Entry 38

I ended up falling asleep last night while waiting for enough charge to turn on my cell. I woke up this morning, jumped out of bed, and mashed the power button on the phone.

After the painfully slow start-up the phone showed no service. I noticed it had unread text messages. They probably had come through that night and morning. The first few messages were simple chit chat from friends. I had forgotten to take my phone out of the car when I had come home the night before and they simply were trying to reach me. But then, I got the messages that I had received that morning.

The first was from my mom. She had said I should stay home; the flu was spreading rapidly and I should avoid going out. A few more were from friends talking about the flu. One friend was visiting her grandma at the hospital and was saying the hospital was overwhelmed by sick people. Another was from a friend saying his work was closed because too many people had called in sick and they had closed the store. Then there were some from my friend Gabby.

She had shown up for her early shift at work and had gotten so ill she had to have a friend take her home. Her fever was so high she went to an emergency room. Shortly after she said the police had turned her away from the E.R. They were there in riot gear because there were mobs of people around the hospital. Her last text, sent only a few seconds later, said the police must have done something crazy as the entire crowd had started to run from the hospital. Her last text was at 11:38am.

At 11:50am, just before I took my lunch, my mom sent another text. She said if I was home I should lock my doors, and if not I should go home as soon as I saw the message. People were getting dangerous. At 12:05pm, as I was sitting down for lunch at the almost empty restaurant, she sent her second to last text. It said " Turn on news. State of emergency-military called." At 12:18, when I was running through the streets desperately trying to get to safety she had sent one last text. " I hope you are safe. Dad and I love you very much."