Sam Beecham was on his lunch break in the office canteen when his mobile phone pinged. He put down his ham sandwich and checked the new message. 

Your appointment for your flu jab in on Friday at 9.15am. Pls report to your doctors as usual.

His work-mate Daisy, sitting next to him popped a couple of pills from a packet and swallowed them with her can of Cola. 

‘I feel lousy.’ She said. ‘It’s the bug that’s going round.’

‘I’ve got my flu jab on Friday, thankfully,’ Sam said. ‘I’ve just had the text.’

‘My next one is due any time now.’ Daisy replied. ‘I need it, I think. I’m full of the lurgy.’ 

‘I always feel a bit lousy straight after my jab. I think I’ll stay in on Friday night to get over it.’ Sam said.

‘Yeah, everyone says that. The jab initially makes you feel yucky while your body fights off the virus. It’s worth it in the end though, stops you getting really ill from the actual bug. When the bugs do go round, because we’ve had the vaccine, we’re protected from the full effects of the virus.’ 

‘You sound like a health service pamphlet.’ He laughed. 

The Flu jab was one of the many injections the government Health Department provided to protect its citizens. The jabs were compulsory. They were there to take the strain off the health service. Members of the public were forced to have regular flu jabs.

The public would be sent a text alert giving them an appointment date and time. Attendance was mandatory. The public had regular jabs and boosters all through the year for all kinds of things. There were injections for all sorts. The government health service did all it could to keep the public safe. 

There was the hay fever jabs in the spring and summer. In the summer the public suffered from hay fever but it their symptoms were greatly reduced thanks to the jabs. If they didn’t have the jab the hay fever would have been debilitating. In the spring and summer months, the weather reports each morning detailed how the pollen levels were high, very high and super high.

Most people still struggled with hay fever but it was nothing like as severe thanks to the jab. People would buy hay fever treatments from the chemist. 

In the winter months, then when the cold and flu bugs do go round, the impact on the population was lessened thanks to everyone having had the vaccine. Everyone would suffer with colds and mild flu symptoms. They would dose themselves up on over-the counter medicines and capsules.

The chemist shops would be packed with people, everyone buying remedies, cough syrup, pills, as people tried to shift the horrid cold and mild flu that the whole country seemed to be ailed with. 

On Friday morning Sam went along for the jab as instructed. He gave his name to the receptionist and took a seat in the waiting room. A few minutes later his name was called. He reported to the room. The nurse smiled at him and ushered him in, before asking him to pop his sleeve up.

A second later he felt the needle prick his skin and he was done.

‘There you go. All done. You may feel a little under the weather for a little while.’ She said. 

Sam nodded and thanked her.

On his way out the receptionist told him he would get a text about his next booster, before wishing him a good day. 

Thank you, you too. Sam replied. 

In the office at break-time, as he sipped his mug of tea and tried to forget about the flu-like aching and head-ache that was starting, one of his work-mates, Phil Lloyd took the seat facing him. Phil asked how he was doing. Sam explained he didn’t feel great, as he’d just had the jab. Phil shook his head.

‘The whole thing is a scam.’ Phil said.

‘What whole thing?’ Sam asked.

‘I think the flu jab thing is a scam. They are injecting us, making us ill, so we pump millions into the pharmaceutical industry. Cold and flu remedies are big business.’

‘We have the jab so the symptoms are less severe when we do get the bugs that are going round.’ Sam said.

‘It’s them spreading the bugs in the first place, to sell us the products.’ Phil said, jabbing a finger on the table to emphasise his point. 

‘Nah, surely not. We have the jabs to protect us. Without the jabs we’d get really sick.’

‘Who says? How do you know? What if it’s the jabs themselves that are making us sick?’

‘You sound crazy.’ Sam said. 

‘That is what they want you to think.’ Phil insisted. ‘What if it’s the jabs making you ill, so you spend half your pay-packet on medicines to make you feel better? The hay fever thing too, it’s all part of it. I’m telling you. It’s big business.’ 

‘I didn’t have you down as a mad conspiracy theorist.’ Sam said.

‘What if the theories are right? There’s the rub.’ Phil said.

‘You shouldn’t get yourself worked up about these things. You can’t do anything about it.’

‘Can’t I?’ Phil replied.

‘Well, no. What can we do? You have to have the jab.’

Phil grinned. He leaned forward, his voice almost a whisper.

‘I’m not going to have it.’ He said.

‘You have to have your jabs, it’s the law. You’ll get in trouble if you don’t. You’ve seen the adverts, you could go to prison for two years if you don’t get your jabs. Besides, you’ll get ill.’ Sam replied, his voice hushed. 

‘That’s just it. I don’t think I will get sick.’ Phil said. 

‘When is your appointment?’

‘It’s tomorrow morning but I’m not going to show up.’

‘You have to go. You shouldn’t mess with these people.’ Sam said. 

Phil said nothing, a mischievous grin on his features.

The next day, Sam found Phil is in the canteen. He placed his mug of tea down and slid into the seat beside him.

‘Please tell me you went to get your jab this morning.’ Sam said.

‘No chance.’ Phil said. 

‘Did you text them back to say you couldn’t make it?’

‘Nope. I just didn’t show up. Let’s see what happens now. I’ve already had a text saying I need to go immediately to my doctors to be seen.’

At that moment Phil’s mobile phone started ringing. Phil laughed and showed Sam his phone. On the display, the words Health Department flashed on screen.

‘I don’t think so.’ Phil said, before pressing the red ‘end call’ button.

‘Mate, be careful, please.’ 

Early the following week, Sam bumped in to Phil again. 

‘How are you getting on with the thing with the thing?’ Sam asked.

He was deliberately vague as he didn’t want to say out-loud that Phil hadn’t had the jab. 

‘Still ducking and diving, mate. Avoiding the calls and texts. I’m getting bombarded, though. I have to switch my phone off at night there’s so many calls.’

‘Really? What are you gonna do?’ Sam asked.

‘Keep on keeping on. I’m not having it done. If anything this has made me more determined than ever. If they are that determined that I have it, I’m adamant that I am not. If there’s nothing sinister about the jab, why are they so pushy for me to have it? And don’t say it’s for my own benefit. The Health Department couldn’t give a monkeys about poor Phil from Salford.’ 

That afternoon, Phil’s manager called for him to come to his office. Wondering what was going to be dumped on his desk now, Phil crossed the office-floor.

He entered the office to find his manager sitting behind his desk but he was not alone. Phil was surprised to see four medical staff in long white coats, and a woman in a nurse’s uniform. He flinched as one of the staff closed the door behind him, turning the key in the lock. The man then stepped easily into position blocking the door. 

Phil tried to control the panic gripping him. He stared at his manager in confusion.

‘Greg, what is all this?’

His manager waved for him to take a seat. Phil did as he was told, and slid into the chair across the desk from him.

‘They are here to give you the jab, that’s all.’ Greg said.

‘I am not having it. I don’t want it.’ Phil said.

‘You have to have the jab, Mr Lloyd. As well as being company policy, it’s the law.’ Greg said.

‘I can’t be forced to have the jab.’

‘That, Mr Lloyd, is where I think you’ll find you are quite mistaken.’ Greg replied.

At that moment, the people in white coats grabbed hold of Phil’s arms, pinning him to the chair. The nurse appeared in front of him, smiling pleasantly. With the henchmen keeping a firm grip, despite Phil struggling to free himself, she slid the needle into his arm and pushed the plunger on the syringe. 

As soon as it was done they released their grip, Phil reeling from what had just happened.

‘Make sure you get the next jab when you are sent for, okay, Mr Lloyd?’ Greg said.

Before Phil could reply the nurse spoke.

‘I don’t think you’ll be giving us any more trouble, will you?’ She said softly.

Phil said nothing, there was something rather sinister in her tone that he didn’t like.

Good afternoon, one of the doctors said, before they all filed out of the room.

The following day, at lunchtime, Sam joined Daisy in the office canteen. As he munched on his sandwiches, he looked around for Phil. There was no sign of him.

‘Where’s Phil? Is he off today?’ Sam asked.

‘Haven’t you heard? He got sick.’ 

‘Really? I hope he’s doing okay.’ Sam said.

Daisy shook her head.

‘He died last night. It’s such a shame. They came to give him the jab at work yesterday, but I suppose it was too late to save him.’

That evening Sam was still trying to process all this. Phil had been vocal about the jab causing rather than preventing illness, and had been kicking up a fuss. And now he had died. That suggested one of two things. Either Phil should have had the jab earlier and had succumbed to the illness, or, he had right in his suspicions. What if Phil had been punished in the harshest way for his refusal to comply?

Sam’s mobile phone pinged. He felt a sense of dread as he read the message. He was to go to the doctors for an emergency booster jab the following morning. Sam shook his head. What if they were out to get him? What if word had got out that Phil had been sharing his theories with Sam? Were they getting rid of everyone associated with Phil?

Sam phoned in sick the next day. He stayed at home, with the doors locked and the curtains barely drawn. Ten minutes after his appointment time he received a message on his mobile phone.

You have missed your appointment. Pls come to the surgery immediately for your booster jab. Missed appointments wastes money and puts lives at risk. 

Sam read the message and like Phil had been, was more determined that the last thing he should do was have the jab they were offering. He was in no doubt he would end up like Phil.

That afternoon the phone calls started. The display showed the calls were from the Health Department. Sam pressed the red button, terminating the call. Moments later the call came again. Eventually, with the calls being practically constant, Sam switched his mobile phone off. 

The next day, feeling spooked, and with his mind racing over everything, and still trying to figure out what was going on, Sam headed to the office for work as usual.

He pulled on to the office car-park to see two cars pulling up ahead of him. When he saw the people getting out of the vehicles he gasped. They were doctors in their white coats, carrying briefcases. Leading the way, with a pleasant, good-morning smile was a nurse. Sam knew they were here for him.

Daisy had said they had gotten to Phil at work. Maybe the firm, maybe all employers, were involved in whatever this was. They had clearly allowed the doctors to corner Phil and give him the jab.

Sam spun the car around and headed back to the main road. As he drove along went over everything. He knew that if he had the jab, his fate would be the same as his colleague’s. The news reports said that hundreds of people each year lost their lives to flu and that was why the jabs were so important. But something of what Phil had said came back to him. What if these deaths were down to the injections? What if this was being done deliberately? What if Phil had been given a lethal dose in retaliation for his resistance? It all seemed to make sense. 

When Sam pulled into his street, he spotted the ambulance parked outside his house. Knocking on his front door was two women, one wore a long white coat and the other a nurse’s uniform. They peered through the windows, checking to see if there was anyone at home.

Sam put the car in reverse, he had to get away. Before he could move, a vehicle screeched to a halt behind him, blocking his path. The large white van had the words Medical Unit in red letters on the bonnet. 

People in white coats spilled from the vehicle in almost a military fashion, hitting the pavement and charging and surrounding his car. The ambulance outside his house moved to block the road ahead. There was nowhere for him to go. Sam knew for certain Phil had been right. Rather than for the benefit and health of society, these jabs were to keep the population poorly and weak, and buying pharmaceuticals. 

A burly guy in a white coat yanked open Sam’s car door. Hands grabbed and dragged him from the car. It felt like he was being arrested. What was the crime? Not having his booster jab? He was gripped tight slammed hard against the side of the car. A nurse appeared beside him with a practised bedside-manner smile and a syringe in her hand.  

He shoved and pushed and pulled and somehow managed to get free from their grip. He had to run, had to get away. He had to make his escape. He pushed them away from him. As he turned to flee, he felt a scratch on his arm. He swore and turned to see the nurse still smiling, the needle sunk deep into his arm, through his shirt sleeve. 

He tried to run but his legs gave way beneath him.

By Chris Platt

From: United Kingdom