It was a cold Christmas morning. Tommy was outside playing with his new remote control truck. His father Charles laughed as the boy jumped around excitedly. It was one of the only days the hard-working guy had had off all year.
Being in Washington DC wasn't the easiest. But Charles didn't join secret service to live a leisurely lifestyle. He loved Tommy like his own child and he loved his wife, Kathleen. Most of all, Charles loved his job because it made him feel like he was protecting his country.
That's why Charles laughed without any care at all on that Christmas day. He didn't hear the signal that would change the world. Nor did anyone notice the clicking sounds far underground as the wheels set in motion began to turn.
Moments after the routine daily nuclear sequence shift, a technician registered numerous flashing lights on an alarm monitor.
"Alert: Code White! Am I in Blue!?" demanded the technician through his headset...
A fevered voice responded "Negative, Hunt, you are in Red! Stay online for abort sequence in 10..."
Facilities housing 4800 nuclear warheads simultaneously locked down across the entire nation. The code initiating this sequence had been clear. All warheads were to be launched in an end-of-world last measures scenario. With no abort sequence ready, 30 seconds passed.
A rogue signal had penetrated one of the old silos beneath DC via an old vent pipe.
Less than ninety seconds after the signal was initiated, the first Russian warheads began to prime. Diplomats from both Nations began a furious dialogue, the US claiming a technical fault. But negotiations fell to shreds as the US warheads were spotted by Russian spy satellites blasting off across the US. Russian nukes emerged across the entire North side of the continent. North Korean, Chinese, European missiles soon followed suite.
Within the depths of the planet, the last remaining computer specialists were never able to devise the origin of the signal that caused the nuclear Apocalypse.
A battery within the remote control had surged. The signal was amplified by a thousand times and the water drain provided a perfect channel for the signal to travel. Whether the Chinese manufacturer intended this function or not, the Chinese really were to blame for the end of the world that day.