In the year 2038, the United States was in the midst of a great war. Three years earlier, all the world's oil had run out. The Persian Gulf? Dry. The Gulf of Mexico? Dry. Even Canada and the Arctic were dry. As a result, a major economic collapse occured in a world that depended highly on oil. Eventually this caused various countries to being to turn on each other. World War Three broke out shortly after.
In the midst of this, William Garcia was just your average 40-year-old bus driver living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He managed to get by using alternative fuels, but the cost was bleeding him dry. The taxes that were threatening to break the nation apart were also harming his finances, and he was losing more money than he was making.
While he was glad that he didn't have to actually be in the war, he was still very depressed. "The environment's falling apart, everyone is at war, the economy is terrible...why did I have to be dropped in the middle of this? Why me?" William groaned.
After dinner with his son, Lucas, William decided to just turn in for the night. He figured he would feel better and be able to sort things out after a good night's sleep. Either that, or he'd just wait for another grueling day of bad luck.
A bit after midnight, William heard a loud noise out the side of a window, accompanied with a bright light. Upon instinct, William thought it was a car. But then he remembered that only the rich owned cars these days. The streets were pretty empty at night.
He still decided to shrug it off, but the light stayed. Eventually, he got annoyed and went downstairs to figure out what was going on. "Hey, can you stop it with the lights? Some people are trying to sleep here..." he yelled.
But, when he got to the street and had a closer look at the source of light, he was stunned.
It was a portal.