Not Until Midnight

Becket looked up at the sky as he approached his fence. The moon had already set, and only stars were left. He traced out the constellations with his fingers, the ones he remembered anyway. There was a small space between the chain-link fence that was wrapped around the Glass family’s house and the dirt on the ground of their property. One section of the fence, in particular, had been slightly folded up over time; this made it easy for Becket to slide his body under to get out. The spot was just out of view of his parent’s bedroom window, although after a while he stopped checking to see if they noticed him leave. Becket threw his bag over and crawled underneath. A sharp part of the fence got caught on his hood and when he pulled away, the fence stabbed his ear. Without thinking, he let out a yelp, then immediately covered his mouth. Becket laid on the ground in silence for a few minutes, halfway underneath the fence, waiting to see if someone would come outside. After no one came, he slid the rest of his body under the fence and stood. He grabbed his bag and put it over his shoulder, then started to walk. The air was warm, too warm for fall. He put his hood back on anyways to cover himself, although his mask did most of the work to hide his identity which was the primary reason he wore it. He stopped caring about getting sick a long time ago.

Becket walked in silence until he heard a car approaching the street. He quickly ran to a tree that was growing out of the sidewalk in front of him and he started to climb. He was only able to reach halfway before the car turned the corner onto the street, so he tucked his legs in and held onto the branch above him. His arms began to shake from holding himself up. The car drove by and disappeared around the corner before Becket could see if it was a scorcher. He dropped down from the tree and threw his hood back on again, then continued walking. 

Becket reached the park just as he could start to see some light of morning. He sat on the rusty swing set and waited. Moments passed when he started to see a smaller figure approach him. Then something came flying towards him out of the air and landed in his lap. Becket picked it up to inspect it. It was a small grey bag that had a drawstring on top.

“Freshly made, from none other than Kenzo Trill himself,” Anita said as she sat in the swing next to him.

“Ah yes, your infamous drug dealer brother. At least I know they’ll work.” Becket joked. Anita laughed through her mask. “Did you see any scorch cars on the way here?” He asked.

“Yeah, three, and I got this from diving behind some trash cans to avoid one,” she lifted her sleeve to present an inch long cut.

“That’s nothing, my fence pierced my ear on my way out,” he said competitively. The two of them sat there in silence for a few minutes, swinging back and forth. 

“Do you think it’ll hurt? When we take the pill,” Anita asked.

“Cyano isn’t supposed to hurt.”

“Good,” she replied, in an attempt to sound completely sure of herself, Becket could tell she wasn’t.

“I’ll be right next to you,” he said, putting his hand on her knee. “Then I’ll see you in hell,” he laughed. Anita smiled. They stood up from their swings and started making their way towards the station. They walked inside the rusting building. The lights were dim and flickered in patterns. There was only one other man there, standing in a corner. He looked at the two kids and then looked away as if they were two flies on a wall. 

Anita gestured towards the man and whispered “COVID zombie?” half sarcastically as she swiped her railcard, followed by Becket’s. The two of them walked through the turnstile and onto the platform where they saw their train approach. It came to a stop in front of them, and the doors made a noise like it was releasing air, and they opened. The two of them walked on and sat down. The train was empty. They watched the doors close, and the train began to slowly move away from the platform. The man in the station got smaller and smaller. Once outside, they could see that the sun had come up, but it was hidden behind large dark clouds.

“We could take them now, no one would find us, and this train could just go on forever,” Anita suggested.

“No, not until twelve. 18 hours is nothing compared to the 10 years we’ve lived through this, and tomorrow it won’t matter anymore, people may still be breathing, but they won’t really be living,” Becket replied. Anita looked at him, then took off her mask. There were lines on her face from the imprints of the wire. He took his off too. Anita rested her head on his lap and drifted off. Becket stared at her, admiring her ability to sleep so peacefully under such circumstances. He couldn’t remember the last time he fell asleep without later having to drag himself out of a nightmare, only to find reality wasn’t much better. However, he stared at her, asleep on his leg, and he felt calm. Eventually, he dozed off too. 

When he woke up, he was laying on the train bench with Anita laying right next to him. It was raining, which made the sky dark, although it was only late afternoon. Becket thought about his parents. How they might have reacted to him not being there when they woke up this morning. Maybe they didn’t notice at all. He thought. They never noticed him. After the pandemic started they drifted into their own world and pretended not to exist as parents anymore, and he was only eight then. Becket snuck out hundreds of times to meet Anita at the park, but this was the first time he never went home. Becket was okay with leaving them, a permanent lockdown wouldn’t change their lives in the slightest.

Becket watched the hills roll into flatlands, then into tall trees that seemed to split apart just for the train to go through. The rain never stopped, it poured harder, then softer, then harder again. At sunset, he could see a small orange line on the horizon as the sun peaked through, then disappeared below the clouds. He looked down at Anita who was still sleeping peacefully. 

All of a sudden the train screeched to a stop and the two kids sat up. They looked towards the door and saw four large men outside in masks. The men smashed the glass part of the doors, causing them to slide open. They quickly stepped inside. Becket pushed Anita behind him.

“Becket Glass and Anita Trill,” the man in front said, reading off a screen implanted in his glasses. Two of the men grabbed Becket while the other two grabbed Anita. They threw them outside and into their scorch cars.

“Anita! Anita!” Becket yelled while Anita yelled back.

“Becket!” Becket fought the scorcher, trying his hardest to shake loose of his grip, but there was no luck. 

“Midnight Anita, midnight! Not until midnight!” He could still hear Anita screaming in the car as it drove off. Becket kept fighting the man until he was slammed in the temple by the scorcher’s baton and knocked out. 

Becket woke up face down on a cell bed. His vision was blurry but he stood up quickly and ran to the bars. 

“Where is she?” He yelled at the scorcher guarding his cell. The scorcher ignored him. “Where the fuck is she?” He yelled again. No response. He slammed on his cell door. He wanted to be with her when they took cyano pills. He wanted her to be the last thing he saw. He turned back to the guard, “will you at least tell me what time it is?” he asked, more calmly this time.

Without looking at Becket at all, the scorcher looked at his watch. “11:46 pm,” he said. Only 14 minutes.

In a different room, government officials stood in discussion as the minutes passed by. “Dr. Wright has five minutes before this is too late to reverse,” one official said. The minutes ticked by faster. 11:56. 11:57. 11:58. 

A small man in a white coat burst through the door. “I found it. I found it. I found it,” he repeated. The officials looked at each other one at a time.

“Call it off,” the general ordered. “Release the boy and girl as well,” he said to a scorch guard. The scorcher walked down the haul to where Becket’s cell was and told the guard. Becket had his pill out of the bag and in his hand, he had been counting down the time in his head, but he looked up to see his guard unlocking his door. Becket looked at the man confused.

“A cure has been found for COVID-19,” the man said. Becket dropped his pill.

“What time is it?” Becket asked urgently. The guard stared at him. “What time is it?!” Becket yelled again. 

The guard cleared his throat and said, “12:00 pm.” Becket shoved the guard out of the way and ran down the hall.

“Anita?! Anita where are you?!” he yelled out but there was no answer. He ran faster and continued to yell her name until he saw a cell with a guard standing outside it unlike the rest of the cells. Becket stopped in front of him and looked inside the cell. Anita was laying on the floor. “Open the door!” he yelled at the guard, luckily Becket’s guard had followed him and explained to the man that they found a cure. Anita’s cell guard opened her cell door and Becket rushed in.

He picked her up in his arms and looked at her. She was cold. “Anita? Hey, Anita. Hey, look at me. Come on, Anita. Open your eyes, please. Please look at me. Anita?” Tears started to stream down his face. “No no no dammit! Anita! Please open your eyes!” the guard came into the cell and started to pull Becket away. “No stop!” he screamed, fighting the guard, “Anita! Anita!” Becket screamed more and more. He choked on his words as the guards dragged him away from her body. They took him outside and threw him onto the ground. He rolled over onto his back and looked up. The stars were out again, and slowly he traced the constellations with his fingers again. He traced the shape of a girl, imagining it was Anita.