LeBron was drinking his water while everyone else was still busy studying the menu. He’d already googled the menu on the way over and decided on the burger he wanted. He liked to plan ahead. In this case all it’d bought him was a few seconds to lean back in the booth and stare at the TVs on the wall behind the bar. There was some sort of crisis happening in the Middle East again. If he’d been home, he’d have switched the channel. Crises in the Middle East had become so common they were barely newsworthy anymore.
Something about this one seemed different though. Noticing the bartender and a few of the early crowd at the bar were staring with interest LeBron stayed tuned in as well. The scenes being shown included video footage of the streets of Cairo. The footage sources included everything from people recording out of their hotel windows to footage from actual helicopters swooping around. Someone had even gotten some drone footage of the streets that they’d uploaded.
The method of recording wasn’t half as interesting as the subject. In the streets people were running in packs at a breakneck pace then leaping onto other people. They’d bear them down to the ground and attack them. After attacking them for a minute or two they’d get up and start running around again. The footage from the drone showed a couple of people sprint across a parking lot to throw themselves through a big picture window in the front of a small shop. One of them fell to the ground bleeding and didn’t get back up but the other one wiggled into the store. More people jumped through the hole they’d made to enter the store after them.
“Woah. Somebody better call Brad Pitt.” Yue joked. She’d caught him staring at the TVs and looked over to see what he was watching. Once she’d said it out loud it clicked for LeBron. The people running around in the streets did look like something out of a zombie movie.
“What the hell’s going on over there?” Bart asked. He’d put on his glasses to better see the TVs.
Before they could get into it the waitress showed up and they went through the standard meal ordering ritual with her. Yue and LeBron both got burgers while Drew went big and ordered a steak. It was his day after all so why not splurge a little.
“Enjoy that steak. Dad doesn’t get paid to watch you anymore.” LeBron joked. It wasn’t like anyone was going to get rich off what the foster system could afford to pay for people to take kids in.
Drew worked on chewing the massive wad of buttered bread in his mouth before replying. Before he could come up with a good comeback, he got distracted by the TV again. There was a close up of a group of people on a cobbled street in a courtyard working together to rip a person apart. The live feed ended abruptly as the producers belatedly realized this wasn’t suitable for an afternoon broadcast. At least not without some sort of warning language.
“Why are they showing that horrible stuff on the TV in a restaurant? People are trying to eat. Drew, can you please ask them to change the channel.” Nancy looked a little pale as she slid a small sliver of butter around on the slice of the bread that she’d claimed for herself.
Drew dutifully walked over to the bar and asked if they could change the channel. The bartender looked like he might protest at first then went ahead and flipped over to a golf tournament instead. The people eating at the bar didn’t seem too bothered. Most of them either started watching the golf tournament while they ate or continued to stare mindlessly at whatever was on their smart phones.
“Thank you.” Nancy told Drew as he got back to the table and sat back down.
The rest of the meal was just food and family. Nancy felt like her heart may break she loved them all so much. It made her sad how old they all were. They’d raised them right, so they’d be leaving the nest pretty soon. All three of them were college bound. Yue was starting on a business degree at the local community college while Drew was hoping to play either baseball or football for whatever college would have him. LeBron should be able to get into any college he wanted with the grades he pulled in.
While they were busy eating the bartender flipped the channel back to the news. It was playing the same scenes in a small box in the corner while talking heads debated whether it was a gas leak or an act of terrorism. None of the news people seemed concerned that it was a problem that may affect more than a small part of northern Africa. The journalists were discussing how quickly the phenomena appeared to be spreading. LeBron and Drew were both watching the graphic violence unfold on CNN when Bart paid the check.
They rode home with the typical school night family chatter. Questions got tossed around about what they needed to get done for school the next day. They all had extra homework since they’d planned on missing their afternoon classes today to attend the adoption hearing. Yue had a waitress job starting the following weekend so that monopolized most of the conversation. Drew logged some time cruising social media. He was proudly updating his various profile info with his new legal name.
LeBron focused on trying to find out more about what they’d seen on the TV at the restaurant. It seemed like a massive bioweapon fueled riot tearing apart an entire city would be frontpage
