Pandemic

Dead grass and weeds fill the yards of suburban houses. Vines and shrubbery wrap around whitewash fences. A garage door creaks open a tall man in a white hazmat suit runs with two white bags towards a blue trash bin. The man stops for a moment, throws the trash in the container, and presses a button on the lid, and it incinerates. Burnt plastic fills the air with its toxic odor. He then hurries back in the garage and slams the door shut. Sweat beads off the man’s bald head as he pulls off the hazmat helmet.

"Doris, can you get the decontamination chamber ready?" yells John. Wiping the sweat off his brow with a white handkerchief and undresses.

“I'm on it, dear, just give me a moment to get the water going."

She twists a red knob in the garage by a set of pipes that connects to a small white room with shower jets.

John walks into the white room and presses a green button sealing the door. Soap cascades from a dispenser from the ceiling. A panel by the door glows green, and Johns walks out of the chamber and grabs a towel that Doris left on a black folding table. He puts his ripped jeans and t-shirt on and walks towards the kitchen door.

“I swear I saw the neighbor peek through the window over there!”

"Now, I know you've had a rough day today, but I fear you are paranoid.”

She stands by the other side of the door, her curly hair wraps around her finger, and she smiles at John.

"I just lost my job, and we have a baby on the way," says John. He rubs Doris’s stomach and leans on the kitchen counter.

"We have everything we need right now, dear."

"I know, but Cole is due any day now, and we need that money for another hazmat suit.”

Doris looks up at John and kisses him on the cheek. She grabs a cup from the cupboard and pulls out a bottle of wine and pours John a drink.

"Everything is going to be alright, John. Drink this and relax," says Doris. Handing John the cup.

"I know, love."

He sips the wine. His mouth is filled with a sweet tang, and he smiles at Doris.

“How about I make your favorite dish tonight?”

“Sounds—” says John.

Glass shatters in the living room a brick hits the sofa and rolls on the floor. It stops on the kitchen linoleum right by Dori's feet; she screams.

“Coons and chinks don’t belong here. It's a white-only neighborhood.” yells a voice.

“Liam?” yells John.

An alarm sounds in the background with a countdown.

"Yeah, it's me, you dirty ape," yells Liam.

“But why—”

“Your slant-eyed wife’s people brought this virus to my country!”

John runs to the adjoined living room with his shirt over his mouth. He types in a code on the wall, but his finger slips on a number. The digital read says error. He types in the code again. The alarms stop, but the countdown stays. A heavy thud captures John's attention. He runs back into the kitchen to see his wife on the floor. The countdown on the stove reads ten minutes.

“You have to wake up love!” says John, he grabs a cup from the cupboard and fills it with tap water. He pours the water down Doris's throat as he cradles her head in his arms. Doris's eyes flutter open, and she looks up at John.

“W-what happened?”

"We have to go now, love. Can you walk?"

“I...” says Doris. Her hands shake as she tries to lift herself off the kitchen floor. She falls back into John’s arms.

“Ok, I will pick you up and put you in the car.”

The countdown hits five minutes, and a secondary alarm sounds off. John picks up his wife and runs to the garage door. Another crash and the smell of smokes fills the house. Flames engulf the living room. John stops in his tracks when he sees the fire.

“We don’t want colored people here!” yells Liam.

John opens the garage door and dresses Doris in the hazmat suit and puts her in the back seat of a silver Rover. The countdown hits one minute, and John runs to the driver's side and slides in slamming the door. He opens up the garage door with an opener on the driver's side visor.

"John, what are you doing? You have no suit," says Doris. Lifting her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun as the garage door opens.

“We have to leave now.”

Liam bashes the fender of the SUV with a baseball bat, and debris flies into his eyes. John peels out and leaves black tire tread marks in the driveway. Grey smoke clouds fill the air.

"I think we are safe now, love," says John.

"John! My water broke," says Doris, she looks at John and tears stream down her face.

“I’m on it!”

John puts his foot on the gas and drives five meters. He looks at Doris in the rear-view mirror, smiles, and then passes out.

***

The sound of sirens blare in the background while red and blue lights flash and reflect off the dashboard. A knock jolts John awake he looks up and sees an EMT at his door. The EMT opens the door and puts John on a stretcher.

“It’s a boy!” says the EMT, He smiles at John and hands him a hazmat suit. “Put this on after we decontaminate you.”

John smiles and looks up to see his wife and child safely in a decontamination unit in the ambulance.