze and dropped to the ground. The whole world had frozen for me. I didn't know the guy. As far as I was aware, he and I didn't know each other. And yet I had shot the guy stone dead.
   The driver of the truck slapped me on the back.
   "Well done, lad," he said. "They're just halting our progress. Keep looking out and they'll be running back home."
   Everything was a blur. The convoy had begun driving again and it had moved onto the motorways. A pickup truck pulled out in front of us and the driver beside me pulled the handbrake. The people in the pickup had machine guns and were firing them in the air. They hopped out and came over to us. A protester pulled open my door and pulled me out. He pointed his gun at me.
   "You work for these people?" he screamed. He had a foreign accent and pale skin. He wore a helmet and a bullet-proof vest he had stolen from one of the soldiers. The driver in my truck had vanished and my handgun was beside the protester's foot. He shoved the gun in my face again.
   "Well?!" he screamed. "Are you fighting for these monsters or are you not?!"
   I was too scared to answer. My mouth had gone dry and I was beginning to sweat. The protester loaded the gun and pointed it at my face. His finger rested on the trigger. I suddenly had an idea and quickly gave the protester a swift kick in the shin. It caught him by surprise and he fell to the ground. I jumped up and ran. I picked up his gun and fled to my family.
   I looked inside and was greeted by my family in the corner. They rushed over and hugged me. They were safe. It was all safe until I felt a large hit in the back. I quickly turned round and saw the protester coming into the truck and shutting the door behind him. There was blood down the side of his face and he had an axe in his hand. The axe was covered in blood. He looked at me.
   "You will give me my gun back, child," he growled. I could feel my hands on the gun. I lifted it up and pointed it at him. I could feel my initial nervousness going away and replacing it was a feeling of power. I looked at him and placed my finger on the trigger.
   "I'm the one with the gun," I said. "Leave this truck or I will kill you."
   The man laughed. He gripped the axe with both hands and prepared to swing.
   "I have armour, you don't. I will enjoy this." He raised the axe and I fired at his head. The bullets penetrated him and he fell down. I took off the vest and put it on. IU searched his pockets and found a handgun and some ammo. I gave Sim the handgun and some ammo.
   "If anyone tries to hurt anyone here," I whispered to him. "You shoot them, alright?"
   Sim nodded and loaded the gun. I opened up the truck and hopped outside. I picked up the dead body and threw it underneath the truck. I loaded my gun with ammo and went to one of the soldiers. He was behind an overturned pickup and was firing at the protesters. He ducked back down and turned to me. It was the driver from the truck.
   "It's you!" he said. "Where did you get the gun?"
   "A protester had it," I said. "Gunned him down and took the gun. How many are there?"
   He loaded his gun and got ready to fire again.
   "There are three on mounted machine guns and six with ordinary guns. Be careful, I don't want to give you to your family dead."
   I nodded and turned to face the guns. I reloaded the machine gun. I took a deep breath and leapt up. I fired at the protesters with no particular preference in mind. I saw one of the protesters behind the machine gun drop. I got back down and took a deep breath. My heart was thumping. The sound of the bullets had given me a massive adrenaline rush. He soldier beside me was firing at the protesters but returned a few seconds later. He turned to me.
   "Are you alright?" he said with a smile.
   I smiled back. "It's exciting," I said, "How many are there?" The soldier got up and fired. After a while he returned to me and held up three fingers. I nodded and got up. I gunned the crap out of everything. I fired in a random direction at the protesters. I saw two of them fall and the third got scared and ran. I didn't care for him until I saw him run to my truck. He had a machine gun and Sim had a handgun. I ran. I got to the truck and I saw the door half open. I pulled it open and saw the protester standing over Sim. Sim's face was covered in blood. I grabbed the protester and threw him outside the truck.
   I grabbed his throat and slammed his head on the ground. I got up and jumped on his stomach repeatedly. He began to cough up blood. I gave him a swift kick in his ribs. I could see the pain on his face. I jumped back on top of him and grabbed a little tuft of his hair. I began to slam his head into the ground. Every time I slammed his head into the ground I could see the blood splash out of him. His screams were becoming fainter and fainter until I couldn't register any life from him. I turned him over and saw his head was completed smashed up. I got up and grabbed whatever was on his person. I got back into the truck. Sim sat in the corner with most of the blood cleaned off his face.
   "What happened?" I asked him.
   "He came over and pointed the gun at us," he said shakily, "I raised the handgun and prepared to fire but he got over to me too quickly. He slammed his gun into the side of my head. He took my gun and shot me in the foot. He was about to kill everyone before you came."
   I sighed. I grabbed him and hugged him. I stood up and walked out of the truck, grabbing my gun on the way. The protester's corpse lay on the ground in a pool of blood. I turned him over to face him. I stamped my foot on his face and walked to someone who appeared to be a medic.
   "Hey," I called to him. He turned around and grabbed a handgun and pointed it at my face. I removed my ammo round and threw it on the ground. "I'm friendly;" I called back, "My brother needs help." He lowered his gun and nodded. I brought him to the truck and let him in. I directed him to Sim.
   "Blow to the side of the face and shot in the foot," I said. The medic nodded and turned to me. "Go to the truck where you saw me and get my medikit," he said. I nodded and walked out of the truck. I walked towards his truck and climbed aboard. I found the medikit he requested and grabbed it. I jumped out of the truck and walked over to our truck. I had noticed the shooting had stopped and the soldiers had become scarce. I stopped to tie my shoelace however when I had got up I saw our truck pulling away. I ran after it but it was too quick. I tried getting the attention of the driver but I had no luck.
   I turned and looked for someone to help and then I saw a soldier run over to where the truck was. I heard him swear. I went over to him.
  "What's wrong?" I asked on the verge of crying. He turned to me.
   "That truck wasn't meant to leave," he said. "That truck's been hijacked." I went stiff. I could feel my whole world fall around me. My family had been kidnapped and I had no idea where they were. I collapsed on the ground and buried my head in my hands.

Description
Nuclear Destruction

CHAPTER ONE

Saturday 13th of June, 2011

   It was an average Saturday afternoon. Out on the green, the kids were playing football with jumpers as goalposts. The teenagers were hanging around the shop, texting and drinking Monster. The sun shone down on the father, reading a book about the war. The day was good; people felt good and the whole world felt as if there was no bad economy or dodgy government. Everything was happy until they came.
   I was in the garage. My guitar in my hand, I was beating out one of the heaviest riffs I have ever created. My friend Keith was destroying his drum kit. My brother Sim was pounding away at his bass and my girlfriend, June, was wailing into the microphone. We were in a band, "Waiting for the Elephant Army", and we were at band practice. We finished the song and prepared to kick into the next one when my dad pulled up the garage door. He looked scared.
   "Get out now," he said. "Just come out for a minute."
   We did as he said and walked outside. Three camouflaged trucks were parked outside. A man stood beside them with a megaphone.
   "Good afternoon," he said. "My name is General Williams. I am here on behalf of the UN to give you an announcement."
   Everyone in the estate had stopped everything and was focused purely on the general.
   "In one week from today, the 20th of June, each and every one of you will be going to a new life. You will embark to your new home and will become part of the new way of living on Earth. School, work, college, everything has been closed down in order to give you time to pack your things. Thank you."
   He stepped into the truck and left the estate. Everyone was stunned. Our entire life was about to be changed. I went back into the garage and picked up my guitar. I switched on the amp.
   "So, are we ready to play the rest of the set?" I asked.
* * * * *
Thursday, 18th of June, 2010

   The atmosphere was tense. Everywhere I went people were looking scared. I saw people calling people on their phones and crying. There were hardly any cars on the road and everyone was inside, trying to pack up everything in their house before Saturday. I tried calling Keith and June but nobody would answer the phone. I called round to Keith but he was too busy. The world had gone to a stand-still and I was the only one who wasn't affected. I cycled home and headed up to my room. I grabbed a can of coke from my fridge and took my iPod out of my pocket. I found some Zeppelin and drifted off to sleep.
* * * * *
Saturday, 20th of June, 2011

   We stood outside our house. My guitars were packed up, my amp in its case and all my clothes and stuff packed in suitcases and boxes. Everyone was waiting for the UN trucks to come again. I took out my phone and checked the time. It was a quarter to four. The trucks came round the corner and parked outside the estate. There were people behind the trucks throwing sticks and stones at the trucks. A group of soldiers came out of the trucks and fired their guns at the angry crowd. They shouted at the crowd and pushed them back. The soldiers opened up the trucks and we began to load our luggage into the trucks. We were then asked to get onto a separate truck. We climbed up and sat on the benches.
   Half an hour later, the truck moved out of the estate and onto the main road. Everywhere I looked; the soldiers were loading people onto the trucks. It seemed normal until we stopped. I could see soldiers coming out of the other trucks, loading their guns. I quickly hopped off the truck and looked around. There were more people protesting against these trucks, this time they had weapons and were attacking the soldiers and the trucks.
   A soldier pointed his gun at one of the crowd members.
   "Get out of our way," he snarled.
   The member simply ignored him and went on attacking the vehicles. The soldier turned him around.
   "Did you hear me?!" he shouted. "Get out of the goddamn way!"
   The protester punched the soldier in the face. The soldier fell to the ground. He got back up, pointed his gun at the protester and fired. The protester fell to the ground and started bleeding. The protesters responded to this in anger and attacked the army men. One of the protesters ran towards me.
   "Listen to me," he said. "Get every single person in these trucks out of here and run. Run as far as you can. Don't stop for any-"
   The protester fell down. There was a soldier standing behind him. He had a handgun in his hand. He handed me the gun and grabbed my arm. He dragged me off to the growing fight at the front of our convoy. He turned to me.
   "Get into that truck and help the driver get through the protesters. If anyone tries to get in, you shoot them. Understand?"
   I nodded and he opened up the truck. I got inside and climbed into the passenger seat. The driver jumped into the truck and put it in gear. He began to move the truck ahead. The protesters were doing as much as they could to stop the truck from advancing. One of the protesters managed to get one of the soldier's machine guns and was firing it at the truck. He took out a new clip of ammo and I took this as my chance. I pointed the handgun at the protester and shot. The protester froze and dropped to the ground. The whole world had frozen for me. I didn't know the guy. As far as I was aware, he and I didn't know each other. And yet I had shot the guy stone dead.
   The driver of the truck slapped me on the back.
   "Well done, lad," he said. "They're just halting our progress. Keep looking out and they'll be running back home."
   Everything was a blur. The convoy had begun driving again and it had moved onto the motorways. A pickup truck pulled out in front of us and the driver beside me pulled the handbrake. The people in the pickup had machine guns and were firing them in the air. They hopped out and came over to us. A protester pulled open my door and pulled me out. He pointed his gun at me.
   "You work for these people?" he screamed. He had a foreign accent and pale skin. He wore a helmet and a bullet-proof vest he had stolen from one of the soldiers. The driver in my truck had vanished and my handgun was beside the protester's foot. He shoved the gun in my face again.
   "Well?!" he screamed. "Are you fighting for these monsters or are you not?!"
   I was too scared to answer. My mouth had gone dry and I was beginning to sweat. The protester loaded the gun and pointed it at my face. His finger rested on the trigger. I suddenly had an idea and quickly gave the protester a swift kick in the shin. It caught him by surprise and he fell to the ground. I jumped up and ran. I picked up his gun and fled to my family.
   I looked inside and was greeted by my family in the corner. They rushed over and hugged me. They were safe. It was all safe until I felt a large hit in the back. I quickly turned round and saw the protester coming into the truck and shutting the door behind him. There was blood down the side of his face and he had an axe in his hand. The axe was covered in blood. He looked at me.
   "You will give me my gun back, child," he growled. I could feel my hands on the gun. I lifted it up and pointed it at him. I could feel my initial nervousness going away and replacing it was a feeling of power. I looked at him and placed my finger on the trigger.
   "I'm the one with the gun," I said. "Leave this truck or I will kill you."
   The man laughed. He gripped the axe with both hands and prepared to swing.
   "I have armour, you don't. I will enjoy this." He raised the axe and I fired at his head. The bullets penetrated him and he fell down. I took off the vest and put it on. IU searched his pockets and found a handgun and some ammo. I gave Sim the handgun and some ammo.
   "If anyone tries to hurt anyone here," I whispered to him. "You shoot them, alright?"
   Sim nodded and loaded the gun. I opened up the truck and hopped outside. I picked up the dead body and threw it underneath the truck. I loaded my gun with ammo and went to one of the soldiers. He was behind an overturned pickup and was firing at the protesters. He ducked back down and turned to me. It was the driver from the truck.
   "It's you!" he said. "Where did you get the gun?"
   "A protester had it," I said. "Gunned him down and took the gun. How many are there?"
   He loaded his gun and got ready to fire again.
   "There are three on mounted machine guns and six with ordinary guns. Be careful, I don't want to give you to your family dead."
   I nodded and turned to face the guns. I reloaded the machine gun. I took a deep breath and leapt up. I fired at the protesters with no particular preference in mind. I saw one of the protesters behind the machine gun drop. I got back down and took a deep breath. My heart was thumping. The sound of the bullets had given me a massive adrenaline rush. He soldier beside me was firing at the protesters but returned a few seconds later. He turned to me.
   "Are you alright?" he said with a smile.
   I smiled back. "It's exciting," I said, "How many are there?" The soldier got up and fired. After a while he returned to me and held up three fingers. I nodded and got up. I gunned the crap out of everything. I fired in a random direction at the protesters. I saw two of them fall and the third got scared and ran. I didn't care for him until I saw him run to my truck. He had a machine gun and Sim had a handgun. I ran. I got to the truck and I saw the door half open. I pulled it open and saw the protester standing over Sim. Sim's face was covered in blood. I grabbed the protester and threw him outside the truck.
   I grabbed his throat and slammed his head on the ground. I got up and jumped on his stomach repeatedly. He began to cough up blood. I gave him a swift kick in his ribs. I could see the pain on his face. I jumped back on top of him and grabbed a little tuft of his hair. I began to slam his head into the ground. Every time I slammed his head into the ground I could see the blood splash out of him. His screams were becoming fainter and fainter until I couldn't register any life from him. I turned him over and saw his head was completed smashed up. I got up and grabbed whatever was on his person. I got back into the truck. Sim sat in the corner with most of the blood cleaned off his face.
   "What happened?" I asked him.
   "He came over and pointed the gun at us," he said shakily, "I raised the handgun and prepared to fire but he got over to me too quickly. He slammed his gun into the side of my head. He took my gun and shot me in the foot. He was about to kill everyone before you came."
   I sighed. I grabbed him and hugged him. I stood up and walked out of the truck, grabbing my gun on the way. The protester's corpse lay on the ground in a pool of blood. I turned him over to face him. I stamped my foot on his face and walked to someone who appeared to be a medic.
   "Hey," I called to him. He turned around and grabbed a handgun and pointed it at my face. I removed my ammo round and threw it on the ground. "I'm friendly;" I called back, "My brother needs help." He lowered his gun and nodded. I brought him to the truck and let him in. I directed him to Sim.
   "Blow to the side of the face and shot in the foot," I said. The medic nodded and turned to me. "Go to the truck where you saw me and get my medikit," he said. I nodded and walked out of the truck. I walked towards his truck and climbed aboard. I found the medikit he requested and grabbed it. I jumped out of the truck and walked over to our truck. I had noticed the shooting had stopped and the soldiers had become scarce. I stopped to tie my shoelace however when I had got up I saw our truck pulling away. I ran after it but it was too quick. I tried getting the attention of the driver but I had no luck.
   I turned and looked for someone to help and then I saw a soldier run over to where the truck was. I heard him swear. I went over to him.
  "What's wrong?" I asked on the verge of crying. He turned to me.
   "That truck wasn't meant to leave," he said. "That truck's been hijacked." I went stiff. I could feel my whole world fall around me. My family had been kidnapped and I had no idea where they were. I collapsed on the ground and buried my head in my hands.