Tick Tick

Tick Tick: Prologue

Hey guys! I'm Kerby Gilstrap and this is the first novel I have ever written! I hope you enjoy it and I'd love to hear any feedback!

Prologue

On August 19, 2023, the world changed forever. That was the day the blackout happened. Every generator on Earth stopped working; all batteries died. Cars and other means of transportation were rendered useless. We think it was caused by solar flares filled with electromagnetic waves that burst from the sun. They would have reached Earth within minutes, giving its inhabitants little time to prepare. The real cause will never be known...

    Since then, the government has rebuilt. It is now 2168; one hundred and forty five years after the blackout. There were rough times. Famine and disease easily attacked the human race. For quite a while, it was survival of the fittest. The people of the United States agreed to continue educating the children of the nation, allowing the country to thrive while others died out.

    The government is nothing like it used to be. Democracy was not an option when they first started to rebuild. Today, the government is somewhere between a dictatorship and totalitarianism (the government controls every aspect in life). Our leader appoints all major government officials. Those officials then appoint the less important ones and so on. Our leader is voted for by the rich and powerful nobles. He or she then divides power among their main supporters.

    Power is divided among the 9 regions of the United States, which is now known as Velige Inspirasi. The regions are the Northeast, Southeast, Central, Central Northeast, Central Northwest, West, Northwest, Southwest, and South. Since the blackout, we're not sure if any other parts of the world exist. The President, who seems more like a queen to me, tells us the rest of the world was flooded by global warming that occurred when rebuilding Velige Inspirasi.

    The President, Melani Eris, is an evil dictator. Unlike the vision of a newer, better society the founding rebuilders of the United States had planned, she and the many before her, turned the country into a wasteland. The land, ugly, hot, and barren; the people worn down, diseased, and ignorant of its own government’s actions. Education has been changed so much by the government. At first, children learned history dating back to 2000 BC! Now we only go as far as 2001: any further back would be the architecture of the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians.

    I, Zoe Ray, am a 16 year old girl who lives in the region 7. Here we serve the purpose of the nations army and military training. The government does all military testing here and keeps their secrets under lock and guard. I go to school every day to train my mind and body for my future work as a soldier. In my region, every child must train to become part of the military. School is where my story begins.