The Long And Winding Road

The first to die were the lucky ones--their world was still fairly normal when their time came. The collapse of society was horrendous--impoverished masses revolted, unpaid soldiers mutinied, and starving parents sold their children into slavery. Nuclear suns bloomed here and there, and a man-made winter gripped the world. Last came the sicknesses--many old, some new. Tens of millions died instantly while hundreds of millions wished they had. Mankind had put itself on the endangered species list with a vengeance. Yet life did go on. Scattered far and wide, the few survivors huddled in the ruins, ignorant of what was happening beyond the horizon. There were a few who chose to quench this thirst for knowledge, who attempted to fill the longing for luxuries barely remembered. They were called Traders. Kid, barely of drinking age in a world that no longer had laws; Par, his half-crazed partner in crime; Savonne, the young woman who came between them; and Mary, a little girl in a world that is no longer child safe. They brought stories of other places and tales of other survivors. And sometimes they brought hope...hope that things were getting better.