Utopia

Utopia

By

Brandi Wanto

The simplicity scares me as I think about it from start to finish. Drilling an ice sample in the artic ended our civilization as we knew it. Cutting into the ice was cutting back in time. Ancient micoorganisms were free to mingle in the air. The bacterium and fungi swept through humanity killing anyone without immunity. Over 90% of the world wiped out in seven years.

The ones lucky enough to have the neanderthal gene were immune to the blight. That is what everyone called it “The Neanderthal Gene”. The survivors did whatever necessary to keep going, keep surviving. Small groups of us came together living in tiny makeshift communities.

The rules were simple, everyone contributes, or you are banished. Don’t talk about who you lost keep focus on now. Trust no one outside your community, everyone is now your enemy. Outsiders must prove themselves for months sometimes a year before acceptance is granted. Follow the orders you are given.

Our group has stopped accepting outsiders months ago. We don’t have resources to support any more people. Three women are pregnant, so the vote was to close our doors. The rest of the communities are also getting desperate. We have defeated three attacks on our stronghold in the last month. Sad people driven by hunger, looking to steal supplies. They seek out weak communities of people unable to fight or stand up for themselves.

Sheila was smart, after our parents and sister Marcie died, she somehow knew how to survive. Sheila was the oldest 27, Marcie was 23 and I just turned 19. Sheila was a nurse actually a few more clinicals she would be a nurse practitioner. I felt sad she would never finish it. It was easy moving from community-to-community Sheila offered her skill as a healer woman. She only let us stay a few days at each place before moving on. “It doesn’t feel right here.” That was the only answer she gave for the reason we were leaving.

I shouldn’t think about it but it’s hard to push the memories away. I watched our parents die from the fungi. A thick black mold grows on your skin, inside your body, anyplace you have tissue. Only the bones are left untouched by the velvet black spores.

My father tried cutting it off him until he realized it was inside too. He lay down after that refusing to eat or drink. Death came quickly he died in his sleep. He was granted peace at his end. Our mother had died first. She wasn’t given a peaceful end. That gracious gift was denied by the Gods. She choked and vomited up thick black syrup struggling to breathe. Her death took hours ending in violent seizures. Sheila didn’t tell me, but I knew the black vomit was her insides spilling out.

Marcie shot herself before the spores took over her body completely. She gave Sheila the heart shaped locket from around her neck before she ended it. She told Sheila she loved her, and then Marcie gave me the matching bracelet.

I didn’t see her suicide coming, my mind thought she was just preparing for her eventual death from the spores. I don’t know how I missed it as she put the bracelet with the heart locket on my wrist. She told me she loved me kissing me on the cheek.

She gave Sheila the locket necklace because it contained a picture of our entire family. Sheila had bought it for her last birthday. I bought in turn bought her the matching bracelet. It has a picture of the three of us sister. We buried all of them together behind the house in side-by-side graves. We left the day after Marcie died.

I lost track of time. I don’t remember how many communities we visited or how long we walked. One day we saw camouflage in the distance and Sheila smiled. I think we might have found home, she said. Joy filled my heart, but we didn’t have an invitation to join them yet. Sheila had a plan, she always had a plan.

We approached slowly with hands visible. A voice told us to stop and turn around and go back the way we came. She said her normal speech about being a nurse asking if anyone inside needed help. To my surprise they told her NO emphasizing we needed to keep moving.

Sheila dangled a bag, yelling out, DO YOU HAVE MEDICINE? Slowly a door opened in front of us. A man approached with a gun pointed at us. He walked up immediately presenting his terms, “A week of rations for both of you in exchange for the medicine.” He slightly tilted his head moving his gaze over Sheila’s body as he made the statement.

Sheila refused asking to join the group for a few days. The man replied, “I can just shoot you and take all your supplies.” was his reply.

Sheila smiled saying, “You have honor, or we would already be dead. Are you going to let an asset willing to show you her skills get away? You don’t seem like someone willing to let two women walk off to be raped or killed?”

He stared at her his face seemed angry, but it softened. He took a long sigh and introduced himself. I’m Mike Murphy holding his hand out for her to shake it. Sheila Malvin and that is Rachael. She said pointing toward me. He motioned at the gate with his arms letting us follow him past the gate doors.

I felt the energy between Mike and my sister instantly. Their romance was fast, hot, and heavy. We were accepted as full members of their group in a few days. I even started my own romantic relationship with a soldier named Paul. It took us some time to become involved. It wasn’t nearly as quick as my sister and Mike.

Our group let others join, but only women until we stopped accepting outsiders. Life was different, but we had happiness between moments of trying to survive. People got married three couples were expecting. Paul and I hoped we would be blessed in time with a child. Sheila and Mike didn’t have the same joy as everyone else. They became uneasy as time went on unable to hide it from the group.

They announced they decided to leave our community in search of more supplies, medicine, fertilizer, supplements, and seeds. Genetically modified food made it impossible for us to grow food from seeds taken from fruit and vegetables. They needed to find prepackaged seeds to make our community able to sustain itself. We had weapons, we had fuel, we had some tanks and army vehicles. We were blessed with an actual metal and concrete building.

The location had its own water source, and it was on a hill. Mike said it was the best strategic location, but we needed food. It has been four weeks since the two of them left us. I made my decision to go find them. Paul tried to talk me out of it, but he relented. NO MAN LEFT BEHIND, he said. I survived before with Sheila out there in the violent new world. I was ready.

Paul was a tracker an ancient skill I thought was forgotten. He laughed off my astonishment saying, “It is regular old army skills babe”. The signs of Mike and Sheila ended at a community surrounded by a fence made from scavenged debris. A car hood, some plywood, sheet metal, and plastic covered the wooden frame.

We approached slowly just as Sheila taught me to do. The door opened for us to come inside. I grabbed Paul’s hand, “This is too easy. Something is wrong” Paul told me to breathe asking me to be careful, but we had no choice. Against my internal warning we entered the community. It looked like dozens of makeshift homes Sheila and I visited. Everyone living in a cell type structure opening to a large community room with a pulpit type stage. A woman walked toward us smiling bringing a plate of food. “Hello, Welcome to Utopia my children”

The plate had sliced apples, pears, and bits of meat with crackers. She offered it to us as another woman brought water. We refused to eat or drink any of it. I could see men standing in the background, they were armed watching us. She gestured for us to follow her once again welcoming us to their community.

She introduced herself as Anna and she explained they were welcoming outsiders to strengthen the community. She said, “The only way to provide strength for the community was to welcome strangers”. She invited us to stay if we wanted to become members of the community. Paul gave me a look, it screamed, “She’s crazy” I can’t deny I felt afraid deep inside myself.

We graciously thanked her but explained the reason for being at her Utopia. Anna offered us chairs sitting across from us. She admitted that Mike and Sheila visited them. She said she traded with them for some seeds. She gave their seeds and wished them well. She said she begged them to stay, but they left saying they were returning to Rachael.

She knew my name and it gave me chills over my body. She wore a bohemian dress with lots of flowing light blue fabric. I could almost see her walking the beach near the ocean. Her grey hair flowed down her back. She reminded me of seeing a depiction of mother nature online. She spoke of the power of the community and how family holds people together.

We agreed to stay the night but intended to say our goodbyes in the morning. The room she gave us was small but had a door that locked. Paul locked us in as soon as she left us alone. I expressed my desire to leave immediately by sneaking out. Paul told me I was overreacting. He did believe me this place was a bad idea. His instinct told him Mike and Sheila were still here. Paul wanted to take a look around to confirm his suspicion.

He tried the door but couldn’t open it. The lock on the door locked us in from the outside. We were trapped. I looked at the door frame and it was poorly put together. Paul followed my gaze and he smiled on the count of three we kicked the frame of the door away from the wall. We couldn’t hide the noise it made from slamming hard on the floor. Multiple people came to investigate it, but we ran.

We almost made it, but some of the men with weapons surrounded us. I was able to dash into a room locking the door. I caught a glimpse of Paul pushing his way into a room opposite of mine. My breathing slowed allowing me to examine the room. It was full of clothes. Different sizes, colors, just clothing, shoes, and jewelry hanging on PVC pipe.

I browsed the jewelry dumped in crates around the room. It would not be difficult to scavenge this much stuff, but why? It takes up useful space, I can hear Sheila’s words in my head. My mind didn’t want to see it but mixed in the jewelry a chain I recognized. I fished my sisters’ heart shaped locket out of the pile. I knew she was dead, probable Mike too.

I frantically looked for a way out, but Paul screaming stopped my search. I bolted out of the room Paul’s name. Paul was being beaten by a few men as Anna watched. I pushed the flush of anger I felt back down inside myself.

“Are really going to kill a healer woman of skill and her husband?” I asked calmly looking over at Paul. He was bleeding, his leg looked broken, but he was alive. The old crone approached us again this time her robes were clearly streaked in Paul’s blood.

Her hands were tremoring, some of the others also had the same tremors. I missed it because she held the tray of food hiding her hands. I pointed to her hands, “Cannibalism causes a prion disease that affects the nerves. The tremors are the beginning, but the end of it is 100% fatal. You are all affected.” I said accusing them of atrocities. Sheila and Mike flooded my mind.

Anna stared at me and then at her hands, “Can you treat it?” I smiled touching my bag, “Yes, but we need to make a deal.” I answered. She nodded slowly. Paul was taken to a bed for medical treatment. He looked at me worried. He didn’t know my plan yet. The deal was we give them the cure and leave never to return.

The variety of vegetables they had available almost made me cry. I had lived on creamed corn and canned green beans for a few years. The change to fresh was almost too blissful. I busied myself making the “cure” every day. I mixed up the concoction pretending the process takes four weeks. This gave Paul’s leg time to heal. He was still using a stick for a cane at three weeks, but he was good enough to leave. I announced it was ready earlier than I planned. Anna Utopia’s Mother Nature Crone was pleased.

I presented my cure to her congregation taking a long sip of it in front of them. I presented the cup to Anna and she drank deeply. My self-taste test convinced her it was safe. She ordered everyone to line up to receive the cure. They didn’t drink it, but instead held their cups waiting for everyone to get some of my cure. This confused me, but I patiently waited.

Once everyone had their cup filled Anna led them in prayer saying it was destiny Paul and I came to live with them. She finished her prayer by hugging me saying, “Thank you sister”.

It only took 30 minutes before everyone started to die. My cure cocktail was Strychnine, Belladonna, and Hemlock. The first induces muscle spasms and the other two act as a paralytic. In my mind it was like speed balling cocaine and heroin. Different drug actions dueling it out in your body. The terror on their faces as their diaphragms lost the battle stopping their breathing. It gave me joy.

I didn’t feel any joy when I used it on my father. I couldn’t let him die the same way our mother died. I just used the paralytics on him. He stopped breathing as he quietly slept. Before the ancient fungi and bacterium swept the Earth I was studying to be a chemist. My study continued after the schools closed. Sheila encouraged it. “If you know how to heal then you know how to kill” she said. I mixed the medicine for her using the rudimentary lab I created.

The infantry unit put together a more substantial lab for me. Their raids into town for supplies often resulted in chemicals I could use. I smiled feeling the joy fill my body. Anna watched in horror as her people died one by one. She lunged at me, but my blade found her heart. Right between the ribs just like Paul taught me.

“We didn’t kill your sister” Anna whispered as she shuddered her last breaths. I threw her body on the ground staring down at her.

The rules are simple, everyone contributes, or you are banished. Don’t talk about who you lost keep focus on now. Trust no one outside your community, everyone is now your enemy. Outsiders must prove themselves for months sometimes a year before acceptance is given. Follow the orders you are given. I added a new rule People Lie.

Paul limped up beside me placing his hand on my belly. He gently patted the growing bump under my clothes. “You’re starting to show babe” he remarked kissing me gently. I nodded nuzzling my head against him. “We will be ok now” I responded placing my hand on top of Paul’s on my belly. He kissed me again gesturing to the hydroponic garden the Utopians cultivated. Everything we needed was right here.

Paul opened the heart locket on my bracelet exposing the tiny beacon tucked inside. He activated it alerting the others to come to our location with the trucks. He hugged me again trying to comfort me, “Do you think the old hag told the truth about Sheila?” he asked. I shrugged my shoulders, “Her locket didn’t contain the beacon when I found it” I handed the locket to Paul letting him open it. “Weird” he said as we walked into the garden.