Socially Distanced: A Quarantine Novella
“I’m scared, Sean.”
“It will be okay,” I say. I’m not sure if she believes me.
“I think they’re gone now. Can I come in your room?”
“Yeah, sure.”
As soon as she enters, Kendra wraps her arms around my neck, and I hold her against my chest. I wish I could reassure her, but I have no idea what’s going on.
Chapter Eight: Day 176
They return again, drawing more blood.
This has happened every three days since the first time they came into my quarantine pod. I keep asking, but no one responds to my questions. When they leave, I press my ear to the door. I hear something about “established levels” but I can’t make out anything else.
I can hear Kendra yelling in the next room. I can’t hear her words, but I can guess what they are. We are given no answers. No one will tell us what’s happening.
When the hallway outside my door goes silent, I turn on the news, hoping to find some answer on the screen. Surprisingly, there is talk of bringing people back into the city for the first time in months.
“What does it mean?” Kendra asks as she comes up behind me, sniffling.
I hadn’t even heard her come in, but I don’t say anything about that. I reach up and w
ipe tears from her face before wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
“I don’t know.” My head starts to pound.
“I thought everyone in the city was a carrier.”
“That’s what I thought, too.”
“Does that mean…will they let us out? Is that why they keep taking our blood?”
“I don’t know.” I swallow hard, tasting bile in the back of my throat.
“If they’re bringing people back into the city, it must be over, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“They can’t let people back into the city without letting us out too, right?”
The reporter continues to drone on, providing exactly zero information I would consider useful. The pressure in my head becomes instantly overwhelming. My temples start to throb and my stomach clenches.
“I don’t know, Kendra! Stop asking me! I don’t know!”
Chapter Nine: Day 182
“Sean?”
I open my eyes, blinking a few times to remove myself from the dream world and join my bleak reality.
Kendra is standing in my room.
“Taking a chance, aren’t you?” I ask as I push myself up.
“Sean, look!” She points over to my door, which is standing open.
“What’s going on?”