Desired

28. Overthinking

Long grass grows on either side of the road. We pass the occasional house, all in various states of dilapidation. Some look liveable others are destroyed, either burnt during the Virulence pandemic or falling apart due to age.

The houses remind me of people. Some of us survive tough times while other's don't, we crumble and deteriorate, all in varying degrees, leaving behind only parts of a person, broken and incomplete.

I'm feeling way too philosophical today.

'That's the nuclear power station,' Roman says, pointing to the left of us.

All three of us keep pedalling as we look at the enormous building with two large chimneys on the other side of the field.

'It's massive,' Cas says. Sticking out her bottom lip she chews on it for a moment before saying, 'What is a nuclear power station?'

'A place that produces electricity using nuclear power,' Roman says.

'Wow, that was an amazing explanation Roman because I couldn't have guessed a power station generated some sort of electricity, you know, seeing as a bunch of power equations involve electrical units.' Cas rolls her eyes. 'What does the nuclear bit mean?'

'I don't know how to explain nuclear. School closed due to Virulence before I learnt about it.' Roman frowns.

'Kit?' Cas turns to me.

'I've never learnt about nuclear power stations.' I shrug, focusing on the path in front of us while trying to keep steady on the bicycle. I shouldn't have rode Zach's bicycle, it's too big for me.  'I know the stuff they use is radioactive and it gives off radiation.'

'Doesn't radioactive stuff make you glow green? Are we going to turn into The Hulk? If I start hulking out and ripping all my clothes, I'm going to get pissed. I really like this outfit,' Cas says.

What is hulking out?

'I think it's more likely to cause mutations in cells and things like cancer.' I inspect the building. It doesn't look dangerous.

'So we're all going to get cancer and die?' Cas asks, pedalling a little faster.

'It's a possibility if the radiation is leaking out,' Roman says.

'And how do we know?'

'I'll guess we'll know for certain if I die of cancer in the next couple of years.'

'That's not funny,' I say flatly.

'I wasn't trying to be funny.' Roman veers to the left directing us along a path which is headed straight towards the nuclear power station. 'I've taken this route quite a few times.'

'Just because you think Klein won't come this way?' I say.

'I know Klein won't come this way. He has a map he's plotted out of all the nuclear power stations, which there are a lot of. He won't go within a ten-mile radius of a nuclear power station in case of radiation exposure. He refuses to stay more than a few hours, drink any water or eat any food within a fifty-mile radius due to potential contamination, which is actually hard to stick to when you're travelling the country looking for survivors because there are a lot of nuclear power stations.'

'Well, let's hurry up and gain some mileage between us and that thing.' Cas pedals even faster, overtaking both me and Roman.

'Where exactly did he get those numbers from?' I ask Roman.

'His parents used to campaign against the country using nuclear energy so he has all these facts about the dangers and how far it can cause damage.' Roman exhales. 'His parents sounded like pretty decent people. They were activists or something, campaigning for renewable energy and loads of different environmental causes. He knew about the eco-village through his parent's friends.'