Story [Alt History] 2017 Mosul Pathogen Outbreak

MelaninQueen

MelaninQueen

Jennings & Rall contractor. Based in Jericho, KS.
Feb 19, 2024
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2017 Mosul Biological Incident

The 2017 Mosul Biological Incident was an unprecedented public health catastrophe that originated in the city of Mosul, Iraq, during the final stages of the Battle of Mosul in 2017. This incident involved the accidental release of a genetically engineered pathogen, codenamed "T-Viremia" (short for Transmissible Viral Anemia), which caused rapid and extreme biological alterations in infected individuals, including but not limited to, reanimation and highly aggressive behavior, which subsequently spread globally, causing an unparalleled pandemic and long-term societal restructuring. This event involved entities both state and private, reshaping world power dynamics forever.

Background

The Origins of T-Viremia: In the early months of 2014, when ISIS overran Mosul, they seized control of numerous University of Mosul labs. Among them was a derelict pathology lab that, unbeknownst to even the majority of University faculty, had been the location of a clandestine biochemical research program funded by Saddam Hussein in the 1990s. This program, codenamed "Project Chimera", was a bio-warfare program focused on weaponizing biological pathogens for military purposes, and aimed at the creation of what was then known as an “immortal soldier.” The project involved researchers in virology, genetic engineering, and advanced hematology, and focused on the exploitation of obscure viruses discovered in remote locations of the world. Their focus was to manipulate the erythrocyte (red blood cell) system in humans to enhance physical capabilities, with a focus on a “secondary life cycle”. After the start of the Iraq war, Project Chimera was abandoned, and personnel evacuated the lab while many samples were locked in the underground freezer, forgotten by the outside world until 2014. After taking the facilities ISIS leadership ordered it be reactivated.

ISIS leaders, particularly those with ties to former Ba'athist military and scientific personnel, saw the potential of this hidden research. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, initially wanting biological weapons of mass destruction, later turned the focus of Project Chimera (which ISIS re-branded to "The Al-Bara'a Institute", in reference to the Quranic verses regarding immunity) on developing a form of genetic enhancement for their fighters with an emphasis on survivability in combat, and created a specialized team of foreign chemists and biologists within the ranks of the terrorist group to continue the secret work. Their intent was to create a “zombie” type soldier with enhanced strength and the ability to withstand wounds.

T-Viremia: A "Living Weapon": By late 2016, Al-Bara’a Institute researchers working from the hidden labs of Mosul managed to combine aspects of Chimera’s modified viruses, adding traits that involved accelerated cellular regeneration, hyper aggressive behavior linked to amygdala over-stimulation, a novel form of anemia, with the most unique effect, the creation of specialized “immuno-reticulocytes” - re-engineered immature red blood cells designed to continue their erythropoietic activity even after a subject’s death, creating a new “life cycle” that was highly contagious. When combined with other biological changes, this led to extreme and unpredictable alterations. The final iteration, named T-Viremia, produced a type of infection that bypassed traditional human immune responses by “mimicking” normal red blood cells and also suppressed the immune system of the victim making it a deadly combination with an exceptionally high lethality rate. Initial human trials on captured Iraqi soldiers in early 2017, proved this, and this also resulted in rapid physiological changes and in some cases, “re-animation” of the clinically dead and caused what was called a "hyper-kinetic response."

The 2017 Accidental Release: In April 2017, during the intense fighting for the liberation of Mosul by the Iraqi forces backed by Coalition air strikes, a stray ordnance hit the building where the Al-Bara’a Institute labs were located, causing the accidental release of T-Viremia into the environment. The first victims were ISIS fighters guarding the facility and those in the immediate vicinity, who very quickly began to exhibit a form of highly aggressive behavior, while some experienced apparent death before being re-animated and rapidly decomposing.

The Global Outbreak

The highly contagious nature of T-Viremia caused the disease to spread quickly from Mosul. The infection, transmitted via blood and bodily fluids, first took hold in densely populated camps for internally displaced persons, then spreading rapidly along international trade routes and through refugee migration.

Symptoms and Biological Effects: Infected individuals underwent the following rapid physiological changes:

  1. Rapid Anemia: T-Viremia severely disrupts bone marrow function, causing a rapid drop in the red blood cell count which results in systemic organ failure.
  2. Hyperkinetic Rage: The virus causes acute inflammation of the amygdala, a key part of the brain for emotional control, leading to extreme irritability and an inability to suppress aggressive urges, in addition to an increase in motor activity.
  3. Accelerated Tissue Regeneration: Infected bodies, while simultaneously decomposing, demonstrated enhanced tissue repair capabilities that made the victims extraordinarily difficult to kill. This ability comes with the expense of energy and resources.
  4. Reanimation: In cases of death, the specialized immuno-reticulocytes would continue their function, and combined with the effect of cellular regeneration, would cause reanimation with enhanced motor capabilities, with an uncontrolled biological reaction, with the body suffering extreme changes, such as, exposed bones, muscular mass increase, or in some rare cases, mutated tissue creating unusual physical forms with animal like limbs and appendages.
  5. Metabolic Cannibalism: The energy demands of this state of regeneration, as well as inflammation of the olfactory bulb, trigger an intense, uncontrolled appetite, especially for protein sources, further contributing to the cannibalistic traits in the infected.
These effects did not present the same in all individuals, with notable variability depending on genetics, previous health conditions, and stage of infection. In most cases the victim would simply succumb to total organ failure as their blood cells are being modified. The cases where reanimation occurred, made infected subjects highly dangerous and difficult to neutralize with even military grade equipment, becoming the biggest threat the human race has ever faced.

Global Pandemic: Within weeks of the Mosul release, T-Viremia had reached every continent. Governments around the world collapsed due to the scale of infections and societal breakdowns. Health organizations like the WHO were completely overwhelmed. Global supply chains disintegrated, causing severe economic turmoil and collapse of order.

Emergence of Variants: As the pandemic spread, T-Viremia underwent further mutations, resulting in varied symptom severity, and enhanced abilities of transmission, and appearance, producing mutants of extraordinary physical capabilities in some individuals. Some mutants developed thick keratinized armor like skin and accelerated bone density, whereas others became swift, quadrupedal predators, while others developed high capacity for disease transmission through expulsion of bodily fluids. These variations made containment extremely challenging.

The Umbrella Corporation’s Role

The Umbrella Corporation was founded in 1968 by two biochemist friends, Oswell Spencer and Edward Ashford, based in a small facility in Raccoon City. From modest beginnings researching new ways of developing medication, their business grew and began its meteoric ascent after acquiring multiple biotechnology and pharmaceutical corporations with obscure histories. After a short period of time, it became clear that the corporation was in fact, a massive conglomerate secretly involved in biochemical weapon development as a side venture to fund its other activities. With strong ties to many defense industries, Umbrella gradually became one of the largest defense contractors for multiple nations in the 70s and the 80s, eventually acquiring enough influence to be nearly untouchable by the late 90s.

Umbrella's reach spread quickly from pharmaceuticals into multiple domains such as biochemicals, aerospace and defense industries. By the time T-Viremia was released, Umbrella was already a global behemoth, whose influence made its reach nearly omnipotent, with direct influence within the corridors of power of many nations, while also owning and operating numerous private military units and paramilitary police agencies across the globe, with heavy investments in biotechnology, research, development, and pharmaceuticals. The corporation was also heavily invested in covert projects and had long since mastered the art of "plausible deniability" in any activity that had negative impact, such as in multiple cases of illicit dumping of toxic waste in poor nations in the world.

The T-Viremia Catalyst: Unknown to the public or governmental organizations, Umbrella was involved in a deep cover and extremely covert project codenamed: Project Nemesis, and also known as "the Black Project". This research was originally meant to enhance human biology by manipulating genetic materials for a military oriented application and had several research groups working in facilities spread across the globe, all of which were isolated and autonomous. Part of this program involved finding extremophile organisms in the remotest parts of the world. The program went as far as funding and creating the clandestine research program used by Project Chimera in Iraq through one of its subsidiaries and had been following the activities since the beginning. Project Nemesis, much like Project Chimera, involved a form of "living weapon". After the accident in Mosul, and the subsequent spread of the pandemic, Umbrella activated its private security, police forces and paramilitary units in the region and also on a global level.

Umbrella's Power Grab: As nation-states fell, Umbrella, with its massive industrial and logistical infrastructure, was the only force capable of sustaining any form of control. By 2020, Umbrella had become the dominant global power by creating a new type of feudalistic social structure. Under the guise of disaster relief and security, Umbrella consolidated its control and influence by establishing self-sustaining mega-cities that acted as safe havens, under their corporate umbrella. Its immense wealth and resources granted it a monopolistic grip on manufacturing, pharmaceutical products, security, communications, and even information dissemination. Using this vast array of resources, they quickly monopolized research in the effort to understand the pathogen. They provided relief, security, order and jobs, creating dependency, but they also created a new type of order and became the most powerful government on Earth. The mega-corporation then also used its vast financial resources to secretly fund the study and development of a cure, by hiring scientists from all across the globe for that purpose.

Umbrella had secretly weaponized aspects of the T-Viremia virus, creating biological weapons that could neutralize both human threats as well as the mutants, or by producing specialized chemicals to control the behavior of these dangerous infected subjects for combat applications. While still in its early research stages, and in deep secrecy, Umbrella became the most powerful corporation on Earth in 2025.

Ethical Concerns and Dissent: Umbrella’s methods, while effective, came at the cost of total societal control and human freedom. Dissent began to form amongst survivors of the pandemic who didn't live within the Umbrella’s safe havens, some armed by the corporation's old rival companies, creating isolated underground groups who resist Umbrella's authority, creating what is now known as “The Great Shadow War”.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: The Apex Mutant

In a strange twist of fate, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the original leader of ISIS, was located by US special forces in 2019. When the US Delta Force Team raided his compound in Syria they encountered a creature never before seen. After fleeing from his compound, and detonating his vest during the special forces raid that targeted him, Baghdadi was not fully destroyed. His T-Viremia infected body was able to regenerate itself, but not without drastic consequences. It underwent a rapid and catastrophic metamorphosis, resulting in a massive, highly intelligent and grotesquely mutated humanoid form of immense physical power, equipped with a wide array of additional limbs and bones. This new form was the result of the extreme effect that the T-Viremia infection has on the human physiology with all the physical changes, and in a bizarre twist, also an enhanced mental awareness. His ability to strategize made him the most dangerous threat yet encountered in a very changed world.

The raid was considered a complete failure, with a heavy loss of life of US special forces personnel and local militias, with their bodies never recovered. As time went by, reports started coming from the Syrian border areas about a large and very dangerous, extremely powerful humanoid monster, roaming the desert looking for prey.

The Present and the Future

The world is now a battleground between Umbrella’s corporate rule and resistance groups, all within a world populated by millions of mutants created from the T-Viremia incident. The scientific community, now under Umbrella's control, is still working to understand the pathogen, the mutants and trying to develop a cure. Society has fragmented, while human interactions have been relegated to a necessity for survival.

Long-Term Implications:

  1. Global Transformation: The T-Viremia pandemic has dramatically transformed all global systems, giving rise to new geopolitical entities and new forms of conflicts.
  2. Humanity Redefined: The human condition is now an existential question, facing the possibility of complete extermination while also considering the concept of the humanity in some of the infected, as a very few infected display higher levels of self-consciousness.
  3. Scientific Progress: The pandemic accelerated bio-tech innovation, pushing the boundaries of biological sciences, though it’s been largely kept within the confines of Umbrella's research facilities.
 
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