Anatoly was taking part in the pre-victory celebration in the Red Square but had to get to work. He worked about thirty minutes away so he had to end his celebrating early. What were they celebrating? What would be the greatest military victory in Russian, even world history, was set to take place. Within the next hour, in alliance with China and Iran, the largest military strike on western nations would commence. The countries were excited not only to reign supreme over the world but also to finally put the U.S. in its place.
........
Anatoly woke up in a dumpster in the mid-sized city of Tver. Of course, since the west retaliated most of the larger cities had been largely abandoned; if not turned to dust. He was pretty much alone besides a few stragglers. Most people figured anything near Moscow was going to be radioactive after the retaliatory strikes. The U.S. and other western countries had slimmed down there nuclear arsenal so they hadn’t been spending as much on newer technologies; their weapons hadn't caused as much physical damage to the country Anatoly loved. That wasn't to say the country had been spared but they were in better shape comparatively.
Mother Russia hadn't expected the U.S. to be able to launch any counter strikes after the destruction that had been rained down upon them. Regardless, Moscow had been basically annihilated; the millions of people celebrating were vaporized. Shortly after, several other large cities were hit with either nukes or long range bunker buster style bombs.
......
Anatoly had been trying to make his way to sparsely populated areas of Russia to avoid any radioactive fallout. He'd made it a good distance but had to rest up so he could find a semi-permanent place to lay low until things got sorted out. The buildings in Tver were not safe so that was out of the question. He had to make it somewhere that had been largely spared. He was thinking Gortsy but it was still almost 400 miles away from where he was now. The terrain was probably shredded so the trip could end up lasting days. Gortsy would be a perfect spot because the population had been dwindling over the last several decades and there was nothing of strategic interest there. It was also just off the coast Lake Ilmen, a rather large lake, which as long as it hadn't been contaminated, would be a great source of food while he stayed there.
The problem would be how to get there. He drove an electric car but everywhere he'd been so far the power had been cut. Since he had no way to charge the car he had to find an efficient means of travel. Some of the cars in Tver were burnt shells, most had been turned to ash. The odds of driving out of here were slim.
Anatoly finally decided to huff it. He had warm clothes on when he left Moscow since there was a bite in the air that morning. However, he didn't have a coat and things could get bitter along the lake in Gortsy. Hopefully he would be able to find a store still standing along the way.
He headed out of town to the northwest hoping to make a straight line to Gortsy. He was thinking back to the pre-celebration. They were so sure no one would be able to retaliate.
Just a couple of miles outside of Tver, through a couple of stragglers he was able to get some information. They had planned it precisely but unbeknownst to the military experts of Russia, China, and Iran the U.S., while cutting funding to most military programs, had secretly retained funding for and developed an advanced auto strike defense system for just such an occasion. This in turn led to even more devastation. Apparently, Russia and China took the brunt of the attacks while several others, including Iran, were attacked but took significantly less damage. As the news became more sporadic the two strangers did say that they heard a mega base of sorts was going to be hosted in Iran. This base would host Chinese, Russian, and Iranian leaders as well as large chunks of their armies.
Anatoly was ten miles outside of Tver when he decided to change his itinerary. Instead of going to Gortsy he was going to try to get to Iran. Hopefully he could find shelter and food there. The problem was the length of the trip just multiplied. He needed to get some kind of survival kit put together whenever he could find a store still open for business. Looting was always an option in desperate situations too.