Year 2020 #2 Year 2021 #3 — Author Unknown

#2 2020 John is a Class C citizen in the Federation that has taken the place of the United States in a future that might yet be. Everything is controlled, and those who don't fit into the narrow mindset are re-educated, sent away to the war on the African Front, or simply executed by hired killers. Crippled in the alleged accident that killed his family, John lives on the fringe, holding onto his independence of mind and constantly running the risk of being punished and re-educated. Memories of his near-brushes with death haunt him. His Uncle Albert, supposedly the only family he has, is a man of mystery and power, and he sends for John to join him in a hidden, secret military base on the eve of what will eventually be called simply Destruction. There, Albert and John follow through with a carefully designed plan that will let a select few survive, to emerge into the world of the future. The question is whether any of them deserve to live. #3 2021 Bill is relegated to Class C because he won't let the Federation determine how he thinks, what he values. Then his friend John sends him a warning that reaches him just hours before Destruction overtakes the world he knows. That warning saves his life. Unlike those around him, Bill knows how to think for himself, and that makes all the difference in the frantic race away from the spreading wake of Destruction. On his journey of survival, he picks up one refugee after another, and finds himself in charge of a growing community. The simple expedient of putting on a discarded uniform because he needs warm clothes turns him into Major Bill, giving him the authority he needs to protect the people who depend on him. It doesn't help make the brutal decisions any easier, and Bill becomes a man he never intended to be-but the man that this small remnant of civilization needs if they are to survive.