Reset: A Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Fantasy (Contaminant Series Book 1) by Eli Frost Duham

slightest contamination from a worker could undo everything in the garden, leaving them at square one without scratch to start from.  But there had to be something other than military lock-down.
    Lieutenant Vasquez looked at the angry people cheering, booing, and chanting around him.  He turned to leave with his soldier.
    Anna said from behind Peter and Michael, “It might be time to plan plan B.”
    ***
    The four spent the rest of the day together and loosely brainstormed contingency plans for different scenarios.  They briefly walked around campus squabbling about previous events as they passed by the cafeteria.  Almost all the soldiers were in there, eating.  The Lieutenant was making quite a bit of noise, but the words were indiscernible.  At some point, the two couples went their separate ways.
    It was just after 5:30pm when Michael, Jenna, Anna and Peter met up again.  The sun was casting a bright golden hue on close to everything in the cafeteria.  The aura was rather peaceful, and the cafeteria was filling up.  Things had calmed down from earlier and people were going through the line, buying food with their tickets.  They were enjoying a stew of rabbit, pork, and wheatgrass heavy bread.  It had protein, fat and nutrients and was actually pretty tasty. 
    The two couples had laughed quite a bit as they ate their meals.  It wasn’t any more food than they were used to eating, but some sort of progress was being made daily here and there.  Smiling came easier and wasn’t as taboo.
    Michael had finished his meal and was watching Jenna as she ate the last of her wheatgrass heavy bread.  He leaned over to tell her something sweet when he heard loud scuffling outside the cafeteria.
    Peter stood up and looked around.  The heavy sound of boots jogging down the hall along with a bit of chanting could be heard.  Michael overheard someone mutter something about intimidation. 
    Suddenly, soldiers were flooding through the doors to the cafeteria.  The shouting was deafening as the sound amped up tenfold.
    When the last soldier had entered the cafeteria, those standing in line, distributing food, and sitting at tables found their exits blocked off.  The soldiers had their weapons which were, at the moment, pointed at the ground.  There was that moment when civilians were considering what to do, how to respond, and more importantly, how to get away. 
    That’s when Lieutenant Vasquez entered.  It was more like he sauntered in, holding up his hand to quiet his soldiers.  But, the voices of the people rose up.
    “What is all this?”
    “This is horseshit!”
    “You can’t keep us!”
    “Actually,” the Lieutenant had a sleazy smile on his face, “I can.”  With a triumphant sigh, “And, I will.” 
    Several shift leaders were brought in, some of them were even dragged.
    The Lieutenant brought a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket.  The people were still outraged and shouting insults but Vasquez remained focused as he unfolded it and called out,
    “Samantha Pierce.”  The cafeteria went quiet.  People went still and tension could be felt like a frenzy of energy.  Everyone was waiting on someone to make the first move.
    “Samantha Pierce.  You are a carrier.  We need to escort you to quarantine.  There’s no need for this to be a troublesome process.”  The Lieutenant was waving his hands about as though he couldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t just trust the process . 
    He looked over at the line of shift leaders.  With a gentle push from her escort, an older woman stepped forward; the soldier hovered close by.  She scanned the faces of the cafeteria stopping at another woman.  They made eye contact and the younger woman’s face contorted in fear.  She began to violently shake her head. 
    “No…” She dropped her tray, stumbling backwards.   She screamed, “NO!  My babies! NOOO!”
    The backpedal became quicker and she turned to get away, right into the arms of