Creating an Empire

                                                                                                Prologue



    With knowledge comes responsibility. As humans evolve so does their lust for knowledge of the world around them. Acquiring this knowledge not to help, but to destroy. Using intelligence to chemically alter nature to construct weapons and launching these weapons for mass murders and pushing Earth to its breaking point.

    In the not too distant future the Worlds super powers engaged in a war of unheard of proportions. Unleashing their entire arsenal onto foreign lands, seeking to cripple the enemy. With little regard to mother nature and innocent by standers, the countries pounded countless toxins into the ground. The radiation spread to the corners of each continent around the world forcing the citizens to evacuate their homes in search of a sanctuary that may not exist. People around the world scramble to find pockets of land untouched by the harmful remnants of the war.

Unable to find a safe haven, people fall victim to the debilitating effects of excessive exposure to the harmful chemicals and radiation. Citizens of the world begin to die, falling prey to a war they didn’t approve of.



                                                                                     ~

    US Army colonel Johnson runs out of the HQDA building, into his car and speeds home to check on his family. The streets are packed with people scrambling around like agitated ants. With everything crumbled to the ground from the tremors of the nearby explosions, and loose shards of buildings falling from the sky. Johnson dodges cars, people, and chunks of rocks taking up half of the streets; and makes his way home. He pulls into his drive way on Callaway ct. bursts out of the car and into the house to gather his family and belongings. He runs through the door and looks both ways, and sees nothing but destruction. Fallen bookshelves, broken tables, shattered vases. Johnson then looks closer and sees a cracked picture frame of his family, he picks up the frame. He puts his hand on the broken class and slides his finger along the crack that flows between him and his wife and daughter. Setting the picture down, he makes his way upstairs to the master bedroom. “Miranda!... Miranda!...” Johnson screams.  He hears no reply and his heart begins to pound out of his chest. Reaching the end of the staircase he runs to the right and blows right through the door. The room looks disheveled, with the drawers thrown open and clothes scattered all over the room. Johnson heads to the bathroom and it’s empty as well. He then runs to his daughter, Kaylas room and its unchanged. As if the shockwaves didn’t reach this room.



    Where on earth could they be? Beginning to seriously worry he runs downstairs, and into the kitchen. Looking to the kitchen table, he sees a note and his heart drops to his feet.



“Honey,

      I was so scared. The house was shaking and I saw my world around me start to crumble. I had to do what I thought was best for Kayla. I left to try to catch one of the last planes leaving for Hawaii. Hopefully you make it home to read this I’m so sorry…”



    Johnson can feel tears welling up and fights to keep them from falling. He clutches the note in his clinched fist, and sits down at the table. As soon as he makes contact with the chair the ground starts to shake vigorously. Trying to keep his balance and dodging plates and bowls falling from the cabinet, he makes his way out of the house.

Huge plumes of black smoke flow from the ground off in the distance. He dashes back off in the house and grabs his keys; he knows exactly what he needs to do.

      Johnson speeds down the road and heads toward the Airport, dodging cars left and right he drives recklessly with aspirations of seeing his family again. 

      His hopes shortly start to dwindle when he sees the hordes of people packing the streets.  “Colonel Johnson! Over here! Colonel please look!”

      Doing a double take, he can’t believe his eyes. Behind his car he sees a police car with Officer Robert James behind the wheel. James is leaning out of the window trying to get Johnsons attention. James yells “ Johnson come on were taking a helicopter come with me!” Without hesitation Johnson puts his car in park and sprints back to the squad car. With renewed hope he climbs into the car. “Oh thank you James you have no idea!” he says expressing extreme gratification. “ Ok we need to head to the Ritz Carlton and a helicopter will meet us there and take us to the Military jet,” James says then flips on the switch to the siren. The people on the street thankfully responded to the siren and cleared a path for them to drive. “So how far do we have to go to this place?” Johnson asks. Scouting the current path on the street, James replies “Uhh well it’s about 2 miles up north, it should only take about 20 minutes considering the traffic.” Johnson nods approvingly, biting his nails out of angst.

The cars are all trying to go to the north and some refuse to get out of the way. Making James have to yell at them through the megaphone, even then they remain a little stubborn.

      Closing in on the Hotel, Johnsons heart swells at the thought of his family. They pull into the parking lot and Johnson follows James into the massive building, running to the elevator James pushes the button multiple times before realizing the electricity is out.They make eye contact and without saying a word they both take off for the stairs, and begin their zigzag trek up the building.

At the top of the building they see that the chopper is already there waiting on top of the bright yellow H marker. The wind is whipping Johnson in the face and the scent of smoke is unmistakable and almost suffocating. He follows right behind James onto the platform, greets the pilot quickly and hops into his seat.

    Every second that goes by feels like gravity is multiplying, being crushed by his own emotion he can’t take it anymore and emotion starts to creep its way to the surface. A tear begins to slowly roll down his cheek. James noticing the tear looks at him and puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “It’s ok we’re almost out of here,” James says in a low tone just keeping it between them. “Thanks James I honestly don’t know how to repay you, you saved my life and giving me my only opportunity to see my family again. I.. I..” the emotion really starts to pour out and Johnson is lost for words.

    The helicopter starts to rise off the platform and chops through the smoke and air like a knife. The man in the passenger seat gets up and sits across from James. “Alright men, we got a short trip to the airport then we board a military plane and get the hell outta’ here.” The man says in his southern accent, it was hard to understand him with the huge wad of tobacco in his front lip.

Hovering over the cars they really started covering ground, after a few minutes the airport was within sight. As they approached the roof they flew to the back where the plane was located.

Landing the chopper was difficult due to the smoke and smog saturating the air by the bomb that went off not even 2 miles away.

After landing Johnson rips off his seat belt and this time is the first to run to the plane instead of following anybody. He does a brisk walk up the stair ramp and makes eye contact with the two men in the cock pit. “Colonel Johnson wonderful to see you, glad to see you in one piece” one of the men says and extends a hand. Too frantic to make small talk Johnson just looks at him and says “Let’s get this bird in the air I have a family to get to.” Taking his hand back the pilot sits back down and looks forward. James and the two other men from the chopper follow shortly behind and greet the pilots.

      James then takes a seat in front of Johnson and hands him a beer he got from the front. “Here try and calm your nerves sir, it’s a long flight you won’t survive the ride if you’re a ball of nerves.” Johnson grabs the beer, cracks it open, and takes a drink. Feeling the force of the plane moving down the runway and lifting into the air turns his stomach. He then puts his head in his hands and takes a sign of relief. In disbelief that everything worked its way out, he leans back and tries his best to relax. Realizing he can relax once he’s reunited with his family Johnson starts to think.  “There must be some sort of registration and file keeping system to see who all made it, so when we get to Hawaii I need you to check those records and find my family.” James gives him a confused look, puts down his beer and says “Sir” he takes a brief pause “we’re not going to Hawaii this plane is on it’s on its way to Easter Island, to the base we set up there.”

      Johnson rises out of the seat furiously “No that’s impossible! I need to go to Hawaii my family is there!” James gets up as well in an attempt to calm Johnson down. “We can find your family, just give us time,” Johnson then rushes to the emergency exit and James dashes off after him. With his hands on the handle attempting to open it James is right behind him trying to restrain Johnson from doing the unthinkable. “I need to get out of here! My family needs me, let me go!” He screams with tears streaming down his face which was clearly filled with pain. Johnson turns around and whacks James in the face and levels him to the ground. Turning back around and reaches for the door again.

      Just when he gets close to the handle, one of the pilots jams a tranquilizer into his neck. The medicine quickly spreads throughout Johnsons body and severely cripples his dexterity. Making feeble attempts to reach the door, and realizing there was no hope, he then succumbs to the temptation to close his eyes and falls flat on the ground.

The one pilot looks at the other pilots and says “What? You can’t honestly say he wasn’t annoying you too.” Letting out a big laugh they both direct the plane toward their new destination in the South Pacific.

      Roughly 8 hours later Johnson wakes up with an extreme headache, looks around and sees James holding a bag of ice to his eye. “What happened?” he asks rubbing his head. “Don’t worry about it Hercules,” James says in a passive tone. The door to the plane opens and Johnson sees a plethora of trees and soldiers scrambling around underneath tents. He gets to his feet, “Where are we?” Johnson asks with a shaky tone. “This sir, is Easter Island, our new home…”