The Coming Storm

It was only a matter of time before they discovered her missing. She pressed on the gas pedal forcefully to increase her speed. Glancing in her rearview mirror, she saw that so far, her escape had not been noticed. Escaping from quarantine was not what she had anticipated, after all, she knew the guidelines and followed them. When the masks had first started being implemented, she complied. When her coworker tested positive for the virus in the summer of 2020, she went and got tested, as required. Thankfully, the test came back negative.

The year 2020 had been a year she would rather forget. Of course, the year 2020 started out on a good note, but only in a couple of months, three to be exact did everything change. Masks, social distancing, quarantines, lockdowns, and PCR tests. Churches shut down and moved to virtual services. Schools shut down and moved virtually. Even going to the grocery store was a hassle. She had to borrow toilet paper from a neighbor because the local stores near her area had completely run out. Bread, soup, crackers, and other grocery store items begin running out. Stores actually had to start rationing how many soup cans someone could buy because of the food shortage. At first, the shutdown was looked at as a nice reprise from the busyness of life. People slept in, no longer having to worry about getting up early for work. Hoodies, PJs, and comfy sweats became what people wore on a day-to-day basis.

Food delivery places experienced a huge rise in business. People tried out new hobbies whether it was baking bread from scratch, writing more, reading more, decorating, cleaning, and organizing. Time seemed to slow down. Some people enjoyed spending more time with family whereas others realized their family member's pet peeves. Still, others binge-watched their favorite shows on Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. Jokes and memes begin poking fun at the situation, but when people realized this "new normal" was sticking around a lot longer, feelings and attitudes begin to change.

Restaurants shut down. Some people worked from home as their jobs allowed, but others lost their jobs. The mental health of society as a whole took a hit. Suicide rates rose and people who had never experienced anxiety or depression before were experiencing it in droves. At first, the CDC said we did not have to wear masks, and only healthcare workers needed to. Then the mantra changed to "everyone should wear a mask."

Then people became divided on whether the masks truly protected us from the virus. Then there was the discussion of those who were unable to wear the mask due to medical reasons. There were even some Christians arrested for not wearing masks or social distancing at a "psalm hymn-singing" outside in Idaho. Rumors began circling online that the masks were only being used as a means to "control" the population and were not effective against virus transmission. It was hard to know what to believe when there were so many opinions floating around. Social media became a cesspool of division and heated debates.

Families became divided over the issue. Churches split apart. Those who chose not to wear a mask whether for personal reasons or health reasons were labeled anti-maskers. Those who chose to wear a mask were praised for their consideration. Those who were pro-maskers said, "trust the science."

Now the heated debate in the year 2021 was whether or not to get vaccinated. Those who decided not to get the vaccine for personal reasons or health reasons were labeled "anti-vaxxers." Hateful posts on social media spread like wildfire. Censorship began and any post deemed anti-science was taken down. Doctors voicing their concerns were censored. Vaccine mandates were being implemented in several states.

Those who resisted the vaccine mandates were labeled and ostracized. Stories began flooding in of perfectly healthy people developing severe disabling health issues due to the vaccine. Still, others had family members who died after receiving the vaccine. There were others who received it and had no adverse reactions. Scientists and Doctors begin offering feedback on their thoughts on the vaccines. At first freedom of choice to not get vaccinated was given.

Even the paper that people received before getting vaccinated said that getting the vaccine was a personal choice and one had the right to refuse it. Then suddenly after a lull in cases, cases started spiking again and a new variant called Delta was named. Suddenly people who had not gotten covid before were getting it. What was even stranger is people fully vaccinated were testing positive for the coronavirus. People who wore masks, socially distanced, and got vaccinated were getting sick. This was after the CDC promised the vaccines would protect from the virus.

Then someone died even though they were fully vaccinated. Then an entire group of fully vaccinated individuals at a party came down with the virus. Then the CDC said even fully vaccinated people needed to wear masks because the vaccine did not stop transmission. The virus was transmitting among even fully vaccinated individuals. Suddenly, the mantra of the day was starting to sound a lot more suspicious. "Get vaccinated, it's the best way to protect yourself." Then, monoclonal antibody treatments were being stopped by the government even though these treatments were saving people's lives from Covid.

What exactly was going on? Just like the anti-maskers were blamed for the spread of covid in 2020, the anti-vaxxers were now being blamed for the spread of covid in 2021. Nurses were fired from their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated. Something did not add up. So she began researching and what she found shocked her. She had to speak the truth, no more remaining silent out of fear of being censored.

Her recent post online about how she believed that the vaccine mandates were unconstitutional had raised the ire of some people, but she never anticipated it would lead to her being locked up. I mean for Pete's sake, this is America, "the land of the free, the home of the brave," or so she thought. Now, here she was escaping from a quarantine camp in Texas. The clouds darkened and lightning flashed in the distance. "Great," she thought. 'That is all I need, a thunderstorm." As if mocking her, the sky responded with a loud rumble of thunder.

Droplets of rain started falling slowly on her windshield, but in only a matter of minutes, a deluge of rain fell in sheets blinding her temporarily. She had her windshield wipers going as fast as they could, but it was not enough to keep up with the torrential rain that kept falling. She was driving an old Buick, it had been her Dad's. She inherited it after he passed away unexpectedly. He was her anchor, her rock, and now in a world gone mad, she missed him greatly.

A month ago as the grief over losing him was hitting her full force, she came upon a paper he had written eleven years ago. In the paper, it detailed that there would be a takeover of America under the guise of protection from an imminent threat. Her dad did not specify what kind of threat but he said he speculated it could be from another country, a biological weapon, etc. If she had read this paper a while back, she would have dismissed it believing that it was merely a fear-based conspiracy.

Now, here she was in the year 2021, and the words on the paper had eerily come true. Not only were people's freedoms being taken away, journalists censored, social media monitored, but people were being forced into camps who spoke out against the mandates. Those who refused to get vaccinated were also being locked up. When she had first read about what was happening in Australia, she foolishly hoped that the kind of dictatorship rule would not happen here. Yet, here she was escaping a camp mandated by her government. She had been forcibly removed from her home and taken to the camp after someone reported her as an anti-vaxer.

Despite the fact that she was fully vaccinated, her protests were ignored and fell on deaf ears. She had been taken to a room and locked inside in total isolation. The only way she was able to escape was by bribing a sympathetic guard. She slowed down as the rain continued to pour. There was no use in risking her life by hydroplaning. Glancing in her rearview mirror again, she sighed with relief. Still no sign of anyone tailing her.

She knew where she would go. She had been dreaming of going off the grid for some time. Now, she finally had the chance to make that dream her reality. She glanced at the time on the radio in her car. It was 7 p.m. at night. She would need to find shelter away from this downpour if it did not let up soon. She still had an hour before the officers at the camp would start their nightly routine of knocking on doors and making sure everyone at the camp was being compliant with the 8 p.m. curfew. Another loud rumble of thunder shook her car. Thankfully the rain had slowed down considerably and she was able to have better visibility.