When the bombs fell, it wasn't a war; it was an obliteration. No one had any idea who shot first or why.

They are as smart as they are ruthless. That's why they've been around for all five years.

The lucky ones died in the blasts. They were spared the fate of starvation, cannibalism, rape and slaughter. Where a man could be killed over half-eaten can of corn.

They were like her rocks. Imperfect and surprising and maybe better in the long run than certainties. Chances, she thought, were life

[...]How can a great civilization have destroyed itself so completely?"
"Perhaps,"said Apollo, "by being materially great and materially wise and nothing else.

From one tyrant to another. That is the world we know, now.