The Choice: Part Five It's easy to see how, after living my entire #life under a glass bio dome, I was more than a little frightened by the open, unprotected sky. I stand on the dry dusty ground which was once mud. Wreckage is everywhere, the spoils of war. My stomach does involuntary backflips, skeletons litter the wasteland. In way that's comforting, it means what happened here was a long time ago. This place is far from the seven cities, but is the very reason why they were created. They called it the Never War, the never stood for never ending. America created a new super weapon, a thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb, and with a thousand times worse after affects. The radiation from this bomb is so powerful that it can kill you with no detectable symptoms until the end, until it's too late, until you're writhing in pain. The worst part about this bomb is that the radiation it creates is almost undetectable, and even then only in small quantities at a time. The after affects were the worst the world had ever seen. So seven cities were created to install qualities into the human race that would combat the desire of war. One-community, two-generosity, three-obedience, four-humble, five-tolerance, six-foresight and seven-cowardice. Nearby is a pole with a several radiation monitors attached, they all read medium. I hate this place, I already feel ill. I know it's not the radiation that's making me feel this way, it's fear, fear is all it takes. At the top of the metal pole is a speaker. "You have three days, survive them and you pass. Try to run away, and we find you.". There's a minute of static afterwards. A minute is all it takes to start the fear, fear is all it takes to start the carnage, carnage is all it takes to start the hopelessness, hopelessness is all it takes to destroy you.