With the Earth's supply of natural gas nearly depleted and gasoline prices topping $58.99 per gallon, a worldwide scramble began for new sources of energy. Generous research grants from the federal government and Nanosoft, the only remaining commercial software company, led to the completion of the world's first fusion reactor, located the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For weeks, the reactor provided enough energy to power the entire nation while the rest of the world underwent several unsuccessful attempts at containing a nuclear fusion reaction. Although MIT's fusion reactor was heavily guarded, a lone Serbian spy (disguised as a student) infiltrated the outer defenses and entered the reactor complex by traveling via an ancient network of steam tunnels. The spy was about to diagram the reactor system when he realized that he forgot his writing materials at home. After a frantic search through his backpack, he discovered a bologna and cheese sandwich. He quickly disassembled the sandwich and carved with his fingernail a schematic diagram for the reactor into a piece of cheese.

The spy returned to Serbia, where he was diagnosed with radiation sickness. At the time, his country lacked the resources to build a fusion reactor from the information he stole. Desperate for money to pay for his medical expenses, he sold his piece of cheese to Russia. Within six months, Russian scientists and engineers constructed a fusion reactor based on the spy's notes. The powering-up of Russia's fusion reactor was televised globally, and the whole world watched as the blinding white blaze as the power plant exploded. The explosion created a 200 mile wide crater in the Earth and released a radioactive cloud that encompassed the planet in several hours. Within a few, humanity perished.

Under the extreme heat of the explosion, the DNA left by the spy on the piece of cheese fused with the surrounding cheese molecules, forming the first living cheese call. Boosted by the energy of the explosion, the cell underwent rapid mitotic division. Shortly after the last human died, a giant half-cheese, half-human creature emerged from the crater to witness similar beings crawling out of the remains of a nearby cheese factory. The cheese mutants immediately noticed similarities and differences amongst themselves, especially in color, texture, and flavor. Similar cheese mutants united and denounced others as inferior. This small group of mutants was unaware that the same thing was happening to other groups of mutant cheese near the site of the explosion. The mutants congregated into armies and claimed land for their own use. Soon, however, all land was claimed, and no army's appetite for territory was satisfied. Thus, the battles began!

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