Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

around with some man-made chemical weapon that messed up some bird’s DNA and then it spread from there.”
    “Like that bird flu?” I asked, remembering vaguely when people in Japan were wearing surgical masks on the streets. They had pictures of it on the news. I was so young, though, I really didn’t know what it meant.
    “Yeah. Like HIV started out with monkeys. Like mad cow disease started out with bovines. I mean, you mess with Mother Nature in your bid to conquer the world, and this is the crap that happens.”
    “How’d we miss out on all the fun?” asked Winky. “Why’d they die and not us?”
    Kiersten shrugged. “Believe me, everyone was trying to find out. They knew if they could isolate the one thing we had, that they didn’t have anymore and babies didn’t yet have, they’d find the key. But no one ever did before all the adults were gone.”
    “So they never knew exactly what it was at all. That is so damn depressing,” said Rob.
    “Maybe they did,” Kiersten said simply.
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    She smiled, without humor. “Do you really think there are no adults left anywhere in the world?”
    “Uh, yes,” I said, feeling like I was being called stupid, but not sure why. Everyone knew all the adults were gone.
    “Have you been to Europe? The Middle East? Did you check online?”
    She was confusing me. “Uh, no?”
    “Exactly. You have no idea what’s going on outside your little world, because you have no access to it. No more information superhighway. But maybe, just maybe, there are some communities that survived. Maybe there are groups of scientists who locked themselves away in an underground facility somewhere who are working on a cure now. Hell, maybe they’ve already found one.”
    “That’s not possible,” scoffed Rob. “Is it?” He didn’t sound so sure anymore.
    “I saw stuff you cannot even imagine,” said Kiersten. “Government programs and compounds and stuff, all over the world - and up until the epidemic, operating in secret, even from their own presidents. Like I said … this was the first time all of the groups around the world finally worked together.” She was pissed now. “To think of what they could have accomplished if they hadn’t been so focused on being number one and keeping secrets.” She shook her head. “Shameful. And never again.”
    “That is just … so … insane,” said Winky. “I don’t know what else to say. That’s totally insane.”
    “Yeah. And I thought we had everything all figured out,” I said.
    “Does this change any of our plans?” asked Rob. “I mean, do we do things differently, now that we know maybe there’s hope of our world not being what we thought it was?”
    I tried to think of how it should change what we were doing, but nothing came to mind. “No. We do what we talked about: get settled in and work on setting up our community. It’s the only thing we can do.”
    Kiersten said one last thing before walking away and leaving us to sober Bodo up. “Well, whatever you do, wherever you go … better shore up your defenses, because they’re coming for you.”
    Winky raised her eyebrows. “Coming for you? Does she mean you , Bryn? And who’s coming?”
    I sighed wearily. “I bit a canner’s nuts off, or one of them anyway, and now he’s after me. And apparently all these canner groups are networked together.”
    “Networked? Like computers?” asked Rob.
    “Nuts? You bit someone’s nuts off?” asked Winky. “Man, that’s some hardcore krav maga. You’re gonna have to teach me that move.”
    Rob winced.
    “Yeah, Rob,” I answered, ignoring Winky. “They’re networked, like with messengers or something. They share info through their spies or by taking trips. I don’t know. Kiersten said they knew about me and you guys out in Kahayatle and were planning on taking us all out. But we got to them first.”
    “Oh, shit,” said Rob. “That’s huge. We need to tell Kowi and them.”
    “Someone needs to. Not to be a coward or anything, but I need to get the hell out of here and set up in that prison before the canners figure out where I am and come after me.” I looked at my friends. “They’ll take everyone with me.”
    “No, they won’t,” said Winky, looking at Rob for confirmation. “We’re with you no matter what. No one’s safe from them. We all taste the same.”
    “So what are we going to do?” asked Rob.
    “Well, like you said, we need to warn the tribes.