Apocalypse How

Date: 8/28/2019

Apocalypse How: population decimated by sudden viral pandemic. Dream begins the day the virus overwhelms the population. The CDC has been setting up these portable clean rooms, so people can go about their day safely by sterilizing at checkpoints and any local outbreaks can be quickly contained. They look like semi-translucent dryer vents with hazmat people directing everyone through the process. Something goes wrong, though, and the situation becomes emergent as the virus spreads quicker than before. It spreads like a cold, so coughing, sneezing, and physical contact. The virus causes the infected person to waste away. When the containment fails, I happen to be at Costco, and my kids are at home. I have a plan for if things go very badly, and I’m just stocking up on supplies like water and shelf stable foods. I call their dad and he says he’ll stay inside with them until I arrive. People in the streets are panicking, many are clustering around the checkpoints. I know that’s a bad idea, so I put on a face mask and head home on foot using less populated streets. I took a bus to Costco, but decide to take everything back in the shopping cart by foot to avoid infection. On the way home, I pass a house with the door open, and just the sound of a baby crying. It’s heartbreaking, and I feel compelled to stop and check, but I don’t, for fear of becoming infected (and then infecting my own kids). I make a mental note of the address and check back later, armored against the infection. There’s trash all over the streets, because garbage hasn’t been picked up in several weeks. I pass another house with a weak-looking older woman standing in the front doorway. Her breathing is heavy and ragged, and her posture is slumped, and I know she’s infected. She shouts something at me but I can’t make it out. It sounds thin and desolate in the grey silence around us. I push forward. I make it home without any more encounters. We’ve already been slowly moving belongings to our hideout, where we plan to wait while the infection either is controlled, or eliminates most of the population. Either way, no one should be able to find our shelter, and it should be self sufficient for many months without needing to leave for supplies.