Toxic

Chapter 7: Reboot

Restrain
Anthony

The electrical current from the chair propagates throughout all the nerves in my body even faster than the taser did a few hours earlier. What have I gotten myself into? I wake up from the shock in what looks like a prison cell. I'm strapped to a chair with wires hooked up all over my body. There's a screen in front of me that says "Descension" in big blue letters. The rest of the room is a wall of smooth gray cinder blocks with no windows. The whole room smells musty and metallic. I'm strapped so tight I can barely move my head. The chair and head straps are positioned so that my eyes are fixated on the screen in front of me, which starts playing an audio recording with the spoken words on a presentation video projected on the screen. It's through this video that I learn more about what "Descension" means, who Marcus is, and what he wants with me:

If you are viewing this presentation, you are now a part of a very special mission designed to restore balance to the world. The U.S government collapsed after the beginning of quarantine in combination with the attack from North Korea. The higher level government had been deeply divided leading up to those events. The split was inevitable. We are the better faction that survived the collapse. The other faction that survived is not to be asked about. No questions. No exceptions. We are the Descension, founded and led by Marcus Johnson. We believe in strong social structure. We believe there is a hierarchy in society that should be honored and obeyed. We believe that people who work for their success should be rewarded. We believe that those who do not should serve those who are rewarded. Throughout history, great empires and civilizations have thrived with a strict social structure like the hierarchy we believe in. We want to return to that glory and rebuild the world. In doing so, we need your help. We aim to reset the world to a better place. We want to start over. The world as we know it is in ruin. We are close to running out of the cure. Although, we have produced something better. We have produced a vaccine with such powerful capabilities. We have technology that many do not know exists. This special vaccine, which is composed of microscopic electrical respondents amidst a mixture of a complex biochemical formula, is blue in color and is known as the "Reset Vaccine". The reset vaccine preserves one's body from rotting after death, as well as being responsive to an electrical signal transmission. In response to an electrical transmission, anyone alive or deceased who was injected with the reset vaccine will stay alive or be brought back to life. The electrical transmission will stun, paralyze, and stop the life force of anyone who does not have the reset vaccine injected in their blood. We are working on producing that electrical transmission. Due to a very limited and rare resource, we were only able to make 200 reset vaccines. The other resources were used for production of the coronavirus cure and for production of what we call the Vitality Vaccine, which we are working on right now. The Vitality Vaccine serves to prolong one's lifespan well beyond 100 years of age, as well as allow someone to be immune to disease, stronger, healthier, and overall more powerful. We will only be making 100 doses of the Vitality Vaccine for those who are worthy. Those given the reset vaccine are marked in tattoos with a number 1-200. Those people with a number 1-100 will wear blue suits and dresses and will be treated as the elite in our society. Those people will also receive a dose of the vitality vaccine. Those numbered 101-200 will wear gray jumpsuits and will serve the elite as the working population of the Descension society. As you may have noticed, our colors are blue and gray. We have built a utopia. It consists of 200 homes for the 200 who will be given or have been given a dose of the reset vaccine. The homes surround this "Reset" facility. The elite will live in the larger blue houses in an outer circle surrounding this facility. The working class will live in smaller gray townhouses in an inner circle surrounding the facility.

The voice recording, which was clearly computerized, now shifts in tone to be more specific and human-like to address my situation:

Anthony Villanueva, you will be assigned many tasks to help us carry out Mission Reset. You have no other option. You must comply. If you choose to not comply, you will be brutally tortured and executed in front of your children. Your children will also receive punishment if you choose to not carry out your tasks. Your two main tasks are as follows. You will finish designing and building the electronic "Reset" transmission that will activate the reset vaccine. You will finish the creation of the vitality vaccine using our last supply of the rare, genetically special blood we have obtained. If you complete these tasks sufficiently, on the day that we send out the finished Reset Transmission Signal, you will receive an injection of the reset vaccine beforehand. Your children will also receive the injection as well.