He woke up to his phone ringing, a handsome man in his early twenties. He sighs as he puts on his glasses and looks at his phone, “What’s Johnny want this early?” The bed sheets beside him stir and a beautiful young female face emerges from them. She yawns deeply and rolls over, putting her arm around the young man, she lays her head on his chest and looks up at him smiling tiredly, “Oh, Richie, he is just excited about the party tonight. It’s his big winter bash after all.”

Richard laughs, “Yeah, you’re right, Susie, I swear he’s been planning this party all year, I bet it’s going to be awesome,” he groans “I still can’t believe we had classes this week. We should already be on break.” Susie sighs rolling her dark blue eyes, “Yeah well that is what happens when the college gets shut down for a week due to protests. I told you they were going to make us make up that time, but you wouldn’t listen,” she jabs at him as she sits up flipping her long brown hair, with shorter blonde strips that outline her face, into Richard’s face playfully. She giggles hopping out of bed, as he lunges for her. He bounces and slides off the bed onto the carpeted floor, making Susie laugh even harder.

Richard climbs up on the bed, resting on his elbows, looking at Susie as she walks into the bathroom, “You act like I planned the protests! I made a couple of suggestions to some people about the unethical treatment of Dr. Stans, and the rest is history,” he laughs at his ill-formed pun as doctor Stans was the Ancient Histories teacher for the college. She was wrongly fired for stating her opinion at an open assembly, an opinion that many students agreed with, but the board did not.

Susie turns on the shower then looks back at him and smiles, “Well it all worked out. I was supposed to go with my family to the Florida Isles for winter break, but now,” she smirks as she lets his shirt that she wore to bed slip to the floor, “I get to stay here with you.” Richard’s grin nearly swallows his handsome face, as he runs to the shower, clothing falling to the floor.

After their shower, Susie and Richard head to their favorite little diner up the road by the river. The diner is a popular spot across from the riverwalk and is nestled in between a new paddle board rental, and a gym that Johnny liked. It has been open for over eighty years, or so the sign says, either way, the food is always good, and the staff was all human with no automatons, but best of all is the view of the river. The view of the river was even better at night when all the lights were lit up, but even during the day, you could see all the winter holiday decorations. Richard was not a fan of the holidays, but he endured as Susie loved them.

As they take their usual seat, they notice everyone watching the television above the counter. Richard sighs when Susie asks what’s going on. “Probably more about the outbreaks in South America or something,” he says patting her hand, “My dad said it’s almost impossible to get a flight out of the country now because of all the regulations and restrictions since this virus or whatever started. Hell the WRC has closed their boarders to us and Texan Freedom Alliance. They say it might be worse than that black pox plague that happened like forty-five years ago. They aren’t talking about anything though, just saying ‘stay calm, our great nation won’t be affected’ bull shit,” he shakes his head in disgust.

When the waitress, a human woman not a ServBot or other robotic server thankfully, comes over to take their order, Susie asks what’s going on. The waitress tells them of a bombing in Atlanta city, though she did not know much else. Susie gasps in shock, “I have family right outside of Atlanta.” She grabs her phone and heads to the door. “I’ll be right back,” she calls back to Richard, as she walks outside.

Richard orders their usual, then texts his dad who also lives in Georgia. ‘Hey dad! I just heard about Atlanta! Everything okay?!?’ He sends it to his father. A few minutes later Susie comes back inside and sits down. “I can’t get through,” she huffs, throwing her small purse on the seat next to her, “I’ve sent a text and everything but nothing yet. I called my mom and she said they were okay; nothing is happening in Florida. Thank God they didn’t postpone their flight to wait for me or they would have been in Atlanta today!”  she exclaims, grabbing Richard’s hand. She continues as Richard squeezes her hand reassuringly, “She said talked to Mrs. Sanders and the town is having power outages. I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen with the new AMCES systems they have over there.”

Richard laughs bitterly, “Yeah, those ‘Auto Managed Clean Energy Systems are going to revolutionize the country,’ as if! The government just wanted to be rid of jobs. Having an entire power station, waste station, or any other vital station that runs without human interaction is just scary, if you ask me. They are moving too fast to unmanned systems without proper testing before implementation. Trusting in poorly designed and cheaply made autonomous systems is dangerous. I bet that’s what happened in Atlanta, another glitch..”

Susie squeezes his hand comfortingly, “Hey it’s okay, it’s been five years since they’ve fixed all the early issues. Something like that won’t happen again.” Richard takes a deep breath and smiles at Susie, “you are right babe, sorry, let’s eat and try to enjoy the day, it’s Friday, only one day to winter break.”

Five years ago, a terrorist hacker managed to hack an early version of the AMCES that was being tested in Atlanta. They were able to cause mass chaos in the city, shutting down power, forcing all lights to stay green, and crashing the subway train Richard’s mother was taking to work, killing hundreds of people, his mother included.  The government has sworn all early vulnerabilities have been fixed but Richard doesn’t believe anything those lying worms say.

They eat their breakfast, Susie only nibbling at her food, stress lines creasing her pretty face and Richard fiddles with his sausage stick chopping it up into tiny pieces before they finally leave. They drive through Wellington, a bustling college town of around forty thousand people, to their college a little way off Main Street. They chose to rent their own apartment rather than live in the dorms, as the dorms would not allow them to live together. They started a petition to allow couples to dorm together but have been shot down by the college board.

As they drive through the bustling downtown, the holiday decorations strung all over with glittering golds, silvers, blues, and reds, they see people going about their lives as if nothing is happening. As the song fades the radio announcer comes on, “more threats of terrorist attacks across the country. There has been a broadcast from a terrorist cell claiming, ‘Society is the cause of this blight plaguing the earth and we will eradicate it for the good of humanity’. There has been no response from the government yet, other than… “

Richard clicks off the radio smacking his dash, “What the hell is wrong with the world!” he exclaims, anger and frustration boiling into his words, “and our wonderful government has nothing to say other than their usual dribble.” Susie pats his thigh trying to comfort him, “Babe, it will be okay. We have each other, we just have to get through college then we can move to Britannia or wherever,” she says, smiling at him brightly. Richard smiles back, “You’re right as always, I’m sorry, let’s just get through today.” Susie lets out a breath as they continue their drive to campus.

When they get to school, they meet their friends in the outside lounge area. The school is comprised of several older buildings scattered across several blocks. The buildings look to almost be hand placed within the existing woods, as there are lots of tall trees growing around the campus, giving plenty of shade to walk between buildings. There are walkways that connect each of the buildings and weave around the natural landscape. The campus has plenty of relaxing coves to study or do other academic activities, or other things college students want hidden while doing. The school has expanded over time and has added new facilities across the street from the main campus, and sports complex a few blocks away.

The campus is festive for the holidays, with bright lights outlining the building and netting the trees, festive signs and décor, and even hot chocolate and coffee stations around campus. Students mill about the stations getting themselves warm before heading to class.

Jackson, a tall, scrawny kid, with shaggy fire orange hair, and a tacky orange sweater with a bright green tree and snowman on it, runs up to the couple. “You guys hear about Atlanta? Man, I knew shit was going down, I just knew it,” he says, hopping around them excitedly, “All that crazy stuff happening in the South Americas. For real, I heard the government is doing it. Some crazy experiments or something,” he pulls out his phone and points at it, “You see the video where a whole village gets wiped out by the Colombian government because they were infected? Dude, it’s messed up, there are people attacking other people, and the military unloads on them and they don’t stop. Now stuff has started going down over in the WRC and they are closing their borders to everyone, even the TFA! Dudes, I’m telling you this is a zombie apocalypse or some shit!” Jackson wipes his runny nose on his sleeve, as he takes a deep breath to continue, but he gets cut off by a cup of Sun Cup coffee hovering in front of his face, bestowed to him by a handsome dark-skinned man, who is carrying several different drinks in a drink holder, all steaming in the chill December air.

The WRC or Western Republic of Calico is the westernmost country of Mid-America. It was only part of the Unified Collective of America for two years before it started its process to secede from the UCA, with the finding of gold the state held enough power and influence to break off from the rest of the states. Then after the civil war, Texas along with other neighboring states decided to follow suit and became their own country. This separated the UCA into four separate countries, the Americas Republic East, Texan Freedom Alliance, and the Western Republic of California. While tensions were high between the ARE and WRC the TFA often mediated resolutions between the two countries. After almost fifty years peace was finally established, and the three countries opened their borders. During that time, the WRC merged with the NMA or the Northern Mexican Alliance increasing their power and influence and securing the NMA from the NFMA, Naciones Federales del México Aliado.

“Bro, no one wants to hear that nonsense,” he says handing out the other dinks to his friends, “You are so paranoid about that sort of crap, always have been. You guys remember his alien theory in 5th grade?” They all chuckle, recalling the time Jackson wore aluminum on his head for more than a week, because he watched a horror movie about mind controlling aliens. “And zombies?” the man continues, “like those stupid B horror films that only you like? No such thing man. You need to chill, voodoo doesn’t exist,” he says, roughing up Jackson’s already unmanageable hair, “And the shit that happened in Atlanta isn’t funny bro. I heard there’s been some kind of chemical gas released now too. It’s scary man,” he says, his tone tinged with grief.

Jackson crosses his arms huffing, “You guys watch those ‘stupid B horror films’ with me all the time. I am just the only one who doesn’t scream during them,” he says jokingly to his friends, who smirk knowingly at him, “Yeah Yeah, Jax. We only watch them to make you happy,” Richard responds, hitting him playfully in the arm.

Jackson rubs his arm, “Man whatever, I got a new one that’s supposed to be good, it’s by Gormero. I hear it completely redefines the genre, making the monsters the main focus and doing away with voodoo, it sounds great!  Want me to bring it to the party?” Richard and Johnny exchange looks, then smile, “Hell yeah, just no fake blood this time Jackson!” Richard replies, laughing, nudging Jackson playfully.

Richard looks to the new guy and bumps his first “How’s it going Johnny? Are you late because of the coffee or did you get the coffee because you were late?” he says jokingly. Johnny shrugs, “I tried to call you to get your order, but you didn’t pick up so,” he lets the accusation hang in the air. Richard blushes a little and stumbles for his words, “Uh, yeah, sorry I missed your call. I was,” he smirks, “busy,” he finishes looking at Susie. Johnny and Jackson laugh, but Susie goes scarlet as she hits Richard, before giggling herself.

Johnny nudges Richard, “So, how are you two love birds enjoying the apartment? I told you my dad had the hook up around here. We just remodeled that place, but for you guys I knew he would give you a deal,” he winks at Richard and Susie, “You guys were at his second and third weddings after all,” he chuckles mirthlessly.

Jackson smirks putting his arm around Richard, “Man, remember when you used to call Susie, ‘Susie Stink Face,” Johnny and Jackson laugh, “Oh man you used to be so mean to her too. Like that time in Ms. Patty’s class, you put a bullfrog in her lunch!”

Susie whips around looking at Richard, “That was you!” she exclaims shoving him playfully, “That was so mean, and you blamed it on Jackson!” Johnny falls against the wall, tears welling in his eyes, “Oh my God, I forgot you blamed Jackson!”

Jackson wipes his eyes, then looks back to Richard, as if just then comprehending what was said, “Wait, you blamed that on me! I told you it was mean, I just wanted to play with the frog!” he looks at Susie, “Is that why you hated me almost all of middle school?” He asks genuine hurt in his voice. She nods reluctantly. Jackson sighs, “Man, I thought it was ‘cause I liked frogs and stuff. I gave up Jeremiah because of that, he was a good frog.” He looks at Richard, sighs loudly shaking his head, “Damn, you know you guys are lucky I love you!”

Richard laughs patting Jackson on the back, “Dude I know, for as much shit you have gotten us in, you have gotten us out of the same. But the frogs were gross,” Johnny who finally managed to control his laughter burst out again, “Oh man! Rich hated Jeremiah!” he managed between breaths.

Jackson steps back from Richard, “Really?” he demands, to a wide-eyed Richard. Richard stumbles on his response before finally blurting “It peed on me and ate my gum! That thing was evil!” Susie giggles at the horrid look on Jackson’s face “That was you! He almost died and I had to pick gum off his butt for days!” The whole group burst into laughter from old memories.

Susie looks at her phone, “Shit, guys I’m going to be late, I got to go!” She hops up to kiss Richard, as the others get themselves together. Jackson looks at the others, only just realizing something “What the hell guys! You all said we would wear ugly sweaters today!” he groans at his friends who are all wearing regular winter gear. They burst out in another round of laughter before heading to their classes, Johnny, and Richard together, while Susie meets up with some other friends before going to her class. Jackson waves, “I will get you guys back for this!” he shouts, as he finds another group to chat with.

When Richard gets to his class his phone chimes and he looks at the message from his dad, ‘We are doing fine here, heading to work. They are bringing people to our hospital from Atlanta, so I may not get to my phone right away, it’s going to be hectic. There was some kind of chemical used in the bombing. It’s causing a lot more people to get sick. Be safe son I’ll get in touch when I can.’ his dad’s text reads. ‘I’ll be fine dad, just stay safe okay? And keep me updated.’ he sighs as he takes his seat putting his phone away.

Johnny sits down next to Richard, “Dude, just talked to my mom, they can see the smoke from Atlanta in Peach Groves. She says it looks bad. She had to go cause her work called but dude this is scary,” he says tossing his book on the desk. Richard agrees, remarking how useless the government is as the teacher walks in.

Halfway through the day there is an announcement informing them that classes are canceled for the rest of the day. They recommend everyone go straight home. Richard meets up with Johnny, Susie, and her friend Donna.

Richard tells them about his dad as they head to their cars. “I didn’t figure Atlanta would be so bad that they’d need to send people out of town. This is crazy!” Donna exclaims, grabbing Johnny’s arm tightly. Johnny looks askance at her, then shrugs, and puts his arm around her with a smile. “Hey, come on guys,” he says trying to cheer the gloom, “we have a party tonight! Come on, it’s going to be great!” he exclaims.

Donna pushes away from him with a scowl on her freckled face, “How can you think of a party at a time like this? People are hurt, probably dead, and you want to drink and eat pizza? I just…” Susie cuts her off, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Calm down, Donna, I think Johnny is right. We can’t do anything and just worrying about it won’t change anything. The party will take our minds off everything else at least.” Everyone nods in agreement.

“We are going to watch the boat parade on the riverwalk before the party you guys want to come?” Susie asks her friends. Johnny shakes his head, “Nah, I got to get the house ready, and want to be there if anyone shows up early.”

Donna nods her head, “I might swing by. I will be over that way getting my nails done anyway.” Donna misses Johnny rolling his eyes at the hypocrisy of her statement, as she gives Susie a hug bye.