The entire world was in a state of extreme tension, unemployment was at an all-time high and previous alliances had made all countries at odds with each other. The United States had been hit especially hard and faith in government’s ability to look out for its people was decreasing day after day.
US leaders and politicians gathered to discuss about how to regain the public’s confidence. Some suggested large banquets sponsored by the government or amused parks featuring historical figures from years past. All other suggestions were just as superficial and would be just as transparent to the public. No one would be fooled. An older man sat in the corner of the room, he slowly stood up and walked toward the large meeting table.
He cleared his throat loudly to get attention, “I propose a different theory.”
Another politician stood up and demanded, “And the who the hell are you?”
“My name is Dr. Samuels, I used to be a bioengineering professor at Caltech, but who I am isn’t important.” The smell of smoke traveled with him wherever he went.
The leader of the meeting sighed, “Well, it can’t hurt, what do you have in mind?”
Dr. Samuels walked towards the front of the group and addressed them, “I propose not a banquet or carnival, but a virus. A few contained outbreaks would be most effective and controllable, a school or maybe a large office. Once the public is worried, which the government controlled press could make happen very easily, there would be a convenient and miraculous breakthrough and a cure would be discovered.”
The room was filled with hushed side conversations and worried looks, everyone knew it was morally terrible idea, but strategically brilliant. The members voted, and agreed. Each person left one at a time in separate cars, the virus would be spread the next day in three places, a private elementary school, a bustling downtown office, and a large department store.
The plan was simple enough, previously selected people would be infected. Under cover government agents would be at each location to make sure quarantine protocols were executed without the surrounding citizens knowing. However, the quarantine was broken at St. August’s School.
It spread like wildfire, but one that can’t be put out. The virus was spread throughout the city. The low sanitation standards of the city made it a cesspool of disease. The commuters brought it back to the suburbs, and it spread even faster from there, starting in Chicago then spreading throughout the country. The government thought they could contain it, keep it from spreading across the ocean. It was a weak effort at best.
The country was pushed into an even larger state of unrest. Religious fanatics were claiming the end of the world was at hand. The media wasn’t helping keep it under wraps either, they showed stories from inside the city of children dying in their beds and their parents weeping at their sides. Despite all the public problems one problem still remained the focus of all those that were at the meeting months before, Dr. Samuels was nowhere to be found. No one in the room had even seen him since that night.
Caltech was contacted and they hadn’t even heard of him. The United States was crumbling slowly from this man’s plan, and he is nowhere to be found.