Project Meyburn

7

Auditorium,

Rushmore Army Medical Center

A man looked out at all the children scattered throughout the auditorium, a sense of dread filling him. They were so innocent and pure, and they were dragged away from their homes and families and brought into all of this. No child should have to go through that, no matter the circumstances. And he knew that it would only get harder for them as time went on.

"Lieutenant Davis, it's almost time." He was startled out of his train of thought as one of his associates spoke.

Lieutenant Davis nodded his understanding, and took a deep breath in preparation as he mentally went over what he was instructed to say. He knew that he had no choice, that he would just have to suck it up, put on his best smile, and be the bearer of bad news for all of those kids.

"Okay, I'm ready," Once Lieutenant Davis received the go-ahead, he walked out onto the stage and took his spot behind the podium that had been brought out. He could see all of the kids' faces staring up at him. Some of them looked curious, others irritated, but most of them looked scared.

I'll have to do something about that. So he cleared his throat and started talking

⇔

Megan

"Now, I understand that a lot of you are very confused regarding what exactly is happening right now. While I do not have all the answers, I can tell you all that we know about the Meyburn virus."

As I looked up to the stage at the front of the auditorium, I noticed that the man speaking looked very familiar. Where have I seen you before? He was middle-aged, with light brown hair and he seemed to be quite tall.

I was normally pretty good with faces, but I just could not put my finger on where I had seen this guy before.

"I'll start off by listing the symptoms of this virus. If you see any of the following symptoms in your fellow peers, it is imperative that you report it immediately to one of the on-duty staff members. Now listen carefully: issues breathing, fainting spells or dizziness, fever, cloudy vision, loss of appetite, eye discoloration, and in extreme cases, a person may experience hallucinations and could be prone to hostile behavior."

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, that sounds god-awful! Sorry everybody, but if any one of you so much as sneezes on me, I will lose my shit.

I went back to listening to the man as he went on to describe in sickening detail what would happen to us—and everyone else in the world—if this virus should make its way into our systems.

"As much as I really don't want to have to tell you kids this, it is important you understand what exactly this virus will do to a person, beyond the warning signs an infected person may display."

He scanned the room with keen eyes, seeming to meet each of ours, if only for a split second. I could tell that what he was about to say would not be pleasant in the slightest, but even I could understand that this was important information that we should all know, despite the fear that was beginning to smother me. Thankfully most of the young 'uns wouldn't understand much of this part. That's where I'd seen this man before, at the supermarket with my mom! His name is Lieutenant Davis.

Now that I at least knew why the man looked so familiar, I could start paying attention to the probably vital—if gruesome—information he was telling us. I was fairly certain I had already missed some of his speech while I had been zoning out, but hey, I was pretty damn tired.

"When an infected person begins to display unnaturally hostile and violent behavior, this is a sign that the virus has reached the person's brain. At that point they lose all sense of who they are, or rather were. An infected person can go on like this for several weeks at most, before the body begins to shut down. Organ failure and severe muscle deterioration occurs, and before too long, death." The lieutenant tried to hide it, but I could see that he was deeply disturbed by this, and since he was in the army and had probably known about all of this for far longer than the rest of us, you can only guess how we all reacted.

"Bloody hell!" I had no idea who said it, who broke the fragile silence that had ensued after the lieutenant finished speaking, but once that voice echoed through the auditorium, everyone followed suit.

All around me, kids broke into frantic sobs, some were screaming at the top of their lungs just because that was all they could do. Others like me just stood there in shock, frozen. I saw one child collapse onto the ground unconscious. Before long, every kid in the room was either running around screaming, crying, passed out on the ground, or having a complete mental breakdown.

Still frozen, I evaluated my options and decided against keeping my emotions bottled up inside. I started to breathe heavily, and soon I was hunched over with my hands braced on my knees. This is just a bad dream...please be a bad dream.

I paused in my breakdown as I realized that my parents were still out there, and they were at risk of catching this virus. My panic cleared for a split second and I knew that I was doing my parents no good by hyperventilating on the floor. This was not a dream, but that didn't mean there was nothing I could do. I needed to be smart and observant. I could figure something out, come up with a plan.

"Please everyone, remain calm! I know this sounds scary, but you all need to calm down. Your chaperons will escort you back into the mess hall and then you will each get assigned to your sleeping quarters. Please, everyone calm down! Everything will be okay." I looked up to see Lieutenant Davis frantically trying to get the mob of scared-shitless kids to calm down.

Around me army personnel moved from their places along the walls to come and collect kids. I saw Bill prowl towards me and I unsteadily walked over to meet him. He grabbed my arm and practically dragged me out of the room and into the hallway that led to what I could only assume would be the mess hall.

Bill seemed a little surprised by me somewhat holding my shit together. Then again, Bill only really had one facial expression. I stumbled and tripped as Bill continued to drag me closer and closer to the locked, steel, double doors. Finally we stopped, and I sighed in relief when Bill released his death grip on my upper arm.

"This is where I leave you. Go through the doors and all of your belongings are piled up in the back corner. Once you have your things, just sit and wait to get assigned to quarters,"

I glanced at the doors and nodded my understanding.

"Okay, well, I'll see ya on the other side, Bill." With that I turned on my heel and began to walk towards the doors, just catching the slightest glimpse of Bill's confused expression.

I shoved the double doors open—immensely grateful that someone had already unlocked them—and found myself standing in what honestly looked like my school cafeteria.

Here we go.