Entry #79

Damnation Before the Dawn
by Carol A. Cole


The heavy smog spread across the burned out city. Radiation levels had peaked and began to wane. The only movement came from cars whose engines hadn’t died out after the blast. Nothing lived except for the insects too low to the ground to feel the effects.

Sunlight peeked through the tops of trees in the distant forest. A robin scurried across the dry grass searching out a meal, too weak to fly, it collapsed and was set upon by the beetles who had come before man and would survive after his demise.

Months passed and the forest grew lush. Squirrels and wrens reappeared. Small rodents returned to the city and life began anew.