THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS<br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 36pt;"><strong> The Quiet Earth </strong></span></div><br/><br/>On the 17th of March 10:22 PM EST the world changed. Eight Billion people disappeared leaving behind fewer than 10,000 humans on the planet. In the United States the human population was 427. Five years later, most of the population lives in two small communities, one in Tracey California and on in Somerset Kentucky. Still there are others in small groups or on their own, surviving, rebuilding unaware that a conflict of ideology is brewing and for one small group of people the world was about to become a bigger place.<br/><br/><br/><br/><div align="center"><strong> So what happened to everyone else?</strong></div><br/><br/>Well something obviously did? The survivors have come up with hundreds of theories as to what happened, some have even unknowingly guessed correctly however, for almost everyone ,not being able to prove anything most people quickly moved on from this type of speculation and simply began to deal with their new reality. However that doesn't mean an answer hasn't been found..................no still not saying what it is, that will be uncovered 'in story'<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong> So why did some people not disappear? </strong></div><br/>Good question when the answer to what happened it will become clearer as to why those who didn't disappear ...didn't<br/><br/>Suffice it to say , if it had been possible to gather all humans in one place, two things would have become immediately clear.<br/><br/>One, there were a lot more females than males , almost 90 percent of the population was female.<br/>Two, there were no children or old people. The youngest was a newly turned 16 year old boy in England the oldest a 48 year old man in France Female ages ranged form 18 to 37.<br/><br/>There would have been a few sisters, fewer mothers and daughters, and even fewer fathers and sons. There would have been no brothers and no Fathers with Daughters or Mothers with Son's.<br/><br/>For the vast majority of those who remained they were alone in their extended families. What was less obvious thou no less important all the people who remained were very fertile and free of the cancer gene.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong> So just humans disappeared?</strong></div><br/><br/>Yes, all animals remained in place , after five years , those domesticated animals (cats and dogs)not directly in the care of humans have gone feral. Packs of dogs roam the country holding territory when they can and moving to new territory when they can't. The population of wild animals has exploded , some like deer and wild pigs are game for humans to hunt, while others like bears and wolves will see humans as a food source.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>So infrastructure stayed in place?</strong></div><br/>Yes, for the most part. When people disappeared that meant , for example, a lot of empty airplanes in the sky, or empty cars driving at speed until they more often then not hit something.<br/><br/>Without humans to maintain the system , the power grid started to collapse almost immediately , within 48 hours it was completely offline. Storm water systems and sewage systems stopped working and it didn't take much for minor storms to cause significant flooding While safety protocols managed to safely shutdown most of the industry and all of Nuclear Power stations, not all industrial plants simply shut off, there were massive explosions that damaged the surrounding infrastructure. After 5 years the cities would be completely uninhabitable and a journey (if one was to take it) from the west coast to the east coast would require a boat as much as a car.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>So what about these two communities? </strong></div><br/><br/>In Tracey the population as at day 1982 (The day of the disappearance is referred to as day 1) stands at 572. Fifteen adult males, 162 adult females and 395 children. The community started shortly after the first 2 months and built up quickly. Realizing that males were rare they formed aa ruling council of ten with two spots reserved for males.<br/><br/>This created tension in the community as men were seen with proportionately more power than females. A revolt (peaceful) removed the male reserved seats and the community never elected a male on to the council again. Men do all the heavy work and have no choice as to who they breed with. Men are not allowed to carry guns and can only leave the compound with at least six women.<br/><br/>In Somerset Kentucky the population on day 1982 is 621 , 22 adult males, 194 adult females and 405 children. The community started six months after the disappearance.  With a starting population of 30 , evenly split between males and females. This allowed males to step into positions of authority and while the vast majority of newcomers to the community where female , the control of the community remained with the men.<br/><br/>Like in Tracey men do the heavy work however they also make the decisions and they have established partners and are effectively a series of family groups lead by a male head of the house. Women can leave the compound and often do with out males however there is safety in numbers  and they always venture into the wider world in groups.<br/><br/>It should be noted that the children are closer to a 50 50 gender split with there being slightly more girls than boys in both communities.<br/><br/>The two communities are aware of each other and for a short time traded skills and products, but the differences between the treatment of men and women created tensions and the two groups have had no contact with each other in over a year<br/><br/>