The Plague

Anna Anderson, eldest daughter of Henry and Victoria Anderson
Daniel Anderson, eldest son of Henry and Victoria Anderson
James Anderson, second son of Henry and Victoria Anderson
Betty Anderson, second daughter of Henry and Victoria Anderson
Cynthia Anderson, youngest daughter of Henry and Victoria Anderson
Cole Anderson, youngest son of Henry and Victoria Anderson, also the youngest in the family
Henry Anderson, father of Anna Anderson
Victoria Anderson, mother of Anna Anderson
Louis Anderson, father of Henry Anderson
Elizabeth Anderson, mother of Henry Anderson
Dr. Donovan Carrington, chief in Hope Hospital
Dr. Frederick Weston, chief surgeon in Hope Hospital
Nurse Mercedes French, Anna’s nurse
Dr. Christian Sorenson, surgeon in Hope Hospital
Nurse Erica Moore, surgical nurse
Dr. Laura Grant, surgeon in Hope Hospital
Nurse Brent Carson, surgical nurse
Peter Bates, leader of the Opposition
Chance, Opposition member
Faith, Opposition member
Angus, Opposition member
Blair, Opposition member
Sophia Mann, president of the Moon
Angela Mann, daughter of the president
Connor Mann, president’s husband
Kane Grant, Laura’s father
Francis Grant, Laura’s mother



Chapter 1 Plague
Earth, 3005
The year is 3005. We have used up all the oil reserve and depleted the mineral resources on Earth. Earth, the place we call home, once green and lush, is now covered by buildings that goes into the sky and domes of natural reserve that protect life from noxious fumes in the atmosphere and the heat from the sun. We moved to the Moon and built outposts there, cities rose from the gray sand, once a quiet satellite, now a busy place where you can do sight-seeing, business, shop, study, and live.
When the plague first strike, a huge exodus started. People moved to the Moon to avoid infection. People who could afford traveling went away first, with their servants and nannies. They took money with them, boosting the economy on the Moon. People with connections in the government also got away because they are setting up new countries there. University professors, lawyers, architects, labourers, farmers, entrepreneurs, engineers, nurses, doctors and teachers left. People who are already infected stayed behind, under the care of hospital sat up by the state. Scientists stayed behind to find the cure, soldiers stayed behind to stop riots and police were there to keep order. It was desperate time, people who were sick tried to get on the space shuttle so they don’t have to live on Earth. They want hope, they want to stay with their family but they can’t.
I was left behind with the others in the hospital. Earth is still as beautiful as the day when I was born. The grass is still green; the ocean still blue, the sky still cloudless and sometimes it rains. You just have to see all the wonders in the world under the dome. My family is long gone, living on the Moon. I am lying on my bed most of the time, fighting the plague, and my nurse reads me letters from my dad, my mum, and my cousins. They encourage me to get better so I can live on the Moon with them in the future, but I know I will never be allowed to leave Earth. This is my home, and I will have to stay here and see what’s going to happen next.
I don’t watch television anymore. People are looting the shops, taking what’s left in the shop with them, throwing rocks at the police, and stealing everything like that’s going to solve their problem. No, it is not going to make you better. Children are hungry, wives don’t have anything to cook in their pan, and men are angry because no one cares about what’s happening to them. Most of them can’t afford space travel; some of them are not even infected with the plague. It’s anarchy everywhere, there’s no law anymore. People leave the cities where they used to work and live in the countryside, most barricading their fortresses together with people who are like them, in the fear of getting infected by the people who are sick. On the other side, there are people who are sick, dying, bleeding, and losing their mind, when their pasts are forgotten. What a waste. That’s what the scientists are working on, a cure to help us get better, and now all they can do is make us feel better when we are dying. I wonder when they will give up on us and live on the Moon because it is more realistic than curing us, even I know that.
“Anna, how are you feeling today?”
“I feel fine, thanks.”
I am glad that I am not bleeding yet, the disease progresses slower on me for some reason, but I know my time is short. Once I start to bleed, it is going to be over very fast. I will forget my childhood, then my teenage years will be wiped from my memory, and finally I will lose myself. I will be in a lot of pain, and in the end all the people die.
“Temperature is normal, blood pressure is within range, and if you don’t have this virus in your blood stream then I will pronounce you healthy and let you go home.”
“I am beginning to think that I am not going to die, but that’s hoping a lot.”
“Maybe the drug is working on you, and you are young and healthy when you caught this bug so I don’t see why you can’t survive. You may be the first survivor.”
“We all have to die some day, doctor. I don’t mind dying, it’s not so bad.”
“But your life just started, why do you want to die, Anna? Everybody wants to live.”
“Why? My family lives on the Moon, they send me money and everything else, but they won’t come down and see me. They are afraid of me, afraid of what I’ve become.”
“Yes, that’s because you have the plague. If you are cured, they can see you any time. You will have your life back and it will be a medical miracle. We will certainly need a blood sample and do some research on it.”
“Go ahead. I don’t think I will survive this, doctor. Sometimes, I feel my life is slipping away from my fingertips and I can’t hold on anymore.”
“You never seem to be able to give up on life, though. You are the only person who is still alive after a month of exposure; in fact, you are in the earliest stage of the disease where there’s no visible symptom. I think if we want to fight this monster, we have to help you fight it, Anna.”
“What are you going to do?”
“We have to study you, but that’s only if we can get consent from you. You are conscious, and since your relatives are far away, we have to get you to sign a few documents. We will make sure you are not harmed in any way.”
“Are you going to give me more treatment so I will be completely cured?”
“We have an experimental procedure that can help you regenerate. What we can’t do is eliminate the virus from your body, but you are doing that quite successfully yourself, and we need to understand the mechanism of that.”
“My immune system just works differently to the others. I guess I am strange.”
“Humans evolve against diseases, and in your case, you body is changing so you can survive. If we don’t have this mechanism, then the human race would have died out a long time ago.”
“What does this experimental procedure involve? Some witch’s brew, I gather.”
“Not quite what you have in mind. It’s reptilian DNA that we’ve extracted from frogs and crocodiles, we have successfully regenerate tissues after modification in the concoction and that worked. We are still testing it against other species right now, but it looks promising. The shot, when it is developed fully, will help all the people who have the disease to regenerate new cells. Your immune system will become a model so we can boost the immune system of the others to a better condition to fight the disease. After all, we can only save those who can save themselves.”
“Welcome to the brave new world. Doctor, I will hold your promise of recovery now and go back to sleep. Come back with a cure, I am bored by this staying in bed business.”
“Who likes to stay in bed whole day anyway, it’s time to get you out of your bed and back to walking around doing stuff other people can do. It will be fun for me.”
“I hope you know what you are doing.”
Gillian, the new girl, is in a bad state. She will move into intensive care soon, she’s lost her memory of the past, and is starting to bleed a lot. I hope doc will help her die peacefully. Her father is the interior minister; I remember watching him on the news, riding in a black hovercraft with his bodyguards, looking glum when the plague started. She isn’t supposed to be here, though. I thought her family moved away from Earth in the beginning, with all the other important government officials.
“When did she come back to Earth? I thought she moved away.”
“She did, but her friends are still on Earth so she came back to visit them. She caught the virus yesterday.”
“It’s progressing fast. Why is that? I’ve never seen someone this serious so fast.”
“I don’t know. I can’t do much for her anymore, she is dying. Stop compression and time of death is 2:35 p.m.”
There’s not much left of the young girl on the table. Her face is distorted from the flesh-eating virus, blood soaks through her pretty skirt, and her bracelet is still shining under the harsh light. Her spirit had left her body long ago, and her chest is still rising and falling from the air pump, but that will soon stop. It’s quiet now.
People keep coming in everyday in different stages of the plague, some of them can still talk, complaining about pain when they were first brought in, some of them lost their memories, and can’t remember whether they have eaten or not. Some of them, like Gillian, are at the end stage. They die very quickly after the last struggle, their bodies still strong because it’s our instinct to fight to survive, but weakened by the virus. There is a lot of blood, and in the end there’s no sound.
Night falls when they come to take her away, dabbing gauze on her face, trying to make her look better with no avail. They changed her clothes, covering her mutilated body with fine fabric that will accompany her forever in her grave. Her parents didn’t come to see her before she past away; they will watch her body on a screen, buried in a beautiful spot on Earth. They will never visit her grave, in fear of catching this deadly disease. They will mourn her far away in the space.
“It’s time for you to get your operation, Anna. We are going to take you to the Jungle.”
“Just tell me I am better when I wake up.”
“You will be, Anna.”
I fall into the best dream of my life. I am living in a cottage, cooking a meal on the stove; there are flowers everywhere outside the window. Butterflies are playing tag in the garden, with bees working hard on collecting honey. I can hear the river rolling down the land and cattle grazing the greenest grass, and lamb running around the paddock behind their mother. It had just rained, and I can see the faint rainbow in the distance. It’s quiet, but I feel so happy and contend. I sip my lemon tea and put my feet up on the sofa, relaxing in the afternoon.
Doctors are injecting cloned cells into my blood stream, modified by reptilian DNA that can regenerate more easily. I breathe steadily under anesthesia, sleeping as they work on my body, inch by inch, wishing that I will recover from this terrible disease. One day they will be able to help the others, too, and people will no longer die from this plague.
My dream takes a dramatic term. It’s starting to rain again, the storm comes in and the wind is howling. It ravages through my garden, pushing the windows and the main door tight towards the house, I have to go to bed, afraid for my life. I can hear the roar of nature, and the scene changes. I am in the middle of the storm, looking up, I see the white Moon in the sky, and the shuttles coming and going from the Moon. I see my parents holding my hands, giving me toys to play, my brothers and sisters singing beside me, and the day when they all left, their teary farewell. I remember mother brushing my hair, father holding me when I was eating my lollipop. I remember riding my first tricycle, my first pet, and going to school. I remember everything, but suddenly the storm is back and I can’t find my past. It’s lost forever. I have to go back to where I was, when I was happy and carefree.
I see the town where I used to live and it is deserted now, the barbwire still holding the sick back. There are nothing left in the shops, all looted and disturbed. My school have no school kids anymore; they have either left or died. The school yards are no longer a place for fun, but a place for weeds to grow. There is no traffic on the street, no cars in sight, lots of rubbish on the ground, and no sign of life. The colourful advertisements are still there, standing in the storm, and the park is still there, devoid of children and adults walking and running, playing and laughing.
The population of Earth has dropped 90% after the plague hit us. 50% of people died, while the other half moved away or stayed behind hiding somewhere in the rural area. Officially, Earth is uninhabited by people now because not a lot of people stayed behind. Unofficially, about 500 people still live in the surrounding area where I stayed, not daring to venture into town, hiding with one another underground, in a cave, or in their own nuclear bunkers. Nobody lives in the cities anymore because it’s too dangerous, you will catch the disease if you are not careful.
I walk to the train station, the clocks are still running on time, but no train will ever come to this station again. There are no buses and no trams on the road, but the trees are still growing, shaking in the wind. I stand in front of the train station looking towards the end of the street, wishing that I am home with my family, enjoying dinner, talking and laughing. I wish that everyone is back here on Earth, living our lives, it can be difficult at times, but happiness is around the corner.
“How are you feeling, Anna?”
I open my eyes; my arms are connected to lines going into my veins, drips of life supporting me through this critical hour. There’s so much light in the room, I can see well again. I flex my fingers, and the joints are no longer stiff like before.
“I feel great, doc. What’s your assessment?”
“Your joints are regaining its formal function. With the right amount of physiotherapy you will be able to walk again soon. You will have to learn to do everything again, and it will not be easy.”
“Life is never easy, doc. I think I will be able to do it, though. I want to get better.”
“No more of that dying nonsense, good. That’s the spirit I know. You are a fighter, not a loser.”
“What should I do now? Can I do something straight away?”
“I think you should call your parents and tell them that you have done this operation. They will want to know how you are doing. They may come down to Earth to see you if you are well enough.”
“Are you sure? That’s great news. I haven’t seen them for a while.”
“I thought you might like that so I have them on the line now, you can talk to them without holding the receiver. You don’t have enough strength to do that just now, but you will in the future.”
“Hi, mum, hi dad. How are you guys?”
“We are good, darling. How are you feeling, Anna? I heard that your doctor has given you a ground-breaking operation, and you will get better soon. You father and I am going to visit you on Earth. We will organise everything and see you in hospital. When you are well, we will take you to the Moon for a trip. You can come and live with us, or get your own place on the Moon if you like.”
“Yes, sky is the limit, mum, if one is healthy. I still have to work on my rehabilitation.”
“You can do that anywhere, darling. You can rehabilitate on the Moon. I am sure the doctor can arrange something for you here, close to us. You see, we have moved to the Moon and life on the Moon isn’t so bad.”
“No, it looks great. I want to see you guys.”
“Yes, we miss you, too. I am going to get the tickets to Earth straight away. We will see you soon, we will be able to hold your hands again, and stroke your hair. Anna, I miss you so much. We want to be with you now.”
“Dad, you can. I am so happy.”
I am happy and contend now. My future is bright again, even though it will be a long hard road, I can walk it with my own legs again.
My bed is soft, sleep beckons and I fall into my dream again, and this time, I am surrounded by people who are healthy. Kids are running around in their shorts and skirts, playing tag. Adults are walking to work, sitting in the park and looking at pigeons, riding in buses, trams, and bicycles. People are driving on the road again, the noise is deafening, but I feel alive.
All that will change overnight. My life is taking a huge turn again, and the future is unknown to me.
The Moon, 3005
The once barren land is colonized by people from Earth after the plague hit all the countries. People who built the first station on the Moon are living there long term now, having conquered the rough terrain as pioneers. People are traveling beyond the galaxy, going into deep space, exploring more possibilities.
What about that nagging question: are there aliens out there? Of course, the answer to that question is affirmative. People have not only seen them in their telescope now, they have met them and talked with them. We understand so much more about the aliens now that they are no longer classified. Children go to school with alien children, speaking their language and learning about their culture. Alien cooking is big everywhere, with exotic fruits and vegetable on the table. Their advanced technology also helps people on the Moon a lot.
The white moonstones are shining under the sun. Henry and Victoria Anderson live in the beautiful building in the suburb. Their children have left home, eldest son Daniel married with two children of his own, also living on the Moon. Their daughter Anna is on Earth in the hospital. Some of her brothers and sisters are still studying, some of them are working, some of them are homemakers, and some of them are exploring the universe.
The Moon is governed by Sophia Mann, president of the Moon. A politician on Earth, she was propelled to the top after the move to the new capital of civilization. People who managed to leave their home behind needs reassurance, Sophia gives them that. Scientists are still trying to find the cure for the plague so humans can return to their homeland in the future, although the task seems to have hit a brick wall.
Anna is recovering. Sophia is reading about her progress and is contacting her parents to tell them the good news, when she has to deliver many bad news, this is a change. One woman is not going to die. Sophia feels so happy, she misses her home on Earth, even though all her relatives live on the Moon now. She misses her garden with flowers blooming, trees that have lush green leaves, river that runs through fertile land, and ocean that crush against the sandy beach. She will be able to go back home soon.
"Henry, did you talk with Anna? How's she doing after the surgery?"
"Very well. She's recovering. They are still running some tests, but they are quite confident that she will make a full recovery. It's a miracle, isn't it? So many have died already."
"I hope we can find a cure. This has gone on for too long."
"You're right. How's Angela? She's still studying?"
"Yes, she's doing quite well. She's going to graduate from law school soon. How's Cole? He's graduating as well?"
"He's decided to open his own company with his friends. I am not sure how he will do, but you know how young people are, they will never listen to their parents. I hope he knows what he's doing."
"You never know, young people are quite resilient now. We have been through a lot."
"Yes, everyone has. It's time we find happiness again."
"How's Victoria holding up? She must be stoked that Anna is getting better."
"She is. She's setting up a room for Anna at home, getting the medical equipment into the house and hiring nurses to care for Anna. It's not easy to find a nurse willing to care for a plague patient. We are trying our best."
"I don't blame them. It's a life and death decision."
"The only thing we can do is to raise the wage and benefits. We can't promise anything at this stage. We don't know enough yet."
"Everything will be fine. They tend to sort themselves out. Henry, I am really happy that I can deliver good news today. We are getting somewhere finally."
"Yes, I better let you go. Talk to you later."
Sophia's secretary came into the room at that moment, holding a folder, she starts reciting her schedule:
"Madame President, it is time to meet the Interior Minister. You have a meeting with Health Minister at 2 p.m. regarding the progress of Anna and the vaccine. The finance minister wants to have a meeting at 3 p.m. so I put him in. The new Casino building is giving him headache, I have some information here which may or may not help the situation. You are going to a Plague Fund-raising tonight. I've picked out your outfit for you, the First Gentleman will meet you in the car."
"Thank you very much, Lydia. Anything else?"
"No, ma'am."
"Can you ask John to make hazelnut coffee for me? I really need something for this afternoon, thank you."
"Yes, it will be here straight away."