Midnighter13
Well-known member
Space. Even without chain reactions (and I agree those will be absolutely brutal) Earth will likely become uninhabitable within months, if not weeks. The only people who will live will be small groups that make it into space, and a few survivors who bunker down as deep as they can go in the Earth's crust (or maybe even mantle). Even if you had a small group set up shop in some empty areas of Alaska or Russia, people would attack them as soon as they set up enough defenses to be noticed (and if they failed to set up defenses they would suffer the effects of mass fallout across the world).So best live apart from each other or go to space ASAP?
Like I said, the largest group of survivors would be 150 at absolute most. Most groups would probably be more in the 10-30 range. Mostly extended families and close friends of family who all trust each other. Those would be the groups that escape fast enough to survive and have the numbers and time to rebuild. There might be a handful of exceptions, but I wouldn't bet on them lasting more than a few months as a cohesive group.
Maybe you could get by with a dedicated and loyal military unit of a hundred or more for a while, until some of the lower ranks realize that their country is gone, so there is no real reason to obey the officers anymore save inertia. A small and tight knit religious community might make it, but such groups are unlikely to have leaders willing to take the decisive actions nessesary to lead their groups into space before the Earth is covered by nuclear fire. So cults, military units, families, friend groups, clubs, these are the organized groups that might get off Earth in time and stay as a group. There would also be plenty of individuals who would manage to escape and set up shop, only to find themselves isolated and alone without anyone around they could trust. I imagine many of those people would commit suicide, while others would try to group up. Of course given the circumstances establishing trust will be exceptionally hard.