Dateline to Disaster

1990–1998

Rise of global terrorism on an unprecedented scale. Political violence funded by organized crime syndicate called HAVOC—The Hijack, Assassination, and Violent Opposition Consortium.

1998–2003

The governments of many small and impoverished nations fall into the hands of HAVOC. International terrorists receive arms, training, and shelter in these ‘Badlands’.

2003–2008

Raids on oil and gas installations, assassinations, and the kidnapping of prominent world statesmen become commonplace as HAVOC attempts to terrorize the civilized world into submission. Despite public outrage and growing international tension, the major powers steadfastly refuse to give in to HAVOC’s demands.

2008

President of the United States and General Secretary of Supreme Soviet both assassinated at emergency summit meeting. US, USSR, and major European nations create the World Defence League and declare war on HAVOC. The Badlands are invaded, key HAVOC bases destroyed, and thousands of HAVOC agents are captured.

2009

HAVOC leaders imprisoned for life in ‘Deep Pens’—maximum security gaols located deep underground—to prevent their escape or release by HAVOC agents still at large.

2010

New leadership emerges to unify the scattered remnants of HAVOC and plan revenge.

2011

A WDL train transporting seventeen 100-kiloton nuclear warheads, slated to be neutralized and dismantled, is attacked by HAVOC agents. The train is destroyed and its deadly cargo stolen.

2012 New Year’s Day

HAVOC hijacks a WDL news satellite and broadcasts a chilling ultimatum. They have planted the seventeen stolen warheads in major cities throughout the US, USSR, and Europe. They call for the immediate release of all HAVOC agents held in Deep Pens, plus the payment of $2 trillion in gold bullion, or they will trigger the warheads one by one until their demands are met in full. A twenty-four hour deadline is set. WDL leaders declare an emergency and request that the deadline be extended. HAVOC refuses.

2nd January

First warhead detonated at Brie Nuclear Energy Plant, ten miles south of Paris, France. Blast and radioactive fallout claim millions of lives. HAVOC repeats its demand and extends deadline by twenty-four hours.

3rd January ‘The Day’

World Defence League agents discover location of HAVOC command headquarters on an island in the South Pacific Ocean. Immediately orders are given to infiltrate and destroy the HQ and its occupants. The assault is swift and decisive; the complex is quickly overrun and its inhabitants are killed. Yet, ironically, as the news of this victory is being relayed around the world, HAVOC enacts its ultimate revenge. A transmitter hidden on the island, fitted with a time-delay mechanism, clicks on, sending its high-frequency radio signal to a communications satellite orbiting the earth. This signal is amplified and returned to earth where, simultaneously, it triggers the remaining nuclear warheads. The initial explosions set off a disastrous chain reaction that feeds on civil and military nuclear installations all across the northern hemisphere. Hundreds of millions of people are killed within days, and many more perish during the years that follow, falling victim to the lingering radioactivity and the severe climatic changes that affect the earth.

2012–2019

Gale force winds sweep across the world, carrying enormous amounts of dust into the upper atmosphere and preventing much sunlight from reaching the earth’s surface. Temperatures plummet, deterring survivors from remaining above ground. Communications are disrupted by gamma radiation, making all radio, cable, and satellite contact impossible. Small colonies of survivors develop in total isolation from one another during these years of darkness.

2019–2020

Gradually, the dust storms die down and the sun penetrates the atmosphere, thawing the earth’s frozen surface. Radiation has decayed to tolerable levels, and survivors emerge to reclaim what little remains of the world they once knew.