In a world where most nations have been wiped off the map in a global nuclear war, the United States must cope and evolve to this new age.

This scenario is not meant to be realistic or represent my political views.

Background

In the early 21st century, rising tensions between China and the United States hit a boiling point when the Russian government fell in a political uprising, leaving the vast resources in Russia unclaimed. The two sides supported different factions, and though the Americans eventually won, the "Second Cold War" started.

In response, the Armed Forces' budget in both nations ballooned, as did nuclear stockpiles of countries on both sides. The United States Army began work on a confidential projected titled Project Escape that used a "plasma ray" of sorts, using small amounts of hot plasma beamed into the sky wherever a nuclear missile was projected to hit.

Within four years, Project Escape was ready, and plasma rays were deployed on both coasts, shielding the continental United States from nuclear apocalypse.

In 2041, a sarin gas attack on the European capital of Brussels raged Europeans, and they demanded their government take action. The Americans decided to "remain neutral", though they supplied Europe with military supplies and loans. The Europeans invaded Central Asia, most of it Chinese puppet states, and with the help of American allies like the Arabian Coalition and the Democratic Russian Republic, were able to invade Chinese puppet states in Africa and to the Gobi Desert.

NSA and CIA operatives in China discovered that the Chinese were working on an antimatter weapon, which had a yield of 700 megatons, the largest in human history. The bombs seemed ready and prepared to aim at major American and European cities.

With the threat of nuclear war on the table, the United States eventually decided to ship plasma rays to Britain and Europe in 2047, ensuring their survival. However, just hours before Europe received their batch of the plasma rays on June 16, 2047, a global nuclear catastrophe sent most of the world back into the Stone Ages. Most.

The First Moments

Seconds after China launched most of their arsenal of 10,000 ICBMs and antimatter weapons onto the world, the European Union retaliated, along with most-nuclear capable countries. Within hours, most of the world was left in burning ashes. However, the U.S NORAD activated Project Escape, and most coastal plasma rays were activated just in time, with the exception of the Southeast Quadrant, which malfunctioned for a few minutes, leaving New Orleans, Savannah, and Miami in dust. Other than that, most of the U.S was fine for now.

Most news networks scrambled to find information on this developing crisis, and the massive crisis caused Internet servers to shut down, with server usage reaching 98.7% at the peak. Blackouts occurred in every state, causing mass riots and even anarchy in some American cities. For example, in Birmingham, although the nearest mushroom cloud was miles away, by nightfall, the city was on fire; riots overwhelmed local authorities and small militias took control of the city. While order remained in Lower Manhattan, the market didn't, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 12,000 points, followed by the NASDAQ and S&P.

Great Famine of 2048

Within a few months, mass hysteria began to fade, and people received basic necessities. Power was restored to areas that needed it most, and emergency packets of food and water were sent to major American cities. Oil prices (which were already high in the first place) skyrocketed, and emergency reserves were down to 100 million barrels in 2 months.

By September 2047 things were returning to normal, though food, water, and power bills were starting to rise for many Americans. In the South, the radiation from Miami and Savannah had calmed down, though radiation levels in New Orleans were actually getting higher. Acid rain began to fall in the South, killing thousands and ruining an immense amount of crops. Millions of people began an exodus out of the South, overwhelming other regions, and those that stayed would have to live with that decision forever, as the government forbade leaving or entering the Southeast United States (referred to many as the Wastezone) in December.

Changes in barometric pressure caused the acid rainstorm to move westward, ruining tons of crops in California. A loaf of bread soon rose to $14.94 (in 2018 money), and this, along with overcrowding in many cities, caused the Great Famine of 2048.

Operation Headlock

In April 2048, a team of FBI operatives were sent to New Orleans to discover why radiation levels were off the chart, and to find any survivors. The team lost communication with FBI headquarters on day five of the mission, but on their time there they described a hollow city with circular wooden wood structures in the old French Quarter, and huge, pulsating eggs. In their final communication, they described "a horde of -loud screams- creatures and we can't handle -static- them all, need backup -gunshots- now -cuts to static-."

Fracturing

Incumbent President Tony Walsh became incredibly unpopular after the closing of the former American South, trapping an estimated 120 million people. Congress attempted to impeach President Walsh, but a Senate Committee formed could not find any legal issues Walsh had committed.

With a fracturing central authority and millions of lives at stake, New York Governor Chris Ingram declared the state of New York a separate nation in August 2048. Radiation from the former city of Toronto had been seeping into Buffalo and Rochester, and FEMA and other federal agencies did little to help, as they had other issues. President Walsh attempted to diplomatically solve the crisis, though that boosted popularity for independence in New York. After Governor Ingram handed New York's deceleration of independence to Congress, Walsh mobilized the National Guard, parts of which defected to New York.

On the west coast, San Diego became overrun with immigrants from Mexico, which had suffered twelve nuclear blasts. Local authorities tried to establish barriers, but the hordes of dirty, poor, and often starving immigrants overran the city. Though California was very liberal, disease began to spread, and radiation sickness affected some of the populace, this enraged Californians. Similar to the situation in New York, California declared its independence in October 2048. This only served to enlarge the Great Famine of 2048,as California produced most of America's agriculture.

After election day 2048, which most news networks ignored due to other crises, newly elected President Tom Flores established the National Communication Agency (NCA), tasked with trying to establish communications with other nations and international survivors. Though it was initially successful, establishing communication with a desperate Swedish prince, they lost communication with him a few days after.

The Army tried to push through rural New York towns via Vermont, which was successful and

resulted in New York forces battling American ones in Utica, resulting in deadly losses on both sides, though the Americans took the city after a fierce battle.

Swiss Confederation Empire

In 2055, the NCA established communication with the Swiss Prime Minister, who had been in power since 2047. Although the Swiss Embassy in Washington had been destroyed in a fire months prior, the American embassy in Bern was fine. Switzerland had been protected from the Alp Mountains from the nuclear apocalypse, and had taken up tons of land in former Italy and France, welcoming the thousands of surviving refugees into Switzerland. The Americans and Swiss agreed to set up diplomatic relationships, rebuilding a world in which they had survived.

New York becomes a state again, after 2 years staying as a territory after it surrendered. The Independence Alliance is formed with California, Missouri, and Texas to combat the United States and stay independent. Missouri soon leaves the alliance after a deal with the United States, but Oregon, Washington, and Idaho join the movement. Around this time, a Swiss trade ship arrives from Genoa, bringing goods and supplies to the United States.

President Flores decommissions the plasma rays from Project: Escape, deciding to use the parts to rebuild parts of American infrastructure.

Despite the Swiss Prime Minister's popularity among the Swiss populace, an ambitious General named Lucas Danuser staged a coup d'état in Switzerland and began forcefully seizing large parts of Bavaria and northern France. He refuses to speak with the United States. The NCA begins to search for other nations to communicate with, though its attempts will be in vain for a long time.

An Edge

With American and European ICBMs hitting most Chinese cities, American intelligence assumed no civilization could arise out of former China within the next 60 years. By 2062, residents of Nanping had established a small civilization. They soon conquered neighboring towns and by 2067, had assumed control of South China and Indochina. They called themselves the Mandate and developed a hatred of the United States.

Danuser had found out about the Mandate in December 2067 and planned to ally with them to prepare a war with the United States, as it was rich in almost every resource. The Mandate agreed, and the two had formed a secret alliance. However, the two nations were vulnerable and could be easily crushed by the United States.

Edward Ferber, a war activist, became popular among the American people. He was elected to office of the President in 2064. When U.S intelligence found out about an alliance with the Mandate and Switzerland, his generals demanded he take action. He agreed and ordered a full blown strike against the Mandate. He was assassinated in Salt Lake City, Utah a few days after, and the plan never really was put in action.

In Nice, France, the European Union had been testing new, 200 megaton nuclear weapons in June 2047, and had put them safety in silos in nearby towns. 21 years later, when the Swiss captured the city from the local residents, they suddenly gained a very powerful edge against the United States.

Cold Cold War

The United States and the Swiss Empire (S.E) became locked in a Cold War. The Swiss manufactured many more ICBMs out of the few in Nice. They eventually had a range up to the continental United States. The US, which was much more technologically advanced, began work on antimatter missiles, which the Mandate had not yet been able to repair.

On September 26, 2083, a solar eclipse unexpectedly struck Europe, causing the S.E's primitive nuclear detection systems go off, suggesting multiple nuclear missiles coming from northern Canada. The Swiss higher-ups were skeptical about the incident, and hesitantly decided to launch a nuclear missile at Tampa, Florida, hoping to scare the Americans. Tampa was part of the Wastezone, and its deranged citizens, who had been cut off from the civilized world for forty years, began to go insane. Southern citizens who had heard the news through word of mouth, many with radiation sickness and other fatal diseases, began to hate the United States so much they escaped highly fortified walls the Army had built along the Wastezone border. The United States was dealing with a horde of sick and dying people it had betrayed.

In Summer 2084, the fortified wall (referred by American soldiers as the "Dixie Wall") had collapsed, causing many southern immigrants to burst into the Rust Belt and Southwest. Mass riots began everywhere, and the federal government largely ignored these protests, suffice for a few large ones in San Francisco and Pittsburgh.

The same was happening in Switzerland. Many Swiss people rioted Danuser's power crave and ambition. The quality of life was rapidly degrading in the S.E, and people knew it. Unlike the United States, however, the protests were not allowed and many prominent protesters were jailed.

The British government had mostly collapsed in 2047, but a few politicians and generals managed to get in a protective, underground bunker (referred to as the Protector) and in 2080 had began reclaiming many parts of London. The central authority was weak. However, the United States backed this proxy Britain and it soon conquered most of England and Scotland (with U.S troops). The Swiss supported Canterbury, a small community. It eventually grew and soon, Britain and Canterbury were fighting each other. The U.S, with more disposable resources but further away eventually won and Canterbury was devastated.

The U.S then began an offensive on Normandy, a Swiss controlled puppet. The Swiss won this time, and this conflict reappear many times, from the ruins of Osaka to the deserts of Morocco. The Mandate conquered Siberia at this time, expanding its manpower and resources.

In New Orleans, most pre-2047 dwellings had collapsed, leaving only ruins in the once great city. Albino, radioactive, mutated humans (referred to as albs) had formed a tribal cannibalistic society. Any Wastezoner unlucky enough to stumble into New Orleans would be instantly devoured. In 2092, albs began to spread. Eventually all of Louisiana was covered in them. Americans soon became paranoid, thinking it would affetc the entire nation. Albs were killed on sight. Their dead bodies only helped to spread it further. In Dublin, Georgia, the community claimed to own a cure, and would distribute it only if they were given $90,000,000 in cash (2093 money) and were given representation in Congress and full citizenship for all Dublin residents. The United States refused, but as the years progressed, they caved in. The demands had risen to $100,000,000. They were telling the truth, and when the cure was administered, the albs were all eradicated.

The Final Moments

In the late 21st century, rising tensions between Switzerland and the United States hit a boiling point when the British government fell due to a weak central government, leaving lots of land and resources unclaimed. The two sides supported different factions, and though the Americans eventually won, with the British government put back in place, the beginning of the end of the world began.

In response, the Armed Forces' budget in both nations ballooned, as did antimatter stockpiles of countries on both sides. The United States Army began work on a confidential projected titled Project Game Over that used a "plasma ray" of sorts, refurbished from Project: Escape. It used an ICBM and contained high amounts of hot plasma that would destroyed anything in a 100-kilometer radius.

In 2095, an air raid on the Swiss capital of Bern raged the now elderly Supreme Leader Danuser, and he demanded his generals take action. The Mandate joined the Swiss and they supplied the Swiss with military supplies. The Swiss invaded Britain, most of it controlled by the American puppet, and with the help of the Mandate, were able to invade American allies in North Africa and the remains of Saudi Arabia.

The Americans, quickly losing their stance on the global stage, remained calm. But new technology made by the Swiss allowed them to cross the Atlantic and invade Nova Scotia, an American ally. Paranoia reached its peak when they began an offensive onto Michigan through Sugar Island.

The Americans, clearly paranoid from the invasion of the mainland U.S, decided to launch its stockpile of 120,000 missiles on June 16, 2097, and the Mandate and Swiss quickly retaliated, obliterating the Earth. Again.