Day 0
The autumn in northern Colorado was an explosion of color, the green woods slowly turned into an explosion of yellow, red and burnt orange, these were landscapes that could inspire artists and doubtlessly did. The man however did not see this as he looked out through the kitchen window, raising his eyes from the magazine in his lap to look out at the quaint brownstone houses that lined both sides of Urquhart Street. The city of Bayston Hill was a vibrant, rather multicultural community with a population of 150 000 people, but the view offered from the man's kitchen window ended with the other brownstones and the people who moved back and forth, a few small children played in one of the yards and those people still returning home from work.
He redirected his gaze back to the magazine, the headlines had been the same for over a week. Of course he had heard the rumors about the 'New Black Death' and 'Super Rabies' or whatever that was supposedly spreading in South America, Australia and parts of China and east Asia now as well.
Garbage. He thought to himself, nothing had changed really. The price of milk had went up by a few cents and this one TV-channel was having some kind of apocalypse-marathon running shows about doomsday preppers all day long. He found it amusing, the so-called 'experts' on the news filling the public with fear for no reason. The clickbaity news articles online written by journalists so the papers could cash-in on all the fear-mongering. It was just the same when the mad-cow disease reared its head.
He rose from the chair and made his way over to the stove, petting the Siberian Husky who walked in to the kitchen and enjoyed the attention before it headed over to the bowl of pet food on the floor. The man stirred the steaming vegetable soup, enjoying the smell and the warmth, people tended to tell him he knew his way around a kitchen.
The front door of the house opened and then closed quickly again. "Uncle David! I'm home!" A child's voice called out and hurried feet pounded the floor, moving closer and closer to the kitchen.
David had agreed to watch over his young nephew for these two weeks, maybe not the vacation he planned on in the beginning but he could not refuse his sister, not in the state she was in. The first few round of chemotherapy for her cancer put the worst strain on her body and she did not want her son to see her in such a state. David could very much understand her line of reasoning. "How was school today Marcus, did you learn anything cool?" His nephew entered the kitchen with a toothy half-smile and sat down at the kitchen table followed by the dog who then sat down at the edge of the table. "It was good, we all had to gather in the gym and the Principal, Mr. Carson talked about how there were going to be police officers at the school tomorrow, and that it's just to be safe." Marcus's eyes moved away from the dog to the box of chocolate chip cookies on the red granite kitchen counter. "Can I have two cookies, one now and one later?" Marcus was already attempting to negotiate the snacks.
"You can have two when you are done, but you have to eat all your soup in half an hour, okay?" David said and his nephew sighed. "Okay." He said and pulled out a rolled up comic book from his backpack. "Will you help me with my homework later?" David nodded, "Of course I will."
As they ate the spicy vegetable soup, Marcus spoke up. "Uncle David…" The pause was long. "When am I going to see my mom again?"
"Soon." David said with a hint of sadness.
"Why am I at your house and she is away. Has something happened?"
"You know why, she is a bit sick and has to be at the hospital for a while. But she will be back soon." Bella asked David not to tell her son too much, she wanted to do it herself later. But it was a bit of an awkward position to be in. And besides, Marcus deserved to know something at the very least. Marcus looked like he was about to say something for a while but then looked down into the bowl of soup and continued eating. After they finished and cleaned up the dishes Marcus went to get his homework.
That is when David felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, it was Chase. "Hey, how's it going?" He greeted and leaned against the wall of the kitchen. "Yo, have you been seeing the news lately? Every channel is talking about this infection. They're closing airports in Brazil, Argentina, Australia, parts of China are infected too they say. And Mexico just closed it's southern border."
David sighed. "Chase, they said that mad-cow disease and the bird-flu were supposed to exterminate all of mankind too, but here we are, alive and well. The media is hyping this up so much it's ridiculous."
"They're saying infected people lose their minds. Attack other, bite them. That it's like rabies, or some kind of zombie virus, without the whole rising from the grave thing." Chase said in a serious tone.
"So what, should I be stockpiling water and guns? Time to start boarding up the house?" David replied, his tone laced in sarcasm.
"Very funny Dave." Chase said with a hint of irritation. "Anyway, I was reading the book I borrowed from you, the one about the First World War. I'm at the last chapters and recently I read a part where they discussed the effects of the Spanish Flu and how it spread, it killed about one in five of the people it infected. If this new contagion is anything like it and is already spreading through densly populated areas like southeastern Australia and the Chinese coast, we could be looking at a much higher mortality rate."
"Chase." David said seriously. "I do not think it will be that bad, at least not here. Even if it is a very dangerous disease there are too many powerful people in the world to just stand by and let a global pandemic get out of control. The virus doesn't care who it infects whether it's plebs like us or the rich and mighty. They know that just as well as we do and they will work to stop it." He could hear Chase sigh through the phone.
"I hope so Dave. Anyway." Chase said to change the topic of the conversation. "Gimme a call if you feel bored later or anything. Though I will have work later tonight so I might not pick up after ten pm."
"Yeah, see you later man." David said. "See ya." Chase replied and then hung up.
David met Chase seven years ago, when he was an excited Associate Engineer ready for his first job at a real construction site. Chase was there as a construction worker and took David on his first tour around the site. The two became thick as brick and plaster over the years, strengthening their bonds of friendship further with each passing year.
Marcus returned with his books and set them down on the kitchen table. "Okay, let's get it done then." David said with a smile and sat down next to his nephew who opened the textbook.
AN: Well then, we have liftoff! This story was born during a rather sleepless night and I felt like it had some potential. I'd love to hear your comments, positive, negative, neutral, all are welcomed and each and every one will help me grow as a writer. Peace and take care!
This story is rated M as mature content will be appearing in later chapters.