2095. France. It happened in Paris.
The sun was shining brightly that day, and people were going to work as usual. At 2:47 PM, right near the end of the shift, the primary plant of the "Your Future" series exploded, followed in rapid succession by all the others.
Within 20 minutes, the entire country was covered in a black, slick substance that corroded human skin, driving people insane and mutating them into aggressive creatures incapable of dying.
The European Union was completely unprepared. They had neither the means nor the ability to contain the fallout or evacuate the population. One by one, nations gave up on offering aid, realizing how hopeless the situation was.
And so, amid continuous conflict, rejections, and infighting, the European Union dissolved, followed shortly by NATO.
Meanwhile, at the independent Anon Corporation, a local scientist discovered that the infection was airborne. They volunteered to try and resolve the crisis, and remarkably, they found a way to evacuate the remaining healthy citizens of France, sealing off the infected country beneath a massive dome.
Over time, the Global Mutual Assistance Pact (GMAP) emerged to replace both the European Union and NATO. They threw all their resources into helping AnonCorp continue managing the aftermath.