Spodium

II

They say Light always conquers Darkness but that is not always the case; sometimes darkness prevails and light perishes. The plague of 2560 proved that darkness is superior to light.

In the year 2560, the golden age of mankind came to an abrupt end when a new virus took the world by storm. A new virus dubbed Spodium came into existence.

The disease came into existence when a volcano erupted in Indonesia sending ash four thousand meters into the sky triggering a catastrophe similar to eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Though the city at the base of volcano did not get buried like Pompeii, the poisonous gas ashes and the gas obliterated the entire populace of the town by turning them into cinder like substance petrifying them. The disease soon spread to other countries via air and as a result, many died; those who survived the petrification process, started turning into ash little by little.

The governments did their best to find a cure and prevent the disease from spreading further but it was all in vain. The third world nations were the first to perish save for a few which were reduced to a negligible state.

By the year 2690, the remaining nations had lost hope and erected huge walls to keep the infected out thanks to the influence of the Church which called infected "doomed sinners". Special teams were then created to monitor the so called doomed sinners and prevent them from crossing the borders.

By the year 2715, the infected started peaceful protests demanding basic rights from their respective governments; situation in Europe was especially worse.

In the year 2720, armed revolts broke out across the Europe and the rebels procured weapons by unknown means; Germany had it worse.

Many armies refused to fight so as a result, the special teams were provided with state of the art weaponry to combat the ever growing threat of the rebels.

At first, people refused to join such units because they considered it inhumane to kill the already dying people but unemployment and promises of handsome income changed their mind. Many of those who joined were the ones who wanted to kill with official backing.

Unlike other nations where such groups operated independently, the groups were branches of the three major branches of Bundeswehr which operated in Eastern Germany where the infected were kept. Though branches of the same institution, there was a mutual dislike and distrust between the regular forces which operated in the West and the special groups. By 2726, it seemed that the two halves of Germany would split into two different nations like it did in 1945.

However, thanks to the efforts of high ranking officials, the special groups were merged into one by 2727 and given complete control over the East but they still answered to the Chief in the West. The unified group was named Jäger, a befitting name for those who hunt down their prey.