Derek woke with a sudden jolt, looking around the classroom to find the source. A group of kids were laughing and pointing at him from the back corner. Another wadded up piece of paper came at him from the other side of the classroom, this time he didn’t bother looking.
Just about everyone looked down on him, along with all the other orphans.
Orphans were looked upon as societal leaches, most of their parents had been killed during the war. Although world war three had just ended, much damage would remain. He and the others who had nothing to contribute to the community, were looked upon as little more than trash.
The only thing keeping Derrek at school was his government funding. If it weren’t for the government he’d be homeless too, at the moment he was housed in a newly renovated hotel called the plexus. All veterans’ kids were being given food and shelter as compensation for their parent’s lives lost during war. That might not seem like a lot but many people were scrapping by on little to nothing. As a single child without any family, this was his only option.
Most people that went to high school like him weren’t as bad off as himself. Their parents businesses had flourished under war, producing excess for allied troops as well as our own. A lot of other middle and lower class citizens though, were made to do menial labor to support their households. Farming mostly, but you could work renovating factories back to civilian use as well.
Population, inflation and robot productions had caused shortage of all other better paying jobs beyond waitressing to the point that jobs became almost like inheritance.
Beggars were becoming more frequent too. The Larger cities like his, Sanfrancisco in California, had become common grounds to beggars especially. His school George Washington High School was always kicking them out so they couldn’t bother others at class or lunchtime.
He didn’t necessarily agree with this, but he could understand. Kids were easily distracted and found ways to entertain themselves at any opportunity. Also, they would probably just bully the beggars and make fun of their poverty stricken lives. The thought was disgusting, but they had a point for keeping them out.
Not to mention the rich thought themselves so much better than the poor that they had formed a segregation of sorts. There had always been a social stigma before the war started around 2191, now it had been given the perfect environment to flourish in, it was an almost unstoppable force. Mankind had taken a step backwards in his mind. Turning back to the board to revise what he’d slept through, he knocked his work tablet onto the floor. Seeing as the robot teaching class was looking, to make sure the camera was witness, he leaned down and picked it up. If he wasn’t careful, he could get beaten by the others again. He jotted down the last lesson and finished it in short order. While Trigonometry wasn’t enjoyable, he was fast at it.
He then got out his virt-net magazines and delved into game releases and dreamed about what it must be like. This was a common place item for the wealthy kids like the ones surrounding him. Most of them made fun of him for not affording a device and readily flaunted theirs when the chance came.
He just couldn’t afford the five grand for one of the cheapest models let alone the more comfortable, common models going around twenty grand. Most devices fit around the forehead slimly forming to your head, integrating with your neural network. Even if he didn’t have enough for a device, he still liked to entertain the idea of buying one someday.
He was swiftly brought from his reverie by the loud ringing of the bell. He waited until all the students had filed out and then waited a little longer to pack his things and exit. All the classes were held in a home room besides physical educations at the end of the day. He always skipped this so he could get home on time without getting mugged by the other kids. Almost all the others drove anyway, so the morning alleyways were usually safe.
He lived about four blocks from the school, so the trip was pretty bearable. Entering the lobby, he checked in at the office and made for the common room to the left of the desk. Pushing through the heavy oak door, he found everyone watching some comedy so he sat down to watch dumb and dumber for an hour.
He was just getting into the movie and forgetting his day when the ground shook and the 100 inch plasma television fell from the wall trapping a couple unfortunate teens underneath. While they were busy helping get the others out from underneath, the channel flicked over to a government broadcast.An air raid siren was wailing in the distance.
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They finished leaning the t.v. up against the wall as a video started up. Suddenly, a man wearing a ski mask flashed upon the screen. A garbled voice started slowly coming into focus. ”cccccccsheeeererer”. Ten seconds passed of the odd sound when a deep voice made its way out of the static.
“Ahaa! There we go, as you can tell citizens, this is not your government speaking to you. In fact, I’m speaking to you from a random basement in Washington as we speak.” The voice had a heavy accent, though it was hard to tell what accent he had from the mask over his mouth and the static. “Now, you may be wondering how this is possible. Well, as it turns out your country along with the rest of the world has terrible skills at coding.
I broke through within a meager year, and that’s everyone’s. I know the world won’t die off within this attack completely, otherwise it would be foolish. In a set amount of time though, some will be forced to their bunkers and other means of escape you see fit. You’ll have approximately seven hours after this video ends, to make it to safety. Your welcome for the set time, I didn’t have to do this. I only see fit to do so for the good people forced to give up their lives for a purge.
Yes, you heard me right, I am Purging the world of its evils and current government. Next time man sets foot on topsoil, it will be a new age. One from which we will build a new, and build off those lessons learned and preserved from the past. The post nuclear world of the future will prove slow to heal though, so with that I am sorry. Most will not live to see that day without cryogenics. But fear not, for it is for the good of the world. With that, I bid farewell and the best of luck to all those with the purest of heart.”
The video cut out with ample static and flashing colors, then a timer took up the middle of the screen though. Suddenly the desk employee burst into the room carrying a bugout bag. “Everyone hurry! The Busses are arriving, only so many can fit! With that she dashed from the room after propping it open. Everyone stood in shocked silence, then they all started shoving their way to the Lobby door yelling and stampeding.
All anyone could think about was themselves at that moment, they wanted to survive at all costs. They all rushed through the lobby at full tilt. He ran through the swinging outer doors so hard they almost broke his shoulder while causing a crack to run up the glass in a spider web. He had enough time to wonder how he’d done such an act of sheer strength when he stopped dead in his tracks. Many Military issue busses were lining the curb from the military base a couple minutes downtown from them, But what really surprised him were the many monolithic rockets shooting into the sky in the distance.
They must have been huge at this distance, and there were at least a dozen he could see in any one direction. He hadn’t thought the government had that many missiles on the coast. They were all headed for orbit, to distribute themselves across the globe. He broke from his trance, and ran to a mob making his way to the front of a bus and again somehow made his way to the front. Just as he boarded the last vacant seat in the front crammed three deep, the bus pulled away and didn’t stop for anything, including people.
His stomach churned as they rammed cars out of the way. He looked back and realized the busses also had regular citizens onboard. Some richly dressed while others more or less average. Also, some military men and women made up the last three or four rows.
He couldn’t help but think about the people left on the sidewalk. Some would make it to other busses, but what of the others? It was likely that they were as good as dead. He still held out hope the crisis would cease and all would go back to normal, but even he had seen the nukes launched.
Even if some places gained back control of their nukes by the time the nukes were still in orbit, the amount of warheads he’d just seen were enough to cover every land mass ten times over, and that was only the ones he could see. Normally the earth would’ve been uninhabitable on the normal coverage estimates, but the amount of damage that was inevitable, was immeasurably times more devastating than before. Only the deepest silos would survive.
(Authors Note: Sorry for the short chapter and abrupt story, the story will continue character development more later in the next few chapters. Also, the chapters will most likely get longer. Thanks for reading!)