Genesis: The New Age Series, Book 1

IT WAS 2065, AND the world was finally at peace. Countries flourished economically, genetic scientific breakthroughs were happening daily, and mankind was finally at the cusp of stem cell enhancement research. All world governments had come to terms and had made peace, or so everyone had thought…

There was devastation as nuclear war broke out. As countries fought, it had been a race to see who could gain the most knowledge and resources; it ended in eradicating the world as it was once known. Cities were destroyed, and the great war blew apart entire countries. The world population was at its lowest in history as radiation slowly killed off those who had survived the initial blasts. Mankind’s only hope for survival was to rebuild under a new government order, so from the rubble and ashes, the walled city of Meridiana was born…

It had been five years since the world was left in turmoil after a nuclear war had spread across the lands, destroying a great deal of the world’s population. Those who survived turned to anarchy, enraged that their government would allow such a war to be waged upon them. Crime littered what was left of the streets, more each day as the government tried to get a hold of the situation but fell short of improvements. Their only hope was a complete lockdown, do or die. City walls were erected, harsh laws and curfews were implemented, and soldiers became law officers. At this time, officials turned to science; after the war, a new wave of nuclear and genetic discoveries was made. A team of scientists had set out to create the ultimate human specimen, “peacekeepers”; they tried and failed miserably until a breakthrough was made by administering a series of injections of enhanced genetically altered stem cells, a body could maintain its youth. The injected cells would seek out the weak or dying cells of the subject. They would attach themselves to them and, in creating a perfect cell, would kill the old one taking its place.

In 2075, the experiment had progressed enough to be tested. Fifty children from the ages of three months to five years, who were either orphaned or given as tribute, were injected and put into medical comas. The theory was that their sleeping bodies would take on the cells and start to create enhanced cells of their own genetically. The team worked feverishly for five years, but their efforts went nowhere. Their subjects continued to die off while their bodies were asleep. The injection doses were cut in half and then even more so, yet it seemed that organ failure was inevitable as most of the children bled to death within months of the first injection. After running more tests and millions of dollars of scientific experimenting being flushed away, the government allowed the head scientist twenty more children to experiment with. The success rate increased as the first few years went by without incident, but complications began to kick in. In the end, only three subjects survived the ordeal. They lay comatose in bed in the science facility, the scientists not knowing when, or if, they would ever awaken. A new government inside the scientific compound grew within Meridiana’s walled city as the world outside the walls started to rot away from death and destruction, leaving nothing but barren wastelands to fill the void that had once been a well-populated area.

Hokura awoke in a dead sweat; her ears were ringing as her head throbbed in agony, blurring her vision.