In the beginning, there was the end

For me, it all began in a refugee camp outside of Barstow City. It was just before the bombs went off and the City disappeared in a blaze of white light. I remember some cops were fretting about whether we were far enough away from the drop zone and I was thinking I could never be far away enough away from that nightmare. Funny really, because in a way it was also the cradle of the cursed half-life of me and others like me. Barstow made me what I am.
Some say the Apocalypse isn't the end of days so much as the end of an age. And in that end was a new beginning.
So the cops were fretting about whether we're far enough away and everybody is crowding around not sure what is going to happen next. We're all pale and dirty and frightened and many are bleeding. Some are screaming and crying. They left loved ones back in the City and can't accept that they are gone. There's a dog running around somewhere. Then there's a ruckus somewhere up the back. A woman falls to the ground. She's blond and pretty under all the dirt and blood. Or she would be blond and pretty under better circumstances. She looks like she might have been a real estate agent or a tv reporter in better days. She's twitching and feverish, just like all the others. Half the people are scrambling to help her while the others who see what's coming are runnign for their lives.
The cops are trying to hold everyone back and everybody is shouting at cross purposes. Somebody barrels past me, knocking the wind out of me. I fall to the ground. For a few momemts I lie there stunned. Then the survivel instinct kicks in and I know I have to get up. Nice idea, but the crowd has become a seething, mindless monster. People tread on me. I probably say a few swear words. All I can hear is screaming and shouting and people pleading to with the cops to let us out of the way, but they're all as scared and confused as the rest of us. All I can see is legs.
Then the screaming intensifies. At some point I manage to scramble to my feet. People are running everywhere. Some are prostate with shock and some are hysterical.
I don't remember being bitten. I didn't even realise until later when I started to get sick. I thought the cut was just an injury from being trodden on.
Oh yeah, then the bombs went off.