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Death. The smell seems so strong in the air today. Others would argue that it was impossible. Other than a few dying in the past two years, the war dead were destroyed over twenty five years ago. The trail through the west waste land was hard. No water to be found, anywhere. I have four days supply to get me to the oasis. Days like this seem to blur into weeks. Its so hard to remember things the way they were. I can't even remember what a tree looks like. I know I saw one once, but that was half way through the war. Sunlight glint of a small piece of metal, or was it bomb falling.

"Get me Arcon, NOW" Tawakalna demanded.
His aid hurried to obey. His fingers danced over the computer keys. The data he sought was elusive, which would not go well for him. The war was a harsh time for all. This kingdom, or what was left of the lost glory of Tawakalna, was dyeing. Two great kingdoms had declared war on each other, and no one was spared. All the weapons of war were used.
"My Lord, I got here as soon as I got word" Arcon answered bowing.
"How many are left" Tawakalna demanded. “How many of his kingdom have survived my Holocaust?" he screamed.
"Few my Lord, many are dying daily from the radiation

The rubble crunched under my feet. This area use to be called, Hollywood, I think. Much has been forgotten, few survive to remember it. So much must be passed along from person to person so that it won't be forgotten. The few who remain want the future to never forget what happened. No one wants to see anything like it happen again. Though, the weapons of war used, no longer exist. No one remembers how to make them. The few who survived, had more important things on their minds, like surviving. Food and water became scarce and many died because of that. The world had grown to a little over fifteen billion people, and even though no one knew how many had survived in other parts of the world. Travel had come to a stand still, communications, nonexistent. For how could one communicate, without power. Many believed we were down to about a million people, world wide. The rain came again. Even the weather resisted the ravages of the war. Except for almost constant cloud cover, the seasons continued as before. They would give no ground to the battles. The snow came and cooled the harsh land, but life did not return. There were pockets of life, oasis they were called. Both vegetation and human survived, but not easily. I looked into the sky, pelted by rain drops when one hit me in the eye.

Mustang's command chair swivelled around to face Esquilax. "General, how many warheads do we have left" Mustang asked.
Esquilax had anticipated this question and had the answer even as the last word faded. "Twenty five, governor" Esquilax replied.
"Launch them all at his bunker, now!" Mustang commanded. Even knowing what the results would be. He left the chair and headed for his quarters.
Esquilax clicked the keys that would launch the final assault, and he too headed to his room, for the end which was coming.

The west waste land was harsh and demanding. Few would travel except in the dead of winter. There was no water to be found, at least none that was drinkable. I had to collect the rain, when it came and store it to survive. Food was hard to come by. Most of the old worlds supply was just about gone. Some could be found in the rubble of what use to be, buildings. I though back, but could not remember what they were called. They were places for people to get food to take home, to feed their families. Now, families were hard to find. The women who survived the war were protected at all cost. They were the only ones that could continue humanity. Children being born now was news indeed. Radiation had stopped many from having children, but now, in the mountain areas, radiation damage was almost gone. Life was returning, slowly. The rain began to slacken, then the lightning began to flash...

Tawakalna saw what the radar screen showed. His doom!. But in his rage, he gave the order..."Launch all that we have at the launch location...NOW!" he commanded.
The aid quickly gave the launch codes to over twenty five missiles that would be sent to destroy the enemy, even as he would be killed in minutes.
"They are away, My Lord" the response came. Then came a gun shot. Arcon looked over at the aid, even as he slumped over his desk, the gun falling from his hand. He had cheated the death that was coming for them all.
"I will have my vengeance on his kingdom, I will be avenged" Tawakalna shouted. No one cared, few stayed to listen.

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