Welcome to Twin Oaks

I remembered passing by this neighborhood before I got sick. Back then, it kind of seemed like the ideal place to live. It's probably not unfair to say that most people considered Twin Oaks a classy, upscale neighborhood that validated your success. 

It was a sign that you made it. 

You were part of the club.

Now, being forced into it at gunpoint, the only thing that seemed familiar was the quiet. I could still hear the sound of happy chirping birds, but it still had that sensation that all sound was being sucked up into a vacuum and deposited somewhere else. All I could hear was the boots on the ground behind me and the sounds of people breathing in and out through oxygen masks. They didn't need them. What I had wasn't airborne, but rationality wasn't exactly ruling the day.

"Stop," an emotionless voice said behind me. I did what I was told. I looked down as two duffle bags were thrown next to me. I recognized them as the ones I had been told to pack when the military had come to my home. "You will proceed to 44 Twin Oaks. This is your assigned home. You will report to the center of the development at 6:00 pm for an information session. You are not to be late. You will receive further instruction at that point," the voice said to me.  

"I have questions," I said without turning around.  

"Your questions will be answered when you report to the information session."

"I have rights."

I heard the crack of the butt of the gun on my skull before I felt it and only realized what had happened when I was on my knees. With my hand on my head, I could feel something wet on my hand. Blood. 

They had hit me hard.

"You're not even human. 

Don't talk to me about rights."

The voice had changed. 

I could hear in his voice that I had better not say anything else. In the distance, I heard a gunshot and then the sound of a man wailing. Someone else had probably insisted they had rights too. 

"You will report to 44 Twin Oaks. You will come to the information session at 6:00 pm. The entire development is surrounded by 25-foot electric fencing. 

It would be best for you to be a good boy and do what you're told. I've got lots of silver for dogs that don't listen to their master."

I could feel the rage build up in me, begging me to do something irrational that could get me killed. 

I bit my lip and took deep breaths. 

Getting up slowly, I could hear the soldiers behind me take a few steps back and raise their guns. I turned around and looked at them.  

They were scared. A couple of them were trying to keep their knees from shaking. The one in front who had hit me stood still and calm, his gun pointed right at my head. 

With their black oxygen masks glistening in the sun, they all looked the same except for him. I nodded, picked up my duffle bags, and headed toward 44 Twin Oaks.

How I ended up at 44 Twin Oaks is a strange, surreal tale. How it all started depends on who you believe. Sure, the science is indisputable. I have what they call the Arcadian Virus. There is a lot of misinformation about how it spreads, but it appears to be passed through blood, saliva, and sexual contact. Of course, there are many powerful people out there saying that the virus is airborne. 

People are afraid and when people are afraid, it is a perfect time to consolidate power. Those of us with the Arcadia Virus became the perfect scapegoats.

The first case was discovered in Germany. In about three weeks, it had spread to most countries in the world, including the United States of America. I think I got infected by a woman I met in a bar when I met a couple of friends for a get-together about two months ago. She was quiet. I couldn't explain it, but that night I found her wildly attractive. My friends, Pete and Jim, were also after her. There were probably a good thirty women in the bar that night and the three of us were hung up on this one girl.

She ignored them and seemed fixated on me. We had a couple of drinks before heading back to her home. We were barely past the doorway when she pushed me up against the wall and started kissing me. We ripped each other's clothes off, and I was inside her by the time we made it to the kitchen. There were five other times of blinding hot sex into the early morning hours before I finally walked back to my hotel room. It was only the next day that I realized I had never used a condom.

The symptoms started a month later. Two days before the full moon, I developed a blistering hot rash around my groin. 

Convinced I had contracted a sexually transmitted disease, I made an appointment to see a doctor. A couple of days later, I realized what I had when the full moon appeared in the sky and I started my transformation.

 What they call the Arcadian Virus is just a scientific way of distancing themselves from the truth of it all.  

We are werewolves.

I was lucky. I never killed anyone. On the night of my transformation, I had been lucky enough to be in my laundry room in the basement. When the transformation hits, there is no doubt about it: a rage takes over you. 

You can think of nothing but tearing something apart. Even when you transform back, you still have a lot of primitive urges. You want to have sex, constantly. There seems to be no limit to your energy.

When the virus first started spreading, no one knew what was going on. There were lots of reports of giant, beastly things attacking people, mostly from the homeless community. The police didn't look too closely into it considering that many of the homeless folks that went missing didn't exactly have too many people pushing for them to be found.

Eventually, someone got one of us on video attacking people at an outdoor restaurant. That led to a deluge of similar videos, some of them more gruesome than others. Scientists were able to isolate the virus in a lab and let everyone know the facts. 

By that point, it was too late. 

Everyone who had the Arcadian Virus was being rounded up and forced into communities. Twin Oaks, being a gated community, was a perfect place to lock many of us up. It just needed some reinforcement. Communities were being erected all over the world.

While we sat in these prisons, the political theater raged on. Some people are called for compassion, while others wanted execution. 

Cities burn and martial law is invoked. 

The virus continues to spread, while some state that a cure is only months away. The reality is that it was always hard to tell what was true and what was fiction, even when you were a part of the machine.

I showed up at the information session at 6 pm, just like I was told. Around me, I saw a host of people looking scared and worried. Some of them were paired together, probably relatives, friends, and lovers who were fortunate enough to contract this virus together. My eye was drawn to a tall, bald man who stood off to the side with his arms crossed. 

He stared intensely at the military personnel with his pale blue eyes. His muscular physique and black leather jacket weren't exactly helping him stay unobtrusive.  

The military surrounded us all, their weapons by their side. We knew the drill by now. Those guns were filled with silver bullets. The truth is that regular ammo would do the job, but those with the Arcadian Virus developed a severe allergic reaction to silver, so it was a way of adding some cruelty to the killing. After a few minutes, a man dressed in a long black trench coat glided to the center podium. 

Two military guards flanked him. 

He was the only one not wearing an oxygen mask.

This new person was a big deal. You could just tell. He had a thin face and cold, steely blue eyes. His mouth was smiling, but it was clear that there was nothing behind that grin. 

I felt cold and realized that I was standing before a man who was completely comfortable with everyone in that square dying. From the abundance of medals on his green shirt, it was clear that this was a talent that the military found quite attractive in him.

"Thank you for coming to this session. I apologize for my tardiness. As a military man, I can assure you that I take everyone's time seriously. I know you must all have plenty of questions. I will do my best to answer them. Rest assured, you are in good hands. This lovely, quiet community has been picked for your comfort while we do our best to keep everyone safe until a further solution can be found."

"When can we go home?" a voice called out from the crowd. The man at the podium's smile grew larger, showing pearly white teeth.  

"Our goal is to get you home soon. Unfortunately, I can't give you a timeline on when that will happen."

"We have rights!" another voice chimed in from the crowd. There were a few rumbles of agreement with this statement.  

"Of course, you do. 

I'm sure you can appreciate that this is a very difficult situation..."

"You can't keep us here!" someone else shouted. This time, much of the crowd began to shout in agreement. Some of them even started to approach the podium. The military man's smile was gone. He looked at the crowd dispassionately and nodded to one of the soldiers standing next to him. The soldier stepped forward, took aim into the crowd, and fired. My stomach clenched as I saw the head of a woman explode in front of me.

The crowd started to scream and scatter, but the soldiers surrounding us took a couple of steps in and fired into the air. Much of the crowd fell to the ground, crying and screaming. I took cover on the ground but kept my head up so I could see everything. The tall bald man was laying on the ground, but he was not shaken. He was still looking around as if he was sizing up the situation. We made eye contact for a moment and he nodded to me.

"As I was saying, this is a difficult situation. Don't get me wrong, I want to keep this peaceful, but I have served Uncle Sam for almost thirty years and I have spilled lots of blood for him. I will spill more. If you'd rather live, you can do so by following the rules. My name is General Michael Bukowski. Remember that. While you are here, I am your God. If you make it through the day, you say your prayers at night and thank me. Now, I didn't want this to be the way everything went down, but if you need to be reminded who is in charge, I will have no problem reminding you."

At that point, everyone had quieted down. Whatever feelings of revolution the crowd had developed had been quashed by this man on the podium. It was clear that was the reason that General Bukowski had been given this position.

"Now, I don't feel I should need to remind you that you are living in a community that is well beyond your means. The residents who lived here patriotically gave up their places so the likes of you could stay here while our government determined the next steps. Let's all try to make the best of it. These briefings will happen every day at 6 pm. You can ask questions, I am an open book, but you must be respectful. I will not tolerate disrespect. Now....welcome to Twin Oaks." With those words, the general nodded to his men and they walked away. The crowd stayed on the ground as he strode away.

"Alright, dogs. 

Up on your feet and get back to your homes. Anyone not in their home in fifteen minutes is going to get a visit from animal control," one soldier shouted. Everyone got up and made their way out quietly.

We got settled into the routine pretty quickly. There were early morning wake up calls that included breakfast MREs. Soldiers would come around and do a roll call to make sure no one had attempted escape. We were allowed to go outside and socialize. Patrols would come through and keep an eye on everyone. Eventually, it was easy to forget they were there.

We would all be rounded up in the center of the development for lunch and dinner. During the afternoon, a doctor would come and check your vitals, take some blood, and ask you how you were doing. Now and then, a black van would roll up with heavily armored special ops soldiers and they would grab someone out of their home. Most of the time, the person would go with little resistance. General Bukowski would tell the crowd that those people were looking to undermine the greater community by putting everyone in more danger.

Mostly, the monotony was creating a high-stress situation within Twin Oaks. We didn't know when the boredom would end, and Bukowski would kill someone else. I think that's what they wanted. The more I thought about it, the more I was sure that there was no way that the first briefing was going to end without someone's death.  

I mostly kept to myself, trying to be invisible to the military personnel. Of course, that all came to an end when the tall bald man came to see me at 44 Twin Oaks.

I was sitting on my front lawn when the tall bald man came over to me. He still wore his black leather jacket, despite the ninety-degree heat. 

I was surprised to see him. Since that first night when he nodded to me, he hadn't even looked in my direction.

"Enjoying the quiet time?" he said to me.

"Do I have a choice?"

He smiled. "Do you not realize how lucky you are to be a part of the Twin Oaks community?"

"What lottery in Hell did I win?"

At that, the tall bald man started to howl with laughter. After a moment, he stopped and the same intense look reappeared on his face.

"Listen, I am going to tell you this because I think you are one of the people in here with the stones to do something if shit goes down. We are making a move tonight. There's a bunch of us who are done with this shit."

"He's going to have you all killed."

"We are dead already. 

They aren't going to let us leave here. 

This is how they are going to get rid of the virus. They are going to kill every single person with it. At least this way, you are going out on your terms. Anyway, it's going down tonight. It'd be great if you joined. If you don't, it is still going to happen. The only thing that will change is that they will gun you down later."

With those words, he walked away.

When General Bukowski took his place on the podium that night, my stomach clenched. Even as I stood there, I had no idea what was going to happen or what I was going to do. I looked over at the tall bald man. He wore the same expression he always did at these meetings. If something was going to happen tonight, I didn't feel any change in the energy. I supposed that was good if it was supposed to be a sneak attack.

General Bukowski looked down upon the crowd and smiled. His military guards still surrounded him and there were about a hundred soldiers around us as we gathered. The general's smile was always unnerving. I often wished he would stop.

"We have learned so much about this virus in such a short time. For example, we now know that the transformations brought about by the Arcadian Virus are not dependent on the full moon. The full moon just makes them easier. Of course, many of you in the crowd know that."

I could see the tall, bald man flinch out of the corner of my eye. My stomach lurched and I almost vomited.

"Some of you are still not appreciative of what you have been given here at Twin Oaks. 

Earlier today, we caught wind of a plan to murder the military personnel here. How dare those people attack those who have protected them this entire time!? 

Any of you wishing to remain in the comforts of Twin Oaks can return to your homes now in peace. For the rest of you, only a painful death remains. You must make your choice now."

At that statement, the tall bald man and several others in the crowd began to change. Fur, fangs, and claws appeared everywhere. The military personnel approached the crowd, guns drawn. I looked back at the podium and saw Bukowski smiling.

I made my way slowly past the military personnel, with my hands up in the air, as a sign of surrender. 

Behind me, I could hear growling. The order to open fire was screamed out by Bukowski. I could see 44 Twin Oaks when I heard the first shots ring out onto the crowd.