End of Days

Before the End

(1)

War. Most have become numb to the word; it seems almost meaningless now. Destruction and death tend to bring about more emotion now. Before the "War to End all Wars" it was no secret that we did not get along with most countries overseas. Most everyone began to revert back to isolationism after World War Three when allies began turning on one another for the secrets each neglected to share. The United States was the first to be cut off, all trading ceased. Sending our economy into ruins and causing the rationing of food. Most of Europe stuck together for the beginning of the war, but once the bigger nations had been split, they too turned on another. At the end of the war some countries even turned on themselves, splitting into two, sometimes three different countries when their ideas didn't match with others within their governments. Smaller countries built large walls to make up for their smaller armies. As I understand it, up to this point Canada and Mexico were still on our side, mostly because of their desire to stay out of the war, though that's not how it worked out. The continent was then renamed the United Americas.

Fast forward 16 years and four presidents and enter one Mr. Gregory P. Westbrook. Our fearless leader who lead us into battle with his big mouth and then proceeded to hide after the opposing side fired back. For the first few months of his presidency he tried to get trading back with a few of the smaller countries, those who had split off from their original country, he figured they needed protection as much as we needed food. This was the main reason he was elected in the first place, the only problem with him was his temper. He didn't like being told no and when countries didn't want to trade he wasted no time and began the threats.

Most were along the lines of "We will invade you and wipe you further off the map than you already are" or "we are bigger and stronger than you, we stand united and we will let no threat to that walk among our Earth." Most countries basically replied with "everyone over here hates you and we will unite for the sheer purpose of seeing you crash and burn." This did not stop Gregory from firing back and pissing them all off more than they previously were. When what became known as The Republic of Amly was next up for the great offer of joining the United Americas, they swiftly turned it down. Their reply to these threats were more aggressive than those in the past. They threatened us right back, claiming that "our size didn't scare them, and we would soon come to fear them." What we didn't know was that The Republic of Amly had begun a voyage of their own. They basically followed in Westbrook's trail, uniting with countries that had turned his offer down, which was all of them. By the end of their uniting crusade, they had around 10 other countries on board with their plan to wipe us out.

Westbrook brushed off their threats, a fatal mistake, and continued the search for resources; ours were running dry. Frustrated with his failure he sent troops to countries overseas intending to scare them on to our side, however this only lead to more death and even angrier enemies. Even with Canada and Mexico still sharing resources we still did not have enough to go around. Rationing hit hard and fast throughout the United Americas. Gas prices shot through the roof overnight, fortunately my father owned a convenience store, so the rise in prices meant a rise in our family's income. A curfew was put into place for everyone, as soon as the streetlights came on we were supposed to remain inside, after 10pm all lights were supposed to be out. Violation of curfew was punishable by a fee of up to 500 dollars which for some meant four weeks salary.

As tension between the United Americas and those overseas grew, my father became very aware of the possibility of another world war, but this time it would be us against the world, in the most literal sense. He had my brothers and I help to start building a shelter. Police were patrolling neighborhoods constantly, even in small towns like the one we lived in. My father figured if we couldn't even have lights on after 10, then we probably weren't supposed to be digging a massive shelter in the backyard. So, we dug straight down against the backside of our house until we were below the foundation then began digging a room big enough for us to stay in for a while should anything happen, aka World War 4. A few neighbors caught onto what we were doing and offered to help in exchange for a safe haven should the war break out. Once the walls were reinforced with concrete and ventilation shafts were built into the basement floor and down to the bunker, beds were slipped in along with enough food and water to last us and our neighbors for around a month. We all waited for Westbrook to cross a line that would send us into war once again; the extra time allowed us to keep stockpiling food into the bunker.

The start of World War 4 came on very quickly. Westbrook sent his request of supply trade to Sows, a country just south of the Republic of Amly and what use to be part of Turkey. What we were all unaware of was that while we had all been sitting around with our thumbs up our asses, the Republic of Amly had not only been uniting with the countries that turned us down but also the ones around it. When Sows' leader replied with a strong no, Westbrook, tired of the rejection, exploded. He told them we had been manufacturing more of the atomic bombs used in World War 2 and was fully prepared to unload our arsenal on them. Sows never responded verbally, but a week later we got their response. They dropped bombs on New York, San Diego, and St. Louis. To answer the American Funk band, Wars question, "why can't we be friends?", simple, because you dropped multiple nuclear bombs on us.

Westbrook never resurfaced after the bombs; some say our other leaders tried to offer him up to the Republic and Sows and any other country he had managed to piss off in his year in office. Whether or not that's true, we may never know; if they did, it didn't work. Three weeks after the original three bombs they sent two more our way, this time hitting Toronto and Denver. Between the bombings we actually began making more bombs, knowing the attacks probably wouldn't stop. After the second set of bombs, we sent four of our own. During this time, we had taken shelter in the bunker we build along with three other families.

We waited in there for what felt like months, though my dad said it had only been about three weeks. The extra families meant the food wouldn't last as long, so my father decided it was time to come out and see what was left of the world. We collected the last of our supplied and left the bunker behind to see if anyone else had survived. Little did we know, this war had gone further than we expected.