Violet Eyes

Prologue

2033

Ronaldus Blanc

There had been warnings and predictions about the explosion before, but none of them ever turned out to be true. About a year ago people had started publicising the date – September 21st, 2033 – but because of all the other false alarms, very few people acknowledged it. Everyone still had the memory of the first warning fresh in their minds and wanted to hold back from repeating those first mistakes. The obvious solution was just to ignore the warnings overall. The explosion happened while we were asleep. My wife – Elizabeth – and I had only been married a few weeks ago and had just returned home to Provence, France from our Honeymoon in New Zealand. After the first warning, most countries got rid of their nuclear weapons, including France and the rest of Europe, but others were more reluctant. Large countries like Russia, Australia and The United States were convinced that the warnings were just a scam so that Europe could attack and invade the rest of the world while they were defenceless and they convinced other, smaller countries to keep their weapons and be ready to fight back with them. I can't even imagine what must have happened to them. At about three o'clock, on the morning of September the 21st the sirens went off. Elizabeth and I woke up, feeling very confused before listening to the pattern of the sirens. One continuous ring meant we were being invaded, a long ring, followed by a short ring meant there was some sort of natural disaster and the ring that we were listening to then – A long ring followed by two short ones – meant that our worst fears and finally become realities. Elizabeth and I ran out into the street, watching as families ran towards the town hall. Children were crying and screaming while parents tried to keep a calm face and comfort them. I took Elizabeth's hand and we followed the rest of the crowd. In the end, there wasn't much we could do. We just had to sit and wait to hear more news. In the days after the alarm, not much happened. We didn't hear anything about the nuclear bombs or the radiation, all we knew was that at that moment, Provence was safe and we couldn't risk leaving. It wasn't until a week later that the first radio message was sent from Ukraine. The man on the radio sounded exhausted. His voice was deep and raspy. "It's come" he said, "The radiation from Russia is spreading". A deadly silence covered the hall. "There are only 14 of us left" he continued "the affects are strange, nothing like we expected". The head officer stood up and walked towards the radio, holding in a blue button and talking into it "what happened?" The Ukrainian man paused for a moment, his breaths speeding up, before replying. "We didn't even realise the radiation had reached us until people started dying. We noticed something strange was happening but we had no idea what. It happened to my own daughter. Her gaze became glassy and blank, she eventually lost her eyesight all together. Next came the rashes, very mild at first, but they became worse. We thought that maybe it was a strange disease. We didn't know. We didn't know until it was too late. One night she started screaming. It only lasted about ten seconds, but those ten seconds were the worst of my life. And then she stopped. Her eyes closed and never opened again." I could hear the shocked gasps of the town around me. "But that wasn't it." Everyone turned to look at the radio. "It affects the animals and plants too." Suddenly a blood curdling scream erupted from the radio. The Ukrainian man gasped. "THEY'VE GOT IN!" He yelled. The officer talked into the radio again "who's gotten in" he asked urgently. There was another scream "hello?" The officer said "are you there?" There was no reply, only an eerie silence. All of a sudden the man spoke again. "It's too late for us" he said "but it's not too late for you...." There was a pause "just remember, stay away from the trees." And that was it. The end of an era.