Socially Distanced: A Quarantine Novella

“About an hour east, but I came here a lot as a kid. Always loved the Coca-Cola plant and the aquarium. I went to Georgia Tech.”

“Oh yeah? For what?”

“Engineering. I was working at a cell tower production company before all this.”

“Did you climb up those huge things?”

“No, I designed the circuits they used.”

“Oh, wow! You must be really smart then.”

“I think I just studied hard,” I say with a shrug. “It’s not rocket science.”

“That seems like a decent job.”

“It was. Not much going on there now, I guess. I don’t even know if cell phones work anymore.”

“Mine did,” Kendra says. “At least, it did a few days ago. You can still find some active social media but not a lot else. Service is spotty, and calls drop a lot. At least, they did. I haven’t had anyone to call in a while now.” She pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath before she speaks again. “When I woke up here, I didn’t have it anymore. Why is that?”

“I would assume it’s to keep us from being able to devise escape plans with others.”

“Really?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense. People who know we’re carriers assume we’ve been isolated, so they aren’t going to contact us anyway, and my family is dead, so it’s not like anyone would come looking for me unless I was able to contact them. That was Jake’s best guess, anyway.”

“Jake?”

“The guy who used to live in your pod.”

“What happened to him?”

“I have no idea. He was there one day and then gone the next.”

“Do you think he got sick?”

“I kinda assumed so, but he’d been here about as long as I had, and he never said anything about feeling sick.”

“They wouldn’t have just released him,” Kendra says softly.

“No, they wouldn’t have.” I close my eyes for a moment, not really wanting to think about what might have happened to Jake. I have my suspicions. Shortly after he disappeared, my razors were replaced with an electric shaver, which I hate.

“I guess that makes it all kind of obvious, huh?”

“Shut up!” My muscles tense, and my hands ball into fists.

“What? I’m just saying that the possibilities are limited.”

I close my eyes and grit my teeth. I hadn’t known Jake well or anything, but he’d been my only real companion in the beginning. We’d talked a lot, shared a lot, and even though in my heart I know what he did, I don’t need some fucking runner spelling it out for me.

”It’s a good thing they keep us socially distanced,” I mumble.

“Why?”

“Because right now, I really want to punch you in the face.”

Chapter Three: Day 133

I pace the room. I want a cigarette, but I also want to reserve my stash. It’s dwindling a little faster than I’d like it to, and I know if I go out to smoke, I’ll end up giving one to Kendra too. Yeah, I’d threatened to punch her—sort of—but being able to actually talk to someone is a need that far outweighs my concerns about a diminishing supply of nicotine.