The news had reporters in helicopters to record the fireworks over the national monument. This was going to be a disaster, they just knew it.
President Trump stepped up to the podium and ranted for hours. Finally, he announced the 4th of July fireworks to begin, an honor he would let nobody else do, by pushing a button to start the show.
"So now, in spite of all my haters and the fake news saying that it's crazy to celebrate our independence on July 3rd, which I said, what so we're not allowed to celebrate the independence of our great nation on any other day of the year? I said, people like fireworks, and you know, it's like, why not have them at Mount... and you know, cause it's like our best, our greatest presidents ever, you know, except for of course now, when America is stronger than ever and ready to work, and I said why not, in front of one of those monuments, like the ones all the people want to tear down? And why not the biggest one, is so big, the biggest, it's did you know, it's the biggest version of, and not everyone knows, but the biggest best statue of Lincoln, and you know, other presidents too. But I said, let's show them a monument like the others, and get people talking about the heritage of these monuments like this one right here, where we've got the best fireworks show you're ever gonna see, the biggest, we've got so many, colors yes more than they've ever made before and nobody knew this, but they're able to... and put this thing in, and then it blows up and it makes a shape. It's going to be the best fireworks, cause everyone, am I right? Everyone loves fire works. So, here it goes, I'm going to do it. I'm gonna press the button, and God bless Smerica!"
He pressed the button. The fireworks show started, animals suddenly started fleeing the area in droves. It was a spectacle of light and sound.
Then the unthinkable happened. Over 1200 miles away to the east, Mt. St. Helens erupted. Everyone within a 150 mile radius died instantly. As 240 cubic miles of dust and ash flew off into the atmosphere, the United States as it once was came to an abrupt end. Those who didn't die in the initial eruption didn't have long to evacuate, but even those who tried found the air travel was no longer possible, and that's to assume the evacuees weren't in an area where the lava landed. But escaping on land was also practically impossible, as deadly toxic gas and acid rain coated the landscape. This had been their retribution. As if nature itself had to intervene to stop him.
But it didn't help. Now, pressed as society was by the environment, resources became scarce. After all, the global temperature had fallen drastically, and was going to keep being cold for years to come.
So, having survived the plague, humanity began to face the famine. Yet war still loomed on the future, as the habitable zones of the world had shrunk. Desperation to survive led some to do terrible deeds. Nukes got launched by a trigger happy dictator, and the radioactivity of the dust that still caused issues daily made the land uninhabitable and infertile until a safe half life had passed. Humanity was at its lowest. Some life flourished- that which was resistant to radioactivity, that which needed little food or could eat anything. The scavengers were closer to the top of the food chain than ever before. So, with swarms of displaced creatures, the few habitable areas of the world became overrun with infestations.
The hard works of the scientists produced a vaccine that would protect against covid-19, but the world was no longer as interconnected as it once was, so it became nearly impossible to distribute. Then came the wave.
People had been getting used to the deaths, but nobody was ready for THE WAVE. It was the natural consequence of the increased radiation levels, decreased sunlight, worse nutrition worldwide and cold low yield summers. The cancer wave began. There was a sudden spike in cases worldwide. Death, everywhere, humanity on it's worst moment, there was a breakthrough. A way to safely cure a person of a cancerous growth was developed after one of the few remaining scientists equipped for research in Germany with the help of a Swiss lab for additional testing, confirmed there was a common cancer factor present that allowed them to use an individual's own immune system to produce antibodies for their cancer.
But even with this, humanity was left to struggle against ignorance. The religious claimed this was proof of the apocalypse. It pretty much matched their predictions, but skeptics argued the writing on the wall about humanity was there. They argued that people had been trying to warn where humanity may end without empathy for most of the known history of mankind. They argued that war, sickness, death, and all sorts of other terrible things were the obvious conclusions of turning a blind eye.
The only thing that humanity could agree on was that they wanted to survive. So, a new social contract was drawn up. A new government to rule what was left. They called it Elysium, and the political conservatives got angry, but after all the damage they had been accused of in 2000-2020, they were ignored.
Humanity wasn't saved, but that's a story for later.
