“I’m very happy for you, Arthur,” Jason told him. “Wendy looks like she recovered well but I hate to tell you, Joseph still has some time before he’ll be back to himself. The last I heard, four different strands were going around and I forget the nomenclature, but we just referred to it as Alpha, the original strand. It was the worst. We could test, but even the Gamma strand was deadly. However, if you recovered, your lungs weren’t trashed so hard. I’ve never seen a positive test for Delta, it was said to be mild at most and had the highest survival rate.”
Stepping back from his plate, “I didn’t even know about the four strands,” Arthur said.
“Unless you got Delta, you had a battle ahead because it didn’t cook so long inside and the body responded better,” Jason told him. “I’m willing to bet, Joseph had Alpha. Wendy probably had Gamma, but I saw up to fifteen percent that had Beta survive. Less than five percent survived Alpha without medical care.”
Seeing Arthur was stunned to hear the numbers from someone in the trenches, “Samantha and I both caught the Gamma strand,” Jason said, and swore Arthur nearly fainted. “Because I was in the hospital is how I ended up with eleven newborns.”
Mentally numb, all Arthur could do was nod.
“When the outbreak hit Birmingham, the hospital went from nearly empty to crisis mode in ten hours. I was in the ER for my shift at eight a.m. I watched the flood hit. People just started flowing in and before ten o’clock that morning, there weren’t any ventilators in the city of Birmingham that weren’t attached to a patient. By that night, so many people were dying so fast, and we were just unhooking their vent and putting them on another patient because there weren’t even enough ambu bags to bag everyone that needed to be intubated. It was at midnight when Duke’s mother came in,” Jason relived his nightmare and paused.
“She was in labor in full-blown end-stage Rudolph when she stumbled into the ER. I rolled a dead body off a stretcher and put her on it and went to work, but it was a lost cause. After she coded, I did a crash C-section. Something I’ve never done alone, and I wasn’t thinking long term then,” Jason said like he was ashamed. “All I could think about was getting that baby out and I did. Duke came out strong and healthy. Here I am with a newborn I just cut out of a dead woman, and an orderly came in and moved his dead mother off the stretcher so another person could be placed on it.”
Hearing the tales of hell on earth made Arthur shiver as Jason continued. “I tried to call someone to get the kid in the hospital, but every floor was full, even the nursery. There wasn’t even a bed to put in a hallway, and none of the pediatricians could break away to come down and check Duke over. His mother had no ID on her. Social Services wouldn’t answer and I couldn’t get anyone in administration. So, I finally called Samantha. I didn’t want her out, but I couldn’t work while carrying around a newborn. Before you say anything, every nurse, doctor, aide, hell, even every housekeeper was watching over at least one kid because the parents were dead. It wasn’t until later when I realized more kids than adults were surviving or just not getting sick.
Shaking his head, “I would never judge in those circumstances, Jason,” Arthur mumbled in shock as his mind provided images to Jason’s tale.
Looking off, “I loaded up a cart with formula and diapers and gave Duke to Samantha,” Jason paused as a grin split his face. “Samantha told me if I wouldn’t have called her to help with the baby, she would’ve thrown all my guns in the river, and that made me feel better.”
“So after Samantha left, I headed back into hell and I had been awake for sixty hours by then. Those that came in, we had nothing to give them. We had run out of IV fluids during the night, and the oxygen plant was overloaded and shut down so we couldn’t even give patients oxygen, but they kept coming. Bodies were stacked along the walls and I helped stack some outside the ER just because we had no room. Even now I don’t know how, I probably just collapsed from exhaustion, but I woke up on the damn floor next to a corpse. I looked at my watch and saw I had been out for over ten hours. When I stood up and looked around the ER, I only saw a few living bodies, but they were all in the last stages of Rudolph. I saw nurses and doctors I had worked with the last four months dead at their desks or laying on the floor coughing their lungs up. Everyone else was gone.”
Taking a deep breath before continuing, “From the time I woke up next to a corpse to my shift starting when hell opened up was barely over a hundred and twenty-seven hours, five point four days, for most of Birmingham, Alabama to die,” Jason said in a dead voice.
Turning to look at Arthur, “I was heading out to leave when I stopped, thinking about Duke and if there were other newborns,” Jason said shamefully. “Looking back, yes, I know it was wrong. I could’ve saved thirty: seven-year-old kids with the effort we put out on those newborns, but all I could see was Duke looking up at me. So I headed upstairs and thankfully, I took the stairs because the power went out on the way up,” Jason said, and Arthur stumbled back and grabbed a chair from under the bar and sat down before he collapsed in shock.
“When I stepped out on the sixth floor, I heard them crying,” Jason said, staring at Arthur but was looking down that hallway once again. “Bodies were stacked along the wall, but I never even glanced at them as I headed into the nursery. Six babies had already died from dehydration, but there were ten others screaming. So I grabbed some bottles and started feeding and changing. When I was done, I grabbed two baskets used for laundry and arranged five babies in each one and carried the baskets downstairs. Getting back to the ER, I found a cart and put the babies on the top and loaded the bottom shelves with formula and diapers. It was when I was rolling out that I thought about the pediatric floor and looked down at the ten babies I had. It was then I knew I couldn’t help anymore, and was probably going to lose most of these. I wasn’t under any illusion. I had already tested myself and knew I had the Gamma strain.”
Jason’s eyes focused on Arthur. “I had hope I could survive it because I’d seen way more survive Gamma than the other two I’d seen. But Rudolph is cruel. A person went from completely fine to dead in hours from a cytokine storm racking the body. It cooked so long and just overloaded the body so fast,” Jason told him. “But I had hope, and I had Samantha at home.”
Grinning, “Yeah, she was my secret weapon,” Jason said. “Well, I pushed the cart out to my car and found a firetruck had turned my car into a thimble. Since I only lived a few miles away, I just walked it and got to see what hell was outside the hospital. Bodies were everywhere, and that’s when I saw my first crazy. She was just beating her head against the wall and never stopped. Thankfully, this was early enough there was some violence, but it wasn’t a total war zone like a few weeks later. I finally made it home and immediately apologized to Samantha about bringing the babies, but she wouldn’t listen. We started what never seemed to stop, feeding and changing eleven newborns. Knowing what I’d brought wouldn’t last, I took her car to the store and found two people looting it. I had my gun now. So I didn’t give a shit. But when they saw I was loading up baby supplies, they both stopped looting the booze and cigarettes and helped me load all I could fit in the car. They both even waved bye when I left,” Jason chuckled.
“When I got back the feeding and changing was still going, but Samantha had fallen behind and I’m telling you, that sucked huge slime-covered cocks. When we got behind, we would no sooner finish than have to start over again. We were taking at least two babies to the bathroom with us as we fed them, just so we could take a dump. At that time some of the internet was still up, but we couldn’t find any help. Now, we were never really preppers, but we believed in being prepared. Our van was parked at a storage unit twenty miles away because there wasn’t anywhere to park it at the apartments. Neither of us wanted to go back to Texas but from all the gun fire we could hear outside, we knew we wanted out of Birmingham. We decided to just head west and find a place to set up and figure something out,” Jason stopped suddenly, looking off.
“I told Samantha I couldn’t lay flat for any reason,” Jason said, then busted out laughing. “My goddamn wife duct taped me sitting up in bed to the wall!” he howled out, and even Arthur laughed in shocked horror. At the table, Shawn and Kirk were both just crying silently listening, but had seen the hell Jason was talking about.
“I called Samantha every name in the book, pleading with her to just let me lay down for a minute. But she kept me taped to the wall and just changed pads under me as I tried to invert my lungs out of my mouth. Now, this whole time she’s caring for my sick ass, she’s continuing along with eleven infants. And continue she did for three solid days. The only reason she let me un-tape myself from the wall was because I wasn’t coughing up blood anymore and was talking coherently.”
Rolling his eyes up, “Oh, I still remember that first glass of water, and will never taste anything that good again,” Jason moaned.
“That evening with my recovering ass sitting with Samantha, she was still feeding and changing. The fact she never said anything told me she was nearing collapse. As fate would have it, Samantha started coughing that next morning. I gave her antibiotics, dragged her ass to the guest room, and taped her ass to the wall like she did to me,” Jason said, but didn’t give a hint of a smile.
“There I was with my wife and eleven babies, trying to keep them all alive and still recovering from Rudolph. The only thing I remember over those four days was my wife is a shitty patient, way worse than I was. But the day I undid her tape letting her off the wall, we were out of diapers and the power was out, and I still don’t know when that happened.”
“Tearing up any cloth we had for diapers, we kept up with the feeding and changing. Three days later, the decision to leave was made for us when a group hit the apartment complex. Now my bugout vehicle was twenty miles away, but our bugout bags and weapons were with us. When it was over, there were twenty-three shot bodies in front of our apartment. I went and got two red kid wagons and we loaded up the last cans of formula and the few bottles of water we had left and set out on foot.
“It took us two motherfucking days to haul our sick asses twenty miles but in our defense, we were ambushed twice and we still don’t know how many we killed. We found a store and went to get supplies for the babies, and this group told us to leave and that, ‘the store was theirs’.
Giving a shrug, “We opened up and killed all sixteen of them,” Jason said, and Arthur gave an approving nod. “We loaded up what we could and Samantha and I actually ate a meal. It was only canned food, but we tossed them down and kept them down. When we finally reached the storage unit, I felt relief seeing the van. Arranging the babies as best we could, I started off driving. We didn’t even make it fifty miles and had to stop because we were just so tired. Found a farm near Tuscaloosa the next day and spent a week there. When we left that farm, physically, we were doing really well. From there to that store in Mississippi where we met LL, we were in two more firefights. Like I told you, I ran into LL as he was getting pull-ups and I was getting diapers and formula. He saw the small diapers I was getting and pointed to some pull-ups, ‘I need those’ he said, then spit out a stream of tobacco.
“I told him he could have them all, and that’s when we heard the cars pull up outside. We both saw from each other’s reaction, neither knew those outside. I told LL, but still didn’t know his name, we had to hit them fast before they spread out, and he asked how I knew if they were hostile.
“Looking him dead in the face I said, ‘I don’t, but there are more of them than us’. We never got the chance to hit them first because a young woman we think they were chasing ran into the store and they shot her. As we moved to opposite sides of the store we were spotted, and it was on like a chicken bone. LL opened up from one side and me the other. In three minutes, all four cars they’d showed up in were smoking and eight were laying in the parking lot bleeding. I ran over to LL and told him I had to cover the back and he just nodded, taking out two more. When I reached the back, nine breached the door and they poured in single file. I swear, my first shot went through four of them. As they fell down moaning, I took out the other five and then the moaners.
“LL came to the back and nodded, holding out his hand, ‘Name’s Logan Lancaster, folks just call me LL,’ he said, and I told him my name. He loaded up a large garbage bag of pull-ups and saw me loading up a shopping cart of diapers and formula. LL came over and asked how many babies I had to need that much. When I told him eleven, he dropped to his knees in shock. Right then and there, LL knew we would be a drain on him and his group, but he offered for me to follow him to his house. I’m not going to lie, all I was thinking about was help dealing with eleven infants and when I told Samantha how we’d met, she was ready to go with LL. We were with him for a month before he told us about helping Wendy. She wasn’t the only one he’d helped, but she was the only one who’d offered a place if he needed it. That’s why LL felt guilty for coming here,” Jason said, and Arthur could tell there was more to the tale, but wasn’t going to push or even ask. If Jason wanted to share it, Arthur would be there.
Replaying the story, Arthur looked up to see Jason staring at him like he wanted an answer to something. “Jason, I would’ve done the same thing, though I doubt I could’ve kept all eleven alive unless I would’ve had Wendy,” Arthur admitted, and didn’t see Jason’s expression change. It was then, Arthur understood.
“Jason, I wouldn’t have gone to gather up any more kids,” Arthur told him, and saw Jason’s body relax. “Jason, I’ve seen other kids. Some as young as seven, but they run away and you know what? I didn’t chase them and I still don’t. I know if the younger ones aren’t dead, they will be by winter. I might have caught them or I could’ve been led to a trap. I could’ve slipped and gotten hurt, the list goes on. I had enough on my plate right in front of me to go and search for more labor intensive work that could put those that came with me willingly in danger. You have nothing to ever be ashamed of, and know Wendy and I feel like slackers compared to you and Samantha,” Arthur said, rolling his eyes up. “Eleven newborns. I hate to tell you, but I don’t even know if I would’ve taken them all, but I probably would’ve and figured we’d all live or die.”
Glad to hear another say they wouldn’t have gone back for more, “Do you feel guilty about the kids you didn’t get?” Jason asked.
“Not one bit,” Arthur said, and Jason jumped back. “I told you, I have enough here to worry about without the coulda, woulda, shoulda, or maybes. The kids here are depending on me to do what I can to teach them this new world and how to live with their own hands. To feel sorry for not getting more is shitting on those I have, saying they aren’t worth all my effort. I have to run over here and maybe get a kid that won’t hurt any of you and just drain more resources away.”
Hearing the cold logic, Jason gave a long sigh, “Still feel bad,” he admitted.
“You can if you want, but when you see those babies and kids in your group, that bad feeling should vanish because they’re alive because of you, Samantha, and LL. You don’t need my, or anyone else’s approval for shit. I’m telling you, man to man, I don’t know if I could’ve kept all those babies alive and I can damn sure tell you if I had gotten sick, they all wouldn’t have survived. If Wendy had been with me when I got the babies, most would’ve died because I would’ve put more effort in saving her than caring for the babies. Sounds cold, but it’s the truth. I would be losing my biggest asset in this hostile world and keeping all the liabilities the babies gave me. Now, one or two, I could do because I could spread out. Jason, if it wasn’t for Little Momma, I’m not sure the babies I had would’ve been so healthy
when Wendy got home. All I can say for sure is that Nicole would’ve been fine because she never was far from me, but I did what I could and thank God or whoever you want, but I had kids that helped, along with Little Momma.”
With the guilt abating, Jason felt better, but didn’t feel righteous in his choice. If asked, Arthur would’ve agreed because there were some kids he’d wanted to chase, but hadn’t even slowed or rolled down the truck window to call out for them.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Growing threats
In the house, Wendy walked back over to the window and saw Arthur and Jason still talking. It was when Jason had first walked out that Wendy saw something on Arthur’s face she’d never seen before with other people. Arthur liked Jason as a buddy, something Arthur had never had. “Bond well, boys,” she said, heading back into the dining room.
On the patio, Shawn and Kirk had stopped crying listening to the two talking and just sat there, and both jumped when Arthur spoke. “Jason,” he said, and Jason glanced over. “If you don’t want to, that’s cool. But you seem to hate these Heavenly Disciples and at the same time, they seem to worry you.”
Before Jason could answer, the back door opened. “You goddamned young little shits!” LL cried out, wearing only boxers and socks but holding a mug of coffee. “You just let me sleep like some leech?!”
As LL stopped beside the bar, Arthur gave a small wink to Jason and looked up at LL. “Well, you don’t want me to blow you or play your rusty trombone, letting you sleep late was all I could think of to repay you.”
Very quickly, LL stepped back. “Oh, well, that would be fine then,” he stammered.
Grinning, Jason looked up at LL. “Well, what do I owe you for finally hauling us here? I could give you a reach around,” Jason offered.
Miracles Page 34
