Chapter 2 - Hard Decisions

Amy and Celine finished dinner and sat down on the sofa to await the special broadcast. The TV was on but all it showed was the message saying to tune in at 10pm. Amy nervously said, "I wonder what's going on?" Celine was about to respond when the channel came up. On the screen was a military officer, highly decorated from the look of his coat. He was caucasian, looked to be in his fifties, he had a short buzz cut gray hair, a square jaw, dark menacing eyes, and a very odd name. He wore a nametag that said General Czerych. He was standing behind a podium with a couple of city council members to one side, and a couple of military personnel on the other. Amy and Celine gave each other very uncertain glances.

General Czerych started off the announcement by introducing himself. Then he went into the meat of the message.

"I am sure most of you are alarmed by the sudden military presence and the wall around the city. First, let me address the situation, please hold all questions until the end. This city has been the accidental target of a weaponized virus. It was stolen from a research lab nearby and unleashed into the city. The contamination seems to have spread very quickly. The virus in it's current form is not life threatening. In essence all of you are carriers. It is deadly to any uninfected you come in contact with. We've already had a few cases outside the quarantine zone. Until further notice, this city is under a full lockdown. No contact with the outside will be permitted. The city coucil has opted to hand jursistiction to the military for the duration of the quarantine and lockdown. Life will be a bit different than normal. We will provide your power, water, and manage the city's waste services. We have also modified the phone system to only work within the city. All cell towers have been shut down and a curfew will be enacted. That is all."

The press erupted in a flurry of questions. Mainly why the CDC, FEMA, or the National Guard had not been called in to deal with this. The explanation given was that the virus was from a military lab and the military had jurisdiction. The program abruptly ended and the girls were left staring at a test pattern. Celine and Amy turned to face each other and sat indian style on the couch. Celine said, " Amy...our parents are both out of town. If they're not letting anyone contact the outside...and no one outside can contact us..." Amy was staring at the floor, "Yeah, I know. But how is the house going to be paid for? I mean, I know our parents paid off mine and your's paid of their's. They bragged about it soooo much. But power, water, food. We're only 15 and I'm not sure we could even work that much if we wanted to." The two sat in silence for a long time after that, both deep in thought.

**** Early the next morning ****

The sunlight was beaming through the curtain and landing squarely on Amy's face. She felt her mouth and realized she must have been drooling in her sleep. She sat up and thought back to the night before. "I didn't get in bed," she thought. She opened her eyes and realized that she had slept with her head in Celine's lap...and drooled all over her! She was mortified! She glanced up, hoping Celine was still asleep. Celine had a comical look on her face and said mockingly, "Good morning sleepy head" and gave her a wink.

Amy apologized profusely for drooling all over Celine's lap but she just shrugged it off. "Amy. Don't worry about it. Haha, it's not that big a deal. Really." Amy calmed down quite a bit and Celine said, "Listen, while you were sleeping so adorably, an announcement came on the TV saying that anyone with housing or bill questions should go to city hall to talk about possible solutions. So I'm going to shower real quick. Mind if I borrow some of your clothes?" Amy shook her head no. "Good, I'll be out in a bit." With that, Celine gathered some clothes and started her shower. Amy realized that she probably needed one too.

All sorts of thoughts were flying around in Amy's head. Celine was her best friend and she didn't mind her wearing her clothes. The truth was that it kind of turned her on. Lately she had been very attracted to Celine. Around guys she felt like the one in control but with Celine, she just wanted to curl up in her lap like a little kitten and let the day go by. "Snap out of it," she thought "I need to get some clothes and a shower." She waited for Celine to finish before going in.

**** About an hour later ****

The walk to city was surreal. Police and military were everywhere. Near the police station, a shopping mall was being turned into something. The girls could see things being loaded into storage containers. It was a good distance from the sidewalk they were on though. Upon reaching city hall, the sights just got stranger. The building looked like a fortress more than a civil building. As the two walked inside the building they could see soldiers everywhere. They all had weapons but the city hall personnel didn't seem to be the least bit nervous, almost like they didn't even notice them.

They walked up to a large circular desk in the center of the room and asked the receptionist about the housing arrangements. She seemed eager to help and said "Oh certainly girls, you just need to go down the hall and it's the last door on your left. I don't imagine you brought any documentation with you. Normally that would be a problem but not under the circumstances."

The door they arrived at had a thrown together plaque that simply said "Housing Services." They opened the door to the room and saw a wall lined with chairs and a man in a black suit sitting at a large desk toward the back of the room. They walked over and told him why they were there. He motioned for them to sit at the two chairs in front of his desk. As they glanced around, they noticed that everything in the room seemed generic. The chairs were all plain and all the same, the desk was bare of any design, even the walls were just painted one color. The man in front of them looked just as plain. He was clean shaven, had short dark hair, and his suit was plain as well. "So, I'm going to need your addresses, monthly bills don't matter since all rates will be adjusted. I should also tell you the quarantine will last a minimum of four years. Anyone outside the city that owns property inside will be compensated."

The girls were mortified. "Four years!" they said in unison. The man un-sympethetically said, "Yes." He seemed very distant from the situation and very out of touch. He asked several questions. The whole time typing on his computer, clicking his mouse, and signing several forms that he printed.

After telling him the information he wanted, he collected several pages of documents. He used their ID's to help verify that they actually did live at those addresses. "Now here is your dilemma. Neither of you have a job, so there is no income coming in. We are building some special housing for displaced residents, Type A Housing, and it will be finished in one week. So here are your options. Option 1, you can sell both homes and most of the contents to the city and live in the Type A housing. That would give you plenty of money and would probably last at least a year. Option 2, sell one house and live in the other but you need some form of income to buy food and maintain the home."

Amy looked as if she were waiting for something but decided to speak up, "Can't we ask our parents what to do? Why can't they make the decision?!"

The man simply repeated the quarantine rules of no contact with anyone outside of the city. Amy burst into tears and Celine cradled her in her arms. Amy didn't remember much of the conversation Celine had with the man and she only vaguely aware of them being driven home. It was all just too much to handle. Later that evening, Amy woke up on the couch and found Celine sitting at the kitchen table reading over several papers. "Hey," Amy said sheepishly, "sorry about earlier."

"It's fine," Celine assured her. "Are you feeling better?" Amy nodded and said yes. "Good. I was worried there for awhile. I've never seen you shut down like that before." "Yeah, that was a first for me too," Amy said. Celine put on a serious face, "I'm glad you're better. But now I hope that you won't be mad. I took the deal he was offering to sell one houses. I picked mine. I'm bringing my clothes here and a few of my things. They are moving so fast on this, I only have tomorrow to collect my stuff.

Amy had sat down as Celine was speaking. "I couldn't handle the situation and you did. I'm not mad. In a way, I'm relieved that the decision is done. You said you had a day to get your things right? We should start early in the morning. It still is weird though." Celine raised an eyebrow, "Which part, hun. All of this is strange." Amy laid her head on Celine's shoulder, "I don't get why the military is here, or what happened to the mayor, or why they want people to sell their homes." Celine gently rubbed her head, "I know, let's just take it one thing at a time." Amy nodded her head.

They heard the news come on in the other room and they hurried to see what was being said. The news anchor, an older man with a mustache, spoke about the new housing, a new curfew going into effect, and several changes to city government. The most shocking was the outlawing of large public gatherings. The anchor condemned these actions and demanded that people be allowed to contact those outside. The broadcast cut out while he was in mid sentence. Celine and Amy shared concerned glances and Amy moved into Celine's arms. A few minutes later, the news came back on. A very flustered woman was sitting in the chair now. She was in her 30's and they recognized her as one of the morning anchors. She carried on with the traditional news, schools would stay open, businesses encouraged to stay open, etc. The anchor promised the news would come on at 10am, noon, and 8pm to keep people updated about events. Then the channel went back to a test pattern.

The girls knew that something was very wrong with this situation. They knew that age didn't have something to do with it. They could see it the faces of most of the adults they had seen, minus the military and people at city hall. Celine ran her hands through Amy's hair to soothe her and said, "Don't worry, we'll figure out what's going on and we'll survive."

Amy made up her parents' bed and asked Celine to sleep in the room with her. They both changed into pajamas and added some extra blankets to the bed. Lately, the nights just seemed to be much colder.