Aurora Wasteland Quarantine

by Vaughn Ashby

  All throughout the day, she expected Simon to stop by and ask about the VR. It wasn’t until minutes before Nat packed it in for the day that Simon finally called her. His little office avatar wasn’t even at her desk, actually, it showed he was still in a meeting.

  Nat answered the call to silence. Maybe he’d dialed her by mistake. Maybe he was being held hostage and this was the last call he’d made from his phone and all he could manage to do was hit the redial button. Or maybe he… finally he spoke, repeating a single word over and over again. “Two, two, two.” His tone was flat and frightened her more with each repetition. Eventually, Nat hung up, and just as she tried to call him back, Nat’s phone rang again.

  There was a different number on the call displayed, one she’d never seen before. Nat answered it and was greeted by a somber voice. Her mother had died only an hour ago of The Virus. Nat dropped the phone, she didn’t know anyone who had died of The Virus personally. She’d just witnessed the numbers going up. Her mother had seemed fine on the phone the night before. Did she know then that she had The Virus? Was that why she was so pleasant and atoning?

  Tears flooded from Nat’s cheeks down to the carpet below. She could still hear the woman on the phone trying to talk to her. Each tear that dropped on the carpet echoed in Nat’s ears. It was getting hard to breathe. This couldn’t be happening, her mother couldn’t be dead. This wasn’t possible.

  Nat sniffed and glanced down at her hands. They were covered in her tears, as was her shirt, pants, and the floor. How was that possible? She patted the wet carpet and it cracked like glass. Light forced its way through and the crack rippled around her apartment. What was going on? Was she losing her mind? Nat patted her shirt, and both her hands and clothes shattered and rained down on the floor like glass, causing a cascade of the world around Nat to vibrate then shatter.

  Hiro sat on his couch and pulled his VR goggles off. Tears covered his face. How long had he been in there? How long had he been Nat? Had his mother really died?

  His phone sat next to him, the woman was still trying to talk to him. He picked up the phone and asked her to repeat everything. Frustratedly, she did. His mother had died of The Virus. The VR had synced with his phone as advertised, he’d have to tell Steven about the feature. Hiro thanked the woman on the phone, but received only silence in return. He asked if she was still there, to which the woman replied with “three, three, three.” Hiro hung up the phone and shook his head. That had happened in the VR, why was it happening here?

  Hiro placed the VR on his coffee table and went to take in the view from his window. The sun was down, and the lights from the city glowed around him. It had been so long since he’d left his apartment. He glanced down at the people in cars and the others walking along the street. Where were these people going? Bars, clubs, and all gatherings were closed. Hiro wiped the tears from his cheeks and thought of going out. He wanted to do it for his mom. She would love it if he met someone but how was he going to do that now? Everywhere was closed.

  The VR on his table glowed. He slid the goggles back on and accessed his paired phone’s app. He pulled up this folder for dating apps and scrolled through it. He thought about his mom, she’d want him to meet someone nice. Then he thought about himself, and how it had been so long since he’d touched another woman. He opened the app that would hopefully lead to a night full of intimate fun.

  There were dozens of messages waiting for him, but most were old. He hadn’t been on here since before The Virus hit. It seemed like a waste of time getting to know someone you couldn't see in person for months. He pulled up his matches and filtered to see who was online. There were none. He scrolled for a while virtually swiping left and right with his eyes through his goggles. Eventually, he hit the end of his potential matches and returned back to his inbox, where he had one new message waiting for him. It was from someone named Beth. He opened the message. It was an invite to a party. He searched for an online meeting URL, but what he found was an actual physical address. He hadn’t been to a party in forever, and not just because of the pandemic. He’d never been much of a party person. What was he thinking? He wasn’t actually going to go. First, it was against the current virus safety rules. Second, he had no idea who this woman was, for all he knew it could be, and likely was, a man. Just as he was about to close the app a new message popped up, it was from Beth, ‘You coming tonight?’

  Hiro replied back… ‘convince me’

  Beth: ‘Are you real?’

  Hiro: ‘I am, are you? And are you a dude?’

  Beth: ‘I’m real, so are my boobs. Wanna see?’

  A picture of Beth’s perky boobs popped up in the chat.

  Beth: ‘You coming tonight?’

  Hiro paused, she seemed real, well... as real as she could be. He needed to get out, and if he was going out, why not have some fun. Maybe he’d meet his future wife, his mom would love that.

  Hiro: ‘Heading there now.’

  Beth: ‘:)’

  As Hiro stepped out of his apartment and made his way down the elevator, he realized just how long it had been since he’d left his place. He’d ordered anything he’d needed. He stepped out the front doors of his apartment building and realized it had been months since he’d last been there. The air outside and the sounds of cars on the street felt so familiar and comforting.

  Hiro’s phone binged in his pocket, it was another message from Beth with the address for the party. He typed it into his phone’s mapping app and started to follow the directions.

  Every single shop, bar, and restaurant he passed as he walked was closed. Normally, at this time of night, they would be packed with people trying to get in, but not anymore. Life had changed. He hoped that one day things would go back to normal. He forgot how amazing it was to be outside like this.

  Eventually, the mapping app led him to a mall located in the city’s core, no more than 5 blocks from his place. He used to come here all the time for movies and food from the shitty food court when he was younger. The place looked the same, but different, too. He couldn’t put his finger on it, maybe it was a new paint job? Maybe just different stores. No, it was the people or rather the lack of them. There were always people coming in and out of the dozen or so entrances, but now the doors were motionless. The area around the mall was silent.

  Hiro approached one of the doors and tugged at it. The door opened easily, and he checked his map app. It felt strange going into a mall, but the address was leading him in. So, he stepped through the door and into the mall.

  As he held his phone up to guide him through the last section of his journey, he noticed store after store was closed. He felt bad for the owners. The Virus wasn’t fair to anyone, but at this moment he felt terrible for the small business owners. He’d been in many of these shops, though not for a long time now. Even before The Virus, it had been years. So many looked the same, well except for the long closed metal shutters that had layers of dust buildup on them.

  The map app led him to the food court, where he circled around it three times before he paused in the center and sat down at one of the tables. The place was empty. The address had to be wrong. There was no party here. There was nothing here. Hiro pulled up the dating app and checked the message Beth had sent him with the address. It matched what he’d entered. Had she lied to him? Tricked him to come out here? Why? Why would she do that?

  Through the silence of the mall, a noise built. It rumbled its way through the quiet air. Eventually, as Hiro contemplated what message to send to Beth, a Janitor pushing a floor polisher made his way through the food court. Hiro jumped to his feet and ran over to him. He showed the janitor his phone and asked if he knew where the address was. In reply, the janitor simply pointed towards a door across the food court marked bathroom, then started repeating “5, 5, 5”, over and over again.

  Hiro sprinted for the door and pushed his way inside. As he stepped through his vision froze, as did his body. A message reading ‘error code 8’, scrolled acros
s his vision like a news ticker. It scrolled from left to right. As the message vanished off the right side of his vision, Nat stumbled through the door. She shook her head and glanced back behind her. Was she in the VR somehow? She ran her hand over her face trying to remove any glasses that might be there, but there was nothing. She had no goggles on.

  The map app on her phone flashed that she was in the right location. She changed to her actual phone app, pulled up Steven's number, then hit call. Steven picked up before the second ring. He asked if she tried it. She told him everything, how her mother had died, the dating app, the mall, everything. After she was done, Steven simply laughed, and said “It’s smooth like your mama’s pussy… 13, 13, 13.” He repeated the number over and over until Nat hung up the phone. She had to be in the VR, but how was she supposed to get out? She… Nat tumbled end over end as she rolled down the cold wet cement staircase she didn’t even know was there. She hit the bottom landing and laid in the trickle of water that ran past her.

  Something warm ran from her nose, down her face, and mixed with the passing stream. Nat sighed and got to her feet. Everything hurt, she felt like she’d just lost a fight. She glanced up the stairs to the door she’d burst through at the top. It seemed like it was miles away and growing.

  The rhythmic beats of club music emitted from a door next to her. Had there always been a door there? Light sliced around the edge of it as she placed her hand on the door. It was warm and comforting. She didn’t realize how cold she’d gotten, likely from the water.

  She thought about leaving, she thought about going home. Something was off but… she’d come out for a reason, she’d risked stepping out into the world where The Virus roamed. She’d come here for connection.

  Nat squeezed the doorknob and turned. A trickle of some text scrolled across the bottom of her vision. ‘Error Code 21’. She shook her head. She didn’t care what was real and what wasn’t. This felt real and she needed real connection.

  The bathroom was silent, the club music gone. A single woman sat on the only toilet in the bathroom. The door to the stall was removed. Luckily the woman wasn’t using the toilet, though she did have some steampunk looking VR goggles on. Without opening her mouth she called to Nat, as she inched her skirt higher and higher. She told her that her name was Beth. That she was so badly waiting for her to come.

  The lights flickered, and the bathroom changed. The lights were dimmer, more atmospheric. Everything was spotless and clean. She was back to being Hiro. He turned and reached for the doorknob, but it wasn’t there, the entire door was gone. He turned back to the woman, who was now standing and approaching him with the VR goggles still on, and her arms out in front of her as if to protect her in case she bumped into anything.

  Again the lights flickered and Nat was back. She checked for the door again, it was still not there, and the woman was now only inches from her. She was beautiful, and exactly Nat’s type. Beth asked if she could kiss her. Nat wanted to scream no, she wanted to run, she wanted to… she wanted to say yes. So she did. And Beth kissed her.

  Beth’s back banged against the bathroom wall. Tile from the wall tumbled to the disgusting floor below. Her long hair swayed as the beautiful woman she’d only met minutes ago ran her fingers through it. Her lips felt so warm and comforting on her own. It had been too long since she’d felt the touch of… well… anything. She wanted to be nowhere but right where he was. Beth wrapped her arms around Nat, spreading her warmth, her grip tightening on Nat. Beth kissed her hard, her tongue grazing her own. This was comfort, normalcy, she never wanted to leave here or her. It had been so long, that she… Nat kept her eyes closed, and enjoyed the feeling of Beth.

  As Nat collapsed back against the wall and onto the floor, Beth climbed off her. She made her way to the sink and started to wash her hands, after which she removed her VR goggles, and dropped them in the sink. She turned to smile at Nat, who was back to Hiro. The woman’s face where her eyes should be was crystalized and her actual eyes missing. She thanked Hiro, and directed him to a book she’d left for him in the bathroom stall. Some light reading, she said. Then as if everything was normal she walked across the bathroom and through the wall where the door used to be. Leaving Hiro again alone.

  Again confused as to what was real and what wasn’t, Hiro got to his feet and rushed over to the book. He picked it up and read the title, ‘The Guide to getting the Fuck out of here and how to seduce people in order to get them to take your place in case you’re trapped somewhere.’ Hiro and Nat laughed, then pulled up their dating app and started sending party invites.

  Newspaper Headlines

  “Isolation can lead to a loss of connection with reality” - Edmonton Epoch

  “Digital dating at all time low” - Brightness Falls Gateway

  “Life without connection not so different from a robot’s life” - E-Calgary Science Digest

  “Nat met a nice Boy her mother would approve of” - Nat’s Father’s Newsletter

  “Reports of people being held against their will after failed online dates on the rise” - Lethbridge Dark Times

  Conclusion from the Narrator

  That’s it, who knew that people needed actual real connection with other people. And that given the lack of it can lead to questionable life choices. As much as some of us would not like to admit, we’re a social species.

  Hiro and Nat, what is there to say about them? They needed connection, but the real question is... was it real? Were they?

  If I’m being honest with you, this one hurt my head and still does. But that could be the pills I’m taking. They keep pushing different things on me. I wish I could give you a clearer picture, but sometimes life, like art, is messy.

  THE ALT C

  INTRO FROM THE NARRATOR

  For a while after The Virus hit, it felt like life was on pause. You didn’t go to the dentist, you didn’t see your friends, life just continued frozen as it was. You worked from home if you were lucky enough to have a job that allowed you to. You got up, worked, then repeated it all over and over again.

  But like every ball freezing Canadian winter, everything un-freezes. Chunks of life broke free from the Covid freeze. Sometimes that was good, like standing around six feet away from your friends and or family outside in your backyard around a fire pit. Sometimes it was bad, the company you worked for realizing that they have to shut down or let you go because life is different now.

  Some governments covered people in situations like this, they were the good ones. This Virus was a once in a lifetime event. Others, well... you were left on your own. I was lucky. Others I know weren’t. World events like this should inspire compassion and empathy. This should have been a point that united us as a species, but it didn’t.

  Welcome to the Aurora Wasteland Quarantine.

  Police report

  Dozens of bodies found in vacant office rental

  Alberta, foul play, RCMP

  Calgary, Alberta – RCMP are currently looking to identify bodies found in a downtown office rental. It’s unknown at this time if foul play was involved. Though most bodies were found relieved of skin, the rest of their bodies remain intact. All bodies appear to have died within the last week. Anyone who knows of a recent missing person should contact the RCMP, well unless it was your mother-in-law, then the RCMP have your back.

  Ok, I may have added that last part. But I mean come on mothers-in-law… am I right?

  The Story

  I took the police report, connected it to other sources, cross referenced it with the Aurora Wasteland website, and well…ran with it. Below is the story I was able to piece together…

  The waiting room was filled with people all wearing masks. It was strange how normal the whole thing had become. Joanne glanced around checking out the patterns, straps, and folds of all the different mask types in the room, only to freeze when she checked out the mask of the man sitting across from her. He was staring at her and smiled when his eyes met hers. He waved, so she waved bac
k. From what she could see of his face he seemed handsome, his physique wasn’t bad either.

  After a few seconds, the man got up and sat at the open chair to her right, which thanks to The Virus was still several feet away from her. He introduced himself as Diggs, and asked if she was there for a job interview as well. She replied that she was, and the two exchanged stories of how they were both recently let go because of cutbacks caused by The Virus. He’d worked at a hunting supply store, which he’d always found socially awkward, not a lot of people expect a black man to be selling them hunting supplies. She’d worked for the local airport, moving supplies around for everyone, she’d called it logistics.

  While they’d both enjoyed the time off initially, now months later they were getting bored and needed to start to plan further down the road. They’d both stumbled across the ad for a job posting here in the newspaper of all places, and neither of them had been able to find anything out about the company online, which they both laughed should have been a red flag, but wasn’t until now.

  As the conversation died down between the two of them, Joanne glanced around the room, mostly at the posters on the wall. There was a pro-life poster, an all lives matter poster, and a Microsoft software partners poster. The Microsoft one seemed out of place, but the other she pointed out to Diggs. While neither of them was exactly sure what kind of jobs they were here to interview for, they were both certain they didn’t want to be a part of a company that would openly plaster posters like that up in their waiting room.

  As they both got to their feet to leave, their names were called by a man and woman wearing way too snug coveralls and holding clipboards. Diggs and Joanne looked at each other as their names were called again. They both shrugged as the same idea ran through their heads, ‘this will make a great story to tell my friends’.