The World We've Set On Fire ■ Wattys 2016

The Leaders

"My brothers," He cleared his throat. "I think we have made a huge mistake."

"You think!?" The tiny man stood up. "This is fact, Fitzwilliam! We have made the biggest mistake ever made by man."

"Calm down, Henry." The Chinese president said, softly. She was a wise woman and her words had a huge effect on almost all the leaders.

"Miss Tan is right, Henry." Said Jamal. "We should discuss this calmly."

When everyone was settled, Fitzwilliam continued. "For years we struggled to keep this going but the problems were too much to handle. So we decided to start this war... it had so much benefit, the world would be such a better place when it was over."

"Aye yes, that's what we thought!" The Brazilian president added. "But we were wrong, very wrong!"

"We have set our own world on fire!"

"When we go out again, we'll find wreckage only!"

"What have we done!?"

Fitzwilliam cleared his throat again. "The Arabs and Pakistanis were right."

"And Ukraine, too." Suki added, grimacing.

"What's going on out there, Fitzwilliam?" Patel asked.

"Australia is finished. Not a single man is alive in South America. Half of North America is ruined. Most of Asia is wrecked. Almost all of Europe is burnt. Only Antarctica and Africa are still working."

"I feel as if you're only realising this now is that you think enough people have died, Fitzwilliam." The Greek president looked at him with glassy eyes. "All of the planning, you did it. The whole thing was your design and now that your plan has worked, you're worried about the wreckage. What do you want from us now, Fitzwilliam!? More aid?"

His eyes were glassy. He took his face in his hands.

"It's our fault too, we agreed." Suki murmured.

Most of them nodded in agreement. Fitzwilliam said nothing. He pulled the gun out of his pocket and shot himself in the head.

Most of the others followed. I don't know why they did it. I only know that this happened because of the footage

Only four of them were left. Suki, Manaya, Henry and Felix. They would be the new leaders now. The ones that we would kill.

When we camped near them, a warning was sent. Wisely, they evacuated the families and released the specimens. Such surrender is amusing, isn't it?