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The Norm

A Day in the Life of a Modern Plague Doctor

By JustinPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
1

The morning brought with it a cool wind down from the west, whistling through the cracked window it distracted the child long enough for Ivy to administer the shot. It wasn't until after she had put the syringe away and nearly finished did the child begin crying, it's mother doing her best to calm it. Ivy looked out the window at the amber fog outside and sighed, gave her usual speech to the mother about how to avoid infection or contamination and as always stressed the importance of changing the filters on their masks, and of course where to obtain said filters then snapped her medical bag closed and walked out of the bedroom.

Red was waiting outside in the living room doing his thing, keeping the father distracted while Ivy took care of business.

"She's alright, right?!"

The father took a giant step over to Ivy as she walked out of the bedroom hallway,

"Yes She'll be fine just don't forget to swap out the filters every month and that should reduce the rate of infection..."

Red put his hat back on and opened the front door, adjusting the valve on his mask as the two of them left the house and continued their rounds, the amber fog billowed and whipped around parked cars and mailboxes, rustling the leaves still clinging to the trees. It was early autumn and the days were growing colder.

"It's pretty chilly this morning eh, Red?" Ivy said trying to break the silence of the empty street.

Red nodded and checked his tablet as they continued through the streets. The tablet buzzed and flashes of light darted and popped to life on the screen following his gloved finger as it traced their route for the day, checking off the stops they had completed and the ones they still had to get to.

"We got a couple wellness checks, a disposal and two more doses to go, then Breaker wants everyone back at the tower for some sort of announcement"

Red had been Ivys' Plague Brother for two years. He was an older man with red hair that was now mostly white, they were assigned together after the ration riots in thirty-two when her partner was killed by a rioter; Red wouldn't talk much about his old partner. The two of them were members of a organization that had been tasked by the government to be front line medical support for the population, to not only treat the infected but to support the communities and enrich the lives of the quarantined. Red had been doing the job since oh-twenty and has witnessed more than his fair share of what the so called soft apocalypse had to offer.

A pungent odor suddenly snaked its way through the filter on Ivy's mask and violated the usual smell of herbs and flowers as it would from time to time. She coughed and turned her head, not like it would do anything. Ahead of them was a group of about twelve maybe fifteen figures, indistinguishable in the fog that still hung heavy in the air. Red raised his lantern and switched on the bright blue light to notify whomever it was who they were.

"Illegal disposal?" Ivy said, already knowing the answer.

"Smells like it, at least they're burning 'em" Red said and waved his lantern from side to side.

Voices of disapproval and annoyed grumbles could be heard from the group as they approached which turned out to be more like five people and a pickup truck and behind it was the source of the smell, that same burnt meat smell that Red had become so accustomed to and Ivy knew all too well. A row of several bodies, laid atop a platform of wood and straw, doused in oil to help burn them quicker.

"You all know burning of infected bodies is only to be done at approved pyre grounds right?"

Red knew all the rules, some of the other Docs said he even helped write a few of them and if there was one thing Ivy knew about Red without a grain of doubt, it was that he didn't like it when folks broke the rules.

One of the people in a green homemade mask stepped forward and began talking to red, it sounded more like pleading but Ivy could only make out every other word, muffled as it was. Red calmed the person in the green mask down and let them explain the delicate situation they found themselves in. It was an illegal disposal like Ivy had guessed and lucky for them a Control unit was close by and already spotted the smoke, once the boys in black arrived to take over the situation and administer what passed for justice nowadays, which for illegal disposal of infected bodies was usually a hefty fine Ivy and Red continued their rounds. The wellness checks were a walk in the park consisting of some lengthy conversations and story telling topped off with a well-placed joke or two, and they still managed to get through those ahead of schedule, which let them take their time with a disposal, a legal disposal.

The outside of the house was quiet but for a hum of classical music that escaped from behind the closed drapes and as they approached Red double-checked the address.

"Here we are, number 12 Patterson Street, sounds like they're in the middle of the wake."

"Should we wait outside?" Ivy asked.

The wood stairs creaked as Red stepped up to the front door of the old house, he knocked a few times and after a few moments was greeted by a man in a black shirt who immediately let them in. There were a handful of ten people in the house all dressed for a funeral, their sobs muffled by the black masks they all wore. Ivy and Red were escorted to the back of the house by the man who answered the door and into a bedroom where their assignment was lying at peace and waiting. Red nodded to the man who left the room and began to order everyone outside. Ivy and Red carried the woman out of the house and into the backyard where all the other people were waiting and placed her on another bed of logs and straw. Once the preacher was finished with his words the family members returned one by one to the house sobbing and sniffling as they went and soon it was just Red and Ivy completing the final preparations before finally lighting the pyre ablaze with a flare.

" Best get movin' on, we still have two more stops to make before our shift is over"

Red said and patted Ivy on the shoulder as he began to make his way down to the road once more. Ivy quickly caught up with him, looking back once at the house and then back to her partner.

"Hey, Red?"

"Yeah Ivy"

"Tell me what festivals were like again..."

science fiction
1

About the Creator

Justin

I'm an 80's baby...or would I be a 90's baby? Do three conscious years of the 80's count? probably not.

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