Outlaw

An hour later, Tan Lily stood behind the podium and adjusted the microphone as her colleagues and students filled the auditorium. She squinted through the bright spotlights shining down on her, looking for a friendly face she could focus on to help her get through the lecture. Her heart raced with anxiety, but she tamped back her fear. This was an important topic, and she needed to get people to listen.

The crowd quieted into a soft murmur of hushed voices as the last of her audience settled into place. She turned away briefly to clear her throat, then spoke confidently into the microphone.

“Show of hands,” she said. “How many of you tested positive for COVID-19?”

She saw more than two-thirds of the audience proudly raise their hands, almost as if they were displaying a survivor’s badge of honor.

“You’re not alone. There were over seven hundred and fifty million confirmed cases over the course of the pandemic. Six million deaths. But our global response to the coronavirus was slow, lethargic, and ineffective. Worse, it gave a road map to terrorists and hostile states intent on harnessing the power of fear.”

She saw their hands drop, and she pressed a button on the remote to bring up a slideshow of photographs on the screen behind her, showing people dining in plastic bubbles on the sidewalk, wearing face masks in public parks, and being arrested on the beach. “Lockdown measures were put in place to temporarily protect the vulnerable from an unknown danger, giving the scientific community an opportunity to find a solution. But over the course of the next two years, the draconian measures put in place to protect… began to harm. Their long-term effects on the mental health of the population — especially vulnerable groups, such as those in poor socioeconomic conditions, the homeless, or immigrants — resulted in a one thousand percent increase of calls to the national suicide hotline.”

She clicked the button again, and the picture changed to show a group of Islamic terrorists wielding AK-47 automatic rifles. Click. The picture showed a gathering of armed white men wearing camouflage fatigues and displaying a furled Gadsden flag with its motto “Don’t Tread On Me.” Click. The picture showed a mob of masked black-clad individuals carrying cudgels and hurling Molotov cocktails.

“Regardless of political bent or affiliation, our response to the coronavirus only demonstrated that one need not wait for a pandemic to cripple a nation.” Click. The picture changed and showed a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at sea. “In January 2020, the first two cases of COVID-19 were reported aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. A week later, ship’s leadership began taking precautions against transmission. One month after that, the ship placed thirty-nine individuals in quarantine due to the potential of having come into contact with two British citizens at a hotel in Da Nang, Vietnam. Two days after that, the World Health Organization declared a worldwide pandemic.”

Click. The screen went dark.

“Now imagine what life was like in those early days. It’s March 2020, and the news is continuing to report the worst potential outcomes. Cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, Spanish flu… zombie apocalypse.”

The audience laughed.

“We are told that this will change our lives forever.” Click. The screen showed an aircraft carrier in port. “Aboard the Roosevelt, four sailors are identified with COVID and taken off the carrier. The next day, the number jumps to thirty-three. Two days later, forty-six. The next day, fifty-three. The numbers are spiraling out of control, and the media uses the Navy ship as an example of how deadly the virus is.”

Click. The number one appeared on the screen, and she held up one finger as she surveyed the audience.

“In the end, an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was sidelined in a part of the world where its presence represented peace and stability. The commanding officer was relieved of command while trying to keep his crew safe from a virus we knew little about. And only one sailor lost his life after contracting the virus. Sad. Tragic. But hardly the end of times that was being reported.”

Click. The screen went dark again.

“But the real tragedy is that the world now knows how little it takes to cripple the most powerful nation on Earth.”

Tan Lily set the remote down and picked up a bottle of water to take a sip. The last several minutes had only been intended to grab the attention of her audience. She had wanted to show them how woefully unprepared the world was to combat a virus most scientists generally agreed had been a natural mutation.