Prologue

In retrospect, the causes that precipitated the event are quite inconsequential. Undoubtedly, it seems rather cynical to call the origins of something that led to the deaths of over six and a half billion people and the destruction of organized society "inconsequential", but in reality, the cause of the event has become nothing more than an afterthought.

Some say that it began as a mutation of the particular strain of the human immunodeficiency virus that ravaged sub-Saharan Africa during the latter decades of the twentieth century. From a purely biological standpoint, this scenario would seem to be quite feasible. The symptoms are similar, no doubt. Both feature a debilitating condition caused by a virus contracted through the transmission of bodily fluids. But it seems unlikely that a virus that originated in the center of Africa would have the ability to spread throughout the world in such a manner. The lack of a hospitable environment for the virus, coupled with a lack of major transit systems for which to move the virus present a problem that seems too hard for any virus, even one of its magnitude, to overcome.

A second possible explanation for the spread of the virus finds its origins with No-dong, a North Korean nuclear launch facility that borders the Sea of Japan on the country's eastern coast. In 2010, the facility was the site of the explosion of a nuclear reactor, releasing an amount of radioactivity into the area surrounding the facility rivaling that of the Chernobyl, Soviet Union disaster of the mid-eighties. The North Korean government enacted a massive coverup in an attempt to shield the rest of the world from its folley. Unconfirmed reports from the area stated that the lethal amount of nuclear fallout and radiation inevitably led to the reanimation of dead cells in those killed in the surrounding areas, leading to an outbreak. The virus was said to have spread quickly due to the high population to land distribution of the Asian countries. But in retrospect, this also seems unlikely, as the virus' primary mode of transmission would not seem consistent with that of a radiological based virus.

The third and most plausible explanation for the virus begins with Zephyr Pharmaceutical Industries, a drug company firmly rooted in the United States military and government. Due to its connections with the US Secretary of Defense, ZPI acquired a contract in the early nineties to become, in addition to a public pharmaceutical company, a private, government-backed supplier of medicines to the United States armed forces. The corporation, with government funding, completed research on an experimental stimulant drug in late 2003, just after the United States' invasion of the former nation of Iraq. Never intended to be marketed to the general public, the drug was designed to rapidly replicate and attach itself to the red blood cells of the user. The stimulant was intended to heighten the awareness of special operations soldiers in counter-terrorism units, and for all intents and purposes it performed marvelously. The drug's effects were incredibly dependent on the blood chemistry of the user, which originally proved to be a non-factor in the majority of armed forces soldiers. But, reports made in mid-2010 from the Fallujah district of Iraq stated that the drug induced an effect known colloquially as the "Zephyr". The question of if the drug was the true cause of the event was never answered, but the name provided by the company gave a scapegoat for the world governments during the earliest moments of the battle.

The lack of verifiable evidence will most likely prevent the remnants of human society from ever discovering the true cause of the outbreak. By the time the world's governments had discovered what a danger the outbreak posed, it was too late. But what is known is the horror it wrought in its path of destruction. Wherever its origins, by June 28th, 2010, it had almost completely overtaken Eastern and Southeastern Asia, the Middle East, and North and Central Africa. The virus' carriers transmitted it like wildfire, and by the next week, The Kremlin was evacuated. In another week, it had completely overtaken Indonesia and Australia, as well as Southern Africa and the remains of Europe. In a futile attempt at salvation, a multi-national military force was deployed along the European border to Russia. Code-named Operation Hammer, the remaining militaries of Russia, Australia, and Egypt, along with European and United Nations forces were sent to regain territory in Russia. But the operation ended in failure, as the tactics used by soldiers proved ineffective against the mindless hordes. By July 22nd, it had completely ravaged all of the Eastern Hemisphere save for small pockets of resistance in Germany, France, and Great Britain. The entire eastern hemisphere had been overtaken, the deaths of billions of people left in the wake of the outbreak. The United States government, who adopted a strict anti-immigration policy in the early days of the outbreak, attempted firebombing of highly effect areas in Madrid, Spain, and Dresden, Germany, albeit with little success. Illegal immigration into Canada from Europe led to the virus' arrival in the western hemisphere. From there, it took until the second week of August for the virus to completely eradicate life in both North and South America.

In just a month and a half, Zephyr had accomplished what no previous virus, war, natural disaster had accomplished, and had done so with astounding swiftness. All that remained of principle cities such as Washington, Berlin, Cairo, and Tokyo was the death and destruction caused by the outbreak and the attempts of the country to defeat it. In another month, Oahu, Hawaii whose coastlines were protected by the remnants of the United States Navy and Marines, was the last bastion of humanity. From there, the United States government, led by the former Secretary of Education, maintained sparse communications with the other governments in exile of the world. Although scattered remnants of society existed in a few secluded parts of the glove, civilization had been quickly and summarily destroyed.