Mark Matson

Nuclear Winter. Part 1

Shortly after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Soviets were anxious to get there hands on a weapon of mass destruction, the first ever Russian nuke was made in the fifties. Shortly after the threat of nuclear winter became clear after the Warsaw Pact was formed, the pact connected the communist nations in Eastern Europe and China, the communists could not be trusted with weapons of mass destruction NATO believed and became very suspicious of the Soviet Union and other communist nations.

Dmitri was out exploring the ice and snow bitten wilderness with his two brothers, Joseph and Viktor they had been exploring for hours Viktor the youngest of the three was getting cold and hungry, Joseph had begun getting hungry as well and wanted to go back to their mother and her warm, creamy, and sweet soup. Although their father, a WW2 veteran had died 5 years before their family was doing relatively well. Dmitri was the man of the house being 13, he was scared and frightened thinking how he had to be the leader of his family and stay calm in a harsh situation. "Dmitri we're going back, we're cold and hungry." called Joseph who had stopped walking with Viktor who was just to tired to carry on. "No." Dmitri replied sharply, "We will go on for another mile, you need to toughen up." Joseph's mouth was as wide as a canyon. He stood there in disbelief as his brother kept moving hopping over a fallen log, never looking back at them. They kept walking for another mile, atop of a hill they looked down at an abandoned military complex. "This is why we walked all the way out here? For an abandoned military base!" Joseph yelled! "Yes, that is wh-" Dmitri replied but mid sentence 10 holes appeared in the base raising 10 large missiles. "Back to the house now." Dmitri said quick without stutter.
Andrew was out in the street playing basketball, when he heard the sirens, loud and clear. "BRRRRRrrrrr, BRRRRRRrrrrr, BRRRRRrrrr" He knew what those meant and so did the other kids on the block, this was not a drill there were already jets up in the sky and he saw a multiple missiles up in the air. He sprinted to his house, his mother and father were already out of the house waiting for him. "Andrew come on! We have to get to the fallout shelter!" His Dad yelled. They all sprinted down the block around the corner and ran into the already opened bunker steps. They went down the stairs as quick as they could into the bottom of the nunker where most of his friends and their families on the block were already on their bunks crying and scared. All of them knew what would happen when the nukes hit. Everything gone. No hope no nothing. Everyone in the dimly light bunker on their green military bunks. The kids all gathered together and tried to raise eachother's spirits. "The nukes might not be going to California they probably sent them to D.C or somewhere else important." One of them said flatly after many moments of quiet, "That's worse! The president could be a casualty, we would be without a president! I would rather die than let him die." another said in anguish. Shortly after he burst into tears. Moments after that the bombs hit.

Nuclear Winter pt 2
“You filthy capitalist pig!” Screamed into the face of Andrew, spitting all over him. “Communist Scum.” Replied Andrew short and sharp, immediately after he said that he was lashed three times. Andrew was in the heart of Soviet Russia, he had been on a reconnaissance mission and was captured after his partner, a dog, barked. Andrew had joined the military a year before at age 16. At this point the war had been going on for five years, his father had died fighting to keep the communists out of Australia. He had succeeded he was issued an order to protect the Australian Prime Minister at all costs, the koreans had breached the door and were in the process of throwing nerve gas in the room. He had handed the prime minister a gas mask and told him to cover his eyes, Andrew’s Dad ran towards the Koreans he wounded 2, killed 3 and captured 1. Little did he know that the one he captured had bombs planted on him, when he found out he tackled the Korean outside the door and closed it, protecting the Prime Minister. After that Andrew was determined to get revenge on the communists, he started to get in shape and train for five years to become a S.E.A.L. He had invaded the middle east with the rest of his division, he had liberated Afghanistan and Iraq. Then he went to Russia. The coldest place on earth, Siberia. His recon mission had failed and he was heading to a Gulag Camp.

Nuclear Winter pt 3
Unlike Andrew, Dmitri had been drafted into the military at age 14. The Soviets had lost so many men in the first two years of the war that they started a draft of anyone ages 8-65. Dmitri was drafted into the Navy and was a sailor, he used a big 30 MM gun and shot at carriers. He was an unruly and a truly bad sailor his captain also said. “I hate ships and I water.” Dmitri had said to his captain, but of course Dmitri thought that this had to be better than infantry… at the front lines. “Dmitri I can switch you to become a tankman if you wish, it's an experiment but they are testing water tanks.” “Yes, I want to be in a tank.” Dimitri replied to the Colonel in front of him, even though water tanks had been tested before at Normandy on D-Day and had been unsuccessful, only one tank made it to the beaches he thought it was a good idea. Shortly after he agreed he was sent to meet his crew and his new tank a T-55. They watched a quick training video and went inside the tank for actual training. “Dmitri pick a straw to choose your job.” The leader of the experiment said. Dmitri reached over with a shaking hand and grabbed a straw, the shortest of the bunch. “Yes! I have the first choice of jobs!” He thought, once everybody had picked their stick he quickly chose loader/gunner, one of the best jobs. Once they had been trained and were ready to go they went out on the water where they were surprised to see an entire convoy of ships and men almost like they were about to invade some country!

Nuclear Winter pt. 4
Life was tough all over the world, but even harder in Germany, the divide, the wall, the communists and the capitalists. All germans wanted to be reunited with their families and their comrades, for all they knew their comrades and families were all dead. in between the wall there was no communication every message going from west to east was being scanned and destroyed incase of any secrets or spies. For one family it was the hardest of all, the Petrenkas felt the divide the most. Their father, 1 son and 2 daughters were with the communists and their mother, 2 sons and 1 daughter were with NATO and democracy. Their family had literally been divided by a wall and metaphorically by an argument, all the men in their family were fighting against each other, again literally and metaphorically. “NEIN! YOU KNOW THE COMMUNISTS WILL WIN WHY DO YOU NOT JOIN THEM!” Screamed Odalf’s father during dinner one night. Odalf and his democracy following members of the family had gotten up from the table, said “goodbye” in response and quickly got their prepacked luggage and headed to the west, of course this was before Germany was a wasteland of crumbling buildings, rubble and craters from the bombs.

Nuclear Winter pt 5
Now that family is dead. Because of war and as a great man once said. “War, War never changes.” Now, let’s go back to the beginning of the war, to both Dimitri and Andrew’s Grandparents. Before the nukes dropped it had been a world war and it still of course is a world war, but with less belligerents. After the United States and nations allied with it stopped all trade and relations with China, a cold war began nobody really thought China with the help of the Soviets would invade Alaska. They did with 2.5 million men. The soviets sent 1 million. The Americans and Canadians were taken by surprise, of course they had been ready for a possible invasion they just didn’t think 3.5 million men would hit the beaches so fast and hard. Andrew’s Grandfather had been on the defense that day. It was cool crisp morning, the wind was cool and strong. They canadians and Americans had been there for almost 2 months now and everybody had become friends and had been joking around. It was 10 AM and everybody had just gotten up, tired and drinking coffee. He had been talking to a young canadian named Fredrick, Fredrick had been telling him about his homemade maple syrup and his pet moose. “Wow you have a pet moose what does it eat?” Asked Gregory, Andrew’s Grandfather. “Maple Syrup 100%.” Responded Fredrick. “Wow.” responded Greg and walked away to his MG bunker, he had thought he had seen a ship out there and wanted to get ready just incase. Then the invasion happened one million men sprinting towards him a bullet slicing through Fredrick.

Nuclear Winter pt 6 MP 2
Both those men are long gone by now, Gregory left behind all that he loved at that beach. As Dimitri opened up the hatch to his tank off the coast of Japan, the salty sea air and water hit him in the face with such force he choked on the water. The other men in his tank started to burst out laughing at the poor fool who had been so gullible to think that they were invading Japan. They were really just executing a practice exercise off the coast of Siberia, the only placed not touched by the nukes and the foul stench of radiation. As Dimitri climbed back in the tank there was a loud and slow crannnnnnkkkkkkk in their tank. Everyone went silent with fear in their eyes, as their tank plunged into the depths soon to be crushed by the pressure and kill them. Dimitri was the only one to react he quickly grabbed a life preserver and put it on and told the others to follow suit. He then said “I’m going to open the hatch and water will plunge in, it is imperative that you swim to the open hatch immediately.” On the count of 3 he opened it and in time that felt like hours he breached the surface and looked around for his crew, one head, two head. Two of his comrades survived the cold drowning ocean. Oh god please let my comrade surface Dimitri thought just as his fellow comrade breached the surface back first head and feet hanging down into the water. One of them screamed and fainted adding to the anxiety and fear of Dimitri and his fellow tankmen Gustav. The remaining crew then signaled a fellow tank to come and rescue them, and within seconds a veteran tank came about and secured them taking them back to a ship for a debrief about their incident and to warm up from the chill of almost meeting death.

Nuclear Winter pt 7
Andrew was being beaten day and night, he had limited sleep and moldy bread. He was surviving solely onhis will to live and get back to his family. Just a day ago he had been lashed so badly that he shouldn’t have been able to get back up, he got back up he always got back up. The soviets were planning to him to Vorkuta, a terrible mining camp, his move would happen in three hours he was told. As he got on the truck, guards swarmed all around him with PPSH-41s and Ak-47s screaming at him to go faster. He got on the truck and fell over he then proceeded to be hit in the face with a butt of a gun and black out. When he got to Vorkuta it was night, bright lights were blinding him, german shepherds barking and guards screaming at him in russian to get out and strip down. He got out but refused to get out of his clothes, he would be defiant as long as possible. Eventually he was shoved down and stripped and put into blue and white prisoner clothes. Two years passed and he met Alexy a Ukrainian man who had refused to fight for the motherland. He had an escape plan. They were already tunneling towards the french frontlines in asia and they weren't to far away he thought if they started to dig upwards they could go straight into the trench.

Nuclear Winter pt 8
Alexy and his men digging the tunnel had run into a problem they had begun running into a lot of mud lately and thought they were tunneling under a river or lake and the ground would collapse above them. Andrew had helped his dad with engineering supports for an extension for their house so he knew some things that could help. He went to Alexy and said, “Alexy I know how to help with the tunnel if you’d only let me help.” he did not let Andrew help with the tunnel or know the location because he thought he could not be trusted and would stab them in the back to get treated better. “No we have it covered, and we can keep digging it ourselves when it comes time you can come with us.” replied Alexy and quick as a bullet he walked away. Two days later the tunnel collapsed killing Alexy and 3 other men. His chances of escaping looked very slim after it collapsed but it was a big enough deal for most of the guards to go investigate… a big enough distraction for escape. Andrew realized this and told only those he trusted about his plan, he had worked in the vehicle repair unit and knew where all the vehicles were stored, cars, trucks and motorcycles. He got his pass and told the others to follow his lead and head to the depot. When everyone got there they each got in a vehicle and sped away to freedom unknown to the guards.

Nuclear Winter pt 9
Dimitri was still chilled by the loss of his friend, off the coast of Siberia. He had lost his tank his friend and his love for The Soviet Union He had laid down his life time and time again, but for what 3 roubles? He decided enough was enough, he was going to leave the Red Army. He chose to leave during a battle in Laos, he was going to leave in the dead of night. The day before had been a tough one he had lost many of his friends in the battle, he remembered his friend’s blood splattering against as a bullet sliced through Deiter’s chest. He could still hear the sound of blood spluttering through the wounded, he had tried to help his but his commanding officer ordered him to stand and fight. So he stood back up and kept firing, tears rolling down his cheek into the mud below. As night came Dimitri got down to “sleep” he really was just psyching himself out to run across the battlefield dodging shots from both the Communists and the Americans or Australians he had forgotten who he was fighting. There was a lull in the shooting around 3 o'clock and he knew it was time to go. He stood up and hopped out of the trench sprinting to the other trench, he heard gunfire coming from behind him and soon enough gun fire came from in front of him too. He was almost there yelling what little english he knew to try and tell them he wanted to help them. A few more steps, and i'm home free he thought as a bullet sliced through his leg. He fell looking back to his friends, as another bullet sliced through his arm. He looked to the Americans and saw one coming towards him. He heard the command to cease fire from the Americans as the man came closer. Dimitri heard someone yell, “Andrew get back, they’ll kill you for sure!” the man kept coming and grabbed Dimitri and brought him back to his trench.

Nuclear Winter pt 10
Andrew had carried the man back to the trench, and gotten him to a med station, just as he got into the trench he thought he heard the man say in a whisper lighter than air. “Thank you.” Andrew didn’t know what had came over him when he rescued the man, he shouldn’t have had any remorse or thought about it. He should’ve let the man die. But after all this war, after all this murder he had decided to rescue a man that would’ve died other wise. During the next week the Americans were reinforced and resupplied, giving them the boost to push the Soviets back. Although war was happening world wide, the battle for Laos had been very important, if they had lost they would have been pushed back to Vietnam and eventually to the Philippines a country the Allies relied on for production of anything from pistols to ships. The communists had been after the country for years but this was closest attempt to capturing it yet. The Allies knew that it was time to end the war, but to a win a war you have to go back to the basics of warfare because warfare never changes.

Nuclear Winter pt. 11
The letter was sent back to his family. To his mother, to his brothers. Both of his brothers sent home after being shot, after going through intense battlefields, watching men lose limbs in the plains of Kazakhstan, seeing men be blown up at Virginia Beach after watching their friends get shot before them bleeding out not being able to help. The letter said that Andrew had died. The man he had saved had attacked him when he was visiting him. There were no nurses or doctors around because it was in the dead of night. The man had choked him, taken Andrew’s pistol and shot himself. The man may have just not been able to cope with the war had to end it all, but had needed something to end it Andrew was just there at the wrong time.

Marking Period 3
The Cheeky Bankers
I saw my first death when I was 12, I saw my parent’s blood spill when I was 13. I saw much more bloodshed in the years following. All of those deaths because of the Germans. Churchill had said that we would never surrender, I listened with pride in my heart and felt more powerful than anything. He had given us hope, he had made all of England believe that the Germans would be defeated. He said we would fight on the beaches, we did. But so did the Canadians and the Americans. We fought on the seas, but the Germans fought better. We defended our island but we lost, Churchill was killed by Hitler himself. I still remember the day when we fought on the beaches, I had heard the gunshots I had felt the ground shake from the German bombs. Then I saw them. For the first time in my life I saw the Jerrys. I saw them laughing around a soldier, a soldier that was on his knees crying, begging for them not kill him. I saw a man draw his pistol, I saw the man kill him. I saw him shoot a man that was on his knees surrendering. I ran back to my house then. In six months I was at my first Nazi rally heiling Hitler while my parents stood side by side arms down. I saw the two Jerrys coming over, I didn’t say anything I saw the two Germans take them by the arm and lead them to the stage. I saw them line up all the others not supporting the Nazis. I heard the order to fire, and I saw my parents fall forward. The officer yelled out. “Those who wish to disobey the Füher will be killed without trial.” The next day I saw Churchill get executed, Hitler fired the shot himself. Before he was killed Churchill said one last thing. “We will not go without a fight! We will never surrender! I will have died but the British Empire lives on! The sun will never set on the British Empire!” After that moment I knew I had to rebel, I wouldn't stand by while my home was taken over by the Nazis. I started the rebellion and I will end the Nazis. There are other rebel groups each by a different name. We are the Cheeky Bankers.

Dogs
I like dogs a lot
Other animals are cool
But dogs are the best
Cats
Cats sleep very often
Cats like to play with blue yarn
They like to eat fish
Aidan
Adian is real short
That doesn’t matter to me
He is funny too
Ryan
Ryan has red hair
He likes to drink ginger ale
He likes pringles too
Jerry
Jerry likes Penn State
He thinks football is so beast
He likes basketball
Drew
Smitty likes doggos
His favorite is Kirin
He likes to play fetch
Max
Max likes to play sports
He plays west chester lacrosse
He has two last names
Brian
Rats are his treasure
He loves them more than the world
His rats love him too
Trees
Trees sway in the wind
Trees stand tall in fierce rain storms
They are so Brawny
Flowers
Flowers are so bright
They shine so light in the night
Colors are so right
Grass
The grass is so green
Grass is the root of the world
When we step it falls
Joey
He likes Maryland
He likes to eat lots of crabs
He likes to swim
Oceans
The ocean is blue
So big and so powerful
Such beauty blinds me
Coral
Coral in the reef
Home to so many creatures
From sharks to a snail
Lions
Kings of the jungle
Their roar is so deafening
They have lots of cubs

Jake
Jake likes to shovel
Jake threw a shovel at Sam
Sam was really mad
Snow
Snow is very cold
When it snows it gets quite cold
Snow is very bold

Apples
Apples are juicy
Red yellow and granny smith
So sweet and sour
Birds
They soar through the air
Birds fly higher than the clouds
So graceful they dive

4th MP Starts Here
Roads
Fast or slow you go
There are many cars driving
They honk screech and stop
Sean
He wears blue sweatshirts
He likes the eagles a lot
He likes his grey shoes
Elijah (And The Cheese Curls)
Cheese Curls are yummy
He likes to eat them with forks
This is so cheesy
Red Binders
Red binders are red
They can hold a lot of stuff
Red can be very dark
Shovels
They can pick stuff up
They can make people fall down
They pick up the snow
Pie
There are many types
My favorite is pumpkin
Blueberry is gross
Cod Fish
Cod fish swim a lot
Cod fish swim in the oceans
They swim to Cape Cod
The Olympics
The Olympics was the highlight in my ping-pong career. I pinged and ponged my way up to the top, and became a champion. I had my lucky green paddle that I got when I was 9, I would hit a ball against a wall for an hour each day. Then my parents bought me a table to play against people, I first played against my mom and I beat her by two points. I started to really like ping pong so I entered a class after school and found out I wasn’t as good as I thought I was, my first day I lost 10-4. Then I started practicing more and eventually started winning. Fast forward 20 years and I was at the Olympics playing against a Canadian. My paddle flung out of my hand and hit the ball for the game winning point. I got the gold.

Michael's Love for Supply Drops
Common supply drops
He got the MX Garand
He loves cryptokeys

Blackcell Bandits
We steal all the streaks
Hardened Sentries will be shot
No more UAVs
RSA
Hit marker machine
From incoming supply drops
One person wants it

Rain
Rain is smooth and slow
Rain pitter patters down the long drain
Dreary and so wet

Sleep
Sleeping is so nice
Waking up makes me so cold
The fan is on high
(Not part of haiku - That's probably why i'm cold)

Science
So many projects
Vocab, two labs and a biome
I want a good grade

Piper
She barks super loud
She likes to bark at the birds
She is one year old

Shoe Fresheners
They freshen my shoes
They are round and smell nice
I put them in shoes

Shoes
I have black nikes
They are so comfortable
The tongue slides over

Why Are Trees being Cut down
Why are trees being cut down in the rain forest. I don’t know. But people say it's a very bad thing because animals are losing their homes. Which makes me think it is a very bad thing. Animals are nice, like the Cheetah Sloth the fastest animal known to man. It goes as fast as a jet and attacks with force. It lives everywhere even in chair behind you. There it comes at you going faster than you can see.

The Beach
I go to the beach in Cape May, New Jersey we have a red cottage. We got our beach house around four years ago and once school let out we immediately went down to the beach. We went for two weeks in a row which was really fun. So here I am now, four years later writing this on a couch drinking a soda. So much has changed throughout the world but this house has stayed the same, a way to relax and let go of things and just have fun. When all my sibling are down with at beach we play four-square and wiffle ball which i'm both pretty bad but it's still fun to play. The waves here aren’t that big but around five o'clock in August the waves get big enough to really rock somebody around. For me that’s the best to time to go to the beach, the waves are big the sun is still out and it's around 80 degrees which is the perfect temperature. In November it's cold but fun to take my dogs down to the beach and look at the waves, my older dog barks and tries to swim but my one year old dog runs away and tries to hide.

I am from wearing underwear on my head
From my preschool friends
I am from my friend’s mom saying wooder
From having a bucket to a back pack
I come from speaking gibberish about bee hives
From my Mom’s beehive to the big tree home to squirrels
I’m from PB & Js on light toast
From eating the marshmallows from the lucky charms

I am from Cape May playing 4-square
To going to the ocean thinking of sharks
I’m from being called Shark from my brother
(In the Ocean)
Eating pizza on the beach with the wrong toppings
Being carried home on the 4th of July
I am from wiffle ball
To hitting it 10 feet to hitting it onto the roof

I’m from the summer filled with sun
From being a snowball
to being a lobster
I am from the first fish I caught
From my brothers shaggy hair
To the ocean after dark when the fish were out
I am from running to an ice cream truck and falling

I am from the good and bad
To the meh and ok moments
But I am from the best moments in my life
Catching a fish
Scoring my first goal in lacrosse
To mowing the lawn
Which really isn’t that fun