Twelve years have passed since the blood of the Puritan was spilled across the land. Those that chose to battle the tyranny that had crept ever closer to the hearts and minds of men.
Women. Our children.
They tasted victory, but not without paying a horrible price. A land of billions, now measured a few hundred million at best.
Life on Earth is but a ruin of what once was. There are cities, but shadows of themselves. Beaten, broken… left destitute and breathless by the war that ended all war.
What began with an attack on the District of Columbia during the much publicized Bilderberg Conference, quickly escalated into global chaos. Some say there were bombs. Others, multiple jetliners used as delivery devices. The only sure thing? – no one knows with any certainty.
What we do know, is the virus was deadly and did its job quickly silently and efficiently. Within 24 hours, reports aired documenting the sudden flu-like illness that had taken hold of Washington.
Emergency Broadcast Repeaters roared into operation, parroting government orders. “Stay in your Homes. The District is now under Martial Law. Disobedience will be met with Lethal Force.
Stay in your homes…”
Air raid sirens wailed like banshees, seemingly from all directions. Confusion reigned, as many were simply running around erratically. Babbling, screaming, contributing to the madness.
All civilian cell phone and internet communications were suspended. Military transports and personnel were racing around feverishly, setting up designation zones. Jet fighters screamed overhead, anxiously targeting. All civilian air traffic was shut down.
Medical facilities were quickly overrun by the shear number of initial casualties, estimated at 225,000. It wasn’t long before the secondary threat. The real threat, reared it’s ungodly head.
It started with a cough. Progressed to cold sweats. Involuntary speech and motion. Then boiling of the flesh as if from within, with death following closely behind.
Onset to expiration: 24-48hrs.
Mortality: 90%.
They never had a chance. They only thought so.
The building used for the conference was well-fortified. The Puritan had counted on it, in fact. The intent was not to kill these so called dignitaries. Not yet. They were to be exposed. Exposed to the most vile and virulent concoction known to man. A super-flu that military scientists had been mixing like a witches brew in a fortified Level 10 lab. It was only a matter of time, and the Puritan made it theirs.
Like bees fleeing a hive being filled with smoke, the dignitaries scrambled to their private jets to escape the chaos. Unknowingly already exposed to the virus, they smuggled it back to their host countries, conveniently doing away with the need for logistics dealing with dispersion.
China, Russia, Norway, England, Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brasil, Switzerland, Canada, France, the UAE, Israel…
Within 7 days the virus had spread to every conceivable area of the globe. Few were spared. Many lives were given, taken, and lost.
It was unknown how many would survive. With a mortality rate estimated at 90% the number was argued to be approximately 600,000,000. Ironically, this was very close to the number the dignitaries had in mind with respect to their own plans to re-start civilization using the custom made, genetically engineered viruses. That is, of course, after they had time to scurry into their secret underground bases, which taxpayers had unwittingly been funding construction of for the past 30 years. Their underestimation with regards to the level of preparedness and strategic strength possessed by the revolt was the last mistake they ever made.
The attack was first initiated beneath the ground, some weeks beforehand. Many news stations around the world were reporting instances of “strange rumbling and booming sounds”. They were deemed nothing more than earthquakes by the officials involved in the investigation… but that was far from the truth.
Nuclear war was being waged clandestinely, right beneath their very feet. 2000 meters below the surface, where the dignitaries had hidden away their post-apocalyptic strongholds, bombs were exploding. Leaving the rats and their minions nowhere to scurry but home. And scurry home they did, with disastrous consequences.
The citizenry had had enough. Their revolt was a long time coming, as was the emergence of the Puritan. A cross section of society who had but one thing in common: an abscess hatred of what their government had become. Tyrannical controllers bent on devouring what was left of every inalienable right granted to the population by the Forefathers.
The initial planning, attacks and leadership were undertaken by a small group who had experience in such matters. Military men and women. Active, reserve, and retired. As well as some in government who had also grown disillusioned with the direction of their superiors. Those still in situations of influence and power, who would use their positions and intelligence to help topple the old guard.
Doctors, Lawyers, Carpenters, Farmers, Truckers, even Pizza delivery drivers and Janitors joined the fray afterwards. Everyone who had natural immunity to the virus. Taking up arms against what was left of the enemy, who were not going without a fight. Sadly, the enemy were not only the government and it’s dignitaries, but also regular citizenry, who were so hopelessly enslaved by the system that they were willing to die to protect it.
So die they did.
Some fought with their lives, others simply sat bewildered, cross-legged on what was left of their front lawns. Staring up at the heavens wondering when their extra-terrestrial saviours would arrive to rapture them off to Elysium. Most died right there, as the virus took hold and slowly poured out it’s merciless wrath, leaving them for the dogs.
It was a dark time in history. However, the time had come and change was necessary. The alternative would have been far worse. Total enslavement of the populace to a small group of merciless and sociopathic rulers only interested in the advancement of their own power and wealth.
So it was war. And the spirits were sent tumbling down the hill.
We now live in a decentralized meritocracy. There are rules and laws, however there are checks and balances in place along with a new Constitution. Everyone has their place. It is, as it should always have been.
My dreams haunt me now… Slow, peaceful golden sunrises, spring morning smells of fresh dew and sounds of rustling grass, tickle my sense of reality. Children giggle. Little hands shaking the
chain link fence. Trees bending, branches slipping secrets in the wind. A playfulness so pure and yet so fragile. For a time, all is calm once again….
I awaken to the truth. Arising with the sand slipping lifelessly through my calloused hand, a wisp which greets the ground below with silence. It leaves nothing but a cloud of dust as I look up, out into the distance. Pensive. Exhausted. Ashamed. Unready.
The dry stones bemoan my presence, cracking and gnashing underfoot as I stand.
Another morning has dawned, although the sun is absent.
We will carry on.
For we are Puritan. We are Phoenix. We are one.
Where we go from here is up to us.
My name is Steven of Ryan, and I, am your Leader.
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