Evolution
PROLOGUE
It wasn't a zombie apocalypse. It wasn't a volcano, a tsunami, an asteroid hitting the planet. It wasn't killer robots, alien invaders, an experiment gone wrong. It was nothing heroic, amazing, nothing that could constitute as a break-through for science or the end of a natural, impending doom.
In the end, as the end, it was a nuclear missile.
Well, more than one, though one could have well and truly done it for the world. New York, Miami, London, Nairobi, Barcelona, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Canberra, New Delhi... There were more, of course, after Russia got to the other nuclear bases. But the nuclear disturbance of the higher altitude bursts was enough to interrupt long distance radio, even small short distance radios didn't work closer to the cities, and no one knew which city had gone next. Communication was dissected neatly out of the lives of millions in a space of hours and if you've ever seen an earthworm cut in half, the resulting squirm of human panic was sickeningly alike.
When a food source is wiped out from a food chain, the animals with the longer necks or the bigger claws or the more sensitive noses survive. They find other foods. They adapt. Survival of the fittest, a basic principal for evolution. The weak don't live long enough to breed, and those who do pass on their superior genes to a new generation. Evolution.
It took two months for the gangs to form.
Survival of the fittest.
In the end, as the end, it was a nuclear missile.
Well, more than one, though one could have well and truly done it for the world. New York, Miami, London, Nairobi, Barcelona, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Canberra, New Delhi... There were more, of course, after Russia got to the other nuclear bases. But the nuclear disturbance of the higher altitude bursts was enough to interrupt long distance radio, even small short distance radios didn't work closer to the cities, and no one knew which city had gone next. Communication was dissected neatly out of the lives of millions in a space of hours and if you've ever seen an earthworm cut in half, the resulting squirm of human panic was sickeningly alike.
When a food source is wiped out from a food chain, the animals with the longer necks or the bigger claws or the more sensitive noses survive. They find other foods. They adapt. Survival of the fittest, a basic principal for evolution. The weak don't live long enough to breed, and those who do pass on their superior genes to a new generation. Evolution.
It took two months for the gangs to form.
Survival of the fittest.