“Yeah, Cav unit in the Fulda Gap on the East German border. You?”
“MP out of Ft. Benning. Hooah.”
Recognizing each other’s service with the requisite head nod, the officer continued.
“After what happened in Texas everyone is on edge. There is a suspicion that something similar is about to happen here so they are chasing down every runny nose they can find. This…” he pointed to the Evans’ house, “might be just the beginning of something really bad. I recommend you go inside and stay there.”
“What is the general mood of the police force about this?”
The cop started to lean in but remembered the exposure control plan instructions and backed away again.
“Look, I live just down the street and only because we are neighbors, everyone is rattled. If it gets bad, I wouldn’t expect quite as much law enforcement to be available, if you know what I mean. We all have families, too. I’m not saying the cops will walk, but if it’s true like I heard this morning, the military is staging over at the fairgrounds. They could be running things before long.”
“Really?” Cal said.
“Could be. Our briefing this morning mentioned travel restriction planning and on my way out, I heard half of a phone conversation of some military officer requesting combat and Military Police troops to be redeployed to SouthCom local.”
“Redeployed? From where?” Cal continued to chat. The cop felt like sharing because he also was worried.
“Afghanistan. They were talking about bringing everyone home.”
Those words hit like a hammer. Was this situation so bad that they would put a gone fishin’ sign on the war? Cal thanked the cop (and apparent neighbor).
“It never hurts to have friends in times like these. I live across the street so if you ever need anything, just let me know.”
“It’s always good to know where our brothers in arms are, just in case,” the cop said, with that knowing look in his eyes. I hope we never have to meet again.
Cal took his leave and headed back inside to find Charlotte in the kitchen making the baby another snack.
“Well, what did you learn?” she asked.
Cal took a moment to figure out how he wanted to handle all his new knowledge. He had to walk the line between informing her but not scaring her, and he knew she was still fragile from this morning.
“Things do not sound very good based on what the deputy said. He gave me the indication that the military may take over before too long.”
Charlotte looked at him with her eyebrows raised.
“What does that mean?” She realized that she seemed to be asking that question a lot lately.
“I’m not too sure, but if the military takes over, isn’t that Martial Law?” he asked.
“Technically, there is no specific meaning of Martial Law. It is generally a catch-all for when the military takes over the operation of some level of municipal, state, or federal government. It happened in Hawaii for about two years after Pearl Harbor, I think.”
“Listen here, lawyer lady, I remember when WE went to law school, we talked about this.” said Cal, referring to their long-standing joke that his support of her during law school was clearly equal to actually attending classes with her. “They” also took, and passed, the Florida Bar together.
“I think there was Martial Law a couple of times in the US, some worker union strikes, and as far as I am concerned, Watertown, Massachusetts was under Martial Law after the Boston bombing. They didn’t call it that, but a whole city told to stay home under curfew and travel restrictions while armed troops went door to door searching houses without warrants. But I’m just sayin’.”
Cal heard a big truck rumbling outside and went to take a look. The cops were gone and a fire department pumper truck had just pulled up outside.
“I wonder why the fire truck is there…Oh my God they aren’t going to burn the germs out of the house are they?!” Charlotte said, with mild panic creeping in to her voice.
Cal looked at her and wondered how she came up with this stuff. Before he could make a snarky remark, she answered her own question.
“Hey, it could happen! I saw a movie once where they burned the houses down so the plague wouldn’t get out.”
Cal looked back out the window shaking his head, “Nope, they’re washing the blood off the yard. Stand down, Panicky Peggy.”
“Well… that’s just gross.”
“NUMMIES!” As usual, baby Tempest had to have the last word.
A few minutes later, Cal’s phone binged with a text message from Amber at college.
“They are closing the school for at least a week maybe more so I’m going to come home tonight.”
Never one to use more words than necessary, Amber has mastered the social disconnect that growing up with a cell phone stuck in your face guarantees.
Cal thought that perhaps one more generation and people would completely lose the ability to verbally communicate. All information would probably be transmitted by some form of digital telepathy where people wouldn’t even need to consider greetings or salutations or even someone else’s feelings for that matter. He told Charlotte that Amber would be home tonight. “I was thinking it was probably time for her to be here anyway,” he says. He texts her back and asks what the situation is.
She replied, “Everything is ok, nothing really going on but they want to close out of caution. We will probably be back in a week. It’ll be like a bonus vacation.”
“Do you want me to come get you?” Cal texts. “No,” she typed, “if I leave my car here I won’t have anything to drive when I get home and I’ll be stuck.”
“Should you go get her?” Charlotte asked.
“I don’t mind going to get her but she is only a couple hours away and we would end up driving two cars anyway. Let’s see how today goes. If she wants to drive, I’m ok with that for now.”
“OK, text me when you leave and if anything happens you call me right away. Top off your gas tank and check your oil like I showed you.”
“Oks’” she typed back.
“‘Oks?’ Is that some kind of slang?” Cal asked.
“You are so old sometimes. It means ‘okay,’” Charlotte jabbed him.
“What is wrong with using real words?” he asked.
“For that matter how about just pick up the phone and speak with real words?” he added.
“You know we don’t really pick up the phone anymore, there is no cord on the receiver,” Charlotte said. Cal grumbled like an old man and walked away.
14
Chapter 14
Monday, January 8th (late afternoon)
Ft. Myers, Florida
Amber set her phone down after texting her dad and turned to her sorority sister, Mandy. “I was going to do laundry, but why. I can just take it home and do it there.”
“Uh, yeah. Why would you even think about doing it here? You would think they could put in some better machines with all the money they charge us to be here,” Mandy said, with a sneer of mild disgust. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could just wear a new outfit every day and like, donate the dirty ones to kids in Africa?”
Amber was not quite as melodramatic as Mandy, so the comment seemed over the top–but not by much. Sorority girls had a certain image and Amber decided to play along as much as she could tolerate.
It was an overcast day on the campus on the west coast of Florida. They were about 20 minutes south of Ft. Myers and about the same amount of time to the nearest Gulf Coast beach. The news that classes would be cancelled for the next week was music to most kids’ ears.
January marked the end of the holiday season and carried with it a sense of a long trudge until the next break in the Spring. The parking lot was wasting no time emptying out–just in case the school changed its mind and resumed class in the next day or two.
Amber was dragging slowly today. There was a sorority event last night and she was up late. She had certain set schedules to be maintained
for herself. This just meant that whether she went to bed at 7 PM or 2 AM, she still insisted on the same period of rest. Last night was a 2 AM night so noon was her decided rising time today. Luckily, she did not have an earlier class scheduled or she would have probably either been absent or decidedly late.
Mandy, on the other hand, did not seem to need quite as much rest and was always on the go, but she displayed the attitude that everything was a struggle regardless of how she really felt. She had a rep to maintain and her rep was that anyone who was in her presence was just lucky she was there.
Suffice it to say, reality had not yet made its indelible mark on her by way of actual responsibility. But it was coming.
Mandy’s super-jock boyfriend Jake came dragging his knuckles down the dorm hallway and knocked on the door as if it should have already been open and waiting for him to arrive. “Hey, what gives? The door is locked.” He said through the door as Mandy opened it.
Mandy replied, “Don’t be such a Neander…neanderthing.”
Jake began looking quizzically. “Uh, what? What is a neanderthing?”
“Don’t be such a caveman! You know what I meant,” Mandy finally spit out. She was not the brightest spoon in the drawer but she was shiny.
Amber was about to offer Mandy the word ‘Neandertal’ that she was trying to say but knew it was a waste of time; Mandy had the memory of a hamster.
“Hey, school’s out I’m headed to the house. Let’s go.”
“You live in Daytona don’t you?” Amber asked.
“Yup. Sun, beaches, and beer. Can’t wait to get there.” Jake answered.
“You realize we are closer to the beach here than your house is in Daytona, right?” Mandy said.
“Whatever,” Jake said, dismissively. Mandy’s family also lived on the east coast of Florida in a town named Jupiter. Her dad was a research scientist for something to do with biomedical something or another. It was not worth asking her to explain because evidently she could not remember. To hear her tell it, he wore a lab coat and made people fix cancer or something.
“Hey babe,” Jake said, “how about I take you home on my way. I mean, if you’re worthy of a ride in the ‘stang, of course.”
“Really? You like that sparkly sperm-colored thing more than you like me.” Mandy challenged his car.
“It’s pearl and that paint cost more than your whole car,” Jake defended. “Besides, it got you interested. Keep it up and I’ll move to the next chick waiting in line for a ride, if you know what I mean.”
“Don’t be such a jerk,” Mandy pouted.
“Oh, don’t be so sensitive. You know you are my girl.”
He was terrible at this feelings thing but Mandy had to have the jock for her image and for it she put up with a lot of crap.
Amber held her own in the looks department, but was a little more centered than Mandy. She was the first kid in the family to make it to college and it did not take long to realize that life on your own was harder than she may have expected. However, sorority life seemed to be treating her just fine, and she was learning how to “adult” one step at a time. Just figuring out how meet her self-imposed feeding schedule was a bit of a shock. If she missed lunch and finally ate at 6 PM, dinner still had to be on the schedule. She could somehow find food regardless of time and place. It seemed to be her superpower.
“Hey, I have an idea. Amber, why not ride with us? We can all go together and Jake will drop you off at your house on the way through. It will be like a party. We can cross the state right out of Ft. Myers. I think there is some road that goes that way.” Mandy was trying to think of the road but gave up. She wasn’t driving so it didn’t matter. The route she was thinking about was State Road 80 and it went east from Ft. Myers toward Lake Okeechobee and curved slightly to the south end of the big lake. It came out on the east side in the vast fields of sugar cane as it entered western Palm Beach County where her family lived.
“Whoa, hold on a minute, girly. I invited you for the ride, not the whole campus,” Jake obnoxiously said.
“It’s ok, really. I was just going to drive home myself so I could have a car to use when I get there…”
“Jake!” Mandy seethed before Amber could finish her sentence. “I swear you can be a real jerk.”
“Whatever, I’m going to the bathroom. Then I am going to pack,” he said. “Hey why is the door locked?” he asked, trying the private bathroom door in the girls’ suite.
“Probably because someone is in there, you dope,” Mandy said.
Jake sneered at the inconvenience and strutted down the hall to the common area restroom.
The dorm room was a suite where there were two separate bedrooms that shared a common sink and vanity, with a toilet room on the left and a shower room on the right. In all, four girls shared the space. The building also had a common unisex restroom at the end of the hall. This is where Jake was headed.
As Jake entered the bathroom he could not help but to look in the mirror and admire how the compression shirt he was wearing looked on his large arms. He almost admired too long because as he was walking past the long mirror his left foot slipped a little and he almost lost his balance. He did a quick step like his coach taught him and managed to catch himself. Looking down at the floor he saw a flowing stream of watery green and red fluid with small chunks moving toward the floor drain.
“What the hell?” He looked toward the stall and saw someone on the floor, feet visible behind the closed door. “Hey dick,” he said, “if you can’t hold your liquor then don’t drink, asshole. I almost fell in your puke!” There was no movement. Jake worked to peer through the door crack without stepping in the fluid again. Still nothing. He pushed the door with one finger slightly; it was unlocked. The door eased open and inside was some kid laying on the floor with what looked like dislocated jaw, bulging eyes, and a stream of bloody vomit down his retro rock band t-shirt. The toilet appeared to show a blood stain in addition to the vomit. The dead kid must have collapsed and hit his face on the toilet bowl, Jake surmised. He had seen plenty of passed out drunks before but this kid looked like he was ill. A thought was beginning to form in Jake’s mind. Holy crap, he’s dead from that flu the school had been talking about. The thought panicked Jake. As cocky as he was, the thought of being near germs bothered him irrationally.
He backed up as fast as if he were being attacked by an evil spirit. He forgot about the vomit and slid, almost falling again. At the door to the bathroom he kicked off his fancy Nike shoes and ran down the hallway to the girls room. Reaching the door, he found it locked again. All the doors automatically locked in the dorm when they closed.
Banging on the door he said loudly, “Open the damn door.” A couple other doors in the area opened up with girls peeking out at the commotion. Finally, after a whole ten seconds Mandy opened the door.
“Seriously, why are you always yelling. It is embarrassing! Where are your shoes?” Mandy seethed at him.
“Get your bag, we’re leaving right now.”
“Uh, no. We are not ready yet.” Mandy replied.
Jake pushed in and grabbed her bag, giving it to her and saying, “Now you’re ready to go.”
“Hold on, what happened?” Mandy asked.
“I just saw a dead kid in the bathroom. He has that flu because I almost fell in his bloody puke.”
“Maybe he was just passed out drunk from the party last night,” Amber said.
“Nope, dead. D-E-D dead.” Jake was not much of a scholar either. Football was his only hope for a real future. They were all standing in the part of the room with the shared sinks.
“Are you serious right now?” Mandy asked, with all the drama. Amber sensed things were getting real and went to her bunk to pack a duffel bag with her clothes. She grabbed the emergency pouch her dad had given her, which included a neck knife made of composite material that could pass undetected through a metal detector. She put the knife on like a necklace, tucked the sheath into her blouse, and stuffed
the other emergency pouch into her larger bag.
Mandy looked at Amber with big eyes, “Girrrl, what are you all about right now with a knife on a necklace?”
For the first time Amber entertained the thought that maybe her dad hadn’t been overreacting by giving her some emergency supplies to hide in her room.
“You know, dad stuff,” she said, with a slight air of nonchalance.
Mandy squinted her eyes and said, “OK country… then let’s go.” She grabbed her bag and pushed Jake out of the way as she walked to the door. At that moment they heard a heaving vomit from the bathroom in the suite.
“OK, I’ll ride with you guys. My gas tank is empty anyway,” Amber said, grabbing a large bottle of hand sanitizer off the sink on the way out.
In the parking lot, Amber stopped at her car to get her phone charger and a couple of other little things, then climbed into the Mustang with Jake and Mandy. They headed to I-75, turned north, and kept driving until they found State Road 80 toward Palm Beach.
Traffic was heavy on the Interstate but once they turned east it seemed to lighten up on the two lane road. It was getting later in the evening and the sun had slipped over the horizon behind them a couple hours ago, as is typical for January. Amber had a peanut bladder and a reputation for having to pee at the most inopportune times.
If not for Google Maps, the young travelers would have no idea where they were. The Mustang needed to fill up as much as Amber needed to empty her bladder. Around 7 PM the friends found their way into South Bay on the southern end of Lake Okeechobee. There was next to nothing in the small sugar cane town aside from an old gas station with a very authentic taco counter.
Jake wheeled the car into the pump and Amber looked hesitantly at the convenience store, trying to do the math if she could wait another 45 minutes to use the bathroom at her parents’ house.
“Wow that is some sketchy bidness right there,” Mandy said, peering at the gas station store. She was also uncomfortable. Amber knew she could not wait and convinced Mandy to buddy up and watch the door while she went and they could take turns.
The Unraveling: Book 1 of the Bound to Survive Series Page 14
