Epidemic

Prologue

-Click-

I have to make this quick. My parents are fighting again. They’ve been ill for a while. I believe they’re reverting to a more primitive state.

-Crash-

He—

-Bzzzzzzzt-

When the disease spread through San Francisco, it spread quickly. But, that’s getting ahead of myself.

The date is August 5th, 2112. Five years ago, a strain of an unknown virus was introduced to San Francisco. The virus was resistant to all drugs, though seemed peculiarly selective. It only killed people older than sixteen and younger than five. Within ten weeks, most of San Francisco had been wiped out.

In an attempt to keep the virus isolated in only San Francisco, a great chain link fence was put up. While they were putting it up, anyone who tried to stop them would be shot. The same would happen to those trying to escape. After two weeks, we were completely fenced in. We were told to fend for ourselves and build ourselves up. We are not allowed to leave because the virus could be carried by our clothes. However, I know the truth.

We are one large experiment. The government wants to see how long young kids can survive without any supervision. The only intervention is when they give us gasoline, water, and canned food on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth of every month.

My name is Marie Ashter and I am a member of the northwest wing gang. I am their mathematician and representative. The leader is a close friend of mine, Marc Sade.

The other gangs are the southwest wing, the northeast wing, and the southeast wing, respectively. The southwest gang is an ally of ours; the northwest is questionable, though has posed no problems; the southeast is a problem. They own the most area and have the most people. To obtain water and gasoline, the other gangs have to send guarded representatives in their territory.

The southwest gang is led by Michelle Hinnatome. Don’t let the name fool you. The northwest is currently in a….civil war, for lack of a better term. They have no leader as of yet. The southeast wing is led by Theo Coor, who had been released from juvenile hall five weeks before we had been fenced in. He had barely made it under the disease.

We settle problems between ourselves peacefully.

…Okay, I lied. We generally settle problems by pitting the people fighting against each and have them fight. Whoever is still conscious is the winner. I’ve been in two of these. I only won the second; the first gave me a fractured wrist and a chipped molar. The second I had bruising along my chest, stomach, and back, but my opponent had a fractured shoulder, broken nose, and a black eye.

Despite how primitive the relations between gangs seem we do have some rules. If you’re carrying a black flag (or something that half-resembles a black flag), you can pass through the eastern areas. The black flag represents the dead that need to be carried to San Francisco Bay to be thrown into the water or cremated on the sands. Anything that resembles a white flag signifies talking to the leader of the gang or passing through for some other reason. A blue signifies retrieving water and gasoline from the gates. A red symbolizes the need for supplies and trade.

The government took it upon themselves to release wild deer into San Francisco. That is where most of our meat, and sometimes clothing, comes from.

San Francisco is our city.

And this, this is our story.