Sealed In

by Druga, Jacqueline

  Time Stamp – 1

  Andy’s Journal

  January 2nd

  Despite the fact that I have been down here, New Years wasn’t much different for me. Except I think I drank a little more. These entries will go into my next book; I’m being optimistic about a world left above to read a book. Of course, no one really read my books when there wasn’t an epidemic.

  For us down here, it was calm. There are only about 25 of us. I believe this facility was built for fifty or more. The recreation room is nice, but I keep mainly to myself. I make it a point to say hello to Del. I’m trying. We have a long time down here ahead of us. He doesn’t speak much to anyone either, but that isn’t a social thing, it’s more of him watching the news constantly. It’s always on in his room, plus he is constantly on the ’net connecting, warning, getting the truth out.

  It’s started. Some people right now are paying attention. New Year’s Day started off with a bang, literally. Half the world condemned our President for using a nuclear weapon on our own soil; the others more than just condemned, they threatened. He did what he had to do, and I felt bad watching him defend his actions.

  People insist that Lincoln, Hartworth, and Mead weren’t really wiped out by a virus, but rather there was an attack or the US was weapons testing. Conspiracy theories gone mad. Weren’t they paying attention to what was happening in Los Angeles or Seattle, the scores of people not only getting sick, but also dying?

  As of today, air travel has not been suspended. They use these heat scanners, because fever is a big first symptom. People with any cold symptoms are not permitted to board. Nevertheless, this is all going to contribute to an outbreak that will be far from controlled in a month’s time. I can’t see how it won’t. The symptoms hit you in the snap of the fingers. On just one flight from LA to New York, a person can develop symptoms. It’s happened. They already quarantined a plane in Cleveland.

  Dr. Walker told me the CDC estimates that only 8% of the population is getting the virus. Day eighteen of the virus since release in Hartworth and 8%. No one is worried about 8%; they should be. Eight percent of the United States’ population is thirty million people. It has a kill rate of nearly 100%.

  That means thirty million people don’t go to work or to school. Who is doing their jobs?

  Last week it was less than 1% with the virus, this week 8%. Next week? Who knows?

  When will people stop being dumb? When will they suspend air travel and do everything possible to stop this thing from spreading? Shut down schools, initiate a ‘necessary jobs only’ rule. Keep people in their homes and allow this thing to burn out and infect as few as possible.

  I’m afraid by the time these steps are taken, it will be too late.

  However, I am not an expert.

  Right now, like Del, I am just an observer.

  He observes the television and I watch the countdown timer above the facility door.

  I have 153 days remaining. I feel I’ll be here that entire time.

  Time Stamp – 2

  Andy’s Journal

  January 22nd

  Ed is working extremely hard on the virus. He was discouraged again by no news from the former Soviet Union regarding the vaccine. They publically insisted the other day that Ebolapox was an invention of the United States, and they refuse to take credit for such a horrendously inhumane virus.

  Well, someone created it, and someone has the vaccine.

  I think Ed is working hard for his family. He called them frantically today because the workers that went to Hartworth with him are now sick. Those people worked with him daily. His family is fine; he wants to keep them that way. His goal is to bring them a vaccine when the seal opens up. I understand that.

  A woman named Martha has vowed to document her illness every single hour and work until she cannot work anymore. She won’t work for long.

  Del said the virus is still not always headline news, and other things take precedence. How ridiculous. North Korea, South Korea, who cares. It will be moot if this virus takes hold.

  Dr. Walker, or Chad, seems optimistic. He says it is nearing being contained despite air travel continuing.

  Day 38 of the virus – 16% of population infected. No Cure. Kill rate 99.9%

  133 days remain inside the facility.

  Time Stamp – 3

  Andy’s Journal

  January 27th

  I do and I don’t understand humanity. On one hand, I get why people fight for survival; on the other, I don’t get why they don’t fight, instead, to stay alive as a whole. Who wants to destroy someone over a gallon of water, when you can easily save both of you by sharing?

  Del was upset when a huge riot broke out in Los Angeles. He heard about it first from his publicist who hadn’t left his house in days. He had stocked up and planned to wait it out.

  With typical Del neuroticism and obsession, he put on the news, but nothing was there for at least an hour after Del received the phone call. His publicist, Max, told Del that the southern part of the city was in flames. Martial law was instituted, and no one was to go out.

  Yet on the news, they seemed to focus on that one area. Looting, fighting. I swore I saw the same footage years ago. I swore it, but who knows.

  Who in the heck fights over televisions? Why are they out fighting over technology? What do rioting and looting prove? Why turn over police cars and attack people?

  The enemy is a virus, not each other.

  The incident in Los Angeles prompted the President to take action.

  By midnight, the entire continental United States will be under martial law.

  Thank God. Maybe with control of people will come control of the virus.

  Day 43 of the virus – 19% of the population infected.

  128 days to go.

  Time Stamp – 4

  Andy’s Journal

  January 29th

  This was an insane day, and probably the most I ever watched the news as much as Del. Because I spend so much time with Del, I understand why he lost so much weight. He wasn’t all that big to begin with, but he barely eats; when he’s not watching the television he’s on a conspiracy site.

  We’re talking more; today really brought that out.

  He actually came into my room and woke me. Scared the hell out of me. Told me I had to get up, that there was an emergency meeting of the UN counsel.

  The UN pulled all of its delegates out of the United States. Now, really, was that smart? Let’s take a bunch of people in the US, a place where every single state now has at least one case of the sickness, and let’s send these people back to their countries.

  The ever-threatening France, and I say that with sarcasm, gave a harsh warning, along with Russia, for the United States to control their outbreak or they will.

  What the heck is that supposed to mean? Really. If the information is correct, Dr. Paltrov came from Russia and so did the germ.

  Come on, people instead of fighting, cure this thing.

  Day 45 of the virus – hanging tight at 19% infected.

  126 days to go until freedom.

  Time Stamp – 5

  Andy’s Journal

  February 3rd

  Del passed out today. He was racing down the hall, no one really knows why, but he just dropped. His body just gave in, and his heart stopped from not eating or drinking enough. They were able to revive him. He’s under sedation while they pump him with stuff.

  What the heck was he trying to prove? Did he just want to die? I think so. That isn’t going to happen, not when I’m around. When he comes to, I am going to yell at him. He was lucky enough to beat the germ, lucky enough to be below while it rages above. After visiting him and waiting for him to wake up, which he didn’t, I went back to his room. Thought I’d post on his social media site about his condition.

  He was always on there updating; hopefully he left it logged in.

  When I got to his room, the television blared as usual, and I saw why he probably was runni
ng, trying to do those Del ‘updates’ when something urgent or new comes on.

  The germ broke barriers.

  First reported cases in the UK, Spain, and Germany. Guess no one will be telling us to secure our borders.

  The estimates went up on how many are ill. Hospitals are overflowing, and FEMA is setting up sick camps, opening up the gates of disaster camps across the nation. Pictures on the television showed people lining up and straggling to get in there.

  Didn’t they pay attention to the news, the health bulletins? There is no cure. The only thing they can give you is pain medication, and that isn’t a sure thing with the numbers stacking. Hell, if I were sick I’d be damned if I was gonna die in some FEMA camp.

  I pulled forth Del’s computer to update his site. I wanted to see where he left off; instead, I think I saw the scariest reality of this germ yet. The newsfeed came up. Now, I’m not a big social media guy, but even with my two hundred friends, that social media newsfeed was always updated with new posts.

  I thought it was an error so I refreshed. There were one or two new status updates in his news feed. The next newest was eight hours earlier.

  That wasn’t even as scary as the fact that every one of those status updates were about how sick the person was.

  Day 50 of the virus – 25% of the population infected.

  121 days until the door opens.

  Time Stamp – 6

  Andy’s Journal

  February 18th

  My conversation with Del could have gone worse. He admitted that he didn’t care if he lived or died, because he knew the world he was a part of was no longer going to be there. I told him I went to Hartworth once preparing to find his dead body; I refused to see him die now. He admitted his obsession with being on social media, watching daily as people posted that they were ill or a family was ill.

  He spent two weeks in that hospital bed. I told him he had to get strong, we’d run up and down the halls if we had to. Use the exercise equipment. I knew I was, because I didn’t know if I’d get a car, horse, or have to walk to Montana, but I was going back to Lincoln. I was snatched up from there like some undercover operation.

  I need to see, I need to say goodbye, and I need to get to that box that Emma made.

  It’s funny down here, and I rarely touch upon how life is. When the facility was first sealed, people were quiet, then as it seemed that the virus wasn’t taking hold, people were more upbeat.

  Now, no one talks. At all. Everyone is kind of down, talking to family members that weren’t making it. Most, though, were like myself and didn’t have family. I suppose that was why they volunteered.

  India believed that found a cure. They sent the so-called recipe our way three days ago, and one of the test subjects volunteered to be injected with the virus to test the cure.

  This was not why they were here. They were here to donate blood, tissue samples. Lung lining samples. Not be infected. But Chad saw promise as did India.

  They believed it worked only on those just exposed.

  The only thing that worked was the fact that the test subject skipped over the cold symptoms that first day, and on the second, he was black. We were all hopeful that he didn’t get sick. But then he did.

  He died the third day.

  He said before he died that he didn’t care.

  That seems to be the attitude around here lately. I hope the spirit of survival and hope cycles back around. If it doesn’t, then us being here is pointless.

  We all want it to get better. We all want to wake up and hear on the news that it’s over.

  However, we are all so close to the science of it that we know that’s not happening.

  I still pray.

  Day 65 of the virus – 28% infected.

  106 days remaining until we go above.

  Time Stamp – 7

  Andy’s Journal

  February 24th

  Thirty-three percent. Yesterday, it was determined that thirty-three percent of the world’s population was infected with the virus. It was the biggest jump in percentage we had seen in one week since the onset. Now, let me explain, that is not thirty-three percent of the remaining, that’s overall.

  The United States is well over forty percent. Already we had resolved ourselves to a much emptier world.

  Thirty-three percent. That is three billon people dead.

  That is not including those who have died from the elements. Starvation is rampant. There is a water crisis. I feel bad eating my M&Ms when children are starving and dying, when people are fighting for every bit of food there is.

  Things have finally changed above … according to the news. The news now only talks about the virus. Potential cures, treatments, violence.

  Only essential workers are to report to work, and air travel is limited to essential travel of diplomats and emergency healthcare workers.

  Doesn’t matter. No one flies anymore. No one travels. The positive thing is those who remain healthy are staying inside, not coming out. That’s a blessing.

  Del and I started jogging around the facility. We increase our laps by one each time the percentage goes up. He’s a bit healthier and gaining weight. He has a focus. He’s gonna come with me to Montana, and I told him I will not have a weaker party tag along.

  Chad says each day that goes by, even though more are infected, he himself is still working on a cure.

  What the hell happened with Russia? They’re infected, too. Did they lose that recipe or did it go by the wayside with the virus?

  Chad doesn’t talk about his wife. I asked. He said she was fine, and they had a contingency plan. Admittedly, I used to hate asking Ed about his family. Now, he gives me the update. I actually wait every day to hear him say they are doing well.

  The news is grim. Even Del stopped watching it as much. Today they showed Los Angeles Stadium. It was burning. But they showed aerial shots before they did. It was packed with people. Sick people. It was so reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.

  But they all died there and they burned the stadium.

  The newscasters look tired and beat. I wonder how much longer they’ll hold up.

  Day 71 of the virus – 33% infected.

  100 days left in this place.

  Time Stamp – 8

  Andy’s Journal

  March 10th

  ‘While we feel lost, there is still hope. Though we feel deflated, we have not been defeated. We are weary in battle that has beaten us, but we have not yet lost the war.’

  Even though I believe I’ll remember those words spoken by the President, I wrote them down. They were powerful and delivered in a message intended to implore us to keep fighting, but in my heart and mind, I saw it no less than a farewell to humanity.

  He announced that was staying above, that he wasn’t going into a safe location like other world leaders. It wasn’t fair that he should have that advantage when others did not.

  How bad was it up there? So much so that he saw no future need for his leadership? Sure, the Vice President went in his place. But still.

  It was sobering and real.

  I wished I hadn’t watch it. I’m really off today.

  This is the first time I truly felt the end was nigh.

  Perhaps it is.

  Day 85 of the virus – 48% infected.

  86 days remaining.

  Time Stamp – 9

  Andy’s Journal

  March 22nd

  The President came on the news; his wife and daughter passed away. He didn’t look good. Maybe he should have gone into a safe location.

  Rolling power outages due to lack of employees caused the news to be sporadic and only hourly until eleven p.m. I caught a segment on body disposal. The federal government was no longer responsible for bodies. There was very little news about other countries on the stations. I guess everyone worried about themselves.

  The newscaster spoke as handy dandy tips on what to do with decreased family members scrolled the screen as if
directions for baking a cake.

  Each community was responsible for their own body landfill.

  Each family was responsible for their own deceased. They had to prep the body, wrap it, and bring it to the landfill.

  It was odd because I saw a similar scene in a Vincent Price movie, an old black and white movie that was later redone with Charlton Heston. I remember Vincent Price’s character carrying his wife or daughter to the landfill and rolling her over the hill where a perpetual fire burned. Workers kept the flames going as if it were some steel mill.

  From the station wagon to the pit. His heart broke. He wanted to roll down that hill and join her. The world was void of caring people. No one really cared when the world around them died.

  I suppose that was happening now.

  I remember seeing that film and thinking that they were far off, that would never happen. But it was happening. Like in the movie, so many were dying there weren’t enough left to bury the dead.

  When it is all said and done, and I pray there are still many left, I believe there’ll be too many bodies to remove. I believe cities will be torn down, burned. Forgotten. All those people who lived lives, dreamed, and loved would never be any more than a statistic.

  Over dinner, Del expressed concern over the lack of news. What would happen when it stopped? How would we know what to expect when we emerged?

  We run on generator power, and above us are cameras. We can watch the lobby, outside the center, and a little of the street. I declined watching.

  The news is reality enough. I didn’t need to see the world outside.

  I wasn’t ready.