Lois made her way from the front porch to the garage and opened up the large door. It was a big garage, capable of storing three cars, and so her little compact hatchback looked lost within. Perhaps she would treat herself to a larger car soon. She could afford one now. It was still hard to adapt to the extra disposable income now she was living rent-free. Life was certainly throwing her some curveballs lately. If anyone had told her just three years ago how she would be living now... Well, she'd either have cracked a rib laughing at them or called a mental health professional to take them to a nuthouse.
After backing her car out, and using the remote to close the garage door, she set off for work. The drive, from the countryside, as opposed to the journey from her old flat in town, took longer but was worth it. There were so many benefits to living out in the sticks, especially now many of the attractions to town living had gone forever. Most events where people had congregated in large social groups were a thing of the past. The pandemic had seen to that.
It had started with Covid-19, short for Corona Virus Disease 2019, but it was a mutation, technically Covid-20, or Purity as it became known, that had changed the world beyond recognition.
Purity had originated in one of the southern states of the US. Lois was not sure which one. The one where Mardi Gras was held she thought. She'd seen a documentary on the telly about it a couple of weeks ago. One of those sensationalised step-by-step shows where some of the scenes were acted out. The bones of it she'd been familiar with. Heck, she'd lived through it hadn't she?
America, the only first-world country without a nationalised health industry, had reacted slowly to the threat of the pandemic. Trump, the President, had been downplaying the threat right up until it hit. Lois had laughed when the show played footage of Trump claiming no one saw it coming and the narrator pointed out how many had died at that point, and that it was called Covid-19 because doctors had named it the year before.
So the USA got hit bad. So what? The world got hit bad. But then the show explained what a virus is and how they worked. How viruses can only reproduce inside a living cell of a host. How viruses are constantly mutating. Sometimes the mutation does not affect how it works. If a mutation stops it working, there are many more infected cells still pumping out the original design. But every now and then a mutation makes the virus even more deadly. That was why the disease running rampant in America was so bad. Each newly infected person was a roll of the dice. If you kept rolling the dice eventually your number was going to come up. America rolled that dice millions of times.
Thus Purity was born. Purity was different enough it did not show up on tests for Covid-19 but Purity was a lot fouler. Purity didn't just target the old and infirm. No, she was a nastier bitch than that for she craved cholesterol. The show went on a bit about how we all need cholesterol and its functions in the body. But the end result was known to all those alive this day. The fat and the unfit died in droves. As did the elderly, just because they lived long enough to accumulate enough in their arteries to make them vulnerable.
So pronounced were the effects of the mutated disease it renamed itself. The young fit and healthy were the only ones to survive. The innocent and pure were the only ones to survive. The mortality rate in some places was nearly seventy per cent.
That Trump was claimed by Purity was an irony the show played on. But it also took Biden, his political rival. The unrest and confusion, plus the seeds of division sown by Trump, compounded by a lack of mature leadership plunged the US into civil war. California left the union first, followed swiftly by Texas. The fighting was short-lived though, as Purity was killing people faster than they could kill each other. Three blocks emerged with the Union being divided into East Coast, West Coast and The Southern States of North America.
Purity had exploded out of America even while people fought Covid-19. It was far more resilient outside of a host and the infected took up to three weeks to show symptoms while they were infectious themselves.
Purity changed the world. People couldn't live in quarantine indefinitely. The living needed to live. To get out and about. To meet, work and play. It was surprising how quickly the changes occurred.
Purity could be airborne or caught by contact. Health workers were wearing hazmat suits. Then a supermarket chain started dressing its delivery drivers in them too. People wanted to copy them but they were in short supply. They were supposedly disposable, yet expensive and hard to source. Then an amateur diver had wandered into a shop in an outfit based on a dry suit. A news crew found out where he lived and filmed him proudly showing off his decontamination shower in his front garden. Two weeks later a technically adept rubber fetishist was displaying his own outfit along with an additional UV lamp lit blow-dry unit.
Almost overnight every latex gimp was out of the closet and walking down the high street. Nearly as quickly those uninitiated in the ways of latex were ordering rubber clothes, gasmasks and DIY decontamination kits from quick-witted web entrepreneurs.
Lois herself had never worn latex before. Now she never left the house unless clad in her chlorinated neck entry catsuit. Initially wary of the material she had to confess she was a convert. Though not just because to walk the streets of any town in the UK dressed any other way risked arrest, or worse at the hands of vigilantes.
Many wore long johns under a loose heavy-duty rubber outer. Lois, on the other hand, wore skintight latex exclusively. She was not alone and so did not stand out as unusual. That other's reciprocated was part of the fun for Lois. She was as much a fan of looking at other's dressed in glossy rubber as wearing it herself.
Gas masks had become a fashion craze! Lois wore a Wiselime full-face respirator, but like many others, she had painted and decorated it and the latex hood she wore with it. As much an expression of individuality it made her recognisable from a distance too.
In truth, Covid-20 ought to be burnt out by now. But there had been three false all clears. Just like the 1918 H1N1 pandemic, it had circled the globe three times and it too mutated on the way. Technically they were operating in an all clear now. But no one was prepared to drop their guard. In fact, it was more dangerous to be seen in public not wearing full protection. The virus was not the only thing to cause a body harm. Peer pressure and fear kept people practising full enclosure. Billboards and graffiti alike carried slogans like, "It Mutates!", "The invisible killer," and "Keep your guard up."
Every so often a medical expert would come on TV and bleat about how people needed to mingle. That constant isolation was bad for peoples immune systems, and they needed to build up herd resistance. But no one was prepared to be the first to drop their guard.
Soon the fields and hedges of the English countryside gave way to the suburbs of town though there were very few people out at this early hour. Lois enjoyed ogling the pedestrian traffic when the weather did not encourage people to add coats to their ensembles. Bright sunshine had everyone hiding in the shade, or wearing large loose lightweight cotton hooded coats to shield them from the suns rays. Cold rain had people shrouded in macs to keep the chilling water off their second skins.
Arriving at the depot Lois parked the car and made her way into the warehouse. Passing through a decon shower she was pleased to see Mike ahead of her. Mike was a fitness freak, and the hard rippling muscles of his physique, shifting under highly polished rubber, were a source of joy for Lois. He was off-limits though as the man had a stunning wife and two beautiful daughters. Though that didn't stop her looking.
After clocking in Lois quickly loaded her van. It used to be done by warehouse staff but Lois was happier loading it herself, for that way she knew she had everything on the manifest on board. With the van full and everything scanned she climbed in the cab and set off.
It was quite a long drive to her patch and so Lois got to enjoy the scenery on the way out of town too. The streets were full now with people making their way to work. While not everyone opted for classic black nearly everyone had wised up to wearing chlorinated latex. Thus the crowd on the streets were glossy. Lois was glad of the self-drive feature of the electric van as it enabled to stare without fear of crashing.
No one was fat these days. Everyone worked out and most popped statins too. While the medics frantically tried to keep up with vaccines and treatments the best defence against purity was to be in shape. No one relied on having had it once giving them immunity either. As the graffiti said; It mutates.
The days work progressed as usual. The van drove itself. Lois was there to negotiate the customer's drives and hand the packages over. The video from the camera clipped on the side of her gas mask recording where each package was left, when and who took it if the client was in.
She did not stop for lunch. She was allowed, and in theory she was safe, to remove her mask and eat in the cab of her van. But she was keen to return home and she was paid by deliveries and not by the hour. The sooner she finished the sooner she could get home.
The drive home was spent fantasising what sort of car she would upgrade to. The social order had really taken a pounding from Purity. While there were lots of people like Lois, who had inherited lots of money and property from deceased relatives. There were many ruined by the pandemic too.
Lois knew she was lucky. One set of grandparents house had paid off the mortgage of the other. Her parents home had put a healthy nest egg in the bank along with some nice luxuries in her home. But there were many others' ruined. Their professions gone, and the job market shrunk due to the reduced population, the altered social structure meant it was hard to get a foot in the door of a new trade.
Lois parked the car in the garage and made her way to the front door. Letting herself in she activated the decon shower. Turning slowly and lifting her arms to ensure total coverage. She next stepped inside the UV blow-dry section. When the cycle finished she stepped into the hall and removed her mask.
"May I take that, Mistress?" Enquired Pet, one of Lois' slaves. Lois handed the gas mask to the petite girl. "Thank you, Mistress," purred the slave as she turned and placed the device on its stand by the door.
"A glass of wine in the living room, slave," ordered Lois as she turned for the room.
"Yes, Mistress," murmured Pet.
So the unemployed had gone into service. Bonded service. The government was too impoverished to maintain welfare and an enlarged health service. A slave was fed, clothed and had a roof over its head. It was kept safe from the virus. It beat dying on the streets of either disease or starvation.
Lois had two slaves; Pet and Mouse. Both girls were petite in stature which suited Lois, who was nearly six-foot-tall. She kept them both bald and naked, bar latex stockings and gloves. She had both fitted in heavy steel collars and under contract for fifty years each. She would doubtless sell them well before the contracts expire, as they would be in their seventies, and useless, by then.
Lois sank into her favourite leather recliner as Pet arrived with the glass of wine.
"Eat, slave," ordered Lois. Placing the wine on a side table within reach of her mistress, the slave sank to her knees and crawled between the legs of her owner. The slave girl carefully opened the crotch zip of Lois' catsuit and tenderly probed with a pierced tongue.
Lois thought again about the documentary about the birth of Purity. The disease had taken nearly everyone she knew or loved. But it had made her wealthy in a society where people dressed in rubber and owned sex slaves. Lois raised the wine glass in salute.
"Thank you, Donald."
"Mistress?"
"Carry on, slave. After I've climaxed fetch your sister and we can discuss what's for dinner.