This morning, among the remaining human settlements, each group reported no fatalities from the week before.

It’s been rough on us humans over the past several years. It was almost like nature wanted to be rid of us. We had seen plenty of illnesses, types of flu, Ebola, and a resurgence of measles. We should have seen it coming. There had been warnings. There had been published articles in both science and medical journals. There were signs.

Politically, the left blamed the right and the right blamed the left. It’s easy, in retrospect, to point the finger at who truly is to blame. It just doesn’t matter much now.

The worst began with Covid 19. The shortages of goods, equipment and patience all played a part. What we didn’t know yet was that Covid would mutate into Covid 20. Some say 2 point O started with the medical staff. Others pointed their fingers at the Corona parties that the anti vaxxers arranged to “toughen up” their children. Either way, it escaped containment on the lips and hands of those that had recovered from 19.

At the same time,star measles surged. Birth defects, as a side effect of different treatments, rose dramatically. There were serious concerns if we would actually survive at all.

We survived. We compartmentalized our world.

For some, it was strictly geographical. Others by religion, family, or philosophy.

The family groups fell prey to reproductive issues. The religious fell to a lack of industriousness that could only come from a blind belief that healing would come as a blessing. Geographical worked well enough, so long as farming was a part of their geography.

Me? I’m a descendant of the “Philosophical” group that believed in science. But, before we celebrate our cleverness, we must include that we nearly failed. There were many philosophical groups that failed. Knowing what needs to happen does not replace knowing how to do something. In theory, crops don’t fail. In theory, livestock stays healthy. In theory, materials are high quality and available. In theory, scientists know how to use a shovel.

And then, this morning, there were no fatalities from the week before. I’d like to think that a cheer went out across the radio waves, but I’ll never know. You can’t hear while transmitting your own cheer.

But we had won! Going forward, people will die of old age. They’ll die from accidents. They’ll die of natural causes. And some days, nobody would die at all.

There are hard times ahead. My settlements population is well below 500. So are most of the others. But don’t worry, we’ve worked out rotating portions of populations for genetic diversity. We just need to figure out transportation.

Personally, I think we should check in vitro clinics. Maybe some of the storage is intact.

The important things to remember is that we will survive. We will recover. We will go on.

We will go on, just as long as we learn from the mistakes that brought us here. I just hope we’ve learned.