“If it was a war,” Susan argues, “Then where are the bodies?”
“Perhaps they were eaten. Maybe they rotted. I don’t know.”
Dr. Thrang stays out of it, busying himself taking samples and looking at them through his spectrometer.
“I think it was something else,” she says, folding her arms. “Nuclear war would have destroyed everything.”
Dr.Thrang put shis instrument away, picks his way across the rubble.
“Well?” Susan asks.
“I found traces of an unknown biological agent,” he says.
“Weaponized?”
“I can’t tell until we get back to the lab. One thing’s sure. We’ve all been exposed to it.”
Thanks to Rochelle for using my photo this week. My daughter and I took a trip to the ruined Searsboro Consolidated School in central Iowa, built in the 1920s to allow children from surrounding farm communities to attend high school. It’s hard to remember now, but the one-room schoolhouse was still common in much of America until after World War Two.
The wholesale collapse of family farming that began during the Reagan administration stripped rural people of a way to make a living, all but destroying the small towns in the midwest. The rise of corporations such as Walmart finished the job by killing the local businesses that supported them. It wasn’t a war, exactly, but the effect was much the same in the end.
A real ‘uh-oh’ moment for them. I’m glad the photo wasn’t as sinister as your fictional account, but a tragedy nonetheless.
Thanks so much for the picture this week – very inspiring. And a great story. I love that you don’t document their reaction – we can imagine it. (A couple of tiny typos: Dr, Thrang should be Dr. Thrang, and 5th line is in the past tense – neither of which spoiled my enjoyment!)
Thanks, Claire. Corrected. I think I need to clean my computer screen ;-)
And I hate when my spacebar doesn’t follow the speed of my hand… Dr. Thrang puts his instrument… ;-)
Poverty is really just a slow motion disaster, every bit as corrosive as war
Oh yeah. You see it all over. Starvation in the land of plenty. How long will it last, I wonder?
Dear Josh,
You’ve fired the imagination with this one and left me wanting to know more. Apt title. Excellent story, great photo… thank you for sending it along.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Great story and loved what you added at the end. You’ve got me googling!
What you added after the story was well said and true.
Great story and thanks for sending in your photo. I’ve enjoyed writing to it.
xx Rowena
Loved your story and the photo that inspired it.
Horrifyingly horrible!
Not good to discover being exposed after the fact…
In ways the real story was about a war – the haves versus the have-nots. The haves always win….
No hazmat suits? Loved the scene, though..
Great story with a hold-your-breath ending.
My dad attended one of those very same one-room school houses in Iowa, and made his living inventing and developing tools to make the lives of family farmers easier. Until Reagan.
This really make me think of Star Trek, where they visit a planet… and this is one occasion where beam me up can be a very bad idea….
Love. Futuristic, scary.
Hm, now I’m really wondering about what happened to the bodies. And why these idiots don’t have hazmat suits on. Fatal mistake!
A great story, Josh and an interesting snapshot of the recent past in the story behind the photo. Times change and leave communities destroyed in their wake. Great dystopic story and wonderfully told
I wondered if your atmospheric photo was a deliberate choice after Monday’s horror – yours is the first story I’ve read that isn’t about Manchester. Excellent take on your own prompt!
The big question is, will they even make it back to the Lab? Thanks for the photo prompt this week and a story that leads me to want to know more.
Thanks for the picture this week!
I want to know why they didn’t get tricorder readings before they barrelled in. :)
Nice little story and thank you for the picture prompt!
Great last line giving a new edge to the story, and leaving the reader wondering what next.
Great take on your photo – which was timely though Rochelle didn’t plan for it to be so!
Great story with a perfect cliff hanger of an ending.
I don’t remember the name of it, but there was a chemical that was supposed to get rid of people and leave buildings. That would be nasty. It’s a shame family farming collapsed. Thanks for the picture this week that led to so many good stories , J. Hardy. :) — Suzanne
That was the neutron bomb, I think. Bad news.
Oh! That last line doesn’t bode well. Nice end beat.
Nicely done! Great ending, opens up lots of possibilities. Great picture, too, thank you.
Nice story–not looking good for those characters! Thanks for the picture and the story behind it.
Very nice, though the after story is sadder.