“The Ayatollah in Iran has declared a holy war against its enemies, including the U.S.A., which it is calling ‘the great Satan’. Iranian officials are claiming that HAPS is a man-made creation meant to wipe Islam off the face of the Earth. There has been no reaction from the white house to these accusations.”
Chapter Thirteen
October 23, 3:00 P.M.
There were masses of people that reacted in a very typical fashion; they panicked. People were locked up in their houses, with their hoarded stashes of canned goods and toilet paper, glued to their tv screens and laptops. They followed the unfolding events in morbid fascination, scouring the internet for more bad news and sharing their discoveries with shameless glee.
The truth was, that people were in denial. They had gotten so used to their lives, to their mortgages, to their drive through fast food, to their tech and drug addictions. That even with the end of the world staring them right in the face, they refused to accept it.
THE FIRST IMAGES TO confront the viewer today were videos depicting masses of people wearing face masks, marching and rioting. The names of cities and countries are displayed as captions below the images.
Some of the videos clearly show violent behaviour, from looting to full-on clashes with police or army units. The ticker below the images continues to display different city and country names. This thing is now worldwide. The scenes continue for several minutes.
The mixture of news camera and cell-phone videos capture scenes of ever-increasing chaos. In some of the videos, it appears as if people are randomly fighting each other. Other videos depict protests getting out of hand and turning violent. Images of explosions, cars on fire, shattered windows, and random looting fill the screen.
Some show protestors being swept off their feet as they are hit by blasts from water cannons. Others depict protestors fleeing in several directions as tear gas canisters burst around them. Several videos show police officers and military units shooting at protestors. It is impossible to determine if they were shooting blanks. Then, as if to take all doubt out of the viewers’ mind, there is a video showing the military using vehicle mounted machine guns. The deafeningly powerful guns burst for several seconds as the cameraman stumbled from the noise. Thankfully, the video was cut off before the view pans to whatever was being shot at.
Tammy appeared on the screen. She was still sharply dressed and still appeared to be the exemplary professional, despite the degrading situation around the world.
However, to those people that watched her on a regular basis, there was something different about the news anchor today. Behind the confident sound of her voice and professional countenance, there was a hint of something else. It was in the eyes. The eyes are the windows to the soul, after all. The intenseness and confidence usually found in those blue eyes were marred by a hint of something else. If you looked closely enough, you saw the truth. There was fear there. Fear and uncertainty...
“Good afternoon and welcome to this special afternoon edition of Channel Eight News. The images we just shared with you are happening in many places across the world. There are reports of violent clashes from Russia to Indonesia, from China to Turkey, from Mexico to Argentina, and across Europe.”
“We also have reports that small scale demonstrations are occurring in most US cities. So far, the only protests that have escalated to violent clashes between demonstrators and local police are in Los Angeles and Houston.”
“These protests may have been triggered by the latest announcement from the World Bank, as they initiated a bank holiday in order to attempt to stem the run on banks. Many grocery chains have also shut their doors as their shelves are bare, leaving people struggling to find food.”
“These developments occur as the death toll of those succumbing to HAPS has risen to the millions and shows no indication of slowing down.”
“Religious leaders throughout the world are calling upon the masses to come together in this time of darkness and have denounced the announcements by some that this is the rapture or an end-of-the-world event. The Pope has asked all of Christianity to remain calm and not fall prey to the destructive force of chaos.”
“Tensions between India and China are at an all time high, as each country accuses the other of terrorism. There have been skirmishes between North and South Korean troops, and there are several conflicts in the middle east.”
Tammy’s eyes shifted down for a second before she looked towards the camera once more. The intense dark blue eyes never failed to captivate its audience.
“Over a dozen nations in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are in a state of severe unrest and appear to be on the brink of collapse. These nations include Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Oman. We are struggling to reach any correspondents in that area of the world, partially due to internet and cellular traffic being shut down in these affected nations by their respective governments. Any communications that have made it through are extremely disturbing. We will not divulge these until we get some confirmation as to their authenticity. We have also reached out to our federal government to provide us with updates regarding these mysterious and troubling events.”
Tammy turned to face another camera, as the ticker below her stated “Situation in USA”
“Now for an update regarding the status of the HAPS in America. There have been confirmed reports of HAPS in every major metropolitan city in America. We are hearing that hundreds of thousands of victims are indicating that they are suffering from the initial symptoms. City emergency services are reaching critical mass in New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The first reported deaths appear to be primarily elderly people and people of poor health.”
“The CDC released a short statement several hours ago, indicating that people
