Food and Strife

Preface
Open Your Eyes...

         "Caesar... Caesar... Wake up, Caesar"
         Caesar's eyes opened slowly. An angelic light flooded his vision then cleared away. The dingy details of his bleak living room materialized before him.
         "the ration trucks are outside, hurry up."
         Caesar rose to his feet, shook off the exhaustion and begun his journey towards the doorway.
         The Sun's light filtered trough the clouds, Caesar tried to remember the last time he saw the sun shine. He came to the conclusion that last summer was the last time anyone saw the sun for what it was. the skies had never been the same since the Midwest ration conflicts lead to the burning of the governments wheat fields.
         a sharp pain invaded his reflections. Quickly he noticed the inviting gleam off the ration tin, resting at his feet.
         "That's the last of 'em!" Shouted the uniformed man hanging from the back of the ration truck. His knuckles white with fear as he clung to the grip of the automatic in his hand as if he were out at sea and it gun was a life raft.
         The sea of citizens released a frightening roar fueled by hunger and anger.
         The uniformed man clicked the button on his walkie and shouted something into it. But the deafening anger of the crowd washed away any evidence of actual words coming out of his mouth. However, someone must have heard it because the truck jerked to a start and sped away from the crowd.
         Caesar, at this point, was just falling into his couch with an eye on the ration tin that had greeted him so pleasantly. His girlfriend stood at the window.
         "All those hungry people and no food for any of them."
         Caesar walked up behind her. "They aren't the only ones," talking in a tone trying to comfort her, "without food in this city."
         She retaliated, "That does not justify us eating and them starving!"
         "US and THEM you are about to lecture me on our attempts to survive yet you label the people of this community as THEM?" attempting to catch her off balance, "I know the next words out of your mouth are going to be you should think about the community as a whole and not stuff you face with that chemical riddled freeze-dried crap! You should help them!. But Julie, who is going to help them when we starve to death. I know it might sound self-centered, but if we don't survive, that is two less people that could help out everyone else."
         Sitting down he continues, "Don't get me wrong, you are a saint for always caring for those who do not share this dwelling with us. Just look how you gave your only ration to that lady with the two kids last week. that was amazing."
         After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he continued again,"I want to help them as much as you do, and i will, as soon as we get on our feet."
         "When will that be, Caesar? We get less and less food each time the Ration trucks come around. the country is running out of food."

Chapter 1
Unfolding the Empty Napkin

         For the first four centuries of their history the American people were a race saturated in pride and bathed in the idea of invincibility. They had conquered all social standards, the only thing standing in their way was their constricting national borders.
         Those were broadened only after the Chicago bombings. Only then did the American people moved freely between the arctic tundras and the rain forests of Brazil. Passports were only needed to travel to Europe, and to move west over the Pacific was made illegal in the early years of the hunger conflicts.
         With their strengthened pride and sense of security behind the strongest military force in the world they marched their armies unopposed through much of the neighboring lands until they were content with their new found territory.
         With the expanded boarders the American people found more room than they knew what to do with. They expanded their cities. Railroads, highways, and massive airports grew at an exponential rate and those who owned the mass transportation and construction companies became very wealthy. Building structures upward until they scrapped the sky. When those buildings reached their limit the only other option was outward. Cities expanded for miles. Soon there after the lines between cites were indistinguishable.
         Before anyone could see what the side effects. Land became a premium. The idea of country-sides became figments of lore.