Corruption of Mankind

Day One

"Isn't there any way to make it go faster?" Sam said just outside my bathroom door. 

"No..." I sighed. "Just one more minute."

"Ariah, what are you going to do if it's a positive? I mean, we're only 20. How are you going to tell James?" 

"I don't know, I don't know..." I sank down to the floor terrified of the truth awaiting me on the small stick. That small stick could change my entire life and I was terrified. 

"Just, don't worry. I mean, you have me, your best friend. And, you know, maybe James will be cool with it." He stuttered. 

"No. I really don't think I can tell him. We broke up two months ago. How am I supposed to tell him, 'oh hey James, I'm carrying your baby'." I snapped back. 

"It's been a minute Ari..."

I slowly slid back up the wall, hands shaking as a checked the test. Pregnant. It read pregnant. I stood there, petrified just staring at the test. I mixture of horror and excitement coursed through my entire body, unsure of how to react. 

"So..?" Sam said impatiently, trying the locked door. 

I unlocked the door slowly, still staring at the stick. He slowly entered the small bathroom and looked at the test with me. He put his hand on my shoulder, staring at me, awaiting my reaction. 

I continued to stand in silence before uttering a small, "Okay." 

"What's going through your mind right now?" Sam whispered. 

"Honestly, I don't know. I'm terrified, I don't know what to do. This is horrible timing..."

"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to do anything right now. Let's just breathe and walk away. We can come back to this later, come on." Sam lead me out of the bathroom, leaving the stick on the counter. 

We walked into our small apartment living room as our eyes were quickly drawn to the tv. 

"... the unknown airborne disease has now hit America. So far only hitting the southernmost states but is quick traveling and will likely cover all of America in the next few weeks. Please take precautions..." 

"I thought we still had a few months before it even came up from Brasil. I thought doctors had found a cure to it. It might hit Colorado by next week..." I blankly state, staring at the tv.

"Yeah me too... This looks really bad. We need to get to the store immediately and grab everything we need."

"Okay, let's go. Maybe there'll be enough left over so we won't have to hunt everything down." We grabbed our phones and keys and headed out the door. 

The roads were an absolute craze with people out trying to find everything we need before the disease hits. I stopped to get gas as my tank was very low, then continued on. We dodged all the terrible drivers and finally reached the local superstore. Parking was horrible, but we finally got inside. I looked down at our list of stuff that should keep us safe for a month, maybe more. 

"Okay, so we need to find dry and canned food, a first aid kit, bottled water, and face masks." We continued to walk around the store and luckily found everything we needed. 

We exited the store and put everything into the back seat of my car. Right as we were about to get into the driver seat, I was confronted by the last person I wanted to see. 

"Ariah? Hey, how are you doing?" 

"James... We were actually just leaving now." I said avoiding eye contact. 

"You know, you look really good." James said holding my car door open. 

"Yeah, she really is," Sam said making deep eye contact with me. "now why is that?"

James looked inquisitively between me and Sam, opening his mouth to ask right as the alarm went off. We all darted our eyes to the sky in terror as the alarms announced 

"THE SICKNESS HAS COME, TAKE COVER, GO INSIDE, KEEP ALL DOORS SEALED." It repeated as we all panicked. 

"We're too far from home, what do we do?! We still had at least a week!" I screamed at Sam. I looked over to James, "Get in the car!"

Everyone got in as I quickly as I sped away. We turned on the radio to hear the alarm, I knew the first place we needed to go. I sped off to a storage place, somewhere no one knew about. 

"Ariah where are you going? We need to get back to the apartment!" Sam yelled at me. 

"Look we need to go somewhere, I can keep us safe. You just need to trust me. Put on the masks!" I put mine on very quickly and continued on to my storage unit. 

"What do you mean? Ariah, what are you doing?" James sat forward in a hurry. 

"Look you know I never talk about my family, it's for a reason. Trust me." 

We got to my storage locker and I told everyone to stay in the car. I got out and opened the door up. I grabbed everything I knew we needed. I grabbed all the bags and threw them into my car. The city wouldn't be safe, biowarfare is the first step to the end of the world. I grabbed my water purifiers, axes, first aid kits, canned and dried food, backpacks, ropes, knives, tent, map, flashlights, and more face masks. We all knew this day was coming eventually, I knew what I would need. 

I threw everything in the backseat with James and jumped into the driver seat. James and Sam continued to question me but I didn't have time to answer. 

The end was near, but we were prepared.