Kim’s Earth: Kim: The Injection

[k_a_webb]

Kimberley knew there was something wrong when no-one answered the phone. Without stopping to think about what the repercussions might be, she walked home. It had been four days since both her parents had been given the new contraceptive injection and she couldn’t help worrying. The world government had said it was safe, that it had been through thorough and rigorous testing, but no one really believed them. Not after what they’d done before. As they had lied then it would be easy enough for them to lie again, which was why her parents had hidden her away in an unused nuclear bunker before the injections. That had cost them money as they’d been fined but they wanted her to be safe. They needed her to be safe too because she had two younger brothers who would have to be looked after if something happened to their parents.

She tried not to think of what might have happened. It was too easy to be reminded of the articles she had seen in most newspapers and magazines, those that weren’t owned or part owned by the world government, in the weeks running up to the days of the injections. The others had insisted that the injection was safe, would have no side effects and would not last for any longer than five years so people shouldn’t worry. Anyone who disagreed was just being a doom merchant. People did protest against being forced to have the injection but that didn’t do any good. When the world government believed they were right they did whatever they had to so their plans were fulfilled. It had happened every time they had a plan that the people didn’t like.

Biting her lip she started walking faster. The more she thought about what the world government had done over the thirty years they had been in existence the more worried she got about her parents. It didn’t help that she had read every article she could about the injection and some of them had been really nasty. She didn’t truly believe that her parents might end up with the plague, which was what one magazine had said might happen, but some of the other articles had seemed more realistic. When she got to her front door she was thankful that the bunker hadn’t been that far away from her home. It was unlocked, which wasn’t unusual, so she opened the door and walked into the house.

“Micheal,” she called quietly, hoping that her brothers were home.

“Kim,” he replied, stepping into the lounge doorway, relief filling his voice. After a few seconds he threw himself into the arms of his older sister. “There’s something wrong with Mum and Dad. Dad told us not to go into their bedroom this morning and not to answer the phone because that was your signal but they haven’t been feeling normal for the last couple of days.”

Kimberley realised that her parents had been lying to her when she rang them and she felt angry at them for not telling her there was a problem sooner. She could have been there to look after them. “How are you and David?”

“Worried, but apart from that we’re fine.”

“Stay with David in the lounge. I’m going to go upstairs and check on Mum and Dad. Don’t come upstairs until I tell you it’s safe to.”

He nodded. “Be careful.”

“I will.”

She waited until he walked back into the lounge before she went up the stairs. It gave her a chance to look into the kitchen. That was her first real sign that something was truly wrong because her mum always kept the kitchen clean. Instead there was washing up still in the sink, a saucepan still on the hob, and it looked like her brothers had been feeding themselves as there was jam on one of the counters. Breathing deeply she made her way upstairs.

“Dad?” she called, knocking on their bedroom door. “Mum?”

There was silence. She hoped they were both asleep but she wouldn’t know until she walked into the room. After a few minutes she managed to gather her courage together and open the bedroom door. Both her parents were in bed so she walked in quietly before closing the door behind her. She didn’t want either of her brothers to walk into the room. Slowly she walked over to the bed. The closer she got the more worried she got because she couldn’t hear either of her parents breathing and her dad snored when he was asleep. A shiver of fear went down her spine. Gently, she pressed her hand to the pulse point on her mum’s neck. After a few moments she realised that there was no pulse. Blinking back tears she tried to find her dad’s pulse but again there was nothing. Swallowing she left the room and went back downstairs.

Staying as calm as she could, she walked into the lounge. She was grateful that David was focused on the TV. “I’m going to go to Izzy’s for a few minutes,” she said quietly to Micheal. “There’s something I need to check and then I’ll be back.”

He nodded. “Don’t be long.”

“I won’t.”

She could see in his eyes that he knew something was really wrong. Gently she squeezed his shoulder, before leaving the room and then the house. Isabel had been her best friend since they were children, because they lived three houses away from each other, so she had to check on her. Kimberley would have checked on her even if she lived miles away. The last time they had seen each other had been just before Kimberley had gone to stay in the nuclear bunker. It was impossible for Isabel’s family to pay the fine, as they’d just had to pay out for their eldest daughter’s mistake, so she’d had to have the injection.

Biting her lip she knocked on the door, hoping that someone would answer it. When no one did she tried the door. It was unlocked so she walked into the house. Under normal circumstances she would never have just walked into the house, even though Isabel was her best friend. The first thing she noticed was that the new baby was crying. It wasn’t exactly hard to notice considering how loud the crying was. Tears welled up in her eyes because she knew that the last thing that family would do was ignore a crying baby. Isabel’s mum was the type of person who would crawl on her knees to that baby.

Slowly she made her way upstairs. The first room she checked was Isabel’s parents’ room. Both of them were in the bed. Neither had a pulse. Isabel’s sister’s room was next. That was where the baby was. Even though she had very little experience with babies she still picked it up and held it gently. Until she got home there was nothing she could do for it so she gently rocked it. Again there was no pulse when she checked for one. Finally she walked into Isabel’s room. Isabel was laying in her bed, one hand on her diary. It took her some time, she had no idea how long, to gather her courage together and check Isabel’s pulse. Tears began trickling down Kimberley’s cheeks when she realised that her best friend was dead, after all they had gone through over the years, and would never come back.

She knew she didn’t have time to mourn. There was too much to do. With her free hand she wiped the tears away as she tried to think about what she needed. Isabel always kept her door keys in her coat pocket so Kimberley took them before going to try to find everything the baby would need: diapers, bottles, food, formula, clean clothes and the travel cot. When she thought she had everything she left the house, locking the front door behind her. Quickly she walked back home, glad that the baby had stopped crying. The last thing she wanted to do was draw attention to herself. She tried to work out what she should tell her brothers because she wanted to protect them but at the same time she knew she had to tell them the truth.

Micheal walked into the hallway as she closed the door behind her. He looked at the baby in surprise before looking up at Kimberley. There was no way she could hide the sadness she knew was shining in her eyes and from the way Micheal looked at her she knew he could see it.

“It’s bad, right?” he said, taking the travel cot off her.

Nodding she replied, “I’ll need to talk to you and David after I get the baby settled down.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Can you set up the travel cot in the lounge?”

“Of course.” He smiled at her. “Do you even know what to do with the baby?”

“No, so I’m going to have to learn quickly.”

While Micheal went off to set up the travel cot Kimberley went into the kitchen to sort the baby out. Normally she would have gone upstairs but the thought of going up there while her parents were lying dead in their bed made her feel weird. Tears welled up in her eyes again so she forced them away because she had three people to look after. It was hard to ignore the untidiness that reminded her that her parents were gone. After changing the baby slowly, and finding out that it was a girl, Kimberley fed her. She found feeding the baby strangely calming. Eventually she went into the lounge and put the baby carefully into the travel cot before turning to her brothers. Both of them had been watching her closely.

“I know that neither of you are stupid so I’m not going to pretend that everything is going to be fine. The contraceptive injection that Mum and Dad went to get has…” She wanted a nicer word than killed but that was what it had done. “It didn’t work very well in their systems and Isabel’s family seem to have reacted the same way.” Sighing she looked at the TV screen for a moment, wondering how long they would have electricity if everyone had reacted the same way. “I hate to have to tell you this but Mum and Dad are dead, so it’s just us now.”

David looked at her with tears in his eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I wish I wasn’t but I am.”

“Do you think everyone reacted the same way?” Micheal asked, looking at her with worry in his eyes.

“I have no idea Micheal. There’s no way for me to know. Right now the best thing I think you can do if you want to find that sort of stuff out is to watch the news or look on the Internet. If you can find out it would be very useful.”

Micheal nodded. “What are you going to do?”

“Check how much food we have and then find out whether there are any shops open.”

“Just after you left Dad went on a bit of a buying spree. I think he was really worried that something would happen to him or Mum, so the larder is pretty full.”

Kimberley forced a smile. “I dread to think what’s in there if Dad did the shopping.” She looked at David. “What do you want to do?”

“Stay with you.”

“Are you sure you want to help me go through the larder?”

David just nodded. She held her hand out to him and he took it. When she realised that he was trembling she gently squeezed his hand, hating the fact there wasn’t really all that much she could do to help him. He squeezed back so she knew he was trying to be brave. Together they walked into the kitchen and once again she took in the mess that reminded her that she had just taken on the responsibility of looking after her brothers as well as Isabel’s baby niece.

“How about you go through the larder while I tidy up?” she said, feeling the need to do the washing up in a way she never had before.

“Do you want me to make a list?”

“That would be really useful.”

He managed to smile at her wanly. “Try not to take too long with the washing up.”

She nodded, knowing that going through the larder was the last thing he really wanted to do. He was just scared that she would leave him the way their parents had and wanted to be with her until he was sure that she wasn’t going to desert them. Smiling back she ruffled his hair gently before going over to the sink. When she stuck her hand into the cold greasy water she couldn’t stop herself from making a face.

Quickly she took everything out of the sink before filling it with hot water. She was relieved they actually had hot water. Not knowing what was happening in the rest of the country filled her with trepidation and she hoped that Micheal would find something out. Once she had some idea of what was going on she could make plans for her family. All she could do until then was focus on washing up because that was mundane, even though her brother was behind her going through the larder to make sure they had enough food to last them. Once she had finished the sink full of washing up she turned to get the saucepan from the hob and found that Micheal was watching her.

“I don’t have good news for you,” he said when she looked at him. He was standing by the kitchen table, where David had started gathering the hundreds of tins their dad had bought. “Most of the news sites are down and I couldn’t actually find any news on the TV. However I did find out some interesting information in some of the online forums. It seems like a lot of people have died because of that contraceptive injection. I’m going to try to contact some of my friends to see if they’re ok.”

Kimberley nodded. That was pretty much the only thing she could do. Sighing she looked around the house, knowing that they were likely to lose the water, the electricity and the gas. She couldn’t help wishing that they lived in one of those eco-friendly houses that were beginning to become popular. There was nothing she could do straight away. Instead she needed to finish the washing up and then work out what they could do.

“I’m scared Kim,” David said quietly when she went over to help him with the cans. “I never really thought anything would happen to Mum and Dad when they had that injection.”

“Mum didn’t either. Dad’s always been a bit more cynical about the world government so it was his worries that meant I didn’t get the injection. I’m glad I didn’t.”

“So am I. I don’t know how Micheal and I would cope alone.”

Kimberley couldn’t help thinking that she might not exactly be that useful when it came to surviving whatever came next. “I promise that I’ll do my best to look after you both.” Then she remembered the other survivor she had in the lounge. “As well as Izzy’s niece.”

“What are we going to do with Mum and Dad?”

“That’s something we’re going to have to decide together. We can bury them or we can burn them, but I think that burning them might draw attention to us.”

“Are you worried about the world government?”

“Partly.”

“They were the first people to have the injection.”

“I’ll believe that when I find out that they’re also dead. It’s possible that they just pretended to have the injection.”

“Do you really think they’d do that?”

“Yes. They’ve done worse before.”

He nodded. “I remember.” There was a moment of silence and they both listened to what Micheal was saying on the phone. “I read an article in the paper just before the day of the injections that was about the possibility that the world government was looking to kill off those people who were strong enough to fight off a virus that they were injected with in the guise of a contraceptive.”

“The papers were full of articles like that David.”

“Now that the worst has happened I can’t help wondering if maybe they knew something that we didn’t.”

“We’ll never know now.”

“Unless the world government start coming around looking for the children who have been left behind.”

“If they do I won’t let them take you or Micheal.”

“Good.”

Micheal walked back into the kitchen. To begin with all he did was stare at all the tins that were on the kitchen table and then he looked at Kimberley. He shrugged before starting to help them, acting as though there was nothing on his mind but she knew there was. However she knew that pushing him wouldn’t help so she waited until he was ready to talk to her.

“I’ve invited some people over,” he said finally. “They’re all alone in their homes with their dead parents and their younger siblings.”

“It would have been nice if you asked whether it was ok Micheal. I know that you’re worried about your friends but we need to look after ourselves first.”

“I know Kim. I told them to bring over all the food that they can carry as well as things I thought we might need if the world falls apart. Quilts, batteries, torches, camping stoves, gas for the camping stoves and anything else they can think of.”

“Just don’t do it again.”

He nodded. “I called a couple of David’s friends too, the ones I really worry about, and they should all be here later. I also told them to have a look to see if any shops are open.”

“When’s later? We still need to deal with Mum and Dad.”

“I know. I heard you say to David we can either burn them or bury them. I’d prefer it if we buried them.”

“You can help dig then.”

Micheal smiled. “I was always planning on helping to dig.” His smile faded. “What are you going to do about Izzy and her family?”

“I don’t know but I do plan on going back and getting whatever we can use.” Kimberley felt bad about basically stealing from her best friend but they were dead. “I’m going to need some help because I’ll need to get everything I can for the baby.”

“Do you know what the baby was called?”

She shook her head. “I’ll have a look in Izzy’s diary.” She actually felt worse about the idea of reading her best friend’s diary than she did about taking everything she could from their house. “Maybe she wrote about what it was like after she had the injection.”

Micheal shrugged. “Would you really want to read about what it was like?”

“I don’t know. I’m kind of intrigued because everyone is in bed and it seems weird.”

“Mum and Dad both felt really tired when they got back from having the injection so they just went to bed. As far as I know Dad only woke up to talk to you before going back to sleep.”

“You should have rung me when you realised something was wrong.”

“Dad made me promise not to when they left to get the injection.”

“It would have given me more time to plan how we’re going to deal with this.” She stared at the cans. “Even in our worst case scenario we never thought that this would happen.”

“We can deal with this together Kim. Between the three of us I’m sure that we can make a plan.”

“I’m meant to be looking after you.”

Micheal smiled at her. “We can all look after each other.”

“I wish that things were easier for you, that you could have the years that I did to be teenagers.” She especially wished that for David because he was just thirteen so he wouldn’t have any time to be a real teenager. “I will do everything I can to make it easier for you.”

David looked at her. “Do we have to go back to school?”

“I don’t think there is a school for you to go back to.”

“Then my teen years are going to be even better than yours.”

Story incomplete – parts 2 -5 available to sponsor.

Next story in timeline: Micheal

Next story by character: n/a

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.