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95

protruding rib cages and sunken skulls. ‘The Purge was a miracle, a

gift. The Earth granted humanity a second chance to survive.

Change is the poison of mankind. Have faith in the Sanctuary.

Thoughts in unison become – ’ A cry pierced the velvety rhythm.

Lies

!’ Nobody turned, all heads angled faithfully to the screen. But

an elderly man in the pool of bodies screamed at the screen again,

his wiry frame trembling but his voice erupting off the glass buildings.

‘Lies! You’re the ones who killed her!’ he screeched. ‘You killed my

Angie!

You Killed Them All

!’ Sanctuary officials swiftly swarmed

around the man, seizing his flailing limbs. ‘You killed the people!

All

Of Them

! The human race is

Dead!

’ The shrieking halted with a

sickening crack. The Sanctuary officials dragged his limp frame away,

disappearing into the alleys. And thousands of eyes watched the

flickering screen.

The old man’s screams echoed in my head for days afterwards,

and the small seed of doubt that had always rested there began to

grow. These were dangerous thoughts to have, and I knew that, and

the words might have been nothing more than the insane rant of a

senile mind. But the notion began to consume me, because

something had always felt like it was

missing

in Elysium. I had always

dismissed it though, because it seemed as though nobody else

noticed or cared. Until now.

The Sanctuary is a lie.

The more I turn the idea over, the more I start to believe in it.

The Sanctuary killed the human race. The Sanctuary killed us all.

And then another thoughts creeps in,

The Sanctuary created the Purge.

They were the ones who destroyed nations, the ones who slaughtered

billions of innocents before shamelessly praising their deaths as a

miracle.

But then, what if the Purge had never happened? What if the

population was allowed to continue to grow and consume? The

imminence of the planet’s doom breathed down its neck, but people

continued to obliviously claim it wouldn’t happen. Not now. Not for

a while longer. Civilisation of the 21st century was on the brink of

killing itself out of sheer overpopulation, the endless want for more,

and the impossible desire for the future. But then… it was gone. The

The Mortal

State

11