Run, Little Monster!

"Run, Little Monster!" by Chester S. Geier is an early 1950s science fiction story that tells about what happens to a teen girl in a shattered world. After cities were destroyed by an atom bomb, a young orphaned girl named Fran, living with Big Luke Becker and his difficult sons Sammy and Davey, starts to change and experiences how she is different. As she learns, she also discovers what the explosion has done to her. Hunted by those who mistreat her, Fran hears a comforting voice named Tom, who helps her survive. The tension rises as her pursuers close in, and she understands her special abilities and how she is connected to others like herself; eventually revealing that Tom is really Davey, hiding his own powers. In the chaos, Fran manages to escape to a ruined landscape where she finds safety among other children like her, offering a glimpse of hope for a new beginning.