"My legs got messed up. I'm sitting on the ground. That's why you can't see me."
"What about the city? What's left of it?"
"From where I'm sitting I should be able to see the tops of some of the taller buildings over the concrete, but there's nothing there. I hate to think about it."
"If there is anything left, the rocket planes will bring 'em down."
"What rocket planes?"
"Can't you hear 'em? That roar in the air. It almost drowns out the geiger meter on my suit."
"Naw, Conlon, that isn't what you think! You're still hearing the sound of the blast."
"After this long?"
"It doesn't die out for a long time."
Jerry thought about Mildred and Billy. It was this bad even in a radiation suit with special lenses to protect the eyes; special braces to minimize the shock wave effects; special material perfected during the latter part of the century to deflect ultra-radiation. How would Mildred and Billy fare back home where they were unprotected? They might even be dead. But no! They couldn't be! They were all he had left in life. They just had to be alive!