The cost of war is not just about the money.
Towards the end of WWII, the Third Reich attempted to create a man-tree human subspecies to use in the front lines of war. However, before they could succeed, the allied forces infiltrated Germany and ended the war. US forces found hidden documents in Hitler's bunker and one particular file, named Ravensbruck, caught the lead US scientist's attention. It detailed a promising blueprint for the genetic symbiosis of two otherwise non-symbiotic living species. A species that, if successfully developed, could sway military might in the US's favor, without having to invest in costly weaponry.
However, things didn't go as the US military had planned. Although they had astounding success in producing man-tree hybrids (Gennies), they found that these beings were far from the military might they had hoped for. The US government scrapped the costly project and sold it to a private, Central Texas biotech firm called "Symbitech".
Many years following, false information and conspiracy theories began to emerge and multiply - accusing these beings of being the direct spawn of Hitler himself. This is when the ire for the "Gennies" began to cement, resulting in a dire plan to eradicate these beings from Texas by shutting down Symbitech, burning its DNA source trees, and thinning the Gennie's bloodline into non-existence.
The battle for their survival begins.