The outbreak of the Horseman virus was fast, violent, and devastating. The number dying was beyond belief and comprehension. Despite the persistent and unyielding attempts of governments, scientist and health care, the number of infected and dying was unstoppable. In many cities the dead were stacked like cord wood in the streets, before giving up trying to empty all the apartments and homes where the dead lay rotting. It seemed there was an unrelenting spread of the contagion despite the halting of most mass transportation systems and quarantines. It seemed like modern science had failed, despite its recent successes in defeating HIV, Ebola, H2N12, and so many others. People barricaded themselves behind doors, fled the cities for the countryside, and then eventual to small, isolated communities hidden behind high walls and violently enforced quarantine.
The talk of nano-technology and an engineered virus made it into circulation when stories were told about some Infected that didn’t die but instead changed into something other than human. This distrust of science and government grew as some believed that attempts to control the virus had actually “created” these non-humans. With the death and decay and then the ravaging of remaining pockets of uninfected by the “changed” creatures of the Horseman, the fall of civilization — now referred to as The Old World — seemed complete. Barricades, scrambling for safety, and draconian security was the new norm. When outposts of people were found to be hoarding technology and limiting access and it was found that they were led by scientists, the anger and distrust of science became part of the New World.