A/N: This Prologue is unashamedly stolen from the theatrical trailer for "The Division". I own nothing of the Tom Clancy franchise . This is Fan Fiction only. Enjoy.

Prologue

In 2001 a real world exercise tested the emergency response to a bio-terror attack on the continental United States; the operation was called Dark Winter. Within just a few days, the simulation spiralled out of control. The operation predicted a rapid breakdown in essential institutions, civil disorder and massive civilian casualties.

Dark Winter has revealed how vulnerable we've become; our lifestyle, our security, our safety, it depends on a delicate and unstable economy. We've created a system so complicated that we no longer understand how to control it; oil, power, shipping, transport – we live in a complex world, and the more complex it gets, the more fragile it becomes. The system is built on a global supply chain that gets things where they're needed, just in time. We've created a house of cards, if we remove just one, then everything falls apart. And what's fuelling this system?

Money.

Americans can spend $90 Billion in a single day of shopping. Last year 200 million people swarmed their local stores on November 23rd, we call that day, Black Friday.

Did you know a flu virus can survive on the surface of a banknote for up to 17 days?

One day there will be a pandemic. It could begin during the crush of Black Friday sales. A pathogen will jump from tainted banknotes to human skin, onto food, toys, children and loved ones. By the time patient zero feels the first sore throat. Millions of people will already be infected.

From this point, the break-down will happen fast.

Day 1. Hospitals will reach capacity, panic will strike.
Day 2. Quarantine zones will be established, resources will be rationed, transport will go into lockdown.
Day 3. International trade will stop, the oil will dry up, the stock market will collapse. Day 4. The power will fail, the shelves will be empty, the taps will run dry and once hunger and despair take hold, people will do anything for survival.
By Day 5, everyone will be a potential threat.

In 2007 a new presidential directive was signed quietly into law, this maps out the government's response to a crisis, a plan to cope with the real Dark Winter. It is known as Executive Directive 51.

There are rumours of shadow agencies, sleeper cells, covert agents. But nothing can be confirmed.

Our complex world is prime for breakdown, and once the chaos strikes, there won't be resources to save us all.

The only question left is, what will it take, to save what remains?