Okay guys, Its finally getting closer to fall. And I'm happy.
Why?
Well I'm a basic white girl on the inside, so I love pumpkin spice, apple ciders and of course hoodie weather.
Hoodies make it easier to CC while I pick up my pumpkin spice latte.
Don't tread on my pumpkin spice.
Time seemed to slow down as Jem processed the initial shock of what his father had just said.
"...What do you mean it's gone?" Jem said hoping that they were pranking him.
His father looked around really quick as both Nala and Winter grabbed his two hands as if to give him some comfort. Jem didn't know what was going on. He wasn't even sure if he had heard his father correctly.
"It started soon after you went into your coma. Tensions were already bad with the fighting going on in Eastern Europe. Things just got worse from there. With all the funds being funneled over there by the West, it just raised tensions and increased conflict in the world." Jem remained silent as his father began to describe the events that had happened in his world.
"Then before we knew it, we increased defense funding to protect our interests in Taiwan. This pissed off the chinese government, who saw it as a prelude to war. So soon after they planned a naval and aerial bombardment of Taiwan. The US just kept supplying weapons and supplies." He paused a little bit at what he was about to say next.
"Eventually it got to the point where the money and weapons we were supplying turned into warm bodies we were supplying." His father said as Jem felt his breath get caught in his lungs.
"No...you can't be serious." There was no way this was true.
"The US and Nato formed the Western Coalition against Russia and her allies. Bringing the world into the third world war." Jem felt his heart sank.
And then he felt his adrenaline start to rush. It couldn't be possible? He was dreaming wasn't he?
"It started with the western nations sending in their troops. We were all told that this was going to be an easy win, that there was no way the new axis power could hold out against us. But it was all a lie." His father said as he remembered the various news report.
"They weren't as helpless as we were led to believe, all the stories we were hearing about great victories were all lies. In reality it turned into WW1 all over again. They would attack one trench, their attack would get repelled. Then their trench would get attacked, and they would repel that attack." His father clarified as Jem tried to process what they were telling him.
"But I don't understand. What does this have to do with the US being gone?" He asked as he dreaded the answer.
"Well...It wasn't long before M.A.D. became less of a warning and more of a reality." He said as Jem stopped breathing as Nala looked confused.
"M.A.D?" She asked. She knew what had happened to Jem's homeworld, but she didn't recognize the term.
"Mutual assured destruction..." Jem trailed off.
"No...they didn't." He said as his father nodded.
"Nobody knows who launched the first one. It almost all seemed to happen at the same time. Once one launched, everyone coordinated their strikes like clockwork, at first it was only the major cities that were hit. For us here in the US, it was Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. After they had coordinated attacks on our missile silos attempting to prevent a nuclear strike as retaliation, they went for the most populated areas." His father said as he took a long drag from his cigarette.
"The resulting fallout polluted the mississipi which made the water in our area impossible to drink. You know us, we had enough provisions to hunker in place for awhile. But the nuclear fallout from Chicago made its way towards us." He said as he sighed in relief.
"It was a miracle Ironwood picked that moment to tell everyone about your accident, if he didn't. I don't know where we would all be now." He said as Jem was trying his best not to panic.
"But...But...Surely theres more? People could rebuild right?" Jem asked as he knew it wasn't impossible to survive a nuclear apocalypse. It would just be very difficult.
There were so many different factors. How far you were from the initial blast. Was it an airburst or surface blast? How long did the radiation last?
"After the blasts, we continued to watch from afar." Winter said as she had personally checked on Jem's world through an observation drone sent through a portal.
"Those who survived the blasts quickly turned on each other. People who were friends and neighbors suddenly realized nobody was coming to help them, that the supermarkets were gone and there were no supply trains coming to restock their food supplies. Eventually the survivors..." His father paused as he swallowed a large lump in his throat.
"We heard rumors that the people in the cities started to turn on each other and in some serious cases, they even turned to Cannibalism." Jem felt like throwing up when he heard that.
"Millions died in the initial blasts, but it was the resulting fallout, and civil turmoil that really decimated the population. We were lucky we escaped the violence and radiation for so long. But eventually the hoards from the cities made their way out to the rural communities, raiding and pillaging what they could. Everyone put up a fight, but in the end it just resulted in more bloodshed." Jem felt his heart beating in his chest.
"In the end, eventually they had raided everything. And those who didn't turn to cannibalism soon starved to death." Jem remained silent as he tried to process it all.
He would admit, he considered himself a light prepper. Not someone who went too crazy. But someone who had a decent supply of food, water, supplies and guns to help get him through a resulting breakdown of society. But like most, he prepared for the worst but hoped for the best. But hearing all of that from his dad. He couldn't believe things went south that quickly.
He remembered how it didn't take much for society to break down. But then he remembered something.
America was a spoiled nation. It was a country that had so much in abundance that even the poor could get obese. A nation where very few people knew what it was to TRULY struggle anymore. Most of the new generation hadn't grown up in a time where there was a major global war, or threat of nuclear annihilation. So an entire generation was raised without knowing how bad things could truly get. And when the worst came to pass. They just didn't know how to handle it. Nobody was prepared for it. They had let themselves get comfortable thinking nothing like that would happen.
You couldn't take someone who had been making silly videos of them dancing on tiktok and throw them into a post apocalyptic environment and expect them to be okay. Trauma of that degree was mind shattering.
"People went insane. If it wasn't the fear that broke people, it was the fact that the world they grew up in was gone. And they would have to rebuild. But you know as well as I do that not everyone knows how to survive, and nobody could account for every little thing." His dad said as Jem took it all in.
In some ways, everything that Jem had expected in an apocalypse scenario had happened. But he never imagined people would turn to cannibalism that fast!
"Is there anything left?" Jem asked trying not to throw up.
"...We've been monitoring your world to see if theres any change..." Winter said as Jem looked at her.
"And?" He asked hoping there was a shred of hope.
"Governments have collapsed, and the world has devolved into tribalism. The cities are in ruin, the rural areas that survived are dealing with nuclear winter, the EMP blasts that occurred during the bombings have wiped out most of the technology in the world. So everyone will have to relearn how to get by without technology. But as of right now, the situation is bad Jem. I'm sorry." Winter said as Jem put his face in his hands.
Not even the folks in rural communities were spared according to what they just said. Jem shouldn't have been surprised. He always figured that was a possibility. Those who survived the blasts in cities and the ensuing bloodbath from neighbors turning on each other would eventually make their way out to the rural areas. Its why his family had prepared for the worst for so long. Because trying to fight off that many people by yourself would be insane. Again, it wasn't a guarantee they would even make it out of the cities in the first place. But based on what they just told him. That was exactly what happened.
"How many people?" He asked not sure if he wanted to know the answer.
"Nobody knows the exact number, but the estimates for the entire world has been around 360 million dead just from the bombs and the radiation. There's no telling how many have died from the infighting amongst nations." Winter said as Jem went silent.
Everything he had ever known was gone.
The country he grew up in no longer existed. It was reduced to ashes.
His army buddies were dead.
His family was still alive, for that he was grateful.
But never again would he see Mt Rushmore.
Never again would he run into the Havasupai falls.
Never again would he see the wilderness of Alaska.
All of it was gone.
He tried to keep it together.
"Keep it together, your family is alive! It's not so bad! IT'S NOT SO BAD!" He could feel his heartbeat going faster and faster as he tried to force himself to stay calm.
But the more he tried to fight it, the worse it got.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Jem couldn't hold it in anymore as he screamed out in mourning for his home.
Well...that happened.
Look guys, I'll be honest. I kind of just winged it with this section since I knew this was the plotline I wanted to take. But I wasn't entirely sure HOW that scenario would happen.
Now, I would like to point out I'm not someone who is worried about WW3 breaking out.
Do I think its going to happen? Eventually, but I'm not worried about it.
But if you want a better idea as to what the world would be like after a nuclear armageddon.
Then I highly recommend two films. One is 'The Day After' from 1983, which is a movie about a nuclear apocalypse happening in the United States. It was so moving that even Ronald Reagan got depressed watching it.
And the other is 'Threads' from 1984 which is about the UK suffering from a nuclear apocalypse.
Oh and if you want something just for entertainment but is also about a nuclear war.
The Tv series 'Jericho'
Seriously that show is based. Shame it got cancelled.