Hidden Behind the Smoke

"Look! Grandpas In the paper. War hero Phillip Schuyler loses senate seat to young upstart Aaron Burr." I was listening to Hamilton as I was doing my homework. I needed a break. I leaned towards the window and opened it. The hinges turned, and a cold breeze rushed over my body. Maybe the stuffiness of my room wasn't such a bad idea. 

"Grab the mail," my mom shouted from her room. I went downstairs and out the garage door. I headed towards the mailbox and picked up the letters. I ran back into my house clutching my sweatshirt against myself. I dropped the papers on the stone counter. Weird... I don't think anyone in my house ever ordered a newspaper. They were from like, a billion years ago.  

I didn't expect anything crazy, but I decided to read the paper anyways. New virus outbreak in California. This couldn't be right. We were in the middle of a pandemic, and there was something else? I searched up New California Virus on the web. Nothing. The publisher was Michael M Baker. The sent address was from Cambria CA. I went to one of those people finding websites. You could search up and name and it would find the person.  

I put in all the information. No one. That can't be possible. Also, I had never heard of Cambria before, so I went and searched it up. I later learned that the town ran along the cost of California next to the Ocean. A few news stories came up, and I decided to open one. "As of 2 days ago, the population of Cambria has dropped massively. Over 6,000 people lived there as of Tuesday. Now, only 249 remain. No one knows where they went..." the story continued on.  

I felt a chill run up my back. Maybe the people didn't like where they lived? That couldn't be right though, not everyone could move in two days. Maybe it had something to do with the conditions. There was a lot of mountains, and obviously a lot of water. There were two possible answers in my eye. Either the mountains eroded, or somehow something had happened to the water... which would create the virus! I think I had my answer. 

I went back to the paper. The words were so small, I could barely read them. The letters were all smudged, but as I got to the end, I managed to find something useful Contact 459-6392 for any more information. I should have told my parents, but I decided not to. I wasn't sure if this was a scam just yet, so I turned off my number and texted them. In return, they sent ".... . .-.. .-.. ---" there was a bunch of these symbols. I knew that the only language that would be close to that would be morse-code, and whoever sent this letter must have been good at it. 

I wasn't going to translate this from a book, so I just used google translate. Hello. If you are reading this, you got my newspaper. I was one of the few to survive. 3 nights ago, a toxin was poured into the Pacific Ocean. Only a few people survived, and we are now trapped in the Cambria Village Square. Send help.  

I was astonished by what I had just read. I called 911 and told them. Help was on the way. I ran back up to my room and grabbed my computer. I put the news up on my computer and set it on my desk, where I then continued to do my math HW. About an hour later, they pulled people out of a big puff of smoke. They then did a head count, but there was no Michael M Baker.  

I re-called the station. Michael M Baker wasn't in their charts. I was very confused. I ran downstairs and grabbed the newspaper, re reading the cover. It was there, in black and white, Michael M Baker.  

... 

I woke up the next morning at 3 am. I needed to know what was going on. Thoughts raced through my head. Last night, I put the newspaper next to my bed in case I wanted any more details. I did. The title of the paper was The Cambria CA Post, A New Virus. I looked up the paper on the internet but there were no results. No Michael M Baker... No Paper... and yet... still a virus? Someone was sending these letters, and it wasn't Michael M Baker.  

Google is very up to date, so I knew they had already posted thousands of stories about this. I needed to know what the virus did. I looked up the symptoms these people had. Once I found those, then found out that the gases were a mix of Phosgene and Phosphine, two very dangerous gases.  

But what gas would have caused black veins? Scurvy? I still had no explanation. I researched the rest of the night. I scrolled through the thousands of articles and papers. Michaels M Baker... Michael M Baker... Michael M Baker... who was this guy? 

… 

I finally got out of bed at 7 am. The winter made the sky seem pitch black. I went into my mom's room to wake her up. “What are you doing up,” my mom said, half asleep. 

“It's Monday,” I responded, confused, “Remember? We go to school in person now.” 

“Didn’t you get my text I sent last night? All schools are taking a day off because of that thing in California. You won't be in person or virtual.” 

I felt my heart drop. “But... isn’t that just in Cali?” 

“Something happened on the coast of Cambria. Its spreading through the ocean.” The virus. If it spread, it would affect the entire ocean.    

A knock at the door. “I’ll get it,” I told my mom, as I raced downstairs. I peeked through the little peep whole. I didn’t recognize the face. I opened the door anyways. “Who is this?” 

“Hello. I am Michelle.” It was her. Not Michael. Michelle. She had long brown hair and bright green eyes. “I sent a newsletter to this address. Do you know anyone in this house who may have texted me?”  

“Come,” I brought her to the backyard and onto the porch. My mom was still sleeping, and I didn’t want her to know I was talking to a stranger. We sat down on the greyish white lawn chairs that surrounded the firepit. “I was the one who got the letter.” 

“You?” she answered, “but... you're just a kid.” 

“I know,” I answered annoyed, “and I can’t stop thinking about this. I did my research, and this gas was a mix of two poisons, plus, what seems like some type of scurvy. If we don’t stop this now, the poison will spread. Not only will everyone along the coast get the disease, but also all the water will be infected.” 

“We need to somehow stop this,” she said, her voice trembling. 

“Wait... why did you send me the letter?” I asked. 

“That's not important right now. Do you know how to stop these gases?” 

“You can remove it from people with immedient medical care, but to completely get rid of the poisons, you need to... quarantine it almost. There would need to be some sort of wall in order to stop the spread.” We started calling people at once. Michelle managed to get newsletters of this out everywhere, the same as how she sent the letters to me. 

… 

I hid in my room that night shaking. What would happen if the spread wouldn’t stop? What would happen to the U.S.? To the world? I turned on a live stream of the wall being put up. I bounced my leg up and down, waiting for this to all go away.   

… 

The next morning, I woke up after getting only like 3 hours of sleep. The live stream was still up on my computer. I must have fallen asleep watching it. I fluttered my eyes up and down. It felt like there was a big weight pulling them down. I looked out my window, and it was even darker than usual. I could hear a big gust of wind outside, and all the black went away for a split second. It was the gas... it was everywhere. 

I ran out my room and into the hallway. If the gas managed to get through any vent or through any window, we wouldn’t be able to go outside and the doctor... And we would... die. I frantically ran around my house, closing every vent and locking every window I could. I also shoved towels under all the doors and windows that were in contact with outside.  

I checked the time. I had slept in. It was 10 am, and it was so dark and gloomy it felt like 5. I ran to the basement and hid in the closet under the stair. And I wrote my way out. Just like Hamilton. I emailed everyone I knew and told them what was going on. The wifi was very bad, but I managed to turn on the news on my computer, which I had brought down in case I had to contact anyone in an emergency. 

… 

Days went on like this. Every family had to stock up the little food we had. The windows were glued shut, preventing any little bit of gas from getting inside. No one knew how to stop this. I got in bed and held myself tight, hoping this would all go away.