The Camp

Chapter 1

Before I was taken, I knew nothing about the camp; nothing of what some people had endured. Not until it happened to me.

My name is Caleb and I was 18 when I was sent to the camp.

I didn't go there willingly. I was forced. No participants went there by choice. Only the staff chose their fate. They knew their crimes, and they would pay for them in the end.

The camp was a brutalist complex within the vast landscape of rural Siberia. A formation of concrete blocks, entangled barbed wire and trees.

Due to absurd, yet inevitable effects of global warming, Siberia and Kazakhstan were declared no-go zones in the year 2048. By 2043 the amalgamation of toxic gases in the atmosphere overwhelmed the natural system. An atmospheric mass of pollution accumulated above a small area of central and east Asia, resulting in acid rain that scorched anything it touched, non-discriminate of plants, buildings or people.

The investment into nuclear power plants as a clean alternative to fossil-fuels had come far too late, but in time for the rain to damage the infrastructure of these sites. Calamitous nuclear meltdowns occurred on a scale unknown to human history. Forests grew as vivid crimson creations, branches gnarled and grasping. Radiation sickness, disfigurements, bleeding sores and raw pustules afflicted millions. Fevered brains and desperation led to riots, cannibalism and rage.

A council of esteemed Siberian scientists co-operated to create a cure for the radiation-fever, as it had become known. To numb the pain and anger, subdue the individual. They proposed this cure to their government, however, it also came too late. The social hierarchy had been demolished and the country was disarticulated.

They reached out in hope to the United Nations, now dominated by the militarily overpowered British and US governments.

The proposed solution would require entry into dangerous fever zones, infrastructure and mechanisms suitable to disperse the cure, the insurance that there would be no missed targets. This was a price the UN was not willing to pay, and instead stood firm on their plan of total annihilation. The irony of bombing people to create peace.

The Siberian scientists gathered as many unafflicted as they could, 45 individuals in total, before the bombs dropped, stowing away in bunkers to survive the initial blasting and gas attacks.

The surviving citizens emerged from the ground to see only rubble. What had once been their homes, only dust. They swore that they would avenge their lost nation, to bring back their society and to destroy those who had refused their cure.

And so they began to build the camp.