October 22nd, 2027. The day the first human on the surface perished. The day mother nature took back her planet. The day humanity's long reign over Planet Earth finally ended.
Most people had no idea what was happening. Scientists, the media, and generally anyone outside the chosen few had no idea. They had no idea why their body parts were changing. They had no idea why people on the streets were dropping like flies. Most assumed it was a disease. The superstitious ones assumed it was a curse, and the religious ones assumed it was a punishment from God.
The Second Flood, they called it. The second time God decided to hit the reset button on humanity after Noah's ark. Except it wasn't a disease. It wasn't a curse. A punishment, maybe. It was radiation. Two kinds, one called Keifer's radiation, named after Keifer Schmidt, a world renowned scientist that came from Germany, and the other, dubbed chaotic radiation.
Keifer's radiation wasn't dangerous. It didn't come into contact with humans at all. However, it was attracted to certain animals, including but not limited to ponies, lizards, cows, predatory birds, and lions. At the time, no matter how close we looked, we could not find any side effects caused by Keifer's radiation toward the animals which somehow absorbed it. So at the time, we assumed that there were no side effects, or that the side effects were so minimal that they were nearly invisible.
Chaotic radiation, on the other hand, triggered several rapid genetic mutations in humans, which had a one hundred percent fatality rate if one was exposed to it in large quantities. These mutations would alter human biology at the cellular level, changing internal organs, sometimes removing them completely, or rendering them useless. And in the worst case scenario, altering the outward physical appearance in someone either partially or completely. The strain of the radiation on our bodies, coupled with the oftentimes fatal mutations, and the speed at which they occurred, always led to death. And the worst thing was, these two different types of previously undiscovered radiation… were being emitted by an incoming asteroid, over twice as big as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.
However, the asteroid itself was not a concern, seeing as it would only collide with Earth over a thousand years later. It was discovered that the asteroid's output of Chaotic radiation would double every twelve to sixteen months. From there, scientists were able to deduce that the world would become uninhabitable by the year 2027. As a result of this, world governments got together and constructed Utopia, a large underground luxury/military doomsday bunker, capable of holding up to four hundred thousand people, two thousand and fifty people from each nation, and all the tools and resources necessary to restart human civilization.
Through trillions of dollars of incurred costs, millions of workers, and having the best and brightest minds work constantly round the clock, Utopia was constructed in only about eight years. Built seven kilometres underground, Utopia was able to keep humanity safe from the harmful effects of Chaotic radiation while allowing them a chance of surviving the asteroid's impact. Utopia was an underground metropolis, with an area of about ten square kilometers (roughly the size of two thousand two hundred football fields) on the largest floor, and with an additional three levels consisting of at least five square kilometres each, which brought the total floor space of Utopia up to thirty square kilometres.
Utopia was separated into eight different districts, each representing one particular nation. As a result of being the most widely understood language, all countries and their citizens adopted English as their first language for ease of communication among the now much smaller population. There used to be a hundred and ninety five nations, but most combined with other nations as a result of the smaller space, and to build up power in the new world. Another reason for this was so that they could surpass the two thousand citizens per nation cap, because in the new world, more citizens meant more power.
Utopia, as it was named, was exactly that. Powered by twenty nuclear reactors underneath the bunker that was designed to absorb and convert Chaotic radiation to electricity, it housed dozens of facilities and many, many luxuries that ensured that if the ground was unsafe, humanity would be living in the best, most luxurious world possible. These facilities included a fully sustainable agricultural farm capable of supporting 450,000 people, four sports centers, two cinemas, a working internet connection, high class restaurants, a working train that travelled all around the bunker, extremely luxurious living areas, a small park that had a projected version of the Sun which actually gave out heat, a literal theme park, and many other facilities made to ensure maximum comfort for the remainder of the human race.
However, scientists were unable to predict when the surface would be able to support human life again. As a result, world governments had to think of another plan in case the ground could not be repopulated for an extended period of time. They invested heavily in technology that would allow them to live in suspended animation, and technology that would be able to cryogenically freeze humanity until Earth was habitable once again. And finally, after billions of dollars and the combined efforts of almost every single world renowned scientist, a method of cryogenically freezing humanity was discovered, on December 7th, 2024. The 'stasis chambers' as they came to be known as, were capable of suspending all bodily functions, while not harming the person frozen. This allowed the chambers to keep working as long as there was a power supply, without the need for any form of sustenance. While doing this, humanity would be gradually exposed to extremely small, nearly unnoticeable amounts of Chaotic radiation throughout the duration of humanity's suspended animation. The doctors carefully calculated the necessary amounts of radiation required to allow the human body to develop immunity to the radiation. Just the right amount to allow the human body to recognise and metabolise the radiation, but not enough to cause harmful mutations. To keep on the safe side, humanity was to be frozen for one million years, before they would wake up and commence repopulation if the ground was safe.
Due to humanity having to leave Earth unattended, scientists urged world leaders to bring along a large number of the most elite soldiers they could find along with a hefty sum of weapons, vehicles, and WMD's, to which they eagerly complied. Scientists suggested this for three reasons. The first was so that the soldiers could protect the people from wild animals, which would no doubt have taken back the planet in the one million year time span, including the possibility of certain animals having evolved in unforeseeable ways, possibly making them even more dangerous. That brings us to the second reason; which is if another species evolved to match the level of intelligence displayed by humans and colonised the planet, building a planet-spanning society, and proved to be hostile towards our species. The final reason, and probably the least likely, was if extraterrestrial life managed to claim our planet and proved to be hostile towards our species.
To allow for enough space for all humanity's military needs, level four was built. With an area of eight square kilometres, level four housed hundreds of the most sophisticated tanks, military aircraft, helicopters, and even several extremely large military transport aircraft for both transportation and deployment of soldiers and military vehicles. Due to the limited space, rather than having each nation have their own weapons and vehicles, they were made available to all nations and weren't the property of any one nation. Unlike levels one to four which were built seven kilometres underground, level four was built only one hundred meters underground to allow for the deployment of military vehicles. Level four also consisted of a runway for aircraft that was three thousand four hundred meters long while having a gradual rise of one hundred meters which led up to the surface so deployment of aircraft would not be an issue, and to shield level four from the radiation, the entrance to the level four runway was closed off by multiple five foot lead doors spaced at regular intervals along the runway.
Because of the heavily militarized nature of the new Utopian society, about sixty percent of all the citizens of Utopia were made up of the most elite soldiers in the world. Most of these elite soldiers came from the United States, seeing as how many countries decided to give up positions meant for their own soldiers to make way for elite U.S. army members, who were the most capable fighting force in the world at the time. The other forty percent consisted of both workers that were necessary for the day to day running of Utopia, the most renowned scientists the world offered, and world leaders together with their families. Apart from world leaders, nobody else was permitted to bring their families along due to the limited space available. Only essential personnel were allowed in, and there were hardly any objections to this rule since people had already recognised the importance in saving the entire human race rather than a few extra members of their family.
On the fourteenth of March, year 2026, the last of the four hundred thousand chosen humans entered Utopia, one year before The Second Flood, and the entrance was sealed. The cavern above it that had once allowed entry was collapsed by the use of explosives. The citizens of Utopia were given one month to settle in and get used to their new way of life underground, and on the twenty eighth of April, the last of the citizens of Utopia were put to sleep for what was to be the next one million years.
Among these citizens was Atticus Constantine, the president of what used to be the United States of America, but was renamed to the United States of Utopia after about half of the world's countries joined together with the US to form what was now, without a doubt, the strongest nation of the new world. Along with him was his wife Laura Constantine, his firstborn son Joseph Constantine, and his two other children who were twins; his second born son Gerald Constantine, and finally his only daughter and twin of Gerald, Eris Constantine.