Free The Dead Circle by Keith Varney Page A

water.”
    “Huh?”
    “The glass of water. Put it down and step away from it.”
    “What are you talking about? It’s just water.”
    “Chris! Fucking listen to me! Put down the goddamned water!” She’s shouting, finally having lost her cool.
    Chris slowly and carefully puts down the glass, giving Sarah the ‘you’re losing your mind, but I’m going to calmly and nicely take care of you until you take your meds’ face.
    “OK. Water is down. What’s going on?”
    “Did you drink any of it?”
    “No?”
    “Did you touch the water at any point?”
    “I don’t think so? Why?”
    “Thank God. It might just be a hoax and I’m overreacting. I hope that’s what it is, but I think there’s some sort of contagion in the water. I think that’s what’s going on.”
    “What kind of contagion?”
    “I don’t know but they say it’s apparently super dangerous.”
    “Who’s they ?”
    “People on Facebook.”
    Chris releases a relieved breath. “Oh. The great titans of medicine and journalism on Facebook. Well why didn’t you say so?”
    Exasperated, but unwilling to be pulled into an argument, Sarah plops her husband down in front of her computer. He reads her Facebook feed:
     
Doug Cartman: What happened to the TV? Do the stars really dance if I can’t see them?
Becky Dawson: Lions are totally going to win. Tom Brady is so overrated.
Paige Brewer: DON’T TOUCH THE WATER IN DETROIT! Tom’s National Guard unit just got activated. They told him the water is contaminated! We’re being quarantined! Not a joke.
Adam Smith: For real? Are you kidding?
David Spacey: Hoax.
Becky Ulmer: Has anybody been able to reach anyone in the city? Carl’s phone just rings and rings. Does anybody know if there’s an outage or something?
Alan Carrol: I hear there are naked people downtown! Why wasn’t I invited to the party?
Patty Granger: Leave it to you to be the first to know…
Arlene Carrol: I’m pretty sure he has a Google alert for #nude.
Nina Venet: Just heard a rumor that we should avoid the water. #Detroitwaterconaminated #sowhatelseisnew
Ken Wojciechowski: Uh… a tank just rolled down my street. WTF?!

    Ken has posted a picture of a large green tank rumbling through a neighborhood. The juxtaposition of the huge piece of military hardware on a quiet suburban street—the sheer size of the tank in relation to the Prius parked in the driveway—reminds Chris of old news footage he’d seen from the riots. He frowns and keeps reading. Under the picture:
     
Sarah Smith, Linnet Frankel, Bob Wojciechowski and 4 other like this.
Michael Lee: Really? No joke?
Ken Wojciechowski: Yeah, they’re on megaphones saying not to leave our house or use the water. They say it’s dangerous.
Tom Helmut: Probably trying to cover-up the poison they’re putting into the sky with con-trails. #repealobamacare
Michael M. Bulston: My Wicked tour heads to Dallas this week. Gonna get me some BBQ! I think I’m on for Boq for the Wednesday matinee. #stagedoorismyfrontdoor #tourlife #workingactor #grateful #productioncontract
Derek Freeman: I think I just heard gunshots. So much for the suburbs being safer.
Christine Winter: Why the f*ck won’t they let me on the highway? Ugh…
Scott Wolvington: My puppy just pooped on the couch. #adorable
Trig Roland: Look at my hamburger! It is magnificent! Look at it!
 
    Chris looks up from the laptop. “Sarah, it’s just internet rumors. Sure the picture of the tank is weird, but you know how easy it is to Photoshop something like that.”
    “Maybe, but this is what I wanted to show you.”
    Kelly, Sarah’s old college roommate, has posted a link. The headline reads ‘HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS MISSING IN DETROIT. GOVERNMENT COVERS UP MYSTERIOUS OUTBREAK.’
    Sarah clinks on the link. A blog appears showing a series of photographs of military hardware blocking highways and bridges into Detroit.
    “What is this? Some sort of conspiracy blog?” Chris says with more skeptical bravado than he feels.