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The DEAD Effect

Prologue

Ladies and gentleman, my name is Jamison. Phillip Jamison. I have been duly chosen to serve as your host and guide this evening, and I warmly welcome all fourteen of you back into modern society (clear throat), for want of a better term. Rest assured, the medical staff states that the disorientation you feel is natural, and the associated dizziness, nausea, and blurred vision will indeed vanish within a twenty-four to thirty-six hour period.

Please feel free to sip the water from the plastic containers provided. There are also packets of saltines if you feel the urge to indulge. The medical staff also says to expect your normal appetite to return within a day or so, at which time you willmore than likely experience a ravenous hunger like no other. Whoops, not too much water, Mister Vincent. It's liable to increase your nausea unless taken in minute increments. Yes, that's better. Miss Conners sitting to your left has the right idea. Sip-don't gulp.

Good people, I cannot even begin to fathom the levels of mental confusion and physical jet lag you must be enduring.

While you nibble and sip, allow me to fill you in on the planned itinerary. To allow you proper... decompression, again for want of a better term, you will remain here for another two to three hours. From what we understand about Cryogenics, the system requires at least this much time to properly recharge its eternal clock. Currently, your blood pressure and pulse rates are dangerously low. You've each been injected with B-1 and B-12 shots, as well as a multi-vitamin booster with enhanced Beta-Carotene.

Questions?

Yes, Misses. Jackson I believe?

A fair question, indeed. We are a freelance agency not directly affiliated with but hired by your corporation, pre-plague, to search out, rescue, and revive its former staff heads and associates. We are also tasked to relocate you for reintroduction into present day society, or what we refer to as 'The Colony'.

Mister Bowen?

Affirmative, sir. This site has been cleared and duly secured. Fortunately, the isolated location of this particular facility keeps the population of infested at a relatively low number. You'll be relieved to know they've long since abandoned this area due to the lack of a fresh food source.

Misses... Clarke, please proceed with your inquiry.

Why no, you're perfectly entitled to an answer concerning our uniforms. These are a variation of the military chemical suit, though tweaked somewhat as to better protect us from germ and bacterial invaders. You people are presently in what we term 'Code Blue Quarantine', meaning you present a minimal threat to those around you. Do not be alarmed by this, as it is simply a precaution we are forced to take by regulation. Once we get to the in-processing station, a series of more advanced testing will take place that will clear you to move about freely within the colony population. Again, this is just a precaution. In the meantime, please excuse our rather ominous appearance.

Mister Caldwell?

Yes, well, I shall soon discuss in great detail the duration of your downtime. For now, please continue to ingest the liquids and settle back into a comfortable consciousness. Once the medical staff is convinced you're stable enough, you will be bused to a safe house for continued observation. The safe house in question is a former five-star hotel located approximately forty-five miles from this location. Having been properly reinforced and secured, the hotel presently serves as 'in-processing' headquarters for all new arrivals. In the meantime, I will provide an in-depth de-briefing as to fill in the blanks. Let me initially state that in terms of what you've missed during your period of downtime inside the Cyro canisters, consider yourself extremely... fortunate. It must be noted that the company showed a great deal of hindsight and intelligence by placing its top people in suspended animation just as the plague hit its peak.

Unfortunately, your president and CEO did not survive the ordeal. It appears he suffered a massive coronary sometime during the incubation period, more than likely from the chemical treatment. In addition, the vice-president and operations chief also expired under similar circumstances. I'm... sorry to have to pass on such tragic news so soon following your reawakening, folks.

Mister Caldwell, I believe by following the company chain of command, that you are next in line to succeed your former superiors. I'm sure such matters can and will be discussed in length following the conclusion of the in-processing phase.

For now, please relax, breath deeply and continue to ingest the provided nourishment. I'll return in approximately twenty to thirty minutes to begin the main thrust of this in-briefing. And again, allow me to be the first to welcome you good people back from oblivion.

THIRTY-SIX MINUTES LATER

Okay, people. I hope you're feeling a bit more chipper. I see you've all managed to finish off the refreshments. I know it wasn't much, but there'll be a more substantial, not to mention tasty, meal awaiting you at the in-processing station.

For now, allow me to get to the heart of this in-brief and begin answering the questions I know must be burning holes into each of your collective psyches.

First off, there is the subject of just how long each of you has been incommunicado since the day you were placed in the Cryogenic chambers on September 23rd of the year two-thousand fourteen. Utilizing Old World calendars, the present date is now the sixteenth of April in the year... two-thousand thirty-five.

Please people, please. I know it must be extremely difficult to accept, but try to control your emotions. Your immune systems are still very weak at this point, and such self-induced stress might well affect your overall cardiovascular well-being.

Mister Caldwell, please sit and calm yourself, sir.I... we as a company have no reason to be untruthful. I understand the shock you must be experiencing, but we'd rather not be forced to use sedatives at this point.

I'm... going to break now to allow our medical staff sufficient time to counsel and/or treat each of you on a one-to-one basis.

SIXTEEN MINUTES LATER

I'm glad to see everyone back in their seats and looking a bit more subdued. Again, I truly sympathize with the shock and disbelief you must feel. From what I've gathered from the counselors, most of you figured to have been in suspended animation for less than a decade. Twenty-one years spent in limbo is quite a span, no argument, but please bear with me as I unequivocally state, without even a tint of irony, that you folks definitely picked the right two decades to skip I know, I know, many of you shake your heads and wonder how I could possibly verbalize such an outlandish remark. Please, at least give me the chance to back it up with cold, hard fact. Fair warning, folks; what I have to say is less than uplifting. Keep in mind, however, that the planet you are now re-entering is a dramatic improvement over the one you so secretly exited all those years ago.

The plague that came to be known as the 'ER, or Exterminator Re-animator Virus' had just begun its Earthly sweep in the days proceeding your decision to be reborn into a different time via chemical comas. By late summer of two-thousand fourteen, an estimated three billion had fallen victim Worldwide, and that's not counting the countless million others who were...completely consumed by those previously re-animated by the virus. The medical and scientific community, what small portion remained, had more questions than answers as precious time ticked by and nation after nation was overtaken by roving legions of its own dead.

By the fall of two-thousand sixteen, a state of martial law was declared by default on a planet-wide basis, as all world leaders were assumed dead or hiding out, and governments and armies disbanded without fanfare. By the time spring rolled around the following year, all major lines of communication were severed, and the actual number of known survivors impossible to tally, though it was estimated at less than one-hundred thousand world-wide. Those left manning the torch for mankind were basically relegated to an existence more appropriate for moles or similar nocturnal beasts, hiding out in underground facilities or holed up in concrete and steel prisons of their own making. To label it simply a 'dark age' would be to woefully underestimate its place in history. Stories, such as the ones I'm tasked to regale to you now, were later discarded as simple myth or legend, since the majority of those involved did not survive to verify their authenticity. Nonetheless, the powers that be insist these tales be told to all new arrivals as an abbreviated history le...