“Who do you think invented the vaccine? With the help of many others, of course, but Ross was a part of it.”
“Oh yeah, I should have realised. What’s a doctor doing here?”
“We have two. One is an epidemiologist, we took her on for obvious reasons. The other is a psychiatrist. I guess you can imagine what kind of patients she’s normally looking after. It’s kind of similar to you. You’re always dealing with criminals, she’s always dealing with the mentally unstable, or mentally ill…”
She nodded and took a few seconds to digest that. “What about the others, what kinds of jobs do they have? What do they do when they’re not here?”
She probably wanted to stop thinking about the fact that one of the doctors would soon inject her with the virus. I was more than happy to provide that distraction.
“Social worker,” I pointed at myself. Then I turned to Andrew and the others seated at their desks. “Animal shelter worker. Teacher. Prison guard. Historian. Nurse. Foreign affairs journalist specialised in war zones.”
Some nodded when it was their turn, others, like Andrew, were ignoring us and getting on with their own business.
We spent some time discussing what brought each of the people to The Collective, but I didn’t think it managed to distract Connie. It all sounded depressing. But preparations for the end of the world wouldn’t be a parade.
“I also need you to write a letter…” I approached a different subject.
“A letter… to Dad? To say goodbye?”
“No, not really. For somebody else.”
“Why?”
I led her to an armchair and waited until she sank into it. “Every selected survivor has a safe house or farm around Rotorua ready for them, to wait out the plague. In absolute safety,” I emphasized. “That’s all been taken care of, The Collective has worked out many safety precautions, so you really don’t need to worry.”
“How can you influence who will go where in Rotorua?”
I shrugged. “We’re only supposed to take care of Frank and Ruby. The others will be led by other Collective branches.”
“Alright. How are you guys going to take care of Dad and Ruby?”
“Through you, of course. We’ll give you a precise place and a date when they’re supposed to get there, and you will lead them to it. You can make up a reason yourself, or we can help you, whatever you prefer.”
“Will there be space for three?”
“What do you mean?”
“At the chosen location… will there be space for Dad, Ruby and me?”
I sighed. I had to deliver yet another blow, but I was going to try to be gentle. Connie’s obvious suffering made me feel uneasy. “I don’t think you’ll make it to New Zealand, Connie.”
She straightened up quickly and her face showed alarm. “Why the hell not?”
“Because,” I started softly, “you will have work to do here. With us.” I opened my arms and pointed at the entire lounge with quietly working Association members. “We have events planned here in Perth that will need our attendance, to spread the infection as quickly as possible. The more people help with that, the better.”
She started crying. It took ages before she could mutter: “I can’t leave them. There will be events in New Zealand, I can attend those…”
“Connie… whether you get to New Zealand or not… would you really like your family to watch you die?” The blow was delivered with surgical precision. I really didn’t want to hurt her, everything in me was fighting against it, but what else could I do? Her place was here. I was almost certain that she would come to the same conclusion. After she got sick, it will only take a week before she wouldn’t be capable of travelling.
Arguing with her wouldn’t do much good, so I waited patiently until she got through another fit of crying, although it took an unusually long time.
“Mark…” she said later, her voice weak, “I really, really don’t want to die.”
“I know,” I said, my throat tight. Her every response struck a chord with me, and I felt a strong urge to hug her. I managed to control myself at the last second.
“The letter…”
“Yeah,” I focused on that. “Well, as I said, every chosen person will have their own safe location to stay in until the plague is over. To bring them all together, we’ll give them instructions in a letter. Everyone will get one. But instead of being addressed to them, it will be for another survivor.”
“Why?”
“The Collective wanted to ensure that all the survivors would be brought together. That nobody will venture outside Rotorua on their own.”
She frowned. “By giving them a letter addressed to somebody else?”
I nodded.
She seemed totally confused, and I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t really understand these instructions myself, but it wasn’t up to me to question them… Connie didn’t need to understand them, she just needed to follow them.
“Okay, I’ll write the letter,” she agreed, almost lethargic. Was she wondering what else we have in stock for her? My assumptions were proven correct right away: “I’m gonna go home now. I don’t think I can deal with any more news.”
It was my responsibility to pick up the vaccine for Connie’s family, and I had a meeting with our chemist that same evening. After Connie left my thoughts were so scattered that I almost forgot about it if Andrew hadn’t reminded me.
The exchange was supposed to take place outside of the Association premises, probably in order to avoid the company getting into trouble if anything went wrong. I had no idea what could possibly go awry. No one could figure out that there is something disturbing hiding in an ordinary briefcase. Our video had provoked some reactions after being made public, but that only lasted a few weeks. After that everything went back to normal and nobody seemed to care that much about the chaos and suffering humanity is causing in the world. For The Collective, this had served as the final confirmation that we
