Wanderer of the Apocalypse - Episode II

You started following my adventure in October 2023. Unmistakably, the apocalypse did not start at that moment, as you might have imagined. The whole ordeal began way before then. One might say this was the outcome of so many years of accrued egocentrism, narcissism, lack of proper hygiene, and total disrespect for human lives. Embrace what was our early 21st-century society and its collapse.

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In the fall of 2019, a virus appeared on the globe. WHO, the World Health Organization, titled it Covid-19. As the virus made its way around the globe in the following months, it appeared to be the typical virus that would result in a pandemic, that floated around the same time every century.

The symptoms were not exactly clear and would vary greatly from one person infected to another. After an incubation period of 2 to 14 days, some of the noticeable symptoms were fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, the new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion, or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea.

More severe symptoms that required hospitalization were trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion, inability to wake or stay awake, pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin tone. Despite all of these symptoms and covid-related deaths, people downplayed the pandemic and were quite asshole-ish about it. Things would have ended much sooner, had human decency still been a thing.

It was now election year in the US, and then-President 45 wanted to capitalize as much as possible on the virus. He called the plague a democratic hoax on numerous occasions, and, to galvanize his troops and his mostly racist voter base, insisted on saying it was the China virus. While the virus initially originated from Wuhan, China, it, however, did not matter. Scientists from every nation were working around the clock to find a cure.

The President publicly contradicted and disavowed his public health specialists on several occasions, minimized the usage of masks to prevent the spread, promoted some charlatan cures in the likes of hydroxychloroquine and horse dewormers. He went as far as suggesting people inject themselves with bleach, to kill the virus.

His followers believed him, no matter what he said. There was also a general distrust of the regular media, and people started making their researches online and on YouTube. Because hillbilly Joe with his 4th grade knew better than an expert virologist with 20 years of experience concerning the virus. That was sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it.

People from around the globe went on and protested against lockdown and sanitary measures various governments took to minimize the virus' reach. They kept whining their rights were being infringed and, as they protested, labeled the various local and world governments as dictators. The measures were no fun, and yet everyone was in the same boat. Some people thought they were better than the rest of society and refused to wear masks or use hand sanitizer. 

The local and world governments were not on the same page either. The virus managed to get spread around even more due to humans' selfishness and uneven approaches. Several countries shut down their borders and banned people from certain countries from traveling. The European Union shut down its internal borders, and in a rather surprising move, the US-Canada land border was also shut down. It was everyone for themselves. Sort of. Flights, however, continued between the countries. Air traffic did slow down for a long period, and companies were the ones to implement traveler screening procedures.

None of this made sense.

When the virus first hit North America at the end of February 2020, several state and provincial governments, yet not all of them, imposed lockdowns, in an attempt to contain the virus. The reasoning behind which place did what was based on their voter base and the party holding power. Republican or Conservative areas were least likely to do anything to protect their population and implemented rather slack requirements if any.

While President 45 ended up losing his reelection bid at the end of 2020, it was too late to undo the damage. It was already dealt and done for. Several other world leaders copied his homework in an attempt to attempt to retain power. As for President 46, he had to work with a population on the brink of civil war. Things were not looking good for 2021.

Mass vaccination was now in full swing, although not mandatory yet. While half the population did comply and get vaccinated, the other half did not and refused to do so. State-level governments had to enable lotteries and other incentives to have their citizens vaccinated. Even there, the results were mixed. The previous administration calling the pandemic a hoax did nothing to help earn the citizens' trust towards big pharma.

As the months went by, the state and provincial governments started relaxing and then removing entirely their lockdown rules. These changes allowed the virus to propagate with ease during the third and fourth waves. The virus, which had previously done a hecatomb in retirement homes and hospitals, was now free to roam in public areas.

The virus mutated into several new strains, which were getting harder to eradicate. In an attempt to win this fight, big pharma turned from vaccines to pills. It was now the end of 2021, and there seemed to finally be some hope in sight.

In early 2023, as Covid-19 was nothing more than a bad dream, a new virus emerged. It was the result of a mutation between a previously unknown Covid-19 strain and a very infectious Ebola virus stain. At first, it was undetected, and the probable patient zero showed no symptoms whatsoever. The virus had an incubation period of 19 days, allowing it to spread all around the world with ease.

Ebola is a virus that has, depending on the strain, a kill rate ranging from 25 to 80 percent. Symptoms include profuse bleedings from every possible orifice, internal bleedings, etc.

Fused as one, the virus combo was now extremely dangerous. Body fluids, such as blood, saliva, sweat, and semen, were all a major risk of transmission.

The world governments scrambled in a panic, shut down everything as soon as they saw the incoming nightmare. People were urged to stay home. They refused to and instead took over stores to loot supplies. For those that happened to go, fights broke out in groceries over toilet paper and sanitizing products. People getting shot over alcohol, frozen meals, and meats were a common sight. Fresh produce was overall shunned, and so were the healthier options.

Some people had no scruples and scalped all of these products. The end of the world was near, the sixth mass extinction, and people were still trying to make a buck. Priorities.

By the end of March 2023, the virus had spread all around the globe and had decimated roughly 90 percent of the population. As for those that survived the virus, about half of them, or about 5 percent of the initial population, their attitude began to change.

Those survivors became extremely agitated, and at first, scientists thought this was a normal reaction to surviving the virus, considering the stress of having massive internal and external hemorrhages. When the survivors started showing hostile behavior and then began attacking the remaining healthy ones that were left, this is when shit went down.

What society had imagined for so long in numerous movies and books was finally happening. And it was a fucking nightmare. We gave the hostiles several names, including the infected and zombies.

It is unclear what the exact numbers were, as every government fell, one by one. Communications also started failing between nations. Cities went dark, fast. While radio and television stations remained active, most of them played prerecorded shows. Rare were the stations that continued to have continuous news coverage. On those channels that remained live, it was not uncommon to see zombies showing up and attacking the crew.

As the power grids failed, emergency services rapidly shut down. Hospitals held off for as long as they could, running on massive power generators while having potentially infected inside their walls. 

Provisory military governments started to emerge, as they attempted to evacuate the remaining healthy civilians to some undisclosed, secure location. They also tried to secure infrastructure in some locations, such as power plants, water filtering systems, and farmland. It is unknown if they were successful in their mission.

It was rumored communication with the outside world was still a thing, yet no one was ever able to make it work. When all hope is lost, humans are willing to believe anything.

It was everyone for themselves. Society had failed, again. This time it was for the last time.

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It has been 6 months since the whole thing became global. I have barely seen any humans during that period. My whole family is either gone or dead. My friends have all disappeared. At times I strongly believe am all alone on this island. Save for them. The infected are still around.

I look at the time and see it is now past 4 PM. I need to go back home before darkness sets. Despite the absence of government, I plan on following daylight saving time. I finish my drink, pick up my bags, make sure everything is well strapped, and start making my way back upstairs, towards the exit. On the way, I notice the wine rack and decide to take a bottle of red for tonight. I might as well enjoy it while I spend another evening with Rupert.

I give one last look around and leave the building.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this story are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.