Countd0wn

Prologue: How This World Came To Be

What would later become known as the Singularity to many others who survived it occurred on January 25, 2019. Those who were able to analyze and study it before civilization collapsed managed to determine it was a massive form of energy, outputting readings unlike anything seen before in history.

The morning of January 25 started as a normal, average day. All was quiet everywhere in the world. By 7:36, the people of Earth were living their everyday lives, going about their own business. By 8:15, society had managed to collapse, with no hope of reformation.

At 7:38, several satellites and long-range scanners across the world began to light up, as all of them were managing to detect a large amount of radiation coming from somewhere in the Nevada Desert in New Mexico. Seeing as how this was in US borders, the Russians and the Chinese began to panic, thinking it was some kind of nuclear launch, only to be confused minutes later as the US reported that they had no knowledge of any sort of weapon with that much power anywhere within their borders.

At 7:42, the world leaders finally managed to get their heads straight, and managed to focus on the spot that was outputting so much radiation. But, whenever any surveillance satellite managed to zoom in to the site, no image seemed to come through, like something was purposefully attempting to block out the image.

At 7:44, the radiation from the site began to spike once again, this time reaching levels that were much higher than anything that could possibly be recorded from any nuclear weapon that any country was in possession of. At 7:45, the world exploded.

Nevada effectively went off the map on any radar or surveillance equipment that was focused on it at that time, and any satellite that was looking at the site picked up an image that could only be described as biblical. What appeared to be a large blue shockwave of energy emanated from the site, and spread out around the planet like a flower blossoming, covering every inch of the blue and green surface. At that exact moment, every single long range surveillance system that was currently online switched itself off. No power failure or glitch was recorded. They simply just turned themselves off.

At 7:46, everyone in the world reported seeing a large blue wave wash over the sky, pushing the clouds aside and blocking out the sun for a brief moment. Many people thought it was some form of northern lights, others thought that it was aliens invading, some people thought it was a sign from above. Whatever they thought, one emotion began to set in for anyone who saw it: panic.

By the time the wave had managed to circle the Earth, communication between countries had been completely severed. No one could talk to anyone, not even the higher-ups with their advanced technology. Everything from cell phones to landlines had ceased to work, leaving every single country in the dark, literally.

At 7:51, several major cities had devolved into chaos. Many people who had seen the lights in the sky had either reacted with fear, or with awe. Many others saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of the current situation, and several lootings were reported in every city. Then, people began to notice how the phones weren't working, and began to run to their loved ones to make sure they were alright, resulting in several car crashes, and accidental fatalities, all due to hysteria.

At 7:53, the first of the mutations began. Areas like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles that were closest to the Singularity were affected first. Many people didn't seem to notice several others collapsing to the ground in all of the chaos, but many did. About 25,000 people were affected in the first wave alone. The people who had fallen to the ground began to feel pain across all of their bodies, and felt their muscles seize up as they spasmed wildly. Then, their bodies began to become misshapen and deformed, as muscles, bones, and organs reshaped and moved within them, no doubt causing them a great deal of pain. When the change was over, what remained could barely be considered as human, and as their now primitive minds refocused, they only had one thing they could comprehend: feed.

At 7:55, several reports of strange creatures attacking people were flying in from all across the world, but went unnoticed over everything else. These things were fast, and strong, and appeared to have a taste for human flesh, and seemed to devour anything they came in contact with. They quickly formed a pack mentality, and soon, everyone who was caught off guard by the new arrivals was hunted down and killed. 

At 7:59, the governments of the world had no physical way of knowing what was happening, until the mutations began to affect them. Even places like the White House, the Kremlin, or the Pentagon were safe from the strange monsters that spawned from humans. Several world leaders were mutated themselves, and many established and important figures became lambs to the slaughter.

At 8:03, when the armed forces of separate countries finally managed to be able to assemble their combined forces in an attempt to fight these things, they soon found themselves fighting against their own, and the number of people that were mutated slowly outnumbered the normal humans, as well as apparently being tough enough to be able to stand up against their armed vehicles and heavy weapons, and the so-called armies of men lasted only for a few more minutes. 

By 8:15, the world had already lost the war that it had no idea that it was in. It's armies were crippled, it's governments were blind, and it's people were now being used as weapons. Civilization in any major city had completely collapsed, and what had started off as a peaceful day had turned into the end of humanity as they knew it.

But, like most species, humans were resilient, and those that didn't panic or riot had the sense to lock themselves away or run from the terror that was sweeping the world, and became the survivors of the apocalypse that had appeared from seemingly nowhere. 

There were pockets of these humans scattered across the world, and they now walk across a planet that is lifeless and scorched, with no hope of reclaiming what was once theirs.

It is now 2020, almost a full year later, and now humanity is beginning to realize that the event that ended their lives may have had another purpose altogether...