2
That was Gordon 2 years ago, alive on the inside and waiting for an opportunity to express his opinions but otherwise quiet and watching the world and its beauty. Admiring the sheer contrast of a simple flower blossoming in between the buildings, a butterfly fluttering from plant to plant, both filling him with joy to still see nature in this mechanized world that he lived in. Whilst still being himself that life of his was long gone now. Ever since the bombing of Iran by the USA, the Middle East became a strategic point turned upside down through United States occupation and the Iranian Conflict.
Although Gordon’s house still stood after the first bombing, his parents were killed whilst out shopping for food. Learning this from a phone call from the hospital froze Gordon’s mind and body for 3 days. On the forth day he realized he would have to leave the Middle East after 16 years there. Gordon’s only home was now in rubble and a major staging point for the US Empire. This was not a good place to be in the short future with the local government tired of being a puppet to both sides; it seemed to have rising tensions between the USA and within itself.
Packing his suitcase of what little clothes he could fit in it and what majority of essentials he believed he needed, Gordon zipped up the large grey suitcase which rolled on wheels. Rummaging through the house’s 7 rooms Gordon looked for money and totaled about 1,500 USD by the end of the search Gordon continued to look for valuables that he could sell or barter with in emergencies. Jewelry was an essential part of this. Gordon took his passports (Canadian and Polish) and did a final sweep of the house looking for anything that could be useful. Already packed with cans of food his suitcase could not hold any more, but perhaps his back pack could. Inside with the money, passport and jewelry was a box of matches, pens, pads of paper, 2 cans of food, a mobile, small patches of rope, a kind of Swiss army knife, a large 12 inch bladed knife, a pair of socks and a calculator which Gordon found no reason to take out of his school bag, now turned survival bag.
During his sweep, Gordon’s mind wandered on how his world turned for worse so quickly. The newly elected United State’s President McKenzie, a man of 50 but with the heart of a revolutionary teenager; McKenzie’s approach to the Middle East situation was simple “it’s a terrorist base and must be destroyed” to paraphrase his words. Iran feeling threatened took charge into Iraq and liberated the country from the United States and NATO forces and quenched the long lasting conflict between Iran and Iraq, whilst rallying other Arab nations to its side.
The USA retaliated with full force from air bases in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Bombing Tehran was thought to cripple the Iranian nation and cause the Arab states to disband. Unfortunately for McKenzie, they had under estimated the defenses around the Iranian capital and the US bombers were unable to penetrate. The Iranian president, after the bombing of Tehran repositioned himself and his political advisors to somewhere else in Iran, presently unknown.
McKenzie’s rage and racism against the Arabic culture had caused the creation of temporary camps to be built to place suspected terrorist Islamic population of the USA in, to “prevent future casualties on our homeland” to paraphrase his words again. With massive hysteria in the USA McKenzie’s large emphasis on the Christian faith brought the voters together for a massive rush in the election of a staggering 65% victory. He still continues his greatly Christian campaign across the USA to hold it together and is now visibly stretching across into Europe . Again the world was split into 2 sides of religion like in the crusades.
If it were only that simple though. Africa, a continent of poverty and a landmass filled with helpless people fighting for stability, was now colonized much like it was in the 1800’s. European, Asian and the American powers all claimed a stake somewhere on the continent. Unfortunately for its people, Africa has the last remaining large deposits of natural resources that are accessible to everyone except the Africans. Uranium is extracted for another arms race and oil is drilled to fuel the tanks and bombers that will soon be deployed. Although under the shadow of independence the African nations are controlled by debt and corporations that suck what wealth the continent did have.
Fighting has broken out already. Sudan remained separated, Niger in turmoil but not enough to stop its uranium supplies from being mined, South Africa again in confusion with the rise of a fanatical leader. All the while China and Russia claim land in Central Africa, nobody knows as to why yet, but there is no conflict for this land and the 2 powers were quickly seizing it under the light of liberation and rebuilding the courtiers. Europe is now one power. The European Union no longer exists as it did before; it became the official entity of Europe and now contains the states of France, England, Germany and the other former members of the EU. Turkey Istanbul and Ankara
When this idea past through Gordon’s mind he knew that the world would be going through hell right now, but first he had to get himself into a safer place before he could do anything else. Somehow Gordon had been sitting on the very couch he sat on waiting for his parents to drop him off at school. Thinking about his life in the Middle East, Gordon was devastated for his life to have to end like it did, he had spent his whole life there. Although Gordon had already planned to leave that summer to university in England, he did not intend to leave under these circumstances.
Right now, Gordon had nowhere to go to but to Poland, where his cousin was living. His cousin was almost like a brother to him, now married and all, his cousin used to live with Gordon and his parents for a few years. He introduced Gordon to many aspects of life that he would have otherwise had been unable to see, being shielded by his parents and the simplicity of the little city.
As Gordon walked out the front door, he stopped his large rolling suitcase and stared into the smoky remains of the city in front of him and beyond into the open Indian Ocean. As the sun set just like in his dream 2 years before Gordon could see a new wave in the distance coming from the sea. But unlike in his dream this wave was not connected to the sea and instead loomed quickly like a mechanized dark cloud. It was another bombing raid and the planes were coming right for his house.