Numbered

Chapter 3 - Two Weeks Later

"Let us now pray. Not only for Jacob and his family, but also for his mother's safe passage to heaven."

The minister bowed his head and folded his hands, and began reciting a prayer. Everyone in the funeral house copied him, very much like a monkey would copy a scientist. This was not right. Why should Jacob's mother have died? He was a great guy who deserved both his parents. Sitting behind and listening intently, Zeke could hear his friend's quiet sobs. Once Zeke discovered, via his parents, that Jacob's mother died, he knew that he would be seeing neither high nor hair of him for a little while, except for now. It was customary for someone to take a little time off to recuperate, but this was ridiculous. They all might as well not do anything anymore at the rate at which people were passing.

Having watched the news with his parents every night, Zeke saw that things were getting worse. Just last night, another 233 people had died, bringing the grand total to 609. The numbers were climbing exponentially and no one could figure out a pattern. The news claimed that scientists were running every possible algorithm, so they had an idea how many would die the following day. Of course, he did not expect much headway on that project, given they only started it over the weekend.

As he looked around, Zeke could not ignore the familiarity of the scene. Two weeks ago, that Marilyn girl had passed and the whole school, out of respect, attended the service. He had insisted, and argued, that he did not wish to go, but he was forced by his parents. If the whole school is going, why shouldn't you, they reasoned. Also, his parents were close friends of the Allstead's, so they were going anyhow, and he was being dragged along. At that funeral, Rita's loud sobs were the most pervasive sound in the room.

Even last week, there were two more funerals he had attended, again by force of his parents. It was the first time that two people from the same family had died simultaneously. They were the Bordeau brothers, Barry and Burke. He had not heard any weeping that time, mostly because their parents had sat in absolute silence. He knew they had been hit hard and it seemed to choke them up. That it shattered them into millions of pieces that they would never put back together. On the other side of the room, though, two women sat by one another. They appeared to be crying, the way their eyes looked and they had tissues in their hands. He was not sure given his distance from them.

Now, here he was, attending his best friend's mother's funeral. This did not feel right at all. On top of listening to the climbing numbers, people were waiting for some diagnosis that would explain these tragedies. To everyone's disappointment, they still had not found a thing wrong. Some of the 600 victims had been sick, but nothing that would have resulted in their deaths. Yesterday, Jacob had invited him over because his family had received the diagnosis report and he wanted Zeke to be there with him. Naturally, Zeke obliged, but he knew that the report was going to come back negative. At that time, he was thankful they had been in Jacob's. His friend lashed out in anger and sadness, creating a sizeable hole in his wall. Zeke had done his best to console his hurting friend, but nothing he said offered any comfort.

The minister lifted his head, ending the prayer to heaven above, and gave a signal, for those who wished to say goodbye, to do so. Jacob and his father were the first to the casket. Jacob had finally stopped sobbing and was now running his hand down the length of the casket, reminiscing all the fun times he had with his mother. He kissed the rose he carried and placed it on top of the casket. Zeke heard him mutter a farewell before he returned to his seat. He, in turn, placed his hand on the casket, making a silent prayer of his own. As he sat back down, he wished for more than anything for this service to be over. There was only so much depression a person could take and he was sure everyone was reaching their limit.

---

Zeke sat on his friend's bed, while Jacob was up and pacing around his room. In front of them, an enormous white board had been erected, with all the names of the people who died. Next to each name were characteristics and short descriptions. The two of them were trying to find a correlation between all the people. So far, they had jackshit, zilch, nothing. Zeke noticed Jacob's fists were clenched; he was getting ready to lash out again. He had done it twice within the last hour; thankfully no walls were broken in the process, though his desk took a beating.

"Jake, take a deep breath. We won't get anything done if you keep going on like this," Zeke tried once more to console him. The response, though, was not at all what he expected.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he roared.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"It is easy for you to say when you have lost no one in your family."

"Yet. It is only a matter of time before I lose someone too," Zeke reminded, trying to keep calm. "Besides, you are not the only victim in this. Don't forget all those that lost family."

At that, Jacob stopped and sat down in a chair. His chest rose and fell slowly as he tried to calm himself. Finally, Zeke thought, something actually sank in. Sometimes, looking at it from a different perspective help and apparently it worked really well with him. He would have to keep that in mind. Jacob rose back to his feet and began pacing around the room again. Zeke looked away from Jake and looked back to the white board. There had to be something they were missing. Apparently, Jacob thought so too, given that he stopped pacing and was looking at the board.

Zeke felt a burning sensation in his arm and looked down to his right wrist. He scratched at it, trying to make it better, but it did not help any. Stupid technology, he thought. When the government realized that people were starting to die in vast numbers, they had it arranged that each person wear a small wrist device. Every day at four in the afternoon, it would check the wearer's pulse to make sure they were still living or if they had succumbed to the unknown death. As soon as it had begun, the sensation went away. In about another hour, the news would be on to tell them today's death count and the total number of people who died. In the meantime, he and Jacob would continue to work on this puzzle.

"We have to be missing something important. But, what is it?" Jacob muttered.

"Beats me. Oh," Zeke grabbed his growling stomach. "Guess I am hungry. Want run downstairs and grab a bite?"

"How can you honestly being hungry at a time like this?"

"Hey, don't criticize. Besides, who can work on an empty stomach?"

Apparently, he made sense once again because Jacob nodded his head in agreement. The two ran down and into the kitchen. Zeke opened the cupboard and grabbed the Chips-Ahoy, while Jacob filled a quart pitcher with milk. They darted back upstairs and into his room. They sat on his bed, munching on the cookies and drinking the milk. Zeke stopped for a second to look at his watch. He held it to Jake's face, pointing at the time. He grabbed a remote from his end table and turned on the television.

"Good evening. This is CBS 6 news at 5 o' clock," Scott Pelley greeted his audience. "Before we turn to the 'count', I would like to extend all our condolences here at the studio to your families. We are all aware of what is happening to you and we keep you all in our prayers. We now turn the camera to Dori Marlin, who will give you the numbers today. Dori."

"Thanks, Scott. For today, April 22, they have counted a total of 377 people passing away. As of this point in time, the death total has reached a shocking 986." Dori noticeably shivered after making that announcement, her eyes beginning to water. "Again, we want to reach out to all you viewers and give you our condolences for the loved ones you have lost. Now, we turn to some better news that has captured out attention in the Albany area."

Jacob grabbed the remote and turned it off. Tomorrow, a large pamphlet would be published, giving the names and general descriptions of all those who passed away today. He and Jacob would add those names to the list and see if they could spot any correlation to previous victims. At this point, though, Zeke felt himself losing hope gradually over the past two weeks. He looked to Jacob, and noticed that his face was saying the same thing. Were they all just destined to die without ever knowing what was causing this agony? Zeke grabbed his things and muttered a farewell to Jacob, leaving his room to head to his own home.

As he walked down the steps, he found himself counting each step. It was a countdown to the end of the human race, he depressingly thought. He was only sixteen and he was going to die, most likely before he even turned seventeen. All he could think of was how much this whole thing sucked. There had to be something that could put an end to this. Or at least, if they could figure it out before everyone died? At this point, both options seemed pretty unlikely.