It is December 2014, and the sunny - if brisk - afternoon is suddenly rocked by a powerful explosion in front of a New Delhi hotel frequented by diplomats and government officials. First responders rush to the scene, only for a second carbomb to detonate and kill them as well. Forty people have died in seven minutes before multiple explosions go off in other parts of the city. Groups of gunmen, scattered around important and recognizable places, open fire on groups of police and civilians. New Delhi is thrown into an anarchic chaos for seven days, as coordinated attacks kill almost four hundred and wound four times as many. This is the most brutal terrorist attack since 2008 in Mumbai: an operation that took five years to plan and prepare for. The country is still reeling from the attacks before intelligence suggests that the attackers came from Pakistan. The tension is suddenly escalated between the two nations that are, on a good day, holding guns to each others' temples.

Two days later, four Pakistani villagers were shot dead by an Indian soldier on patrol in the area in the Kashmir. Official coverups suggested that they were Pakistani infiltrators, similar to a situation in 2010. However, this turned out to be a revenge killing: the Pakistani government finds out and immediately mobilizes troops to reclaim the Kashmir Valley and "ensure stability for the citizens who reside there." India sends troops to the valley in turn, and soon enough Pakistani troops are ordered into action to prevent unrest. The first shots are fired on New Year's Day of 2015 as Pakistani units begin their thunder run to major population centers in order to secure them. The Indo-Pakistani War of 2015 begins and fighting rages for six months before Pakistan breaks through and routs the Indians in Kashmir. What turned out to be a military victory quickly sours.

Colonel Reyhan Singh of the Indian Army held several notable anti-Pakistani views, yet still retained an almost cult-like charisma for his troops. To complicate things, he was the head of the military missile facility in the lower Himalaya mountains near Nepal. When the Indians retreated from Kashmir, Singh became concerned that the Indian government was losing control of the situation. Convinced that a Pakistani escalation was imminent, and fearing that India may lose its trump card against escalation - the nuclear weapons in the silos at his base -, Singh attempted to make a case for tactical nuclear strikes against Pakistanis in the Kashmir. Denied by higher authorities, Singh became convinced that the government was unable to control the war and barricaded himself in the base with his men. They were told that the Pakistanis were advancing before any communication to the outside world was shut off - all forces trying to enter the base were deemed hostile, as Pakistani infiltrators were now rumored to be amongst Indian units. The Army, meanwhile, began to become concerned. In August of 2015, they sent a mechanized regiment to try and enter the base to remove Singh before he did anything drastic. When negotiations broke down at the gate, the base was placed under siege.

Three days into the siege, Singh ordered troops to open fire after a special forces fireteam was shot dead at the perimeter trying to get inside. "Subversive elements are attempting to neutralize military elements crucial to Indian sovereignty, and have taken control of that regiment!" Elsewhere, Indian fighter jets with bunker-busting missiles were scrambled to try and destroy the compound's command center. Singh and his dedicated mutineers took shelter in the bunkers of the base as the perimeter became overrun. He became increasingly deluded as the firefight raged on, before finally cracking: they would need to nuke the Kashmir. When the executive officer refused to turn his key, Singh shot him and let a loyal officer take his place. Independent of higher orders, four tactical nuclear missiles were launched into the Kashmir where they impacted ten minutes later. Within the hour, Pakistan responded with its own weapons. Singh became more and more unhinged as his bunker displays showed detonations across the western border. He then proceeded to order strategic missile use on Pakistan's major cities and military bases to stop the holocaust before it escalated. He was wrong.

The missile launches were answered by a full barrage of Pakistani weapons, forcing other Indian bases to retaliate in accordance with their nuclear policy. Nuclear fire engulfed the lower half of the continent, stray missiles impacting as far west as Iran and Afghanistan. As the sun set on August 27th, India and Pakistan were in ruins. This is when China entered the country. They were officially there to provide support and humanitarian aid to the country, but with the actual goal of removing the government for its incompetency. Huge numbers of Chinese troops entered through Sikkim's borders before making their way to New Delhi as the month ended. When Singh got word of this, he mistakenly interpreted the convoys as Chinese support for Pakistan. Several minutes later, China's major cities erupted into nuclear fire while Indian Army forces began to ambush Chinese armor on the road to New Delhi. The retaliatory fire left the entirety of South Asia ablaze while thick radiation blanketed the world. The sun was blocked out by the ash, and winter descended upon the planet in the middle of summer.

It has been a year since the war, and the region is decimated. The world is reeling, and may even be destroyed itself. Nobody knows. The heavier radiation has cleared and what remains of India and Pakistan took to the streets. There was no aid. There was no support from the US or the UN. Nobody knows what happened to the outside world. But these people have one goal: to survive.