End Dayz

Pierce

October 29th

Dearest Beth,

     I arrived in Connecticut last night and I miss you already. There’s no sense in mailing these letters as by the time they make it across the Atlantic, I will hopefully be home again. I’ll give them to you as soon as I get back so that you know not a day went by without my thinking of you. Two weeks to go, love.

     Dad wanted to come with me, as he has some rather strong opinions about where I should be attending University, but he wasn’t able to get himself inoculated in time to be approved to enter America. It was only by, let’s be honest, bribing some self-important official that he managed to get me bumped to the top of the list.

     I don’t know what the rush is, I have another year before I’ll even be applying to schools. Still, he believes it’s imperative that I start tailoring my application for whichever Ivy League school I (aka- Dad) decide to attend.

     As we drove away from the airport, I was able to get a sense of the situation here. It’s not quite what we expected. People here are still in fear for their lives, and every other billboard is advertising some new gadget that is guaranteed to keep you safe from infection.

     Still, everyone is going about life as usual, it’s not as though the streets are deserted. The atmosphere is just so tense, as though this delicate peace could disappear any day. Even Mildred is acting strange. I suspect she may have had a close call recently, which is terrifying to think about. She’s acting a bit paranoid and is extremely jumpy.

     My dad told me again and again how much better things were going to be over here. Entire states clear of infection, none of the mandatory curfews we’re dealing with at home, rainbows and sunshine. The whole lot.

     Despite her mood swings, Aunt Mildred is being quite hospitable, and her flat is clearly one of the most posh in the entire state. But like Dad she already seems to know exactly which school will be the best fit for me. As far as she’s concerned, Harvard is the only acceptable option for a boy of my “breeding”—yes, she actually said that. We’ll be touring Yale first as it’s the closest, but I swear she actually seems pained to do it. She’s about ready to toss any and all non-Harvard pamphlets into the bin.

I hope you know that if I had any choice, I would stay with you in Birmingham, graduate with our friends and then go to whichever school would keep me close to you.

Yours Always,
Pierce

October 30th
Dearest Beth,
I hope you’re well, but things here are far more dire than we’d been lead to believe. I don’t know if the situation simply unraveled quickly or if the American government had been trying to hide that things here were on the brink of collapse. Either way, I fear that my dad may have shoved me into a very dangerous situation. I’ll know more in the morning.
          We were assured when we booked this trip that in the month since the initial infection, the situation in the U.S. had stabilized. Of course the infection was still building in the South, but every major city had precautions in place to keep us safe. Well, there has definitely been some kind of miscommunication. I can only pray that what I saw tonight is an isolated incident. I wanted to write you and explain exactly what happened, and then I should probably try and get some sleep.
          After about five hours, I woke to the sound of screaming coming from the condo above Mildred’s. Pained, terrified screaming. I had taken a sleeping pill to try and speed up my transition to the new time zone but the sound of this woman’s yelling brought back too many memories of the first attacks and I woke up right away.
          My first thought was that if someone had been infected and managed to get into the city, the authorities must be told. It was only when I made it downstairs to the parlor that I began to suspect things may be much more serious. I picked up Mildred’s phone and attempted to call the emergency number but couldn’t get through. That’s never a good sign.
          The screams from upstairs finally stopped, but I wasn’t daft enough to think that was a good thing either.
          I decided to find Mildred, whose room was on the other end of the flat and see if there was any emergency plan I wasn’t aware of. She wasn’t in her bed. She wasn’t anywhere. I know I had been asleep for some time, but it was extremely odd that someone of her age was out of bed at two o’clock in the morning. Strange enough that I couldn’t convince myself that it was a good idea to stay put and wait for her to come back for me. I knew I’d have to leave and see if I could find someone who might know what was going on, and preferably had a large arsenal of guns.