There was no collision with Planet X, no trumpets sounding to signal the end, nor was there a mass rapture that lifted the believers to heaven.
It simply happened; the world ceased to exist.
But, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't really the world that ceased to exist - only the countless lives of those in the United States. Some might pity them but they should be considered the 'lucky' ones; they weren't given the impossible task to live after the end came and went.
There had been signs, troubling stories of war that were glazed over for breaking celebrity secrets and presidential blunders that had to be shared. Between all of them, there were threats pouring in from various countries all directed at the United States. Something about tariffs, bans on trading, denuclearization, illegal seizure of land, to name a few - some were true, others false but the American people cared very little. They had heard it all before and ultimately, it would settle down as things tend to do.
Finally the largest threat came from North Korea, backed by China to protect its own, but even with the risk of nuclear annihilation: few took it seriously. The military generals were briefed and certainly there was a few crazies preparing for the end but no one expected it would come so soon.
Marshall, a high school student and outcast from Seattle, didn't concern himself with the news. As most teenagers went, he was relatively typical: homework, video games and friends ruled his life. But when a frantic call from his mother comes in, Marshall realizes how much danger he's in a moment too late.Screams and explosions are the last of the noise he hears from her side of the line before it goes dead. He rushes downstairs to his basement and minutes later, he feels shockwaves rip through his home followed by what would become a waking nightmare. People screaming, animals howling, raid sirens blaring, voices from everywhere trying to calm the chaos but they were short-lived. Hours turned to days before Marshall dared to emerge, into the 'new' normal world following nuclear devastation. His home had been raided, his family nowhere in sight and the outside world looked no better. Houses had crumbled, dead bodies littered the ground and the air was covered in a thin layer of gray ash and fallout.
In total, thirteen nuclear bombs had been dropped on the United States and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to recover. But there was talk among the people that rescue was happening but it wouldn't last forever: head to Florida for safety and, hopefully, rescue.
And with nothing left for him, Marshall knows he has no choice.
But there are things that Marshall can't run from, things that make him question his humanity such as his insatiable hunger but he won't be alone on his journey. Hundreds of thousands join in the quest for hope, spreading out into small groups traveling at various places, all in different directions, some seeking families and friends while others seek the unknown, no direction, no purpose. Among these numerous people, Marshall meets a girl just as strange in this new world as she was in the old one. She was a vagabond, a self-proclaimed child of the Earth...a hippie girl named Tranquil. She, too, seeks hope for rescue but she refuses to go it alone.
With Marshall at her side, the two will make what seems to be an endless journey on foot across the United States, witnessing some of the worst that humanity has to offer in the desolate ruins. Broken Mirrors tells a sobering story of the different methods of survival and the potential devastation of a full-blown nuclear attack on an unprepared country. All that's left are the rippling effects of those left behind with nothing more than a whispered rumor of a promise land somewhere across the country over 3,000 miles away.