Beyond the dome

The horizon was a stunning green, a blinding sight after walking for days through the Death Zone - a depressing desert of smog and dust. We couldn't tell if it was a true oasis or a cruel trick of the mind. Still, we ran towards it, crawling over top of one another while maneuvering across what was now the destroyed and crumpled society that came before the Nuclear Holocaust. … The year is 2105, and the council sent us to save the world - the dying, practically dead world. The world has almost entirely run out of food. Freshwater. Greenery. I was born inside the Euro Dome, which had always protected me from what lay beyond the walls, until now. 30 years ago, the planet faced a climate tragedy. Countries all over the world were running out of food and water. Fast. Eastern and Western countries went to war. Nuclear weapons destroyed almost everything. Now, survivors live inside protected domes. There used to be 9 billion people. Today, there are only 500,000 left, and we can barely even sustain this small number. The Euro Dome is a carefully measured expanse of land unaffected by deadly nuclear fallout. We live in condos that stretch up towards the glass covering above our heads. We work, in research jobs, farming what little land we have left, as doctors treating the sick - people fall ill often, usually from a disease of the lungs. Our air is recycled and stale; there is no wind.