The Quarantine Zone

Chapter One

April 25th, 2017

'Military research scientist found dead in DARPA laboratories,' said the disgruntled Shane Fitzimmons, reading the headline of The Daily Mail. 'Always nice to finish a weekend with a happy gesture,'

Shane sat in his comfy chair, in his comfy flat, in his comfy London suburb, reading the sunday paper.

Shane was twenty four, and a handsome young man at that. He had sandy brown hair, and hazel eyes. He was average height for his age, and very intelligent, currently studying advanced literature at Oxford.

Shane was leading, in nearly all cases, the perfect life.

Almost perfect.

Because, you see, Shane was about to get a phone call. A phone call, he neither expected, nor wanted.

Shane heard the phone ring.

He hopped off his couch, smiling, and strolled happily over to the kitchen bench where the house phone sat. He picked up the phone, and began his conversation with the person at the other end.

'Hello?' .....

'Well hello!' .....

'Yeah?' ......

'What?' ......

'Oh, alright,' .....

'I see,' ........

'Well, um, thanks for calling,' .......

'bye,' ......

Shane sat the phone back down on the kitchen bench, his smile drowning away, into a blank, emotionless expression. Shane slowly walked back to the television, the bounce no longer in his step, and all but fell into it.

He heard a phone ring, this time it was his mobile. Shane took it out of his pocket, and a name flashed on the screen.

'Eddie'

Along with it, was a picture of a handsome, dark haired yet slightly overweight male with his tounge poked rocker style towards the camera.

'Alright mate?' said the voice on the other end of the phone, in a sharp Cockney accent.

'Sorry, Ed, not in the mood,' replied Shane.

'Why?' said the voice on the other end. 'I'm pretty sure this is more important than literally anything you can possibly come up with right now.'

'I don't think it is,' said Shane, getting slightly fed up.

'I got tickets to Queen, mate!' said Ed. 'How could anything possibly be better than that?'

'It's Sarah, ed!' Shane shouted into the phone.

There was momentary silence.

'What happened?' the voice asked, less kiddish now.

'She dumped me.' replied Shane.

*

The miserable picture of Shane Fitzimmons sat half slumped over a table, sipping his first pint of beer. Across from him, sat Ed, joyfully downing his third for the evening.

'You'll be right, mate.' said Ed, shaking Shane's shoulder. 'It's not that bad.'

'Oh but it is, Ed!' said Shane, half wimpering. 'She meant the world to me! She was the only thing I ever cared about.'

'What about your Literature degree?' asked Ed, genuinely confused (he was a bit slow). 'And your mates, and your drivers license and-'

Shane cut him off.

'Oh but that's not the point, Ed!' he moaned, seriously not in the mood of explaining the matter to Ed.

Ed sighed, giving up. There was no getting Shane out of this.

At least not until Ed got him a little drunk.

'You'll be absolutely fine, Shane,' he said. 'Who needs Sarah anyway, eh? I mean she's not all that special. I mean apart from the fact that she's extremely kind, intelligent, pretty, social smart-'

Ed noticed that this wasn't helping.

'I'm gonna stop now.'

Ed put his hand on Shane's shoulder, as a last resort, just as Shane had finally finished his first pint. It took him a few seconds, but he finally said it.

'Well, think of it this way, mate,' he said.

'It's not the end of the world.'