 |
This is a story of Armageddon and survival. Unlike many such stories it opens before nuclear catastrophe has struck, and takes us up to the brink and then over the precipice to annihilation and then beyond.
Initially, the world is descending into the chaos of economic and political collapse. Given the rampant hostility to both taxes and debt, government services and protections evaporate. And the world-wide American military presence must be pulled back precipitously.
With the resulting military vacuum, in the midst of social upheaval across the world, dangerous crises erupt, and governments fall to extremists. Eventually, war engulfs humanity, leading to massive nuclear exchanges.
A small group survives, and tries to re-build while fighting off hostile neighbors. Upon their success or failure rests the nature of civilization to come.
HRTS paints a dire future for humanity. Is it plausible? Readers can judge that for themselves. The most certain way to make this story impossible is to eliminate those weapons that can assure our mutual destruction. I should note that all of the drafts were written before first hearing of the atrocities committed by ISIS. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.