The One Thousand

Prolouge

100 years ago...

"Madam President! I have breaking news for you. You have to make a public address to the people." My secretary, Claire, says barging into my office. She grabs my arm and pulls me out of my chair and we walk out of the Oval office. "What for?" I ask in complete confusion. We stop and she looks at me with a worried stare. "North Korea, Israel, Russia, and Pakistan have all launched a nuclear war against every major city and country in the world." She informs me. Wait... What? How could this be happening? Just twenty years ago, we all signed a peace treaty, the entire world did, and we all promised to keep a coalition between each other. How could they break this coalition? They have been going along with the treaty for so long. Why break it so far in? Claire shakes me pulling me out of my deep thoughts. "France, China, India, and the UK have already declared war and have launched nuclear bombs back. We are the only ones who have not made a decision." A wave of nerves goes through me. We walk outside the White House and we are accompanied by a limo. As soon as we got inside, we sped off to the Capitol. "I have already alerted Homeland Security to put an EAS in place." She says, "You will be live in... Five minutes." She says looking at her watch, "Drive faster!" She yells at the driver. "Oh, I forgot to tell you one thing. No one knows who actually started the launch. All four nations claimed that they did not launch the attack. They said it did it on its own." Claire states. I just stare at her dumbfounded. "What the hell? How can it just launch itself?" I say crazed. "Don't worry we have everything under control, for now." She replies.

When we arrive at the Capitol, I am rushed inside. "Okay, when you make your speech just read the words on the monitor." Claire says rushing me to where I will make my appearance. "We only have one hour to spare before the bombs reach the Western Hemisphere. All the remaining countries in the Eastern Hemisphere are currently under destruction and are unresponsive, but these nuclear bombs are... Well, bomb proof and cannot be shut off or destroyed. So all the remaining bombs are stilling making their way here. We are considering that all countries from the Eastern Hemisphere are gone." She says, trying to contain her composure. Who could blame her for wanting to cry at a time like this? "But we have already contacted all the remaining nations, as we speak; each country has set out two million soldiers and volunteers. One million for rescuing people and the other to gather supplies." A single tear slides down my face. I quickly wipe it away. "After this we will put you on one of the ships, there all connected together, as some kind of mega ship, but all remaining countries have voted that you be their leader through this chaos. So until we are safe in space you're in charge of everyone." Claire tells me at a speed that I can only understand. I nod my head accepting their nomination. I walk over to the podium and a man counts down until the feed is live. "Five... Four... Three... Two..." He signals for me to speak and the words on the monitors begin to scroll up the screen. One displaying the message and one showing me on all news media. "And now we have a very urgent message from Madam President Caroline Montgomery." A news anchor says on the monitor.

"My fellow Americans, it has come to my attention that the following countries: North Korea, Israel, Russia, Pakistan, have launched nuclear attacks to all countries and major cities of the world. India, China, France, and the UK have declared war against these countries and have launched nuclear bombs back. Congress is awaiting my answer whether or not to fight back or not. I am declining the launch attack, therefore staying along the guidelines of the coalition rules. The four nations have broken the peace coalition, signed twenty years ago, that ended World War Three which almost ended all of humanity.

Therefore, we are now assuming that all countries in the Eastern Hemisphere... Are unresponsive and destroyed. Even though the four nations are now destroyed, their bombs are still in act and are still making their way towards the Western Hemisphere. The very few remaining nations of North, Central, and South America have put our differences aside and are now, as we speak, are gathering as many people as we can from each and every nation. We are boarding every man, woman, and child into a ship, called the N.C.S. We will be launching into space, which will be out new home. For every citizen of every country, if have not been brought upon the ship by our governments, may god be with you all. All volunteers and soldiers and their immediate families, living in their household, will be guaranteed a spot on the ship. Now, I am being told that we have fifty minutes until impact on every major city in the hemisphere. Each bomb landing on a major city will be estimated to reach forty-thousand miles in all directions. Ten minutes from the countdown of the bombs reaching, all governments will be seized form gathering all citizens of every country and we will set off into space. The ship built is able to withstand Twenty million people and supplies from every country. Now at the end of this speech, I will be brought upon the ship, with all of the other government leaders of the remaining nations. This is a goodbye to all my fellow Americans."

After I finish my speech, Claire pulls me away from the podium and we head back to the limo. When we are inside I realize that my daughter, Taylor, sitting by the window, with her back to the driver. "Oh sweetheart! I was so worried about you." I pull her into my arms. "Where are we going?" She asks. I look over at Claire, and then she nods. "Well... Four major nations have launched a nuclear war, and we are now heading to the N.C.S and we are going to be launched into space." I say. Taylor looks at me with wide eyes. "What!" She screams outraged. I try to calm her down. "This has to be a joke." I shake my head. She lies against the seat. "Oh my god, this is really happening. We are really going into space." She says. Then the limo comes to a screeching halt, making us fall forward, and a man from the Secret Service opens the door. He escorts the three of us to the ship.

"Madam President, right this way." The Secret Service man says with a deep voice, and then leads me through the automatic slide open doors. "Thank you." I force a fake smile. I step inside and all around are chairs. All the members of Congress, my daughter, Claire follow behind me. "Okay, we have fifteen minutes until all countries seize search for people and supplies. But, until then we need to get the N.C.S ready for our new arrivals." A soldier addresses to us. Then the door opens and twenty-three other countries leaders came through. "Welcome leaders; please take a seat while we wait for departure." The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau takes a seat next to me. Then Taylor takes a seat to my left. I turn to her, "No matter what happens I just want you to know that I love you and I hope that these countries can continue and can all survive." After that, I turn away and I buckle myself up. "Okay we have gathered all the people that we could gather and now we have twelve minutes until departure, please ready you self for launch." A black soldier informs all of the remaining world leaders.

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Two minutes until launch...

Claire nudges my shoulder. She is holding a device that has a live feed of the bombs and the countdown to their arrival. Two minutes exactly. "Did I tell the people that all of the forces that they had spot on the ship for them and their families?" I ask worriedly. She nods. I let out a sigh of relief. "Good, I want the American people, and others, to know that I kept my promise if anything like this were to happen." I say. A brief smile comes across Claire's face. Ever since I had been in office, three years, Claire has been by my side. Well she was not always just my secretary, she is also my best friend, all of my life and she was the one who encouraged me to run for office. Moreover, turns out she was right for me to run.

One minute and ten seconds until launch...

The automatic slide door opens and a military Private walks in and salutes. "Hello leaders, we currently have sixty seconds till we launch. The caption of the U.S Air Force has sent me to ensure that all of you are securely buckled and are ready to brace impact." He walks in father into the tiny space filled with chairs, and nervous world leaders.

After a few brief seconds the Private quickly checks out the buckles and hurries back to where he came from. I take hold of my daughters hand and I grip tightly. She looks at me with a scared smile. A tear falls down her cheek; I wipe it away with my thumb. "Please don't cry sweetheart, everything will be okay." I try to comfort her, but in her eyes, I can tell that, it did not help reassure her. A few tears fall down my face. "I know that we are leaving everything that we know and love behind, but we have to survive, even if this plan fails, I love you so much Taylor." Then all of a sudden the ships P.A speaker comes on and the commander of the ship begins to speak.

"Attention all new residents of the N.C.S ship, this is the United States Air Force Commander, we will be beginning to launch in..." After that he begins to count down.

"Five... Four... Three... Two... One..."

Then a slow rumble jolts from the floor to my feet and then throughout my entire body. Then a sudden jolt up begins to happen, the lights begin to flicker until they finally just go out, leaving us in complete utter darkness. We sit there, silently saying our prayers that this works, and we await to see what life has instore for us.