The world is doomed.
After an era of so called peace, the apocalypse fell upon the world with a vengeance, as if the earth itself is punishing us for our follies.
This was no apocalypse of mutual destruction, it wasn't an apocalypse of natural causes, nor was it an apocalypse brought forth by a fantasque power.
It was an apocalypse brought forth by the wrath of a single man.
With the world putting an ironhold grasp on mechanical weapons of mass destruction and tracking every single piece of material related to explosions, a silently ignored device was slowly brewing in a homemade lab.
A bioweapon.
Something discovered off of a side project. A virus that could be customized, programmed to mutate at certain times, mutate in a specific direction.
When the man discovered this, he realized its potential in healthcare. He was excited at an opportunity to win a Nobel prize for his discovery, but after a few hours, when the happiness high wore off.
He realized its greater potential, in the hands of the wrong people, the wrong organization, the deaths of billions of people would become a result of his discovery.
He swore to himself that this discovery would die with him, prompting him to destroy his equipment and to burn his papers and purge his data. He went on about his life, researching behaviors between viruses and bacteria, when everything came to a stop.
A traffic accident, a hit and run by an intoxicated driver. Crippling his legs, and killing his wife and two daughters.
When the police investigated who the driver was, everything was shut down. Almost all the officers and detectives who were on the case disappeared.
However, one officer with a wavering heart, brought the news to the man. A person with great political power and assets shut down the investigation.
Once the officer left, the man just layed there, silent but broken.
A few months later, the man bound to his wheelchair returned to his now empty home, in his lap lay an urn, containing the ashes of his wife and 2 daughters.
When the hospital discharged him, the doctors told him that their bodies were too mangled together for them to pull apart and give them a proper burial.
Met with silence, they tried to cheer him up by telling him it was a miracle that he survived and that he should live on for them.
When the man entered the house, he wasn't alone. A doctor from the hospital felt bad for the man, and was worried that he would take his own life. He hired a caretaker to watch over him for 3 years as well as putting him on suicide watch.
As time cruelly went on the man sold the empty house and moved into a smaller house, one large enough for himself and his caretaker.
He then put everything into his research, both at the university lab and his own lab, which he built once more, continuing to work everyday.
When the third year since the accident came around, his caretaker moved on, leaving notes and reminders everywhere in hopes that the man continues to take care of himself. Having been removed from suicide watch several months prior.
Once his caretaker left and he was truly alone, he began his path for revenge. Having infected himself with a prototype version of his virus, altering and programming his virus. After several hidden tests conducted silently at the university lab, the virus was ready.
Over a period of 6 months, he silently transmitted the virus to the people around him in public, in his lab, to stray animals, and to birds who ate contaminated feed.
It was noticed by a few health institutions, but after several tests, they determined it was an inert virus for humans, and shelved it.
A full year has passed since he released his virus, by now it should have spread across all corners of the world. The man thought; soon, the world shall know my pain, and the government shall be useless once more.
Another month passed, and the programmed timer initiates the mutation. Cases of sickness pop up across the globe, every single case reporting the same symptoms, same severity. The WHO declares a global pandemic and another COVID style lockdown comes into place.
"Useless." The man scoffs as he watches the WHO announcement. "Nothing will stop my revenge, and soon, they will know of my work."
Turning to his computer screen, a submission to the scientific journal, titled: "The ability to program viruses, their uses against the human race."
'Finally' He thought, 'Dad's coming home'
As patient zero, He will become the very first death to the virus he fathered into existence.
'Pity,' he monologues to himself, as the thought of revenge fades away; 'I won't be able to satisfy my fantasy of living through an apocalypse.'
A smile forms on his face as he takes his last breath, a sparse emotion when compared to the world outside, descending into mayhem and anarchy as the first reported deaths are announced and cases of infections escalate with no stop in sight; despite the actions of numerous governments world wide.
The death of a civilization arrives, from the wrath of a single man.