



An empty cable car rolls down a desolate Market Street in San Francisco as fog blankets the city. The year is 2020, and a week ago the Governor announced the nation's first state wide "shelter in place" to stop the spread of an extremely contagious virus, Covid-19. Residents of the city took it upon themselves to act quickly. Grocery store shelves were emptied to the bare aluminum. Toilet paper and hand sanitizers were sold out everywhere, even in the suburbs. You could find them online marked up by over 1000%, just days after the Governor's announcement. The uncertainty of what tomorrow would bring was the topic of every discussion. The "essential" workers had the right to continue their daily lives. Doctors, grocery store clerks and construction workers moved about their work day as normal. Their commute had an eerie and ominous feeling to it as they traveled down deserted streets that just last week were crammed. Trevor Hunt, an ironworker for a local construction company and recent high school graduate, entered the BART, San Francisco's local subway system. A quick scan around, he found himself as the only one on the entire train. Tall and lean, Tervor had this patchy beard, that made him look a year older on his right side and a year younger on the left. He walked to the beat of his own drum, as if he had a song playing in his head the whole time. A typical BART ride meant Trevor would be squished among the crowd. Taking advantage of the extra room he went into a full surfer position and rode the bumpy wave of the underground track. Arriving at Embarcadero Station he walked up the stairs to the street level to find what appeared to be a fully abandoned city. Even the homeless were nowhere to be found. His favorite coffee shop was closed. The corner store had graffiti decorated plywood covering the windows. He saw a person walking their dog who immediately ran to the other side of the street to avoid passing near him. I don't like being outside anymore. He has to get his temperature taken at the turnstile to enter the job site. After a fifteen minute lull in a cigarette cloud of what one would call a line, his temperature is standard and he enters the site. He found the construction workers were gathered together gossiping about the virus. The Superintendent, Rick, was holding his typical morning meeting but something was off. "What's going on?" Trevor asked. Rick stared at him with a concerned look on his face before addressing the entire group. "Thanks for joining us Hunt," Rick stated as he turned back to the rest of the crowd. "I am sure you have all been following the news. There is a virus that is sweeping across the world. America appears to be one of the last countries unaffected so far. We have been deemed to have essential jobs so we will continue our work until this building is complete. Keep working hard everyone, we are almost wrapped up here." Rick turned away from his team and walked back to his office. Trevor caught his eye and noticed Rick was acting weird. Trevor suspected he knew more. Trevor let the rest of his coworkers go about their business and he snuck off to follow Rick. He approached the converted shipping container that acted as Rick's office and could hear the radio on. All California residents, you are required to stay at home for the next 30 days. You are only allowed to leave your homes for food, exercise or essential needs, the news repeated itself. Trevor said as he opened the door to the office, "Hey Rick, what's up? The news is pretty scary, huh. Is there something you aren't telling us?" With a defeated look on his face, Rick turned to Trevor and said, "I don't know much man. From all I've seen, I know that this is serious. Take a look at the TV." Newsreel of the virus was on every channel. China was in a full lock down. The streets of Spain were full of people rioting as the police force tried to hold them off. Copacabana Beach in Brazil was partying with no restrictions as people thought it was all a hoax. "I'm sure we will be fine. This won't spread. It can't," Trevor said half-confidently as a loud bang was heard from the construction site. Trevor and Rick ran out to see what happened. A circle of workers had formed around a person on the ground floor. "What's going on?" screamed Rick. A fellow iron worker looked at them in a panic, "He jumped!" Trevor had never seen anything like this. A cold darkness fell over him as he tried to grasp why this man would have taken his own life. It just didn't make any sense. Rick sent everyone home since the site was immediately closed for the day. An ambulance and two fire trucks arrived to take the body away. As Trevor was leaving he glanced back to see the doctors in full hazmat suits. He thought to himself, why are they wearing that just to pick up a mangled body? Trevor frantically walked back to the BART station to find people congregated around the entrance while police officers set up a barricade restricting access. Afraid to get to close, Trevor watched with a keen eye to see what would unfold. A young boy in a Warriors jersey tugged on Trevor's shirt, "Have you seen my mommy?" he said. Trevor shook his head confused and glanced back at the gathering. Shouting and pushing overwhelms the officers until a gun was shot into the air. The crowd backed up as a man laid motionless on the ground. No blood, no bullet holes, but he appeared dead all the same. "He has it," Trevor overheard an officer say to one another. "Back up everyone! Back up now!" the officer screamed to the public. Trevor saw panic overwhelm the crowd that was an angry mob moments ago. He slowly backed up and bumped into what felt like a wall. He turned around quickly to find Rick. "Follow me and move quick!" Rick said to Trevor as he handed him a crowbar from the construction site. "That man didn't jump, he was pushed." Not overthinking it, Trevor did as Rick said and they moved off the main streets heading toward the middle of the city. While keeping pace with Rick, Trevor kept his head on a swivel. He observed families frantically running holding hands along with what appeared to be wealthy people breaking pharmacy windows and stealing prescription drugs. "Through here, come on!" Rick roared. Trevor and Rick ran down a staircase. Rick unlocked a door and they walk through to a dimly lit open room. Rick turned the lights on. It was a speakeasy. "Where are we?" Trevor asked. "This is my favorite bar. Most people don't know about it. It's not on any search engines and you can only find out about it by word of mouth. I drink here so much the owner gave me a key," Rick said with a smirk. "We should be safe here. The backroom has a freezer filled with frozen meats and a pantry of all sorts of alcohol." Rick and Trevor spent the night watching the news on the 22" box TV above the bar while polishing off a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. Protests had broken out all over San Francisco as the police force desperately tried to calm down the public. Suddenly the power went out and only a sliver of sunlight from the street level window shined into the bar. "I don't want to leave here. I don't feel safe outside," Trevor said with a disturbed appearance. "We can't stay here forever Hunt. There is a convenience store a block away. I'll go and grab us some flashlights and whatever else I can find. You stay here and hold the down the fort. Do not let anyone in other than me. You understand me?" Rick ran out as Trevor bolted the door shut behind him.