THE RUINS

CHAPTER 1: THE NEW WORLD

Cold was the dark, dreary night. The day had been hard for the civilians of new America. However, they were used to it by now. Life was bleak and they were often hungry and exhausted. Ever since the war which was now referred to as "world war 3", which was launched between China, America, Russia and North Korea turned nuclear in 2017, it left almost every single country completely obliterated. All except one, South Carolina in the United States. Which after 2 years of work, was formed into a new country, which was named New America. This country had no government, instead it was run by a totalitarian named " Albert Stevens" who was more commonly referred to as " The saviour." A name which he had donned himself. At the start life was not so bad, the men did most of the hard labour (building ships or buildings) while the women worked in factories, assembling weaponry to fend off the ghouls left over from radiation (men turned mad through the poisoning) or dangerous outsiders.

However, after a few years went by, he started to become more strict and corrupt, he executed many of his own people. He caused the population of New America to go down from 1.5 billion to roughly around 3 million, with the help of his armies. No one dared to cross him however. Due to the fact that he held what was left of Americas weaponry, small missiles, large guns with plenty of ammunition and they knew he was not afraid to use it. After a while he set forth a full list of rules which he had painted on a giant board outside the town hall which people had to abide by. The board consisted of the following rules:

THE RULES FOR OUR SOCIETY:

NO PERSON SHALL CONSUME ALCOHOL.

NO MAN OF POOR SOCIAL STANDARD SHALL DEBATE OR ARGUE WITH A MAN OF HIGH SOCIAL STANDARD.

THE CONSUMPTION OF DRUGS OR TOBACCO IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH.

NO PERSON SHALL STEAL.

NO PERSON SHALL TAKE A LIFE UNLESS AUTHORISED TO DO SO

NO PERSON SHALL BE IN POSSESSION OF WEAPONRY. Unless he needs it.

EVERYONE SHALL STAY IN THEIR RESPECTIVE POSITIONS AND JOBS.

 NOT EVERYONE IS EQUAL.

Once the last rule was put into place, there was an uproar from the people. It was clear that Albert had became drunk with his power and consumed by his own sense of self importance.Plots of assassination went wild but again, no one dared to actually attack him. Until one fateful day when a young man tried to kill Albert. He found a secret entrance to the town hall and snuck in armed with nothing but a knife. Once he got to the main office, an alarm triggered and he was caught. The next day there was a meeting held in the town hall. Albert gave a speech about what happens to people who commit treason, the young man was then brought out, well, what was left of him.Ever since then life was hard, the people worked like slaves. It wasn't as if times had ever been easy but things were much different now, execution was never even thought of in this new world. From this day onwards rations decreased, punishments became more severe and the people were always suffering, up until the current year, 2027. The final straw was when Albert himself started smoking and drinking and even stealing from the poor.