The devil's Pact - S01 E411

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The devil's Pact - S01 E411

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 411

The Fall of Seattle



Wormwood, as the disease became known, ravaged the world. No-one knows the precise number of men who died of the Demon Plague, but estimates are 1.02 billion. One-third of all the men living on the planet succumbed before the disease ran its course five months later.
–excerpt from 'The History of the Tyrants' Theocracy', by Tina Allard

Monday, November 18th, 2013 – Lilith – Sangi, the Democratic Republic of Congo

I looked proudly at my assembled daughters, most newly matured, as they stood in the muddy square of the rude village. It grated that I was forced to retreat to such a... distasteful place. Well, that was about to change.

Alitha, Mazikeen, Tzavau, Manticore, Edimmu, Nirah, Zu, Aesma, and a dozen more different breeds stared worshipfully at me. A thousand monsters out of the darkest nightmares of mankind. The humans sill remembered my children in distorted legends and tales. The fear they caused etched into the very soul of mankind. My children were so feared, so powerful, the Creator had drowned the world and started anew. But not this time—He promised on the slopes of Mount Ararat to never destroy the world by deluge again.

And He keeps his promises.

“Open the portals!” I commanded. Lana, Chantelle, and Thamina leapt to obey, carving holes in the air to the Shadows.

It was time to retake my city. From Seattle I would breed an even larger army and sweep this world clean of all the vile men. I would fix the Creator's mistake in ever bringing the brutish pigs into being, ushering in a utopic paradise.

I would recreate Eden in my image.

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Mark – The Matmown, Tacoma, WA

I was exhausted.

Mary and I spent the day healing those that had fallen to Lilith's plague. Hundreds had already died and thousands were falling sick. The plague burned across the world. It was more virulent than the common cold. Seattle was the worst hit. It seemed like every man in the city had fallen ill, Doctors included.

Hospitals had exhausted their resources trying to deal with the sick, reduced to staffs of mostly nurses and many of those were staying home to care for their own husbands, sons, and fathers. So far none of the Legion – the military sworn to me – had fallen ill, or any of those bound by the Zimmah ritual. But 10,000 soldiers was not enough to maintain order in the US, let alone the world.

“Our Hot Labs have isolated the bacteria,” Dr. Franny Albertson explained. She was an Epidemiologist Officer from the CDC, trained to deal with pandemics. “It's a modified version of the Treponema pallidum, commonly called syphilis.”

“It's an STD?” I asked.

“Well, not anymore. But it started out that way.”

That explained why I was immune, and all those bound to us by the Zimmah spell. Months ago, Mary and I performed the Bathuwlah ritual and made ourselves, and those bound to us, immune to STDs.

“Someone has engineered this attack to affect only men,” Dr. Albertson continued. “We're not sure how. And they've increased its durability, giving it a protein to protect it from UV light, allowing it to be transmitted in the air.”

“What can we do to stop it?” Mary asked.

“Syphilis has a history of being resistant to antibacterials,” she answered. “The exact protein of its outer shell has never been fully studied, and this strain is even more robust. The best thing to do is isolate the men not already infected. The only good news is we've seen about half of those infected begin to recover.”

“What about containment?” I asked.

“We may be beyond containment,” the doctor said. “There are cases appearing across the entire world. Seattle is a hub for international traffic, and the dormancy of this bacteria appears to be about 3-5 days before symptoms appear. This has allowed the disease to spread far and wide.”

My stomach sank. “What about the military?”

“It's hitting the general troops hard,” General Brooks answered. He commanded the Legion. “The Legion seems unaffected. Healthy units are being quarantined, and we're forming new units out of female soldiers. But they only form about 15% of the military.”

There was a knock on the metal door to the Matmown and a junior officer walked in and whispered something to General Brooks. “My Lord, something is happening in Seattle.”

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