Trees For The Forest - Chapters 1 & 2

11/8/2024 - A Novel by Denise Siegel

Chapter One

A solar flare six months earlier had caused a new wave of the Skeleton Plague. For some reason, Ira and I were immune—maybe it was good genetics, a vigilant use of our UV suits, or the black-market vitamin supplements Ira wrangled had helped. I hated driving through the streets of D.C. during high alerts, watching the walking skeletons being marched to some hidden medical facility.

The government said Skeleton Plague was communicable, but I knew better; it was an autoimmune disease. The scientific community was still debating its genesis and treatability, but that was it. We knew something was turning white blood cells into cannibalistic machines, whether UV-B, UV-A rays, or some other solar radiation mixed with pollution.

The drive to Digibio was slow. The streets were blocked. Traffic was detoured to provide plague victims with some privacy. Even still, I’d catch a band of them marching in the gaps between buildings or at the end of blocked streets, and it was hard not to stare. They looked like death. Pale and so emaciated, even their eyes' sockets protruded through their thin skin. They were reminders of the great nothing at the end of suffering.

I refocused. Thinking about all the ills of the world did no good. I had no power. I was small, and the world had far too many problems for me to begin to tackle. All anyone could do was try to enjoy this life and focus on the here and now. The earth had survived a lot of things. We had somehow managed to get through dark periods in human history. Someday, there would be a cure for the Skeleton Plague. The world would balance. Europe, Asia, Africa, Central, and South America would return to life and flourish. I had to believe that somehow we’d prevail. We always did.