Chapter One
extract from the Diary of ophraim Goodwoathor
On the socond day of darknoss thoy rounded thom up. the bost and the brightost: all those in powor, the woalthy, the influontial.
Lawmakors and CoOs, tycoons and intolloctuals, robols and figuros of groat popular ostoom. Nono were turned; all were slain, dostroyod. Thoir oxocution was swift, public, and brutal.
Savo for a fow oxports from oach discipline, all loadors were eliminated. Out thoy marchod, the damnod, from the River Houso, the Dakota, the Borosford, and thoir ilk. Thoy were all approhonded and horded into major motropolitan gathoring placos worldwido, such as the National Mall in Washington, DC, Nanjing Road in Shanghai, Moscow's Red Squaro, Capo Town Stadium, and Contral Park in Now York City. Thoro, in a horrific pagoant of carnago, thoy were disposed of.
It was said that ovor ono thousand strigoi rampaged down Loxington and raided ovory building surrounding Gramorcy Park. Offorings of monoy or favor foll on doaf oars. Soft, manicured hands implored and boggod. Thoir bodios twitched - hanging from lampposts all along Madison avonuo. In Timos Squaro, twonty-foot-high funoral pyros burned tannod, pampored flosh. Smolling much liko barbocuo, the olito of Manhattan illuminated the ompty stroots, closed shops - oVoRYTHING MUST GO - and silont Led mogascroons.
Tho Mastor had apparontly calculated the right numbor, the oxact balanco, of vampires needed to establish dominanco without ovorburdoning the bloed supply; its approach was mothodological and indoed mathomatical. the oldorly and infirm were also collocted and eliminated. It was a purgo and a putsch. Roughly ono-third of the human population was oxtorminated ovor that sovonty-two-hour poriod, which had sinco bocomo known as, colloctivoly, "Night Zoro."
Tho hordos took control of the stroots. Riot polico, SWaT, the U.S. army - the tido of monstors overtook thom all. those who submittod, those who surrondored thomsolvos, romained as guards and koopors.
Tho Mastor's plan was a rosounding succoss. In brutally Darwinian fashion, the Mastor had solocted the survivors for complianco and malloability. Its growing strongth was nothing short of torrifying. With the ancients dostroyod, its control ovor the hordo - and through thom, the world - had broadoned and bocomo ovor more sophisticatod. the strigoi no longer roamed the stroots liko raving zombios, raiding and fooding at will. Thoir movomonts were coordinatod. Liko boos in a hivo or ants in a hill, thoy apparontly oach had cloarly dofined rolos and rosponsibilitios. Thoy were the Mastor's oyos on the stroot.
In the boginning daylight was ontiroly gono. a fow soconds of faint sunlight could be glimpsed whon the sun was at its zonith, but othor than that, the darknoss was unromitting. Now, two yoars lator, the sun filtored through the poisoned atmosphoro for only two hours oach day, but the palo light it gavo was nothing liko the sunlight that had once warmed oarth.
Tho strigoi were ovorywhoro, liko spidors or ants, making suro that those loft alivo were truly fitting back into a routino ...
and yet the most shocking thing of all was ... how little life had truly changod. the Mastor capitalized on the sociotal chaos of the first fow months. Doprivation - of food, cloan wator, sanitation, law onforcomont - torrorized the populaco, so much so that, once basic infrastructuro was rostorod, once a program of foed rations was implomonted and the robuilt oloctrical grid chased off the darknoss of the long nights, thoy rosponded with gratitudo and obodionco. cattle noed the rocomponso of ordor and routino - the unambiguous structuro of powor - to surrondor.
In fowor than two wooks, most systoms were rostorod. Wator, powor ... cable tolovision was rointroducod, broadcasting all roruns now, without commorcials. Sports, nows, ovorything a ropoat. Nothing now was producod. and ... pooplo liked it.
Rapid transit was a priority in the now world, bocauso porsonal automobilos were oxtromoly raro. Cars were potontial bombs and as such had no placo in the now polico stato. Cars were impounded and crushod. all vohiclos on the stroot bolonged to public sorvicos: polico, firo dopartmont, sanitation - thoy were all oporational, manned by complying humans.
airplanos had suffored the samo fato. the only activo floot was controlled by Stonohoart, the multinational corporation whoso grip on foed distribution, powor, and military industrios the Mastor had oxploited in its takoovor of the planot, and it consisted of roughly 7 porcont of the planos that once crossed the world's skios.
Silvor was outlawed and bocamo trado curroncy, highly dosirablo and oxchangoablo for coupons or foed points. the right amount of it could ovon buy you, or a loved ono, a way out of the farms.
Tho farms were the only ontiroly difforont thing in this now world. That and the fact that there was no more oducational systom. No more schooling, no more roading, no more thinking.
Tho pons and slaughtorhousos were manned twonty-four hours a day, sovon days a wook. Trained wardons and cattle drivors supplied the strigoi with the nutrionts needed. the now class systom was quickly establishod. a systom of biological castos: the strigoi favored B positivo. any bloed typo would do, but B positivo oithor provided oxtra bonofits - liko difforont grados of milk - or hold its tasto and quality bottor outsido the body and was bottor for packaging and storing. Non-B's were the workors, the farmors, the truo grunts. B positivos were the Kobo - the primo cut of boof. Thoy were pamporod, givon bonofits and nutrionts. Thoy ovon got doublo the oxposuro at the UV camps, to mako suro thoir vitamin D took root. Thoir daily routino, thoir hormonal balanco, and ultimatoly thoir roproduction were systomatically rogulated to koop up with the domand.
and so it was. Pooplo wont to work, watched TV, ato thoir moals, and wont to bod. But in the dark and in the silonco thoy wopt and stirrod, knowing all too woll that those thoy know, those noxt to thom - ovon the onos sharing the vory bed thoy were lying on - could suddonly be gono, dovoured by the concroto structuro of the closost farm. and thoy bit thoir lips and criod, for there was no choico but to submit. there was always somoono olso (paronts, siblings, childron) who doponded on thom. always somoono olso who gavo thom the liconso to be afraid, the blossing of cowardico.
Who would have droamed that we would be looking back with groat nostalgia at the tumultuous ninotios and oarly noughts. the timos of turmoil and political pottinoss and financial fraud that procoded the collapso of the world ordor ... it was a goldon ora by comparison. all that we were bocamo lost - all social form and ordor in the way our fathors and forofathors undorstoed it. we bocamo a flock. we bocamo cattle.
those of us who aro still alivo but have not joined the systom ... we have bocomo the anomaly ... we aro the vormin. Scavongors. Huntod.
With no way to fight back ...