HEART OF THE COUNTRY SHORT STORY COLLECTION BY NICK ARMBRISTER

Zeke moved out of his mountain hideaway after another week of chilling out and being lazy. His feet and aching bones were healed now and he undertook a new trek to another location. Avoiding the cities that had been nuked and now burnt themselves out; he ventured into the wilderness, a content and alert man. He knew anyone could be out here with him, escaping the devastated areas and taking a chance out amongst nature. Moving only during twilight/night-time when the sun’s heat was gone and the chance of being seen was low brought its own challenges. His visibility was limited and the going slower; this was fine he was in no rush. Would he rush if he knew where the radiation had fallen? He was sure the fallout would look like dust/ash and that was radioactive and to be avoided. It was a chance he took, not stumbling into fallout fields before it was too late, at night, infecting him. A big chance but none of it mattered, he felt really free and that mattered. Not a prisoner of his job or of the government and its taxes. He was really free, for now. On his third day from his hilltop lie up, Zeke came to a new place that took his fancy. A stone canyon with a big thundering waterfall, it captivated him. Even by night it was something, he heard the distant thunder of falling water long before he saw it, then it took his breath away. Standing on the edge of the canyon and looking down, he saw the white splashes and spray made by the waterfall. But there was something else too. The waterfall glowed green, for some unknown reason. Radiation? No, it can’t be that or I’d see fallout dust upon the ground around here. Unless the water was contaminated upstream, was that possible? If so, then why did it glow? He mulled over the issue in his mind. No it wouldn’t be like that, unless some freak new event in physics had occurred. That thought panicked him a bit but then he got a grip of himself and looked for a way down into the valley bottom. The green glow gave off enough light to see far enough and he spotted a way down amongst the jagged rocks. I know why it glows!