Damn Russians

Gamma rays entered her veins.  She had to enter the Chernobyl reactor because it showed increased radiation levels after the Russian troops entered the Ukraine and the Gamma radiation actually increased to 20 times its usual levels in the area.  She swore that she would never go back there again after the disastrous explosion that took place back in 1986, but she was the only one that knew how to shut it down.  The original catastrophe was the result of a flawed Russian reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel.  Now the Russians entered the decommissioned nuclear power plant in Chernobyl and their heavy military equipment disturbed the cooling system that had been keeping the radiation leakage at near normal levels.  Nobody except plant personnel were supposed to be in the deserted exclusion zone, but radioactivity started leaking through the shield that was put in place to contain and cover the facility.

She was unsure if she would die, or if her skin would turn green, or perhaps she would develop super-powers, there was no way to tell what these gamma rays would do to her body, but she loved her country, and this became her responsibility.  If she didn’t stop it, radioactive dust would spread all over Ukraine and most likely to some other nearby countries.  All this time she had been socially distancing worrying about contracting Covid-19 and now she was in the belly of the beast.  She entered the hotspot and saw what was causing the leak and she was able to remedy the situation by covering it with lead bricks.  Once it was contained, she got the hell out of there, knowing that she would have to burn all of her clothes and shave her head.  The Gamma rays pulsed through her body as she entered the abatement area on her way to the decontamination shower.  16 nozzles sprayed her down, removing the nuclear contaminants and upon exiting the shower she would have to go through wipe down protocol to determine if the decontamination was effective.  She had to wait patiently with her fingers crossed, while the results were analyzed in a laboratory.

Written for Michelle of Putting My Feet in the Dirt March Weekly Story Starters challenge.