Into the Ruins

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. The static crackled through the radio speakers like dying whispers, each burst of white noise marking another day of silence from the outside world. Liam O'Brien adjusted the frequency dial with practiced precision, his calloused fingers moving across the worn metal surface as he had done every morning for the past three years. The basement of the old Murphy farmhouse had become his sanctuary, walls lined with salvaged equipment and maps marked with red X's where cities once thrived. "Anything today?" called Mary from the top of the wooden stairs, her voice carrying the same mixture of hope and resignation that had become their daily ritual. "Nothing yet," Liam replied, though he continued to scan the airwaves. The electromagnetic pulse that had preceded the Great Collapse had fried most electronic equipment, but some older, simpler devices had survived if they were properly shielded. The radio was one of three working pieces of technology left in their small community of Millfield, a village that had become an island of forty-seven souls in an ocean of devastation. The morning light filtered through the small basement window, casting long shadows across the concrete floor. Outside, Liam could hear the familiar sounds of the village awakening. The shuffle of feet on gravel paths, the lowing of cattle in makeshift pens, and the distant ring of hammer on anvil from Sean's blacksmith shop. These sounds had replaced the hum of electricity, the rumble of automobiles, and the constant chatter of a connected world. Liam climbed the stairs to find Mary setting out bowls of porridge made from their precious stores of oats. Her auburn hair was streaked with premature gray, and lines had appeared around her green eyes that spoke of worry and sleepless nights.