Environmental Conservation Organization

Ding

The sound of soft bell chimes could be heard inside a small convenience store.

Caeruleum silently stares at the back of the only customer that patronized his store. A feeling of loss and desolation accompanies his stare. 

He turns his gaze to the perfectly organized shelves filled with snacks and common Groceries, he then looks at the only inconsistency in the store where one can see a single snicker bar missing from the perfectly rectangular pile, indicating the only item purchased throughout the entire store.

A sigh of hopelessness escapes his lips. After the year 2103, the world's population finally reached 13 billion, a number that could no longer be ignored. Decades before, in the year 2064, governments throughout the world implemented laws and regulations to curb the increasing population. 

Unfortunately, such regulations were met with small acts of protest, emphasizing Human rights and other nonsensical ideals that weren't even threatened by the new regulations.

With the increase in population came a trend of ever-increasing poverty which led to an influx of crimes, which mostly comprised of murder and petty acts of theft. During the year 2068, eight percent of the world's population was incarcerated. In the year 2069, the government loosened the restrictions on the death penalty on a massive scale. 

Crimes that would warrant life sentencing, casual acts of murder, sudden crimes of passion, confirmed acts of trafficking, terrorism, smuggling, etc. are all met with death.

This caused the small-scale protest to erupt on a global scale, forming the movement known as the 'Value of Life' movement. Ironically it's not uncommon for a protest to turn into mass murder due to individuals tripping and getting accidently stomped to death.

But, in the year 2087, everything changed when a group commonly known as the ECO (Environmental Conservation Organization) conducted mass bombings throughout the world.

In a single day, properties worth over seven hundred billion dollars were destroyed, along with the lives of over six hundred million people. 

The ECO was later branded as a terrorist organization. In 2088, over six thousand members were executed. After sixteen years of inactivity, everyone thought the ECO dissolved. Unfortunately, in the year 2104, a video recording translated to fit the country it was being viewed in, started to spread throughout the internet. It shows a German man with disheveled attire, who began to explain how viruses work, along with how many fascinating concepts it contains. The man spoke about virus mutations, he explained how they evolve in hopes of surviving longer in their surrounding environment.

He briefly demonstrates a cultivated virus and shows its growth, change, and replication. He then switches to another lab where he shows another cultivated virus he named 'Hope,' He modified it to be able to survive longer and mutate faster. 

Staring at the camera, a crazy smile makes its way onto his face. "I'll now be demonstrating this virus in action." He pulls down a lever causing a glass door to open, from the camera's perspective there is nothing behind the glass door. The viewers display signs of confusion before the German man speaks again, his words sending chills down the spine of those watching. "I will be closely observing you to see the effect of this experiment, thank you for your selfless contribution to the ECO."

The first obvious victim of the virus was in Jacksonville Florida, A man named Michel Smith was taking the Linx-hover bus to work. In his hand was a bag of sunflower seeds and a special portable container to spit the seeds in. During the ride, he continued to eat the seeds and spit in the container, eventually emptying the bag.

However, to his confusion, he constantly feels the seeds in his mouth. Not thinking too much about it, he simply spits in the container. 

After about two dozen times, the sensation stopped. Perhaps the man was multitasking, or perhaps he was simply too lazy to care about the strange occurrence, that it wasn't until a passenger tapped his shoulder in concern and pointed at his mouth that the man realized something was wrong. 

Michel felt traces of fluid running down from his mouth, he initially thought he was drooling, so with slight traces of embarrassment he wiped the supposed drool from his mouth with the back of his hand. Instinctively, he took a glance at his hand and then looked away, however, he froze, quickly looking back at his hand he saw a smear of blood from where he wiped.

The middle-aged woman who tapped Michels's shoulder quickly made her way to the front of the bus to alert the driver who then immediately stopped the bus on the side of the road and alerted the passengers to remain calm over the speakers. The driver then proceeded to call 911 while walking towards Michel. He quickly and concisely reported the situation. 

Although trained to deal with similar situations the driver was still a little nervous, especially looking at the gruesome sight in front of him, A man dressed in black jeans, brown work boots, and a black dress shirt labeled 'tires plus' was staring at a container with a dull expression, blood could be seen trickling from his opened mouth dripping onto the collar of his shirt. His mouth remains slightly open allowing the driver to see the bleeding gums of his mouth where his teeth were supposed to be.

The driver signaled the gathering passengers to step away and get back to their seats. Unfortunately, perhaps due to rising curiosity or simple disregard for the driver's nonexistent authority, the passengers continue to crowd around, with some even stretching their necks to get a better look at the source of the commotion.

Sirens Could be heard from a distance. The first vehicle to appear is a patrol car, followed closely by an ambulance, another patrol car, and lastly a fire and rescue truck. 

The officers directed the driver and the passengers off the bus allowing the paramedics to safely remove the injured man from the bus.

After being taken to the hospital and going through several examinations, multiple deteriorating ligaments and softened tissues were found. As time continues to pass, Michel's condition continues to worsen, Organs begin to fail, hairs begin to fall out and bones start to soften. 

six hours after the patient was sent to the emergency department the elastic tissue of the lungs ruptured, causing blood to gush inside.

Less than two minutes later, the first victim died by drowning in his blood.