Nuclear Winter

Juliet Cullen slowly opened her eyes. It was bright, white shapes moved around in her field of vision. The surroundings felt familiar...but not. Her world was blurry. She tried to sit up, but her abdominal muscles wouldn't respond. She thrashed her arms and legs, but they were restrained...panic. Suddenly a deep, pleasant voice soothed her racing nerves. "Juliet, it's alright, you are safe." Juliet breathed deeply, her heart rate slowed a bit. She allowed her eyes to focus on the shape in front of her. It was a man—that much she could tell. His facial features were sharp and square. She felt a hand on her forehead. Reassurance. She finally relaxed. "That's it." The deep voice crooned. "Easy does it." Juliet closed her eyes. Her mind wasn't quite ready for processing. The deep voice had said she was safe. The deep voice was comforting. She would sleep now... * * * Juliet Cullen slowly opened her eyes. It was bright, but not as bright as before. This time her eyesight adjusted easily. She was in a white room, furnished with military precision. A doctor dressed in military fatigues approached her. "Corporal Cullen, I am Captain Jager, I am the head of the medical department in this facility and am here to make sure you are alright. It is good to see you awake. How are you feeling today?" Juliet smiled, despite not recognising the doctor, she did recognise the deep rhythmic voice that had calmed her the last time she was awake. "I feel much better thank-you." "That's good to hear Corporal." The doctor responded and smiled audaciously. He placed a hand on her forehead, but it did not feel like the reassuring presence she had felt when she had woken up before, and she pulled away sharply. The doctor frowned, obviously unaware of what he had done. "Cold hands!" Juliet smirked. The doctor smiled and placed his hands together, rubbing them vigorously, after a moment he reapplied his hands, which felt warmer and raised an eyebrow. "Better?" Juliet nodded. "I'm sorry Corporal." He said. "When you are in the military, you tend to forget your bedside manner." "That's okay," Juliet replied, watching carefully as the man checked instruments and monitors, fussing as only a doctor can do over a patient. After a minute or so of doing this, he stopped and came back to her. "Do you know where you are?" Juliet nodded instinctively and opened her mouth to tell him, but no sound came out. Her brain had thrown her a curve ball on this one. She frowned in misunderstanding. "I can't remember, I'm sorry sir." Jager smiled. "Don't worry, a memory lapse is perfectly normal, you have been asleep for a long time." Juliet frowned. "What are you talking about?" Jager braced himself, as if ready to share with her a state secret. "Corporal Cullen, on August 24th, 2010 you donated your body to the military science division. Your body was riddled with Leukaemia, and you only had days to live. With no close family to give you a funeral, you thought that this was the best option for you. The military was testing a new cryogenic sleep process and needed a voluntary test subject. You volunteered with the option of being woken when a cure for Leukaemia could be found. As of today we have pulled you from your sleep and destroyed the cancer that had riddled your body. It will take you a little while to adjust back into the environment and I am here to help you with that." Juliet stared blankly at Jager. "Why can't I remember anything about this?" Captain Jager looked at her with what only could be described as pity. "Corporal—there has not been any extensive study into the effects of cryogenic sleep on humans for a long time..." "What do you mean? How long have I been asleep for?" Jager carried on as if she had not spoken. "...we are treating the symptoms the best we can, but I am afraid that amnesia seems to be one of the side effects. Please understand that we are doing the very best that we can." He smiled at her. With her body under stress from waking, Juliet felt a wave of tiredness flood over her. The bed was so warm; she might just rest a bit and ask more questions later. Her eyelids began closing without permission and she tried to hold them open. Before she drifted off she managed one last question. "Captain Jager, what year is this?" she asked. "That question Corporal is above my pay scale to answer." Juliet was confused by this answer, but her mind didn't dwell on it as it slowly shut down into a deep sleep. * * * Over the next few days, Juliet and Jager got to know each other quite well. Her memories were slowly coming back as she got better. She remembered a lot of her life before the Leukaemia had developed, but nothing after. She must have been his only patient, as Jager spent a lot of his time in the room with her, chatting and making sure that she was comfortable. As they talked, Jager mentioned his family, though the memories seemed to pain him. Juliet was in an underground military base in the bedrock of the Rockies in Colorado. Jager was sketchy on the details of why the base was here, but Juliet knew that some things would not be talked about and she didn't push the subject. The base was run by a Colonel named Straith. When Jager talked of him, Juliet sensed a nervousness, or was it maybe fear? Straith must command a lot of power to have earned such a reputation among his lower leaders. As they talked, Jager gave her some very intensive muscle therapy to make sure that her legs would work when she went to use them. It was hard at first but it got easier as the days went by. Juliet was a week into her therapy when one morning Jager came into her room, looking flustered, and annoyed. "Good morning Captain. How are you?" Juliet said. She was in the middle of a muscle strength routine focussing on her obliques and abdominal muscles. She stopped as she asked the question. Jager looked distracted but only for a moment, and then replied in a solemn voice. "Good thank-you and yourself?" Jager was usually more chipper so Juliet felt immediately on edge. "What's wrong Captain?" Juliet asked quietly. "Colonel Straith has called. He wants to see you in his office today?" "Is that a bad thing?" Juliet asked. Jager smiled. "No, we just had a disagreement on whether you were up to going out of your room." Juliet jumped to her feet and sidled over to where Captain Jager was standing. "I'm fit as a fiddle Captain..." she stood at attention "Corporal Juliet Cullen reporting for duty, Sir." She grinned at him. Jager grinned back, but it was forced. "It is not your physical fitness I am worried about."