Doomsday Vault

After the Ebola outbreak which took many lives, Marburg and Lassa fever followed even though people believed it to be an African disease. The world Covid 19 killed millions in a few days before the vaccine was discovered and the experience is not for the weak. After that came some other covids such as MERS, SARS and so on. All these diseases can make humans go into extinction early.

For the past few weeks, a newly discovered disease has been taking away lives like water. No vaccine and nobody knows the means of contact or even if the other person is affected. It shows no sign until after 2 days and before then, hundreds of people might have been infected through you and you may not even know that you are infected.

The symptoms after 2 days include bulging eyeballs, twisting tongue, melting of the skin, seizure and death. These happen within 3 minutes and the person is dead.

A vaccine was later discovered in Japan but it was only tested on monkeys, rats, birds and infected dead people. No one volunteered to be tested alive and the effect on live infected and uninfected humans was unknown. They decided to keep the vaccine until there was someone to volunteer for the test and people continued to die in multiple numbers.

The Japanese president finally sent a message that the vaccine should be sent to people across the country since it worked for infected and uninfected animals and even dead humans. The news was all over the world that at least 1/10 of the citizens should get the vaccine that week.

A 21-year-old African lady, Felizy scrolled through her laptop to read the recent things going on in the world about the deadly disease. She stopped when she saw the news about the first 5 Japanese that got vaccinated 'The vaccination was set to stop after vaccinating 5 Japanese and the effect was not disclosed to the world. The spies in Japan said only the president, his vice, the minister of health and those who discovered the vaccine knew what it was and the citizens knew nothing about it they are planning to sue the government for testing the vaccine on them in the name of vaccination without their consent and also taking the vaccinated ones away' she stopped scrolling and looked at her wrist watch.

"It's forever o'clock. These siblings of mine should leave their rooms...." She was interrupted by a loud yawn and she looked up to see who it was.

A tall bright-skinned teenager stood right in front of Felizy, She held her dark curly hair with one hand, raised her right hand and stretched like she wanted to break her bones.

"Yum yum yum yum yum," she said while trying to prevent herself from falling.

"Good morning Hailey." Felizy greeted and waited for her to say something.

"Did you feed me yesternight? I still have rice in my mouth" she asked lazily as she tried to prepare coffee for herself.

"Maybe Tom did. I don't know how you do it...taking coffee without brushing." She continued typing on her laptop.

"You care for?" Hailey asked.

"No! Thanks.." she said without taking her eyes off the screen. "Is Bruno awake?"

"Yes. Doing some cleaning upstairs." She sipped her coffee.

"I want to have some words with you all." She paused to look at Hailey.

"That's weird and I guess it is important. I will get their asses here." She dropped the empty cup and walked towards the stairs.

"While getting their asses, don't forget to get your teeth cleaned." She said jokingly.

"Spider! Are you okay?" Bruno said while running down the stairs.

"I don't know what's going on but we must survive..."

"We are!" Tom interrupted as he pulled a chair to himself.

"No. You don't know if I will die tomorrow morning or in the next few minutes and I don't know about you either. There should be a safe place for us or we build one. Read about the Japanese vaccine a few minutes ago and what is happening....there may be no hope for the world."

"I want us to be the last person on earth...we should fight for it I guess," Bruno said in a serious tone.

"We cannot fight for it...we can only leave for it..." Felizy said and stopped talking when she heard Hailey crying.

"Hailey! What is wrong?" Asked Tom.

"I'm only 15...I don't want to die. I still want to marry a billionaire, chill with celebrities, buy a Tesla yacht...you know...I'm too young to die." She sobbed.

"Seriously?" Tom said.

"Mike died this morning," Felizy said and they all looked shocked.

"Our Mike?" Bruno asked still shocked.

"Yes! Some men on blue came to collect his corpse from his parents this morning."

"Health care personnel?" asked Hailey.

"Seem so..."

Bruno stood straight and headed for the door in a hurry.

"Bruno! Don't go out there." Felizy shouted and Tom stopped him before he got the knob. He struggled to open it but Tom overpowered him.

"Please. There is a public lockdown no one is to leave their home. If you leave you will die. I don't want to lose you." Hailey sobbed and Bruno pushed Tom away and headed upstairs.

"He was his best friend you know." There was a dead silence "Get ready for doomsday vault." Felizy said calmly and left the crying Hailey and round-eyed Tom in the living room.

A week after the Japanese vaccination, the four siblings set to leave for the doomsday vault.

"I hope you leave no important thing spider?" Asked Bruno while trying to squeeze a pack of energy bars into his bag

"Trust me, big brother." Replied Felizy.

"Where is Tom and Hailey?"

"They should be upstairs. I hope their bags are light."

"We are ready for the long journey," Tom said happily.

"I thought you would ask for hands with your bags but you shocked me. It's cool." Felizy said as she patted Hailey lightly on the face.

"Let's take our van," said Felizy. "We cannot trust anything out there...not even the air. So, I prepared 2 personal protective equipment for each person. Our foods are stored in the van already and some other things."

They carried their bags and went to the garage where a neat van and a sport car was parked.

"Thank Goodness that we do not have to breathe external air to get here." Exclaimed Tom.

"Where are all the cars?" asked Hailey in a surprised tone.

While others were packing the bags in the van, Tom took his time to explain to her.

"We sold all our properties except yours. We did not inform you because we all know that you will insist on selling yours too or maybe cry the ocean to stop us from selling the properties. This house, this van, the car over there and the hotel in town are yours. If we go broke, we have you to turn to. Do not think much about it." He rubbed her shoulders lightly.

"Is the tank full?" asked Felizy.

"Yes," Hailey replied as she and Tom joined Bruno and Felizy in the van. "What if I want to defecate, is there any means of....."

"Hailey please...we will sort that out and you can manage till we get to doomsday," Bruno said.

"Doomsday sound scary. Vault is cool." Said Tom.

"Tom will drive if he gets tired, Hailey will take over, if she gets tired...Spider will and you all know...I can go all night." Bruno smiled.

"My partner from Paris will join us there. He knows those people in charge of the doomsday vault. He told them about us earlier and assured me that all is well there." Felizy explained.

"I hope they are not infected. I'm talking about those at the vault and your Paris friend." Said Hailey.

"No external ventilation please," Tom said as Bruno pressed the garage remote for the gate to open and they all set off.

While the virus continued to spread, news about the Japanese was also on air. About 96% of Japanese from 4 states had gone wild. They destroyed things, infected others and killed those that did not get infected. Things became wild in Japan but it was still unknown to the rest of the world.

The four siblings got to the doomsday vault in the evening where there seemed to be few people. Every one of them looked busy but more confused.

"Here we go." Said Hailey excitedly.

"Your P.P.E on first," Bruno said strictly and every one of them put theirs on.

"Where is your friend?" asked Hailey.

"I will call him. You should all relax." She took her phone and was about to dial his number when she was interrupted by the flash of a security light.

"What's that? I'm scared." Cried, Hailey.

"I will attend to them. None of you should come down if I did not tell you to." Bruno warned.

He opened the door and descended boldly. The security man removed the flashlight from his face and Bruno was facing about 16 mobile police.

"Tell others to come down." One of the policemen said.

"What? There is a teenager in the van."

"Even if there is a child in there"

"Or we'll burst out all brains." Said the bald police.

Bruno went back to the van and peeped through the window.

"You all have your P.P.E. on right?" He whispered.

"Yes, biggie." Said Tom.

They all marched to where the policemen were standing without saying a word.

"What have you got there?" The bald policeman asked Pointing his flashlight on the van.

"Stuff to sustain ourselves. No weapon." Said Bruno calmly.

"Search the van." Ordered the bald head policeman and about 6 of the policemen went to search. "What are your means of identification?"

"Everything is at home but we believe you know the person we came through." Said Felizy.

"Who is it?"

"Louis from Paris." Answered Felizy.

"Nothing dangerous is in the van" one of the policemen reported from afar and the bald policeman looked at Felizy and took some steps back. He whispered some words to his colleagues and they all looked in their direction before looking back and they continued whispering.

"You should call your partner...why is he not here yet?" Asked Tom.

"I will do that." She left them to take the phone from the van and dialled Louis's number.

"Hello!....can you hear me?..." she paused for some seconds and asked. "Louis?...oh no you got to be kidding." She said loudly and the other siblings turned to her with concern.

She went to join them and the policemen also did.

"We will need to get a call from Louis to know if he wants you here." Said a black policeman.

"Louis is dead," Felizy announced and they all looked at her with different emotions. "His break failed on his way here. Can you help us? We cannot go back home for now."

"Well! Introduce yourself." The bald policeman said.

"I'm Bruno Ephter, 29, Male." He pointed at Tom. "Thomas Ephter, 27, Male." Held Felizy shoulder. " Felizy Ephter, 21 Female and Hailey Ephter..." he held her closer. "15, Female."

"You cannot be here." Said the bald policeman.

"Why not?" asked Bruno.

"Listen! Every one of us here has something to give. Didn't Louis tell you before you started coming?" The policeman asked and they looked at them in confusion.

"What are the quali...." Bruno was interrupted by some panicking individuals that came to them.

"Your attention is needed. You all!" They said to the policemen and left in a hurry. The policemen divided themselves into groups, some followed the 2 men and others stood whispering.

"What's going on?" asked Hailey.

"No idea," Bruno said curiously. "I will ask the bald man. He didn't follow them and he's not here either." He left them to look for the policeman.

While looking for the policeman, Bruno stopped when he heard two people talking in a serious tone. He peeped further and saw the bald policeman with one of the men who called for them earlier.

"All our top men are gone?" asked the bald policeman.

"It's scary. We lost them in Japan. We didn't know there was chaos in Japan...It's crazy.." the other man said.

"No professional wants to leave their home to work in the doomsday vault, especially with the fear in people's hearts."

"Anyone we see now, we grab them. And what's with those teenagers I saw with you earlier? Can they fit in?"

"They? Nothing to offer. They are just some bunch of teenagers leaving their homes to look for a safe place outside the diseased world. I will send them back after this conversation."

"Fine. But what were they thinking when they told our Top men to follow them to Japan? To get the new crops?"

"We all know that no usable crop can be gotten without those men. We are in a tight corner...all the crops we've been keeping for centuries will follow the name of the vault and..."

Bruno heard enough already and he sneaked back to meet his siblings.

"Guys! The Top men here are dead and I'm sure they will need us. We have no time to plan just follow my lead." He saw the bald policeman coming towards them. "Let's go back home. This is not the place we are looking for."

"I was about to tell you that but thank Goodness you know." Said the bald policeman. "I will advise you as a father....go home and stay safe."

"Sure! I thought we could come here to do what we are deprived of doing in this lockdown but there is no difference." Bruno said as he entered the van after Hailey.

"Wait!" The policeman said before Bruno could close the door. "What are the things you do?" He asked carefully.

"Well! I love crops and I know them well. I'm an agronomist." He paused to see the effect of his words as the policeman's face widened. "Since this unknown disease was discovered, I've not been able to go to work, not even a chance to see some old ones in a while. It can drive one crazy you know but here is not better than where I come from."

"Don't you think it's late?" Asked the policeman in a concerned tone.

"It's never too late for us. We go anywhere that keeps us busy. Thomas is a microbiologist, all the organisms that are involved in protecting the crops, he knows them and without him, my crops will suffer from harmful organisms."

"What if we tell you to work here, how will you feel? asked the policeman curiously.

"At least I will do what I love.....I will accept the offer."

"But you know...only the professional seats are available. Non-workers are not usually allowed...."

"Well! Felizy is a psychologist and Hailey, as young as she is.....she operates computers like some genius." Bruno explained.

"Felizy cannot stay with us. We don't need a psychologist here..." The siblings looked at the policeman with a round face.