20 years later and i'm still alive, woohoo technology has been rebooted and is actually available for little price, whereas valuables such as petrol, plants and even animals which were not affected are now the new currency. it is always cold here in new york city coz the thick black clouds still cover the sky like it is always night-time blockading any glimpse of sunlight. spooky. when i look up to the sky it is just a remembrance of that day, 16th january 2001 - the day we all thought the nuclear bomb would make the world end as we know it. fortunately, we do have some existence, some kinda travel and some places to sleep.

me, marianne, survived this horrifying blast and i am proof of how frightful and forbidding this sinister world has become.



i'll tell you all what, the last few days here have been quite lonely for me actually. i got the guts to run away from my tribe, they were called the professors, and have been single-handedly roaming these quiet abandoned streets wearing only the clothes on my back and with the food embedded into my pockets, searching for just that bit of optimism. meh.

however!! i did come across a proper nice guy yesterday called jewels. (oooft) personally i thought that 'jewels' was a odd name for a guy haha, but i didn't question it, however i did recognise the name of the tribe he escaped from - the evil, vicious and vile barbarians.i was like 'omg' when i first heard it but we actually got on really well.



tribes here were formed to collect food, gain shelter and areas of land against one another creating loads of arguments and stuff frequently and poor innocent people living their life in fear. the barbarians are known for their really creepy and chilling techniques when wanting what they cant have. how greedys that, right?! hearing that jewels was from these disgusting barbarians was well shocking coz he was such a genuine guy. from here on out though, we were our own tribe; the maanels. (mariane + jewels = mannels, lol!)

me and jewels have been travelling together across from what we think was once new jersey to stuyvesant town near queens. it is slightly more frosty atm; jewels even had to put on an extra jumper which was proper rebellious as he told me rule 7 of the barbarians is to never wear more than four layers of clothing.

each tribe has their own set of rules here they must obey when in their tribe or 'bad things' will happen. every single tribe has their own set of consequences when they refuse to follow these stupid rules. ive never like disobeyed a rule properly, and i dunno what happens if you do, but 1 day heard a well scary noise. geraldine was my best mate and she violated rule 11 which was to not leave the area we were staying after 11:23pm but she did. after that day geraldine was not seen again.

· rule 29 of the professors: must weigh under twelve stone.

· rule 3: to always bow down to your tribe leader when they are present.

· rule 44, don't wear open toe shoes

they don't even give a reason for the rules but you have to always follow it, no matter what!!!

a day before the explosion, 20 years ago and animals were let loose from zoos and farms coz of all the panic from people and thats when the nuclear bomb hit. ever since then animals have been intoxicated (I think that's the word haha) with the fumes and are now deformed and weird; you could say they are like a completely new species or sommat. sometimes me and jewels play this little game to see if we can guess what animal they used to be. yesterday i actually got my answer right... waheyyy!

there was this black coloured figure stumbling across the road and its nose was rooted deep into its proper ugly looking face. the creatures eyes were so small and wide apart you could assume they were cute little freckles - turns out it was once a pig! haha!

to be honest there is literally no other word to describe how i feel living and surviving here except the word scared stiff. i might seem all happy and a positive person but its still so scary here it wont ever be the same i can tell you that fo'sure. i'm terrified to walk the flippin' streets for crying out loud. just the fact that something so terrifying and unplanned could happen again sends shivers down my spine, eeeek. life here isn't normal anymore. it is a mess, just like our broken society.

Marianne Velius

xx