The Locket

You wanna end the world? All you have to do is come up with an airborne disease and put it in a compressed locket that when opened, it sprays the contents everywhere. You design the locket to make any five-year-old want to have it. Even an adult might want it. This beautiful, deadly locket was found on the playground. The silver, heart shaped locket with the bluest of blue sapphires in it surrounded by diamonds. It sparkled in the sun as the kids ran around mindlessly. Except for Lexi. Lexi spotted the necklace and picked it up right away.

She didn’t bother to tell anyone that she had it. It was something for her to covet. Later that day, after dinner, I noticed she was wearing it. I asked her where she got it. She told me the truth. She found it on the playground. She had asked her sister Maxi to braid her hair like Elsa the Disney Princess. She had asked if she looked as beautiful as Elsa and I told her she was more beautiful. I must admit, I was also mesmerized by it. If it was a fake – no harm, right? But what if it was real? If it was fake it looked awfully real. If it was real, then how did it end up on the playground of an elementary school? A teacher? Parent?

My thoughts were all over the place. I told Lexi that for now, we would hold onto it. If someone asks for it only then would we turn it in. I wanted her to have something nice of her own. I could see that she really enjoyed it. In my ultimate mind, if it were real then we would have a nice insurance plan for money. With that necklace she looked like royalty. Princess Lexi. Then. The ultimate gut punch; I just didn’t know it at the time. We were sitting on the sofa watching Elsa for the hundredth time. Honestly, I lost count of how many times we watched Frozen. She opens the locket. There was a hiss and then she sneezes.

I mindlessly hand her a tissue and asked if she was okay. She told me that the locket must have been a bit dusty. No worries. She blows her knows and sets the tissue on the table. Allen picks up the tissue and throws it away. He rubbed his eyes as he had just finished a double. He yawns, stretches, and then heads off to bed. In the middle of that, Maxi is walking down the hall. He ruffles her hair. And that was the beginning. We were ground zero. We started the whole thing. Was this our punishment for not turning it in? I wrote down every detail. I did not want to forget. Should someone find my diary, they would know the whole story.

Most would ask why? Why did we keep the locket? Like I said, if it was real, it was our way out. We were having a bit of money troubles and Allen was working doubles what seemed like every day. We never got to see him. Pawning it would have meant at least a few hundred dollars. It was heavy. It had to be real. I wanted it to be real. I needed it to be real. I needed our family to resemble somewhat of a normalcy. When Allen would come home, dinner would be cooked, the house was clean, and the kids were ready for bed after dinner. Now, he comes home, and the kids are up later because they don’t see him. I was a stay at home mom. He made sure I never worked a day in my life.

Now all of that has been stripped from me. I am on the run from everyone. I am the immune. You would think that this is a great thing right. Wrong. Absolutely wrong. Did I mention that this disease crossed species? Animals died and other animals ate them. It was a very vicious cycle. Getting back to the City of the Immune. It was like the The Wizard of Oz. It looked perfect on the outside, but on the inside – there was suffering, and you were lab rats. But if you wanted to live the life of luxury, that was the only way. It was the only city to be fully functioning with government and security.

Then there was the City of Technology. They had all the parts that you needed to function. Getting parts and supplies cost. It was either your life, or things of value. It lacked the electricity and natural resources to run. The City of Nature had the natural resources and could help Electricity, but they were greedy and selfish people. The people there lived off the land sufficiently but could use some common or modern-day needs. However, although the two cities are close in proximity, never pooled together the resources because each one thought their way of living was best. Then there was the City of Religion.

The City of Religion believed that God was coming and there would be a messiah to deliver us from this plague. That messiah was my son – Seth. Seth was born from two people who were immune during a time infertility. Seth was hidden from the world. We had to protect him until we knew it was safe for him to be exposed from the world. If people really did the math, they would know that he was special. We had to increase his age and explain that he was just short for his age. We drilled it into Seth so much that even he believed it.

Everyone wanted my son and I’d be damned if they could have him. When I met Jacob, we both were trying to escape Immune. This wasn’t the best feat. Immune had eyes and ears everywhere. Anytime Immune wanted or needed anything they would go to the other cities and start a war to pillage what they wanted or bribed the civilians for information. Immune did their best to hold onto what was left of the western government. When Immune found out I was Ground Zero – they did what all governments would do. There was a bounty on my head.

I was tired of running and honestly, I wanted to just sleep for once without looking over my shoulder. When I arrived to the gates, that’s when I saw Jacob. Although he looked strong, face showed a weakness. He shook his head “no” at me. He mouthed the words for me to run, but it was too late. I was there. President White declared me free. I was free to roam about how I wanted. I was cleaned. Fed. Treated like royalty. That is how they lure you into a false sense of security. After a few weeks President White approached me and told me that it was my civic duty to be tested to find a cure.

My thought was, if we were a city of immune people – why did we need a cure? Then I learned that most if not all were infertile. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Months turned into years. We were poked, prodded and down right stripped of any sanity and humanity. But at least we were functioning right? One day, I was walking down the street and they were beating Jacob. I ran as fast as I could. I pushed them away. They were beating him because he resisted. He no longer wanted to be a part of the regime. We escaped into the woods and waited days before trying to leave.

There we talked about what happened in the beginning to our families. It took me a moment to remember and I sobbed uncontrollably. He promised at the first chance we got, I would get a diary or notebook to write it all down. I needed that. I needed to remember. I told him about the locket and what happened that night. I told him about the days that came after. Lexi did not wake up. In fact, she was nearly in a coma and burning hot. Allen was fine at first and went to work as normal. He wore is gray overalls and work boots. Lexi was wearing her blue Elsa nightgown. Maxi too was unresponsive. Maxi had Lupus and her poor body couldn’t fight it.

I told Allen to go to work and I would handle things. That day was so overwhelming. I called his mother Linda over to help me. Linda took Lexi in her car and I took Maxi in mine. The hospital nearly called CPS thinking we had poisoned our children. Lexi coded and was rushed to the O.R. There, even protected with PPE, the doctors and nurses became carriers. Meanwhile, Allen coughed a few times at work and was sent home. He never made it home. He too was rushed to the hospital. Then things became a blur and the world went mad. They were careless. They did not take this pandemic as serious as they should have.

Upon completion of my story – Jacob held me. He touched my body in a way that sent electricity through me. I knew that I loved him the first time I met him. All I wanted was him and only him. But how could this work? In this world? He looked at me contently. He cupped my face and kissed me like no other. That night nothing else mattered. Not the cold. Not the fact we both hungry. We didn’t care about anything except for each other. It was magical and it was then that Seth was conceived. Immune and Religion wanted him the most. I am certain you can understand why. Electricity wanted him as a bargaining chip.

Jacob and I scavenged for a life. Stealing when we needed to and staying off the radar. It worked until Seth was ten, but we told him he was 15. Just enough time to have been born during the first wave. The first wave took as many as half the world. Then resources started to become scarce. The second wave was nastier than the first and took three quarters of the world population. They called it the super bug. Suddenly, bleach and other cleaners became unobtainable unless you were able to pay at a premium. People washed their hands so much that water had to be regulated even more.

As my stomach grew, I stopped going outside out of fear of being caught. Jacob became very crafty at procuring the things that we needed. Imagine you and your child feeling imprisoned because people wanted you for one reason or another? Seth was such a good boy. He followed the rules. He listened. He never questioned why our life was the way it was. He was happy to be with his mother and father. Then came that fateful day when we let our guard down and let Seth play outside for sun and vitamin D. A drone flew over our mock home and it was the end of the life that we had.

We knew we had to run. By the time we were ready, we were surrounded by Immune soldiers. If you are reading this, it is the start of Book 1. It also means that I am no longer control of my life and President White has us stored away somewhere like a diamond in a coal mine. Please find us and save us.