AGE OF INSANITY

Chapter Eight; The end of the world

The world did not end with a bang or a whimper. It ended with the hysterical screeches as it was plunged into madness. The first week of the outbreak was filled with disbelief and blatant disregard for an unknown situation that affectted a few countries. In the following weeks, however, panic surmounted among the people as outbreaks in different continents increased daily.

Broadcasting stations scrambled to keep up with the unfolding apocalypse while the divided public grappled with thier changing reality. There were a group of people emerging claiming that it was all a propaganda to divert attention from our deteriorating climate. The religious communities held firm in thier belief of their respective foretold end of days and the rest of the people focused on locating shelters and securing food supply.

The end of the world was not a one day event. It took place over the course of a month. The seemingly slow decent into madness followed shortly by death or a permanent state of insanity had people locking themselves in thier basements and panic rooms. In that month the government managed to identify the culprit.

Anthony Bridgit, a man who had been previously convicted of ten accounts of first degree murder using a biological weapon. The weapon used was not disclosed and the victims were also protected. All that was issued by the United States government was a name and a picture. According to the government, Anthony had managed to escape and attempts to apprehend him had been unsuccessful. A large canister had been identified as the source of the first outbreak and Anthony's fingerprint had been identified among those found on the canister. A synthesized virus that caused symptoms similar those affected by the mad hatter disease was identified.

Knowing who and what, did not help our predicament. With the increase in the number of infected all proactive attempts at stopping the spread by apprehending Anthony were put on hold. All efforts were diverted to trying to find a cure. What the scientists and the governing bodies of the different countries did not consider was how high the number of the infected would be and how aggressive the spread of the virus would be. By the third week every human in the planet had grasped just how serious the calamity that was facing us was. The heads of state were the first to disappear followed by other executives.

The military were realised at the beginning of the fourth week following a notice by the governments for thier respective citizens to barricade themselves indoors. The unity and consensus with which decisions were made and executed was truly awe inspiring and would have been a sight to behold were it not for the invading apocalypse. Soldiers who were mandated to shoot to kill everyone that was found in the open were released. Two days later the media in Kenya went dark.

That was a month ago. After Marcus informed my parents about the unfolding situation. My friends and their families came together in our panic room. My father had insisted on our house having a panic room. The term panic room was merely descriptive of its purpose. It was not a room but two sub- basements that my mother had gone to town on, in the decor department. The lower level was divided into five self contained bedrooms that had each been tastefully decorated. The upper level had a large living room, an even larger kitchen (mother's doing), a gym, a study room and a large storage room complete with an industrial freezer.

Ruth's family consisted of her parents Martha and Tim and her two brothers Gregory and Geston. Monica's family was the largest with four sisters Rose, Lisa, Jeniffer and Lucy and her parents Vivian and Joseph. Leon was an only child and her mother Claire come with her and Susan had one brother sebastian and thier parents Mary and Stewart. Marcus showed up with two equally well built men, Kevin and Charles, whom he introduced as his brothers and nobody pried further.

Each family was required to bring food for storage and beddings and a few personal belongings. None of the families skimped on anything, bringing literal truckloads of food, medicine, electronics, beddings and anything that was useful to our house. Marcus and his brothers came with weapons that nobody spared more than a cursory glance. Nobody was willing to dwell on thier presence but no one disputed the need to have them,there was an ongoing apocalypse after all.

At the beginning of the second week while the rest of the world was grappling with thier unrelenting doom we closed our doors armed our extensive security measures and settled in for the end of the world. All the workers had been released before the panic room had been open, 'to minimise the risk of invasion' my father said. The electric fence run by the generator would keep both the sane and insane away.

We spent the remainder of that month, watching the world burn and the governments fall. The sudden absence of a government increased hysteria among the public. The final straw as we later learnt was the 'great darkness'. A code name assigned by my brother for the fall of Kenya Power and lightning company, our country's largest electricity supplier which yanked the country back into the stone age. With no electricity and no governance the former being a bigger hurdle, society as we know it came to a total collapse and anarchy reigned supreme.

After the media black out, we found other ways to keep ourselves entertained. My sister had had the brilliant idea of downloading as many movies and songs as she could find so we had something to pass time with. We had enough fuel for the generator to last at least five years and Marcus had proved able if repairs were needed.
The parents came up with roaster for delegation of duties that were obligatory and occupied themselves with keeping the rest of us alive. My friends and I spent most of our time in the gym trying our best to remain sane.

Whatever coping methods we had amased over the years to deal with our respective mental issues were rendered useless with our isolation. After the great darkness, with no new information to stimulate us we slowly began to unravel.

Ruth's depression had shrouded her with misery that claimed its company with Susan. Monica's OCD had her disorganizing the place as she tried to find her patterns. I, not one to be left behind slowly detached myself from reality refusing to interact with anyone anymore than was required.

It was Marcus who came to our rescue setting up the gym equipment. After that we held our sanity together with our burning muscles and a dozen prescriptions pills. Marcus' solution was akin to building a dam with untreated wood. It would hold, for a while, but its collapse was inevitable and it would be sooner rather than later.