Categories > Original > Sci-Fi > Holy War
Cardinal Reece stood on his podium and looked out at his followers. They cheered for their spiritual leader and eagerly awaited his message from their god. Men and women of all ages and races clamored together, each one trying to get the best vantage point. They would have done anything that their lord asked of them, even end their lives. They had no idea that while they flowered their Cardinal with praise, a half a mile away an atheist had the man in his sights.
Colonel Marks adjusted his scope and zoomed in on his target. It had taken him months to get this close; sneaking through enemy lines, avoiding patrols and getting information on his target's location. Not to mention finding a concealed location to get a decent shot. As Marks watched the Cardinal through his scope, he thought about the string of events that had made what he was about to do necessary.
From what records remained Marks had learned that the whole thing had started one tragic day on September 11th 2001. Middle Eastern terrorists hijacked four American airplanes. Two of them destroyed the buildings known as the twin towers, the world's trade center for economic exchange. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, the nerve center of the American military. And the last plane missed whatever target it had been intended for, crashing in a filed.
The attack left thousands of people dead in its wake and many more injured. The terrorist group Al-Kaida had intended the attack to gain respect and strike out at what they saw as an oppressor. Their ultimate goal had been to end American interference in their country. Tragically they set in motion a war that would eventually result in the total destruction of their entire race.
When the dust settled America set its sights on revenge and declared war on "terror". President George W. Bush led the country in what they thought would be a short mission. Instead the conflict dragged on for years with guerrilla warfare and more terrorist bombings. The rest of the world watched with disapproval as America carpet bombed, invaded and manipulated the Middle East. The lines became blurred and Bush used the ensuring confusion to invade other countries that had not been involved in the initial conflict.
The United Nations, a political organization formed from many countries to discus the matters of their relations, continued to pressure the United States to cease their activities. After many years of bloodshed the war finally ended. Osama bin laden, Saddam Husain and several other terrorist leaders and dictators were tried and executed. Peace was eventually restored to the region and all seemed well.
The world observed a year of peace and prosperity but all that soon changed. When the United States learned that the Middle East was developing nuclear weapons that they intended to use against them they acted. As his final act before his assassination president Bush launched a preemptive nuclear attack on the Middle East. Iraq, Iran and several other threatening countries were whipped off the face of the earth nearly overnight. Countless millions were killed and the Arabian race had become all but extinct.
In the aftermath, the United Nations condemned the actions of the United States and shortly thereafter president Bush was killed as an act of revenge by a group of a few surviving Arabs. Vice president Dick Cheney was then sworn in and continued to defend the actions of his deceased predecessor to the world. The U.N. nearly collapsed with the ensuing conflicts. This caused even more turmoil which one man took advantage of.
A Korean dictator named Kim-Jung-Ill looked at the disorganized state of the world's leaders and saw opportunity. He launched an all out nuclear attack on the United States, Europe, Russia, and every other country that had nuclear capabilities. When those countries were lit up by atomic fire world war three began. The United Kingdom was caught off guard and suffered greatly. Japan and Australia were blown off the face of the earth and many smaller countries suffered similar fates.
Having more advanced missile interception systems America weathered the storm mostly intact. Afterward Korea was attacked by every surviving nation and Kim-Jung-Ill's empire and his dreams were sent straight to hell. When it was finally over nearly a third of the world was suffering from nuclear fallout. America was the only super power left on the planet, though several states had been destroyed. Afterward the world slowly tried to recover, but killing it seemed was simply human nature. This time the root of the conflict came from the most unlikely of sources.
A scientist named Alex Perkins invented a miracle drug he called Phoenexia. It was an enzyme that, when administered to a dying patient, allowed a doctor to repair the damage and revive them even if they died during the surgery. a person could be legally dead for up to and sometimes more than twenty four hours and still be brought back with no brain damage. It was the first real breakthrough in nearly twenty years. No one could have predicted that it would cause so much death and destruction.
Even before the attack on the twin towers religion had been loosing its influence. As science continued to advance with one wonder after another the belief in gods and devils lost hold on its worshipers. Over the years it had been slowly fazed out of government and society and had become more of a hobby. The final blow had come from Phoenexia.
Every single person revived from death all reported the same thing. Despite being dead for over a day, none of them had seen god, or heaven, or any other form of afterlife. This realization sparked what should have been the death of all religion but despite this proof there were still those who refused to renounce their faith. A man named Pat Robertson who had long defended his religious faith took the remnants of all religions and formed them into one. The Christian coalition.
Though primarily shaped by Christian beliefs, the Christian coalition merged the traditions and practices of many of its adopted children. They studied the martial arts of Buddhism, used their Jewish connections for financing and made Pat Robertson the first Christian pope. Within two years the group reemerged with a vengeance, attempting to convert as many as they could and discriminating against those that did not. It was only a matter of time before it turned to violence and on April 10th 2042 it did.
By that time life in the U.S. had returned to normal for the most part until Pat Robertson's son ran for the presidency of the United States against John Jones. The world finally saw a battle between an Atheist and a Christian. America showed its allegiance when John Jones won by a landslide and everyone thought that the Christians would back down for a time.
On April 10th President Jones was giving a press conference when a Christian reporter asked, "What would you do if god appeared before you right now?" To which president Jones replied jokingly, "I'd kick him in the head for sitting back during the recent turmoil in the world." Everyone in the room laughed at the joke, until the Christian pulled out a gun and killed the president.
This shocking development led to a wave of violence from and against Christians. Tensions finally came to a head when Pope Robertson declared the sovereignty of the Christian coalition. Before the government could react the Christians claimed Virginia, Texas, Tennessee and several other states as their own. Using their banking funds as a war chest, and mercenaries from the remnants of other countries as the bulk of their army the Christian coalition dug in and dared the American government to come after them, and it did.
President Fishburn sent the troops that had survived the previous wars to put down the Christian rebellion and America's second civil war was on. Despite their smaller numbers the Christian's funding and fanatical devotion made them a formidable enemy. Many of them resurrected the forgotten practice of Jihadism and went on suicide missions to aid their cause, believing that if they killed themselves while killing an enemy they would be welcomed into heaven.
After twenty years of wearing each other down all of the advanced weaponry had been destroyed. Manufacturing plants had been destroyed making replacements impossible and much of what was used was out of date equipment made before the third world war. The one advanced technology that still existed was Phoenexia. It was the one advantage that the Atheists held over the Christians since those that believe the drug killed the soul refused to use it. The two groups had torn the country apart to the point that there were no more battle lines, only chunks of scattered territory defended by the local armies.
There were no more civilians in the world, if you were not a Christian you were an atheist. All contact with the rest of the world had been lost long ago and there was no longer any fear of outside attack. The quality of life had been reduced to never ending warfare. This was the world that Marks had grown up in, a world where every day he could be killed by a fanatic who believed in an invisible man up in the sky. A world he wanted to fix.
He watched the Cardinal through his scope as the man rallied his troops for battle. Cardinal Reece had been launching raids into the territory of Marks' barracks so he had been dispatched to dispatch the man. Marks watched the Cardinal yelling and ranting, raising the moral of his men for another attack against Marks' people.
"You want to talk to god, do it in person," Marks said. He let out a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.
Colonel Marks adjusted his scope and zoomed in on his target. It had taken him months to get this close; sneaking through enemy lines, avoiding patrols and getting information on his target's location. Not to mention finding a concealed location to get a decent shot. As Marks watched the Cardinal through his scope, he thought about the string of events that had made what he was about to do necessary.
From what records remained Marks had learned that the whole thing had started one tragic day on September 11th 2001. Middle Eastern terrorists hijacked four American airplanes. Two of them destroyed the buildings known as the twin towers, the world's trade center for economic exchange. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, the nerve center of the American military. And the last plane missed whatever target it had been intended for, crashing in a filed.
The attack left thousands of people dead in its wake and many more injured. The terrorist group Al-Kaida had intended the attack to gain respect and strike out at what they saw as an oppressor. Their ultimate goal had been to end American interference in their country. Tragically they set in motion a war that would eventually result in the total destruction of their entire race.
When the dust settled America set its sights on revenge and declared war on "terror". President George W. Bush led the country in what they thought would be a short mission. Instead the conflict dragged on for years with guerrilla warfare and more terrorist bombings. The rest of the world watched with disapproval as America carpet bombed, invaded and manipulated the Middle East. The lines became blurred and Bush used the ensuring confusion to invade other countries that had not been involved in the initial conflict.
The United Nations, a political organization formed from many countries to discus the matters of their relations, continued to pressure the United States to cease their activities. After many years of bloodshed the war finally ended. Osama bin laden, Saddam Husain and several other terrorist leaders and dictators were tried and executed. Peace was eventually restored to the region and all seemed well.
The world observed a year of peace and prosperity but all that soon changed. When the United States learned that the Middle East was developing nuclear weapons that they intended to use against them they acted. As his final act before his assassination president Bush launched a preemptive nuclear attack on the Middle East. Iraq, Iran and several other threatening countries were whipped off the face of the earth nearly overnight. Countless millions were killed and the Arabian race had become all but extinct.
In the aftermath, the United Nations condemned the actions of the United States and shortly thereafter president Bush was killed as an act of revenge by a group of a few surviving Arabs. Vice president Dick Cheney was then sworn in and continued to defend the actions of his deceased predecessor to the world. The U.N. nearly collapsed with the ensuing conflicts. This caused even more turmoil which one man took advantage of.
A Korean dictator named Kim-Jung-Ill looked at the disorganized state of the world's leaders and saw opportunity. He launched an all out nuclear attack on the United States, Europe, Russia, and every other country that had nuclear capabilities. When those countries were lit up by atomic fire world war three began. The United Kingdom was caught off guard and suffered greatly. Japan and Australia were blown off the face of the earth and many smaller countries suffered similar fates.
Having more advanced missile interception systems America weathered the storm mostly intact. Afterward Korea was attacked by every surviving nation and Kim-Jung-Ill's empire and his dreams were sent straight to hell. When it was finally over nearly a third of the world was suffering from nuclear fallout. America was the only super power left on the planet, though several states had been destroyed. Afterward the world slowly tried to recover, but killing it seemed was simply human nature. This time the root of the conflict came from the most unlikely of sources.
A scientist named Alex Perkins invented a miracle drug he called Phoenexia. It was an enzyme that, when administered to a dying patient, allowed a doctor to repair the damage and revive them even if they died during the surgery. a person could be legally dead for up to and sometimes more than twenty four hours and still be brought back with no brain damage. It was the first real breakthrough in nearly twenty years. No one could have predicted that it would cause so much death and destruction.
Even before the attack on the twin towers religion had been loosing its influence. As science continued to advance with one wonder after another the belief in gods and devils lost hold on its worshipers. Over the years it had been slowly fazed out of government and society and had become more of a hobby. The final blow had come from Phoenexia.
Every single person revived from death all reported the same thing. Despite being dead for over a day, none of them had seen god, or heaven, or any other form of afterlife. This realization sparked what should have been the death of all religion but despite this proof there were still those who refused to renounce their faith. A man named Pat Robertson who had long defended his religious faith took the remnants of all religions and formed them into one. The Christian coalition.
Though primarily shaped by Christian beliefs, the Christian coalition merged the traditions and practices of many of its adopted children. They studied the martial arts of Buddhism, used their Jewish connections for financing and made Pat Robertson the first Christian pope. Within two years the group reemerged with a vengeance, attempting to convert as many as they could and discriminating against those that did not. It was only a matter of time before it turned to violence and on April 10th 2042 it did.
By that time life in the U.S. had returned to normal for the most part until Pat Robertson's son ran for the presidency of the United States against John Jones. The world finally saw a battle between an Atheist and a Christian. America showed its allegiance when John Jones won by a landslide and everyone thought that the Christians would back down for a time.
On April 10th President Jones was giving a press conference when a Christian reporter asked, "What would you do if god appeared before you right now?" To which president Jones replied jokingly, "I'd kick him in the head for sitting back during the recent turmoil in the world." Everyone in the room laughed at the joke, until the Christian pulled out a gun and killed the president.
This shocking development led to a wave of violence from and against Christians. Tensions finally came to a head when Pope Robertson declared the sovereignty of the Christian coalition. Before the government could react the Christians claimed Virginia, Texas, Tennessee and several other states as their own. Using their banking funds as a war chest, and mercenaries from the remnants of other countries as the bulk of their army the Christian coalition dug in and dared the American government to come after them, and it did.
President Fishburn sent the troops that had survived the previous wars to put down the Christian rebellion and America's second civil war was on. Despite their smaller numbers the Christian's funding and fanatical devotion made them a formidable enemy. Many of them resurrected the forgotten practice of Jihadism and went on suicide missions to aid their cause, believing that if they killed themselves while killing an enemy they would be welcomed into heaven.
After twenty years of wearing each other down all of the advanced weaponry had been destroyed. Manufacturing plants had been destroyed making replacements impossible and much of what was used was out of date equipment made before the third world war. The one advanced technology that still existed was Phoenexia. It was the one advantage that the Atheists held over the Christians since those that believe the drug killed the soul refused to use it. The two groups had torn the country apart to the point that there were no more battle lines, only chunks of scattered territory defended by the local armies.
There were no more civilians in the world, if you were not a Christian you were an atheist. All contact with the rest of the world had been lost long ago and there was no longer any fear of outside attack. The quality of life had been reduced to never ending warfare. This was the world that Marks had grown up in, a world where every day he could be killed by a fanatic who believed in an invisible man up in the sky. A world he wanted to fix.
He watched the Cardinal through his scope as the man rallied his troops for battle. Cardinal Reece had been launching raids into the territory of Marks' barracks so he had been dispatched to dispatch the man. Marks watched the Cardinal yelling and ranting, raising the moral of his men for another attack against Marks' people.
"You want to talk to god, do it in person," Marks said. He let out a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.
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