Children of the Wild

It was June 30, 2006, when North America seemingly dissolved into sudden chaos.

No one from the outside was sure what happened. Even space programs, such as Russia's, couldn't be any help other than supplying the fact that the entire content was covered by gray clouds at the time and often is so photos supplied by satellites were useless. The only thing they knew for certain was that something had happened in North America that caused the American and Canadian population to be cut down from a total of 330.97 million people between the countries to an estimated eighteen thousand people, not counting Hawaii who once again became a nation, with about 10,000 living on the east coast and 8,000 on the west coast. Mexico closed it's boarders with America, taking in about 2,000 refugees before the official closing of the border.

Americans and Canadians who had been overseas had been refused entry and forced to stay in whatever country they had been visiting. The exact opposite had happened to oversea citizens who had been in North America at the time. Greenland, Mexico, The Bahama's, Cuba, and other small island nations in the gulf area, promised that the citizens would be sent home in two years at the minimum, while the Canadian and American governments remained quiet and no word of citizens returning safely was heard. The severity of the situation was only recognized when multiple governments threatened violence, and possibly war, yet Canada and America remained silent. The rest of the countries in North America defended them saying their militaries would keep theirs at bay and territories threatened ruling countries with independence and a few followed through. They said that it was not safe to enter and that it would only have more people killed. All of them went into a South American/Eastern Hemisphere blockade after the declaration and pulled a Switzerland and Lichtenstein in 'all countries who are not us will be discriminated against equally'. It wasn't until the British sent a plane down to one of its territories and was shot down by said territory that everyone took the bane seriously.

Then, after two months, the world offered help. It was denied in all of the countries. No one knew what to do other than wait with bated breath.

Two years later, the oversea's citizens returned. But they were not the same. Families that were in countries outside North America at the time, welcomed back members with open arms, but only 20% returned. Yet the ones from North America returned the open arms with limp arms, dead and haunted eyes. Many were malnourished or had diseases, but all were muscular and in shape. Families panicked and sent many to therapy. Therapy didn't help and within a year 78% of the returnees had committed suicide. 99% of those who had been sent to therapy during that time had committed it within the first four months of their return. Within two years 89% had committed suicide. Within three, 99% had committed suicide. In four years, only two of the remaining who had returned were still alive.

The two who were alive lived in a remote house together under the watch of doctors and psychologists. Therapy had didn't help, night terrors were common, they would see things moving in the shadows and would sleep in brightly lit, wide-open spaces whenever available, most commonly the attic. Sometimes they would babble at each other or air in what could only be assumed a strange and new language. Many family members of others who had returned were asked to listen to them. The reports were that their family member would also speak the same way sometimes and freak out when asked what they were saying in their native tongue.

Eventually, as they neared the ending of the fourth year, almost to the fifth, of being away from North America, the two passed because of spontaneous heart attacks at the same time.

It was 2012 when most countries and territories came out of isolationism. The United States and Canada were still silent to the world and in heavy isolationism and many were determined to keep it that way.