“I was going to do it, Diego. Because of you.”
Diego shook his head. “Maybe you’re right. We shouldn’t see each other.” He laughed bitterly, but I didn’t get the joke. “I wanted you to press the button because you wanted to, not for me or anyone else. If you can’t see how amazing you are, then . . . forget it.”
I tried to think of something more to say, but I’d run out of words. I got out of the car and walked back toward school to call Audrey for a ride. I half expected Diego to chase after me, but he didn’t.
Superbugs
The first case of untreatable gonorrhea is observed in Maxx Costanza of Warwick, Rhode Island. It is estimated that he infected thirteen sexual partners before being diagnosed.
Within months, outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Clostridium difficile, and E. coli are observed in patients around the world. Not even last-resort antibiotics are effective in controlling the diseases.
Governments around the globe direct their resources to the development of new antibiotics. As deaths from simple infections rise dramatically, a new sense of teamwork spreads throughout the world. Knowledge is shared freely, old barriers are eliminated as humanity races to find cures for diseases once considered beaten. Economic and military rivalries are set aside to save the world.
An unparalleled level of global collaboration leads to the first breakthrough nearly two years after Maxx Costanza’s initial diagnosis. The potential new antibiotic is found in the chemical secretions of cockroaches. While attempting to isolate enough of the compounds in the cockroaches, an international consortium of scientists develops revolutionary technologies to increase the size of the cockroaches through genetic manipulation. These novel insects, named Blatella asmithicus after the geneticist responsible for creating them, Dr. Andrew Smith, measure nearly a meter in length, and have an astounding resiliency and immunity to all known toxins. Capable, even, of withstanding significant exposure to radiation. They are more commonly referred to as CroMS: cockroaches of mighty size.
The first new successful antibiotic in a decade is tested on 8 January 2016. Within days, the mortality rate from bacterial infections decreases to levels never before achieved.
United by their cause, a new age of peace and prosperity envelops the world. It is the golden age of humanity.
On 29 January 2016 a pair of CroMS escape from a laboratory in Austin, Texas. They begin to breed. As a result of their increased size, CroMS possess a ravenous appetite and devour everything in their path.
Austin is overrun in three days. Texas in two weeks. The United States in less than a year.
When CroMS are the only living creatures remaining on the planet, they consume each other.
7 January 2016
After Adrian punched me in the hallway at school, which I read on Marcus’s SnowFlake page was retribution for his expulsion, despite not even being the one who’d e-mailed his video confession to Principal DeShields, I spent most of my free time in my room, contemplating my existence.
I’ve been wondering why the sluggers haven’t abducted me since Thanksgiving. They’ve had plenty of opportunities, and there were definitely a few times I might have pressed the button. Maybe they don’t want Earth saved after all. Maybe they’re messing with my head. They want to see if I’ll break under the pressure. Maybe the world isn’t going to end, and I’ll spend January 29 waiting for an apocalypse that won’t come.
Diego sent me a couple of texts, left some messages, but I deleted them unanswered and unread. I’m not sure I did the right thing, breaking up with him. I’m not sure we were ever actually a couple. I’d seen him naked and he’d seen me, so we were more than friends; I just don’t know what more actually means. I wasn’t kidding when I told him I loved him. Somewhere between his bursting into my chemistry class and punching his knuckles bloody on his steering wheel, I fell in love with Diego Vega.