The War

Well, I never actually revised this but I'm putting it up anyway, and maybe I'll tweak it later on while it's up.


The War

"The year is 2295. It has been almost 300 years since the war. Nobody knew how devastating it would be; the destruction it brought with it mutilated the world for a half a century. We never saw it coming either, the events that led up to it were so perfect, as if the very hand of God had reached down and directed them. If there was a God, he wouldn’t have done this to us. Only our logic could explain this; humans were no longer the fittest to survive. We were almost entirely exterminated. It all began exactly two hundred and ninety-six years ago.
"It was the year 1999, and scientists and computer programmers and all sorts of people were worried about the effects the year 2000 would have on all our computers. Everyone came to fear what was known as Y2K. Simply stated, the problem was this: the computers of the day were relatively primitive in comparison to what we have today. There was great concern that the computers who used a binary dating system would date files with "00" and the suffix would be taken to mean "1900" by the computers. In theory, this would cause major corporations to have major setbacks in file keeping and documenting. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, right? Well, if Y2K happened, it could set the entire world back by 100 years. Practically every nation took major precautions, except America. We were too proud to even think that something could take down our computers. Such fools we were…Every prediction made about Y2K came true with drastic results. The stock market crashed and the entire financial sector of the American market was plunged into darkness. Companies that sold time sensitive material such as bonds went under from the confusion and chaos. Every computer on the face of the continent was offline; and because the computers were offline, everything became chaotic. Telephone communication was cut completely; it was run by computer programming. The government was completely helpless; they could do virtually nothing in the face of this technological nightmare. It was also very odd how it happened. America was the most powerful nation in the world, and the only one crippled by the devastation. And all of this was just the beginning. In essence, Y2K had crippled America and brought it to its knees.
"One year later, in 2001, the real war began. After nearly a year, much progress had been made, but in all the wrong areas of life. The government was the first to recover from the collapse. The military was built up almost instantly to guard against any attacks. The civilian population was still vastly without any technology. This didn’t help the morale of the citizens. Tension was building up. There were riots, protestors screaming at the government for help. But nothing happened to ease life for them. Their conditions became primitive. With the collapse of the stock market there was a huge depression that followed. Life was very harsh for the vast majority of America. All technology meant virtually nothing; all the computers that functioned were extremely expensive. People were literally scavenging on the street. Conditions were horrible. Then 9/11 happened. On September 11th, 2001 there was a terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in what was then New York City. The US government immediately lashed out in retaliation and declared war on Afghanistan. This was the final straw. The citizens did not appreciate their government declaring war. The civilian population had had enough of their government, and the biggest uprising in human history took place. The government was now fighting on two fronts. They couldn’t do both, nor were they going to surrender. So they did the unthinkable; they unleashed nuclear weapons. They pulled their troops out of the foreign nations and launched nuclear missiles, while they concentrated on putting down the civilian uprising. When the missiles hit their targets, it became the biggest genocide in the history of human warfare.
"Americans were outraged, and the revolution was brought to a new level of intensity. There was no turning back now. The foreign enemies of America were in no way united. As well as fighting the US, they were fighting amongst themselves. The entire planet was in one huge war. It went on for nearly ten years. Then, on January 23, 2011, the president of the United States was assassinated by a rebel vigilante. This effectively ended the civil war in the America, as well as the war with other countries. Soon, the wars in other countries gradually faded, as the will to fight diminished. The world was left to pick up the pieces of the global catastrophe. Over 5 billion people had been killed. Those that survived had to learn to live in a new world, one without any form of centralized government or governing authority. See, after the assassination of the president, there was a massive struggle for power. Politicians were killing each other just to get to the top. The military then enforced an overthrow, and took control. They didn’t help. The only thing that changed was the name. The military did nothing. But under the command of General Jacob Barker, a hope began to grow.
"But it wasn’t what anyone expected. The General built a new city out of what was New York City. It looked like a bunch of matchboxes standing on their own. It was all grey cement, everything was symmetrical. This was The General’s idea of Utopia. He had the power and authority to do what he wanted. And he did horrible things. He built three other cities on the continent of America. Once they were complete, he handpicked those he wanted from around the world. There were those who protested. If they did protest, he killed them. Remember that he was in charge of the military, a sum total of about half the remaining population on earth. And all his soldiers were his ardent followers. As soon as all preparations were complete, he moved his people into the Cities. Immediately, he started re-education programs for all the citizens. He adopted the name of The Magistrate. His society was cruel and emotionless. Bit by bit, he stripped away the individual rights of the citizens, until the only thing they had were their names. Then he took their names. He controlled everything. He had cameras put everywhere, and citizen monitoring took place. He made absurd laws; the most trivial offense was punishable by death. If you as much as thought against the government, you were exterminated for Violation. Soon, the minds and bodies of the world belonged to him and his regime.
"That was nearly three hundred years ago. The original Magistrate has since died, but there have been new ones in his place. That is how this society came into existence. That is why we have nothing but our thoughts, and even that the government tries to take from us. They tell us it is for our on protection. But we know better. One day, there will be justice, true justice! One day, we will truly have salvation. Who will save us? When he comes, we are prepared to meet him. We will not submit ourselves to be crushed. It is time to fight back. The time is coming. All there is to do now…is wait."