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the massacre started at 12:22 pm on April 27, 2018. three employees of Echo Bay Munitions Co. had been sent to a small Midwestern town on a simple mission: retrieve company property. this was hardly the first time something like this had happened, of course; leaks happen, and it's the responsibility of any large government contractor to ensure that these leaks do not spread any further than necessary. this was different, though. there was a revolution of a sorts coming, and the company anticipated massive profits assuming they kept this plan under wraps. therefore, a failsafe was set in place: the town would be sealed off, and a countdown would be given to return the company's property. the problem with this plan was that the town was never actually informed what the countdown was for, merely that they would die when it ended, and furthermore, the "Three Operatives", as they would eventually be known, were not informed in advance either. forced into a desperate situation, they realized their only choice, the only way they could escape, was total massacre.

and they succeeded, with perfect clarity. they laid waste to the town, and they had recovered something new and special. something that would change the world. something they didn't fully understand, but something that they knew would upset the balance. they were understandably very unhappy with the position they had been put in. the company had tried to convince people that this was all totally fine, and that the Three Operatives should be lauded as heroes. the company tried to prepare for their return, to ensure that they would be happy with the way things had gone. but of course, you can't just leave someone for dead and expect them to be fine with it. you can't put someone in a death trap and expect that no consequences will ever come to you.

as midnight approached on April 26, a plan was set in motion: there was far too much bureaucracy and secrecy in Echo Bay Munitions Co. to prevent the Three Operatives from carrying out their mission; no one had ever anticipated that someone might do the thing they were about to do, which meant that by the time anyone properly worked it out, turning things back was impossible. this was a company built to make small changes over a long period of time, so three very determined people making one very big change over the course of a single night was something that could not be controlled.

and so an automated drone delivery system delivered an identical package to each home throughout Echo Bay. the packages were plain and unmarked, something that probably should have alarmed most of the citizens, but unfortunately, each and every person took the bait. inside was what looked like some kind of futuristic handgun, and a brief letter explaining the contents. this, the letter explained, was the Echo Bay Munitions Co. SmartGun, designed to operate exclusively with the proprietary Echo Bay Munitions Co. SmartBullet. the SmartGun automatically paired itself to the fingerprints of its user, and each one could be fired just once a day. when someone wished to use their SmartGun, the SmartBullet itself would automatically fire itself at the intended target, and only one SmartBullet was required for everyone who wished to use it. this, the letter continued, was a safety precaution to ensure that it would be impossible for one person to kill more than a single person each day, and that eventually the SmartBullet would become the standard for consumer firearms across the nation. an exclusive trial of the SmartBullet was being conducted right here in Terrier Beach, California. this strange, obviously incorrect detail probably should have tipped off the citizens of Echo Bay, Maryland that something was amiss, but when the first shot rang out at 12:22 pm, the specifics of how this had happened ceased to be relevant.

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off somewhere else in town, Toby Determined regretted his decision to move to Echo Bay, Maryland. he had come here with the plan that he would face far less violence than his previous home in the neighboring town of Tibbiddee, Maryland. he had started a new job a few months ago at the Echo Bay Grits company, where he inspected packaging to ensure that it met quality standards. it wasn't the most exciting work in the world, but he was glad to no longer be in the sort of place where people died all the time. the grits manufactured here were sent to supermarkets all across the East Coast, and ensuring a consistent visual appearance for the packaging displayed on store shelves had been proven to have a positive effect on sales. he heard the first gunshot at 12:41, and he immediately knew this would be a terrible day. luckily, he had a plan of escape, and he made it out alive; within 30 minutes, he was on a flight to his sister's home in Terrier Beach, California. there, he was sure, things would certainly be alright.

but one thing was certain: the population of Echo Bay, Maryland was almost certainly no longer on the rise. when he had moved here, there were 45 citizens. by the time he left, that number had already dropped. it would continue to drop.