Revised:
After the collapse and reduction, there were not enough people left to rebuild the way things were before.
What we could rebuild was... different.
There were some small improvements:
Without a power grid to light up the night sky, the stars were easier to see.
The obesity epidemic wasn't a problem anymore.
There were no more traffic jams, and pollution wasn't really a concern.
Other than that, life was ghastly and bleak in almost every way.
Scattered families scratched out lives, hid from thugs and roving bands of Skullers.
One night, Autumn, a resilient girl in an impossible situation, made a simple choice that drastically altered the course of many lives.
She decided to run.