[i]The war was over. Twelve years of fighting had laid waste to the land. Twisted metal of tanks and planes scattered all around in streets and parks. The once majestic towers that were the center of the country, symbols of its political clout, its economic behemoth, its military might, were now crumbling facades of their former selves. Row after row of ruined houses, once home to mothers and fathers with two children, now abandoned to their fates. The bombed-out husks of industry that brought prosperity and destruction sitting as a reminder of what once was. The lone sound of wind whistling through man's folly, the scavengers of the air having long fled when the sirens of war first wailed through that night and have yet to return. The only activity that could be seen were those few civilians who had somehow survived and hadn't fled to the countryside, huddled around makeshift camps with fires burning whatever could be scavenged. All of them silent witness of the dogs of war.
The chaos was over, too - or at least that was what was proclaimed over the radio. The reality was more...varied. Even if this city used to hold 35 million people, just trying to maintain order in a small fraction of that with the forces we had under our command was going to be damn hard. And we still had to reconnect, rebuild, re-energize, restore, re-everything this land to what it once was. It was an insane goal - we all knew that. But we had to do it.
After all, we were at least partially responsible.[/i]