A Life Sentence

May 20th, 2026

May 20th, 2026

Well, it didn't take long for things to become like every apocalypse movie I have ever seen. It seemed to happen even faster than it ever did in the movies. I guess truth is truly stranger than fiction. For starters both Elena and I have been told not to come back to work. There aren't enough patients coming in anymore that they need us. There simply isn't enough. Most that are coming are dead shortly after. In just two weeks, millions upon millions more people died, just two weeks.

I made the mistake of asking what would happen to those people who did come to the hospital and I wish I hadn't. I was told that the feds had been locking people who were catching Omega in their homes. They were pretty much being left to die. So much for the compassion of humankind.

Of course hoarding has become a huge problem. Most stores have armed guards to keep people from storming them and looting what little is left on the shelves. I saw this coming, well not the not armed guards, that's just nuts, the hoarding and started storing crap away back before it got hard to find. At the time Elena thought that I was being silly. She doesn't think that now.

We have stores of gas and propane tanks in the basement of the house. I don't really like having all that stuff in our house that can explode, but better there than having it in our garage and it getting stolen. We only use one car during the day. The other is in the garage packed up and ready to go whenever the time comes. I think that time is coming soon.

I also got my hands on some plywood to be able to board up our windows if it was necessary. Elena didn't say too much about that.

We should also have enough guns and ammo to protect ourselves. No one has tried to break in at night, but it seems that more and more people are breaking curfew these days. There aren't that many people left to enforce it. For a while National Guard troops helped the local police patrol, but they were all recalled to protect key cities in the state, like the capitol.

For a while Elena had actually wanted to go to one of these places since that is where most of the response and support was centered. Of course we found out it was really because of how much worse the larger cities had gotten. We had heard rumors that large parts of the capitol were burning from riots and soldiers were resorting to shooting to kill. Some guardsmen even abandoned their posts and joined the rioters. Or so we have heard.

Now we have been talking about heading into the country. We thought about heading either to my parent's or to stay with Elena's parents. The only problem is we have not been able to reach either of them to see what they thought about the plan. Cell towers have started to go down, and we don't have a groundline anymore to use. I am not particularly close to my parents, but I don't want to see anything bad happen to them. Elena is much closer to her folks and would rather go there. Truth be told so would I, but they are much further away.

I lay awake at night second guessing what we should do. To be honest we are pretty secure here. I mean our town isn't that big and our house would be easy to defend for the most part. But I can't shake the feeling that I am risking our lives by staying here. Still, how long we would live out there in, for lack of a better word, the wild.

Elena wants to leave and badly. I can't say I blame her, but despite my doubts my heart is telling me now is not the time. We have been fighting about a lot lately. She has hinted she might just go without me. I asked if she would go alone and she said she would go with Rod and his sisters. I really hate that bastard. He has always been after Elena, but the simple caveman notion of him messing with my girl isn't the main reason I hate Rod.

The guy is a damned idiot, always has been. I don't think he could find his way out of a bag that was open at both ends. How that moron has managed to avoid being infected I will never know. Maybe he is one of the asymptomatic people. Those poor bastards don't even know anything is wrong until their heart basically explodes in their chest. If he is, I almost feel sorry for him, almost.

He claims he has a cabin out in the woods that would be the perfect place to hide. Everytime Elena says this I can't help but laugh. The guy can barely start a car, how could he hope to survive in the woods. Maybe that's why he wants Elena, she is more than smart enough to make it. Rod needs her to survive.

My friend Lucas also wants to leave town, but he also wants to wait until the time is right. He realizes that right now supplies can still be found, even if it is getting harder. I guess that is one thing about everyone dying. Fewer people to fight over what is left. He thinks that as long as we can still get what we need we should hang around until we have to leave. I tell myself that is the same reason I don't leave, but to be honest it is because I am afraid.

Now that I think about it I make fun of Rod not being able to survive, but when it gets down to it, would I? Or, would I just lead Elena to her death? I am so scared to let her down. I am kinda surprised I haven't yet. So far I have been lucky, but luck always runs out, always.

I also don't want to leave because the air outside is terrible. Even though the pit where they burn all the bodies is on the far side of town the smell still carries all the way here. The scent of burning flesh is very strange, I can't really describe it. What I really hate though is when the wind kicks up and blows ash all over. Sometimes it will fall from the sky like some sort of morbid snow.

I wonder how many people are actually left alive here? I have heard the two cities closest to us are all but war zones now, but for some reason I hear nothing about my town. For a time we were a distribution center for supplies for the whole area so we were better protected. Now so many people are dead and with the National Guard gone all we get is the army bringing a few truck loads of supplies a couple times a week. First come, first served. The supplies never leave town. I am actually starting to really like MREs.

At least my free time has given me one thing to do, read. Of course I am reading up on survival, navigating with a compass and crap like that. It never hurts to be prepared. It's actually pretty interesting.

I have always loved to read, but where I used to read to escape reality, now I am reading to learn how to survive reality. What I do know is that when the time comes to leave I will be as ready as I can be.

Please comment and vote and make me feel better about myself. The next chapter will be coming soon.