Life by the Red Oak: A Random Story in the Apocalypse by Steve Marchand

Author:Steve Marchand [Marchand, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steve Marchand
Published: 2020-12-09T14:00:00+00:00

“YOU THINK THAT’S, HUM, that’s what caused it?”

“I don’t see what else it could be,” Jonathan answered.

Nine days before the first wave of infections, NASA had released images of the largest ice shelf — three times the size of Texas — to ever break off Antarctica. The fracture itself should have been enough to occupy newsrooms around the world for many cycles. The media and the science community, however, were more baffled by the now exposed black hole estimated to be dozens of miles long and up to three hundred feet high.

Infrared stills from satellites showed vapors, a gas of some sort perhaps, pouring out of the seemingly hollow strip in massive quantities.

All communications were lost with the group of researchers dispatched to investigate. When the rescue team sent after them also went silent, most of the countries on the planet reacted with proportional concern and the UN called for an emergency assembly.

An unmanned drone flew over the breach and scooped samples. They were never analyzed. Three of the four scientists that had been charged with the task froze upon entering the lab despite wearing state of the art protective suits. There were no volunteers to go anywhere near the samples after that. The one man who had survived exposure became a pincushion for a few days, but then fled and went into hiding when the tests performed on him grew increasingly invasive. He contacted the New York Times, which in turn published the article that alerted the world to the toxicity of what was pouring out of the earth in Antarctica.

The WHO and the CDC held joint daily press briefings during which they prescribed “life as usual” until more was known. It did little to calm the general public’s anxiety.

In the United States, the President saw the crisis and the fear in the population as an opportunity.

His administration had been embroiled in heavy turmoil since November. He had won re-election, popular vote and Electoral College, by a crushing margin despite devastating late October polls and approval ratings in the low twenties, a level of dislike from the electorate never before seen.

His numbers had taken a steep dive toward the end of the summer as a result of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He had dismissed the virus as nothing but a hoax from its onset. It quickly became impossible to deny it was indeed real, so he promised it would all go away on its own, as if by magic. It didn’t. Governments around the world implemented drastic lockdowns and sanitary measures to contain the spread. They also voted on plans to help their population cope financially. The President, despite having been briefed early on about the severity of the virus and its likely consequences, refused to follow in their path.

The number of deaths in the US skyrocketed. The economy cratered. Tens of thousands lost their jobs and their homes. Lines in front of food banks extended for miles.

Elected officials in the President’s party fell in line behind him, some out of devotion others out of fear they’d be mentioned in one of his mean tweets.

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