Another disturbing statistic was shown next. Nearly all deaths were people that were considered elderly or low-income status, including the homeless. The remainder of deaths were accounted to people of poor health. Conspiracy theorists came out of the woodwork, claiming foul play. They weren’t alone. These accusations were also made within the halls of congress.
Chapter Sixteen
Televised and radio broadcasts were not the only way to find out what was happening in the world. Over eighty percent of Americans had social media profiles. Worldwide, there were about two billion social media users. That social media had been blowing up over the last few days.
Networks were under incredible strain as they were being stress-tested. Everybody with a cell phone was using it, and network breakdowns were occurring in many places.
There were thousands upon thousands of blogs and posts. A lot of these contained videos, capturing social unrest, protests and marches, rioting, looting, and violence. Lots of violence.
The violence included scenes of police force phalanxes rushing protestors, massive brawls amidst lootings, and vehicles plowing into each other on grid locked roadways. There were a shocking number of videos containing shootings.
There was another statistic. One that was not presented in news programmes. The number of deaths attributed to violence were far higher than the people that succumbed to HAPS. Scared people are dangerous.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was leaked footage of several border clashes and open warfare.
However, there were other videos that were even more disturbing. Videos of people behaving strangely and aggressively. Unexplainable attacks on loved ones and family. In some of these videos it appeared that the aggressors were ignoring their own, sometimes severe injuries. A few of them appeared to be mortally injured and should not have been alive.
Could it be that the dead were rising to attack the living? The rumors were getting more numerous as the number of these types of videos were growing exponentially.
Chapter Seventeen
#HAPS
Twitter is an American microblogging and social networking service. The system allows users to send and receive short posts called tweets. These tweets can be up to 280 characters long, although most users still limit their tweets to 140 characters or less.
It is a new standard in human communication and interaction. Hundreds of millions of people have embraced the technology.
The most popular tweets are considered to be ‘trending’. Today, the trending tweets have a common theme...
#HAPSinTokyo UTokyo is warzone! Fights started @ UTokyo hospital. It is overrun by kichigi – crazy people. We R locked in dorm. send help!
#HAPSinBucharest Mother has lost her mind. She’s breaking through the door. I’m under the bed. Here she comes.
#HAPSinNY Explosions at #PresbyterianHospital! Saw fireballs down 68th street. Hearing gunfire. Avoid subway! Brawl down there!
#HAPSinAntwerp Football riot out of control. People R killing eachother! #Endofworld is here!
#HAPSinKathmandu. Sick are everywhere. We see strange streaks of lights in the sky! Indra has come!
Chapter Eighteen
October 24, 7:40 P.M.
The replay of earlier news segments was abruptly interrupted. Tammy was just getting in her seat. She looked flustered. She neglected formalities and went straight into the news.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have breaking news. Several reliable sources have just verified that the conflict between China and India has escalated to nuclear proportions!”
“Early reports and satellite images indicate that a minimum of four nuclear explosions have taken place in the conflict ... no wait...” She raised her fingers to her earpiece as she listened to offscreen information. “... four nuclear explosions rated at 1 megaton or larger! It is as of yet undetermined how many smaller nuclear bombs have been detonated, but we are hearing that there may have been as many as a dozen.”
Tammy took a moment to collect herself. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are attempting to find out more information about this terrible tragedy and are attempting to contact our resource at the white house to find out what our nation’s response is.”
Some new information was fed to Tammy. The ticker on the bottom of the screen went blank for a second, then started up again. “We now have confirmation that the following cities have been devastated by nuclear explosions: New Delhi. Calcutta. Jaipur and Chandigarh. Yushu, Chengdu. ... Is that? ... Ok. ... Ladies and gentlemen, these cities have been confirmed with nuclear detonations detected. Furthermore, we can tell you tha– “
The signal was suddenly dropped, and a standby image appeared on the tv screen. A few seconds later, the signal picked up again. This time the President’s symbol appeared on the screen, and a few seconds later the screen revealed the President sitting behind his desk. The president was an old man, into his seventies. Today he looked like he was even older. The wisps of white hair around his bald pate stood out in contrast to the dark shadows around his eyes. The age spots on his head seemed more pronounced.
Nevertheless, David Clarkston was a large regal figure, whose very presence demanded attention. He was a decorated soldier that has fought in the fields and then fought in the halls of congress. His strong, A-type personality and unflappable drive got things done on capitol hill and had also been known to intimidate other world leaders.
President Clarkston was immensely popular with the peoples of his nation and known as a man that is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Those hands were currently steepled together, his elbows on the table in front of him. President Clarkston took a breath and with a slight frown prepared himself to address the nation.
“My people. We are facing the greatest challenge that has ever been put in front of us. I will speak to you about two terrible events that are currently transpiring. First, I will tell you that the conflict between The Peoples’ Republic of China and The Republic of India ... is over.”
He
