Title: Welcome to the New Age
Pairing: Alex Cabot/Olivia Benson
Rating: T
Author's Note: These characters aren't mine. If they were, things would be different, and I wouldn't have to worry about paying for college. They belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. Do I have that right? Anyways, the only things I own are almost a dozen textbooks, a light-up Pillow Pet, and a laptop I got for my birthday.
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Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I know enough of hate,
To say that for destruction, ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-"Fire and Ice" – Robert Frost
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On October 19, 2001, an asteroid hit the central United States, bringing with it a virus unknown to mankind and a shockwave so powerful, it leveled entire cities from coast to coast. Within six days of the impact, ninety percent of the cities in the United States were in ruins and the remaining ten percent were structurally unsound and without power.
Underground bunkers up and down the East and West coasts were filled to capacity. Tempers were flaring, children were crying, people were dying. The Virus ran rampant in the bunkers. The few who survived were left with not only the physical scars, but the psychological ones as well.
In the first week, the Virus had been classified as a Smallpox-type illness. The mortality rate was estimated as close to eighty percent, but without electricity or a way to communicate with one another, there was no way to know for sure.
The symptoms of the Virus were severe: headaches, body aches, high fever, vomiting, mouth sores and blisters that spread the Virus into the throat. Then there were the rashes.
The rashes started out as flat, red sores that turned into red bumps in a matter of hours. The bumps would then turn into fluid-filled blisters, and then pustules (small, inflamed, pus-filled, blister-like lesions). By the fourth day, the pustules would scab over and fall off…if an infected person was lucky enough to survive until then.
Compared to Smallpox, the Virus was fast moving. A normal person could go from healthy to dead in less than four days. Death was slow and painful and typically caused by swelling in the brain, infections in the lesions, and suffocation from pustules in the throat. However, about thirty percent of those infected died from dehydration, kidney failure, and heart failure caused by the high fever. Those who survived were mutilated beyond recognition from the scars caused by the pustules scabbing over.
.
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Interior – Underground Bunker, Manhattan, New York City – Night - Day 15
Dressed in torn jeans and ratty sweatshirts and covered in blood, dirt, and the grime of the city, Alex Cabot and Olivia Benson collapse onto the ground of the bunker, the cold from the cement wall seeping through their flimsy sweatshirt.
"Not one single one," Alex says, resting her head against the wall behind her.
"We've had days like this before, Alex," Olivia says, wrapping her arm around the other woman's shoulders.
Alex quickly blinks back tears. "It was an elementary school, Liv."
"I know, sweetheart. I know."
"Where are we searching tomorrow?"
Olivia shrugs and looks at the map on the wall directly across from her. "We finished our area today."
"Now what?" Olivia is quiet, too quiet for Alex's liking. "Liv, what do we do?"
Olivia looks at Alex grimly. "We wait."
"Wait? Wait for what? Wait to die?" Alex shrugs Olivia's arm off of her shoulders and stands up. There isn't enough room in the small bunker for her to pace as much as she'd like, but she tries anyway. "We can't just sit here and wait to die, Liv. We can't."
"There's nothing else for us to do, Alex. You saw the city. There's nothing left."
"We can travel."
"To where?"
"I don't know," Alex yells. "We can't just sit here and die."
Olivia stands up and gathers Alex in her arms. "Then we won't," she whispers, pressing a kiss to Alex's temple. "We'll travel. Maybe we can find Elliot and his family. We'll pack up camp tomorrow and we'll go."
"Are you sure?"
Olivia nods. She's not sure, but she will be for Alex.
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