Surviving the Return to Earth

My name is Miranda Hodges, a 19 year old young woman who grew up on the moon. For 826 years we have watched and waited for the Earth to recover from what we had once done to it. For a long time it was covered in ice and ash, as the planet went through Nuclear Winter. You may be wondering what caused it to get this bad, and you would be right too. It seemed so harmless at the time, but it essentially boils down to humanity not getting along before the days the bombs dropped. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and began what would finally become the last great war between Nations. In 2026, China invaded Taiwan, as a Rogue Russian General took 5 Battalions and invaded the new NATO Member Sweden. These acts caused the Nations to split into 2 factions, Communists and Democracies. Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, India, and 16 other Nations joined together to fight what they called the oppression of democracy. Using conventional weapons, they waged war on each other for 24 years killing nearly 2 billion people before the bombs were even launched. That was the act of one man, who never had a chance of survivng what happened after Vladimir Putin was killed. Within days, the bombs would start flying as the Nations who had stockpiles used them to try and win the war for their side. 50 thousand nuclear weapons were launched in a matter of days, leaving no Nation on the planet untouched. Most were destroyed outside the atmosphere, causing widespread EMPs that destroyed all unhardened Electrical Systems. The 12 thousand that managed to actually hit the planet, caused so much devastation that within a week the death toll had risen to over 4 billion people from the bombs alone. On top of the war, 3 quarters of the global population had already been killed. I would like to say at this point the death was over, however the nightmare was just beginning. Nuclear Winter hit hard as the effects of the fine radioactive particles rose into the air, blocking out the sunlight that was needed for things to grow and live. The radiation carried on the jet streams was even worse, as it made once livable areas saturated in radiation. Despite it all though, 100 million humans gathered in the last few places that the radiation hadn't made uninhabitable, and planned for the future. 100 million out of 8 billion people was all that survived, and some of them believed the only option to survive was to leave the Earth. Fortunately one of the few places that had remained untouched, was equipped with the equipment they needed to launch things into Orbit to execute their initial plan. It took a year for the resources to be gathered, and the missiles that once destroyed the world would become the means for its salvation. The supplies were first launched to the Moon, the warheads modified to survive the harsh impact that would be landing on the moon. Without it, the supplies would have taken far too long to ferry from the Earth. It took 2 more years for the initial moon base to be assembled, and the second phase of the plan went into motion. The Moon didn't have anywhere near enough ability to support those who wanted to leave, leaving Mars as the only viable option for a long term colony to support 20 million people. With everything they had, they spent 3 years ensuring the mission would be a success as the people gathered every supply they could and used their knowledge to make more of the rockets that had once been used to destroy the world.This time however they were used to launch massive payloads of supplies that would be needed once the Colony Ships arrived on Mars. More had been intended to be saved in the second launch window, but disaster once again struck when the last of the Nuclear Reactors melted down spewing tons of lethal radiation the ensured those who remained on the surface would not survive the final gasp of the Nuclear age of man. In the end, 20,150,000 people survived the age. 8 billion people dead, 6 billion the direct result of Nuclear technology.