People thought that apocalypses happened in a matter of hours due to the combination of the corrupt pharmaceutical industry doing dark experiments that got out of control. Sometimes it's because of a natural disaster so great that cities are ruined in seconds. Sometimes it's an alien invasion, and sometimes politics has led to collapse. That's what the movies were about, right?
Until everything is in complete chaos, until the communications systems go down, the banking system collapses, the electricity stops working in large parts of the country, the army bombs the cities and still fails, and the government collapses, until this thing crossing the Atlantic… the apocalypse took some time to happen and I think that's why people underestimated it. I think it's because a person doesn't immediately turn into a reaper. The virus incubation time is more or less 24 hours, and in that time, the person who doesn't even know is infected can move to many different places until they start to feel sick, feel irritation in the eyes, have headaches. This was what happened with that guy that travelled by car from Washington D.C to Fort Wayne. That's how Lima was screwed.
Honestly, I had false hopes that this crisis would pass soon. That afternoon, exactly the third day after the bomb had literally gone off, we didn't even get off Dalton's bus that took the choir back to Lima. I stayed on the bus because Mr. Schuester didn't have any power to pull me off, since I was 18, and I was accompanied by an unexpected group. I never thought that Quinn, Joe, Mike and not even a cheerio like Aisha, who has never been my friend, would accompany me. The journey to the lake was short, only half an hour, and it was done in silence. The driver dropped us off at the side of the highway.
"Good luck, kids." The guy said in a bit of a rush.
"What about you? What are you going to do?" Mike had the courtesy to ask.
"My brother has a small farm in Indiana. I think I'll take my wife and son and go visit him."
He closed the bus door and left.
"Do you know where your uncle's house is?" Quinn asked.
"My mom sent the location." Thank god, Google Maps was still up. "We have two hours of walking ahead of us."
We walked around a part of the lake until we reached the islands, where my uncle's house was. I was a mess, tired, frustrated, sad because I knew that my father would hardly survive the quarantine in the hospital if the infection wasn't contained. The Seattle's video was a horror scene of the highest order. Obviously, I wasn't the only one worried about my family, all my friends there called to their parents, brothers and sisters to let them know if they were okay. Tina's parents were trying to return to Lima, and they said that Tina should stay with the group in a safe place. Quinn's mother went to her parents' house in Cincinnati, which I thought was a terrible choice to go to a big city. Blaine and Sam also contacted the parents who were at their respective homes, apparently everything was still fine with all these people. My girlfriend's parents said they would be safe in Lima and told her to go home. She said no, and Britt cried hard.
Brittany walked hugging me, with her arm on my shoulder, Aisha walked beside me and sometimes wiped away the tears. Mike walked hand in hand with Tina, right behind me, and the rest of the staff followed in silence. Obviously, my uncle's house had to be at the innermost point of the lake just so we would have to walk further.
"My parents are in Germany." Mike said. "They are at the airport trying to find a way back."
"You should warn them not to try to come back." Aisha said seriously.
"Don't need it." Mike showed his cell phone. "Don't you follow the international news? BBC at least?" All he got were looks. Obviously not. People barely followed news from their own country, let alone international news. "Most countries have closed entry to US citizens. European Union, China, India, Russia... You can still go to South America and Africa."
"Well, now it's the Americans who are going to cross the Rio Grande." Quinn said with some sarcasm.
"There's a contaminated one in Canada... in Toronto." Mike continued accessing the news on his cell phone. "It seems that they tried to carry out such an attack in Paris, but it's not certain whether it was with the same biological agents."
When we arrived at the address, I was relieved to see my mother's car parked in front of a two-story house that was pretty cute by the aesthetic standards of that place. My uncle had a truck, but he went to work by boat, which made perfect sense, since there was literally a dock in his backyard, and he owns a marine supply store on the another set of islands. I didn't even have to press the bell, and a tall man, that looks like my father, answered us. It was definitely uncle Carlos.
"Santana." He said seriously and looked behind me where my friends were. "Your mother didn't tell me you would bring your school with you."
"Sorry… they didn't want to stay in Lima and they had nowhere else to go." It was my turn to look back and see my mother, Abuela and my cousin Lara, who was eight years old. They looked apprehensively at us and uncle Carlos.
"Okay, you can come in for a minute." He said.
My uncle's house was also very well decorated inside, and something told me that was the responsibility of Amber, his wife. Speaking of who, Amber appeared in the room, and I can tell she was also surprised by the amount of people. I hugged my mother, tight, and when I turned to do the same to Abuela, she flinched. Ever since I told her I was a lesbian, abuela wouldn't even look directly at my face. It broke my heart, but as my mother said, it was better to give her time. Abuela was very Catholic, an immigrant, from another era.
"Well..." Amber smiled awkwardly. "We have a good crowd here. Santana, you have grown into a beautiful woman! Last time I saw you, you were Lara's age, right?"
"I think so. I was a little older, maybe, since Lara herself was a baby."
"Darling..." Amber smiled without taking her eyes off of us. "We are in low season and there are vacant apartments in our hotel." Amber wasn't asking: she was telling my uncle what should be done. "The kids must be hungry, so let's eat sandwiches and then I'll take you to our hotel, which is literally 200 meters from here."
"But no pool and no room service for them!" Uncle Carlos emphasized and earned a frown from Amber.
"Don't worry. I have my stash of food in the car. I'll give it to the kids. Tomorrow I'm going out to buy some clean clothes at Walmart." My mother assured and pointed at us that we didn't smell very good. "I can pay you later for the accommodation, Carlos."
"Just stop right there, Maribel. Santana and the kids can stay as long as it takes."
Amber was very pragmatic. She placed two bags of bread on the dining table, cheese, ham and peanut butter. Two liters of coke and that's it, just help yourself. That's what we did. The day was so tense that I hadn't even noticed how hungry I was. My cousin, Lara, would hover around the table, curious not only about her older cousin, who she barely knew, but also because there were a bunch of starving teenagers who had appeared practically out of nowhere.
My mom picked up her cell phone and frowned. I knew her too well to know that she was trying to control her emotions.
"Message from Juan". My mother said in a choked voice. "He said he thinks contamination is through contact with fluids contaminated, like rabies disease. Because doctors and nurses got sick after being bitten. He said that sick patients get very violent after a day... as if they were in a continuous psychotic break..."
"Wasn't it just one guy?" Uncle Carlos asked.
"Patient zero contaminated a security guard, the two paramedics who took the subject to the hospital, two nurses and the doctor who received him. Juan thinks it was because of the bites because the other people who were in the same environment have no signs of infection, including him. He thinks it's not airborne. It's by fluid contact."
"Not so bad, I guess." Amber sighed. "That makes it easier to control, right?"
"Juan said that the sick people are tied up in an isolated ward, but that they struggle a lot." My mom explained.
I looked at Aisha and she was thoughtful with the information. My dad wasn't answering me anymore, but I was grateful that he still texted my mom.
"Aisha... your mother..." I said softly to my colleague.
"She is still texting." She said with relief.
After the meal, Amber drove us towards the hotel.
"Carlos likes to hang out with locals in that shop of his." Amber explained as we walked. "He loves talking about boats. I don't know anyone who understands more about boats than he does. I run the hotel that is also a boatel. Behind every apartment we rent there is a pier for people to park their boats. But we also have some regular bedrooms. At the moment we only have three apartments occupied, with Jerry living here for almost six months, always in the off season. In high season, we even make a waiting list, but now nobody wants to freeze their ass by the lake."
We walked through reception and Amber explained to the clerk on duty who we were. She then took two keys and led us to a service space.
"Here is our laundry room. We usually use the machines in the afternoon and guests are free to use them during the mornings... for two dollars. But it's free for you, guys." She didn't say anything about the kitchen which could be a message that meals were not included. She opened the door to one of the apartments, which was literally on the edge of the lake. "This is one of the apartments that we rent to families or large groups. You have a nice living room here with a sofa, TV and dining table, a small but functional kitchen, that glass door literally faces the pier and..." She asked us to go up the stairs. "We have a room with a queen size bed, the other room has two bunk beds. The bathroom is right there. As we didn't expect you, the beds are without sheets and the bathrooms without towels, but I'll arrange that right away. Any question?"
"No ma'am." I said in the name of my friends. "Thank you very much for accommodate us."
"I will also give you one of our bedrooms. That way you don't have to huddle in the beds."
The division of the rooms was simple. As my family welcomed us, the room with queen size bed was left for me and Brittany. Quinn, Tina, Aisha and Mike had the bunk room, and Sam, Blaine and Joe had one of the bedrooms with two single beds that were in the administration building. I grabbed my bag of supplies. We didn't need flashlights or batteries that night since the power was still on, but we drank from the water I bought. We watch the news on regular TV and on our cell phones. The reporters were in Lima, the hospital was isolated, as was its perimeter. The mayor decreed the suspension of classes and asked the population to stay at home. Things in the country were no better with borders and airspace still closed. There were reports of outbreaks of contamination in other cities, generally neighboring the affected cities. Like I said, the apocalypse doesn't happen everywhere at once. It spreads like a cancer.
…
My mother knocked on our apartment door very early at seven in the morning. I was still sleepy, but uncle Carlos was in the truck. The plan was to buy supplies wherever they were. Mike, Sam and I volunteered to go with them, and twenty minutes later, we began a pilgrimage from market to market across the lake to nearby Mansfield, stopping in particular at farmers' markets, which are less targeted by the population than big corporations like Wallmart. My uncle bought large bags of wheat, sugar, salt, beans, corn, vinegar, oil, cloves, pepper, lots of over-the-counter medicines, cleaning products, especially bar soap and, not so much to my surprise, a good supply of ammunition. I took advantage and bought my own supplies, especially instant noodles, chocolate, salt, canned goods, soap and a few bottles of shampoo. I also bought clothes for my friends and I: basic cotton T-shirts, a coat and sweatpants each, and packs of underpants, panties, and socks. Inspired by Rachel, I also bought boxes of tampons.
More than being able to fill the truck bed, we could observe the widespread madness that became Ohio. There wasn't a large market in Mansfiled that didn't have a queue to enter and plenty of security guards keeping an eye on the situation. We finished our pilgrimage it was already late in the day. My uncle stopped by his store and took everything he considered useful to stock at home, especially knives, backpacks, nautical ropes, sleeping bags, fishing kits. Uncle Carlos even let Mike, Sam and I choose whatever material we wanted.
"I know how these things are." He explained to me and the boys. "When it gets worse, people will stop buying and start looting the stores. They'll take what they can. That's why we have to get our stuff first. What my brother reports to Maribel is bound to make anyone paranoid. Normally I would ignore it and be optimistic, but it's pretty obvious that the government is going to lose control because people are going to continue to be stupid. I will close my shop tomorrow. I'll take what's mine and take it home. I will allow my employees to take some things as well. Then it will be as God wants."
When we returned to the hotel it was early evening. Sam and Mike unloaded what was supposed to be in the apartment we were occupying. There would be an assembly at the town hall with the residents. The mayor would announce some safety actions and put others on the agenda for the locals to vote on: something typical of small towns. That didn't interest me, but Amber attended the meeting. I was sure she would tell us later what had been decided.
"It's a nice way to refresh my wardrobe." Quinn said wryly as she saw the basic cotton t-shirts.
"You can loot a mall when the apocalypse rages to keep your fashion sense intact." I replied and Aisha looked impressed. She was a regular cheerio, and she had never seen me respond to Quinn that way. She didn't know that in glee club I used to offend Quinn all the time. Sometimes it was funny that, even as the deranged freak at school, Quinn had the power to maintain that queen bee aura.
"What are these backpacks for?" Tina asked as she saw the camping gear.
"It's to be prepared." Mike explained, in what would be his first act as leader of the group. "We talked a lot with Carlos and that made me think about one thing: we left Lima unprepared. In a moment of impulse. I'm not saying we made a mistake, but we could have done better. Here's a backpack for each. We should keep them already prepared with a knife, a sleeping bag, a change of clothes, some canned food, a flashlight... well, I'll do more research on the most appropriate combination."
"This island seems to be a safe place." Blaine said.
"I think so too, but what if we have to run away because some of those… reapers invade our perimeter?"
"Reapers?" I asked.
"You know… those things. They bite, eat people alive… they are reapers."
I wasn't thinking of leaving that island anytime soon, but Mike had a point.
Brittany, Quinn and I were organizing our food supply with my mother's help. My mother was too quiet. She just said what was conventional: Don't waste the meat, consider save cleaning products, but don't necessarily be a pig. She didn't want to say it out loud, but she was experiencing a kind of grief. My father wasn't dead, but he would be if he got infected. It was awful, but I was already taking comfort in the idea.
It was close to ten at night when a car caught our attention. I noticed that Blaine was the first to run out of the apartment and into the parking lot. Brittany, Quinn, my mom, Mike, Tina and I followed him. We found none other than Burt, Kurt and Carole Hummel, Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry. They were serious, with worried expressions. The car was big and we could see that it was crammed with things, as if they had thrown the house's pantry in there and run from hell.
"Kurt asked for my location." Blaine stared at us awkwardly before running over to hug and kiss his boyfriend.
"What?" I was confused.
"They needed a safe place, and this is a safe place." Blaine explained.
"Carole?" My mother knew and was friendly with Finn's mother, whom she knew from McKinley High's parent meetings, and by all accounts, they got along well even though Finn and I aren't friends at all. "What happened for you to show up like that?"
"Lima will be completely surrounded in the next few hours." Burt explained. "As soon as the governor ordered it and our mayor accepted the decision, I stopped thinking about politics and ran home to get my things, my family, and we get out of there before Lima was placed as a quarantined city.
"How did we not hear this on the radio news?" My mother questioned.
"Because this will only be announced when it is too late. The army will surround the entire perimeter of Lima in the next few hours and quarantine the entire city. They will block all exits. Nobody enters and nobody leaves. We only managed to leave the city because they hadn't organized yet to close all the exit lanes."
"We escaped through the country club lane and we had to go through Wapakoneta." Carole completed.
"They will fence off the entire area around the hospital with barbed wire and the army is allowed to shoot anyone who tries to leave. They are going to do this in all the cities that have registered contagion. They are said to be bombing entire areas of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Houston and Denver." Burt explained us. "If they are going to bomb everything, it's because they have lost control."
"My God!" My mother was horrified. "It's like a concentration camp."
"Not far from that, Maribel." Carole was clearly scared. "What about Juan. Is he here with you?"
"He is inside the hospital." My mother said tearfully.
"I'm very sorry." They hugged each other, and I saw in that gesture that Carole was offering condolences to my mother.
I felt like screaming at that woman that my father was still alive. But deep down, I knew that it would be very difficult for my father to leave that hospital alive. Even if they controlled things inside, the fear of the others would speak louder.
...
My mother was the person with the most reliable news about what was going on inside the hospital in Lima. Until the beginning of that night, until before the Hummels and Rachel Berry arrived, my father was still sending messages and saying that the situation was tense, that barricades had to be set up in the isolation wards after the infected people broke free of the restraints and not only attacked, but also ate a nurse and a doctor alive. Two hospital workers tried to leave, and were machine-gunned by soldiers outside. Nobody else was interested in treating the sick. My father's last message was at 7 pm. He said that the army would go in and exterminate the infected. He wrote:
"I love you, querida. I love you both."
But my mom didn't show it to me until the next day.
The next day, local news reported that the army decided to "eliminate the problem" before it got out of hand. Nobody in the press said exactly how, and only speculated that the infected would be disposed of and the bodies cremated. My father never got back in touch, despite my mother's insistent messages. Nobody ever officially let us know what happened to him. We learned that the army even published a list of doctors, nurses, others patients and staff "infected" and eliminated in Lima. We have never seen this list. No one we knew who was still in town was so kind to took a pic and sent it to us. It was rational to assume that my father died during the army's invasion into the hospital, just as it was rational to assume that the force that was supposed to protect us murdered him.