After the Cure by Carrie Ryan

"After the Cure" by Carrie Ryan is a post-apocalyptic short story included in After, a collection of short stories of apocalypse and dystopia. But this story was different from all the others in the book. First off, this one was interesting and easy to understand unlike other stories in this book. Secondly, it is told by one of the 'enemies' so to speak, not a person defending themselves against the enemy. Lastly, the story takes place after the world ended, meaning the human race in rebuilding itself.

In this world, a disease that turned humans into vampire-like creatures was the world's downfall. But now there is a cure, and the infected are being brought back to their original human form. Vail, the narrator of the story, was one of the infected and is now one of the cured.

The Recovered, the ones who were cured, faced problems within society. It was expected that once the infected were cured that they would naturally reintergate into society and be pardoned for anything they did while infected: "DON'T BLAME THE VICTIM; BLAME THE DISEASE, is emblazoned across every crunbling billboard" (Ryan, 27). But there were those who thought the Recovered should be segregated from the rest of the human race; some even hunted the Recovered. The Recovered were persecuted not only by society but by themselves: "I was a monster. I hunted and killed other people..." (21).

Throughout the entire story, Vail deals with trying to remember what her life was like before she was infected: "I pace restlessly through the house, trying to piece together how I once spent my time" (36). She also copes with remembering what it was like to be infected: "My breath is ragged, dreams of sharp teeth and succulent skin still clinging to the edges of my vision" (34). However, even though what she did while infected haunts her, she misses it in a way: "When we hunted, we were sleek and beautiful in our unity, calling to each other as we ran... In our own sick way, we all meant something to one another" (36). Despite knowing what Vail did, you can't help but feel for her.

"After the Cure" was very interesting to read; it was very eye opening and unique compared to other apocalypse stories I have read in the past. More specifically, "After the Cure" is the only story from After that I understood and enjoyed thus far. In all honesty, if this wasn't required reading, I would not be continuing on with this book. In order to create a good, high quality apocalyptic story, you need the necassary amount of world building and explaination to the situation civilization is in. "After the Cure" is the only stories that has done that out of the stories I have read. Like I said, this is required reading, so I will continue reading and hope for another story like this one.