The Last of Us - Who Remains

In What World? 09/25/13

           A day has passed since Anna and Dereck's conversation. She had left the campus building, after her last class, to go back to her dorm room. She always hated walking there because, by the time her last class ended, the sun was already setting. Anna looks up to see her dorm building being hit by the orange rays of the setting sun. The building stands surrounded by maintained shrub bushes, but the thing that draws Anna's attention is the artificial wall of vines hanging on the side of the building. The long vines themselves are real but trimmed to maintain a straight rectangular shape that stretch all the way to the ground. To Anna, this entire ecological structure is ironic. Plants are meant to grow, stretch, and reach for the sun, and yet these vines will able to fulfill their purpose. This living banner will never reach the top of its high tower-

Anna snaps herself out of her daydream. It has always been a real problem that she's had to deal with. It happens whenever she is doing something mundane, or anything that makes her mentally checkout, whether it be attending class lectures, or like right now, walking down the mundane, grey sidewalk.

Anna walks past the vine-covered wall and checks her watch as she reaches the door to her building. The watch hands just crept past 7:55pm. Just as she is reaching for the handle to walk inside, she stops. She looks slightly to her right and up. Above her is a large metallic sign bolted to the wall. The sign must have been installed recently as it hadn't been there that same morning. Anna inspects the sign. It is painted black and white, printed in robust bold letters.

The information on the sign is what worries Anna. The sign reads as follows:

NOTICE: ALL CITIZENS ATTENDING SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY MUST ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING ESTABOLISHED NIGHTLY CURFEW OF 8:00PM – 7:00AM. ALL DOORS INTO AND OUT OF THE BUILDING WILL AUTOMATICALLY LOCK DURING THE SET CURFEW TIME.

- THIS WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED -

"What the hell..."

Anna takes a step back and turns away from the sign. She can't believe what she just read. What is she supposed to do now? She has plans to go see her parents in Atlanta over the weekend. Anna turns around to read the sign again to see if there is anything else on its dimly lit surface that she missed. The only thing she didn't notice before is the acronym at the top of the sign. In large bold black letters is the word: F.E.D.R.A.

Anna doesn't know much about the organization, besides the name. However, she has heard over the past few months that Fedra has established screening centers across the country, and evidently around the university now, too. It must have to do with the disease that's been spreading. Anna can't remember ever hearing about this organization; then again, she hasn't really been keeping up with the news.

Over the past few days, these abnormal occurrences seemed far-removed from her life. Anna would only hear about these things. The sign and curfew make the rumors and concerns much more real for her. Why is there a curfew now? What is Fedra? These questions keep racking Anna's head.

Anna quickly looks back at her watch. The time is 7:58pm. She has to get inside.

Anna reaches back for the door and grasps the handle. She easily pulls it open and walks into the building. She makes her way through the common area to the elevators, to get to her room on the 5th floor. Anna thanks God for elevators because she knows she would pass out if she had to walk up six flights of stairs every day.

As Anna walks through the pale florescent lit hallway, she feels a sense of unease. Normally college kids would be walking through these halls in droves at this time of night, but right now, there is no one around. Even the group of guys that get high off their asses would be playfully cheering at their TV screens in the game room, but not even they are around tonight.