This is a test of the emergency broadcast system, the broadcasters in your area in cooperation with state and local officials…
An echo from the recent past. We’re still under power in the underground. The virus dropped like a bomb all over the country. Infrastructure hasn’t quite failed, yet – but the ivy seems to be taking over the bridges one girder at a time. Batteries are still functioning, but they require more and more recharges to maintain any semblance of usage. Batteries are relatively easy to make, though – just watch breaking bad season one episode five. Apparently you need distilled water and some pocket change.
“Paul, have you seen my dad?” Jenny asked with a look of concern.
“I haven’t. Did you check the cantina?”
Jenny’s dad was a bit of drinker before the virus – so he’d taken it on himself to actually make alcohol. Maybe I don’t know the meaning of ironic, but it took him so long to make alcohol that he actually stopped drinking. We used the alcohol to make disinfectant – really good disinfectant. There weren’t too many people left that weren’t immune to the virus, but there were some. We needed them. They were the only ones that could actually bear children. It was a sick joke. The only immune survivors were sterile. This was a complication.
We keep them comfortable and they don’t make too much of a fuss, but humans have a knack for survival. Sometimes that knack involves imprisoning the innocent. To become brutal dictators that enslave the fertile. We make them comfortable and give in to almost their every whim, but they are, without a shadow of doubt, imprisoned. The ones alive today won’t see the outside world. They’ll remain until the virus is burned from the face of this planet – God only knows how long that will be.
“He’s not in the cantina. Do you think he could be hanging around quarantine?”
“Not likely, he’s scheduled to work a shift tomorrow and nobody likes hanging around there unless they have to.
“PAUL!”
I turn around and see my ex-wife walking toward me and I wave. “Excuse me, Jenny – see if Ansel’s seen your father – they seemed pretty chummy last night.”
Selene was getting closer and I could see her black and purple hair. She’s really pretty, and really mad at me – I can see in her eyes that the news not good.
“Did you tell your son he could go with the hunt?”
“Oh, he’s my son when he does something wrong?”
“We decided he’s not going to hunt until he’s had enough training”
“He has! I taught him the ONE thing he needs to know. Stay alert, listen to Jacob, and don’t leave the group!”
“That’s like three things, you idiot!”
“Math isn’t my strong suit.”
“Whatever happens to him is gonna happen to you!”
“What if he gets laid?”
“…”
……….
