21st Century Breakdown Intro

(Song of the Century)

The decrepit TV flickered on. The static was loud, but sounded as though it was  searching for a signal. A blurry image of a man flashed upon the screen. His fuzzy silhouette began to sing.

Sing us the song of the century,
Louder than bombs and eternity,
The era of static and contraband,
Leading us into the promise land,

Tell us a story that's by candlelight,
Waging a war and losing the fight,

This is a song of the century,
Panic and promise and prosperity,

Tell me a story into goodnight
Sing us a song,
For me

And then just like that, the image was gone, just like the world. Just like everyone else.


(21st Century Breakdown)

Christian Alvarez worked. Being 2093, he thanked God everyday for his job. No one had work anymore. At least not in Territory X.
Ever since the War of the U.S., well, everything had been renamed changed. No more states, cities, and capitals. Only 26 Territories. Each with a "Head" government. In reality, no one governed. No one had control over the future. The entire world was headed for a 3rd  World War, like the ones hundreds of years ago that he had read about in school, by the following year. Others moved away from Territory X to find work or money, the only work and money in Territory X were "governmental" positions. Either you worked and had the big fancy apartment and money given to you by the government or you had absolutely nothing. You had no home. Most of the homeless people in all of the Territories were part of a resistance group entitled "The Underground". No one knew much about them, but then again, no one who worked for the government had ever joined them. They didn't want you to know their secrets then go into rebellion with others. The people of The Underground had to hide. Or the Peacemakers would get them. The Peacemakers could do anything to anyone, and would always get away with it. It didn't matter if you were a white guy or a black girl. If you did not look like what the government called "standard", they could get you. The Head offices paid the Peacemakers enough to keep them happy. So, the Peacemakers did enough to keep Head offices happy. No middle class. Just the brainwashed worker drones and the rebellious. The majority if the population thought this was alright. Maybe because they had been brainwashed since infancy they didn't notice all of the pain and suffering surrounding them anymore.
Christian wasn't. He saw it. He tried to ignore it like his colleagues, but he still witnessed it. He realized the document called the Constitution that said everyone was free and had rights wasn't abided by anymore. As Christian walked into the Head office building for Territory X, also known as 25, he had one thought and one thought only. In the "land of the free", there was no freedom anymore. Freedom only came in the form of rebelling.