The 50/50 Vaccine

Chapter 1

In a world where the majority of civilization relies on vaccines and medical science to cure diseases, what would one do when they are offered a chance to take a clinical trial vaccine for a large sum of money; $250,000 to be exact? The big pharmaceutical company now known as Greenway Industries is offering just that to any person or persons willing to volunteer to take a vaccine in return, they will each get compensation.

The only catch is that there is a 50 percent chance they could die from the vaccine within two weeks. All participants will be quarantined and monitored for two weeks and one day after they are injected, and they all sign waives understanding fully what could happen. The bonus to the vaccine is that if the participant survives, they will be fully immune to all illnesses except cancer. However, the company continues to research in hopes that cancer will be included in the vaccine’s coverage with time.

The question is… Would you sign up to be injected with what’s now known as the 50/50 vaccine?

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The same commercial has been running on television for six months now. Not to mention the numerous advertisements on all social media outlets promoting this vaccine. There are still the anti-vaxers who believe this is the government's way of secretly controlling the masses and population. If 100 people take this 50/50 vaccine, there’s only a 50% chance of survival. Though recent reports state that 75% of those who have received the vaccine have survived, it still has a lot of skeptics.

I’m not saying I’m going to be in line to take the vaccine, but still, the rewards seem almost worth the risks to so many. With this economy, and the cost of everything rising, I can see how folks are tempted by the payout. Then there’s the homeless, who I would think would do it for the money just to get off the streets. Every day I still see handfuls of homeless around, making me wonder if they haven’t heard of the vaccine, or have and are too scared to take the risks.

The other thought, after six months, wouldn’t they have some results that tell them what causes the deaths? I mean, if someone has a certain blood type or a genetic marker that makes them more viable versus nonviable. If a company has all this money to give away, wouldn’t they have a research team to continue working on perfecting the vaccine to have a higher success rate?

Then there’s the anti-vaccine group. They don’t dispute the idea of medicine helping, what they believe is that once someone has the vaccine and survives, they somehow have been altered. There have been reports of attacks on vaccine recipients that are now being classified as hate crimes, though I don’t feel the police are cracking down as hard as they could be on this. Yes, the law was passed, but only because one of the victims of an attack was a family member of the mayor.

It’s all over the new stations as tension is rising, and so many questions are going unanswered by Greenway Industries. The facility is still accepting people, I know because it’s across the street from my office building and people are always entering throughout the day. I don’t know where or when they are releasing the survivors, but people are coming out. A colleague of mine said her brother just got home and told the family how incredible he feels after having the vaccine. He has to go back in three months for a blood test, but that’s to see if the vaccine truly took and has made him immune to all diseases. It sounds great, but the risk of death is too high for my taste.

“More reports on attacks?” My boyfriend, Doug, asks as he comes out of the bedroom. He’s so handsome in the mornings, all dressed up in his business suit. His black hair brushed back just so as to make it look like a puff. His grey eyes glance at the television briefly before going to the kitchen to make himself some coffee.

“Yeah, it’s getting to the point they are setting up security around the block. Getting to work is going to take more time.” I sigh shutting the television off. “On a brighter note, the weatherman said it’s going to be a sunny day with a high of 68.”

Doug let out a slow whistle. “A whole 68? Wow, that has to be a new record.” I can’t help but chuckle. “Just be careful going into work today. It sounds like things are getting crazy out there.”

“I’m always careful. It’s just madness out there.” I reply finishing my coffee and bringing my mug to the sink. “I’m surprised they are still in business after all this. I mean, I get people are voluntarily getting the vaccine, but the idea of that only 75% are walking out of there.” I shudder at the thought.

“The risk seems to be getting lower. It started out that only 50% were surviving,” Doug reminds me. “Plus, they are compensating them for their time.”

“Which makes it not voluntarily, but a paid service.” I remind him.

“There’s a blurred line because in the contract it’s stated as being a reward for the surviving volunteers.” Doug corrects. Being an attorney for the state, he’s had a few families of non-survivors coming to him about legal actions to take for the death of their loved one. “They volunteer for the vaccine trials.”

“Six months later, and they are still calling it vaccine trials. Aren’t we a bit past that?” I ask as I pull my coat on.

“Not until the FDA approves the vaccine. Until then all results and volunteers are being collected in trials, which is why they are asking for volunteers to try the drug.”

“Do you think it will ever get approved? Killing 25% of the volunteers is still high.”

“Most medicines go through trial phases. I’m sure in the past if you look deep enough, common medicine killed the volunteers during trial as they were able to discover the side effect of the drugs. Can’t discover side effects without someone experiencing a side effect.” Doug argued.

“Always the devil's advocate. You can see both sides to every situation.” I note.

“Comes with the job,” Doug replies. “Heading out?”

“Yes, with the new block security, I can only imagine how crazy it’s going to be to get into the parking lot never mind the office.” Doug gets off the couch, wraps me in a hug, and kisses me.

“Have a good day, and stay safe.”

“I will, and you too.” I smile. “I love you.”

“Back at you,” Doug smiles and releases me.

I get in my car and drive to work. Two blocks away, traffic is backed up. Police have set up a road block, and checking identifications for employees, and a guarded line was on the street for volunteers going to get the vaccine. The line seems longer today than it has in over a month, which is a bit odd, but none of my business. The right side of the road is blocked off with wooden barricades like fences keeping the protesters at bay and separate from the volunteers line which is on the left side of the street. At the check point, I show my employee ID and am allowed passed. I park my car in the parking garage and head into work.

I work in an accounting firm. I handle minor accounts for the company, and make phone calls to confirm numbers from time to time. Nothing too complex, or taxing on my stress level. I’ve worked here for a good five years, and am extremely happy with the work and management. By lunchtime, everything changed….

“Can I have your attention please?” My boss, Mike, called out as he entered the main area outside his office. I work in a cubicle and have to move my chair to see him clearly. He waited for everything to fall silent before continuing. “I just got off the phone with the CEO, the police chief, and the mayor, and regretfully I have to inform you that we are being forced to shut down.” Everyone broke out with questions all at once, causing much commotion, but Mike waited for a beat, giving everyone a chance to settle back down before he continued. “You will all be given a severance package, but with the threat to Greenway Industries increasing, we need to consider everyone’s safety. We could try to work from home, but the reality is that without an actual building for conferences and whatnot, it’s better to close the doors. The CEO is not happy that we are being forced out because of the actions and threat of a nearby business, but with the safety of all our employees in mind, it’s the best and safest option at this time. I personally will give each employee a glowing recommendation for any new job, and I assure you that your non-compete contracts are null and void as of today. I am so sorry and pray you all land on your feet.” Mike turns and goes back into his office, closing the door behind him.

I sit in my seat in shock. Did I really just get fired? How can they close an entire company down with no warning? When the room seems to settle, I force myself to my feet and look around me. My coworkers are all busily packing up their desks and belongings. I force my feet to move to the storeroom to get a box for my own belongings. I never thought this day would come. This company seemed to be doing so well, how can we be just closing our doors? What will our clients do? So many questions are flooding through my mind as I pack everything into a box.

“Mindy, are you alright?” I hear a voice call from behind me as I put the last of my things in the box. I turn to see who's speaking to me as everything sounds so hollow at the moment.

“What?” I reply as I turn.

“What are you still doing here?” Mike asks. I blink at him and look around. Everyone else has already left. “Are you okay?”

“Just shell-shocked,” I confess.

“I know, I didn’t see this coming either,” Mike sighs. “Come on, I’ll walk out with you.” He offers, carrying his box to the elevator. I grab my box and follow him out. “It’s going to be alright. We can recover, as every member of the firm was a valuable asset with a lot of skill and potential. You especially. I thought you would replace me when I retire.” Mike smiled. His graying hair never made him look old, just wiser in a way. The wrinkles on his face never made something think he was older than 60, but in reality, he was in his 70s.

“A lot has been changing in the past six months,” I murmur more to myself than him. “How can there be so much chaos over a vaccine? The potential to be immune to illness is appealing to some, it’s not like the government is forcing everyone to get the vaccine. I could understand the outrage and pushback if that were the case, but it’s not. It just blows my mind how people can be so heartless and cruel.” We step off the elevator and walk into the parking garage towards our cars. The last two here. Funny, I can’t recall a time when this parking garage has been so empty.

“The world has always been full of hate. One day, it’ll change, but not for a very long time. Hate is all around us. It’s been ingrained in our DNA for eons.”

“I guess I’ve been naïve to think people would just mind their own damn business for once.” I sigh as I open the trunk of my car. I place my box on the floor and close the trunk. “I guess this is goodbye, Mike. It was a pleasure working for you all these years.” I walk to Mike’s car, shake his hand then get into my car and start the engine.

We leave the parking garage together. He followed me out, and as we exited the parking garage, we were redirected to go around the block a different way by the police. The protesters are getting more riled up and things are not looking good. You have to be desperate to go through the line of volunteers on the opposite side of the road from the protests screaming and shouting.

I get home and change into my comfortable clothes before dropping onto the sofa. How am I going to tell Doug that I was let go today? Things have already been tight financially for us, but this… I don’t know if we’re going to survive me losing my income with the bills still coming in. We’ve been cutting back as much as possible, but even that seems to not be enough.

The stress of bills has been taking a toll on our relationship, I know this, I just didn’t want to admit it. The big thing now is, I am no longer employed. It’ll take me at least a month to get another job, though everyone from my firm is going to be looking for another job. Some handle larger, more difficult clients than I do, which will make them more qualified for the job compared to me. I hate this.

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I hear Doug’s keys in the door as I finish making dinner. I figured the least I could do was make a good home-cooked meal before telling him that we are now down to a single income. “You’re home early,” Doug notes as he enters closing the door behind him. “I thought with all the chaos downtown you’d be late.”

“Babe, sit down for a moment, I have some news,” I state.

“This doesn’t sound good.” Doug sits down on the sofa and looks up at me.

“They closed the entire firm down at lunchtime. The chaos became a liability that the CEO, the police chief, and the governor didn’t want on their consciences. We are going to be giving a severance package at some point, but…” I began sobbing to the point I couldn’t speak.

“You’ll figure it out. Mindy, you are all kinds of resilient. It’ll be tough, but you are very qualified, and lots of places are hiring, maybe not for accounting, but a job is a job.” Doug replies. He seems so unphased by my news.

“You’re right, I just.” I sigh. “We’ve been struggling already with the rent raise, and the increase of all our bills.”

“You’ll have your severance package until you can find another job. It’ll work itself out, it always does.” Doug stood up from the sofa, gave me a quick hug then went into the bedroom. I’m left standing between the kitchen and the parlor dumbstruck. He’s not bothered by the fact that we’re more broke now than we were this morning when we woke up.

I thought for sure he was going to be harsher. Or at least seem a little upset about this, but he was oddly unphased. I don’t want to question it, but at the same time, I want to know what’s going through his mind. I’ve been spiraling all day trying to figure out how I’m going to continue contributing to this household without a job for at least a month, and he seems fine with it. Yes, I’m resourceful, but short of starving, we’ve cut all extra costs at the beginning of the year.

As we eat our dinner, I get a chill down my back. The unsettling response Doug had to the news of me losing my job hasn’t disappeared yet. “How was your day?” I ask trying to make a normal conversation.

“It was fine. Nothing too interesting. I had a few people call in to discuss their loved ones not coming home from Greenway Industries, but as I said this morning, their contracts are solid. The loved ones have nothing. Greenway Industries are not held responsible for the result of death that may occur when receiving the vaccine. Participants are fully informed before receiving the vaccine.” Doug says with a shrug.

“Was the streets bad downtown? They detoured us around coming out of the parking garage earlier.” I pressed.

“I’m pretty sure the parking garage is now a point of entry for all volunteers into Greenway Industries. The protesters were being held back, but there’s a concern with the death toll climbing again that the protests are going to escalate.” Doug sighs.

“I thought they got it down to 25%.”

“I’m not sure how true that statistic was,” Doug replied. “They don’t legally have to release that information as people are signing the waivers and getting the drug knowing the risks.”

“I don’t know, it all seems a bit extreme to me.”

“Desperate people do desperate things, Mandy. You don’t understand until you are in a position like that.” Doug responds.

“Are you thinking about doing the vaccine?”

“No, I’m not. All I’m saying is to not judge the choices of someone else because unless you are in their shoes, you’ll never know the full length of their desperation.”

“I’m not judging the volunteers. I’m saying the protesters are getting extreme. They are the ones judging and throwing hate at others.” I defend. Why did he assume I was judging the volunteers? I get it, $250,000 sounds tempting if you can’t even afford to feed yourself or your family. I have no interest in getting the vaccine, but I’m not going to look at someone differently just because they did. What does that accomplish? Nothing more than segregation and hate. I truly hate how much we repeat the past while trying to erase the past.

“There’s always going to be those with different opinions and those with the need to express their opposing opinions instead of keeping it to themselves. The First Amendment allows for them to protest how and what they want to protest.” Doug states. “My concern is when the families start to fuel the protesters, and things go bad fast. I had one tell me today that if the state department won’t help get justice for their loved one, then they will speak to the protesters to be heard.”

“You think they’ll start rioting?”

“Possibly. Things are definitely going to get a lot worse before they get better for Greenway Industries and their volunteers.” Doug replied standing up to bring the dishes to the sink. “Thankfully, I’m not on their legal team so it’s not my headache to worry about.”

“Silver linings,” I sigh getting up from the table. As Doug does the dishes, I clean off the table, then dry and put the dishes away. I think I understand Doug’s thoughts. It’s not like I got fired for something I did, the entire firm was shut down because of the chaos around Greenway Industries. He’s even having things cross his desk related to Greenway Industries, so he knows more of the scope than I do. How can you be upset when the reality is, things are on the verge of becoming a lot worse than they are right now?