Chapter 3
The last time: immediately after her return from the hospital, he locked her in the cold room where she repented of her sins, almost freezing to death; this time he would do something more creative: he would make sure to administer a treatment that would leave an indelible scar in her subconscious mind for all of eternity. While he continued driving, deep in thought, a smile danced subtly on his lips.
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A series of events has led to the current state of the earth. The earth was no longer what it used to be century back. Although, the earth has witnessed a number of alien invasions since the 24th century, this was but a drop in the bucket compared to the two major incidents that forcibly shaped and determined the fate of humanity. In the early decades of the 24th century, a phenomenon which could have been classified as a disastrous calamity occurred. And this calamity foreran the great revolution which was birthed a century after. It all began with a year of drought and famine; this continued for three years. During this period, there was no rainfall all over the world, leading to low crop yield and thus hunger, because even the rivers and similar water bodies dried up.The period saw the death of about half the world population, for during this time children and the elderly died in their thousands every day. Then after the third year, there was a flash of lighting and a light drizzle which eventually led to a torrential heavy downpour followed. At the start people saw it as the gods looking on them with pity, but after two days of continuous rainfall some began to see it as a curse and some others, a divine punishment. After the rainfall ended, statistics revealed that the number of people who died during the three-day rainfall equals the number who dies in a week (during the famine). Six months later things began to take shape, as he earth began to regain its former glory when the first great calamity struck. It was a clear afternoon during the last week of the sixth month. Things were progressing smoothly like any other day when, all of a sudden, the sky darkened like there was an eclipse. Usually when an eclipse occurs, different places are affected at different time; yet this was different as the whole world was blanketed with thick dark clouds. Foolish brave came out to access the situation while the cowards prayed to their gods for mercy; believing that it was a signifier for the world's ending. Three hours later, deep rumblings that shook the earth could be heard as lighting invaded the land and water bodies. This calamity continued for a whole twenty-four hours after which the thunderstorm receded and the dark clouds retreated. Immediately, emergency meeting by the world leaders were held after which an estimate of the total death was taking_ 1/3 of the world's population. The world leaders came to an agreement to suspend all wars and focus on recuperating.For the next century and eight plus decades, the earth was peaceful. However, the 26th century ushered in a new problem. A nameless virus started spreading. The rate of its spread was so alarming that earth's citizens debated if it was spread by air. During this period the world was on massive lockdown. The total number of death toll after the first three month was one-third of the surviving population. Some surviving countries of the world put together a team to study the virus. After several experiments, they came to a conclusion that the virus was not originally from the earth as it had similar particles with what could be found in space. In other words, the virus was alien to earth.The virologists agreed that the whole earth be fumigated with a vaccine they developed so as to stop the spread of the virus. This conclusion was jointly carried out by and in different surviving countries. After the duration when the virus was supposed to have been eradicated past, the ban on the people's movement was finally lifted. At the end of that day, millions of death was once again registered. This time, the virus the cycle of the virus was invariably shortened, leading to higher number of death than before the worldwide fumigation.Once again the world mourned the death of its citizens. During another online world conference, the leader hinted at China, who had been suspiciously quiet since the start of the whole ordeal, this action directed the attention of the people towards the Chinese and gave them an opportunity to vent. After the broadcast, China was labeled a being behind the virus, invalidating their previous claim that the virus originally existed in space. This provided a platform for the Community of World Countries (CWC) to mount serious pressure on China to proffer a solution and research a vaccine that could completely eliminate the threat of the virus.In response to the CWC, the Chinese government set up a committee, comprising of 10 medical scientists and 10 auxiliaries. The auxiliaries were to aid the scientists in experimentation by bringing in and getting rid of the corpse of the affected. The Ola family ancestor (now spelt Holar) was part of the researchers. He moved to China decades after the first calamity and became a citizen because he was renowned and talented in the medical field.After months of research yielded nothing, a young, female, Chinese researcher deduced that from the structure of the virus ingesting 'lemon' may help decompose it. Her deduction, which was initially rejected, was set up for debate. This was owing to the fact that there was no major breakthrough few months after her deduction; hence, the number of death was piling up.The debate ended with the female scientist being unable to convince her fellow scientists of her claim. As a result, an experiment using the nearly extinct guinea pig was carried out. The experiment was simple five different guinea pigs were infected with the virus and after an hour the lemon was also injected into the test subjects. The result, all five guinea pigs died, and each died an excruciatingly painful death. The source of the death was approximated to be the clash between the virus and the lemon. An auxiliary went ahead to safely dispose the lab rats. Due to his clumsiness, one of the sealed cover of the test tube was pried open but he immediately locked it and washed and sanitized himself after the disposal. The research continued for two weeks, at the start of the third week, five scientists and nine auxiliary was dead; as a result, the remaining scientists were confined in their own homes, but their houses were sealed to prevent anyone from going in or coming out.