The local Commissioner issues an order that the injured and infirm are to be taken out of the town and placed at the roadside so they can be taken to hospital: this turns out to be front for his secret plan to kill off those who will be a burden.

Mr Lodge refuses to allow his stock to be used for this purpose and, though Danny and Ben register for ration cards, they only visit the local feeding centre once.

Masada has the aim of overthrowing the Commissioner and preventing the creation of a feudal society; its other members include Keith Rhodes (who was responsible for blowing up the lorry), Danny's former P.E.

The protagonists discover that a concentration camp has been erected on a farm outside of Skipley, with the remaining able-bodied population being used as slave labour under the Commissioner's rule.

Ben gradually becomes ill and dies of acute radiation syndrome: Danny and Kim bury his body in the garden of an empty house.

He ends by saying that he plans to leave his account behind for future generations to read, hoping it will warn them not to go down the path which led to nuclear war.

In his review for Bookmarks Magazine, Adam Brown wrote that "every page is filled with the horrors of trying to live after such an cataclysmic event ... the story does not hold back in its portrayal of the ailments and the hardships faced by the children ... absorbing and heartbreaking, this novel will stay with you forever".

[1] Anne Connor wrote in the School Library Journal that Swindells "narration has immediacy and great impact ... while grim and painful to read, it is not preachy or heavy-handed, an improvement over most doomsday science fiction".