We could feel it as we took the exit off the highway-something was wrong. But we were running out of gas and my little brother couldn’t hold it in anymore. I could see his face becoming an alarming shade of yellowish-green.”Please, in the name of everything that is holy, do not throw up,” I squealed like a little girl. I gripped the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles turned white and yanked, and sent the car careening into a grassy meadow. I leapt out of my seat and grabbed the back of Ben, my brother’s, shirt, and threw him down on his knees in the meadow. He threw up, and not the normal kind. His was filled with bile, blood, and black and green liquids that were not supposed to be there.
I sunk down to my knees, sobbing, knowing that this was the end for him. No one can survive the Anosov plague. Already, what used to be the technologically advanced, free country of America has deteriorated into almost nothing. Chaos rules. The Anosov plague eats you from the inside out, leaving nothing behind. I cannot live without my brother. He’s everything good in my life. Sure, I had other friends back before the war, but my brother was the brightest point in my life.
I was pondering what this would mean for all of us, and the impacts of it, when I noticed that Ben was slowly turning back into himself. He wiped his mouth and looked at me with big, sad eyes. “Marcia, I’m going to die.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. All of the sudden, I was filled with a very powerful feeling of indignation, that I’m afraid I might of taken out a bit of my anger on him.
“NO! What the hell, Ben? Don’t even talk that way! We’ll find the cure!” I screeched. Ben only sat there with his eyes, cast downward. “The only cure in the world? One, if I might say, is in Russia? I’m sorry, Mar. Not even you can do it.” His voice cracked, as if resigning himself to his fate.
“No, not you too.” I whispered, not even sure that he heard me. I looked at him and saw myself. We both have nice dark brown hair, almost black, and bright green eyes. I was average height but I had the body of a dancer. Ben played soccer and had a lot of muscle tone, and his wild personality always brought the girls around.
I remembered the way Mom died, and unless I intervened, Ben would die the same way. Mom was taken by the plague as well, only hers struck so severely, that we only knew about it for two days before she died. I still remembered everything Ben and I used to do together, back before the plague. That made it even harder to resign myself to his fate.
Sometime later, we had checked into a motel and Ben and I were all lying in silence, pretending to sleep. We were lying in the ratty, lice-infested beds, when we heard it. It was an alarm, a screeching, pounding alarm. Ben and I jumped up, startled. “Come on!” I yelled, grabbing his hand, and dragged him out the door and down to the lobby. We ran outside, but there was no fire, or any other type of emergency.
I approached the owner, a nasty, greasy man with three teeth, and I asked what happened. After basically undressing me with his eyes, he finally replied, “The military is tryin’’ to flush everybody out ‘ere so they can get some recruitin’ done.”
As soon as I heard this, I grabbed Ben, and pulled him close. “Listen, Ben,” I murmured quietly in his ear. “They’re gonna try to take you. Tell them anything, anything at all, besides that you’re sick. You’re not getting away from me that easily.”
“All right!” A loud, obnoxious gray-haired man shouted, sporting the uniform of the General. “All of you good-for-nothing, snot-nosed losers are going to make something of yourselves! So line up!” We all scrambled to line up and we stood straight-backed, hoping to be overlooked. The General looked on while about 4 soldiers went up and down the line, inspecting people.
Finally a handsome soldier comes up our line and stays at each person for a total of 3 minutes each (I counted). After inspection, I noticed that he would either sadly shake his head and send the man or woman to the recruitment line, or reject them with a firm handshake. Here it comes, I thought. He looked at Ben at scrutinized him, leaving no detail unseen.
Then, I received the biggest surprise of my life. The handsome soldier rejected Ben, and shook his hand. I turned my head and got a look at Ben, just in case he had gotten sick and given us away, but no; he looked totally normal and healthy, defiance shining in his green eyes. That’s when it happened. His commanding officer came and looked Ben up and down. “What’s the matter with you, cadet? He’s a fine specimen!” he exclaimed. He looked at Ben with relish. “Have fun in the military, little boy.” I made to protest, but any of that quickly disappeared when he not-so-subtly placed his hand on his gun holster. I would have to get him another way. With that, he grabbed Ben, and they both disappeared into the crowd.
