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andrewemcameron
Chapter 1 Of My Story p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12.0px} span.s1 {font: 19.0px 'Times New Roman'} Zombie Contingency Chapter 1 In the Beginning The plan to drill into the earths mantle was touted in some small circles as a triumph of technology and human will. In 2013 that plan was put into action and humanity embarked on what was to be a new era of exploration and scientific understanding. Never before had anyone on the planet been able to reach the depths of the earth’s core and this, it turned out, had been for the best. At first this great accomplishment went unnoticed by the public. Geology after all is not on the forefront of a the worlds mind when there are wars in the Middle East, UFC championships on TV and people still debating evolution all over the world. Still the drill spun down, grinding, tearing, and burning deeper into the very flesh of the planet, unearthing new minerals, metals, and elements. The face of science began slowly changing. Society began to take notice as their lives were subtly changed by the discoveries made deep beneath the crust of the earth. Headlines around the world decried a bright future for humanity: “Super Minerals From The Center Of The Earth: Could They Really Solve World Hunger?” - The New York Tribune. April 12, 2014. “Core Drillers Discover New Polymer: Superconducting. Lighter. Biodegradable on Demand?” -Washington Gazette. November 17, 2014. “Another Natural Disaster Averted Thanks to CORE-Tec!” - Science BYTES. March 23, 2015. The landscape of humanity’s future was changing, being shaped by the knowledge unearthed in an obscure corner of the planet, where no one have ever been able to go before. For once it seemed to the world that science had come through on it’s promise of a brighter future for all humanity. Breakthrough after breakthrough, discovery after discovery bolstered the worlds faith in the truth of this promise. Life was going to get longer, easier, and more enjoyable all thanks to a deep hole drilled into the core of the earth. *** It was not to be. On August 19 2015 at 06:04:03 EST the CORE-Tec drill team broke through the Earth’s mantle and for the first time got a glimpse of the roiling turbulence that is the molten core of our earth. The CORE-Tec team marveled as a plume of gasses and molten rock shot into the atmosphere dispersing into an oncoming tropical storm head. Looking in with countless instruments and great excitement they took myriad readings, all of them revolutionary to some field of science, technology, or society. There was, it turned out, only one reading that mattered for the future of humanity and that was the one taken by Dr. Arnst Katzman PhD and head Virologist advising the CORE-Tec drill team. Dr. Katzman noticed an anomaly in his data and upon looking into it realized that he had discovered a highly infectious airborne virus the likes of which the world had never seen. The virus was 100% infectious, capable of surviving in any environment on earth, and it had just been ejected into the atmosphere. The CORE-Tec Drill team fell ill shortly after they broke through the mantle and the research facility was quarantined and locked down. Three months of silence ensued. In the meantime the virus spread slowly through the local population surrounding the CORE-Tec research compound. People fell ill, their skin growing thin and translucent so that you could see their veins pulsing beneath their skin as their slowly weakening hearts pumped blood through them. Panic grew as the virus spread unchecked over the country and eventually the face of the earth.The world’s governments started talking about bombing the infected zones. At first the people of the world were against the bombings and voted them down twice in the world senate during the three months that CORE-Tec was on quarantine lockdown. The infected were quarantined into hastily constructed shanty towns and the virus seemed to be contained. The sick grew more sick breaking out in sores and pustules and bleeding through their skin, but they were contained. The healthy population the the world breathed a sigh of relief. *** It was considered a blessing when the sick started dying. They were being released from horrible suffering or moving on to a better life or just plain old worm food. The blessing was soon called a curse when the dead got up and started eating the people doing autopsies on them, or attending their funerals. The truly frightening part was that those who survived but were bitten, scratched or otherwise “contaminated” instantly became ill, died within hours and returned as a monster hungry for flesh themselves. The virus was propagating faster through the bite vector than the airborne vector and the headlines were calling it the zombie apocalypse. At first panic and hysteria killed almost as many people as the virus and the “zombies” did. People armed themselves against this new threat and began shooting, stabbing and beating each other out of fear. Oddly the newly dead, infected or otherwise, seemed to be returning as flesh eating monsters just like those in the infected zones. No one it seemed was safe. Everyone was doomed to return as a zombie. Enter Dr. Katzman and the CORE-Tec Research team. In their three months in quarantine they lost 5 members to the virus and “related symptoms”. Through rigorous experimentation and research Dr. Katzman had discovered a cure for the airborne virus. It would, he said, reverse the symptoms of the original illness as it was seen in his team and the quarantine victims around the world who had not succumbed and died, and prevent their return as zombies. Once a zombie though. Always a zombie. There was no cure once you were bitten or otherwise infected by fluid transfer. The world should have been saved that day. The cure was presented and proved to work. The solution was handed to humanity in a stainless steel syringe. The vaccine was mass produced shipped out and offered to the world for free. Sacrifices had been made, yes, but now the rest of humanity could go on and reap the rewards of the brighter future promised before the viral outbreak. This would be remembered as a blip on the radar, a stone in the road that lead humanity to this shining new future. Zombie apocalypse? What zombie apocalypse? Could have. Would have. Should have. The vaccine worked, curing everyone who got it and preventing their return when they died of non zombie related causes. The vaccine worked on everyone who got it, but there were those who refused to get Dr. Katzman’s simple preventative cure, their right to do so being protected in most civilized nations. It was from these few seeds, sowed in ignorance and fear, that the second zombie outbreak in a generation bloomed and engulfed the earth. {End Ch 1}
Latest page update: Apr 13 2011, 3:55 PM EDT
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