Survive

Pestilence

Two weeks of working in the laundry room and I was about ready to pack up and face the outside on my own. There's nothing gratifying about washing strangers clothes, no matter how much people say that every job is "important." And to make it worse, more and more people were getting sick.

"That's the third one this week." Carmella, another women stuck with the laundry room job, muttered as she folded someone's shirts and set them in their respective baskets. Someone had dropped to the floor from a fever, and it didn't help that the laundry room was practically a sauna. Two people helped the poor bastard to his feet and they ushered him out of the humid room, his head hanging limp against his shoulder.

"I thought it was just the flu going around." I said, setting my basket of sheets and pillow cases off to the side.

"That's what everyone else thought, but it could be something more serious." she replied with a frown, absentmindedly rubbing a tan hand over the soft swell of her pregnant belly. I placed my hand over hers and give it a gentle squeeze.

"It's going to be fine, I'm sure Dr. Farah is taking good care of everyone who's sick." I tried my best to give her a reassuring smile, but it faltered slightly when a woman next to us started to cough loudly into her hand. I sighed as I went back to sorting bed sheets, dropping the folded linens into a different basket with disdain evident on my face. I deserved better than folding laundry, even though it may sound a little self entitled. Although it was partially my fault that I was stuck with this menial task, I just had to pick a fight with the guy who gave people jobs. Patrick must have felt pretty proud of himself that he "put me in my place" as he so eloquently said once when I was walking by his table in the mess hall. I was half tempted to just let Curtis loose on him like I had originally wanted to. But if that happened then Curtis would lose his job on patrol and we would no doubt be kicked out. So I could ignore Patrick's bitterness for the time being.

Life in the bunker felt stifling at times, some days I just wanted to see the outside, but people who didn't work patrol or scavenging weren't allowed outside without an escort. And finding an escort was even harder now that people were drastically falling ill. I hadn't heard much from Ellen ever since I started working in the laundry room, we never ran into each other in the mess hall or the library, and even Sophie was mysteriously absent from the kitchens.

After my shift in the laundry room ended, I decided to do a little investigating. I knew people were going to be hesitant with talking to me since I was a newcomer, so I had to settle with eavesdropping on a few conversations around the bunker. The library was the first place I went to for answers, it was relativity easy to just stick my nose into a book and pretend to read as people gossiped around me.

According to a conversation I heard between Mai and Ken (a couple from Japan who had been in Germany on vacation when the world turned to ice), the illness going around was worse than what the doctor's had anticipated, people who were exhibiting signs of sickness were now being quarantined in the infirmary. And Ellen was one of them.

In the kitchens, Theron was fine with chatting openly with me in rapid French. He told me about how Sophie had gotten a slight fever and was resting in the infirmary. Apparently he didn't know about the quarantine yet. As soon as I had mentioned what was going on, his face had dropped into a worried frown. The concern for his sister was clearly evident.

After I had gotten the information that I wanted, I made my way down the halls towards the communal area where I knew Curtis would be with the kids. There were only a few people sitting around on some of the couches and chairs. An elderly couple, Mr and Mrs. Heinrich, were playing Chinese checkers in the corner of the room. And a small group of teenagers were chatting around a board game at one of the coffee tables.