The War was lost before it began. Mankind wouldn't know what hit us until it was too late. No one expected this to happen once the Nuclear Fallout Treaty was signed, they figured WWIII would have been the last great war... little did they know The War would eclipse all previous human wars.
We thought it was a black hole at first. We first noticed it at the peak of the war as nuclear winter began setting in the big cities, or what were the big cities. As they became surrounded by darkness and radiation and interference, it became the job of the rural scientists and astronomers to monitor space and the effects our nuclear bombs as they kept going off. Even though we stopped bombing each other and peace was reached, no amount of unity would give hope to winning The War, we lost those chances once the first nukes of WWIII were dropped. Not only did we begin to kill ourselves and weaken our defenses, we lit the beacons as mushroom clouds covered the earth.
Once a majority of the capitols were taken out and the political uprisings produced new leaders mankind decided to call for destruction of all nuclear weapons and they decided to fire them all into the black hole. As the nuclear weapons were discarded it was found the black hole was moving, and coming closer to Earth. Many still believed in the possibility of extra-terrestrial life and it was decided that a small percentage of the remaining nuclear weapons be held on reserve in case it was ever deemed necessary to use for intergalactic defense. The reserve would be too little too late.
When what was formerly known as the United States was preparing for a regularly scheduled nuclear discharge it was noticed that the black hole had vanished, only to have another found but even closer to Earth. It was decided to continue all discharging into the new found black hole. Only this time the bombs didn't reach the black hole.
As far as the public knew at the time, it was a technical malfunction in space craft electronics that caused the detonation. The enhanced recordings and pictures that the government kept secret showed the cloaked alien craft emerging from the black hole and firing upon the space craft carrying the nuclear arms. The government believed the two black holes and the alien craft to be linked somehow and to prevent backlash and loss of support from the remaining human population they did not release their findings until the threat became real and the aliens attacked. Those that still remember first contact will know that what we thought would be over quickly was only truly the beginning. As the aliens came to Earth they arrived with hostility, however with the aid of Earth's newfound treaties and the new United Earth Corps their hostility came to a forceful end without the use of the nuclear reserves. However the reserves wouldn't last long.
The symptoms of The Illness were not uncommon from the normal ailments most humans suffer from and it is one reason that many believe it was able to get through military checks. Those that had The Illness were all cleared by the physicians being documented as suffering from common human afflictions such as influenza, the common cold, diabetes, cancer, and radiation poisoning (recently considered as a common malady due to the nuclear war). They had no idea that The Illness was a new monster that would act as a parasite to the common viruses and afflicted cells of those that were sick and mutate their afflictions.
The Illness spread like wildfire in Europe where First Contact was made, starting with France and spreading East. As Paris was overran by the living dead that were affected by The Illness it was decided that it must destroyed to slowdown the spread and the nuclear reserves were tapped. How soon would it be until it was realized our nuclear blasts served as beacons to these extra-terrestrial beings, that these black holes were really portals to their universe? Not soon enough.
