Bill Stockton, Grace Stockton and others in “The Shelter”

Grace...now, if it is a bomb, there's no assurance it'll land near us. And if it doesn't--

But if it does, Bill, New York is only forty miles away. And New York's going to get it. We know that. So we'll get it too. All of it. The poison, the radiation, the whole mess. We'll get it.

We'll be in a shelter, Grace, and with any luck at all, we'll survive. We've got food and water enough to last us for two weeks. Maybe even longer if we use it wisely.

Then what, Bill? Then what? We crawl out of here like gofers to tip-toe through all that rubble up above? The rubble and the ruin and the bodies of our friends? Bill, why is it so necessary to survive? What's the good of it? [begins to sob] Wouldn't it...just be...better and easier...just quicker if we...just...

[calls from the other room] Got the tools, Pa. Anything else you need from out here?

Grace...that's why we have to survive. That's the reason. He may only inherit rubble now, but he's twelve years old. He's only twelve years old, Grace.