PRL Serials

January 19, 20XX

The mysterious virus that spread to every corner of the world and killed about five thousand people a day, threw the world into chaos, but there was no large-scale collapse of societies or cultures around the globe. The humans of Earth maintained calm among the population of the uninfected by corralling the dead and infected onto the island of Guam. As the uninfected citizens of Guam and inhabitants of nearby islands were evacuated and received as refugees around the world, the number of the infected rose, and gradually the number of quarantine islands increased.  

International travel was completely stopped, and in America, travel between towns, cities, counties, and states was halted. There were worldwide stay at home orders which allowed certain sectors of society to continue on the internet and everything that could be done digitally, was. Food production and distribution was shut down completely for most of the first month of quarantine while experts decided the best way to move forward. Once it was clear that the mysterious illness was only transmittable through bodily fluids, a decision was made to allow people willing to risk infection to be hired to live onsite to pick food or slaughter animals for sale. The same was true for grocery store workers, and many eagerly signed up because much of the job market was obliterated overnight and people still needed money because of the sudden scarcity of supplies. 

Despite the scarcity and desperation, violence and looting were scarce because of fear of contracting the illness and most cities were ghost towns. The government did what it could to provide assistance, but no one could help with the biggest difficulty surviving the pandemic. Everyone struggled with the strange reality that someone they knew and loved had technically died, but was somehow still the person that they knew before contracting the illness, and they were being forced to never see them again. There were calls to eradicate the infected in the hopes of stopping the spread of the illness. Many believed the illness to have been manufactured by a government or organization developing therapies for extending human life, though no source was determined for the first year of the crisis.

The infected were not exterminated within the first month of the pandemic as debates raged about what was happening. 

Rodney Coffey was a wreck. 

He was glad that his sons were allowed to return home from school on the day he first heard about the illness over the radio; many kids were held at school as the world shut down and tests were developed to accurately confirm infection. It was during this time that the world learned that a person can be infected for up to a week before the first sign of illness, at which point death was sure to come within twenty four hours.

Rodney tried desperately to contact his daughter. When his sons returned home from school, they helped him call government agencies to determine her exact location and if she would be able to return home. It took weeks, and he couldn’t stop his tears when he finally got her on the phone.

“Oh Lashon,” Rodney said as his sons hung up their calls and stood close to him to listen. “It’s so good to hear your voice. I’m gonna put you on speaker.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t home when this all happened,” Lashon said through tears. “I’m alright, though, but I know you worrying daddy, and I’m so sorry about that.”

Deshon and Trayvon huddle close to their father wiping silent tears away from their cheeks. 

“Don’t apologize for living your life,” Randall said. “Didn’t nobody see this coming. I’m just glad you ok. Do you know when you’ll be able to come back home?”

“Hopefully I’ll know in a few days. From what I hear, they have a safe way for people to fly, but with so many people needing to do that, I might end up on a boat daddy.” 

The three men listened as Lashon cried on the phone. She sounded so scared and Randall wanted to hold her. 

“Please don’t cry, sis,” Deshon said. “It’ll be alright, and you’ll be home, and we’ll be laughing about this in a month. You scared of a boat?”

This made everyone laugh. 

“I’m trying to stay positive,” Lashon said. “I’m so glad y’all alright. Have y’all seen a dead person?”

None of them had. They had stuck very strictly to quarantine, even as the fridge and cabinets emptied and they all noticeably lost weight. Rodney had plenty of savings and a pension he confirmed would continue to pay despite the condition of the world, so when food was available to order, he was sure to stock up on nonperishables and everything else that was available to ship from a safe source. 

“They look like their regular selves,” Lashon said. “They don’t show them on tv because I think it would confuse people. They’re supposed to be dead, and I guess their coloring is off, like they look ashy, but they talk and act just like they always did. It’s crazy. And they’re not zombies. One of my classmates went on a weekend trip right before all this and was stuck outside of Germany and died. We were able to talk to her recently, since that court case where they sued for civil rights, they been treating them better. She’s a person, daddy, and she say they treat them like garbage cause they already dead. She don’t feel pain and they don’t eat, but she just wants her life back. She wants her family. And I get that. But it’s all so crazy and complicated.”

Randall hadn’t really thought about it before Lashon mentioned it, he’d been consumed with the work of tracking her down, but he hadn’t ever seen a person who died from the illness. He mostly got his news from the radio, so he’d heard one of them speak and they sounded like a real, live person. 

Trayvon and Deshon talked with Lashon while Randall smiled from ear to ear with relief that his children were ok. After a while, Lashon said goodbye and the tears came again.

“Y’all stay safe, I will get home soon,” she said. “I better go. I love y’all

“We love you too. Be safe, Lashon. I really hope something change soon,” Randall said. “I can’t wait to see you in person.”

Randall spent the night on the couch watching movies with his sons. They all enjoyed being together, they were all grateful for one another. 

When they went to bed, Randall flipped through the tv channels that the small antenna picked up. When he found local news, he watched a reporter alone in a room that was not a regular news studio. It looked like a home office in the background. 

“…As the death toll continues to rise, scrutiny of the global system for dealing with victims of the mysterious illness, known widely as the Living Dead, has come under greater scrutiny. Some among the population of the Living Dead are making claims of cruel and unusual treatment, and there is growing discontentment on quarantine islands. 

“If you do come down with any symptoms of illness, such as high fever or bleeding from the nose, eyes or ears, leave your home immediately and report to a designated area for testing and quarantine…”

Randall watched the entire broadcast and by the end, he still hadn’t seen video or even a picture of a person infected by the mysterious illness, or dead from it. This made him very curious to see one.