Infection

1

PRESENT DAY

Ian walked over to the window and peered through the slits between boards. He slung his rifle over his shoulder to lean in closer for a better look. A burning car across the street, crashed over a string of trash bins, solved the riddle of the new terrible smell, just another to add to the litany of pungent aromas that dwelt in the city these days. There didn't appear to be any movement other than the dancing flames of the car. Ian found himself mesmerized and sickened as he watched the flames slowly swallow the car. What a waste, he thought. What surprised him the most wasn't the fact that the car crashed or was on fire, but that the sight seemed normal. Just a few months ago it would have put him on edge, sent him running for his phone to call 9-1-1. But now he just watched it burn, ran his finger along the safety of his rifle, and checked the knife at his belt.

It had been six months since the virus had ravaged the United States. Whole cities had collapsed in a matter of days, with death tolls reaching tens of thousands in the first week. Some conspiracy theorist extremists claimed the government had engineered and released it on purpose to "control the masses," but there wasn't much evidence either way, yet. "They can't hide it forever!" They cried in the streets and over the radio. "They will pay for the pain and destruction they've caused!" For the rest of Americans, it was their worst nightmare made real. Their society had collapsed. Their empire had vanished as quickly as the morning dew on a sunny day. Their once strong government, military, and economy were in shambles, and those who survived the initial wave of the virus had hunkered down and taken shelter, hoping and praying that this would all end soon. But it hadn't.

It started with crowds rioting at pharmacies and drug stores. Medicine was gone within hours, sold on the streets at a hundred times the normal cost. Shelves were stripped of everything essential and destroyed as people fought for their basic needs. The riots led to larger acts of violence all across the country. Before long, people were dying from gunfire and homemade bombs as quickly as they were from the virus. Gangs formed overnight, taking control of cities, ravaging their infrastructure, and leaving law enforcement soon out of their depth. The infighting among the gangs, citizens, law enforcement, and military took out the power grid. It happened in the larger cities first but quickly spread across the country. The few places that still had power were guarded heavily by what military was left, which caused more violence and more fighting in a vicious cycle that continually made things worse for everyone. Gunfire and explosions were now a part of the natural rhythm and soundtrack of daily life; fire was a new feature of the landscape. The once-great nation described by the world as "the land of the free and the home of the brave" had now become a desolate, war-torn shell of its former glory, unrecognizable as the smoke billowed up and the shots rang out.

Ian sighed heavily, shaking his head free of the recent memories and returning to the moment. His family needed him now. His friends and neighbors were depending on him in the present. He couldn't waste time dwelling on the past. Nothing could be done to change what had happened, and they may never know whether the government had caused this or it had been a freak accident. What they did know was that they had to figure out how to survive in this new America; they had to make their way in this new world. He turned from the window, putting the car out of his mind, and focusing on his family huddled around the fire pit with a few other people from the neighborhood. He shivered with a sudden chill and closed his jacket tightly around him as he made his way over to his boys, smiling at his wife as their eyes met.

"Everything okay?" she asked. He knelt beside them and stroked his older son's hair. He was sound asleep, his breathing heavy and even. Ian smiled, amazed that the boys seemed to adapt so easily to this new life, trusting in their parents completely to keep them safe. He didn't trust in himself half as much as his boys did.