Content Warning: This section contains references to sexual violence against women, statutory rape and sexual relations between a man and an underage girl, human trafficking, brothels, sexism, misogyny, PTSD, racism, terrorism, murder, a hate crime, and stereotypes of Muslim peoples, particularly stereotypes about them being terrorists.

Pauline Green, the President of the United States, visits the US Government Archive Overflow Storage Facility #2, colloquially known by insiders as Munchkin Country. A short helicopter ride from the White House, this underground facility could house up to 100 people in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, civil unrest, or invasion that threatened the survival of the country or of humanity. The President carries “the Biscuit” in her wallet, a card with the code authorizing a nuclear attack.

The setting shifts to the Sahara desert in Chad, with Tamara Levit and passengers (Chadian driver Ali, American soldier Corporal Peter Ackerman, and attaché of the EU Mission in N’Djamena Tabdar “Tab” Sadoul) riding in an American car through this dangerous territory. They are approaching the ever-shrinking Lake Chad, whose decrease to half its size has left many on the brink of starvation.