THE CURE
BY JEREMY P. HORGAN
This is work of fiction. Names, characters, places and
incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination
or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 Jeremy P. Horgan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced or used in any manner without written
permission of the copyright owner except for the use of
quotations in a book review.
cover Art by The Funky Books Co.
Dedicated to The Survivors, The Warriors and The Angels
Chapter One
‘I can remember my father telling me bedtime stories when I was a young girl. Stories about a time where people lived their lives carefree and happy. Life wasn't perfect, but people made the best of it. He would tell me of times when he and my mother would meet friends for social events, lavish dinners and cocktail parties. Then times he would tell me of when he and my mother would take long walks on the beach, stopping for ice-cream, just sitting peacefully and taking in the atmosphere. Not talking, but just feeling the rays of sunshine on their faces. The life he spoke of sounded blissful. Watching movies at the cinema with popcorn or meeting his colleagues for a drink, which turned into four or five. Sometimes simply just walking down the road and acknowledging people he passed. Then one day, everything changed.
They called it The Cure, but truthfully no-one knew what is was or why it happened. We embraced it and claimed it as a gift from God. How wrong we were. How vain of us to believe we had earned the right to treat the world as we had and be rewarded in His name. It didn't take us long to realize our mistake, but it took long enough for the damage to have already been done.
On the eve of 2021 life changed as we knew it. People who were ill or suffering from disease simply got better, from everything. Cancer, heart disease, kidney failure, even the common cold. It all just disappeared in an instance. The leading medical geniuses in the world were baffled. It was a miracle. No doubt about it.
The first few months people were skeptical and continued to worry that the disease and illness would return. But when it didn’t, they rejoiced. Everyone who had been ill was cured and anyone who may have gotten ill in the future didn’t.
After those few months people returned to their lives with their loved ones unaware of the consequences of The Cure. There is a Spanish phrase which was about to be more relevant than we knew, ‘quitar con una mano lo que se da con la otra’, which means to give with one hand and take with the other.
We were so caught up with the gift that we were blind to what was going on in the rest of the world and the effect The Cure was having on them. Other countries were going through the same situation, praying to their different deities and thanking them for the gift that had been bestowed upon them. But unlike us they were already feeling the consequence of what was happening.
Third world countries were most affected. Imagine a world of no HIV or Malaria. Imagine five million people a year in Africa dying of hunger, not actually dying. An already huge continent of over a billion people without food, increasing in population every day, but still without food. But we still didn’t see it coming.
Starvation is a deficiency in calorie intake below the level needed to maintain life. It is a form of malnutrition and in humans prolonged starvation can cause organ damage and eventually death. But in a world where organ damage is no longer an issue starvation turns human beings into something altogether different. Food is Life.
Two years after The Cure our natural resources became depleted and the army was deployed to enforce martial law to eradicate increasing crime. People stockpiled but it was too late. The increase in population and the fact people had become greedy due to no longer worrying about health risks had wiped out food sources across the whole of the United States. Shops were looted, farms destroyed, and animals hunted and killed. After five years even cannibalism became a whisper on the street, but the government were powerless by this stage and refused to acknowledge it. As money became obsolete and as food became more valuable than gold, the soldiers the existing government had deployed to the cities either left their posts and returned to their families or had banded together for their own survival. Life in the cities became survival of the strongest.
People were still dying, but not to the same extent as natural death attrition. The damage had already been done. Murder was prevalent and people disappeared never to be heard of again. We were wiping out the population through crime but with no energy source to replenish it.
Almost everyone had left their jobs and shops and stores were abandoned. Hospitals no longer existed. The Cure had put most doctors out of work, not to mention thousands of other medical support staff. A few stayed open to cater for accidents, but in time they closed too. Simply put, lives became cheap and the more people that died the better it became for everyone else. The apocalypse was coming.
Those left alive in the suburbs stayed inside other than to loot neighboring houses for food supplies. There was still a running water supply and electricity manned by technology put in place as a precaution for a major event. But when you yourself are considered food putting on a TV or lights was a sure-fire way to draw attention.
In the cities people still stayed in groups living off rodents, birds or whatever they could lay their hands on. The cockroaches always find a way to survive and so they did. People would do whatever it took to stay alive, whether it meant giving up their bodies, becoming slaves or even selling their friends and families for a can of beans, just to take away the pain.... and there was pain.
Once the mental effects of what was happening faded and the loss of loved ones had been replaced by the physical pain of not eating for weeks, or even months, these shells of former human beings became something else, something rabid. The mind still partially coherent but with only the purpose of self-survival they became feral. Their bodies looked collapsed and exhausted. They moved around the streets scavenging in packs, occasionally turning on each other. Hunting anything that moved. The physical pain of not eating made them into the worst possible monsters.
Of course, there were the few who had always harbored conspiracy theories of this very scenario and had always feared what others laughed off. They had built bunkers and began stock piling for this very moment for years. Forgiving of those who thought they were mad until the time came that they weren’t. And then, and only then, locked away safely in their homes they lived hidden from the crowds living life day by day with no knowledge of what the future would bring.
Many of the rich and famous had evaded the same fate too, managing to buy their way to a haven. But for how long nobody knew. Stockpiling would have a shelf life too and eventually even those with foresight would be in the same boat, wasting away until they too would consider the unfathomable.
Then there was us, the ‘lucky ones. I was the daughter of a government scientist, tasked with finding an answer to what was happening across the country. Starting as a medical researcher my father had stumbled across a potential cure to several cancers, which could have saved thousands of lives. He was brought into The White House as a consultant, but before funding had even been approved The Cure had completed his work for him. Mercifully, as a result of this we were saved the horrors of what the rest of the population were now having to endure.
The President, his confidants and many of his workforce, along with some of the world’s most renown scientists, ecologists and out and out geniuses and their families had been moved to a secure location when the consequences of The Cure were known. The President remained in control of the country as m
uch as was possible and continued to remain in contact with the outside world through televised communications. They continued to work on different ideas as to what had caused The Cure, but more importantly how we could mass produce an alternative method of food. We were losing that war too.
In 1961 the US Government had built a town on the outskirts of Big Bend National Park, Texas, far away from the next closest town or any through roads. To any passers-by it was simply a ghost town that had long been empty with nothing left behind. With no shops, no water and no people it made a good sleeping place for the night but next day any drifters had no choice but to move on. Unknown to anyone who would pass through that town, fifty feet below them was a government base, built as a disaster recovery site in case alien intelligence existed.
Twenty-four acres of bomb proof secure steel was where we lived. 2,865 of us to be exact. We were a community that had been living under the ground for over ten years. Food was rationed but we lived a healthy life with no fear of what was going on above us. We had enough food and the ability to produce more to live down here indefinitely. We had built homes, relationships and friendships, but we hadn’t seen the sky in years. It was only us down here simply because our parents had been tasked with saving the world. But even the most creative minds in the world were failing to come up with a way to reverse what was happening.
Out of those 2,865 a very small proportion were children. I was 18 years old and one of the eldest of around seventy other kids on the base. My father, Ethan ‘Wanikiy’ was Sioux Native American but left his tribe to follow his calling as a man of medicine and had become a key scientist in the project to help the President wage war against The Cure. My mother had been a nurse and met my father through work. She had devoted her life to helping others but passed away when I was still young from a brain tumor. After that my father became obsessed, working all the hours of the day to find out if he could have prevented it. Our relationship was strained, and I rarely saw him as he was locked away in his laboratory. I knew he loved me, but part of him had disappeared after my mother died, never to return.
The kids on the base had little input or role in the prevention of the world imploding, and we took each day as it came, unaware of the reality of what was happening to people across the states and unaware of what they were becoming. Instead we lived life like nothing was unusual. Like the world wasn’t imploding around us. We didn’t know we had a part to play in this war and carried on life as normal. Love, laughter and happiness were possible in a successful community, because we were unaware of the seriousness of the atrocities happening in the world above us. We continued our lives as best we could, not knowing just how bad things were or choosing not to believe they could be so bad. Our parents hid the truth from us for years, but as we started to become young adults eventually we started to ask questions.
I had grown up from a very young age with all the other children on the military base and we had an extremely close connection. The president’s sons, Logan and Daniel, had been my friends since the start and we became inseparable, often compared to the three musketeers but more often the three stooges. They were there for me and helped support me in any way they could. Logan was strong, physically and mentally, and as soon as he was old enough he asked his father to join the army on the base as his security detail. Daniel however was a dreamer. Daniel was three years younger than Logan and the same age as me. He was my closest friend and we would stay awake at night talking about what might have been if The Cure hadn’t brought us to this place. He was physically his brothers equal, but emotionally he couldn’t process the fact that he knew people were suffering when we were not.
Logan would gather the kids old enough to understand what was happening on a daily basis. He would give them information as to what was happening on the outside of the base, and how the ‘people in charge’ were looking to make everything right again, so America could rise like a Phoenix from the ashes. Logan was clever in that he only ever told them enough to stay positive and continue living the way we were, without worry or stress. But Daniel knew his brother and he knew he was holding back. Things were a lot worse than we could even imagine.
The brothers loved each other but as time went on Daniel distanced himself from both Logan and me and Logan saw this as his opportunity to tell me how he really felt about me. So began a love story in the worst of circumstances. Little did we know that everything was about to change again, as The President was about to make a decision which would affect the whole of the country.
And as for me, well, my name is Tallulah Wanikiy.’
Chapter Two
‘Tals. You coming over tonight?’ a girl shouted across the canteen to Tallulah.
‘I’ll see what I can do Faye. Dad will no doubt be working late. I’m normally asleep by the time he gets back home, and he’s gone when I wake up,’ she replied.
The girl approached Tallulah ‘Tell him Tals. He needs to be there for you too. He’s your father and he has a responsibility to you as well as the people on this base. You’re his daughter.’
‘Yeah, but it’s tough when he’s the one trying to save the world. I get it. It’s fine,’ said Tallulah.
‘Mm, well I’m trying to save the world, one boy at a time,’ she grinned ‘and talking of boys,’ she raised her eyebrows as a young soldier threw his arm over Tallulah’s soldier.
‘Logan,’ Faye said. ‘Can I steal her tonight, or you got plans to wine and dine her?’
‘All yours tonight I’m afraid. Big meeting this afternoon. Not sure what it’s about but it sounds serious. All the top guns are going to be there,’ said Logan.
‘Your loss is my gain. Hey, where’s that brother of yours. Tell him I was looking for him,’ she winked at Logan ‘See you at eighteen hundred hours Tals,’ she saluted, mocking Logan, and walked away smiling.
‘Sir yes Sir,’ she replied.
‘Very funny. You eaten lunch yet? I’ve got a surprise for you,’ he said.
‘Oooh, sounds exciting. Come on then soldier, where are we going?’
Logan took her hand and they walked down busy corridors, greeting people on the way. ‘Not much further,’ he said to her. They reached a storeroom which had a sign on it. Cleaning Supplies. Logan bowed and held his hand out beckoning her to walk through the door.
‘How romantic Logan. You’ve taken me to a cleaning supply storeroom. Are we going to go crazy and sweep out the mess hall? Or maybe even the latrines,’ she laughed.
‘Just look, would you?’ he said.
Tallulah opened the door and covered her mouth to stifle a gasp.
The room was completely covered in fairy lights and in the middle of the room was a table covered in a red tablecloth set out with plates, cutlery, and two glasses.
Tallulah touched a plate ‘China?’ she asked.
‘Only the best,’ he replied.
Tallulah hadn’t noticed a boy stood by the door as she came in and jumped as he stepped forward, arm out with a cloth over it and pulled out a seat for her.
‘Chuck,’ she giggled ‘He put you up to this?’ she smiled.
‘Madame,’ the boy said, pushing the chair in behind her.
‘This is amazing,’ she said. ‘You did all this for me?’
‘Of course, who else?’ Logan sat down and took one of her hands in his.
Chuck stepped away and removed a bowl from one of the shelves in the room and placed it in the middle of the table. Then took a small jug and placed it down beside the bowl.
‘Thanks Chuck,’ said Logan ‘I think we’re good.’ He shook Chuck’s hand and Chuck left the room grinning from ear to ear.
‘Oh, My Goodness. Is that what I think it is? Strawberries! Where did you get strawberries? I haven’t seen a strawberry in forever. Perhaps when I was three. What? Where?’ she stammered.
‘Let’s just say I called in a favor, or five,’ said Logan, taking a strawberry from the bowl and holding it up to her lips. ‘Got cream too if you want it.’
‘Logan Mathers you have outdone yourself,’ she said standing up and walking round to sit on his lap. She bit into the strawberry and closed her eyes. At that moment she was no longer in a storeroom but in a field, sat on a blanket, the sun beating down on her face. The green of the grass reflected the sun and the flowers around them danced in the breeze. The hum of wildlife around them as she gazed into Logan’s eyes and kissed him, the taste of strawberry still on her lips.
‘I love you Tallulah,’ Logan said to her holding her gaze.
‘I love you too,’ she replied.
As they were enjoying the moment, they heard shouting from outside the room and some commotion from down the corridor. ‘Hold that thought,’ Logan said, standing up and peering around the corner. He shook his head, turned to Tallulah and put his finger and thumb to his head. ‘Here we go,’ he said out loud to himself.
A boy stumbled into the room, knocking over a mop on his way in and slamming the door back against the wall. He was clearly drunk and had two soldiers behind him. ‘I’m coming I’m coming,’ he waved them away.
One of the soldiers looked at Logan pleadingly.
‘It’s fine. I’ve got it,’ he said to the soldier and they both walked off.
‘Ah, so this is nice,’ said the boy holding up the fairy lights and throwing a strawberry into his mouth. ‘So, this is what you get up to when you’re not sucking up to the President.’
‘Danny,’ said Logan. ’To what do we owe this pleasure? I thought you were avoiding me at all costs. It’s not liked the base isn’t big enough.’
He walked around Logan, ignoring the fact Tallulah was even in the room. ‘A picnic?’ he smiled. ‘I dread to think what you had to do to Brad Senior to get those strawberries.’
‘Probably nothing more than you did to get your hands on that alcohol,’ he sniffed the air. ‘Look, do you want something or are you just here to ruin my lunch.’
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