Brother Francis visualized a Fallout as half-salamander,
because, according to tradition, the thing was born in the
Flame Deluge, and as half-incubus who despoiled virgins in
their sleep, for, were not the monsters of the world still
called "children of the Fallout"? That the demon was capable
of inflicting all the woes which descended upon Job was
recorded fact, if not an article of creed.

The novice stared at the sign in dismay. Its meaning was
plain enough. He had unwittingly broken into the abode
(deserted, he prayed) of not just one, but fifteen of the
dreadful beings! He groped for his phial of holy water.

"A spiritu fornicationis,
 Domino, libera nos.
From the lightning and the tempest,
 O Lord, deliver us.
From the scourge of the earthquake,
 O Lord, deliver us.
From plague, famine, and war,
 O Lord, deliver us".

"From the place of ground zero,
 O Lord, deliver us.
From the rain of the cobalt,
 O Lord, deliver us.
From the rain of the strontium,
 O Lord, deliver us.
From the fall of the cesium,
 O Lord, deliver us".

"From the curse of the Fallout,
 O Lord, deliver us.
From the begetting of monsters,
 O Lord, deliver us.
From the curse of the Misborn,
 O Lord deliver us.
A morte perpetua,
 Domine, libera nos".

"Peccatores,
 te rogamus, audi nos.
That thou wouldst spare us,
 we beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst pardon us,
 we beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst bring us truly to penance,
 te rogamus, audi nos".

Snatches of such versicles from the Litany of the Saints
came whispering on each panting breath as Brother Francis
lowered himself gingerly into the stair well of the ancient
Fallout Shelter, armed as he was only with holy water and an
improvised torch lighted from the banked embers of last
night's fire. He had waited more than an hour for someone
from the abbey to come investigate the dust plume. No one
had come.

just a little something that something my friend wrote in
his blog reminded me of.
great book by the way.