By late fall of 2012 the bees were declared extinct. A laundry list of factors caused their demise; Global Warming, Colony Collapse Disorder, Cell-phone Magnetic Field Disruptions, Genetically Modified Crops, Over-farming, Hive Transportation, Pesticides, Insecticides, Varroa Mites - The Human Footprint. We destroyed their ecosystem and their extinction destroyed ours. Scientists could do nothing to save them, us. Food shortages skyrocketed. Countries stopped exporting food. Mass starvation, starting in the third world and under developed countries and spreading throughout the global community began. Worldwide recessions helped plunge the world into further darkness. without enough food and essential animal feed, livestock began dying off in droves as well, exacerbating the food problem. Some turned to cannibalism in desperate hours.
People were dying too quickly to keep up with in most countries, especially the densely populated. It became too much to keep up with. Bacterial and viral strains fed hungrily on those left in shallow pits, piled one on top of each other. They quickly mutated into stronger more resistant to our available medicines. The death pits also bred new horror, contaminating fresh water sources. Soon what used to be skirmishes over lakes and streams became full blown wars between tribes, cities and countries. Terrorists and Marauders took full advantage of the chaos. Doomsday preachers, cults, mass cult suicides, uprising and revolutions, it was mankind's way of dealing with the end times.
World War Three, for lack of a better term, officially started May 5th, 2013 but the world had been at war long before then. No one knows to this day how the world powers managed to avoid nuclear annihilation. Perhaps the world leaders didn't want to be the ones to finish the apocalyptic job already in progress. After a seven year reign of war, the Proclamation of Peace was signed by the remaining world powers on March 16th, 2020. Countries were in shambles, 99% of the world's human population were dead. Countries were reshaped, hope was almost as extinct as the honeybee.
It's been 150 years since the bees went extinct. Governments have reformed and are warring still over land and water. The US has split into two separate countries. Most towns and cities are fortified in some way to protect their water sources and any crops they can grow. Though there is democracy in the USEA, the military is really in control and their presences is known and respected. They're in charge of supplies and goods coming in and out of each town and all the towns' communications centers, hospitals, etc. Some are grateful for their governing, others are resentful. Some are deeply religious, some atheists. Nomadic tribes still roam the lands, some associated with other countries and regions, some associated to no one but themselves, all looking to ransack, pillage and destroy the cities they come across in their journeys. We survived the apocalypse, maybe we'll survive each other. Welcome to Sinai.