The Beginning of the End

by Lorana Hoopes

  Lines of concern creased her mother’s forehead. “Well, this is probably new territory for them too. Give them time. I’m sure it will get better.”

  Lily shrugged. Though she highly doubted that, she wasn’t in the mood to argue with her mother over it. Besides, there was nothing she could do except not go to school and that certainly wasn’t an option. At least not until they required the vaccine.

  “Oh, by the way, I signed this for you,” her mother said, sliding a sheet of paper across the table.

  Lily glanced down at it and shook her head. “No way. I’m not taking it, Mom.”

  “Lily.” Her mother’s voice took on that condescending tone that Lily couldn’t stand. “I know you’ve been reading conspiracy websites that claim it isn’t safe, but everything I’ve seen says it is. Besides, it’s the only way we can get back to normal, remember?”

  Lily stared at her mother. What had happened to her? Her mother no longer attended church, but she hadn’t seemed like the type to buy everything the government pushed hook, line, and sinker either. Now, she was not only dismissing Lily’s fears but pushing the idea of back to normal? Her mother was beginning to sound like the commercials Lily hated.

  “I don’t think they’ll ever let us get back to normal,” Lily mumbled.

  Her mother placed a hand on her arm. “Now, honey, I know it’s been hard, but this will pass. Things might not go back to exactly the way they were before, but this will help.”

  “Mom, do you hear yourself? Dr. Goodman was on the TV last night saying that even after we get this vaccine, we still have to wear a mask and be socially distant. He said we could still even catch NCAV, and now they’re talking about a new strain being discovered? This will never end.”

  Lily had never spoken to her mother like that, and for a moment she thought about apologizing, but then she remembered Raven saying their job was to spread the word, show people the truth, wake them up. Who better to start with than her mother?

  “Lily, I…” her mother sputtered like a car trying to start on a cold morning.

  “Mom, I love you, but I need you to listen to me now.” Lily waited for her mother to agree. Then she took a deep breath and began to share everything she knew.

  Candace had just stepped out of the on-call room when Julia came running up to her.

  “Dr. Markham, you have to come quickly,” Julia said, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the farthest exam room.

  “What is it?” Candace asked, fighting the urge to dislodge Julia’s grip on her arm. Clearly, something had scared her. Julia was generally a level-headed nurse even though she was on the younger side, but right now, she looked as if the ghost of her dead grandmother had just walked through the walls of the hospital.

  Julia glanced around before answering in a hushed whisper, “It’s Anne.”

  “Anne? What’s wrong with Anne?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Candace remembered the vaccine station yesterday and how proud Anne was to be getting the vaccine even after Candace warned her not to. “Oh no.”

  She quickened her pace and followed Julia into the last ER room on the floor. Anne lay in the bed, her body convulsing. It presented like a seizure except much more frequent and instead of glazed eyes, Anna’s fearful ones were fixed on Candace. “What’s happening to me?”

  “I don’t know, Anne, but I promise you I will find out. When did this start?”

  “Last night.” She paused as her head shook uncontrollably, flopping from one side to the other. “I felt weird after the shot, so I took the rest of the day off.” Another pause as the shaking pulsed down her body. “It started with my foot. Just jerking on its own. Then the other one.” She paused again as her arm lifted off the bed before flopping back down. “I took some Tylenol PM to help me sleep, but when I woke up this morning, it was worse.”

  “Okay, I’m going to run some tests and do some research. Just try to relax.” Candace squeezed Anne’s arm and offered a sympathetic smile. She wished she could do more, but the vaccine was so new that few side effects had even been reported and nothing like this. She did know that she had to do more. Regardless of what happened with her job, she needed to start speaking out about this vaccine so that no one else ended up like Anne.

  18

  The next morning Lily pulled into the school parking lot and sighed. She’d checked her bag twice before she left to make sure she had everything, but it appeared her mask had been forgotten. It was probably still in the dryer as she washed them daily now, hoping to avoid bacterial pneumonia. There wasn’t time to go back for it without being late, so she decided to just grab one of the ones the school was handing out. She wasn’t the first one to have to use one, and she doubted she would be the last. High schoolers were notorious for losing things.

  After locking the car, she headed for the temperature check in point, stifling another sigh when she saw that Mr. Dagon was the teacher on that duty today. Just her luck. Pasting her best smile on, she sucked in a deep breath and approached him.

  He held up his hand to signal her to stop when she was a good six feet from him. “Where’s your mask?”

  “I forgot it at home, but the nurse said the school has extras. Can I just grab one of those?”

  His eyes raked over her as if he was trying to assess if she was lying or not. Weird since she couldn’t imagine lying about something so silly. Masks were bad enough when they were your own, but why would anyone want to borrow one from the school?

  “You do know that a face covering is a requirement every day?”

  It took every ounce of self-control not to roll her eyes at him. “Yes, I do. I washed it last night because it was making my face itch, and I forgot to grab it from the dryer this morning. I can’t guarantee it will never happen again, but I’ll certainly do my best.”

  “Fine. Wait there.” He disappeared into the building and returned a moment later with a plain surgical mask. As if afraid he would catch something from her, he held it out delicately, the ear loop dangling between two fingers.

  Grabbing it, she slipped it on before continuing forward to get her temperature checked.

  “Do you have any of these symptoms?” he asked, turning the clipboard toward her.

  Lily shook her head. She wouldn’t have answered yes even if she did because some of the symptoms were stupid. Headache? She got one often if she didn’t eat soon enough or if she stayed up too late. Cough? Yep, if she ran in cold weather, she had one that stuck around for a few hours after.

  “Have you been exposed to anyone who has NCAV?”

  “Not that I know of,” Lily said, unable to keep the condescension out of her voice.

  Mr. Dagon glared at her a moment but finally stepped away from the door, allowing her to enter.

  As she stepped into the building, a wave of dizziness rolled over her. Lily placed her hand against the wall to steady herself and blinked a few times as the hall in front of her swam. She took a few deep breaths, but each one amplified the fuzzy sensation in her head. She stumbled down the hall to the nearest doorway and leaned into it, hoping Mr. Dagon wouldn’t see her. Then she lowered her mask and took a few more deep breaths. It wasn’t immediate, but after a few minutes, the strange sensation strangling her softened its hold.

  “What was that?” she whispered under her breath. She glanced around, and after confirming she was alone, she slipped off the surgical mask and examined it. Nothing appeared off. It looked just like every other disposable mask. Maybe it was a reaction to the fabric? Her normal ones were cloth and softer. Could she have an allergy to something in the disposable mask? If so, would she have to go home or would it be something that would go away after time?

  She replaced the mask and took a tentative breath. It smelled different from her cloth masks, a sort of plastic scent, but nothing out of the ordinary. Shaking her head, she continued down the hall to her locker.

  Katie appeared a moment later. “What’s with the surgical mask?” she asked, holding out a coff
ee.

  “I forgot mine at home. This is what they loan you, remember?”

  Her brows furrowed for a moment. “Huh, I thought the ones Ms. Dickens showed us were light blue. That one looks darker.”

  Lily shrugged. “Maybe it was from a different batch. Darker dye?”

  “Yeah, maybe, well anyway, stylish,” she said as she leaned her back against the locker next to Lily’s.

  “Yeah, not really, but it saved me from having to drive home. I think it might let more air in too. My breath doesn’t feel quite as hot on my face. I might have to see if I can get some more of these.”

  Katie’s brow lifted on her forehead. “More of them? Why? You hate masks. Why on earth would you want more of them?”

  “I don’t know. This one doesn’t seem as bad. Maybe I wouldn’t mind them so much if I had one like this.”

  Tiny wrinkles erupted on Katie’s forehead as her brows knitted together. “Are you feeling okay? He did take your temperature at the door, didn’t he?”

  “Yes, he did, and I feel fine.” Lily grabbed the last book she needed and shut the locker door, only to find Katie staring at her with concerned eyes. “What? I’m fine. Let’s get to class.”

  “You know what? I have an extra mask in my bag. Why don’t you use it instead?” She dropped her backpack from her shoulders and rummaged around in it.

  “Katie, I’m fine. The smell is a little weird, but other than that, it’s not that bad.”

  “Smell? What smell? In the mask?”

  “Yeah, I think so, unless you smell it too.”

  Katie shook her head. “I don’t smell anything unusual.”

  “Ooh, maybe it’s because this one seems to let in more air. Maybe the school is trying a new sanitizing agent, and you can’t smell it because the cloth on your mask is so thick. I mean it did make me feel a little dizzy at first, but I feel fine now.”

  “You were dizzy?” Katie asked.

  “Yeah, had to hold on to the wall for a few minutes. Felt like I was in a fun house with the hallway tilting, but it’s gone now. Hey, maybe the new antiseptic will work so well that we’ll be able to stop wearing masks. I was watching this article on the news the other day that said airplane filters were so good that even if someone next to you wasn’t wearing their mask, you wouldn’t get sick. Maybe they found something like that for schools.”

  “I doubt it.” Katie looked around and then lowered her mask.

  “What are you doing?” Lily glanced back toward the front entrance where Mr. Dagon was still taking temperatures. “You’re going to get in trouble.” Suddenly, she felt sure that not only would he see them, but that he would be very angry if he caught them with their masks down.

  “Sniffing.” She made a show of sniffing the air and shaking her head. “Take your mask down. I don’t smell anything.”

  “I’m not taking it off. Are you crazy? Mr. Dagon is right outside, and I have no desire to be hauled to the principal like Connor yesterday.”

  “Are you listening to yourself?” Katie asked. “You... hate... the... mask.” She punctuated each word as if it was a sentence on its own.

  “It’s really not that bad.” Lily blinked. Had she just said that? The girl who ripped the mask off as soon as she stepped out of the school? Why did it all of a sudden not seem so bad?

  “Come on.” Katie put her mask back in its place, threw her backpack back over her shoulder, and grabbed Lily’s arm. A minute later, she pushed open the bathroom door and shoved Lily into the handicapped stall, locking the door behind her.

  “What are you doing?” Lily asked.

  “You are changing masks. I don’t know what they did to that, but something is wrong with it.” She unzipped her backpack, dug around some more, and finally held out a spare mask.

  “Really, I’m fine.” Lily took a step back, colliding with the cold metal of the stall. Her hand waved off the mask Katie held out, but in her head a tiny alarm bell began to blare. She said she was fine, and she felt fine, but if she was really fine then why was an alarm going off? What was her body trying to tell her?

  Like a sneaky fox, Katie snatched the mask from Lily’s face. “You are not fine. You’re acting all agreeable to this nonsense, and it’s scaring me, so you will wear this.” She held out her spare mask.

  For a moment, Lily wanted to protest. She opened her mouth to demand her mask back, but before she could say a word, she’d forgotten what she wanted to say. The words that had been there only a moment before now dissipated like fog in the morning. Lily blinked and shook her head a few times before focusing on her friend. “What was that for?”

  “I think there’s something on this,” Katie said, folding the mask carefully and placing it in her purse.

  “Katie, I think you’ve been watching too much TV. There’s nothing on the mask.”

  “I don’t believe that. Tell me, do you smell the new cleaner now?”

  Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust. “We’re in the bathroom. I’m not sucking in a lungful right now.”

  “Well, I can tell you that you won’t. Something on this mask was affecting you, and I’m going to find out what. We’ll take it to Raven and Gabe this afternoon. Until then, wear mine. How did you forget yours anyway? I thought you kept it in your car.”

  “I did until I read that article about bacterial pneumonia. Now I wash it every day, and I left it in the dryer.”

  “Then keep a spare in your car. You cannot take a mask from here again.”

  “You have seriously lost it,” Lily said, but she grabbed the mask Katie offered.

  “That’s fine. You can think I’m crazy until I can prove it to you, but better safe than sorry.” She zipped up her purse and checked her watch. “We better get to class, but let’s keep an eye on anybody else wearing these masks. I want to see if everyone is affected like you were.”

  Suddenly Katie’s words about Connor the previous day flooded Lily’s mind. “Hey, Katie, was Connor wearing one of these masks when you thought he was acting weird yesterday?”

  Her lips twisted to the side as she thought. “I don’t remember, but it’s possible. It would certainly explain his behavior.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Lily still wasn’t sure anything was wrong with the mask, but with this year, she was keeping an open mind.

  Candace stared at her phone unsure exactly what to say. She looked back at Anne who still shook uncontrollably in the bed. “Are you sure you want to do this, Anne?”

  “I’m sure,” Anne said as a tear escaped the corner of her eye. “You were right, and I should have listened. If I had known this could happen, it might have changed my mind. There may not be hope for me, but perhaps we can save others from the same fate.”

  Candace nodded and squeezed her friend’s arm. She hated that not only was Anne in this position, but that she seemed unable to help her. She would not give up though. Not until she found a cure.

  After taking a deep breath, Candace hit the record button. “My name is Dr. Candace Markham. Many of you will not know me, but I’m an ER doctor in Washington state. I have been on the front lines of NCAV, but I have remained silent, and for that I am sorry. Some of you have spoken out about this virus and you have been demonized and canceled. I said nothing, but I am speaking now. NCAV is real, but it is not as dangerous as the media has led you to believe. Most patients recover, especially if they are given Ramidil, a treatment we used in the beginning until we were told to stop. I have continued to treat my patients with it as have other doctors, but I know many of you lost your jobs when you refused to comply.

  “In addition, we were told to inflate the number of deaths. Any person who expired in this hospital was tested for NCAV and if they were positive, even though it was not their cause of death, they were listed as an NCAV death. I know for a fact that our numbers are inflated in the hundreds. I can only assume if my hospital is, then others across the country are as well which means the numbers could be inflated in the thousands. I knew this was wrong,
but again I didn’t speak out because I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

  “However, now I understand why it was. Now I understand why the media had to drum the fear of this virus up even if they did it by fudging the numbers. It was so you would take their vaccine. Now, I’m going to be honest, I hadn’t done a lot of research on this vaccine until a few days ago, but I am convinced that no one should take this vaccine. There are many reasons, but let me just share one.”

  Candace moved closer to the bed and held the camera out so that Anne would be included in the shot. “This is my friend, Anne. She took the vaccine a few days ago and the next morning, her body began to shake. It started small with just her foot, but now, as you can see, her body shakes uncontrollably. She is not faking this, and at this point, I don’t know what’s wrong with her or how to treat it. Please, if you won’t believe me, do some research on the vaccine. Look into mRNA and watch the other doctors who were braver than me and put out videos much earlier.”

  Candace moved her finger to end the video, but then she was struck with one more thing. It was reckless to say it, but so was everything else she had just said, so she might as well go big. “One last thing. The disappearances that happened months ago were not from aliens or Russia. That was the rapture. Those of us who remain were left behind and if you’re not up on your Bible theology, what comes next is the Tribulation. I believe we are in those times and it will probably only get worse. Find a Bible, find a church, go to TruthSeekers.org and learn. We may not have much time left, but we can save our souls.”

  She pressed the button to stop recording and turned to Anne. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get preachy at the end, but I can’t be silent any longer.”

  “Do you really believe what you said?” Anne asked, reaching out her hand.

  Candace took it and nodded. “I do.”

  “Then I want to as well. Tell me what to do.”