The orange sunset glow poured over the city’s ruins across the empty landscape. Young Max was making his way through the rubble with a grim determination written all over his face. He was set on discovering the rumored abandoned laboratory on the outskirts of town.

He thought about the world before as he trudged through the ruins. He had heard tales about cars that drove themselves, airplanes, and cities that soared into the clouds. He had fantasized about such a world his whole life, but as he became older, he realized that his future would look nothing like what anyone had predicted.

Max has always been interested in the world before the calamity and the technological progress that was made before it. He had grown up in a post-apocalyptic world where society had been devastated by a catastrophic event. People had a hard time making ends meet because supplies were limited. Like many other communities at the time, his relied on foraging and hunting to get by.

Nearing the city limits, he saw a glimmer of light out in the distance. His pace intensified and he soon came upon a derelict structure. Faded letters read “Lab-13” on the door. His pulse quickened as he opened the door. The room included a fully operational computer and a treasure trove of historical data.

Max was completely taken aback by his good fortune. He had found what he had been looking for by happenstance. He spent hours pouring over the information, learning about the past and the advancements that had been made before the disaster. But as he dug further and further into the database, he found something that would alter the course of his life profoundly.

The global catastrophe wasn’t caused by natural forces, but by a botched scientific experiment.