Fire fight

In the winter of a troubled decade, the nation awakens to a shocking radio bulletin: the government has been overthrown. What should have been a quiet morning becomes a moment that divides life into before and after. Citizens are ordered indoors, ration schedules are announced, and the broadcast closes with a solemn benediction-may God be with you all.

Across the countryside, the signs of an encroaching conflict grow impossible to ignore. As December nears and preparations for Christmas falter, unfamiliar aircraft thunder overhead-machines of war more advanced, more numerous, and unmistakably foreign. Their shadows stretch over fields, homes, and villages, marking the first visible sign that the nation no longer belongs to itself.

Whispers of treachery run through every town: the uprising was not born beyond the borders but from within, orchestrated by those who sought power at any cost. And now, soldiers bearing unknown insignia march openly through the streets, their uniforms crisp, their presence chilling. Fear settles upon the land like winter frost.

In the final calm before occupation tightens its grip, radios remain tuned for hope that never comes. Supplies are gathered with grim determination. Each sunset feels increasingly like a farewell as the great machinery of war advances, relentless and unopposed.

Set against the stark tension of a nation seized from the inside.