Not long after the tragedy, it was released that similar events happened all over the country. The news was filled with reports of the government's plans for action. No one knew what had caused all of this destruction, and at first, there was speculation that other countries were using a new weapon of mass destruction unlike ever seen before, but was quickly disproven by lack of any conclusive radar evidence or foreign chatter. Furthermore, it appears that not a single military facility was explicitly targeted, although some were caught up in the damage.

A few weeks following, evacuation zones were set up to merge the survivors into safer areas that the government believed would be at a lower risk of being targeted, leaving the so-called, “areas of destruction” left off limits to anyone, including any operations from any government branch. 

Just a few days after the evacuation zone borders were set and evacuations were completed, the president of the country announced details far beyond anyone's abilities at speculation: Gods caused this destruction. Immediately after the damage was done, the military was rendered helpless as the president was held hostage by the gods force, and an entire cabinet of political officials were killed in cold blood, rendering the nation helpless. The government released that the Gods had only a few terms; that any action must not be taken in these destruction zones, including any military action, or else the entire country would be wiped out. As part of the terms, borders would be drawn and heavily enforced, cutting off the evacuation sites and zones of destruction from the rest of the country leaving them in the hands of the gods, or, essentially without any support. The country was essentially forced to pardon the acts of aggression of the gods even with no explanation for why the aggression ever took place to begin with. This left the evacuation zones with little to no government assistance due to this policy and the zones of destruction completely devoid of human life. 

Shelters were quickly set up by the surviving residents of the city that were outside of the destruction zone, now in the evacuation zone. It was difficult without any government aid but with the tireless efforts of many individuals, the evacuation zone was able to build itself up in its survival efforts, creating a semblance of self sufficiency that they hoped would keep them covered until the events, beyond anyone's abilities at comprehension, blew over. 

A black market quickly took over to help fill the needs of the cut off population, smuggling in goods from the outside world, the largest import by far being food and medications. Although not technically illegal, with the policies in place by the government and the agreement with the gods, it was a severe grey area and was often punishable by the government in the fear that these actions may aggravate the higher beings.

Even a few weeks later, no one yet knows the gods' motives.

* * *

I wake up screaming, something of a common occurrence ever since I made my way to the evacuation zone. Living in constant chaos is generally not good for the heart. It is a weird thing that I can never remember the events of my dreams shortly after waking up, but am left with a simple feeling of what happened, like a word on the tip of my tongue. 

I lie in the tattered sleeping bag and wrapped up jacket serving as my pillow and contemplate my reality. Everyday I wake up, the negative thoughts surrounding being a victim of this whole ordeal strikes me, and I let it happen every single time. My days consist largely of hanging around the “dehomed” shelters, they have begun calling them. I suppose they pity us differently than the homeless. It is a strange thing that even though we in the evacuation sites are cutoff from the rest of the world, we are even further cut off from the destruction zones. That is why I am no longer allowed to live in my apartment, which is right on the border of these zones. 

I’ve fallen into a bit of a depressive pit following all of these changes. I felt like even if I was doing a dead end job before that I would always be able to plan an escape into the life I actually wanted to live. That idea was crushed in my head the day all of this happened. There is nothing for me but this shelter. There is no help. 

Refusing to wake up in this reality, I stubbornly shut my eyes again, falling asleep as quickly as I had awakened.

I repeat this cycle countless times until my body almost feels sore to continue lying down, and I am forced to right my body. Still, I opt to sit up in my sleeping space, rather than involve myself in the world around me. I ignore the open room I am in, full of other similar sleeping bag setups where the other de-homed were sleeping, although it's now well past noon and almost no one is on the floor around me. My eyes are rather forced to take notice of the people bustling around me out of boredom.