Children of the Plague

Chapter Five: The Missing

Chapter Five: The Missing

"Come on, Denise. It's not worth it."

Denise's face turned to stone as she glared at her friend Toya.

"Don't look at me like that, girl," Toya said. Her voice turned just as hard and no-nonsense as it had been soft and reassuring a moment ago. "You know I didn't mean it like that. I'm just sayin', it's almost four-o-clock in the morning. They won't let you see Ron. Even if they let you in and wake him up, you'll only upset yourself. You don't want to see those poor women drugged up and strapped down like Guinea pigs."

"Save it, Toya. I'm going. But not to see Ron. He might call himself our leader, but I don't have any use for the man. He thinks our problems don't matter because we don't have super powers. All their bullshit about everything being for us is just that: bullshit. Well, who's he gonna lead when all of his precious humans vanish in the fucking night like Rico. Like all the others!"

"I know you're upset, honey," Toya said as gently as she could. "But you're not being fair. Ron has to make tough decisions for us. For all of us. Now, we're gonna find Rico, even if we have to do it ourselves. But someone needs to know what we're doing and where we're going, so we don't end up missing, too."

Denise shrugged with an exasperated sigh. "Nobody listens to me," she said to the air above her head. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. I'm going to see Diane. She's the only one of them who still gives a damn. She'll find Rico and bring him home safe." She knew she was being a bitch, but it was either that or hunch over on the floor and cry into her lap.

Toya would understand. They had been inseparable since the day the world turned to shit. Along with Rico, they helped each other cope with the loss of everything they loved. They comforted each other through hunger, fear, uncertainty, and the creeping despair of being the last humans on earth.

Hot tears blurred her vision and streamed down her pale, hollow cheeks. It was a miracle her body could keep making them, as hungry and dehydrated as she was. She clenched her jaw and pushed her rising black depression back into its pit.

"Alright, then. Let's go. Let's get it over with," Toya said, tugging at the waist of her formerly too-tight denim shorts.

Denise's best guess put Toya in her late thirties. Secretive about her age and her past, the most Denise had been able to learn was that she had no family or close friends before the plague, and was so obese that she couldn't hold a job.

In the new world, Toya's obsession was staying "in fighting form." Now smaller than she'd ever been as an adult, she wore scandalously tiny clothing all the time. Everyone wore as little as their personal sense of modesty would allow. With a scorching summer crawling to an end, the MPC continually bordered between uncomfortably warm and unbearably hot. Even so, Toya really seemed to enjoy it.

"If you think you're going somewhere with me dressed like that, you better think again," Denise said, wiping her face with the back of her hand. She stepped close and continued softly. "I can't leave him out there, Toya. He'd be here by now, even if he had to crawl back. He could be hurt, or trapped, or surrounded by God knows what. If the super-friends won't go get him, then they at least better not try to stop me."

Toya hugged her tight. "I know, baby. I'll get our stuff ready and meet you at the blue stairs. Don't even try to say no, either. I know Rico's the love of your life, and all that, but he's my friend, too. I'm not trying to lose both of your pale asses."

Denise returned the hug and left their dormitory pod. She hoped to meet Diane at the infirmary, but the woman's schedule was unpredictable at best. The only guarantee with Diane was that her first stop of the day, no matter what time her day began, was the infirmary to see her sister. With luck, she would already be awake and on her way there.