Chapter 1: Apocalypse

“I am now totally refreshed. Clear minded. Ready to take on the World. I have reached a decision regarding the World!”

This was the final and only communique from the man who destroyed the world.

Doesn’t even qualify as fair warning. What can be learned from this arrogance?

A madman is loose? One of many, then. Now everyone. The WORLD’s gone mad!

The entire world seeks revenge on Philosopher Phil, a nickname media gave him. Something akin to a memoir, was found on a story site on the INTERNET. In it, Phil wrote down some of his addled thoughts and philosophy. He’s depraved as well as irrational. A true psychopath. Violent and unpredictable. Worships Death.

I found the bastard. Easy if you know where to look. Did I kill him? Not YET! He isn’t going anywhere, either. Pathetic really, he’s a prisoner of his own demons, in a prison of his own making, Could almost pity him, if I didn’t hate him so much.

How did he destroy the world? By upsetting the applecart with two GIFTS he calls them. Immortality, and Teleportation. Teleportation was the worst.

Imagine, a shipping container with a handle. Not even a seat bolted to it. The Teleporter, grabs the handle, and blinks the container to somewhere else in the world, in an instant. Cool? Port facilities? Closed. Ships? Mothballed awaiting space at the ship breakers, to convert them to scrap iron. Trucking? Abandoned semi’s clutter up Big Box Store parking lots, along with abandoned automobiles.

Who needs a car? Teleport yourself where you want to go. Airports? Planes? Relics of a recent lost era. Vehicle manufacturers? Closed. Highways, roads? Converted to unending strips of shanty town communities. Borders? Mean nothing. Jobs? None exist. Governments? Collapsed. Police? Military? Law enforcement?

Imagine being in hot pursuit of a criminal, who vanishes elsewhere instantly. Or fighting an enemy, when suddenly thousands surround you in an instant.

Economies haven’t just crashed, they’re non-existent. No trade. No currency. No credit or banks. No churches, mosques or temples either, thanks to the GIFT of immortality. Along with immortality, comes freedom from disease and addiction.

Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, Doctors and Dentists? Superfluous. Not needed. Closed, out of business. Even funeral parlors and drug pushers are out of work. Out of business. Schools? Universities? Prepare yourself for a career in….what careers still exist? One or two.

THIEVING and SCAVENGING. And I can assure you, if there ever was such a thing, as honor among thieves? That’s as dead as work ethics, business ethics, and Hippocratic oaths.

Welcome to my world. The new world. See something you want? Take it. Quickly. Just as you’re reaching to grab it, it vanishes before your eyes. Someone else, got there a split second earlier. How does this world work? I already explained, there is no work, no commerce, no production. Just scavenging what is left from those former production runs. Did I mention farms and ranches are out of business?

Teleporting chicken thieves wiped out chicken farms. Cattle rustlers? One man bands. Perhaps you can begin to see the devastation resulting from Philosopher Phil’s magnanimity. Kill him? Too kind. Let him live to observe and suffer the calamity he created. It only took one week from initial introduction of these Gifts, for the world to cave and crumble, it’s legs kicked out from under it.