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[Ever get nuked at close range? Eight out of ten nuking victims would not recommend the experience.
But as causes of death go, at least this one is quick, and it sure as fuck is efficient. The light is bright enough to blind. It only burns -- through and through -- for a second, and then there's a whole lot of nothing.
Except it's not quite nothing. Something begins coming back together, fragments of thoughts running through Lloyd's head, scattered and dim. He thinks he can hear distant murmurs around him, whispers, footsteps. Every now and then ground shakes, but he stays on his knees, hands on his head, and doesn't dare open his eyes. Ignorance is bliss. Or at least, it's a way to keep his heart from bursting.
If you ignore it, it'll go away.
Finally, there's dead silence.
Lloyd still doesn't want to open his eyes, or move, or do much of anything, but it doesn't take long for the the weight of the nothingness to become too much to bear. He forces his eyes open, cautiously raising his head as he takes in the view. Las Vegas after the superflu wasn't the bright-light city it used to be -- it was at least ten times more fucked up than that -- but it was a living city, with living people. Now it's all gone. A rubble of stone, glass and metal surrounded by desert. Every building in sight is flattened. It's a frightening picture, and not one Lloyd is prepared to comprehend.
Dizzy and shaken, he starts to push himself up, trying to stand. He's feeling not unsteady but unglued, as if his body is only pretending to be in one piece. He should be in a million pieces. This doesn't make any goddamn sense.
The earth shakes again and Lloyd falls back on his knees. He can see two silhouettes in the distance, going downwards and dowards, descending into the ground--]
W-Wait-- [Lloyd's voice barely makes it out of his throat before he squeezes it right back in. Wherever that ride is going, he doesn't want to be on it. A few seconds later, the figures are gone.
But the relief of escape doesn't longer than a second, and panic slips in. Where the fuck does this leave him? Here, in this nuclear fuckland, all alone? Where is he gonna go? Lloyd makes a choked sound.]
Shit.
But as causes of death go, at least this one is quick, and it sure as fuck is efficient. The light is bright enough to blind. It only burns -- through and through -- for a second, and then there's a whole lot of nothing.
Except it's not quite nothing. Something begins coming back together, fragments of thoughts running through Lloyd's head, scattered and dim. He thinks he can hear distant murmurs around him, whispers, footsteps. Every now and then ground shakes, but he stays on his knees, hands on his head, and doesn't dare open his eyes. Ignorance is bliss. Or at least, it's a way to keep his heart from bursting.
If you ignore it, it'll go away.
Finally, there's dead silence.
Lloyd still doesn't want to open his eyes, or move, or do much of anything, but it doesn't take long for the the weight of the nothingness to become too much to bear. He forces his eyes open, cautiously raising his head as he takes in the view. Las Vegas after the superflu wasn't the bright-light city it used to be -- it was at least ten times more fucked up than that -- but it was a living city, with living people. Now it's all gone. A rubble of stone, glass and metal surrounded by desert. Every building in sight is flattened. It's a frightening picture, and not one Lloyd is prepared to comprehend.
Dizzy and shaken, he starts to push himself up, trying to stand. He's feeling not unsteady but unglued, as if his body is only pretending to be in one piece. He should be in a million pieces. This doesn't make any goddamn sense.
The earth shakes again and Lloyd falls back on his knees. He can see two silhouettes in the distance, going downwards and dowards, descending into the ground--]
W-Wait-- [Lloyd's voice barely makes it out of his throat before he squeezes it right back in. Wherever that ride is going, he doesn't want to be on it. A few seconds later, the figures are gone.
But the relief of escape doesn't longer than a second, and panic slips in. Where the fuck does this leave him? Here, in this nuclear fuckland, all alone? Where is he gonna go? Lloyd makes a choked sound.]
Shit.
