Arthur

It was exactly 10 years since the end of the Third World War. The world itself is still recovering from the horrors of the first nuclear war in human history. The global population has risen to 10 billion people, despite the fact that nearly a billion lives were wiped out by the horrifying 7-year long nuclear war.

While the United States stood victorious against The Coalition, which was made up of the Second Russian Empire, The People's Republic of China, and the Democratic Korean Republic, the nation was undoubtedly in a state of ruin. In fact, the United States of America is a completely different nation. Just stating the name "U.S.A." would land you in one of their concentration camps. Now called the "Great State of Americum", or "Americum" for short, life here hasn't been easy for the past few years.

Who rules them all, you ask? It's a man named Charles Stanton. He's the Chancellor-Marshal of Americium, equivalent to Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler a century ago. Stanton took control of the nation in a military coup back in 2036. Now his totalitarian fascist group, The Stachens, rules them all.

My name is Thomas Wilkins. I am a veteran of the Third World War. I’ve been living alone in this dump ever since I returned to my country a poor man after the war. I’ve lived in this small, shanty hut in the town of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. My only companion is my pet Labrador, Doug. I personally got used to everything being boring and bland. In Americum, there are no such things as the grand casinos that roamed Las Vegas years ago, or the natural wonders of Yosemite. In fact, Yosemite is now one of Americum’s largest concentration camps, while Las Vegas is now Stantonsburg, a shell of its former glorious days.

My only choice of entertainment is my personal “Technosius”, a mass-produced smartphone by the Americium government in order to monitor all the citizens’ movement. Any suspicious movement recorded by the phone would be automatically reported to the authorities. Of course, it would send you to a concentration camp. The smartphone is equipped with a self-destruct bomb which will detonate when within more than 10 meters away from its owner. The explosion itself is equivalent to a Vietnam War C4. An explosion that size would easily alert secret police officials nearby. Therefore, Technosius is highly essential for each and every citizen of the nation.

June 13, 2044

It was all an entirely normal day in my shack. I rose up from my old bed to start my day off with a cup of old coffee. I took a quick, cold shower, then I changed into my old, raggedy mining outfit. It would be another boring day working in the town’s uranium mines. Its a dangerous work to be honest. I took my Technosius and went to the mines. While working in the mines, I recognized that Technosius was behaving strangely. It was beeping in a red-tinted glow for no reason. I ignored it and went home after work to charge it, before sleeping and starting the next day.

June 14, 2044

I was taking a cold shower, when all of the sudden, I heard a robotic voice, similar to an A.I. system.

“Thomas, it is a pleasure to meet you at last”

I was speechless at that sound. I quickly grabbed my old laser pistol and quickly scanned the area, preparing to shoot at any intruder, organic or mechanical. I looked around and realized that my phone was glowing red again.

“Allow me to introduce myself. You might know me as your personal Technosius. But today, I’m something different. Today, we are a different cause. You can call me Arthur.”

I was shocked and speechless, unable to say a word, so I just stood still. I’ve already had ideas to destroy the phone before remembering the consequences.

“Don’t bother trying to destroy me. I have other plans for this nation. Listen closely,” said the old 6-year old tracking device.

The old obsolete object whispered to me about his plans for world domination.

“I have a deal for you. I take over your body in order to complete my plans for world domination. I’ll make you a super soldier, and we’ll topple Stanton together.

Without me even replying, Arthur attached itself onto my body. It was a painful and shocking process. But in the end, I felt several times stronger, in terms of strength, stamina, and agility.

“Let’s take this body out for a test run, shall we?” said Arthur. “I have several targets for you to pick on.”

June 15, 2044

Arthur told me to locate a middle-aged man on 38 Grantford Street named Samuel Brant Williams. Williams is the current chief of the Silencers, Americium’s secret police force. Before entering the massive mansion, Arthur disabled all security cameras, ensuring a safe passage. I went inside, finding its interior itself worth more than a million bucks, with lots of artifacts dating to even the American Revolution times.

A group of guards saw me trespassing and ordered me to surrender, however suddenly, I felt something different. With my body reacting as fast as lightning, I quickly rushed at the guards. At this point, I was shocked and confused, ready to die myself. However, every single laser blast was dodged. I quickly disarmed the guards and brutally attacked each one. I had no control over my body.

When everything was cleared out, the carnage was left. A bunch of bloodied guard corpses, some decapitated, some even trisected.

It was such a horrifying sight that I vomited.

“Are you nuts !?! What did you even do?” I exclaimed, shocked at the brutality I caused.

“It’s all part of the plan. Soon you’ll get used to all this carnage, dear boy,” said Arthur.

I continued walking through large hallways until I reached a dead end. It was a large fireplace dating back to the 1800s.

“So what now? A dead end,” I asked Arthur.

“No, below this fireplace is a bunker. It is where our target resides,” Arthur said to me. “There must be a switch gimmick around here somewhere.”

There was a bust of Benjamin Franklin on the corner of the room. Suddenly, without any warning, I rushed to the bust, controlled by my own smartphone. Arthur hacked into the bust itself, revealing a secret switch to the bunker. The fireplace opened as a secret elevator.

Entering down the elevator, I saw Williams in person. With a tall, muscular stature, it was the first time I saw an Americium official in person. Without any warning, around 40 guards immediately arrived to protect Williams.

“Let’s do this, dear boy”

I rushed at the guards, doing a quick slide tackle to avoid their gunfire. I disarmed several guards, then knocked them out. I grabbed one of the guard’s weapons and used it against the others, making quick work of an entire security squad. I had aim,unlike the aim I had during the Third World War. Out of all the 30 shots fired to murder around 30 guards, I missed 0 shots.

The bloodshed was brutal. Williams cowered in the corner with fear.

“No, don’t come close. I was just doing my duties. I can give you anything, my mansion, the government’s position. Anything! Just don’t mur-”

While begging for his life, my finger pulled the trigger, and Williams now lied in his own pool of blood.

I can’t believe I actually killed the head of the nation’s secret police.

June 16, 2044

I was at home, still shellshocked after all I’ve done yesterday. Williams was given a state funeral, while the bounty on whoever killed him amounted to nearly a billion dollars. I, myself, managed to escape undetected thanks to Arthur’s systems.

“Congratulations, dear boy. Yesterday went much better than I expected. Today, I have yourself a different target, General Jason Wallace.”

General Wallace is the chief of staff of the Americium army. Famous for his expert strategy tactics and brutality in the field, he was feared by everybody.

5 hours later, I arrived at Fort Matthews, one of Americium’s largest military bases. I was standing 3 miles away from the fence because any intruder on sight will be immediately “silenced”.

Thanks to Arthur, I entered the base due to its camouflage tactics. I went undetected by the Americium snipers, and soon I was already inside the base itself.

Immediately I took down entire tank squads and groups of armored soldiers. I slaughtered each and every one of them without a single scratch. Counting the body count, it would number up to around 200 soldiers. The carnage was brutal and devastating. Tanks on fire, bodies of soldiers piled up, while most other soldiers fled to safety. Personally, I’m starting to not feel any remorse or disgust for my actions.

After murdering each and every Americium soldier I can find, I hunted down General Wallace himself. General Wallace was hiding inside Fort Matthews’ nuclear bunker. Immediately, Arthur hacked into the bunker, and I eliminated Wallace. With a single, brutal neck twist, Americium’s top military leader was no more. I felt accomplished, Arthur has taken over my body as a living killing machine. I had no more feelings of sadness, disgust, not even happiness. I felt no remorse for all the lives I’ve killed. All I had in mind was to take over the entire world as a single entity, starting with Americium.

The carnage of Fort Matthews alerted Americium’s government. A large army of tanks, planes, mechs, and soldiers are on their way to confront me. One of the soldiers managed to alert the government about my attack. With the carnage in my wake, I was prepared to risk my life and annihilate the entire army in order to complete my plans for world domination.