The Laughing Plague - A "Crossed" TL

[ukron]

Morning of May 16/Brussels "La chancellerie" seat of the Belgian government.

Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès looked carefully at the maps and the latest situation reports, and most of them were critical, the French had collapsed and failed to recover before Lille and Dunkirk, The Netherlands were now directly threatened, what had led to a massive exodus towards Germany as for Belgium its very existence did not hold any more but with a small wire, the presence of Scheldt. Engineer companies and Chasseurs Ardennais would have succeed in blowing up the bridges and the access roads, but who could be sure of what? in this context the infected could be less than 500m from the building, she wouldn't know.
There was a knock on the door: "Madam, the evacuation helicopter is waiting for you" "Okay, I'll be right there" well, she reasoned, maybe there was still hope, as long as she and her government were always in place, whether in Belgium or in Bonn. The royal family was safe in Austria and as for the European Parliament, it had found it more prudent to go into exile in Strasbourg.
It hadn't been easy for her to become Prime Minister, especially when you had to juggle the Flemish and the Walloons after years of a fragile political balance, at least this damn virus would have made things easier, no more challenge came from the opposition, no more criticism... if only it could have always been like that.

The protocol officer guided the Prime Minister and all the assistants and member of the cabinet in the direction of the street, from where an Augusta A-109 had landed. the helicopter cabin opened onto an abominable spectacle, that of several infected soldiers martyring one of their innocent colleagues, the unfortunate man could only scream to death, freezing the Prime Minister and the entire Belgian government.

One of the infected turned around and exclaimed: "Wanna fuck? Maam" (it was anything but a relevant question).

[ukron]

May 16, 12 p.m. (local time).

The fall of the Belgian capital was quite predictable, but no one could have imagined the speed and deviousness deployed by the crossed to take over one of the most important political decision-making centers in the world. Brussels thus joins Washington DC and London in the list of martyred cities, the spectacle is all the more distressing as less than 16 minutes after the fall of communications with the Belgian government, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès appears in a short video published on Twitter calling on her fellow crossed "citizens" to have a gigantic party in Antwerp and soon in Paris and Berlin.
It goes without saying that if the video is deleted by the social network a few minutes later, it has already gone around the world.

May 16, 2 p.m./ Moscow.

The ruler of the Kremlin didn't like what was happening, his military leaders and his propaganda agencies would say that the Russian army would have no trouble crushing some drugged and perverted maniacs (no chance of such individuals appear in Russia, right?), Vladimir Putin was well aware that the international situation, although favorable to Russia (NATO practically no longer existed, the United States had lost much of its political center, the England and soon France would have succumbed to the virus) could very well turn against him: let the virus cross the Dnieper and Russia would be finished.
This is why he had carefully taken the trouble to create a series of fortifications, worthy of the great patriotic war, starting from the coasts of the Baltic (soon the Baltic States would be obliged to eat from his hand) to the shores of the Crimea (Ukraine would have no choice, and if it refused the Russian army would intervenel to protect ukrainians brothers from the Western virus) but he had no illusions that with the fall of Brussels, even the a more impenetrable fortification would not last long.
Putin could consider many options, he still had time (for how long?) but his mind liked to imagine Russia as the savior of the West (rather of Europe) and restoring Soviet greatness, which had been so unjustly destroyed.
He still had a lot on his plate.

[stevep]

Mar 7, 2022 14:04:39 GMT ukron said:

May 16, 12 p.m. (local time).

The fall of the Belgian capital was quite predictable, but no one could have imagined the speed and deviousness deployed by the crossed to take over one of the most important political decision-making centers in the world. Brussels thus joins Washington DC and London in the list of martyred cities, the spectacle is all the more distressing as less than 16 minutes after the fall of communications with the Belgian government, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès appears in a short video published on Twitter calling on her fellow crossed "citizens" to have a gigantic party in Antwerp and soon in Paris and Berlin.
It goes without saying that if the video is deleted by the social network a few minutes later, it has already gone around the world.

May 16, 2 p.m./ Moscow.

The ruler of the Kremlin didn't like what was happening, his military leaders and his propaganda agencies would say that the Russian army would have no trouble crushing some drugged and perverted maniacs (no chance of such individuals appear in Russia, right?), Vladimir Putin was well aware that the international situation, although favorable to Russia (NATO practically no longer existed, the United States had lost much of its political center, the England and soon France would have succumbed to the virus) could very well turn against him: let the virus cross the Dnieper and Russia would be finished.
This is why he had carefully taken the trouble to create a series of fortifications, worthy of the great patriotic war, starting from the coasts of the Baltic (soon the Baltic States would be obliged to eat from his hand) to the shores of the Crimea (Ukraine would have no choice, and if it refused the Russian army would intervenel to protect ukrainians brothers from the Western virus) but he had no illusions that with the fall of Brussels, even the a more impenetrable fortification would not last long.
Putin could consider many options, he still had time (for how long?) but his mind liked to imagine Russia as the savior of the West (rather of Europe) and restoring Soviet greatness, which had been so unjustly destroyed.
He still had a lot on his plate.

  I think a certain despot is at least as delusional as he is OTL.  For one things he's forgetting about the intelligent crossed.

[ukron]

Mar 7, 2022 18:15:14 GMT stevep said:

Mar 7, 2022 14:04:39 GMT ukron said:

May 16, 12 p.m. (local time).

The fall of the Belgian capital was quite predictable, but no one could have imagined the speed and deviousness deployed by the crossed to take over one of the most important political decision-making centers in the world. Brussels thus joins Washington DC and London in the list of martyred cities, the spectacle is all the more distressing as less than 16 minutes after the fall of communications with the Belgian government, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès appears in a short video published on Twitter calling on her fellow crossed "citizens" to have a gigantic party in Antwerp and soon in Paris and Berlin.
It goes without saying that if the video is deleted by the social network a few minutes later, it has already gone around the world.

May 16, 2 p.m./ Moscow.

The ruler of the Kremlin didn't like what was happening, his military leaders and his propaganda agencies would say that the Russian army would have no trouble crushing some drugged and perverted maniacs (no chance of such individuals appear in Russia, right?), Vladimir Putin was well aware that the international situation, although favorable to Russia (NATO practically no longer existed, the United States had lost much of its political center, the England and soon France would have succumbed to the virus) could very well turn against him: let the virus cross the Dnieper and Russia would be finished.
This is why he had carefully taken the trouble to create a series of fortifications, worthy of the great patriotic war, starting from the coasts of the Baltic (soon the Baltic States would be obliged to eat from his hand) to the shores of the Crimea (Ukraine would have no choice, and if it refused the Russian army would intervenel to protect ukrainians brothers from the Western virus) but he had no illusions that with the fall of Brussels, even the a more impenetrable fortification would not last long.
Putin could consider many options, he still had time (for how long?) but his mind liked to imagine Russia as the savior of the West (rather of Europe) and restoring Soviet greatness, which had been so unjustly destroyed.
He still had a lot on his plate.

  I think a certain despot is at least as delusional as he is OTL.  For one things he's forgetting about the intelligent crossed.

Yep, at this point Putin have nearly the hand over the "red button".

[gillan1220]

COVID-19 would be forgotten almost immediately here.

[SpaceOrbisHistory]

Mar 8, 2022 15:52:34 GMT gillan1220 said:

COVID-19 would be forgotten almost immediately here.

As bad as Covid-19 is and it is bad it pales in comparison to what this would be doing to the world. Covid only saw nations try to lower the number of people out and about. This would see them locking everything down and sending troops to ensure nobody enters their lands that may have this.

Covid to this is akin to a tiny drop of water in a planet-size sea. It is happening and people are getting sick from it but when you have a wave of crossed-faced rapists and killers you're going to care too much about a virus that attacks your respiratory system. So...yeah if you think we didn't care about it here in our world the number of people who will give an atom-sized shit about it now is damn near nothing in this world. I doubt it will even be so much as a footnote in our history textbooks. If it is even that it would be only talked about as the thing just before the world seemed to fall off the proverbial cliff and into the very depths of Hell itself.

This would be the 21st century's black death. Given the number of WMD's that we will have used it may even be worse. The world we would likely have will be one filled with massive levels of death. Millions of people will be displaced and housing them will be an utter nightmare. 

[stevep]

Mar 9, 2022 11:31:22 GMT SpaceOrbisHistory said:

Mar 8, 2022 15:52:34 GMT gillan1220 said:

COVID-19 would be forgotten almost immediately here.

As bad as Covid-19 is and it is bad it pales in comparison to what this would be doing to the world. Covid only saw nations try to lower the number of people out and about. This would see them locking everything down and sending troops to ensure nobody enters their lands that may have this.

Covid to this is akin to a tiny drop of water in a planet-size sea. It is happening and people are getting sick from it but when you have a wave of crossed-faced rapists and killers you're going to care too much about a virus that attacks your respiratory system. So...yeah if you think we didn't care about it here in our world the number of people who will give an atom-sized shit about it now is damn near nothing in this world. I doubt it will even be so much as a footnote in our history textbooks. If it is even that it would be only talked about as the thing just before the world seemed to fall off the proverbial cliff and into the very depths of Hell itself.

This would be the 21st century's black death. Given the number of WMD's that we will have used it may even be worse. The world we would likely have will be one filled with massive levels of death. Millions of people will be displaced and housing them will be an utter nightmare. 

  The way things are going, especially with intelligent crossed with access to fast transport it sounds currently like the death toll will be in the billions and depending on how long the crossed can stay stable it could be that they easily outnumber 'sane' humans in the not too distant future.

[SpaceOrbisHistory]

Mar 9, 2022 19:38:57 GMT stevep said:

Mar 9, 2022 11:31:22 GMT SpaceOrbisHistory said:

As bad as Covid-19 is and it is bad it pales in comparison to what this would be doing to the world. Covid only saw nations try to lower the number of people out and about. This would see them locking everything down and sending troops to ensure nobody enters their lands that may have this.

Covid to this is akin to a tiny drop of water in a planet-size sea. It is happening and people are getting sick from it but when you have a wave of crossed-faced rapists and killers you're going to care too much about a virus that attacks your respiratory system. So...yeah if you think we didn't care about it here in our world the number of people who will give an atom-sized shit about it now is damn near nothing in this world. I doubt it will even be so much as a footnote in our history textbooks. If it is even that it would be only talked about as the thing just before the world seemed to fall off the proverbial cliff and into the very depths of Hell itself.

This would be the 21st century's black death. Given the number of WMD's that we will have used it may even be worse. The world we would likely have will be one filled with massive levels of death. Millions of people will be displaced and housing them will be an utter nightmare. 

  The way things are going, especially with intelligent crossed with access to fast transport it sounds currently like the death toll will be in the billions and depending on how long the crossed can stay stable it could be that they easily outnumber 'sane' humans in the not too distant future.

As I have sort of stopped reading this so I'm not as up to date with what has been happening in this story as most people. With that said anything that can get into this many places like this can is easily going to be up there with the worst things to ever befall human race. At any rate I agree this could be what sends us into the dustbin of history.

If I had to guess at the outcome I would say we are down to maybe a few million. Massive cities would be left to rot away to become the new hills and river valleys. We will once again be small villages.  

[ukron]

May 12/ Western Europe and Sahelian Africa

The events of the last few hours have precipitated unprecedented chaos in Europe, waves of refugees are leaving their homes in search of shelter, it is in this context that a series of violent incidents will take place between French gendarmerie and units of the Swiss army not far from Belfort and Montbéliard: Switzerland having closed its borders and threatening to open fire on anyone trying to violate its isolation.
In any case, it is several hundred lives that are taken under the crossfire of Swiss border guards and French gendarmes, it will be necessary to wait several hours for a ceasefire to be proclaimed.

Further north, the collapse of the front line precipitated the fall of all government bodies in Luxembourg and northern Germany; where clashes between looters, far-left protesters and far-right activists leave hundreds dead.
For the moment it seems that the Netherlands is the last state still functional in northern Europe, the government of Mark Rutte has taken note of the events of the last 24 hours and has already put in place a plan to protect the ultimate stronghold that Amsterdam can be.

Spain, which had promised to send troops to support the French military effort, changed its mind and, on the contrary, fortified all the access points to the Pyrenees.

Even further south, the very recent and disastrous withdrawal of European forces from Mali has finally given way to an ambient chaos favorable to jihadist groups, the latter not content to get their hands on high-quality weapons, now directly threaten Bamako, the Burkina Faso and most of the Gulf of Guinea coastal states.


The world holds its breath.

[stevep]

Mar 14, 2022 15:36:22 GMT ukron said:

May 12/ Western Europe and Sahelian Africa

The events of the last few hours have precipitated unprecedented chaos in Europe, waves of refugees are leaving their homes in search of shelter, it is in this context that a series of violent incidents will take place between French gendarmerie and units of the Swiss army not far from Belfort and Montbéliard: Switzerland having closed its borders and threatening to open fire on anyone trying to violate its isolation.
In any case, it is several hundred lives that are taken under the crossfire of Swiss border guards and French gendarmes, it will be necessary to wait several hours for a ceasefire to be proclaimed.

Further north, the collapse of the front line precipitated the fall of all government bodies in Luxembourg and northern Germany; where clashes between looters, far-left protesters and far-right activists leave hundreds dead.
For the moment it seems that the Netherlands is the last state still functional in northern Europe, the government of Mark Rutte has taken note of the events of the last 24 hours and has already put in place a plan to protect the ultimate stronghold that Amsterdam can be.

Spain, which had promised to send troops to support the French military effort, changed its mind and, on the contrary, fortified all the access points to the Pyrenees.

Even further south, the very recent and disastrous withdrawal of European forces from Mali has finally given way to an ambient chaos favorable to jihadist groups, the latter not content to get their hands on high-quality weapons, now directly threaten Bamako, the Burkina Faso and most of the Gulf of Guinea coastal states.


The world holds its breath.

  Well that is going well, NOT.  Not at all surprised that the Swiss are hunkering down.  They could be the continental state with the best chance of surviving, although even then its only likely to be for a period. 

  Are you overlooking the Scandinavians?  Think their still about, at least for the moment.  Would probably have a better chance of surviving than a heavily populated nations like the Netherlands.

  Idiots around the world are going to play, until they get swept up in the disaster themselves.

[ukron]

Night from May 16 to 17:
The untenable position of the European forces and the exhaustion of ammunition led to a total abandonment of the towns of Tournai and Louvain, which were very quickly occupied by the infected; the cities having been deserted for several hours, they therefore remain virtually intact.
To the south, the French front has collapsed and it takes all the effort in the world for Paris to succeed in maintaining a coherent line of defense starting from Calais and going as far as the suburbs of Lille; the equipment is lacking and the troops mobilized are often reservists from logistics regiments or odds and ends made up of legionnaires, paratroopers and sailors.
The Air Force is exhausted and has already lost several Mirages as the infected are now equipped with surface to air missiles and heavy machine guns.
At least the largest of the tanks (501st-503rd tank regiment) was not assigned to the Belgian campaign and is therefore placed in reserve.
Further north, it is the Navy which continues its patrol mission where the British refugees have begun to disappear from the waters of the English Channel, if the phenomenon had increased with the entry of the infected into London, it would seem that part of the country is occupied by the infected or that the refugees no longer want to leave for Europe, now that the continent is in turn affected by the virus.

The Dutch front remains the calmest for the time being, Antwerp remains under the control of Belgian and American forces, and it is to be hoped that German and Czech reinforcements will soon arrive to guard the E313 motorway.
In Germany, the government very cautiously ordered the evacuation of Aix la Chapelle and Dûren while limiting the massive damage caused by urban guerrillas and riots in Frankfurt, Cologne and Bonn.
Switzerland closes its borders and cuts all forms of diplomatic relations with France after retaliatory raids carried out by French citizens against the Swiss embassy after the events of the previous day.

Further east, it is finally a Russia, claiming the health risk, that brings its troops back to Belarusian soil in order to protect the civilian population, it goes without saying (for Moscow in any case that the Russian troops will withdraw as soon as the crisis will be over), the pretext is ignored while most Western capitals have other more pressing issues to deal with, giving Moscow definitive proof that the massive military operation being prepared on Ukraine's borders will not be embarrassed.

[ukron]

May 17, somewhere in the red zone.
Corporal L had avoided all major roads, as well as all urban concentrations, for fear of making bad encounters, but fortunately he had not encountered any living beings, only human and animal remains that had suffered the worst.
His combat gear was mud-stained and scratched, his stomach empty and he was thirsty (he had no doubt that most water supplies must have been intentionally or unintentionally polluted by the virus), HK-417 he was carrying had only a handful of ammunition (enough not to fall alive into the hands of the infected) yet he was trying to stay on course (to where, by the way) so as not to descend into madness.. .

[ukron]

Maastricht, on the Belgian border.
May 17 afternoon.

The airport terminal was relatively calm for once, despite the efforts of the authorities to evacuate as many people as possible, Ruud (its boss) would have grumbled about a few points of detail but Joris was rather happy: the team had done good job and the airport had not turned into refugee camps or an area of ​​anarchy, the local police had done their job well and the army had managed to anticipate the wave of Flemish refugees who had crossed the border as soon as the events in Liège.
Yet Joris hid his concern badly, the army had not been able to reinforce the defenses of the airport with anti-aircraft means, most of those being in any case assigned to the big cities, and what could have happened at Liège could very well reproduce here in Maastricht.
Joris walked over to the canteen where the security guards were resting and storing their belongings, and cautiously pulled out a Mosberg 500 and a few cans of ammo from his locker a big smile appeared on his face, that annoying Ruud might have complain all he wants, Joris knew it was the right choice: after all that's why he had been hired here after all his years in the Korps Commandotroepen.
The crossed had better watch out if they set foot here, in Maastricht.

Suburbs of Brussels, at the same time:
Meadow regretted many things, her registration at the Free University of Brussels, her departure from Virginia for Europe and the fact that she was not at this moment with her family, hidden behind a garbage can, she was trying somehow to focus on her goal: the SUV parked downstairs and that (for the moment) no one had noticed yet, on the other hand she hoped that her roommate (former) Anita would not not notice when she was crossing the street: indeed Anita seemed for the moment more preoccupied with tearing the limbs of her unfortunate neighbors than concentrating on her best foreign friend.
As soon as she reached the vehicle, she could surely take refuge in the empty building in front of her house and see things coming, the infected seemed to lose patience very quickly and she expected to see them leave the city after a few days, as soon as the last survivors were tortured and raped to death.

Evreux air base.

Captain Théo alias 'Slingshot' came down from the cockpit of his Rafale, his legs trembling and the urge to vomit on the edge of his lips, he unfolded his limbs aching from the hours of flights and the absence of rest and concentrated on the perimentre of the base, which had been reinforced with fences, barbed wire and mines, just enough to keep the crossed at a distance for a few minutes, finally hoping that these would not come from the air or would not succeed in infiltrating the base: at that the captain's hand brushed the butt of his Glock 17, perhaps the only sense of security he'd had in days now.

[ukron]

Evening of May 17.

The front line of E313 begins to be assailed, it is Czech elements of the 31st CBRN Defense Regiment who absorb most of the attacks, well equipped and well warned by the disasters suffered by their American, French and British colleagues; the Czech troops will hold out for two days, thus saving precious time for the Dutch and Germans who complete a gigantic line of defense resembling more a no man's land than a line of fortifications.
Further south, it is consternation and rage that burn in the hearts of the remnants of the Belgian army, far from having perished with Brussels, where it is motorized elements which, to the great surprise of the commands of the NATO, carry out a series of violent counter-attacks against groups of crossed, the latter are dangerous because of their unparalleled violence and their mass attack, as soon as they are isolated and spotted, they become easy targets for long-range shooting .
This is how a raid by the Belgian army reached the suburbs of Waterloo, thus releasing a column of refugees destined for a macabre fate.
In the skies, the French, Belgian and American aircraft are now replaced by F-16s from the Polish Air Force and Czech SAAB Gripens, which still have sufficient ammunition and aircraft to carry out CAS operations.

If the night remains terrible for the defenders of Belgium, it remains catastrophic for those who watch over the destiny of France, indeed the bulk of the attack of the crossed seems to be for reasons, now obvious, on Paris.
The French Army has assigned the bulk of its force to a new line of defense stretching from Abbeville- to Amiens and Saint Quentin, the abandonment of thousands of civilians and strategic industrial installation is strongly criticized and even sees very violent urban insurgencies occurring in major cities across the country, calling for the downing of the government accused of treason:
The forced extinction of the nuclear reactors of Gravelines and Penly led to gigantic power cuts throughout the country.

It is therefore obvious for the command of NATO and SHAPE that France will not hold, where the military command remains confident in its strategy of gradual retreat and a scorched earth campaign (each line of defense prepares a gigantic area emptied of its inhabitants where the number of the infected can be eliminated), the command is definitely convinced of the fall of a significant part of France, which could lead the French government to use the nuclear weapon on its own ground.
This is how the Italian government ordered the deployment of Italian troops as reinforcements, with a view to a possible French withdrawal beyond the Seine.


Much further north, it is Sweden that decides to send military aircraft, for the moment transport planes to facilitate the evacuation of civilians but preparing in the future to send a small contingent to protect northern Europe from the arrival of the infected.

[ukron]

Morning of May 18: It was finally Mons that fell in the early morning, SHAPE having been evacuated to Germany for a week now, most of the installations and vehicles were booby-trapped, thus bringing down the number of infected present in the region.
The night was long on the E313 where more than ten waves of infected broke on the Czech defenses which deplored a hundred deaths (the infected being shot down); May 18 is the timid return of the USAF with the help of three B-52H strikes the national road N90 to protect Charleroi, not yet infected but already threatened by the fall of Mons.