by James Harden
Chapter 2
Even though there must have been close to a thousand kids all gathered around the main entrance of the school, the mood was pretty calm. I had expected everyone to lose it, for parents to angrily demand an explanation, for the students to cheer with excitement. But this wasn’t the case.
One time when I was in the eighth grade the school was evacuated because there was a fire in the staff kitchen. Apparently one of the teacher’s aides had put a pizza box in the oven and forgot about it. Five minutes later the box caught on fire. The whole school was evacuated. I’m pretty sure the entire New York fired department turned up to put out the burning pizza box. The kids thought it was hilarious; even some of the teachers thought it was funny.
But this was different. Looking back, I think people somehow knew it was more than just a precaution.
Maria had walked off to find Jack and Kim. I told her I’d meet her back on the bus and save us some seats. I was pushing my way through the crowd of students when I felt a tap on my right shoulder. I turned to the right but no one was there. I turned to the left and saw Jack standing there with a giant, excited smile on his face. “Isn’t this great?” he said. “One more day of summer vaykay!”
Jack was always in a laid back mood. He never really stressed about school or exams.
“Aren’t you worried that something is wrong?” I asked. “Or that we’re just going to get more homework tomorrow to make up for the lost time?”
“It’s the first day. They’re not going to make us do homework on the first day. That’s just cruel. Everyone knows that a student’s mind needs time to warm up after doing nothing for two months.”
I would’ve agreed with him but for some reason I was feeling uneasy. It’s not like I’m psychic or anything. I had no idea why classes had been cancelled but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it wasn’t the school who had chained the front gates together.
“So where’s Maria?” he asked. “I thought you guys caught the bus together this morning?”
“She went to find you and your sister actually.”
“But I sent her a text to meet at the bus.”
“Maybe she didn’t get it?”
“Yeah maybe,” he said as he checked his phone. “Anyways, now that school is out for the day, how about we meet up at the beach? We can squeeze in one last surfing lesson for the summer.”
For some reason Jack had made it his life’s mission to teach me how to surf. He said if they can put a man on the moon, he could teach me to surf. I wasn’t so sure. And I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to go to the beach. I was still trying to figure out if Kenji had somehow broken into my house last night. And if he did, how the hell did he find me? I guess I was still a little freaked out.
“How are you enjoying my surfing lessons by the way?” Jack asked. “Am I a good teacher or what?”
“You’re great. I can almost stand up for longer than two seconds. That’s a new personal best for me.”
“So, are you in?”
Usually I would be keen for a surfing lesson from Jack. Despite his relaxed attitude towards school and all the trouble he gave the teachers, he was actually a very good teacher himself. And even though I was terrible at surfing and spent most of the time trying not to drown it was always lots of fun. But I was still feeling uneasy.
So I said, “Maybe. Let me think about it.”
“Sure. Take all the time you want. But for now, let’s find Maria and get the hell out of here before they re-open the school.”
Jack said we could get a ride home in Kim’s patrol car. The police had leant it to her today as a public relations exercise to impress the kids. Jack was super excited. He kept going on and on about the V8 engine and how it had a whole bunch of horsepower. He said he’d get Kim to fire up the sirens so we could run some red lights but then she got a call from the station and she had to leave without us. Apparently there was a riot out in western suburbs or something. So we all had to take the bus home.
Jack and Maria pestered me about going to the beach again but I made up some lame excuse about how I hadn’t eaten breakfast and that I wasn’t feeling very well. I don’t think they bought it but they didn’t push the issue.
The next day we were notified by email that school had been postponed for a whole week due to ‘health concerns’. Not that they needed to send an email. It was all over the news. I remember watching all morning to see if they would tell us when school would be going back but no one seemed to have any idea when that would be.
Around lunch time I got a call from Maria to meet her and Jack at the beach.
“We might as well make the most of this extended vacation,” she said. “And I won’t be accepting any more pathetic excuses for not going.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m feeling a lot better.” I replied.
I met them at Bondi beach and Jack gave me another surfing lesson. I managed to stand for at least three seconds so it was a definite improvement. Maria sat on the beach and laughed at me. I didn’t know it at the time but it was my last ever surfing lesson.
I arrived back home in the afternoon and turned the TV on, eager to see if anyone knew when school was going back. But to my surprise no one was even covering that story anymore.
Every single station was now covering a story about an outbreak of a virus. Every single station now showed the exact same image; a live feed of what looked like a prison complex in the middle of the desert. Every single channel had the same information scrolling across the bottom of the picture.
“Virus spreads through immigration center in outback.”
I continued to change the channel but there was no use. It reminded me of the September eleven terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New York. I was only young but I clearly remember the live images of the World Trade Center. I remember smoke billowing into the blue New York sky from one of the towers. The information scrolling across the bottom of the picture read: “Fire in south tower.”
But it wasn’t a fire. It was something much worse. And then almost in slow motion, a plane, a 767, flies in from nowhere, slamming into the north tower.
Was this like that?
Was it really a virus outbreak? Or was it something much worse?
Just as I was about to turn the TV off the information scrolling across the bottom of the picture was updated.
It now read:
“American scientists confirm virus is a multi-resistant virus or ‘super bug’. They have named it the Oz Virus.”
Apparently things were getting worse.
Breaking News: The Oz Virus
4:08pm - The World Health Organization has declared a Phase 4 PANDEMIC alert. Phase 4 = multiple cases reported and human to human transmission of virus has been confirmed.
5:16pm - Reports of multiple deaths within the Woomera Immigration Center
6:32pm – A military force made up of Australian and American troops have set up a 10km quarantine around the immigration center.
7:02Pm - The township of Woomera is also under strict quarantine. No one is allowed to leave. No one is allowed to enter.
7:21pm - Scientist declare Oz Virus extremely dangerous and recommend national quarantine.
I was glued to the TV for another five hours. The constant updates were progressively getting worse and worse. I wasn’t really afraid at this point in time, just curious. Maybe I should’ve been more worried about the deadly virus and the military force and the quarantine but who could’ve known it was the humble beginnings of an all out apocalypse? Who even thinks like that?
It was nearly midnight before I noticed a note from my mother on the kitchen bench. It read:
Working night shift. Dinner is in the freezer.
Love you.
I looked back at the TV. There was a bright flash and then the live image went black.
On Wednesday a nationwide quarantine was announced. All flights in and out of the country were can
celled. Travel between different states was also banned. According to the news this was a first in Australian history and even in the days of small pox and the bubonic plague, such measures had never been taken. By midday there were police cars patrolling the streets urging everyone to stay indoors. On TV and radio there were public health announcements telling everyone to wash their hands regularly and to cover their mouth when coughing and sneezing.
Later that afternoon the government announced a 10pm curfew. Anyone found outside their homes after ten would be arrested on site. Zero tolerance.
On Wednesday night my mother called me to tell me she had to work overtime again at the hospital and that she wouldn’t be home. There was spaghetti bolognaise in the freezer.
Defrost. Eat.
The week dragged on and boredom set in. There was nothing to do except watch the TV and wait for the paranoia and cabin fever to take over. I’d lost track of how many hours of TV I had watched. One particular news segment showed a panel of scientists and doctors discussing the basic definition of a virus.
Scientist number one said, “A virus is a microscopic organism that replicates within a living host.”
You could tell the journalist doing the interview wasn’t really paying attention. But the panel was made up of professional nerds and hardcore academics and the discussion was getting pretty fired up.
Scientist number two said, “I think we are on the brink of a major viral outbreak. A virus much worse than the black plague. A virus that will wipe out a significant percentage of the global population.”
“Not a chance in the world,” another Doctor replied. “We have medicines and vaccines now days. They didn’t have any of that back then.”
“That’s part of the problem. Viruses have an amazing ability to adapt and survive.”
“How bad could it be?”
“Worst case scenario is the virus mutates. An aggressive virus will kill its host. But a successful one will allow its host to stay alive.”
“Why would it do that?”
“So it can spread.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re talking about a virus that will evolve and mutate into something we’ve never seen before, something that we can’t cure or immunize against?”
“Yes. I’m talking about a virus that will kill quickly and spread even quicker. It will find a way to live and multiply inside the host body for a long time. Even after death.”
