"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  – John F. Kennedy

  Eli

  I knew there was a reason I avoided sleeping on the couch. I was stiff and sore. I would stretch out, but wouldn't you know it; a pretty blonde woman was sleeping on top of me. I would not risk waking her up because I didn't want this to end. We finally kissed last night, but I did not know what to do or if she wanted to try dating. While I had dated a few other girls since knowing her, they each told me that they should move on and I should go after her. I lifted my hand from her back and used it to gently move a lock of hair that had strayed across her face behind her ear.

  As soon as I lifted my hand away, I noticed her eyes were no longer closed. She was looking up at me with some sleepiness still noticeable.

  "Morning," she said as she lightly yawned before gently readjusting her position on top of me.

  "Morning, Alissa," I replied as I moved my hand back to the small of her back. I slowly stroked my thumb there. For some weird reason, I didn't seem to feel the discomfort and shyness I usually had in situations like this. Maybe I should ignore the question and act like we were friends. God, my feelings were all over the place. I need to get alone for a little bit and think. "You want me to make us some breakfast?"

  "Maybe in a little bit." And so, we lay there for a while. I must have fallen back to sleep because the next thing I knew, she was rolling off me.

  "Where are you going?" I asked as she hastily walked toward the hallway.

  "Bathroom." She replied quickly back. I sat up on the couch and picked up the TV remote. Changing from the DVD player to the cable, I started channeling surfing but quickly stopped and absentmindedly put the remote back. It was a news channel.

  Scrolling across the bottom of the screen was the words' Power plants across the world shutting down without reason. Backup generators are not starting. Some systems continue to run even when unplugged from the wall. Hospitals overrun and out of supplies.' After staring at this scroll, I finally heard what the spokesperson was saying. "The infection was finally identified early this morning by a team of researchers in Germany. According to reports, a sick researcher used the lab's high-powered microscope on his blood. There he discovered objects not immediately identifiable. They also caught one of the objects in the process of entering a cell." As the spokesperson talked, images he was talking about popped up on the screen. "Researchers worldwide have tested other symptomatic individuals and found the same results.

  Furthermore, a research team in Canada sequenced DNA from cells before the objects entered and after they left. They found the DNA had been changed. The significance of the changes is not known yet. From preliminary data collected so far, the infection hits everyone without bias or immunity. It is estimated that fifty percent of the individuals infected die from various issues. So far, there is no way to rule out the infection as the cause, but there is no direct proof other than timing." The spokesperson stopped talking for a minute and read what was on his phone.

  "The US government has just told us of new curfew restrictions and requirements. Due to insufficient power generation, most industrial and commercial buildings will be taken offline within the day. Depending on the viewers' location, electricity will be rationed based on local resources. Do not leave the property you currently occupy unless it is an emergency. Any person violating this will be arrested and jailed until the situation is resolved and a trial is arranged. Military personnel will be taking a census of where everyone is and distributing food." Boy, were the civil rights activists going to have fun when all of this is done, whatever this is. I turned off the TV and went to the kitchen to make us some breakfast. Looking in the fridge, I remembered I had planned to go shopping today. It was nearly empty, minus some butter, eggs, and milk.

  Looking in the cupboard, I saw that I had all the ingredients for some chocolate chip pancakes and made them while thinking. Maybe this forced lockdown isn't such a bad thing. Well, minus all the people dying and the damage to everything. But for forcing Alissa and me into dealing with our feelings. Maybe if we hadn't kissed last night, it would be easier to ignore the emotions, but I don't think either of us would want that.

  Alissa entered the kitchen when the first pancake was introduced to the hot pan. "What are you making?"

  "Pancakes. How many do you want?"

  "Just two for me, and maybe an egg over easy if there are enough eggs."

  "Sure, the first pancake should be done in a second if you could grab the syrup and plates."

  I could hear her rummage through the cupboard to find the syrup, then get two plates before bringing both over. I placed the first pancake on the plate and started on the second while she just leaned on the counter.

  She stayed there looking off into the distance while I cooked until finally asking me, "What do you make of this situation?"

  "Well, there isn't much we can do. We are lucky the power still works here, from what I understand. Maybe it has to do with what the source of energy is. From what I have heard, generators just won't work. Here most of our power is from hydroelectric." I said while placing the second pancake on her plate and cracking an egg into the pan. To be honest, the act of cooking was all that was keeping me from shaking as my mind raced over everything I had heard so far.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "True. Do you think we will likely get the virus the news is talking about?" Her voice held a tinge of fear, but not as much as I would have expected. Knowing her, she was suppressing it to keep me from freaking out. It wouldn’t be the first time she had done something like that.

  "Depends. If the dust is the virus, as scientists think, we are most likely infected. If it's just another disease from the earth, then it isn't likely unless one of our coworkers or owners of the pets you worked on were sick with it already. I am sure we will know soon enough, though." I put the egg onto her plate and handed it to her before starting on my own pancakes.

  She put some syrup on her pancakes and grabbed two forks. She placed one on my plate before going and sitting down at the table to eat.

  We stayed quiet, thinking, for quite a while. I was thinking about my sister on the other side of the country and wondering how she was doing. Knowing her, she was thinking about her family, patients, and coworkers. I was the one who finally broke the silence after taking both of our dishes to the sink and rinsing them off. "So, what do you want to do today?"

  Right as she was about to answer, there was a loud knock at the front door. I looked at her, and she looked back. No one should be moving around, so how was anyone at the door? The person at the door knocked louder, and I could hear a male voice say, "This is Private Colson. Please come to the door and answer a few questions. If no answer comes, the power to this residence will be turned off."

  Well, while it would suck to lose power, it made sense why they would do that, given the situation. I was more worried about the fact that someone was already going around doing checks. I got up and started quickly walking to the door. By the time I got there, Alissa was trailing me. I opened the door and saw one military officer on my porch while another was out on the sidewalk. Neither wore a mask like I thought they would, given the disease. That confirmed my theory that everyone had already been exposed. Quickly glancing over at the officer on the sidewalk, I noticed he had his rifle out and pointed at the ground. What did they expect to happen? Quickly looking over at Private Colson, I asked, "What can I do for you, officer?"

  "We are doing a census of the population. Are you the only two people who live in this residence?" he said, bored as if he had repeated it too many times and knew he had many more houses to visit.

  "I live here, but she was visiting when the order to stay was issued."

  He wrote a few things down before looking over my shoulder and asking, "Ma'am, where do you live, and does anyone else live there?"

  Alissa rattled off her apartment address and number and ended with, "And I am the only one that lives there. Do you know when I might be able to return?"

  While writing down her address, he responded, "No clue, ma'am."

  "I guess it's good that I don't have any pets." She said under her breath.

  "Neighbors would have been asked to either take them in or to check on them regularly. It is the only authorization I can give anyone at the moment." He said, letting her know he had heard her comment.

  "Do you know if we can go to a market to get some food?" I asked to distract him from any other comment she might have.

  "There should be some food delivered in a few hours, tomorrow at the latest. Stay home and call this number if either of you starts to feel sick," he said while handing me a card. He then turned around and walked away. Before he got to the sidewalk, he started talking into a walkie-talkie. "Got a resident from an address across town." That was about all I heard before closing the door.

  "Well, that was odd," I said as I turned around. She startled me by being so close. Taking a chance, I lightly kissed her on the lips. While doing this, I reached up with one arm and ticked her. She jumped and lightly hit my chest.

  "Jerk." She said while blushing. "You know I am ticklish there."

  I chuckled before grabbing her hand and returning to the kitchen to finish breakfast. When I got there, I noticed the time. Seeing that it was nearly noon, I asked, "So, what do you want to do to pass the time?"

  "We could try looking for more information on the weird shiny moon material. Maybe someone else saw the same thing."

  "Too early for good shots of the moon, but there might be something online." We quickly finished our pancakes before putting the dishes in the sink and heading upstairs. While I had the main desktop, that wouldn't work for both of us to use at once. I went to my work bag and grabbed my work laptop, and gestured for her to use the desktop. She woke it up and asked for the password. I blushed and whispered, "less than three, Alissa."

  "What was that," she asked. I couldn’t see her wide grin, but I could hear it in her voice. She had heard me, but I knew she wouldn't let me get away with not answering.

  "The less than symbol, the number three, capital A then lowercase l i s s a." spelling it out for her this time, hoping to get away with it, but I doubted it.

  "Not a bad password, but a bit obvious, isn't it? Well, that is to anyone who knows you."

  I just didn't reply. I only used it on my home computer and nothing else. It may be obvious, but it was secure. I logged into my work computer and brought up a web browser. Searching for shiny moon brought up an album of all things. None of the pictures showed anything unusual. Searching the term 'new moon crater' was nearly just as useless. Apparently, no one had seen any significant impact on the moon recently. We sat quietly, trying different search terms.

  After nearly two hours, I finally asked, "You find anything?"

  "No," she replied, sounding puzzled. "Even the older moon photos show the crater, but I don't remember it being there a year ago. Do you still have your book with all the planets' photos?"

  I did. I put down my laptop on the edge of the desk and walked across the room to the bookshelf. The book was pretty heavy because it included all the planets, most of the moons, dwarf planets, and even the bigger asteroid bodies. It was basically a tour guide to the solar system. I opened it to the moon page as I walked back to the desktop computer. She had brought up a full-color moon picture to compare it to. They were different. A giant crater near the north pole had not been there when the photo was taken. On top of that, small, ragged fissures appeared in different moon sections.

  "That's not possible," I said as I looked at the date stamp at the bottom of the photo. "That photo is older than the book, yet the picture is more current." While I was looking at the screen, I heard a gasp next to me. Looking over at Alissa, I saw her staring at the book in my hand. When I looked down at it, I noticed the page seemed to change, rippling as it did so. The craters and lines changed in front of my eyes. My mind was shocked blank at the impossibility of the situation. I quickly tossed the book across the room. It just lay there.

  "What just happened," she said quietly. "The book changed like it was trying to hide the fact that the crater wasn't there until recently, but that's not possible."

  When I turned to answer her, I suddenly felt lightheaded and reached out to brace my hand on the chair she was sitting in. Then the mother of all headaches hit me. The pain was so intense I didn't even realize I had collapsed to the floor. All I remember after that was her calling my name and shaking me. Then I heard her scream in pain as I blacked out.