Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday

Since his childhood, Ray's beachside neighborhood was a very quiet and relaxed place, populated by no one but a handful of surfers, stoners and retirees. Over the last few years, Ray has noticed an uncomfortable uptick in both temperature and population. Pollution and toxicity elsewhere in the world are pushing the populous towards the remaining safe zones. This is no coincidence. Back in 2027, the UAC developed a groundbreaking fuel called Nukage - it was seen as the savior humanity was waiting for. The need for oil and petroleum virtually vanished overnight. It was as if all of the shareholders saw this coming, as they all had huge stocks in the UAC well before the downfall of crude oil. That was 10 years ago. All the attention in the advertising campaigns was placed on how long a small amount of Nukage can keep your car, home or spacecraft powered, while little mind was paid to it's destructive side-effects. The UAC denied that Nukage had anything to do with the rapidly deteriorating ecosystem, even going so far as to hire their own "scientists", who conducted "research" and found that it was much safer than any other fuel source known to man. Ray had been following the story closely as soon as Nukage started to pick up popularity. He was always skeptical about it's supposedly low eco footprint. After everyone switched to Nukage, his neighborhood continually got hotter, the water kept getting more polluted, and nothing was being done about it. On one particularly hot day, when Ray was in a particularly shitty mood, he decided to head to one of the UAC offices and talk to someone about this potentially deadly problem looming over him and all the local residents. Unfortunately, Ray had been on a week-long bender just before his sudden urge to save his neighborhood struck. With his heavy boots strapped on and an even heavier head, Ray stepped outside to wait for a bus inland so he could give the UAC a stern talking to and finger-wagging. After his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, he realized he wasn't looking at normal people in the street - His old neighbors were outside on the corner, feasting upon each other's flesh. He glanced around and saw a troop of soldiers heading in, and for a brief moment he was relieved, until they began firing upon the zombified civilians, ripping their limbs off and gnawing at the raw meat. Ray knew immediately that it was the late-stage effects of the Nukage. He was one of the few people who had always refused to drive a Nukage powered car, which was probably why he was - hopefully - not yet infected. Ray zipped back inside and locked the door behind him. Rubbing his forehead, he quickly decided that his only chance at survival was to fight. Ray had spent a few years in jail in his youth and during that time he became very talented with a knife, so his first instinct was to grab his sharpest blade and holster it. He then reached under his bed and pulled out a rifle, the only firearm he owned. "This will have to do", he muttered to himself, eyes still dry and tired from his dreadful hangover. Ray sits on the edge of his bed and takes one last extended shot from his flask. His gaze becomes locked on his knife for a moment and he realizes it is the only friend he can be sure is still around. Slowly and painfully, Ray stands up and prepares to dive into the fray and save what's left of humanity. His mission is to travel to and destroy the heart of UAC operations, and hopefully get back home in time for supper.