A review by bellatora
The Lives We Lost by Megan Crewe
2.0
Everyone was so stupid I wanted to shake sense into them. THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T LEAVE THE FATE OF THE WORLD IN THE HANDS OF TEENAGERS.
Kaelyn is reunited with Leo, but she is dating Gavin and Leo is dating Tess. It’s a hormonal mess. Kaelyn finds out that her dead dad had created a vaccine that has never been properly tested. BUT IT MUST WORK. And Kaelyn inexplicably decides it is her life mission to get it to someone who can replicate it. And she will risk her life and the lives of her friends to get this vaccine out. Even though, let us repeat, she has no reason to believe that this vaccine will work. Her dad’s first vaccine didn’t work, and this is something that one man working alone, created within months of the Friendly Flu’s appearance. Which is, like, record time. But no, Kaelyn MUST get this vaccine out.
Then a nearby army base decides its angry at the island for being ground zero for the flu and bombs the fuck out of it. I thought Canadians were supposed to be nice?!?! Luckily, an army guy with a conscience appears to warn Kaelyn and her friends (but only has time to warn them). They all make it out. An obvious excuse to get all the main characters off the island and on the Great Canadian Road Trip.
They take the guy’s army van and head out. And then it runs low on gas. So they get out at a random town to try to siphon gas out of abandoned cars. And they ALL head out to find gas, leaving the car unattended. Their theory is that because the car locks and is impossible to get into (this is a HUMVEE not a fucking TANK. THE WINDOWS ARE NOT BULLETPROOF. Also I was told by a guy who used to ship army vehicles that army vechicles don’t lock), they don’t have to leave a guard. Because they are fucking idiots and don’t think about the fact that someone might sabotage it, or surround it and kill you when you try to get back. Why no one left the useless fighters (sadly, all the girls here, as none of them can or will use a gun) in the car to stay safe, and one person with a gun to fight off bad guys while two others went out to get the gas is anyone’s guess.
So the entire group goes into town and runs into two men. And Meredith immediately blurts out that they have a vaccine. *Facepalm*. I get it, she’s a child. BUT THIS IS WHY SHE SHOULD BE LEFT IN THE VAN. Also to be told sternly to not tell ANYONE what they have. A possible vaccine in a land ravaged by disease? That’s like telling a starving population that you have food, but you won’t share.
So of course the two men go off to sabotage the truck to trap the group in the town. And the group is shocked, just SHOCKED that this could’ve happened. Then the group is saved in a series of dues ex machinas – they stay the night with a group of friendly hippies, they find a house in the middle of a blizzard (and get a car from there), etc., etc.
Their other biggest stupid move is when they find a mobile home or RV or something with a radio and they get in contact with someone and TELL THEM THEIR LOCATION. Even though they know there’s a group – that’s armed and has cars – coming after them for the vaccine. And they just decide to trust the person on the other end of the radio because…the hippy commune worked out for them, so everyone should be given a chance. Luckily, coincidences continue and Kaelyn’s brother Drew comes on to warn them to get the fuck out and not sit there like prey. So they do and survive. But dude, if you don’t know if a group is friendly or not, you don’t sit and WAIT for them passively. You hide and get on higher ground and be prepared to KILL THEM if they prove to be false. But, no, Kaelyn is horrified, just HORRIFIED when they have to end up killing the bad guys. Get used to it, Kae. It’s a brave new world here.
Anyway, at the end they find out that Canada holds no more free scientists or doctors (the Evil Organization has co-opted all of them), so they have to go to America (the CDC).
Also, Gavin is sick. And since the Friendly Flu apparently has a 100% fatality rate (really?!?!) then he is totally dead. Seriously, though, what the hell is up with that fatality rate? Everyone who isn’t naturally immune or didn’t catch an earlier version apparently dies. Look, the BUBONIC PLAGUE only had a 60% fatality rate. The deadliest virus, Zaire Ebola Virus, has a 90% fatality rate. The only virus with nearly a 100% fatality rate is rabies, and that does not transmit through the air like the Friendly Flu. I think HIV eventually has a 100% fatality rate. But rabies and HIV kill you very slowly and is only transmitted through direct fluids contact. It’s not like a regular flu – or the friendly flu – that you can get through simple contact and kills you within days/weeks. And, also, if the Friendly Flu is really that deadly then everyone is fucked and maybe should just stop contacting other people. Because apparently if you get in contact with someone with the Friendly Flu then YOU ARE DEAD. The book ends with another road trip, this time to the CDC, with the bad guys hot on their trail and Gavin and possibly soldier dude infected. Aaaand it looks like Kaelyn’s vaccine really does work! So at least that's good news?
Kaelyn is reunited with Leo, but she is dating Gavin and Leo is dating Tess. It’s a hormonal mess. Kaelyn finds out that her dead dad had created a vaccine that has never been properly tested. BUT IT MUST WORK. And Kaelyn inexplicably decides it is her life mission to get it to someone who can replicate it. And she will risk her life and the lives of her friends to get this vaccine out. Even though, let us repeat, she has no reason to believe that this vaccine will work. Her dad’s first vaccine didn’t work, and this is something that one man working alone, created within months of the Friendly Flu’s appearance. Which is, like, record time. But no, Kaelyn MUST get this vaccine out.
Then a nearby army base decides its angry at the island for being ground zero for the flu and bombs the fuck out of it. I thought Canadians were supposed to be nice?!?! Luckily, an army guy with a conscience appears to warn Kaelyn and her friends (but only has time to warn them). They all make it out. An obvious excuse to get all the main characters off the island and on the Great Canadian Road Trip.
They take the guy’s army van and head out. And then it runs low on gas. So they get out at a random town to try to siphon gas out of abandoned cars. And they ALL head out to find gas, leaving the car unattended. Their theory is that because the car locks and is impossible to get into (this is a HUMVEE not a fucking TANK. THE WINDOWS ARE NOT BULLETPROOF. Also I was told by a guy who used to ship army vehicles that army vechicles don’t lock), they don’t have to leave a guard. Because they are fucking idiots and don’t think about the fact that someone might sabotage it, or surround it and kill you when you try to get back. Why no one left the useless fighters (sadly, all the girls here, as none of them can or will use a gun) in the car to stay safe, and one person with a gun to fight off bad guys while two others went out to get the gas is anyone’s guess.
So the entire group goes into town and runs into two men. And Meredith immediately blurts out that they have a vaccine. *Facepalm*. I get it, she’s a child. BUT THIS IS WHY SHE SHOULD BE LEFT IN THE VAN. Also to be told sternly to not tell ANYONE what they have. A possible vaccine in a land ravaged by disease? That’s like telling a starving population that you have food, but you won’t share.
So of course the two men go off to sabotage the truck to trap the group in the town. And the group is shocked, just SHOCKED that this could’ve happened. Then the group is saved in a series of dues ex machinas – they stay the night with a group of friendly hippies, they find a house in the middle of a blizzard (and get a car from there), etc., etc.
Their other biggest stupid move is when they find a mobile home or RV or something with a radio and they get in contact with someone and TELL THEM THEIR LOCATION. Even though they know there’s a group – that’s armed and has cars – coming after them for the vaccine. And they just decide to trust the person on the other end of the radio because…the hippy commune worked out for them, so everyone should be given a chance. Luckily, coincidences continue and Kaelyn’s brother Drew comes on to warn them to get the fuck out and not sit there like prey. So they do and survive. But dude, if you don’t know if a group is friendly or not, you don’t sit and WAIT for them passively. You hide and get on higher ground and be prepared to KILL THEM if they prove to be false. But, no, Kaelyn is horrified, just HORRIFIED when they have to end up killing the bad guys. Get used to it, Kae. It’s a brave new world here.
Anyway, at the end they find out that Canada holds no more free scientists or doctors (the Evil Organization has co-opted all of them), so they have to go to America (the CDC).
Also, Gavin is sick. And since the Friendly Flu apparently has a 100% fatality rate (really?!?!) then he is totally dead. Seriously, though, what the hell is up with that fatality rate? Everyone who isn’t naturally immune or didn’t catch an earlier version apparently dies. Look, the BUBONIC PLAGUE only had a 60% fatality rate. The deadliest virus, Zaire Ebola Virus, has a 90% fatality rate. The only virus with nearly a 100% fatality rate is rabies, and that does not transmit through the air like the Friendly Flu. I think HIV eventually has a 100% fatality rate. But rabies and HIV kill you very slowly and is only transmitted through direct fluids contact. It’s not like a regular flu – or the friendly flu – that you can get through simple contact and kills you within days/weeks. And, also, if the Friendly Flu is really that deadly then everyone is fucked and maybe should just stop contacting other people. Because apparently if you get in contact with someone with the Friendly Flu then YOU ARE DEAD. The book ends with another road trip, this time to the CDC, with the bad guys hot on their trail and Gavin and possibly soldier dude infected. Aaaand it looks like Kaelyn’s vaccine really does work! So at least that's good news?