Children of the Plague [NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE]

We continued down the hallway and into a large room, which I immediately noticed was a gymnasium like in my junior high school. The gym had two basketball hoops on either side of the wooden court, and there was a stand of metal bleachers along the far wall. Our new boots squeaked on the polished wood as we walked along the perimeter of the court and then made a sharp turn toward bleachers. I thought we were going to go somewhere else since we didn’t head directly to the bleachers, but once we were sitting down, I wondered if Sergeant Michel had forgotten where he was going and that is why we went a long way around. There was a moment of silence as we all sat still, unaware of what was supposed to happen next.

“Listen up!” Sergeant Michel yelled suddenly, startling all of us. “No talking while I read this and afterward, I will answer your questions. Good-” he stopped and looked at his watch, “-evening. With you receiving this brief, we regret to inform you that you have contracted the Auto Genome Degenerative Syndrome. You have been placed in this camp with the intention of stopping the spread of this virus through quarantine. The Auto Genome Degenerative Syndrome has an infection rate of approximately fifty percent of the adult population and eighty percent of the population of young children. It has a mortality rate of approximately fifty percent and ninety percent of those same populations respectively. Additionally, the adolescent survivors of this horrible virus, which continues to ravage our nation, have been exhibiting adverse side effects of the contagion.

The continued spread of the disease and the dangerous side effects of the virus have forced us to create this camp. We - the government of the United States - are doing everything in our power to make the world a safe and livable place for everyone and this includes you.” Sergeant Michel stopped and drank some water that was on a small metal stool next to where he was standing.

“I don’t understand.” The younger girl who was sitting next to me said. She was the same girl who had been in the bed next to mine.

The sergeant looked down at the clipboard for a second, then asked, “It’s Emily, right?” The girl nodded in response. Sergeant Michel said. “I know this is hard to grasp, but I believe in telling you all the truth. So, to put it simply, you all contracted a virus that was rampaging through our country and the world. It has killed a large portion of the adult population and an even larger part of the adolescent population. There is a lot we don’t know about the virus. It has moved through the population so quickly that scientists haven’t had enough time to study it. With certain parts of the government and country in chaos, information from the centers that study it have been slow to arrive.”

“You are being kept in this secure facility to protect you from the side effects of the disease as well as mitigate further spread. Unfortunately, we don’t know if this measure will help to stop its spread. For every single one of you, either your parents have agreed to send you in for treatment, or contracting the virus caused you to have a violent episode, which caused others to get hurt or die.”

We all looked around at each other after that, but he didn’t seem to notice. “”So we’re prisoners?” The redheaded girl who had been in the bed across from me said before Sergeant Michel continued.

“Sarah?” Sergeant Michel asked with a small eyebrow raise. After Sarah nodded, he continued.

“No. While some of you may have done unacceptable things, we believe that it was caused by the virus; we don’t think that it’s your fault and we want to give you another chance. With that being said, there will be strict rules that will be followed and punishment for breaking those rules. Also, contact with the outside world will not be allowed until we can find a cure or another viable solution.”

The hand of the dark-skinned boy raised his hand, Brian, as confirmed by Sergeant Michel before nodding towards him. “Uh, how were the people getting hurt caused by the virus and not us?”

“As I said previously, we don’t have a lot of information about the virus. However, there are multiple observed side effects. Some of you might be aware of it, others might not, it’s possible that you don’t remember the symptoms or episodes because when you contracted the sickness, you were all inflicted with a high fever that caused confusion and memory loss, but the extent of this is different with everyone.”

“Is that why can’t I remember how long I’ve been here? I remember going to school on Monday.” I interrupted.

“Today is Saturday. You have been here for almost a week.” He said.

The difference in date takes a moment to sink into our group.

“To continue,” he said and pointedly looked at me. “The secondary side effect, from what we have gathered, is that the virus has caused a change to your DNA, which gave you all varying degrees of abilities.” He paused just before saying the last word.

I wondered what he meant by abilities. I raised my hand to ask, and so did Sarah and another boy.

Sergeant Michel waved us away before our hands were fully raised. “The government has observed two different types of these abilities. The first surfaces as a physical ability that’s activated during touch. Recently, especially since you have woken up, some of you might be more aware of how everything feels... different, I’ve been told this is common.”

This made me think back to how everything was out of focus and shimmering when I first woke up. However, this seemed a little different to me since it was just my vision, and nothing had felt different when I touched it.

Sergeant Michel continued his explanation, “This physical ability has shown two different sub-types. One is the ability to manipulate plant-based matter, and the other can manipulate metal and ores. Additionally, we have been told that another side effect is that your bodies will also change. Studies have shown the average body becomes hardier or tougher. The extent and type of this change differs with the sub-type.” Once again, there was a stunned silence in the group and palpable disbelief.

Sergeant Michel continued after a moment. “You were all grouped together because you have a shared ability of wood and plant manipulation, and this is also why we gave you green armbands, so you can stand out and be easily identified when in certain areas. The other group will have gray bands and while we haven’t planned for mixing, there might be some overlap at chow, which is when you eat.” He added the last part when a few of the kids had confused looks on their faces. “You are the first group of plant types that have arrived, but there are metal types that have been here for a few weeks, some are even getting this same briefing that you are right now.”

“The second type of ability that has manifested deals with sound. It works how you might think, those afflicted with this type of disease hear differently than we do. Unfortunately, just as your bodies changed, so did theirs, but most would not consider it an advantage. The kids who are dealing with sound abilities have had their vocal cords altered and are no longer able to speak safely. When they talk, they inadvertently cause damage or other problems. Interaction with this group will be minimal due to the level of danger they represent.”

I noticed that the quirks have to do with our senses and apparently, I wasn’t the only one since Sarah raised her hand, blurting out the question before she was called on. “Is it just those two senses that have abilities?”

Sarah looked to be my age, but I knew it was harder to tell with girls. She had long hair the color of autumn, and freckles on the front of her face. Despite all the information we were being fed, she seemed to be taking it well. Her back was straight, her head forward, it was quite the contrast to nearly everyone else. Most of the others were looking down, and they appeared to be lost in thought. A couple of the kids were crying, the girl who was crying in the room before and the redheaded boy who was now sitting next to her and on the other side of me.

“How do you know that we have this virus or that we are wood people?” blurted the boy who had been in the bed on Sarah’s right. He looked a little older than me, probably fourteen.

“Well, Randy, the details are in your files, which we will go over. But, some of you were placed here based on your actions during the hours before you were brought here and we do have some tests that tell us whether you have the virus and dependent on the results of the test, we can determine if what type of physical ailment you have been afflicted with. If it was the sound ailment, we would know right away.

“Are my parents alive?” The redheaded boy asked. Sergeant Michel confirmed his name as Johnathan.

“I will let you decide whether to let everyone else know your business. Later in the week, once everyone is settled in, I will talk to each of you privately to give you the details of how you got here. Right now, there is a lot to take in and I don’t want it to become too much for anyone to handle.”

“Aren’t you scared of us?” Johnathan asked.

Sergeant Michel looked like he was trying to make a friendly smile, but wasn’t very good at it. I immediately thought of the white room and how easily he handled me. I knew that he wasn’t scared of us, not even a little.

“While it is true that you children are dangerous and have the ability to cause harm, we are confident that we have the necessary precautions in place to keep you from hurting others or yourselves. Plus, we plan on teaching you how to control your abilities and to survive in the world.” We all looked confused at this last part. What did he mean by, teach us how to survive? “This virus has only been active in the world for the past six months, but within that time, the damage has been catastrophic. The world is already different than you kids remember it. Perhaps you might know something about what is going on, but even if your parents didn’t shield you from the extent of it, there is a lot that has changed and it’s going to get worse. Right now, the United States is beginning to fracture and divide. Other countries have already collapsed. Personally, I think you’re probably in the safest place you can be right now.”

I wasn’t sure if I agreed with him that we were in the safest place, my cheek still throbbed as a counter-argument. I know a few of the other things he was telling us this since my parents were very open with me, but a lot of the kids seemed shocked.

My parents told me that the virus began shortly after a meteorite had entered the earth’s atmosphere. Most experts agreed that there is a direct correlation between the two. I raised my hand and when he nodded for me to go, I asked, “Do we know if it was the meteorite that caused the disease?”

“Currently, that is the most prevalent hypothesis. All of you might not know what Aidren here is talking about, so I will fill you in. About six months ago, just before the outbreak, a meteorite entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Shortly after that, people across the world started to get sick, but is symptoms were also first reported in areas closest to the meteorite’s crash site.” Sergeant Michel paused for a moment then asked. “Are there any other questions? No? Okay, one final point, we have assigned each group names to help with classification and order. Your group is called Carpenters. The group that can manipulate metal are called Welders and the other is Sirens.”

Our group fell silent again and everyone was looking down, lost in thought. “Well, it that answers most of the questions right now, let me show you all where you will be sleeping.”