Un-vax

Jani walked the deserted streets with an eye to the empty windows above. She still hadn't gotten used to the feeling of silence. She longed for the busy buzz of life; empty chatter, horns honking, even sirens. Instead, the cars were gravestones scattered through the streets, the windows quiet mourners watching over them. Cinder let out a yip and nosed her loose hand. The blue heeler was her only friend since the world had become this quiet tomb.

"Yeah girl, let's find some supplies and head back to the woods. It's creepy here." She spoke softly so her words wouldn't echo down the road. Her other hand rested loosely on the grip of the pistol on her hip. She found the weight of the pistol and the rifle slung across her slim back reassuring. Can't be too careful these days.

The world had ended faster than anyone thought possible. It started with the pandemic; a virus turned the world on its head overnight. Countries had closed their border, ordering their citizens to quarantine and stay in small groups, to "slow the spread" or "flatten the curve" as they said. Global economies were crashing as they enforced lockdown after lockdown. Destroying small businesses overnight. They forced through a vaccine from only a couple of manufacturers that was supposed to trigger a change in the RNA to combat the virus. Due to the emergency state, it didn't go through the same trials as other vaccinations were required to. Many flocked to get it, but just as many were skeptical and refused. Soon the government was offering money, lottery tickets, even drugs and alcohol to convince the most reluctant to get the vaccines. Ill reactions to the vaccines took lives, and the benefits seemed small in comparison. You could still get the virus; it was just a milder case when vaccinated… they said. When they still weren't reaching everyone, they enforced segregation. Opening events and separating the vaccinated from the unvaccinated. If you wanted the best seats and the best treatment you had to show your papers to enter. Anything to get the masses to submit to the needle.

It was after the big push that the word was leaked that the virus came from a lab. The pandemic was man-made after all. The conspiracy theorists weren't so far off. It got worse as the virus mutated, releasing variants that defeated the small benefits the vaccine had once given. The people began rioting in countries around the world. Their anger overcame their fear as they realized the government had created the pandemic to cover their own tracks in the making of the virus. That's when the true side effects of the vaccines came to light. The vaccinated had become supercarriers. While the vaccinated felt normal and asymptomatic they spread thousands of variants of the disease, mutated in their incubator RNA to become deadly. Eventually, the virus would mutate itself into a variant that would kill its own host. Very few survived the year, and the year after that even less.

She didn't know why she had survived. Perhaps her introverted nature had saved her from meeting the wrong host that would have taken her out. She had avoided that vaccine at all costs. Maybe living in the mountains away from the people wasn't as crazy an idea as everyone had made it out to be when there was still an "everyone". Either way, she hadn't met anyone else in the years since the world ended. Just her and her dog wandering together across the wide world, hoping to find another soul that had survived this catastrophe.

She tried to avoid raiding people's homes out of respect for her lost neighbors, and fear that their bodies might still infect her. One day when she ran out of storefronts it would be inevitable. Weaving her way through the cars and taking a right toward the center of the city she saw a break of green ahead and headed towards it. The cement gave way to a wild park that had once been well-groomed in the center of the square. She drew her pistol and walked slow cautious steps into the darker shadows under the tall trees. If she did find someone else alive, she wanted to make sure they were friendly before they got close, and unvaccinated. They had said 6 feet apart during the pandemic, she would keep them to 12 at least.

A strange dark form rose from what seemed to be a clearing in the tangle of wildlife. Crouching and taking slow steps she approached, Cinder feeling her unease raised her hackles as they came near. Movement and a gleam of light had her snapping the pistol up and around. The shape was looming over her now and she realized it could only be one thing. Holstering the pistol, she knelt and felt a tear run down her dirty face. It was a prayer wall for those that had died in the first round of mutations. A memory of when the people still had hope that it was only isolated cases that were dying so quickly. The photos were mostly faded and weather-worn. Smiling faces of loved ones in their Sunday best. Candles that had been lit in prayers littered the lower shelves, piled on top of one another as loved ones had grieved. Jani sat and looked over each photo, trying to remember their faces.

A breeze cooled the tears on her face and brought her eyes up to another flash of light. She stood and neared the upper corner of the prayer wall. A beautiful heart-shaped locket twirled back in forth in the breeze. Her fingers clutched the delicate work of metal and lifted the chain from the hook pressed into the wall. It was an intricate design of roses in black hills gold. Next to the hook was the picture of a young girl, probably no more than sixteen. She had a rodeo princess smile and eyes that shone through the weathered paper. She looked full of life even now, no wonder they had mourned her. She looked down to the locket in her hand and gently opened the clasp. Inside was a little girl with the same eyes peering out. On the other side was an inscription saying, "The world is yours."

The irony was too much. She roughly closed it and laughed a gut-wrenching laugh out into the silence. Tears ran faster now; in grief or laughter, she didn't know. The loneliness and the pain from the years finally broke through her and showered down. Dynasties had risen and fallen. Wars had been waged for control and domination of the world. Nuclear destruction had been threatened even as humanity had fallen. A virus had been created to spark fear and make it easier for those who wished to control the world to control the people. And she was the last one standing.

Shaking her head to get a hold of herself she put the necklace around her neck and gave Cinders ears a good scratch. "Come on girl. Don't you know, the world is ours." With one last look at the lost faces, she headed back to the world so many had fought and died for. Peaceful in the aftermath of humanity.

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