The Experiment

This is a work of fiction. No real people, places or events were used. Copyright ã 2011 Plot Roach.

The Experiment

By Plot Roach

The third season of Suburban Survivors was coming to a close. The crew looked to the cameras mounted in the various areas of the complex where they had spent the last six weeks of their lives.

“I’ll be glad for a hot shower.” Azure said. On the outside, she was an attorney who had left behind her three children and a husband in order to prove to herself that she had the skills necessary to survive on her own.

“How about a meal made from meat that I recognize and actually WANT to eat?” laughed Larry. He had been the hunter of the group, providing the food on their plates, even if it was scurrying around in the walls the night before.

“Or a nice, civilized night out on the town. Take in a show, eat at a fancy restaurant, maybe not have to pee in a pit you dug in the ground…” said Warren, wiping the sweat off of his brow with a tattered and greasy bandanna.

These thoughts were echoed in some way by the rest of the twenty members of the troupe that had been sequestered in the abandoned lot for the duration of the show’s filming. Tensions had been high only a few days before. But now, knowing that within minutes they would be met at the edge of the lot by limousines carrying their loved ones, it all seemed to melt away.

They used the last of the clean water that they had been rationing to take baths, dressed in the clothing that had been set aside since they had entered the compound -the clothes that they had left their old lives in. Most sat in groups, comparing stories about their lives back home and what they would do on their first day back in ‘civilization’. The women shared their meager stores of makeup and bemoaned the lack of a good manicure or hairstylist. They devoured what little stores of food that they had set aside for the future of the colony, daydreaming about gourmet meals and barbeques planned for family and friends.

Finally the time came when they were to meet their transportation back to the studio, and back into their former lives. Some cried, looking back at the grimy building that had been their home for six weeks, others sighed as they mentally catalogued the improvements that they had made to make the place livable, to make it their fortress and their sanctuary in a pretend post apocalypse.

“So what are you going to do with the money that the studio promised?” Azure asked one of the other women.

“I’m going to get a boob job.” the woman admitted meekly. “I know it seems like a waste of money, but I’ve always wanted to be bigger, and now I can afford it.”

“I’m going to get a boat of my own.” said one of the men. “If this place has taught me anything, it’s to be better prepared. And I think I can do that better on the water -easier to defend myself, and if I don’t like my neighbors, I pull up anchor and just sail away.”

The group moved en masse to the edge of the Suburban Survivor Colony lot, chatting amongst themselves like schoolchildren while waiting for the first day of summer. Soon they would be released, for better or worse, back into their separate lives. Some would cling together for the rest of their lives while others would drift away on the winds of change like dandelion fluff.

Once at the main gate, they used bolt cutters to snip off the padlock that had kept the compound shut off from the rest of the world. They threw open the gate, in anticipation of what they would find there. There was a strangled silence as the twenty looked out into the world they had left for six weeks. The streets were silent, filled with garbage and the dead.

“What the hell happened?” Warren asked.

“It looks like the world ended without us.” Azure said.

“Wouldn’t they have told us? Wouldn’t they have stopped the experiment and let us be with our families?” Larry asked.

“Unless that wasn’t really what the experiment was about…” Azure said.

Silence stretched across the void, linking their world to the devastation they now witnessed. Larry moved first, grabbing a section of old pipe and hefting it like a baseball bat before entering the ruined city.

“We could stay here.” offered Azure. “We already know how to generate our own electricity and how to clean our water and hunt our own food. We’ll be alright. We made it six weeks, we can make it a bit longer until someone comes for us.”

“Do you really think someone will come for us if they haven’t already?” Warren asked.

“Screw this.” Larry said and stepped over a dried corpse and into the ruined city.

“Where are you going?” Azure asked.

“I’ve waited six weeks for some real food.” Larry yelled. “I’m going to find a cheeseburger!”