Chapter 46 School is a must despite the apocalypse

His old apartment was in the infected zone. He had his own room. Fortunately, it was still untouched from the summer vacation. Except that it was tidy. 

Luke rummaged through his things to see if his clothes were still there, which of course they weren't.

So he went downstairs to his mother, who, like him, was even messier than usual. She looked at him.

" Well, looks like we have to go shopping. "

She took his hand, shoved him into the staff car she'd gotten and they drove to the grocery store. Which for Luke meant they had to buy almost everything new. Clothes, toiletries, bedding, food, for Luke writing materials, a laptop, headphones. Fortunately, there was still a TV and entertainment devices in the house. Cleaning products. The car was full and he had to carry everything into the house while she looked for a suitable place in the house.

His mother had to continue working as a psychologist here in Hawaii and had her hands full as many refugees had problems. For the first few days, Luke just lay around. His aunt Mei grabbed him on the very first day and dragged him to training. Which was hell.

Then he got the news that he had to go to a substitute class nearby. His aunt gave him an old scooter to ride there. Which he did. But first he was instructed by an overtired Sarge on how to drive the scooter, what to fill up with gas, what to look out for. Luke never thought there was so much to know. 

The replacement lessons took place in a school building in the civilian sector. It was the first time in such a long time that he didn't go to school in uniform, so he came to class in short cargo pants and a T-shirt with a play figure and running shoes. 

What surprised him was that he saw everyone from the group who had come with him. He also saw some of the other group. He looked for a free seat, his aunt April cut off his mat and gave him an undercut. This was unusual for him, as he had deliberately let his mat grow long. He rubbed the back of his head. She had told him that short hair was better in this weather. He sighed. Gone was his dream of a lion's mane when the beard eventually came.

A face slid into his field of vision, it was Leonore.

"I didn't recognize you with the short hair."

He grinned.

" Got a forced haircut," he remembered April's grin.

" Looks good on you, what happened to the soldier who accompanied us?"

Luke thought about it. 

" My aunt drained him, he showed me how to ride a scooter."

"Drained?" She looked at him questioningly, then blushed. 

She sat down next to him. 

"You don't seem sad that your parents are starting over."

She smiled.

"No, I think it's great, I finally get to see them both more often. When he was successful with the cars, he was home less and less and so was my mom. Now he works on army vehicles and my mom works in the greenhouses. "

Sarge came in, this time in a BDU. He clears his throat and everyone falls silent.

"I see part of the group is here too."

 A hand went up. 

"Is there a reason why everyone in the group isn't together?"

"Yes. The main reason is the parents. The ones who came. What did your parents say?"

"My dad said he's suing the principal."

"My mom said the prostitute can stay stolen from her."

"So they're here for two reasons." 

He raised a finger.

"Your parents are worried about you and" he raised his second finger. " You and the others got vaccinated. Which was free. "

Again a hand went up.

" My mother said that the other parents refused the immunization. Why?"

" Because we live longer and stay younger for longer. Ergo, as a disadvantage, we also work longer. Which some people don't want, but it's not that bad."

"Are those our teachers?" asked the girl, who was crying at that moment.

Sergeant cleared his throat. 

"Um. Yeah. I lived a while before the first outbreak. I was a young teacher at a high school after my tour of duty back then." 

"Can we call you Sarge?" someone chimed in. He sighed.

"Fine by me. "

"But how come you're in the armed forces and haven't become a teacher again?"

Luke had wondered the same thing. The sergeant sat down on his desk.

"When the first breakout happened, I saved myself with survivors in a shelter and fought for my life there. We rode around as a motorcycle gang and so on and so forth... Luckily I was in an area that wasn't hit by the atomic bombs. 

Then the northern block came and we fled and ended up in a small town where I was sent to prison. When the town was attacked by the infected, I had a choice: rot in my cell or fight. I chose the latter. 

Then troops showed up from the north block and I was tired of running away. So when they saw that I had served, I was drafted. Got my general's refreshment and got shot across the globe. "

Luke did the math in his head.

.

"How old were you, Sarge, when the outbreak happened?" asked Leonore.

" Around 30. " He stood up and turned on the projector, which showed the world before the outbreak after a quick click from Sarge.

" Did you make history before the outbreak? "

" Just briefly, our history teacher only got to 2017."

Sarge looked at the speaker.

" So still a lot of stuff up to now, let's make it short for the time of the eruption. The first outbreak was caused by a by-product in a cough syrup in the summer of 2016. This was sold worldwide and, like the current outbreak, it took time to fully infect the host. Once it started, it spread explosively." He played an animation showing the spread.

"Back then, every country reacted differently. Now the question. "

They looked at him.

"How long did it take for the reconquest to begin?"

Everyone pondered, Luke raised his hand. 

"Yes?"

"It was two months?"

"Exactly. In the 2 months the survivors of Global banded together, but after 2 months the northern block formed and started the reconquest. It took about two years to establish a status quo that lasted 27 years."

The animation continued. 

"Then the rest of the world joined in, with the formation of sectors and districts and so on."

He looked at the map. 

"Generfrization was and still is viewed critically. Even though it stood for immunization from the very first idea. Which brings us to the current epidemic. There are always people who disagree, and that's fine. 

That's why the Council has never forced anyone to be vaccinated. The criminals then decided to make a second outbreak. Which they succeeded in doing. They used a failed immunization experiment from a group of survivors. "

"Oh, oh, oh, I know," a perky girl raised her hand. 

"It's about Kembix, my mom told me about it. She works in a lab and said the stuff gets stuck in your DNA and then spreads."

"That's right, there were awareness campaigns, there was a conspiracy theory that it was created by Imunen. Which led to discussions again."

Luke thought about it. He was sure he had heard about Kembrix as a child.

"I got the curriculum from your old school to know what else you need." 

Some groaned. 

" I crossed out a few things, like setting the table, proper walking, high society behavior, and so on. "

" But those were the main subjects, they told us that was extremely important."

Sarge looked at everyone.

"It's important that you guys find something fun and fulfilling to do after school. Well, let's give it a try. Let's see if I can find a teacher for something like this..." His cell phone buzzed and he picked it up.

"I'm working... What do you mean, can you see this..." He went to the window where Liz was perched on the sill. 

Luke didn't ask, even though they were on the fourth floor. Sarge hung up and reached for the window handle. 

"I'm going to give a practical example of labels and high society," he opened and Liz jumped in with a smile. She, too, was wearing a BDU.

"This specimen, I understand, has been trained to behave like a fine lady." 

Liz looked at him questioningly.

"Huh?" 

Sarge clicked on the projector, which showed a picture of Liz in an evening gown. Luke guessed she was 17.

"In the picture, she's just turned 17 and she's at a gala ball at an elite school."

Liz looked at the photo, then at Sarge.

"Where did you get the photo?"

"That's not interesting now." He clicked on, and a movie played, showing Liz moving gracefully. 

" Cool, better than what the old witch used to show us at school. " came from Lina. 

Liz stared frozen at what was shown.

"If you really want to learn this..." Liz grabbed him.

"Where did you get the pictures?" she growled.

He clicked on and saw a picture of Liz pressing herself against a shoulder while dancing.

Leonore leaned towards Luke.

"I think your aunt had a crush on Sarge when she was seventeen."

" I heard that!" Luke looked forward again, this was better than TV.

"And now," she reached for the remote.

Sarge scratched the back of his head.

"You really want to know?"

Liz nodded. 

" Good. But first the remote."

Hesitantly, she handed it to him and he sat down on the edge of the table.

"A picture of a slightly younger sergeant appeared, you could see the resemblance. Only he didn't look as hardened as he does now. Softer and more youthful.

"Practice specimen no. 2, the specimen I told you about earlier, had been through all the battles etc., full gear helmet pipapo... until my chief of staff ordered me to army parties because of my appearance. "

He clicked on, showing a young sarge in the gala uniform of the Marines at a ball. 

"Full program, it gave me a chance to study to be a teacher. Fast forward to when I got back from Africa. High Command had gotten a request from an elite school asking if they had personnel from all branches that would be suitable for something like this. Someone in high command found out that I had done something like this before and was qualified."

"He clicked on, showing Sarge just stepping off a transport plane, wearing a blood-red uniform and beard. A picture further on showed him in a tuxedo, shaved and with styled hair.

"As you can see here, the one without the beard was ideal, so the elite school opted for this one. In return, the specimen received a new machine. So the specimen got dressed up and appeared at the gala ball, the specimen was told. All you have to do is look good and do nothing. Especially as more students came than they had expected. So most of the time the specimen just stood around".

 There were photos of the ball, photos of the buffet. He looked at Liz.

"You really want to know?"

Liz nodded. He sighed.

"All right then."

A picture of the ball appeared, countless couples were on the floor. Luke could see his aunts dancing and even his mother dancing with someone. 

"Specimen 2, as you've seen so far, was bored and taking lots of pictures until he was approached by a predator. "

A picture of Gitte appeared, staring at him.

"Unfortunately for me, she saw me taking pictures. She quickly found out that I was one of the hired ones and after a short conversation between her and the teacher on site, the teacher referred me to someone else."

The photo of Liz practicing reappeared, it was the same as at the beginning.

"None of the students dared to dance with Exemplar 1. The teacher told me because Exemplar 1 was good."

He clicked on and the picture of Sarge and Liz appeared.

"So beautiful..." came from Lisa, Leonore nodded in agreement.

"Like one of those old cartoons."

Sarge cleared his throat.

"As you can see here, Copy 2 has done its job. Which Copy 1 was very happy about at the time."

He clicked the picture away and the world map reappeared. 

" Did my mother know you were with the troops?"

" No. I think your father knew that he had sent someone there. "

" I want proof here now..."

"The tables are in the way."

" We'll move the tables aside, it would be nice to see someone who can dance, we've only ever seen our teacher with a doll." came from Leonore. Luke looked at her questioningly.

The others agreed and began to move the tables aside. Sarge sighed. He felt sorry for Luke. 

Liz had started to put everything superfluous on the table, then the BDU jacket, she stood there in a tank top, pants and boots. Her tattoos were clearly visible, she walked to the center of the room and did stretching exercises.