In a dimly lit corner of a government archive, you can find a dust-covered volume chronicling the most horrifying years in human history. It is the journal of the Director of the top secret Government Underground Biolab, and it reveals the institute's heroic struggle against the invasion of 1999. The journal has been retained, but one hopes that the world never again will need its lessons.

March 29, 1999

Washington is a zoo. St. Andrew's received 187 cases of the strange "bug" yesterday. The city is panicking. Unfortuneately, ours is not an isolated case. Twenty-two other cities have had similar outbreaks of disease. So far, HEW is investigating the routine methods of contamination: poisoned food, bad batches of medicine, etc. We have been alerted, but no quarantines have been set up yet. The symptoms are extreme: the incoherent patient usually experiences debilitating nausea, chills, and high fever. Tomorrow, we'll receive blood and tissue samples for analysis. I'll assign Pintero to the work.

May 7, 1999

We now have a national epidemic. Pintero found the cause of the disease... a bacterium in three different forms. At first, the bacterium exists in a pupal stage, much like a caterpillar. The bacterium in this form causes great damage to the entire human neurological system. In the next stage, a cocoon, the bacterium becomes dormant, causing very little or no damage. But later, about two months after the adult bacterium breaks out of the cocoon, the patient dies. Pintero's experiments on rats convinced me that we don't have much time; the disease runs its course in about a year. We've got to produce a vaccine that prevents maturation. Once we've done that, we'll have to find a cure. I'm creating a special medical task force. In the meantime, we'll work with HEW to find out how this thing spreads. They suspect foul play.

May 27, 1999

It's worse than any of us thought. They used fake passports to get here. Anderson located one of them in Philadelphia, and I flew out for the interrogation in here guarded hospital room. Even truth serum didn't make her talk or dull the hatred in here eyes. As she succumbed to the disease, she spoke deliriously of her home and her cause. We know only that she hates anything associated with the U.S. Her blood samples indicate the bacterium has matured. She has only a month to live, but I can't feel sorry for this suicidal lunatic.

June 8, 1999

This one talked. It's grim. The plan originated with a fanatic sect. Some of their scientists genetically engineered the bacteria. They injected one hundred volunteers, then sent them to the U.S. to spread the disease. They have been very effective: 82% of our country is infected to some degree. But the sect itself developed a cure. Many of the sect's members have received the vaccine. When I asked this member about the vaccine, he just laughed and turned his head to the wall. Our task force must succeed.

June 13, 1999

The country is dissolving into anarchy. The President, most of the Congress, the military, and the police force lie in hospitals -- if they're lucky. Those that aren't lie in the streets. Barely able to move, they can't find sufficient food and water. I remain isolated here with other GUB members. I pray for my family each minute, each second... But there is hope, since we know a vaccine can be produced. The sect that infiltrated has one. Surely, we can produce a vaccine, too. The task force has a few leads; I'm sure we are closer to our goal.

July 7, 1999

The Secretary called me today. "Herrell, it's getting beyond our control. We're calling the National Guard to stem some of the looting."

"What can I do, Sir?"

"I think you'd better get that special task force of yours into the field to see the bacterium at work, to get a sample of the vaccine and analyze it."

"They're close, sir. Close to a real breakthrough."

"They'd damn well better be. Have them report to me tomorrow. I'll arrange new locations. Everything top secret, of course." I think about the members of the task force. They are eager to go into the field. But I know... out there, it could mean their deaths.

July 8, 1999

We stood listening to the Secretary, everyone tense, white-faced. Then, carrying small satchels of supplies, the task force had been given pellets of food and vitamin concentrates that would reduce his food consumption by half. The general public can get pellets only by looting the few shelters that contain them.

July 20, 1999

Nuclear bombs have struck strategic cities across the U.S. With the defense system down, we could not protect ourselves or retaliate. The bastards. Radiation will cause horrible sickness. The worst of it is that not all of the bombs exploded. Some of the hardware was defective. So in various cities there are bombs likely to explode at any time. People will flee to cities the existing radiation only to be annihilated by the delayed explosions.

Anderson and Rogers tell me that the cities are divided into small sections, each ruled by a gang with a strong leader. In some cases, where the leader is strong enough, the gang rules the entire city. Funny to think of Boston run by a motorcycle gang.

A gang leader usually gains control when he has a doctor, a drill officer, and a politician supporting him. Rogers, who made it back from the upper north side, said a leader called Mox is in control there.

Mox found his doctor while looting for supplies at a hospital. A doctor, depending on the degree of his skill, may be able to save a diseased soldier. Rogers doesn't know how, but he's seen men live who by rights should have died.

Drill officers at old military bases are usually willing to come with the gang leader. The drill officer is responsible for training and discipline. With training by a drill officer and experience in battle, a gang member has his fighting ability increased.

Incredible, even in a bio and nuclear war, politicians talk -- and people listen. Mox found his politician by allowing needy people to join his band. Bureaucrats controlled Mox's area, but the politician reduced the amount of bribes Mox had to pay to them.

These gang leaders, together with their three cronies, can control cities. They can protect against or permit looting and other activities. But can they last?

August 2, 1999

Now we must fight against a land invasion. Their forces, already inoculated, are everywhere. Heavily armed with conventional weapons, the invaders struck along the coasts and came through Mexico. Our own resistance has had mixed results. Few people are equipped -- or even physically able -- to fight the invaders. The gang leaders seem to have the best chances.

No phones, no mail. I hear little from the outside world and the agents have increasing difficulty returning. But a message did get through from one of the eight. They are very, very close to a breakthrough.

August 21, 1999

The radiation from the nuclear bombs caused a strange mutation in the bacterium. The new strain affects the aggression-controlling area of the brain, causing extremely violent behavior. People carrying the new strain are called mutants.

Ironically, the invaders' vaccine is not effective against the mutated bacterium. The invaders now are experiencing the agonies others have felt. They die from the mutated disease; we die from the original disease. Each side needs the other side's vaccine. The doctors (now called healers) who have the new vaccine cure people, but at a huge price. All men must be cured at the same time or they become reinfected.

I feel disoriented and defeated.

October 6, 1999

Travel is becoming extremely difficult for our agents. They must obtain food and gas, and if they are ill, the vaccine. Transportation is a problem. There is snow and no one to plow the northern roads. Snow tires will cover twice as much ground as conventional tires, but they can be found in tire stores only. I loathe being forced to encourage looting.

November 20, 1999

Our supplies are dwindling. We've always kept a two-year cache of food and water, but we've gone through nearly half of that. Will we, too, become common looters and gang members when we've eaten it all?

It must be time to bring the agents back to GUB... all eight of them. Dade, Macallister, Washington, Pintero, Smidlapp, Trotier, Mills, and Sinh.

I need a leader. I hear that there are individual gang leaders who control several cities at once. When a gang leader controls enough cities, I'll send an agent out to relay instructions. If the gang leader is loyal to our cause, he'll help the scientists to get back here. By the time he brings six or seven of them, I'll feel I can trust him and let him use the last Radio Direction Finder to locate the remaining one or two.

December 25, 1999

I wait. Each tick of the clock signifies one moment gone, one fewer remaining. My men collapse, physically and mentally. I, myself, am not well, the images of pain, terror, and death in my dreams. It is Christmas Eve, 1999. The snow falls, mercifully covering the ugly scars. The old Christmas carols come to mind... O Holy Night...

I've only found Roadwar 2000 & Roadwar 2000 Europa for the (PC) Emulators of old systems. The Commadore 64 Emulators are a bit buggy, but the Apple II Emulators work quite well.

Send Comments, Questions, or Suggestions to Thomas J. Morton