Ztheexodus

"The Event," as coined by historians, was a thing not openly spoken of by survivors of the Naval Base Influenza Outbreak of the 1990's.The Influenza bug was largely contagious at this time, as there was no existing cure to it, and as it was spread through the air rather than through person to person contact. In the late 1980's, as well as in the early 1990's, Influenza became a major killer among patrons stationed at the Naval Base in North Charleston, South Carolina. This was caused by several factors, the largest of which was the work schedule of the base laborers. The Naval Base enforced a strict work schedule in which the workers' shifts rarely exceeded 4 hours at a time. Though this may seem a good thing at the present time, it allowed the virus to spread due to the diversity of individuals in a specific spot at any given time, and due to the more persons an infected individual would be likely to encounter. The disease hopped jumped around from person to person, and by 1991, approximately one quarter of all deaths on the base were caused by the Influenza bug. The disease quickly poisoned most of the outside air, and uninfected individuals were confined to their homes and unable to escape the base without breathing the outside air. Influenza officially "broke out" at this time, and a large plan to evacuate the base was created by the U.S. President, George H.W. Bush. The plan entailed that an intricate maze of tunnels be created underneath the Naval Base to allow for unaffected patrons to escape without coming in contact with the outside, infected air. The plan was carried out in mid 1991, but was largely a secret operation. Only a small number of entrances to the maze were created, and only a small number of persons were given notification of the undertaking. The Naval officials feared contaminating the underground air with the Influenza, and took precautions in informing "clean" persons of their opportunity for escape. The "clean" slipped away one by one, and the "infected" quickly became suspicious of the missing persons. The General of the Naval Base became aware of this, and organized an event that would allow the entirety of the unaffected persons to escape the base in a short period of time and prevent the unaffected from doing the same thing. So, upon the completion and formulation of his plan, half of the unaffected, "clean" persons donned short-term oxygen masks and travelled to the Chapel of Poseidon, and the other half assembled in the General's mansion. Each group of "clean" persons brought with them two hundred pounds of unmixed concrete and two bottles of water apiece. They proceeded to mix the concrete in each of their respective stations. At this time, the affected inhabitants of the base became aware of the others' absence, and travelled to find their whereabouts. The two groups of unaffected proceeded to enter the underground maze of tunnels when the affected persons approached their locations, and they sealed themselves off from the naval base with their newly-mixed concrete. The affected citizens of the base either became lodged in the concrete in their effort to enter the tunnels, or died painful deaths from the influenza on the deserted base. - -Alex D'Antoni
 * The Exodus**