"The elders always laugh that it wasn't the bombs that killed us.

No, the nukes were safe in underground bunkers, secure and unfired, lacking, by that point, the fuel to be fired. Left to rot until those of our generation broke open the locks to salvage what materials we could. Why would you waste on weaponry that precious stuff that burns?

They didn't see it coming, the elders say, not until it was far too late, and the plague came first, to purge the world. Earth is like a great organism, it's said, and perhaps She thought to try one final time to eradicate the cancer that was destroying Her. She almost did.

Not quite."

Quick piece from June 2007. I like the colors.