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Then it happened in the US as well. Even if you wanted to ignore it, you weren’t able to, because it was all over the news and everybody talked about it. After a visit of the night flu, twenty people were left dead in Las Vegas.
Now it’s only a matter of time until the virus travels here, Sam texted in our group chat.
Yeah, my parents are stocking up our cellar with emergency supplies, Phe replied and added: It just makes me feel so helpless. It’s supposed to attack when you fall asleep, so I am kind of afraid of going to bed.
At least I wouldn’t have that problem.
You need your strength, I texted.
Yes, the virus makes you tired and that’s why people seem to die in their sleep. You don’t catch it in your sleep, Sam wrote.
But it was concerning that it hit in such odd places and there seemed no way of protecting yourself against it. I for my part had no desire of going anywhere near Las Vegas soon.
At school that day, I spotted the first people wearing white hospital face masks. I felt like we were in China. Marty was wearing one as well.
“You too?” I said, astonished.
“From contagion to death, it takes at most twelve hours. I don’t want to take any chances.” He sounded slightly muffled. “It’s a virus after all and in a crisis, you should follow proven aids.”
“You are right, but I’m not sure that’s enough against something so aggressive,” I replied.
“I have that as well.” He held up a bottle of hand sanitizer as if it was a powerful weapon. “Don’t tell me you haven’t sanitized your hands today. If so then you better take a step away from me.”
I groaned. “I used soap.”
The next day, he needn’t have worried about people not using sanitizer anymore, because there were several dispensers lined up in front of the school. Teachers stood next to them to make sure that everyone gave their hands a good splash. More info followed in the daily announcements.
“Dear students. After the recent events in Las Vegas, every public institution is required to follow measurements to stay sanitized. As of now, use the hand sanitizer dispensers when entering the school or after leaving the bathroom. Further, it is prohibited to bring homemade food to school. Discounted meals will be provided in the cafeteria.”
Some in my class looked at each other alarmed, and there were a few words of protest because they didn’t like what was served at school. One thing I had to hand to these Americans; if they spotted a problem, no time was lost to take action.
At the Irish pub, similar measurements were taken. Above the sink, signs were installed instructing us on how we had to sanitize our hands correctly.
“Damn. The worst thing is that the fear makes people stay home.” Jimmy said. “For the past two days, we've only had two-thirds of the usual crowd.”
Paula and I were standing behind the bar with him. The tables were cleaned spotlessly, and it was too early to do inventory.
“I already feel unwanted,” Paula said. “Whether you are home or out, if the virus is in the air, you can’t escape anyway. With my luck, I’m likely to get it as well.”
“Don’t say that,” I said.
“Irish people are lucky and so far, Ireland and Boston have been spared,” Jimmy said. “But I don’t think we can rely on that for much longer. You can feel how the people are starting to go crazy here. Some aisles in the supermarket are empty.”
“But we can’t just go into lockdown,” Paula exclaimed. “Even if they open up more of these sterilized bunkers, like they have in Nevada, how long are we supposed to stay in them?”
“I’m not going into any bunker,” I said. “It seems contradictory to me to lock myself in a room with hundreds of other people if one of them might carry the virus on them.”
“Perhaps we will be forced to wait in them until there is a remedy or airplanes have sprayed the whole planet with sanitizer,” Paula said. “If this is supposed to kill us, it will. We have treated the world like shit, and it was obvious that humans would destroy themselves at some point.”
“That sounds as if you are expecting all of us to die,” Jimmy remarked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. That’s why I always say you need to live your life to the fullest.”
“Come on, twenty people have died and already you are speaking about the end of the world. Somebody will find a solution before that happens.” I wiped the counter again, hoping that the virus wasn’t connected to the reason why we had to create male Sirens. Because if the virus did have a supernatural cause, it would mean that the world was depending on us to find a remedy. Even if two of my family worked at the hospital and Alex studied biology, it didn’t mean that they were qualified to create a vaccine.
“Well, girls, as much as it’s fun to philosophize about the apocalypse with you, one of you can go home for today. Not much more will be happening tonight.” Jimmy frowned.
Paula looked at me. I knew she needed the money more than I did.
“Okay, I’ll go,” I said. Jimmy nodded apologetically.
“Okay, I’ll go next time,” Paula said.
“Let’s hope that’s not necessary.” Jimmy pressed his lips together.
Part of me was curious to see how the others had gotten along in the meantime. I ran to Cape Cod and found that Melissa and Luke were home.
“Any news?” I asked.
“From next Monday on, we will have a lab at the university,” Luke replied eagerly. “I’m positive that together, Cathy and Alex will be able to create a gene that transforms men less brutally than a direct insertion of blood does.”
“Yes, their science playground will be opened.” Melissa frowned. “And perhaps it’s essential after all.”
“Why do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow.
“The mirror room at The Library has filled up with even more lanterns,” Luke said. “Magical creatures are going into hiding.”
“Because there is nothing they can do to defend themselves against a virus?” I asked. “What would happen to us if we got infected?”
“It’s hard to say. Our system usually isn’t affected by germs,” Melissa remarked. “Maybe we are immune to it and that’s why more male Sirens need to be created.”
“Will you be okay at the university with all the students’ heartbeats?” I asked Luke.
“I was thinking about wearing army ear muffs. I hope that helps.”
Melissa stood. “I need to get back to the hospital now. Several nurses called in sick. I guess they are afraid to catch the flu at work, but there haven’t been any records of an outbreak in a hospital.” She furrowed her brows. “How are people behaving at school?”
“Some are wearing masks, and the hygiene standard is like that of an operating room.”
“Normally I’m not for over-sanitizing everything, but as long as we don’t know how the virus works exactly, it’s good to take as many preventive measurements as possible.” Melissa put on her jacket, kissed Luke goodbye, and gave me a quick hug. I wasn’t opposed to that anymore, now that I walked in and out of the house again as if I still lived here.
At school, it got even worse. Since all the night flu cases had died in the night so far, the students were afraid of falling asleep. Therefore, the mood of my classmates seemed to have plummeted, and many walked around like red-eyed zombies. I sat in the last row of the classroom and had a good view of all the boys and girls who were more lying on their tables than sitting in front of them.
“You have to sleep during the night,” Mrs. Graham, our English teacher, emphasized. “It weakens your immune system if you don’t look after yourselves.”
“But if we don’t sleep, the flu can’t catch us,” Trevor said.
Mrs. Graham narrowed her eyes. “Where did you hear something as idiotic as that?”
“There’s a Facebook group,” Trevor yawned.
“Then read the information sheet about the night flu again.” The teacher handed him a flyer that all of us had received on the day they installed the sanitizers. “It says nothing about the flu attacking people who are sleeping. But if you experience any of the symptoms, like shortage of breath or the slightest fever, go to a hospital immediately. None of the infected people even made it to the hospital because they didn’t take it seriously enough and, consequently, didn’t make it through the night.”
“She has a point,” Lori, who was sitting in front of me, whispered to Sarah. “I’ve only missed out on sleep one night and already I feel like I can’t handle another one.”
“Yeah, I stayed on the phone with Chelsea the whole time so that we wouldn’t fall asleep,” Sarah whispered back.
“Girls, do you have anything to contribute that would interest the whole class?” Mrs. Graham approached them.
They shook their heads.
“We can talk about the flu if you have questions. This is presently such a burning topic that we shouldn’t ignore it in the classroom.”
Sarah raised her hand. “Do you know anything to keep us awake beside energy drinks and coffee?”
“I told you, that’s not healthy. You need all the strength you can get.” She narrowed her eyes. “There’s no proven remedy that would protect you from the flu any more than anything else. But I imagine that not sleeping would do more harm.”
“Is it true that the government has a medicine but they’re only handing it out to rich people?” Lori asked.
Mrs. Graham took a deep breath. “No. And the fights you see because of it in other countries are a disaster.”
“Maybe fighting is what we should learn,” Patrick said.
“It’s a virus,” Mrs. Graham exclaimed. “We are not at war!”
“Not yet,” Patrick mumbled.
Valerie sneezed and everybody glared at her. For a moment, she looked around in shock, but then she caught herself.
“How about ‘bless you?’ This is just a cold. You’re right – I need some sleep.” She looked at Mrs. Graham, got up and rushed out of the classroom. Mrs. Graham sighed.
“Two kids from Monroe High disappeared,” Patrick started again. “Rumor has it they went looking for an underground guerilla fight group that’s led by Dr. Palmer.”
Mrs. Graham tried to talk some sense into the class. “If we all go crazy, that will create more damage than if we continue life as normally as possible.”
“You do that, and we’ll see where it leaves you.” Patrick sulked.
I wondered whether my sister was living through similar scenes in Switzerland. When Roisin and I were in Munich, daily life had been functioning as usual. Maybe it was because they had gradually gotten used to the constant fear of getting sick, so nobody cared as much anymore. Whereas here, the first deaths had just happened. Nobody had time yet to adjust to the fact that we weren’t safe here anymore.
After school, Alex and I met at Chickatawbut Overlook to go for a short hike. The trees and the small stone tower looked untouched. Whatever problems people had in the world, they hadn’t arrived here yet. I enjoyed the fresh breeze that smelled of trees. Once we had left the car behind us, I walked backward, slightly in front of Alex with my hands in my jeans pockets.
“When you start in the lab, you’d better find a solution to turn yourself into a Siren fast,” I said. “I don’t want to take any chances that the night flu hits you while I’m somewhere out and about.”
“It does seem safer to have supernatural powers right now, doesn’t it?” Alex responded. “Except if you show up on Dr. Palmer’s radar.”
“That’s why some magical creatures are going into hiding, as well,” I said.
Alex took a deep breath. “It’s so quiet up here. It seems even the birds have disappeared. You think that’s the calm before the storm?”
“That’s because it’s November. Don’t you start reading bad things into everything now, too.” I flicked my hand over his chest.
“You’re right.” He pulled me closer to him. In a hug, we made a half-turn and gazed over the city. Boston’s skyline looked phenomenal from up here. “I like living with you, as far as we can call this living together. I never thought that I would have a serious relationship so soon, but this gives me a good feeling about our future.” He kissed the part of my neck behind my earlobe, which made all the little hairs there stand on end.
“I understand what Cathy meant. Any Siren who loves someone wouldn’t want to let that person die. Even if I didn’t have permission, I’d try it with you if it came down to it. I couldn’t be without you anymore.” I hugged Alex a bit tighter.
“Don’t worry. I’m a survivor, and I have no plan of going anywhere.” I felt his smile even though I wasn’t looking at his face.