Doomsday, USA, Second Edition

By Nate Feldman

Here's my second edition of the story Doomsday, USA, which is about Josh, an idealist in a town where humans and monsters are in conflict, and he tries to bring them together through different means despite the many challenges around him.  Below the video is the script.

Welcome to Doomsday, USA!  My name is Josh, and my town is a peaceful, pristine, prosperous, but at times petrifying place where half of the inhabitants are humans, and the other half are monsters.  As you know, humans and monsters have been in conflict with one another for ages, but I don’t believe it has to be that way.

I am the co-founder and director of MAHU: Monsters and Humans United, an organization dedicated to co-existence between the two species.  We at MAHU run many projects.  We have The Humane Society for Monsters, which takes care of needy monsters in the community.  We also have the Camp Doomsday summer camp, where young humans and monsters interact with one another and form lifelong relationships.

Unfortunately, we’ve been dealing with a tragedy recently.  Two staff members at Camp Doomsday, a human and a monster, who were a romantic couple, vanished without a trace while camping in the woods one night.  Their belongings were found scattered everywhere, mauled to shreds.  Some eyewitnesses have claimed to have seen a brain-devouring zombie in the area, dragging their bodies with visible chew marks on their limbs.

For that reason, we may need to suspend operations of the camp for a short while out of concern for the safety of our campers and our staff alike.  But, we cannot let that get in the way of the work of our organization.  We must learn to live together with one another! 

Vocabulary:

1. pristine = untouched by humans; natural

2. prosperous = a place with great wealth or money 

3. petrifying = very scary 

4. inhabitants = people that in a place

5. in conflict = fighting with one another 

6. ages = a long time 

7. dedicated = committed to

8. co-existence = people of different backgrounds living together in peace  

 9. needy = someone who needs money or help in life 

10.interact = talking or being around another person 

11. tragedy = a sad event 

12. vanished without a trace = disappeared completely 

13. belongings = things you own 

14. scattered = in all places 

15. mauled to shreds = eaten in many pieces 

16. brain-devouring = eating someone's brain

17. dragging = pulling on the ground

18. chew marks = showing where your teeth were 

19. limbs = your arms and legs

20. suspend = to temporarily stop something

For discussion: 

1. Do you think humans and monsters can co-exist?  Can we learn to live together?

2. This is a food class.  What do you think monsters like to eat?

3. If you have a monster over for dinner, what food will you give it?