Below the New Horizon

Day 5 in the Silo: It’s another glorious day underground. The bunker is surprisingly luxurious. The apartments are impeccably decorated, there is a five-star chef cooking for us, we have so many recreation options, even a swimming pool! There are stockpiles of anything you could ask for. It is clean, organized, and efficient. All that is in short supply in the chaotic world above us, is ours in abundance. I’m grateful to our ingenious Elliot for getting us here.

Elliot’s innovative bunker-building company was the first to generously donate to our New Horizons movement. I love how we have such a diverse group of loyal followers investing in our vision of not just change or a new political party but for a whole New Way of LIFE! Every segment of noteworthy society will find its way to us, I am confident. Even the resistors, those who are left, will come to see how a homogenous unity is the only way we can finally have the peace and prosperity that has alluded us for the last 3000 years! Ours is the one true way. The revolution is here!

Day 12: Operations continue. My interviewers have no idea that I’m streaming from a converted missile silo 200 feet below! I’m so proud to see our movement gain such momentum in such a short period of time.

Day 18: The world is an angry place and it’s being set on fire. Victory will be ours.

Day 22: Everything is going well. Our followers have taken to the streets with a voracity I could have never predicted. They’re taking over. They’ve brought out their weapon stockpiles and formed New Horizon militias everywhere. A spectacular utopia is well on its way!

Day 31: A slight setback, as our five-star chef has been killed in an altercation with our security forces inside the silo.

Day 62: I’m becoming annoyed that no one is using ‘New Horizons’ to describe our organization. We’ve been dubbed ‘Burners’ based on a misquote from one of my interviews. It was from an assessment I made about the first wave of fires in Los Angeles. I only said “Let it burn!” in the context that a new city would rise up - a NEW HORIZON. Apparently, they didn’t understand. New Horizons describes the FUTURE. Calling us “burners” is a big disservice, giving only a short-sighted picture of the present.

Day 68: We are down a dentist and an electrician. I’ll need to speak with the head of security about less aggressive protocols for disputes involving essential staff.

Day 69: Wouldn’t you know it; I have a wisdom tooth coming in. It’s ibuprofen for now.

Day 81: Cities continue to burn. It’s wonderful.

Day 100: Burners Disease! That’s what they’re calling it- Burners Disease! As if WE had anything to do with the disease and as if the disease is behind the revolution!

People are finally taking control of their own lives but the only thing the media chooses to focus on is a Mad Cow disease they claim is affecting humans. They say it makes people act irrationally and violently, and they’re naming it after ‘us’ by calling it Burners Disease. It's an outrage!

After centuries of enslavement by too many immoral choices, mankind has finally seen the light. They’ve risen up and demanded the world be accountable and more pious. It makes them angry knowing how much they’ve lost by giving into a secular society where anything goes. They demand change and instead of being taken seriously they are being deemed ‘infected’ by a new disease this same immoral society conveniently made up. I see right through this ploy.

Day 101: It just makes me so mad!

Mankind has always been violent. The mayhem in the world today didn’t just start because I encouraged humanity to rise up. The entire history of our species has been one of warfare and overthrow. We have murdered, pillaged, enslaved, raped, and plundered since we were created. It’s how we rose to prominence. The last centuries of civilization were nothing more than a failed experiment to repress our violent nature.

My vision, and why it’s so popular, seeks to work with those innate impulses. We can reprogram ourselves and use our primal fears and our need for dominance and have it redirected towards a common, unified goal. I know it will work and I have a fervent following who also knows it will.

Day 122: We’ve taken over many cities in the south and those that refuse to conform have been burned to the ground. Let that be a lesson to those in the north. We’re coming for you!

Day 128: I’ve finally gotten in touch with Jeffrey from Micron Pharmaceuticals. His wife and children have died and though I expressed my condolences, I know that we can be together now. He tells me the disease is "real". I feel he probably understands the negative connotations of this pandemic occurring simultaneously with my revolution and doesn’t want me to be discouraged. He is my one true soulmate. I hope he can find the bunker in time. We’ve waited so long.

Day 142: The elites who purchased shares in this bunker have been arriving and we’ve turned them all away. I’m embarrassed by their cowardice.

Imagine spending millions on a bunker to hide in when the world is being reshaped around you. If I could, I would be out there fighting for our new reality. But the leader needs to be protected and assassins made several attempts on my life before we moved into this well-protected fortress. Viva la revolution!

Day 158: Looking back, we should have screened those families trying to get to these bunkers but I doubt that class of people would have a handyman among them. I’m desperate for a pool guy. Our water is starting to take on a strange-colored tinge. No one thought to provide instructions on how to fix this. Elliot has been spoken to about his business model.

Day 167: This disease is ruining everything! No one can see the big picture! No one wants to talk about our great new world! Everyone is just screaming about a condition THEY named “Burners disease”. The uprisings are being blamed on a virus eating brain cells when it's actually because brain cells are finally being invigorated and moved to action!

Day 179: Our message is being lost. I’m trying to remain on point. They need to eradicate this disease so we can prove that people are not “going crazy”, they’re enlightened! I need to talk to Jeffrey but I can't. Communications have become spotty.

Day 190: There’s been some dissension. I’ve had my first assassination attempt in the silo. We've created a make-shift jail.

Day 198: I had no idea how chaotic things really were outside. I’ve watched the live feed outside the bunker and will admit some of it is a bit disturbing. I’m sure our movement has been infiltrated with resistors trying to make New Horizoners look like a bunch of fanatical lunatics.

Day 202: I’m not sure how to deal with these infiltrators. They are truly a detriment to everything we have achieved. I see the looks my staff gives me and I need a contingency plan. I wish Jeffrey were here. I could trust him. He believed in me.

Day 203: My tooth is killing me. I’m hoarding the last of the ibuprofen.

Day 218: The silo is starting to smell. I don’t think Elliot used a good air filtration system. He only has excuses, says “it’s just the way the air is now”. Such lazy incompetence.

Day 231: Another thing, the food down here is quite awful. I’ll admit it.

Day 238: I’ll never say it out loud but I’ve become discouraged. I question the loyalty of my staff and also, now, my followers. The ones running amuck outside aren’t following any of our guidelines and don't seem to understand the tenets of our movement. Maybe this disease really is making people unreasonably violent.

Day 241: I have been feeling despondent as of late. I wonder if we can recover from the destruction above our insulated silo bunker. Nuclear devices have been randomly detonated, there is no form of cohesive governance anywhere. I take slight solace in knowing that if there were I’d most likely be indicted for insurrection or worse.

Day 244: My staff is unhappy. What else is new.

Day 248: I wonder how it all went so bad, so quickly. All we wanted was a wonderful new society where everyone could go forward knowing their rightful place in the world and be at peace with it. No war, no strife. It should have all been so good. Demolition was the first step. We’ve destroyed what was before but now there is no one left to bring it up. We need momentum to rebuild and grow. I’m sure pockets of loyal New Horizoners are out there. But we are unable to communicate and without communication, they will lose sight of our goals and possibly give in to the propaganda of the Resistance. They need to hear me and know that we are still ascendant!

Day 251: Everyone wants to complain but nobody offers solutions.

Day 270: The infighting is distressing. The jail is at capacity. To be honest, we are all in jail down here. The air quality is horrific, the food stinks, our pool is toxic, and we are low on all the supplies everyone just wasted with abandon in the beginning. I fear I may not even have enough pens to complete this memoir, should these setbacks continue.

This was to be my great work; the written outline of our triumph. Looking it over, I wonder if we can emerge from this bunker intact, with the will to create what we intended. As of now, the answer is no.

Day 287: I’m not going to lie; it’s been rough. They’ve let the prisoners out of our jail. Everyone is angry about every little thing. No one has anything constructive to say or contribute. No one wants to fix anything in here. We look (and smell) quite awful. I fear assassination every minute. But they all know they are complicit. No one is innocent here.

Day 300: Jeffrey, my beloved Jeffrey has gotten a package to me! I was ready to admit defeat, things have gone so low. But now hope arrives in the form of a heart-shaped locket! Jeffrey’s gift arrived at our bunker door, a miracle! This is the sign I’ve needed! I tremble to even open it but inside the clear box is the necklace, a beautiful locket. It is a true symbol of our special love. I know now that I can continue.

Our love, our sweet and powerful love that has endured our marriages to others, this revolution, a crazy pandemic, nuclear destruction, and our repeated fighting over my supposed superiority complex. I knew my Jeffrey would find me! I hope he is on his way here. He's probably just working on a cure so that we can move on and rebuild.

I look forward to wearing my beautiful heart locket with renewed inspiration! My steadfast and true Jeffrey has brought me out of the literal bowels of hell and I know that hope lives. Love is the answer. We will find a way.

(The diary inexplicably ends here)