Aftermath

What if mankind's dream of eternal life came true?

“It’ll change the world,” Henry said. He waited for a response to his presentation.

Arnold Miller, CEO of Amalgamated International, yawned and tried to unglaze his eyes. He shook his head, stifled a yawn, and nodded. “Thanks Henry. We’ll talk.” Why was every advertising campaign the same formula lately? Show a flirty female undulating in front of a glossy product followed by impossible promises and you’re done.

There had to be a better way. The government tariff’s were killing what industry was left after the freefall from the pandemic. Getting a product was hard enough with climate change ravaging crops and causing chaos in the supply chain. Drought, fire, high velocity storms, what next?

“Hey, boss.” Silvia Porter saw the mood her boss was in. She didn’t stop to chat, simply handed him the latest stock market report on Amalgamated and left. The problem with big corporations was they stopped being flexible and versatile in meeting demand. Their organizational structure got top heavy and slow to respond to change.

Miller’s company had cannibalized every competing company and the world was better for it. Stability in an unstable world was a dream come true. The problem was, the dream was becoming a nightmare. “Upstarts happening so fast we can’t control them. You’d think our weight on the government and their making more hurdles for start-ups to go through would stop them.”

He flipped on his laptop when he got back to his penthouse. Social media was abuzz. A mom and pop shop working (of course) out of a garage had just announced a revolutionary breakthrough in battery storage and was giving it away for free. “Get Bruce in here.”

“Yes, Mr. Miller?”

“Stop this. I don’t care how. I’ll clean up the damage afterward.” Miller froze the computer screen. “If you can, deliver what they’ve got before you terminate them.”

Bruce enjoyed his job. The drama and variety was a constant rush. He’d been keeping tabs on start ups and knew this one would be one of his next targets. With Miller, the less said the better. He nodded, broke eye contact and left.

“It’s worse than you thought,” Bruce looked harried.

Miller didn’t like that. “I didn’t see anything on the news about a termination.”

“There is no way to terminate. Not even fire. And look at this.” Bruce turned on a DIY video.

“Simply swallow a seed and you can live forever. The seed grows feelers throughout your body. You look the same on the outside, but like a plant, you eat from sunlight, become your own energy source, heal yourself, and your skin adjusts to heat and cold, your instant home.”

Bruce looked uneasy. “It is impossible to believe. Had to be a scam. I tried one of the seeds to make sure.” He bared his chest. Where his heart thumped inside, on the outside the skinj exhibited a pulsing pale glow.

“It works. Watch this.” Bruce took a knife from his belt that he sometimes used for an execution and thrust it into his heart. When he let go of the blade, the knife was pushed out by his heaving chest. Bleeding stopped. A bruise appeared and disappeared. All that remained was a slowly dissolving puckering of a temporary scar.

“When I executed them, I thought I was done. They laughed at me, told me the seeds were everywhere there was any ground to grow in. They are traveling the country sewing them wild. They’ve got friends they’ve sent them to in other countries doing the same.

Miller sat back stunned. “They’ll destroy civilization. All the controls that kept the masses in line would disappear. It would take a generation before the fallout settled.

Silvia Porter knocked on the half open door. “Boss? You should see this.” She walked over to the large wall touch screen and touched on the news.

“Riots in the streets. Police are firing and killing people breaking into stores but like zombies they come back to life, grab what they can and leave.” Silvia turned down the volume. “It’s happening in major hub cities and seems to be spreading.”

“Mankind got what they wanted and now they’ll have to live with it.” Miller turned to talk to Bruce. “Bring as many seeds as you can back here. If you can’t fight them, join them.”

In the days, weeks, and months that followed, Miller’s prediction came true. No-one had to work so nothing got done. Cities broke apart. Governments stopped working. Bands of evil doers could do anything they had the strength to do. Other bands organized for self protection. No-one could die, but feelings could still be injured and lives turned into slaves. The best and worst of human behavior was stretched to the limit.

For Miller, Bruce, Silvia and those who joined them, it was all they could do to find momentary stability in a forest retreat so hard to get to they were (for now) left alone.

WC 852
Contest Prompt

Write a short story or poem about the aftermath of a national tragedy and how it changed the world..}