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The following article was taken from the BBC Europe website on July 23rd, 2026

Campobasso Devastated

Rogue Nanotech Swarm

kills thousands

by: Arianna De Luca , BBC Europe

Officials are currently unable to provide fatality numbers from yesterday’s catastrophe in Campobasso Italy, but today’s estimates tell a chilling tale. At least 90,000 men, women, and children are believed to have been devoured by a rogue nanotech swarm originating out of Giordano Biotech. Officials currently maintain that the number may reach as high as 115,000. Giordano was located just to the southwest of the city, and occupied nearly a square kilometer of land with a single building. At approximately 10:40AM yesterday, chemical hazard sirens were heard coming from the facility, and several minutes later the east wall collapsed.

Witnesses claim that a gelatinous blue-grey mass quickly flowed from the building and went in several directions, forming tentacles, eyes, and other strange, bodily parts as it went. One observer was overtaken and killed by the mass, prompting an immediate evacuation of the area.

Nine-year-old Agnese Rossi and her friends were playing in the woods nearby when they were attacked by what she described as hundreds of “tentacles with mouths and claws”. She was the only one to escape, and the tale she tells will undoubtedly haunt her for years to come.

“We were playing, and Ignasio was chasing Simona with a bug. Then she fell down in the grass and screamed. When I looked over I couldn’t see her anymore and Ignasio was just standing there. I thought a big grey snake was on him, but then it grew mouths all over and started biting him. He screamed, and then everyone was screaming. Ignasio and the snake melted together and grabbed Antonia. She stopped screaming, and turned grey, and then there was this sucking sound. Her eyes disappeared and her skin wrinkled up like everything inside of her was gone. Then I saw one of the snakes coming for me, and so I ran and got on my bike and went as fast as I could. I could hear everyone screaming, and I just kept going, and going until I fell down. I thought monsters weren’t supposed to be real - but they are. They’re real. I saw them... eat… eat my friends.”

Agnese will survive, but her parents and two older sisters are feared to have been killed in the early hours of the attacks. She is currently being treated for shock and trauma at Antonio Cardarelli Hospital in Lucera.

Widespread reports of the tentacle mass started coming in not long after Agnese escaped, and remote security footage from several local businesses now show the flowing blob overtaking the area swiftly. Within an hour it was being sighted kilometers away, and all plant, animal, and human life in its path was being absorbed. Local police and a quickly mobilized hazardous materials team were sent in to deal with the problem, but were themselves absorbed in a matter of minutes. Despite arriving with an overwhelming level of force a few hours later, the Italian army fared no better, and hundreds of soldiers were lost. It wasn’t until nearly 7pm that the American military intervened, and used a high-tech EMP strike to destroy the swarm. Locals report hearing a dull thud, and seeing a bright light in the sky just before the blast destroyed all electronics within twenty kilometers. This apparently included the digital DNA of the nanites, and the mass immediately collapsed into a liquid state.

With the full cooperation of the Italian Government, the Americans proceeded to use incineration level weaponry to sterilize the area, and ensure the nanites could not resurrect the mass. Experts fear that it would have only take a handful of them to re-constitute a swarm, and that they could have done so in a just matter of hours. In order to ensure none had escaped destruction by hiding underground, UN peacekeepers could be seen moving cautiously through the area all night, using chemical flame throwers and phosphorus grenades to clear underground structures and sewers.

This morning American soldiers were moving methodically across the sterilized areas, driving long metal poles into the ground. By noon, every nanite affected area had stakes in place with heavy gauge network of wires connecting them. A group of engineers from the American D.A.R.P.A program arrived later and connected them to a large, unidentified device.

When asked about the activity at today’s press conference, General Thomas Ziedro would only give a short statement, “Dr Mathers, and his team from D.A.R.P.A, are some of the world’s leading experts in nanotechnology. The device they deployed today uses an ultrasonic field to destroy the structural integrity of any nanite machinery within thirty kilometers. We are confident that this will destroy any remaining particles from the swarm. However, in the interest of public safety, longer terms safeguards are being discussed. We also look forward to working with the Italian government to ensure that there can never be another incident like this.”

Dr Mathers graduated from MIT in 2014 at the age of 22 with Ph.D.’s in Molecular Biology, Engineering, Advanced Computer Sciences, and Theoretical Mathematics. He is one of only a handful of people in history to hold degrees in so many difficult fields, and the only one to do so in his twenties. His doctorate thesis in theoretical mathematics disproved several of the most fundamental theories in physics, and posited a new set of formulas to replace them. In the years since his graduation, he has worked on top secret projects at. D.A.R.P.A., the US Department of Defense, and the NSA. Not much else is known about him aside from various rumors, and that most physicists consider him the heir to Einstein’s legacy.

Italian President Votiscano expressed his gratitude to the US in a press conference earlier today, and urged cooperation between Italian and American forces in the aftermath. “We are indebted to our American allies in a way that cannot be described. The threat faced by our people yesterday was so great, that had they not come to our aid, every single person in Italy would have been dead before the ringing of the Vatican bells today.”

He then went on to offer his condolences and support to the families who lost loved ones to the swarm, and promised a swift and thorough investigation into Giordano labs to find those responsible. According to Votiscano and other government spokesmen, the nanite project had been unauthorized, and was being conducted in direct violation of Italy’s strict ban on self-governing nanotechnology.

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(C) 2018, BBC News, Europe.