The Plague

 

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Chapter 1

The playground was silent. No squirrel scolded, no bird sang. The swings did not move in the still spring air. Nothing stirred, not even a silent cat hunting a bold mouse. There were no children on the slide or on the small jungle gym.

The children were inside the small brick building nearby. Each sat with their spines straight and their eyes focused on the paper before them. No one squirmed. No one giggled or passed notes. No one played with their hair, or tore small pieces of paper to roll into spit wads. They all sat, drawing.

The teacher, a light aluminum structure, stood at the head of the class and droned about recent history. “In the wake of the supervirus, birds and mammals were the first to die out. The predators, finding easy meals, were then exposed to the contagion. Larger animals also contracted the disease. Fatality rates rose to seventy-five percent.”

The children continued to draw, ignoring the robot.

Unconcerned, the robot continued. “Humans are susceptible to the virus, and once contracted, the fatality rates reached eighty percent. One pharmaceutical lab began trials on a cure.”

“There are no cures, only solutions.” The children, fifteen in all, said as one. None looked up from their drawing. The robot’s camera could detect the pattern. They all drew the same thing, a picture of a shooting star.

“That’s right, class. The medicine treated the symptoms of the virus. The medicine was not a cure. Those who took it lost some brain function. Creativity and self-identity were curtailed.”

The children continued their art.

“Johnny, could you please read from the text? Page seventy two.” The teacher called on a small child in the back of the room.

He set his pencil down and flipped his book open with stubby fingers. His eyes were drawn to his drawing. He was the youngest in the class at five years old. “The medicine saved the world, but not before billions of people died. Great efforts were made to safely depose…”

“Dispose.” The teacher corrected.

“Dispose of the bodies.” The child finished the paragraph and looked at the picture. He picked up his pencil and pushed the book away.

“Thanks to Alexion, we are alive today.” The teacher said.

“Thanks to Alexion.” The children repeated back.

“History is over. You have ten minutes. Why don’t you go outside and play?” The teacher suggested.

As one, the children flipped over their paper, revealing a clean sheet of paper. As one, they began to draw. The children neither looked left nor right, not looking to their other peers at all. They picked up their books to read, instead.

In the control room, Ray looked away from the video of the drawing children. “They’re all like this?”

“All of them.” His partner confirmed. “Reports are coming in. Everyone under the age of twelve.”

Ray sighed and rubbed his temples. “So, all we have to do is figure out what causes this. The virus or the vaccine.”

 

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