What has it been? Almost 20 years I think, since the virus hit. My area was hit the hardest and still the scientists (at least publicly) have no clue as to the way the virus selects its victims. I guess it was the just luck (or bad luck) of the draw that my own home town was nearly wiped out save for a hundred or so of us out of a total population of 5,000. Our group due to the small but still fair sized number of survivors was used as subjects of study to help find a cure or at least discover why certain groups of people were not affected.

We spent over a year being poked, prodded, and examined, and in the end the scientists could not discover a unified reason why our diverse group of men, women, Asian, Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, young, and old all survived. The scientists even looked into other aspects of who we are, what we ate, what we drank, who we associated with, even our hobbies. Every facet of our lives was put under the microscope and every facet was dismissed as an unlikely association.

After the year under observation the scientists let us go back home, or at least what used to be our home. After a year of no upkeep and no human control our town was beginning to look a little run down. Grass was growing in the cracks of the streets and sidewalks. Paint was beginning to peel and climbing vines had reached the rooflines of the houses that owners had thought such plants were appealing. Trashcans were knocked over by raccoons and other wild vermin while the items those creatures found indigestible blew through the streets.

Many of the homes had red X’s painted on their doors put there in the early days of the epidemic to denote the number of people who used to live in that house before they died. Initially it was implemented so that a kind of quarantine would be setup to keep people from contracting the disease. It was found shortly after, that it didn’t matter, the disease still infected other people without them even leaving their house.

It still brings tears to my eyes, 3 years before the disease struck I had gotten married to the woman of my dreams. I was 24 and she was 25 we were only a couple of months apart but she still liked to rub it in my face when her birthday would roll around and she would be “older” than me. I of course would push right back saying that she was one year closer to that oh so dreaded, “ripe old age” of 30.

Within a year of us being married she gave birth to my son. A wiry youngster who hated to keep his clothes on. Life was good, we went on with our lives the only way a newlywed couple with a young child knows how. About 6 months before the disease struck my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She had bright green eyes, and rich dark chocolate hair, it was clear to see that this little girl would grow up to be a carbon copy of her mother.

Then it started, it started as most epidemics do, starting to show up in small areas of the world with a high population density such as India, and China.

It slowly spread to other countries as business and vacation travelers carried it aboard aircraft. The disease was cunning. Slipping into people’s homes and businesses attacking only those it decided to infect. It was a merciful attack though. You would have it for several days and not even know that you had it. When symptoms finally did develop everyone knew it was too late. Once the symptoms started you had no more than 24 hours to get all of your affairs in order before you succumb to the diseases touch.

Symptoms were mild and thus hard to identify, a runny nose, bloodshot eyes, clammy skin, and extreme fatigue. You would go to sleep and then an hour or so later your body would tense up as if you had lock-jaw, then the release of death would occur. Because of the mild symptoms and the quick release of the body many dubbed this disease as God’s Release since it was a very smooth and easy almost pain free death.

News reports were coming in from all over the globe with casualty numbers climbing every hour. One channel on both radio and TV were always reporting on the advance of the disease and any updates of a cure, no cures were ever found. Many different serums and herbs were tried to combat it. Quarantine areas were set up everywhere, but were quickly overloaded and eventually ignored as the bodies continued to pile up.

Dump trucks were used to collect the dead in a quick yet unceremonious removal system to keep the bodies from becoming a biohazard within the population centers. An attempt to record names was started but also was forgotten as the sheer number of bodies was just too many too fast. To deal with the diseased, mass graves were created. Usually in farm fields or abandoned pits once used to collect gravel and clay. In several places the dead were cremated filling the sky around the crematoriums with smoke and a smell of despair.

It took almost a year for the disease to hit our small town, but once it hit there was no stopping it. Within a week of the disease first showing the signs of its presence half the town had gone through God’s Release. Farmers with loader tractors and the local excavation company worked almost nonstop to keep the bodies from becoming a problem. These people who dealt with the collection were called the dead brigade and were greatly disliked by many of the members of our town due to necessary uncaring attitude to the dead.

My lovely wife, was one of the first to feel God’s Release. It was about a week and a half after the initial deaths had occurred in our town. The dead brigade was active, picking up the dead that remained and keeping an eye out for those who were about to die. My wife and I had made a vow that if either of us died we would not let the other be thrown into the mass grave that had been hastily dug outside of town. So when she got sick first I knew what was coming.

It was quick for her, she started the morning with bloodshot eyes, by noon she had a runny nose and had begun to physically slow down as the fatigue took hold. By five in the afternoon she was in bed unable to continue moving. I worried on how this would affect the children my son was three, just barely old enough to know that something was going on but he didn’t know what. My daughter was one and a half with no clue as to what was happening. We were all huddled around my wife as she lost consciousness around 7. I knew what was going to happen soon, so I put the children to bed since I could not bear the thought of them seeing their mother go through the release and it was that time anyway. I came back into the room where my wife was sound asleep. Even in her current state of sickness she was the most beautiful woman I had ever known. I kneeled by the bed, kissed her lips and saw a small twinge of a smile and I began to pray. I prayed for close to an hour holding her hand in mine pleading with god to protect us all. I eventually passed out due to exhaustion and awoke three hours later. I looked at my wife and saw what had happened, her body had moved meaning that she had seized and released while I had been passed out. I double and triple checked for a pulse, finding none I brushed her dark brown hair back away from the face that was once filled with vitality and life and broke down.