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Setting: Boston in After Tomorrow
When the rift opened at MIT on January 10, 2009, Boston and its suburbs were quickly evacuated. This proved fortunate, for when the rift accelerated global warming and the polar ice caps began to melt, much of Boston was flooded. The storms that followed caused even more destruction, virtually leveling the downtown area and collapsing the subway system. The John Hancock Tower and the Prudential Center, which dominated Boston's skyline, both toppled. The Museum of Science and the Aquarium were swallowed by the waters, as was part of Boston Garden. When the waters receded, Boston Commons and the Public Gardens grew at an incredible rate, overrunning their boundaries and turning the area into a virtual wilderness.
The few people that remained in Boston by this point vanished as the portals opened, leaving the city empty -- until the portals reopened and transported new people to the area. The floods and storms had left the city devastated. Major roadways were collapsed or blocked by rubble, cutting of parts of the city from each other.
There are three major areas where people have gathered, largely depending on where the portals deposited them. Special teams from the United States and Britain were sent to Boston as well, congregating at MIT, ground zero of the disaster.
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rests on the banks of the Charles River, but the force of the rift kept the campus from being flooded entirely by the rising waters. Subsequent storms and blizzards did some damage, however, but most buildings remain habitable. Memorial Drive and the Harvard Bridge were lost to the storms and floods. The third and fourth floors of the Green Center for Physics were destroyed when the rift opened, and the nearby buildings suffered structural damage as well.
UMass Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston suffered considerably more damage from the flooding, but once the waters receded, some buildings were still left standing. The Campus Center, Wheatley Hall, and the JFK Museum are all submerged. The top floors of the Science Center and Healey Library are relatively intact, and while the Columbia-Harbor Point Apartment Housing Complex suffered a great deal of water damage, the apartments are mostly habitable.
The Back Bay Fens/Northeastern University
The Back Bay area was largely built on a landfill. Further inland than MIT or UMass, it did not suffer nearly as much flooding damage, but a good deal of the landfill collapsed, destroying buildings and making roads impassable. The Museum of Fine Arts still stands, but the Longwood Medical Center is in ruins, collapsed into salty marshes. The YMCA remains habitable.
The few people that remained in Boston by this point vanished as the portals opened, leaving the city empty -- until the portals reopened and transported new people to the area. The floods and storms had left the city devastated. Major roadways were collapsed or blocked by rubble, cutting of parts of the city from each other.
There are three major areas where people have gathered, largely depending on where the portals deposited them. Special teams from the United States and Britain were sent to Boston as well, congregating at MIT, ground zero of the disaster.
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rests on the banks of the Charles River, but the force of the rift kept the campus from being flooded entirely by the rising waters. Subsequent storms and blizzards did some damage, however, but most buildings remain habitable. Memorial Drive and the Harvard Bridge were lost to the storms and floods. The third and fourth floors of the Green Center for Physics were destroyed when the rift opened, and the nearby buildings suffered structural damage as well.
UMass Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston suffered considerably more damage from the flooding, but once the waters receded, some buildings were still left standing. The Campus Center, Wheatley Hall, and the JFK Museum are all submerged. The top floors of the Science Center and Healey Library are relatively intact, and while the Columbia-Harbor Point Apartment Housing Complex suffered a great deal of water damage, the apartments are mostly habitable.
The Back Bay Fens/Northeastern University
The Back Bay area was largely built on a landfill. Further inland than MIT or UMass, it did not suffer nearly as much flooding damage, but a good deal of the landfill collapsed, destroying buildings and making roads impassable. The Museum of Fine Arts still stands, but the Longwood Medical Center is in ruins, collapsed into salty marshes. The YMCA remains habitable.
