Yes We Can
Entry by: Phina
6th February 2015
I often wondered if people, the human race in general, had the capacity to survive our self imposed suppression, wars, famine, global warming and general political climate. Can we outlive the cockroaches? Well, apparently, yes, we can. I am not too sure if survival in and of itself is the question I should have been asking though. Surviving is not really living. Surviving is not good enough for me, but I don't know how to reach beyond survival and attain life, let alone peace and happiness.
Exactly 17 months, 3 days and 4 hours ago, nuclear war was launched on a global scale. Australia was not bombed first, but it was only a matter of hours from the start to the very end, and the whole world was changed forever. I used to laugh at my neighbour, the old crackpot that was sure nuclear war was going to hit in his lifetime, so he had a bunker, with a generator, food supplies, water supplies, pretty much everything a person would need to survive. My friends and I used to tease him as we walked past his property and saw him counting his stock, updating his provisions, changing his water over to be sure it was fresh. Bear in mind, he had been doing this for years and nothing had ever happened, seemed like such a waste of time.
I was wrong. My friends were wrong. I guess most of the worlds population was wrong in the end. But I am surviving now, only because of that crackpot old fool. I stole his bunker. Well, some of my friends and I did. Some of my friends didn't make it.
1 year, 7 months, 3 days and 6 hours ago, my friends and I were partying at the creek, listening to the radio, drinking, making out and swimming. The usual Friday night. Denver, my boyfriend, was pretty smashed, as he usually was. But at least he is a funny drunk. He was dancing around like a complete baboon, waving his arms and shaking his butt. I was sitting on the bonnet of his car, it was new, well second hand, but new to him, and he was stoked. The plan had been to get all the guys together and have a drag race, maybe tinker with the engines of their cars all together, pimp them out as best they could on a budget.
Teenagers don't always work that way though, too dedicated, too focused, despite what you see in old movies like Grease. So of course, there was a race up to t he creek, then whooping and hollering and someone pulled out a block and the boys started drinking and bragging. The girls put music on the radio and started dancing. Some of us jumped in for a swim, some sat and watched. All in all, laid back, chillaxed and happy.
Sean as usual for when he drank, got a bit angry and aggressive. But it only ever lasted a short while then he would pass out. Misty, his girlfriend, as usual, got all emotional and upset with Sean and went off in a strop. in fact, we often couldn't figure out whether Misty's strop caused Sean's aggression or vice versa, but none of us worried about it too much, it was just the way things were.
Ben and Carly were quiet drinkers. So suited to each other, sitting on the rocky edge of the water chatting to each other, only occasionally throwing a comment in to the general conversation.
My best friend Jess was a bit of a slut when she drank, and her boyfriend changed often. I say that in the most loving and nicest way possible because it is true, she knows it, I know it, most of the town knows it, just no one but her and I can say it. At that time her man was Mark. Their skinny dipping became a little too showy so we shouted at them to go further away and they had gone behind the rocks for our privacy.
Karen, Libby and I had just finished dancing and were taking a break when the radio suddenly flicked over to this loud, monotone voice, exclaiming an emergency broadcast, a warning. This voice stated that a national state of emergency had been declared and that everyone was being directed to return to their homes, remain indoors and remain calm.
At first, none of us really paid attention to what was being said, we were just unimpressed that one of the absolute best songs of the season had been cut in half for a newsy announcement. Then the broadcast just kept repeating, on a loop. Eventually we started hearing what it was actually saying.
Sean was still passed out, Misty was still off somewhere in a stroppy, Jess and Mark were "busy", but the rest of us, in dribs and drabs, gathered near Denver's car with the radio on. Because I had been sitting on the bonnet, I accordingly was nominated the person to ask questions of.
"What do they mean state of emergency Ana?" asked Libby.
"I don't know" I replied. "I've only heard what you have heard."
"Do they really mean we should all go home? Or do you think it's like when the school does a fire drill?" that clever comment came from Karen.
"I don't think they would scare a whole town just for a fire drill" I wasn't 100% sure, but at least I knew that I didn't want to take the chance, besides, they wouldn't take control over an entire radio broadcast for that would they?
"Maybe we should head back, just in case" Denver was so rational, one of the things I loved about him.
By this time, Jess and Mark had noticed the absence of music and loud laughing, so had come out from behind their rocks and were heading up the beach to us. "What's happening chicky babe?" asked Jess.
While I tried to explain to a rather drunk Jess what was happening, Mark moved over to the main group to listen to the broadcast himself. "I think this is serious guys" he said after listening to it paly through one full time. "I've seen on the news that there has been political unrest in multiple countries and threats of nuclear war. I really think we should be heading home like the broadcast says".
"Political what what?" Karen, of course.
"Nuclear War!! You're not f'ing serious are you? That's not true, we would know if that shit was happening. I mean, that's like, really serious, it would be everywhere" Libby continued to babble like that for a while. The rest of us just looked at Mark, all with the same expressions - ones that clearly said we didn't want to believe him, but what he was saying made sense at the same time, so we were not sure.
It's amazing how many emotions can flicker across a face in a short period of time. It would have been a matter of seconds in which I saw, one after the other, faces moving from disbelief, to realisation, scepticism, denial to uncertain belief. One by one, faces then moved to fear, and bodies moved in to action.
Denver roughly shook Sean, waking him up. Karen ran to the waters edge to grab her clothes, throwing them on over her bathers as she walked back to the cars. Libby pulled out her phone and tried to call her parents, pacing and pulling on her hair as she did so, a nervous tick she has always had. Jess stood, vacantly staring, mouth hanging open catching flies for several moments, then her lower lip quivered as she asked me what we were going to do.
I took Jess by the arm, moved her to Denver's car. Mark had guided and prompted everyone else in to cars and we were ready to go, cars started, but no one moved. "What if we don't all make it home in time?" asked Denver, his face pale, eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"Just start driving Denver, we will make it as far as we can, we haven't even heard any planes or anything, it's probably just a precaution" I replied, but in the deepest pit of my stomach, I could feel a tight ball forming,
Exactly 17 months, 3 days and 4 hours ago, nuclear war was launched on a global scale. Australia was not bombed first, but it was only a matter of hours from the start to the very end, and the whole world was changed forever. I used to laugh at my neighbour, the old crackpot that was sure nuclear war was going to hit in his lifetime, so he had a bunker, with a generator, food supplies, water supplies, pretty much everything a person would need to survive. My friends and I used to tease him as we walked past his property and saw him counting his stock, updating his provisions, changing his water over to be sure it was fresh. Bear in mind, he had been doing this for years and nothing had ever happened, seemed like such a waste of time.
I was wrong. My friends were wrong. I guess most of the worlds population was wrong in the end. But I am surviving now, only because of that crackpot old fool. I stole his bunker. Well, some of my friends and I did. Some of my friends didn't make it.
1 year, 7 months, 3 days and 6 hours ago, my friends and I were partying at the creek, listening to the radio, drinking, making out and swimming. The usual Friday night. Denver, my boyfriend, was pretty smashed, as he usually was. But at least he is a funny drunk. He was dancing around like a complete baboon, waving his arms and shaking his butt. I was sitting on the bonnet of his car, it was new, well second hand, but new to him, and he was stoked. The plan had been to get all the guys together and have a drag race, maybe tinker with the engines of their cars all together, pimp them out as best they could on a budget.
Teenagers don't always work that way though, too dedicated, too focused, despite what you see in old movies like Grease. So of course, there was a race up to t he creek, then whooping and hollering and someone pulled out a block and the boys started drinking and bragging. The girls put music on the radio and started dancing. Some of us jumped in for a swim, some sat and watched. All in all, laid back, chillaxed and happy.
Sean as usual for when he drank, got a bit angry and aggressive. But it only ever lasted a short while then he would pass out. Misty, his girlfriend, as usual, got all emotional and upset with Sean and went off in a strop. in fact, we often couldn't figure out whether Misty's strop caused Sean's aggression or vice versa, but none of us worried about it too much, it was just the way things were.
Ben and Carly were quiet drinkers. So suited to each other, sitting on the rocky edge of the water chatting to each other, only occasionally throwing a comment in to the general conversation.
My best friend Jess was a bit of a slut when she drank, and her boyfriend changed often. I say that in the most loving and nicest way possible because it is true, she knows it, I know it, most of the town knows it, just no one but her and I can say it. At that time her man was Mark. Their skinny dipping became a little too showy so we shouted at them to go further away and they had gone behind the rocks for our privacy.
Karen, Libby and I had just finished dancing and were taking a break when the radio suddenly flicked over to this loud, monotone voice, exclaiming an emergency broadcast, a warning. This voice stated that a national state of emergency had been declared and that everyone was being directed to return to their homes, remain indoors and remain calm.
At first, none of us really paid attention to what was being said, we were just unimpressed that one of the absolute best songs of the season had been cut in half for a newsy announcement. Then the broadcast just kept repeating, on a loop. Eventually we started hearing what it was actually saying.
Sean was still passed out, Misty was still off somewhere in a stroppy, Jess and Mark were "busy", but the rest of us, in dribs and drabs, gathered near Denver's car with the radio on. Because I had been sitting on the bonnet, I accordingly was nominated the person to ask questions of.
"What do they mean state of emergency Ana?" asked Libby.
"I don't know" I replied. "I've only heard what you have heard."
"Do they really mean we should all go home? Or do you think it's like when the school does a fire drill?" that clever comment came from Karen.
"I don't think they would scare a whole town just for a fire drill" I wasn't 100% sure, but at least I knew that I didn't want to take the chance, besides, they wouldn't take control over an entire radio broadcast for that would they?
"Maybe we should head back, just in case" Denver was so rational, one of the things I loved about him.
By this time, Jess and Mark had noticed the absence of music and loud laughing, so had come out from behind their rocks and were heading up the beach to us. "What's happening chicky babe?" asked Jess.
While I tried to explain to a rather drunk Jess what was happening, Mark moved over to the main group to listen to the broadcast himself. "I think this is serious guys" he said after listening to it paly through one full time. "I've seen on the news that there has been political unrest in multiple countries and threats of nuclear war. I really think we should be heading home like the broadcast says".
"Political what what?" Karen, of course.
"Nuclear War!! You're not f'ing serious are you? That's not true, we would know if that shit was happening. I mean, that's like, really serious, it would be everywhere" Libby continued to babble like that for a while. The rest of us just looked at Mark, all with the same expressions - ones that clearly said we didn't want to believe him, but what he was saying made sense at the same time, so we were not sure.
It's amazing how many emotions can flicker across a face in a short period of time. It would have been a matter of seconds in which I saw, one after the other, faces moving from disbelief, to realisation, scepticism, denial to uncertain belief. One by one, faces then moved to fear, and bodies moved in to action.
Denver roughly shook Sean, waking him up. Karen ran to the waters edge to grab her clothes, throwing them on over her bathers as she walked back to the cars. Libby pulled out her phone and tried to call her parents, pacing and pulling on her hair as she did so, a nervous tick she has always had. Jess stood, vacantly staring, mouth hanging open catching flies for several moments, then her lower lip quivered as she asked me what we were going to do.
I took Jess by the arm, moved her to Denver's car. Mark had guided and prompted everyone else in to cars and we were ready to go, cars started, but no one moved. "What if we don't all make it home in time?" asked Denver, his face pale, eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"Just start driving Denver, we will make it as far as we can, we haven't even heard any planes or anything, it's probably just a precaution" I replied, but in the deepest pit of my stomach, I could feel a tight ball forming,
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