1 Awakening
Year 2020
South exit Ant shopping center, one of the largest stores in the region.
The corridors of the shopping center were empty, due to a pandemic that spread throughout the world originating in the Asian continent.
Dressed in sportswear, Sven was returning to his leased apartment after doing the basic shopping, two months had passed since he had been laid off.
—"I don't think I can last another month."—
At 25, unemployed and with prices constantly rising, Sven was concerned about how difficult it was to find a job in this time of pandemic.
During the first months of the year the nations began to take measures to contain this disease, but without luck they could not stop it.
Only people who went to work passed through the streets, which gave a desolate atmosphere to how it was before.
Near his apartment, Sven began to feel his vision blurring along with a slight headache.
—No again—
It was already the fourth time it had happened to Sven. Upon arriving at his apartment, he left things on the table and lay on his bed to sleep, waiting for the pain to pass.
His home, though sober in tone, had all the basics for living, plus a desktop computer that Sven used to contact his grandparents.
Sven's parents worked in an export company, they had met in college and when they finished their careers they decided to formally settle where after two years Sven was born.
Sven's childhood was happy with his parents. At the age of 5, Sven stayed for a few months with his maternal grandparents in the countryside, due to important negotiations that his parents had to attend to.
During her time in the country, Sven learned to ride horses with his grandmother, as well as learning to milk cows and learn to make cheese.
At night, Sven was in charge of lighting the fire for cooking, which he learned from his grandfather, as well as how to use salt to preserve meat for longer.
After two months, Sven was eager to teach his parents everything he learned, but his grandparents told him that they would not be able to return for a while due to work.
A month later Sven began to study at school, his grandparents prepared everything he needed in addition to teaching him how to behave with others.
Communication with his parents lasted for two months through letters, in which they both expressed their love for him and always apologized for not being by his side.
The last day of snow, Sven returned to his house with his classmates, it was only a few days before his birthday. When he arrived in front of his house, he saw that the entrance were his grandparents, when he looked at the face of his grandmother he noticed that there were traces of tears under his eyes.
"Grandma, what happened to you?"
The first thing Sven did was hug his grandmother, next to him his grandfather had an envelope in her hands, Sven recognized the design, it was the same one that his parents used when they sent him their letters.
-Sven, you must be strong to what I'm going to tell you -
That day, Sven was left alone when he learned that his parents had died due to an attack on the building where they were staying.
When he opened his eyes, Sven noticed a couple of tears on his face, that day was the anniversary of the death of his parents.
After breakfast, Sven put on a black suit and left his apartment in the direction of the cemetery where the remains of his parents rested.
On the way he bought a bouquet of flowers that his grandmother showed him that his mother liked, and also brought a couple of incenses that his father liked.
At the entrance of the cemetery, the guard looked at the young man in front of him and greeted him as he opened the entrance, he did not ask him much due to the flowers in his hand and he only saw his back that was moving away between the tombs of the place.
As he turned towards the grave of his parents, Sven could see a middle-aged woman praying in front of the grave, she was the sister of his father.
Her father's family, upon learning of her death, never wanted to meet Sven, the only times they met were when they visited his grave.
Sven greeted the woman, but she did not return the greeting and after finishing praying she left without saying anything.
It wasn't the first time this had happened to Sven, although he never knew why his father's family hated him.
That morning, Sven dedicated himself to cleaning the place after burning the incenses, he still remembered how happy he was with his parents and decided that it was time to visit his grandparents who took care of him the most.
When he finished praying in front of the graves, Sven wanted to go to his apartment, but his headache returned along with severe dizziness.
At six in the afternoon it was time to close the cemetery, but the guard recalled that a young man had not yet left the cemetery.
When the relief of the guard arrived, he told him that there was still one person left and they both entered the cemetery in search of the young man.
After ten minutes they found a person passed out, with a high fever and also dry lips.
When the ambulance arrived, he was quickly transferred to the hospital.
At the hospital, Sven's condition was critical, the doctors were able to clear the fever, but for some reason Sven's body was highly dehydrated.
After several hours of treatment, Sven was hooked up to a life support machine to keep his body stable.
It had been several months since Sven was hospitalized, during that time his maternal grandparents and some of his friends visited him, but he was in a coma with no signs of waking up.
During those months in the world the pandemic spread to all corners of it, but thanks to several experiments in people they developed several vaccines that managed to contain the disease.
In addition, new medical technology was developed that could improve the situation for patients like Sven.
After Sven's maternal grandparents gave permission to use her on him as his legal guardians, they transferred him to the premises of the company in charge where there were more people in comas.
For a year there were no improvements in patients, and several families decided to withdraw their children from the program, only a few remained at the end.
As an apology, the company decided to help the families by assuming the maintenance costs of the patients.
Seeing that they had only a few years to live, his grandparents decided to leave Sven in his care, hoping that if one day he recovered he would be healthy.
—"Does anyone hear me?"—
In one room, several screams were heard from what appeared to be a hoarse young man.
It had been two hours since Sven regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he was covered only in a medical gown in what appeared to be a glass coffin.
In his arms he had two needles that seemed to be in charge of supplying him with something, but they seemed to be empty at that moment.
For a time he asked for help, but no one answered his call.
After a while he started to use his legs trying to break the cover, he thought he wouldn't give, but after a few minutes he heard the cover give.
—"Because they will have locked me in such a place."—
With a loud bang, the deck eventually gave way and he fell to one side.
Tired, Sven decided to get used to his body, for some reason he felt it had been too long since he ever walked.
After sleeping for a few hours, his stomach started to rumble and he woke up hungry.
Great was his surprise to see that the room where he was seemed to have been uninhabited for a long time.
The place was a complete mess, the dust, cobwebs and plants that crossed the walls did not give a good feeling of finding people around the place.
Walking around the place, Sven found no clothes, more if several blankets on the shelves that he tore to cover his body.
In the room, there were several glass coffins, but nothing could be seen inside at the moment.
Remembering how hungry he was, Sven started looking around the place for food.
After an hour he only found some well-sealed old envelopes that contained food.
"This should suffice for now."
After eating a couple of the contents of the envelopes, although tasteless, he felt that they were enough to hold on until he found more people.
The exit doors were locked from behind, thinking a bit Sven walked over to some broken pipes and pulled out the firmer of them to use as a lever at the entrance.
After several hours he was not very lucky, he was only able to move the entrance a little, which allowed him to see part of the sky.
—"Better save it for tomorrow."—
From the opening he could see that night was approaching, although it was strange for him, he could not think about what had happened in the world for him to be locked in that place.
By gathering several blankets that he found, he made a bed comfortable enough for the night.
