Chapter 1

Humanity believed that it had dodged a bullet when it came to the Covid-19 virus. With a death rate below two percent, it mostly had. But the economic impact of the efforts to combat the virus took almost two years to run its course. Millions lost their jobs, their homes, and almost a million people died as those vulnerable to the predations of the virus fell victim to it. Even so, the economy started to recover. Mask mandates were lifted. People started to go back to work. It all seemed like the worst was behind them, even though innumerable Omicron variants whistled by, most not causing any significant problems as the vaccines seemed to be keeping the worst of the problems at bay.

Then the Reaper variant emerged.

People started dropping dead only a week or in some cases just a few days after exposure. Not everyone. It seemed to be hit or miss. Most of the deceased showed symptoms of some form of disruption to the neurological structure of the heart. This was true for even the youngest victims. The new virus variant was not differentiating based on age like the previous ones had done.

First discovered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it was quickly apparent that the Rho variant, which some local news anchor aspiring to make a name for himself quickly dubbed the Reaper variant, was a serious and significant departure from before.

Scientists quickly learned why that was when they began to disassemble the DNA of the new variant. A mutation in situ had occurred. The Omicron BA .2 variant of Covid had somehow come in contact with someone who was also infected with a novel virus that, until then, had not caused any specific issues in humans. The newly discovered novel virus, named cisclomenicus kelmensese, had existed in the human herd for hundreds of thousands of years, causing limited to no issues, since it was well-adapted to its human hosts. But in an almost impossible event, the Omicron BA .4-11 variant of Covid-19, barely discovered itself before this, and the cisclomenicus kemensese virus met inside the same infected person, and the two viruses combined and produced an ugly yet voracious and highly mutated hybrid version of the two diseases.

The Reaper variant was a new strain, different from either of its parents. It was different enough that the Covid-19 vaccines in place did not provide any significant protection. And there was no vaccine for cisclomenicus, since that had barely been discovered by science as well.

Most of the new victims had already been fully vaccinated and, in most cases, boosted against Covid-19. This was mainly because most of the population was vaccinated. Health departments and governmental agencies had previously caved to pressure to reopen everything as soon as possible and end mask mandates even though there were still known variants running around, like the Delta variants, the Omicron variant, and the Mu variant which quickly replaced the Omicron and Delta variants. The population was completely exposed to the new virus, with no protection afforded because of a lack of masks that would have been in place. This made the latest outbreak more deadly, and significantly more costly to the future of humanity.

Scientists would sequence the genetic material of the new viral strain making its way through the population in a desperate attempt to figure out just what the hell was killing almost twenty percent of the population in which it infected. That was when they figured out that it was only parentally related to Coronavirus, the underlying pathogen in Covid-19. But it was so different that it was a new class of virus that had not been encountered before. And there was exactly zero immunity in humanity against it.

Or in mammals, or fowl. Entire herds of cattle were dropping dead in hours after having been exposed in as little as a week before. Sheep experienced the same impact. Then came horses. Then dogs and cats. Chickens had it slightly better. It took almost a month for an entire flock of chickens to die off. In the space of another nineteen months, an estimated ninety-one percent of the world’s food animal population, and ninety-four percent of the domestic companion animal population, died out. And during those nineteen months, starvation ever so slowly set in even as humanity fought its own battle with the deadly virus.

In spite of what the vegetarians and vegans had said for decades, there wasn’t nearly enough food, and especially protein sources, in what was left of the food supply to feed just over five billion people, the surviving population at that time. Crop yields were down worldwide from environmental problems due to climate change such as changing hydration and weather patterns, from uncontrolled use of antibiotics in farm animals affecting the watersheds and ecosystems, and from over-farming robbing farmland of useable nutrients, as well as the sudden and unexpected reversal that switched the magnetic poles of the planet. This caused a massive shift in the jet streams in the northern and southern hemispheres, and suddenly there was no rain where the crops were being planted. The same amount of water was still on the planet; it just wasn’t where it was desperately needed anymore, and it couldn’t be brought there easily or cheaply.

It was horrific for the survivors to comprehend that by the time the virus had run its course nearly four years after emergence, over two billion people had died from the virus. But because the systems that track these things broke down due to the chaos caused by such an overwhelming mass casualty event, the real number of who died would never be known. India and China had the most casualties. The population density was highest there. Incidental contact between tightly packed peoples were inevitable, and the protections and medical support systems that would have provided at least some support there were the least developed.

India, with its vast population of under-educated and under-served peoples (in everything: medicine, sanitation services, food services) by modern standards, had difficulty gaining access to adequate food, water, and supplies for everyone in a safe manner, let alone the medical resources to keep people alive while their bodies tried, and in many cases, failed to fight off the virus.

China, somewhat better off, nonetheless had the same struggles. As a result, the two countries on Earth with a combined population of two point nine billion at the start of the Reaper virus (as it was now commonly being called by the media), ended up with barely one-point-three billion horrified, badly traumatized survivors. And as was the case with pandemics, the virus didn’t discriminate between wealthy or poor, well fed or not, well-educated or not. It tore through the population like an Old Testament pestilence wherever it struck.

On the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic, Reaper was devastating. The United States population went from three hundred forty million to two hundred sixty-seven million in the space of eleven months from the Reaper. Every other country experienced much the same impact. Humanity became exhausted, mentally damaged, and numb to the death and violence of the seemingly never-ending pandemic. Everyone lost more than one family member or friend to the Reaper.

The economic impact was bad, but some very bright people decided that once and for all, things would be different. Wealth was capped at a billion dollars after a very difficult fight in the US Congress. Any wealth above that, unless donated or invested in job creation or education, was to be taken away and put to better use in the greater good of humanity.

It wasn’t simple anger and greed. The need to rebuild the world was overwhelming. As was the cost. An estimated eleven trillion dollars was needed in the U.S. alone just to reestablish the infrastructure and supply lines, as well as corrective actions to deal with the sudden loss of so many citizens, including writing off and/or forgiving student loans, mortgages, and other types of debt such as credit cards, that no one would be able to pay for anymore, since the economy had collapsed entirely and jobs were, basically, gone. Colleges and universities were closing as well, with no way to reopen.

It was the same everywhere. You needed customers to run a business, which would then employ people. Employees earned money that they spent as customers at other businesses, and so on. The entire economic model collapsed. Not all at once. But slowly, as optional industries such as entertainment dried up first, then capital purchases such as cars and houses, and finally food service industries slowly ground to a halt.

Inflation, once feared as the killer of capitalism, would have been welcomed instead of what was happening.