UTOPIA

Utopia

By

Brandi Wanto

The simplicity scares me as I think about it from start to finish. Drilling an ice sample in the artic ended our civilization as we knew it. Cutting into the ice was cutting back in time. Ancient micoorganisms were free to mingle in the air. The bacterium and fungi swept through humanity killing anyone without immunity. Over 90% of the world wiped out in seven years.

The ones lucky enough to have the neanderthal gene were immune to the blight. The survivors did whatever necessary to keep going, keep surviving. Small groups of us came together living in tiny makeshift communities.

The rules were simple, everyone contributes, or you are banished. Don’t talk about who you lost keep focus on now. Trust no one outside your community, everyone is now your enemy. Outsiders must prove themselves for months sometimes a year before acceptance is granted. Follow the orders you are given.

Our group has stopped accepting outsiders months ago. We don’t have resources to support any more people. Three women are pregnant, so the vote was to close our doors. The rest of the communities are also getting desperate. We have defeated three attacks on our stronghold in the last month. Sad people driven by hunger, looking to steal supplies. They seek out weak communities of people unable to fight or stand up for themselves.

Sheila was smart, after our parents and sister Marcie died, she somehow knew how to survive. Sheila was the oldest 27, Marcie was 23 and I just turned 19. Sheila was a nurse actually a few more clinicals she would be a nurse practitioner. It was easy moving from community-to-community Sheila offered her skill as a healer. She only let us stay a few days at each place before moving on. “It doesn’t feel right here.” That was the only answer she gave for the reason we were leaving.

I shouldn’t think about it but it’s hard to push the memories away. I watched our parents die from the fungi. A thick black mold grows on your skin, inside your body, anyplace you have tissue. Only the bones are left untouched by the velvet black spores.

My father tried cutting it off him until he realized it was inside too. He lay down after accepting his fate. Death came quickly he died in his sleep. He was granted peace at his end. Our mother had died first. She wasn’t given a peaceful end. She choked and vomited up thick black syrup struggling to breathe. Her death took hours ending in violent seizures. Sheila didn’t tell me, but I knew the black vomit was her insides spilling out.

Marcie shot herself before the spores took over her body completely. She gave Sheila the heart shaped locket from around her neck. Marcie gave me the matching bracelet.

She gave Sheila the locket necklace because it contained a picture of our entire family. Sheila had bought it for her last birthday. I in turn bought her the matching bracelet. The dangling heart has a picture of the three of us sister. We buried all of them together behind the house in side-by-side graves.

I lost track of time. I don’t remember how many communities we visited or how long we walked. One day we saw camouflage in the distance. Sheila smiled. I think we might have found home. Joy filled my heart, but we didn’t have an invitation to join them yet. Sheila had a plan; she always had a plan.

We approached slowly with hands visible. A voice told us to stop and don’t come any closer. Sheila said her normal speech about being a nurse asking if anyone inside needed help. To my surprise they told her NO emphasizing we needed to keep moving.

Sheila dangled a bag, yelling out, DO YOU HAVE MEDICINE? Slowly a door opened in front of us. A man approached with a gun pointed at us. He walked up immediately presenting his terms, “A week of rations for both of you in exchange for the medicine.” He slightly tilted his head moving his gaze over Sheila’s body as he made the statement.

Sheila refused. The man replied, “I can just shoot you and take all your supplies.”

Sheila smiled saying, “You have honor, or we would already be dead. Are you going to let an asset willing to show you her skills get away? You don’t seem like someone willing to let two women walk off to be raped or killed?”

He stared at her his face seemed angry, but it softened. He took a long sigh and held out his hand. I’m Mike . Sheila and that’s Rachael. She said pointing to me. He motioned at the gate letting us follow him past the gate doors.

I felt the energy between Mike and Sheila instantly. Their romance was fast, hot, and heavy. We were accepted in a few days. I even started my own romance with a soldier named Paul. The unit was an all-male infantry unit.

Life was different, but we had happiness between moments of trying to survive. The guys rescued other women. Marriages happened. Paul and I hoped we would also be blessed with a child. Sheila and Mike didn’t share our joy. They were uneasy as time went on.

Soon they decided to leave our community in search of more supplies, medicine, fertilizer, supplements, and seeds. Genetically modified food made it impossible for us to grow food from seeds taken from fruit and vegetables. They needed to find prepackaged seeds for us to self-sustain. We had weapons, we had fuel, we had some tanks and army vehicles. We were blessed with an actual metal and concrete building.

The location had its own water source, and it was on a hill. Mike said it was the best strategic location, but we needed food. It has been four weeks since the two of them left. I made my decision to go find them. Paul tried to talk me out of it, but he relented. NO MAN LEFT BEHIND, he said. I survived before with Sheila out there in the violent new world.

Paul was a tracker an ancient skill I thought was forgotten. He laughed off my astonishment saying, “It is regular old army skills babe”. The signs of Mike and Sheila ended at a community surrounded by a fence made from scavenged debris. A car hood, some plywood, sheet metal, and plastic covered the wooden frame.

We approached slowly just as Sheila taught me. The door opened for us to come inside. I grabbed Paul’s hand, “This is too easy. Something is wrong”. Paul whispered we have no choice. The community was makeshift cells. Opening to a large community room with a pulpit. A woman walked toward us smiling bringing a plate of food. “Hello, Welcome to Utopia my children”

The plate had sliced apples, pears, and bits of meat with crackers. She offered it to us a second woman brought water. I could see armed men standing in the background watching us. She gestured for us to follow her once again welcoming us to their community.

She was Anna their leader and priestess. She said, “The only way to provide strength for the community was to welcome strangers”. She invited us to stay and become members. Paul gave me a look, it screamed, “She’s crazy” I can’t deny I felt afraid deep inside myself.

We graciously thanked her. We explained our reason for showing up. She admitted that Mike and Sheila visited them. She said she traded with them for some seeds. She gave their seeds and wished them well. She said she begged them to stay, but they left.

She wore a flowing light blue fabric dress. She reminded me of mother nature with her grey hair flowing down her back.

We agreed to stay the night but intended to say our goodbyes in the morning. The room she gave us was small but had a door that locked. Paul locked us in as soon as she left us alone. His instinct told him Mike and Sheila were still here. He wanted to take a look around to confirm his suspicion.

He tried the door but couldn’t open it. The lock on the door locked us in from the outside. We were trapped. I looked at the door frame and it was poorly put together. Paul followed my gaze smiling on the count of three. We kicked the frame of the door freeing us from the room. We couldn’t hide the noise it made from slamming hard on the floor. People came to investigate, but we ran.

We almost made it out. I was able to dash into a room locking the door. I caught a glimpse of Paul pushing his way into a room opposite of mine. My breathing slowed allowing me to examine the room. It was full of clothes. Just clothing, shoes, and jewelry hanging on PVC pipe.

I browsed the jewelry dumped in crates around the room. It would not be difficult to scavenge this much stuff, but why? It takes up useful space, I can hear Sheila’s words in my head. My finger caught the chain. My blood froze as I fished the heart shaped locket out of the pile. I knew she was dead, probable Mike too.

I frantically looked for a way out, but Paul screaming stopped my search. I bolted out of the room yelling Paul’s name. Paul was being beaten by a few men as Anna watched.

“Are really going to kill a healer woman of skill and her husband?” I asked calmly looking over at Paul. He was bleeding, his leg looked broken, but he was alive. Anna approached me this time her robes were clearly streaked in Paul’s blood.

Her hands were tremoring, some of the others also had the same tremors. I missed it because she held the tray of food hiding her hands. I pointed to her hands, “Cannibalism causes tremors that eventually kill you. You are all affected.” I said accusing them of atrocities. Sheila and Mike flooded my mind.

Anna stared at me and then at her hands, “Can you treat it?” I smiled touching my bag, “Yes, but we need to make a deal.” I answered. She nodded slowly. Paul was taken to a bed for medical treatment. He looked at me worried. He didn’t know my plan yet. The deal was we give them the cure and leave never to return.

The variety of vegetables they had from their hydroponic garden amazed me. I busied myself making the “cure” every day. I kept the process slow giving Paul time to heal.

Once complete I presented the cure taking a long gulp before giving the cup to Anna. My self-taste test convinced her it was safe. She ordered everyone to receive the cure. Once everyone had their cup filled Anna led them in prayer saying it was destiny, we came to them.

It only took 30 minutes for death. My cure cocktail was Strychnine, and Hemlock. In my mind it was like speed balling cocaine and heroin. Different drug actions dueling it out in your body. The terror on their faces as the diaphragm lost the battle. Filled with horror Anna lunged at me, but my blade found her heart. Right between the ribs just like Paul taught me. It gave me joy killing them.

I didn’t feel joy killing my father. I couldn’t let him suffer like mom. I studied to be a chemist. Sheila encouraged my study even after the schools closed.

The rules are simple, everyone contributes, or you are banished. Focus on now, not the past. Trust no one outside your own community, everyone is your enemy. Outsiders must prove themselves before acceptance is given. Follow orders. I added a new rule People Lie.