What the Mayans didn't see

Hello ATS-ers ! I wrote this a while back, and thought it'd be interesting to post it. It's not long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway !

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The day is Friday the 21st. The month is December. The year is 2012, and after a brief but devastating nuclear war, the United States has lost all diplomatic and military power over the world, flags of China decorate eastern Europe, and western Europe is at war with the Union of Southern African Communist States. Everyone thought the world would end in 2012, but not like this.

The broken and black tree trunks were scattered across the barren wasteland that was once a bustling and vibrant city, the sun lighting up the ensemble and revealing a reality that no person wanted to be confronted with ; No one knew where they were any more, they'd just walk until they saw water, and stop where they found shelter. Today's spot was quite a remarkable discovery ; under ash and rock lay the remains of a large shopping centre. Upon entering the ruins through a crack in the wall, the few people that dared venture into the fragile and crumbling building pushed away the broken pieces of glass, metal and plastic and managed to find a bottle of water intact, unlike the others that were now dried-up pieces of dusty plastic on the floor. After carefully exiting the ruins, the people were reunited with their travelling partners, and everyone marvelled the bottle of water. It was probably the only thing, apart from the people themselves, that reminded them of what planet earth used to be. Billions of people, hundreds of different languages and cultures, and ideas and decisions that constantly changed lives and the way we all used to think. The bottle of water was the link between the past world, and the present times, for without this simple bottle, the reality of what the earth had become was unbearable.

The world's population had dropped to less than two billion people, with China ruling most of the eastern world under the reign of Ham Son II, who became chairman in 2011 and in the space of two months, closed the country's economy, forbade any citizen to travel abroad, and annexed Taiwan to the People's Republic of China after threats of war and invasion. Towards the end of 2011, Son's army had invaded Japan, India, Russia and all countries that were within its reach. Chinese culture, that was no longer the once flourishing and revolutionary culture that it was, was now the only one permitted in the countries that it dominated, spreading lies and fear amongst three quarters of the world's population. Freedom of speech became a privilege for the elite, even if it wasn't really freedom, just more lies heavily influenced by Ham Son's personal agenda.

But the war that devastated the planet wasn't just China's fault. In western Europe, riots broke out in most countries in reaction to the execution of five young refugees accused of terrorism by the High Courts. Contrary to previous street fights and general malaise, these riots didn't stop, and ravaged the major capitals of the continent. Fires swept across Paris, explosions devastated most of Madrid, and Berlin fell amid desperate pleas and bloody corpses. In response to this crisis, the United States sent back-up and threatened war on China, the country that they chose to blame not just for the events in Europe, but for the general downfall of planet Earth. After a few weeks of what seemed to be a calm in the fighting, somewhere in northern California, a nuclear missile exploded, the sky turning into a shower of flames, and after a pointless attempt of reasoning with China, the US finally decided to launch a full attack not just on them but on other Asian countries, for they “followed orders without reason or question, and presently pose a great danger to ours and other nations of the planet, and are therefore responsible for our drastic actions”.

Continued

Drastic, that's what they called it. Somehow the word doesn't really justify intense nuclear attacks and the shrieking of young children in the night as unknown soldiers tear off their limbs to “set an example”.
And this, a simple bottle of water, made the whole war disappear for a few seconds, as everyone reflected upon a time where life was actually worth living.

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Oh nice story, although I do think it is possible that something like this could happen.


So any continuation?

reply to post by thepathoverseer


I wrote it a while back, i don't think i'll do anymore, it's ok the way it is =)

Peace !