The Chair

In the year 2020, President Donald Trump is re-elected as president. In the worlds weakened state from the Corona Virus, President Trump begins to invade foreign countries, leading to a ten year. Ten years later, Mexico releases "The Chair", aiding in the resolve of the energy crisis caused by the war. The year is now 2050. The Corona Virus is still present and has mutated to Covid-25.

***

I waited while my sister settled into The Chair. It looked like a typical arm chair. However, there were padded pieces on the arms and head of the chair that Paula used to strap herself in. The Chair was fairly simple. You eat, you strap yourself in, and the chair takes those calories and turns them into energy that is run through your home.

"Paula, I don't understand why you think you need this thing. You look gorgeous."

"Darling Matias, look around. Do you see how the lights are on right now? Now, take a look across the street. My neighbors thought they were trendy by selling their Chair. Now look. Their home is completely dark. No refrigeration, no heat or air conditioning, just a big, dark house."

"But there are other ways to get energy.”

"Honey, they stopped using those years ago. Now please, I'm trying to relax here."

Leo was waiting outside. He just rolled his eyes at my frustration. We both knew nobody was ever going to listen to me.

"My abuela was sent to one of the quarantine camps last night." Leo didn't sound upset, but I noticed his grandmothers heart shaped locket around his neck.

"Man, aren't you worried?"

"Nah. These camps are here to help. They're going to keep her comfortable, give her treatment. If they find a cure she'll be out and living her life."

I chuckled. "And they call me idealistic."

We walked on, chatting about work and family, until one of the test trucks pulled up next to us. We obediently let them test our blood and our temperature. We had also been tested this morning, we knew we were clean. We were about to step away, but all of a sudden the test machine flashed red and there were arms around us. Before we knew it, we were in the truck.

"Uh, buddy? I think you made a mistake. We were tested this morning, we don't have it." Everyone in the front of the truck ignored me.

After hours of driving, we pulled up to a huge gate with a sign that said "SI Quarantine Camp 3".

That meant they took us to Mexico. The North American camp was Camp 1 and Camp 2 was in Canada. We were taken out of the van and to a large theater filled with hundreds of other people.

"Welcome to Quarantine Camp Number 3," a woman on the screen stated in a proper British accent. "Located in Mexico and run by Selene Industries."

"Isn't that the manufacturer of The Chair?" Leo asked me. "What are they doing in charge of camps made for sick people?" I stayed silent, listening to the film.

"Here, you will be helped to heal and get rid of all the illness in your body, while still contributing to the outside communities."

We were then led to the showers. We were forced to strip and step through the showers, which smelled dramatically of alcohol. They gave us clothes and led to a courtyard.

There, thousands of people milled around, each looking barely alive. The larger ones looked less exhausted, but seemed to be fading away as I watched. We didn't spend long in the courtyard before we were led to a dirty cafeteria. I'm not entirely sure what we were served. Some sort of casserole. Not the healthy, full meal Leo and I expected from a camp filled with sick people.

After dinner, we were led to a huge room filled with bunk beds and barely enough room to walk between. It was fair game who slept where. Leo and I avoided the drama and found a corner on the floor.

"Does this place feel like the kind of place that makes people better?" Leo asked in a sad voice. I wondered if he was thinking of his grandmother.

"I don't know Leo. Everyone is disappearing right in front of us. The food was hardly healing. And what does Selene Industries have to do with curing Covid?"

As always, Leo tried to stay positive. "I don't know man. We're just disoriented. I'm sure we'll understand in the morning."

He was quickly proven wrong in the most horrific of ways. We woke up to the same miserable group of people. Then, we were led away again. The room we entered this time was filled with chairs. I panicked for a moment, thinking we were about to be executed, before noticing they were an under stuffed version of the same Chair my sister had in her home. We were each strapped in. I protested, it didn't matter. I was hit in the head with a wooden paddle and fell into the chair anyways. I'm not sure how long I sat there. All I knew was I was getting tired. The next thing I knew, I was pushed out of the chair. I didn't want to stand, but if I didn't I would be trampled by the mass of tired people. As I got up, I noticed some weren't as willing as I was. All over there were people being walked on to the point that they became clumps of bloody fabric. Leo had noticed the same thing, and began racing around, helping the weaker people up. Again, we were led to the courtyard, then the cafeteria for another mystery casserole.

Every day continued like this for about a week. For every group of people who died of exhaustion or got trampled, another group was brought in from the outside world. Leo seemed to be the only person in the camp with any hope. Some days he told me there was a reason behind this. Others, he told me we would be saved or escape. His positivity attracted many people. Eventually it became too exhausting for them, but we had one man who stuck around. He was roughly 60 years old. He remembered the time before the war, before the chair, even before Covid. I liked to listen to him talk about it. This was the world I dreamed of. Sure, it had its flaws, but it was nothing like what I was going through now. The man’s name was Ramiro. He was a mechanic before this. And he had an idea.

We were all fond of the idea of escape, but doing so without the energy we needed was all but impossible. He started examining The Chairs during the rush to leave.

After a while of stashing, examining, and writing, Ramiro was ready. Before going to The Chair room, he took a pen from a guards pocket, along with a plastic spoon from the cafeteria (we weren't allowed knifes or forks). Before sitting down, he fell, his arm sliding beneath the chair. A guard jerked him up, but he had a new light in his eye. After our draining session, Ramiro looked as tired as everyone else, even falling over for a brief minute until we got to the courtyard.

There, once we were gathered around him so he was out of sight, he dropped the act. He seemed more energized, in fact. As if he had just taken a nap instead of getting everything he had drained from him. Which, it turns out, was exactly what had happened. Under the chair, there was a plug with a tube protruding from it. When he fell, he had only a second to poke a hole in the tube with the pen (so it wouldn't make any noise when releasing whatever was in it after being unplugged), and use the spoon to pry it out of the "outlet". With his new awareness, he began to watch for ways out. Meanwhile, Leo managed to steal two more pens so he and I could do the same as Ramiro had. We couldn't use our trick every day, or the guards would wonder why we fell so often. We made a schedule that we hoped seemed random. If it was your day to "fall", it was also your day to look for a way out. One day, Leo found it.

"Ramiro," Leo stared directly at him. "Is there some way we can get ALL of The Chair's to stop working?"

"Well... we could over power them. Connect them all somehow and it'll blow a fuse. They'll take us in here because during our drainings there aren't enough guards on duty to watch the courtyard."

"Okay, but how are we supposed to connect them all?" I was skeptical, to say the least.

"We need wire. And I need to get in the chair room on my own. Getting in will be easy enough, they ask for my help all the time- mostly because of the chairs we've broken. Turns out they don't have a mechanic nearby. Maybe I could convince them I need the wire to fix them."

Then, we waited.

Finally the guards took Ramiro to help them. He was gone a long time. Hours. The next day, we each cleaned our plates at breakfast, and were led to The Chair room. None of us used our trick, trusting Ramiro's skills. We obediently sat, trying not to show our emotions. After a while, people began to stir. Nothing was happening. Confusion swirled around the room. The guards took notice and ordered each of us to the cafeteria. Ramiro kept close, trying to keep out of sight of the guards, who we could hear muttering about a dirty mechanic.

In the cafeteria, the energy was different. They began handing food through the window to keep people distracted. It was time for me to make my move, being the least personable of the group. I made my way around, whispering insults in people’s ear and walking away before they could tell who it was. The room quickly broke into argument. I walked behind the person with the most energy, brought in yesterday and not yet drained, and flicked him in the head. He turned around and punched the nearest person. Finally, the guards stepped in, leaving behind an open window.

It was time to get out of there.

Leo and Ramiro saw our moment and were already heading towards the window. Leo went first, I was next. Just as I ducked down though, a guards shouted. There was a gun shot and a thud. Leo and I didn't dare move. I looked over to Leo. There were tears in his eyes and he was trembling. We had to get out of there. The guards had walked away to break up another fight. I grabbed Leo and sprinted to the door, keeping as low as I could.

We ran as far as we could, into the woods and away from the camp. We couldn't get far. Just because we weren't drained before doesn't mean we hadn't been for weeks on end. I pushed us both until we were out of sight, then we collapsed.

We slept long and hard. It could have been for days, maybe just hours. I can't be sure. When I finally woke, Leo was next to me. His eyes were open, but he didn't move. I shook him, fearing he was dead. He didn't do much, but he blinked, which was enough. We laid there for a long time, just processing everything that had happened to us. The next day, we traveled slightly further before collapsing and sleeping again. We repeated one more day before the lack of food and the weeks of torture caught up to us. All we could do was lay on the fallen leaves and stare at each other.