The Quaran-times
By Kaushal Biradar
Chapter 1:
It was a bright and sunny Monday evening, our protagonist Matt just came home from his boring job located in Bangalore. Ironic am I right?
Matt was a hardworking man who wasn't paid enough for his work but he held a heavy heart and went to work diligently. He always came home happy because he used to call the love of his life Sam [short for Samantha]. They were planning to get married soon.
This evening wasn't a normal one, they weren't planning to call today, but they were going to meet up at a restaurant. Matt was planning to ask Sam to marry him, so he was tense today.
"This is the day; I'm finally going to ask Sam out." As Matt said with confidence.
There she was, sitting in the corner table in a gleaming red dress Matt bought for her last summer. Matt was astonished and even more scared now.
He went with steps of confidence. But before talking with Sam, he noticed an unhappy smirk on her face. She didn't have any words to say, she just pointed to the television next to her. Matt was shocked, there was a worldwide lockdown due to the spread of a virus. A Deadly virus.
Matt lost his chance to ask Samantha out as it was told in the news that everyone needs to go home as soon as possible. The two rushed to Matt's apartment, Samantha was asked to stay here till the next day morning, Matt was happy to have her home but he knew he couldn't ask Samantha for some time.
Chapter 2:
"Matt wake up, wake up" urged Samantha. Matt woke up feeling sick as he wasn't stationery, they were in a truck. In a cell, locked with no knowledge of how they got there.
This was the first time Matt hasn't gone to work in his usual manner. All of this was confusing for him and scary. There was a note written on the wall of their truck, "food kept in the corner of the cell".
Matt and Samantha ate the food in a hurry as they were hungry.
The truck came to a stop. The doors of the truck in the back opened. They opened to a dark gloomy warehouse where the sun wasn't shining like it should've been.
The couple couldn't even step out, their cell was dragged out. And guess what, their cell wasn't the only one there. There were more than a thousand cells. Families, couples and even pets were in cells, all trapped to the gloomy ware house.
A man stepped on a table, he was completely covered, A mask, gloves and protective covering. He had a loudspeaker in which he announced that all citizens here will be put around quarantine until notice.
Some were confused some wanted to know when "until notice" meant and some fainted because they thought they would get out of here.
None of the people in the warehouse were allowed to touch each other or meet. Every day, three meals per day eight glasses of water. Nothing else, they were on complete lockdown and no one knew how long.
Chapter 3:
"Until further notice" this day never came. It's been so long that, Matt and Samantha now have kids. The other people in the warehouse who had children when they entered the warehouse are now adults. They were supposed to learn how to drive but their lives have hit a dead end.
Matt and Samantha's kid's names are Jim and Tina. A boy and a girl, who are curious to find out about their boring lives.
Matt and Sam told their children stories about how the outside world was and how they too will go out one day and live a life. Jim and Tina always used to ask about why they were here but Matt and Sam never had an answer because they didn't know here.
Without Matt and Sam knowing the two children had a plan of getting out of their cell and actually explore whatever is outside of this warehouse.
Every night at eight pm there was a man who delivered their food and had the keys of their cells. The plan was to steal those keys without the man getting to know. Step two after getting out of the cell was to sneak out without being noticed. Near the warehouse door, there was a guard but he was always sleeping and they needed to get his fingerprint to open doors. The only way they could get his fingerprint is too move his finger to the scanner and escape while they had the chance.
It was eight pm. The man came with the keys and food. Jim was distracting the guard and Tina stole the keys. They ate the food and continued with said plan.
Step two open the cell quietly and escape. Every day it was lights off at ten pm so at 9:50 they had to leave while the lights were on. Their plans were according to the big clock which was dangling from the wall. No one knows if that is the actual date and time but they followed it. The two opened the cell and escaped with utmost secrecy. Step two done.
They got all the way near the sleeping guard but his hand was on the floor [the one required for the scanner]. Their plan hit a rock bottom but these two didn't give up. The only option they had was to pick up the guards finger without being discreet and run in the one minute gap they get.
They had no other option, they had to try this. Tina was in front of the door and ready to run. Jim was about to pick up the guards hand. Suddenly other guards found them near the door; Jim and Tina gave each other a look. A look of assurance conveying in their eyes that "let's do this."
The guards dashed to the kids. Jim took the finger and opened the doors. Tina dashed out. So did Jim. The guards didn't care about the kids as they couldn't do anything.
The minute the kids stepped out was the last minute of their lives. They were kept in quarantine because of the virus. The virus turned out to be one of the hugest ever, killing half the population. These kids stepped out and immediately died.
Moral of the story- Curiosity kills the cat
