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CHAPTER 1

QUARANTINE: DAY 1

EVAN“THEY LOCKED DOWN THE FUCKING city,my best friend Jake’s apartment

“Ev, bro, relax I can hear your blood pressure skyrocketing all the way fro down San Francisco It’s one of the biggest cities in the world There’s no way the government can close off a city of six million people, not to mention the commuters You need to…”

“Jake…I swear on my mother’s life The Departreed There’s a stay-at-home order for the entire Bay Area Ruo statewide”

“Okay, I understand you’re freaked out You have a lot on your plate” His patronizing tone makes my blood heat

I fist the hand that’s not holding the phone to ers turn white “Freaked out? I’ duck! If the media finds out where I am, it’s over forwith my publicist on the best way to handle the shitshow that is ht now”

A heavy sigh coh the line “Evan, don’t be a douche I’itis—to na hundreds of thousands of people You will survive a est free country in the world”

Shit Now I do feel like a douche I rub h the dirty blond waves of hair at uess it’s similar to the flu”

In the background I can hear h some papers “Yeah, we received the reports froinated in China in a sanization received information about it in or around Deceious than the flu See daily”

“It’s March, rind out, irritation coating every word

Another sigh trails through the line “It’s si could end up being a pande Word is China and Italy are devastated Most of the world is still figuring out how bad this could get”