We The People

So, again suffering critical indecision after forming what seemed like an adequate idea, I went in search of another. Then I thought, "why not write something pretentious?"

Okay, I kid. But anyway, here's the idea:

Manhattan, US, an unspecified time into the near future. The country is swiftly tossed out of its relative calm by a nationwide blackout. Every electronic device shorts out and dies, but not before emitting a loud, ear-piercing screech. Millions fall unconscious on the spot, while those unaffected curl up in the throes of unbearable pain.

What seems like an eternity s over in under a second. The lights still out all over the States, what seems like a nightmare is about to get worse. The unconscious rise and begin to display homicidal tendencies towards the unaffected. With this, the nation quickly devolves into chaos, as hundreds of survivors find that they are literally against the world.

So, what do you think?

edited 29th Sep '10 4:42:48 AM by KSPAM

My first thoght was, "So it's Zombie Apocalypse, without the Z-word"?

Yeah, this sounds like a completely new kind of zombie. It sounds interesting enough.

What happens if you don't have any electronics near you? Would rural Africa be mostly unaffected?

...May I link you to Cell?

Cell was the starting point but then I thought "instead of a freak accident or alien phenomenon, why not a government experiment?"

Long story short, the whole incident is a military experiment aiming to produce loyal and more effective soldiers. Things went from one to another and I now have coordinated anti-survivor armies instead of lumbering zombie groups.

So, those who were unaffected are at some basic level, viewed as a threat to the government, and thus are the first to be culled by the governmnet's new not-zombie army?

Or did I interpret that wrong?

Pretty much, except the not-zombies are just normal citizens, albeit under the government's control. The government emitted the first pulse as a means to stimulate not the victims but the survivors, who develop in new and strange ways thanks to the signal. Controlling the citizens was the second priority.

With 90% or so of the US under their thumb, the perpetrators of the experiment can both capture and test the effectiveness of the enabled survivors as soldiers using their massive meatshield armies.

edited 29th Sep '10 2:40:22 PM by KSPAM

Oh, I get it now. Instead of weeding out the undesirables who can't be controlled, it's weeding out the undesirables who resist it, sort of?

Edit, no, didn't get it.

edited 29th Sep '10 3:16:27 PM by pvtnum11

I'm still brainstorming, but this is what I've got so far. The signal, or (as I call it for simplicity's sake) the Wave, is sorta like BLACKLIGHT, for those who understand the metaphor.

Survivors mutate and change, either physically or mentally, sometimes both.