Plagues

Chapter 3

My eyes opened in the dark of my room to my radio alarm going off. I shook off the dream and turned on my room and phone. I took my phone off the charger then went to go fix up my hair with a little water and gel in the bathroom then get dressed.

I beat yesterday’s time on the maniac course and went to school feeling proud. I treated myself to an extra large coffee.

I got into school and saw just four people hanging out in the lounge. There were three girls chatting on some couches in the corner whilst Kali was in a desperate sleep, sprawled out on a couch across from the lounge entrance. I opted to just let her sleep and sat on the couch next to her. Alex, the union rep and teacher at the school, a tall woman with short black hair and glasses, came into the room to address the small group.

“Just a heads up that today is Asylum Day. At lunch, the Board of Health will be in here to administer maniac vaxes at 11:30. So be here. It’s the law and it’s important. Okay?” She gave one of those smiles that required a responding gesture of understanding. We all gave a groggy nod and she left.

I texted Darwin to make sure he was at school. He responded saying he was. I looked over to Kali who hadn’t even stirred during Alex’s announcement.

Lunch time came around and by 11:40, there was a line of students that stretched only as far as just inside the lounge entrance. I was at the end. Darwin showed up behind me and I smiled upon seeing him.

“Nice of you to show up,” I mocked.

“I felt like it was a good idea.”

“What happened to ‘we’re not exactly at risk of another outbreak’?” I smiled triumphantly, but he just shook his head and the conversation went with the gesture.

By the end of lunch, a quarter past twelve, two thirds of the student body, around sixty-five people, had been vaxed.

I had third period English with Darwin and Kali. Neither of them was in a social mood. I couldn’t get my spot on my usual couch because Kali was sprawled out on it fast asleep. This forced the girl who usually sat with Kali and me to sit in the last available spot on the opposite couch. The chair between the two couches was occupied. This forced me to sit at a desk. I figured I might as well sit next to Darwin. This wasn’t much better as his mood seemed to have only dampened more since lunch.

Whilst waiting for class to start, I opened up the Toronto Star on my phone. The first top story was Rexall Pharmaplus and Immuni-Co, the latter the creator and manufacturer of the Asylum vaccine (a.k.a. the maniac vax) and the Asylum First Response shot and the former the distributor, reported record profits for the fourth year in a row. The second story was a string of brutal murders in South Central Los Angeles. I opened up the second story and apparently, over the span of a week, seventeen people had been brutally murdered. The police said they were all mutilated beyond recognition. What interested me more was that no one was confirming or denying it as a maniac attack. Even though the maniac attacks were a little more common in lower income areas, like Scarborough, or Jane & Finch, or in this case South Central Los Angeles, mass maniac attacks where this many people were killed in a concentrated area in such a relatively short amount of time just didn’t happen anymore.

Class started up and the teacher got us on censorship in media.

Despite their bitter moods earlier in the week, we all went hunting with the group Tuesday and Wednesday. They also went Thursday as well, according to Matt, but I had to work that night.

I worked at a private member's club in central East York. There was a bar, a kitchen that provided food service to members, an event hall for people to hold special events like weddings, and a gym. My job as a busboy was to keep booze stocked and flowing, food moving, tables clear, and make sure the gym had towels for people to wipe their sweat on.