Two thousand years ago, the first wave of the Corona virus struck. Originating from old China, the virus quickly spread through the rest of the world.
Governments, researchers and scientists tried all they could to develop a vaccine or a cure but were powerless against the deadly virus.
The effects of the virus waned over the months as many countries adopted healthy practices such as social distancing, wearing proper face masks and repeated washing of hands. Measures used to combat the disease and curb its spread.
Exactly ten months after the World Health Organization declared the Corona virus a pandemic, it declared the world Corona free.
It's been long since debated why the virus suddenly relapsed and disappeared without a vaccine or cure. That, however, would not be the last the world had seen of the Corona virus.
Over the next decade, it appeared and disappeared randomly in multiple nations, killing thousands and hundreds of thousands.
This sparked fears among the masses and an overwhelming number of riots and protests were recorded.
Shortly after its declaration of a Corona free world, the WHO legalized what was then known as genetic engineering. The rich leapt at it, spending large sums to get themselves engineered and re-engineered.
Soon the number of genetically modified individuals rose and the world was thrown out of balance. The rich who could afford the high costs of genetic engineering evolved into superhumans.
They hardly ever fell ill, could withstand high and low temperatures far better than the average human and perform feats impossible to the basic human. These rich and modified people quickly became the absolute ruling class, rising even higher than the masses who sunk lower.
They dominated the sports, academics, entertainment and government at the lowest through highest levels. A massive chasm began to grow between these two classes of humans, it widened and deepened as the months passed.
Third world countries suffered. People killed others including family in order to raise money to get themselves engineered, they were losing their place in the world.
Whatever little voice or influence they used to have continued to diminish.
Rich folks became incredibly greater, faster, smarter, healthier and more durable than the poor. They started to live longer and their children were only better.
A decade after the Corona virus lost its hold on the world, the world was totally transformed, filled with superhumans and perceived subhumans.
In the year 2030, a new pandemic began. The origin of the disease could not be placed at the time since the first recorded cases were spread across many countries and continents. For the next seven years, Earth was ravaged by what is widely believed to be the deadly pandemic in history, killing half the population in the few years of its existence.
That was the Second Black Death or as many, who believed that wasn't a fitting term, tagged it - The Scarlet Plague. It was impossible at that time to keep track of the number of deaths, billions died, their bodies thrown into rivers and streams or buried together in every available piece of land.
The rivers became increasingly dirty, polluted by the corpses of the dead, powerless in the face of the merciless pandemic.
Fortunately, the rich survived they and all their wealth. Their modified bodies didn't succumb to the new disease so only a negligible percent of them died.
By 2037, a vaccine had been developed and the disease gradually died. With the disease gone, the nations of the Earth engaged in what has been termed the most barbaric act of the modern Era - World War III in the year 2040.
First, the whole world battled the Republic of China. Everyone turned on the Chinese and attacked relentlessly, but surprisingly the Chinese held their land well into the next decade.
Led by a warlord named General Wu, China survived one attack after another and the enemy nations began to grow weary. Another wave of attack leveled the Chinese capital. Their numbers gradually reduced and the country eventually fell into ruins following the sudden death of General Wu.
When he died, the world Leaders turned away from the Chinese, leaving the remaining population of 10%. These leaders turned on each other, their reason for doing so is still a mystery however, merely three years after the Second black death, World War III began.
Nations crumbled, governments were toppled. Maps had to be redrawn because the war so badly damaged and altered the earth's landscape, very few believed there was hope for humanity.
Midway into the war, all eastern nations formed an alliance in Germany, and conquered the rest of the world. It took years and finally the world was united, but at great cost.
The population which had been halved by the Scarlet Plague was further reduced by about forty percent in what was truly the bloodiest and longest world War ever recorded.
The eastern alliance that brought the war to an end quickly rewrote laws and the world system of government changed. The eastern leaders ruled the world and called themselves, the Generals. They chose the land, wherein they had made formed their alliance, as their new capital and have governed the world from it ever since.
Alice finished and the room fell silent.
"So you're saying the world turned against China, why?" Simon's voice pierced the void.
"As you already know, Corona virus emanated from China and quickly grew to become a global pandemic." Alice began.
"Yes I know that", Simon said.
"Years later, when the Second Black Death ended, it was discovered that China was responsible for the plague."
"My God" Simon exclaimed.
Elaine just sat there listening, watching the holographic projections and images as they appeared and disappeared. She shook her head when she heard Simon and folded her arms.
"What a horrible thing to do" Simon said irritably, unable to grasp the reason for such cruelty. "So the first pandemic wasn't enough, they had to start another?"
"Well, the country's elites were obviously smart lunatics. And there's something else. The country was also badly affected by the plague. If they decided to destroy the other nations so they could come into power why kill their own people and reduce their strength?" Alice asked.
"Obviously they were unable to contain the plague they created and paid dearly for it with the lives of their brothers and sisters" Elaine ventured, she knew the tale and wasn't particularly pleased by the role of the Chinese people.
"That's what many believe", Alice submitted.
Simon smelled a rat, there was something odd about the story, he couldn't quite place it.
"How?" He said slowly.
"What do you mean how?" Elaine asked, looking at him.
"I mean how did the chinese spread the disease."
"Not an interesting tale", the doctor muttered and looked away.
"Investigation shows it was spread by twelve teams of well trained, experienced pilots." Alice put in.
"Pilots?" Simon asked, surprised. He suddenly remembered his alarm, he had woken up to. Alice said he had set it himself because according to him, it reminded him of something he had forgotten. A dream?
"Yes Pilots. They flew over cities and discharged the pathogen from special unmarked aircrafts which had probably been built for that single mission."
Elaine looked uninterested.
"Twelve teams of twelve members each. All led by the best pilots the Chinese had to offer." Alice took a step closer and the holograms changed. "These are the pilots. Fist we have the eldest named Shen, then Lang, Gu, Steve, Zhanghang, . . ."
"What?!" Simon jumped to his feet, he lost count of how many times he had performed that same action.
Right before him, the pictures of the named pilots appeared when their names where mentioned then was replaced by the next.
"Did you say Steve? As in Steve Corner...?" Simon hoped he was wrong.
Alice wore a look of disbelief, Elaine suddenly looked interested. For the first time since his day began, Simon had gotten something right. Of all things it was the name of a captain who was long dead and hated.
"You're right General, that man's Steve Corner and he led a team of twelve into a mission that ultimately erased half the human population." Alice answered. She was worried about Simon's health, so was the doctor.
Doctor Elaine reached out and held Simon's hand, reminding him to keep calm and not lose himself again. She pulled him back to the bed and made him sit beside her.
Simon closed his eyes tight and fought the headache. He bit his lip and thought helplessly to himself as realization dawned on him.
Nothing made sense.