The Town of Ruins

Chapter One

September 17, 2068

It is forty-two years after World War Three ended. Fifty-one years since Donald Trump became president. I wasn't alive for that part, or for the war. My mother was born three years after the war, in complete secrecy. You see, everything happens in complete secrecy or in complete knowledge of the military and government. Before I go on, we should probably get better acquainted. My name is Cassiopeia Grace Fairbanks-Williams, call me Cassie for short. I am sixteen. I am the great-granddaughter of the leader of the revolution.

Now, to give you some background. The third World War was one of nuclear attacks and the destruction of countries. You see, it all started in 2018, the year after President Trump was elected. There had been some childish drama on a social media website between President Trump and the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jung-Un. None of it was very threatening, until North Korea started testing missiles to see if they could hit California. Everything started cooling down, however, when North Korea sent athletes to the Olympics, which were being held in South Korea that year. After the Olympics everything was fine. That is, until tragedy struck. On July 1, 2018 a man arrived in South Korea and sneaked across the border and into the home of Kim Jung-Un. Being hired by someone in Donald Trump's phone book to kill the Supreme Leader, he replaced a glass of water which was in the family's kitchen with one laced with poison. He then hid and waited to see if the simple plan would work. Someone did drink the poisoned glass, but it wasn't the Supreme Leader. It was his five year old daughter, Kim Ju-Ae. When the assassin realized his mistake, he quickly fled the scene and back into South Korea. Hours later, the assassin was caught, tortured for information on the hit, and executed by the Supreme Leader himself. By the time the President caught wind of the situation, all peace treaties were called off and war was declared.

On July, 4 2018, North Korea launched a missile and struck Los Angeles, California, killing thousands. America fired back by hitting Pyongyang, North Korea's capital city, with an atom bomb. After which, North Korea hit Washington D.C. with an atom bomb. By the time the launching of bombs back and forth and all of the fighting ended in 2026, there was hardly anywhere in North Korea that was viable to live in. In America, New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; Washington D.C.; Nashville, Tennessee; Dallas, Texas; and Dayton Ohio were all completely destroyed. When the threat of nuclear warfare hit, all of the states listed were evacuated. With no one to control the upkeep of the states there anymore, they turned into ghost towns. No lights worked, abandoned cars and buildings left to rot, papers remaining from the people, flew wherever they pleased, and the rotting corpses of those who refused to evacuate still lie there today, not buried and not cared for by people who abandoned all hope long ago. After a while, these places were home to all kinds of animals, and no people wanted to go back. To help fix the states and get things back in order, President Trump sold Hawaii to Japan and Alaska to Canada. To get people to calm down in the continental U.S., Martial Law was declared.

In case you don't know, Martial Law is the "Imposition of direct military control of normal civilian functions of government, especially in response to a temporary emergency such as invasion or major disaster." This means that if something really horrible happened that threatened the entire country, the military will directly control the government. This is supposed to last until America is whole again, but America isn't even America anymore. After Martial Law was declared, the military put a ban on all weapons, and sent people to jail for even disagreeing. There was a curfew of 10:30 PM enacted, and if you were caught out after it, you would be arrested and sent to jail. Trials and judges are no longer the way things operate, and the constitution is a thing of the past. Everyone who lives in the country must have their fingerprints and photographs on file with the government, and plastic surgeries and hair coloring is illegal. The only way to avoid the military is by living somewhere they can't find you, which is practically impossible and highly illegal. This is why no one can know we exist. If anyone knows our group exists, we will all be executed on the spot.