This is the year 2201. The third world war started just after the Mexican-American border wars that lasted for twenty years since it started 2023. The border wars started when the administration tried to build a wall along the Mexican border. The world war barely began when the United States of America was just starting to break apart and collapse. Even though its American citizens tried to keep it together, the corruption within the government accelerated its process that even the Commander in Chief couldn’t stop it from festering further. The disease was already there even before the border wars. What made it worse was the current administration at that time was unwilling to compromise to make things better.
When the third world war began, the United States was in the brink of collapse in the 2043. It took only a few strategic throws and pinpointed attacks by the outside forces to make the lines holding the states together to crack under pressure and collapse. The landscape was forever changed and the people gave up on a free America. The world war came and was gone. It lasted for four years, but it left a lasting impression on the landscapes. It was a stain that couldn’t be removed.
2045 was the year everything began to change. Unsatisfied with the progress they made in the past, the governments of the world came together and decided that something must be done to ensure that the war doesn’t happen again. First, they broke the United States of America into little pieces. Because of the corruption within, they decided it was better to dissolve the state lines separating each state from each other. That allowed the Canadians to expand southward taking almost all the Northwestern states including half of California, some of the mid states, Vermont and Maine. They became part of the new Republic of Canada. Alaska became a sovereign country as it stood alone.
Mexico did the same as they moved north taking over the territories Canada hasn’t touched. They labeled it as the Independent states of Mexico and even gave them new names in Mexican. The only thing left untouched were the original thirteen colonies as well as Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and a part of Mississippi. They became a piece of land for the rest of the broken population of Americans. The government made sure no one touched those states, naming them the untouchables. That caused a lot of problems for the people as it broke them while making half of them homeless. Some even changed their status to live in either Canada’s new territory or Mexico’s new territory.
Hawaii seceded as it became a part of Australia. Australia became a sovereign nation. They were given recognition and became the third largest nation along with Russia, China and the United Kingdom. Africa remained neutral, even after the war. It was said they were responsible for harboring fugitives from America, giving them a place to live.
Several years later as it passed, the governments passed laws and introduced a new system. The space age was coming and they needed to put themselves on the map of the galaxy in order to face their growing overpopulation problems. To deal with their overpopulation, they enacted laws requiring the people of Earth to use birth control. If they do not use birth control, it was punishable by law.
It was the year 2056. The government came together and formed the Alliance, a coalition of all nations under Earth. It was a treaty they all agreed on when they touched space and to explore what’s out there. When the caste system came shortly after, it was supposed to be a temporary measure to segregate people into different levels of society. They weren’t supposed to last for more than five years as they were only there to help the people find their way.
The caste system came with four different tiers with the elites being the first and foremost. The elites were the people who were rich and had a lot of money. They were allowed a lot of special permissions. When the space age came, as long as they could afford it, they were allowed to even own spaceships.
The mid landers were the second tier of the caste system. Most of them had certain special privileges including spaceships. If they had the money to afford a flight, they were able to fly but they are not supposed to buy what the elites could buy. They couldn’t afford the cost. Mid landers held the preferred status, but they still had to pay half the cost that the Grounders were forced to pay.
The Grounders were the third tier of the caste system. There are a lot of them, hence the overcrowding issues. Many of them were poor and struggled to make payment. A lot of them have jobs but unfortunately half of them don’t even make it. They aren’t supposed to be on spaceships or even rent to fly one unless they had permission and rode with someone. Many of them would be lucky enough to even marry a mid lander in order to ascend their status. In rare cases, only a few managed to grab the eyes of the elites who were lucky enough to pick them out from a crowd. A lot of them were left behind on Earth while the elites and the mid landers rode on spaceships they couldn’t afford.
Finally, the fourth and final tier was the Undesirables. Another word would be either untouchables or the shadow people. They fell from either one of the three tiers when they lost their money and became lost in the system when they hid away in the shadows of the society. They became the beggars looking for scraps. This tier formed in the 2067 when the Alliance failed to desolate the first three tiers as they promised to.
Nearly a hundred years passed. While they build ships to other planets and moons to make colonies, they forgot about Earth. It was still overcrowded and overpopulated. Her surface slowly became unlivable and some areas became smog infested. The Alliance made promises they couldn’t keep and that made the people angry. A revolution will happen soon and I will be a part of it. We will change the future and put Earth back to the hands of the people it belonged to, not the Alliance.
My name is Hayley Taylor. I am a mid lander. This is my story. If you are listening, know this. This might be our last chance to put things right. If we fail, then everything we have achieved will be lost forever.