text: First there was the light. The light was brighter than the sun. Brighter than the ten-terawatt laser that the ignition facility used. Brighter than the light of a million, billion galaxies that we had yet to discover. It woke me from my slumber. I ignored it, thinking another police helicopter was searching. Then came the shockwave. It blasted across the city like the hand of God, wiping clean the dirty slate of civilization. My window shattered in a burst of glittering, sparking glass, and for just a moment, I was able to see the stars. My eardrums burst. I screamed, blood pouring from my ears, as the drapes covering my window burst into flame. Rolling to the ground, I crawled under the bed and bawled like a toddler. As the pain began to subside, I managed to get my wits about me. *What happened? A bomb, explosion, something nearby?* I shook my head trying to think clearly. *The army? They must need me. Something bad happened. Really bad. Where is Anita? She was in here!* A thousand thoughts raced through my mind at once. Half of the room was engulfed in flames as the light outside subsided. I crawled to the door and flung it open, gasping for cleaner air, only to find more acrid smoke filling my lungs. I half crawled, half tumbled down the stairs in a bloody mess to where the open kitchen was all but gone. The front door had been blown in halfway across the living room. I managed to get to my unsteady feet, my balance all but gone. Stumbling out onto the street, a wave of heat hit my face and made it feel as if it was going to boil away. Wiping away some of the dirt and blood from my eyes, I managed to look up, shielding my eyes from the heat and dust. *Dear god, and all that is good in this world. It happened. Shit, shit shit shit shit shit.* Ahead of me in the city center, a menacing mushroom cloud rose into the sky and proclaimed it's sentence of fiery destruction to all who were near.