His father in one, his daughter, Hannah, in the other.
Respirator equipment hissed and heart monitors beeped, neither Hannah nor Bert were awake.
Matt was beside himself and rightfully so.
Stew was well aware the pain Matt was feeling, it wasn’t that long ago that he and Matt were in the same hospital and Stew faced the loss of his own child.
It was incredibly hard and painful for Stew looking at his own granddaughter lying in that bed. Stew wanted to sit next to her as well, but he knew his focus had to be elsewhere.
He cleared his throat as his announcement into the room.
Matt looked up.
“I’m heading back to the house,” Stew told him. “Mrs. Carr said Emma is fine and she is in her room. I told her to stay there.”
Matt nodded sadly.
“Matt, Emma isn’t sick.”
“I know,” Matt replied.
“If she was going to get it from the same source as Hannah, your mom and dad, she would have had it by now.”
“Yes, Stew, I know. What is your point?”
Stew refrained from getting angry and stayed calm. “She can’t stay in this town. She can’t be around people. They are urging people to self-quarantine for a month. If by tomorrow night she still isn’t sick, if you’re not sick, you need to take her to the lake house.”
“What?” Matt’s voice cracked. “Take her from her home?”
“Yes, you take her somewhere safe. The lake house is secluded enough, there is plenty of food and water.”
“I can’t do that and I can’t …” Matt glanced at Stew. “I can’t talk about this now. Not right now.”
“I understand. I’ll head back to the house now.” Stew turned.
“Please text or call me and let me know how she is doing. Tell her I love her.”
“I’ll do that. Tell … tell Hannah the same for me.” Stew continued, than turning he walked out of the room and down the hall.
It seemed like a totally different atmosphere at the hospital than when he arrived only a couple hours later.
He was frantic and scared about Hannah. He wished and prayed it had been her diabetes, but when he saw the rash and large bumps forming on her neck, he knew it was something else.
Instead of chaotic, there was a sense of calm at the hospital. No noise, very few workers on the floor, it seemed like it was after visiting hours, when clearly it wasn’t.
Stew assumed workers had just left.
He had parked right outside the ER entrance next to the police car and that was where he headed. Not a person was on the elevator with him, before Stew stepped through the doors leading to the emergency room waiting area he paused. He heard it.
The return of noise. An orchestra of voices carried to him. Some shouting, some crying and moaning.
For the question of ‘where have all the people gone’, the answer was a lot were on the other side of that door in the waiting room.
Before stepping through, Stew backtracked. He knew he had seen one. Boxes of gloves and masks were randomly around the hospital, ironically by little signs that read, ‘be considerate, if you have the flu, take a mask’.
Stew located one of the boxes near the elevator, he placed it over his nose and mouth. He didn’t want to reach into his sterile package for his own mask. He needed that free from any germs.
The second he stepped through he saw the reason for the commotion. There were people everywhere in the waiting room. Police and ambulance workers escorted them in. Hospital workers rushed about trying to take care of people. More than likely the same workers Stew had assumed walked off from their shifts.
There was no way, knowing what he heard on the news, that the sixty or so people in the waiting area had the flu. He knew it didn’t move that fast. None of them looked sick like Bart or Hannah had. In fact, they looked injured.
Had violence already broken out?
It seemed inconceivable to Stew that humanity would panic and get violent that fast. It fed the fuel in him wanting to get out of town.
Yes, Franklin was small. But the neighboring communities added to the overall numbers.
The town should have shined in the wake of a potential disaster. The population should have come together like a family. Stew hoped that would have been the case.
Not wanting to stick around to find out what was happening, Stew rushed from the hospital and to his car.
He placed on the radio during the short drive back to Matt’s. Trying to hear if something else was going on.
The news was urging people to stay in their homes, yet reports were coming in about mad dashes to the stores and major looting, and despite being told to stay indoors, people were trying to flee from major cities.
Stew was happy at that moment they weren’t close to a major highway.
He drove at a good speed, running into very little traffic on the way back to Matt’s. He came into town from the east and avoided the main street. Before going into the house he placed on his protective clothing.
Mrs. Carr, the seventy year old neighbor woman who was recovering from hip surgery and hadn’t left her house in close to a week was there waiting. Stew knew she was safe.
“Should I worry?” she asked Stew when she saw him. “I mean. What should I do? Should I get a get up like that?”
“No. You haven’t been exposed to anyone so keep it that way. Go home, stay inside for as long as you can. And thank you so much for keeping an eye on Emma.”
“How’s Hannah?” she asked.
Stew shook his head. “Not well. She has that flu. They say those with low immunities and health conditions are most vulnerable.”
“Oh that poor thing. And Matt ... poor Matt.”
“Yes.” Stew nodded and headed toward the stairs. “Thank you again.” He aimed his voice up to the second floor as Mrs. Carr walked out. “Emma, I’m back. How are you feeling, honey?”
“Good,” she replied. “Can I leave my room now?”
“Not just yet. Give Pap a few more minutes to set things up.”
After getting a cheerful, ‘okay!’ the first thing Stew did was seek out the disinfectant spray. Then using as intended, he sprayed every single surface she would touch. The door knobs, toilet, everything on that second floor. He then went down stairs and gathered food. Not a ton, he’d only need a day’s worth. Juice boxes, cereal, those premade peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, he even sprayed the surface of those. He took the items upstairs and left them in the hall way.
Then he made sure Hannah’s room was locked.
After he finished all that, he secured the baby gate at the top of the steps and called out for Emma.
She opened her door and giggled. “Pap, is that you?”
“It is.”
“Why are you dressed like a banana?”
“Just in case I have the flu bug, I don’t want you to get it.”
She approached the gate, Stew backed up and down a few stairs. “It’s locked.”
“It’s has to be this way,” Stew explained. “For just one more sleep, I need you to stay up here. You can run around up here, play with your toys, eat the food. But you cannot come downstairs. Not yet.”
“One sleep?”
“Yep, only one sleep.”
“What if I get scared?”
“I’m right here. If I’m not, you just call for me. Okay?”
Emma nodded, placing her finger in her mouth, her hair was wrapped around her other fingers.
“Don’t worry. It won’t be long.”
“Then I can come down?”
“Yes.”
“Will you be a banana?”
“Hopefully not.”
“Will you read me a story?”
“Yes. You know I will.”
“Okay, I’ll go play.” Emma darted off.
Stew walked down a few more steps and exhaled, taking a break and a moment. Emma was oblivious and didn’t understand anything that was happening. She was young.
Emma was a good child, she would listen and stay upstairs.
He implemented every precaution to protect her he could think of, it was the only thing Stew could really do. That and wait.
◆◆◆
Luke sat on the floor of the hallway, his back against the wall next to Molly’s door. He couldn’t go anywhere. Mrs. Stone, listening to the news, wouldn’t let him in and Molly had asked if he’d keep an ear out for her children.
So he waited for her.
What he didn’t expect was to see Molly, staggering down the hallway, her shirt saturated in blood.
“Molly?” he called out in shock, standing and hurrying to her. “What happened? You’re bleeding.”
“I was shot.”
“What?” Luke blasted in shock. “We need to get you to a hospital.”
“Nash … Nash bandaged it. Said Doctor Christoph would come to check it out.”
“How did this happen?”
“There were riots. I was loading my car and someone shot Chris then me.”
“You’re lucky to be alive.”
Molly reached for her door.
“Let me help you,” he said.
“No. You can’t come in. No. What were you doing in the hall?”
“Listening for your kids like you asked, waiting on you.”
“Thank you.”
“Molly,” He said. “You look bad. You’re still bleeding. Really … let’s not wait for the doctor. You need …”
“I need to just go in with my children.” She paused in opening the door. “There is something you can do for me.”
“Sure.”
“They didn’t get everything. In the back seat of my car is a box of food. Can you go get it? I’m parked behind the building.”
“Yes. I’ll do that. I’ll be right back.” He raced down the hall without even asking what kind of car she drove. Taking the back stairs, he didn’t have to wonder too long. The trail of blood droplets was a guiding map. It led him down to the last floor, out the back door and to the blue car.
The drivers’ door was partially open and blood was smeared on it. He reached into the back and grabbed the box.
By the time he returned, Molly was already in the apartment.
He set down the box and knocked. “Molly, I’m just leaving this by the door. Okay?”
“Okay,” she answered from the other side.
“I’m gonna check on you, Molly. I’ll check on you later.”
There was no answer.
“Molly.”
“That’s fine.”
Luke stared at the door for a second and turned. When he did he saw Doctor Christoph walking up the hall. He had the works, gloves, goggles, and facemask.
“Lucas,” he spoke his name.
“She’s bad Dr. Christoph. She’s bleeding really bad.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here.”
“Thank you for coming for her.” Luke started to walk.
“Lucas, I heard what you said about checking back on her.”
“I meant it.”
“Good. Good,” the doctor nodded. “I know … I know you had a pretty harrowing day with Marge Hader and all. I know, but right now I could use some help. Since the fights broke out at the store I’ve been running. I need some hands to help me out. To check on people. You don’t have to …”
“No, I’ll help. I will. Mrs. Stone won’t let me do my Saturday thing with her. So anything you need. I’d like to help.”
“Thank you. My son is at my office taking calls. Just head down there and tell him I said to send you out checking.”
“I don’t know anything medical,” Luke said.
“You don’t need to. People are staying in. Just knock on the door, check on them and see if they need anything.”
“I can do that.”
“Thank you.”
Luke actually felt good about being asked to do something positive. It had been awhile since anyone looked at him as more than a nuisance or a killer. Luke still hadn’t looked up about the quarantine or virus, so he didn’t know much. If there really was a flu bug going around, then doc would need a healthy set of hands.
He walked down the hall, slowing down when he heard the doctor calling out at Molly’s door.
“You have to let me in,” Doctor Christoph said. “I need to fix your arm.”
“I can’t expose my children to the flu.”
“Put them in the back room. I have not been near a single flu patient. I’m helping the injured from the riots at the store today. I need to help you, Molly. You can’t protect your children if you are too weak or get an infection.”
Just as Luke was about to turn around and help the doctor convince Molly, the door opened. He looked over his shoulder to see Doctor Christoph slipping into the apartment.
Knowing Molly was getting help, Luke continued on his way leaving the apartment building.
◆◆◆
No one came in to silence the long steady beep of the vital signs monitor attached to Matt’s father. It went from steady slow to irregular slow, until finally it flat lined.
It rang like that for a while.
Matt tried to block it out.
But he couldn’t
With an aching groan, he finally pulled the plug.
His father was gone.
He closed his eyes tightly and pulled the sheet over his father, feeling as if he should have given more of a reaction, but Matt couldn’t. He was far too consumed with his sick daughter who was barely holding on.
He took off his gloves so he could hold her hand and feel her skin. It was cool to touch, and it made him physically sick.
In the course of one day he lost his mother and father, his daughter, shy of a miracle, wasn’t far behind.
“Please don’t go yet, please don’t go yet. Not yet,” he pleaded with her.
None of it made any sense. They were happy, fine, alive and full of life when they returned home from vacation. Now ... now this.
A part of Matt felt guilty because he hadn’t even called home to check on Emma.
Would Stew even tell him if something was wrong?
Every time Matt heard a footstep in the hallway, he expected Stew to walk into the room and say, “I brought in Emma.”
If that was the case, then Matt knew what his course of action would be.
If something happened to Emma, all reasons for living would be gone.
He wouldn’t need the flu to take his life, he’d find another way.
“Please hold on,” Matt whispered. “I’m not ready to lose you. Not yet. Daddy loves you so much. So much.” He kissed her hand, his eyes going to her chest. He couldn’t see it moving. Yet, the monitor said she was still breathing.
He still had time with her.
Not for long.
Her machines, like his father’s released the steady, high pitch sound of death.
He whimpered out a, “No. No. No.” Sadness exuding from every word. Where were the nurses? Why weren’t they rushing in to resuscitate? She was a child for God sake.
No one came in.
An ache seeped through his being into his heart, and with another whimper he grabbed ahold of his daughter, lifted her from the bed and cradled her lifeless body in his arms.
HIs child, his oldest child was gone.
Matt held her in the chair like that for a long while. He lost all sense of time, there would never be enough time to hold her. Never.
He held her and prayed for a miracle.
It never happened.
It wasn’t until her body began to stiffen and became cold to the touch, Matt than realized it was just before sun up.
He placed her back into the bed, but on her side, the way she liked to sleep. He covered her just to her shoulder.
She looked peaceful as if she were only sleeping. Matt stood up straight to walk from the room, but his legs wouldn’t move.
Every step he took he wanted to break down, to cry uncontrollably, he fou
ght so hard to keep it together.
Eventually, he would have to leave the hospital and go to Emma, but first he had things to take care of.
He walked out of the room, down the hall and to the nurses’ station. No one was there.
Matt looked room by room until a voice called out to him.
“Can I help you?”
Matt stopped and turned around. A female nurse in scrubs along with some protective gear walked up the hallway.
“Yes.” Matt approached her. “My father and daughter are in room 303. They ...” Matt choked up and cleared his throat. “They both passed away.”
“Oh. Oh I am so sorry. I really am.”
Matt could tell by her eyes that she was sincere.
“My mother, they told me she was already at the morgue.”
“Oh my God. You poor man.” She grabbed hold of his hand. “I am beyond words.”
“Thank you. I just want to confirm where she is so I can make arrangements.”
She tilted her head. “Arrangements?’
“You know, to have the funeral home pick them up. I don’t think they’ll be an autopsy since they were diagnosed with this flu.”
The nurse nodded. “I understand. I am going to guess no one told you.”
“Told me what?”
“Funeral homes will not be picking up the deceased until after the crisis. It’s a hazard for them to come in contact with the bodies.”
“What are they doing with those who die?”
“As far as I know they are taking them downstairs. We have created a makeshift morgue. We are going to try the best we can to make them easy to find when this is all done.”
“You’re not gonna burn them in some pile are you?”
“No Sir.”
“What about if I take her? Take her and my parents in my truck.”
“And do what?”
“Bury them at home.”
“Sir …”
“Matt,” he corrected.
“Matt, that’s not necessary, you’ll be able to give them a proper burial in a few days. Right now your family and six others are all the casualties we have of the flu. We have only about nine confirmed infected. We’re hopeful that our little town escaped the brunt of it. In a couple days you’ll be able to come for your family and make arrangements.”
“Wow, alright,” Matt exhaled. “Thank you. The news and the way everyone is talking ...”
Plague Book: One Final Gasp Page 12
