The turn of the millenium. "What's happening to the lights? And why'd that power box just start smoking?

"Hey, it's only five minutes into the next century! They're doing it to enhance the fireworks or something!"

The start of a new era. "What the hell are we meant to do now? The fridge's empty and there's no way we can get any more."

"The only thing we can do, I guess. Get that rifle and we're going to the shops. An era of danger. "Geddown!"

"Someone tell those soldiers that we aren't bandits! Make `em stop shooting at us!"

"I think they know we're not bandits." An era of tragedy. "Your parents are probably dead. All of ours probably are Like those people we saw earlier, on the highway. Starving and staggering forwards."

"Then why aren't we?"

Greg shook his head. "We've been extremely lucky so far." An era of opportunity. "Those bastards took our holiday house!! And all the canned food Dad put there in case this year 2000 thing DID turn out like this! And they're not getting out even when we tell them it belongs to my parents!"

James grinned and held up two of the dead soldier's grenades. "Thermite. I always wanted the chance to do this." An era of rewards. A hundred storeys up, but there was still food there-canned and lots of it. Nobody had plundered this place, but after two hundred flights of stairs I could see why. The offices up here were pretty much untouched, and there was a brilliant view.

"Look. We can see all of Sydney from here."

"And look. If that isn't an organised settlement in Hyde Park, I don't know what is." And an era of violence. "You want to know what's happening now? We've got a fucking invasion on our hands. A bloody fucking invasion!"

"WHAT?"

"You haven't heard? Indonesians. From what we know, they struck along the north coast about a month after the shit hit the fan here. Got Darwin and Cairns pretty easy, then started proceeding down the east coast. We got a guy here on the CB who speaks their lingo. Says there's cases of people welcoming the fuckin' Indos as saviours, cause they're bringing food. Anyway, they took Brisbane last week. Still movin' down the coast -only as fast as a man can march, but they're coming. As though we haven't got enough shit already."

Coming Soon: Breakdown 1.5- y2k.

-- Leo (lchampion@ozemail.com.au), March 19, 1999

Italics off.

-- Leo (lchampion@ozemail.com.au), March 19, 1999.