The Geezer Quest: World After Geezer: Year Two

by Penn Gates

  “Then I’m the ranking officer in this room,” she says, in a desperate bluff. “And I’m ordering you to take me back to the hospital to collect my medical kit - and whatever drugs and surgical supplies I can find.”

  He’s about to tell her he’ll take her along in handcuffs, if necessary, when he changes his mind. What the hell - let her think she’s in charge. It makes sense to grab whatever might keep his men alive in an emergency. And if it gets her out of here and into a truck, he’s willing to go along with it.

  Holden staggers to his feet and hopes he comes off as convincing. “Yes, ma’am.”

  There’s something in his bloodshot eyes that she can’t quite read. Could he actually be willing to listen - if she can frame a coherent argument for a different course of action? Beyond exhaustion herself, can she convince this shell-shocked soldier that there’s an alternative to the futility ahead of them? Science is not about persuasion, but proof - and at the moment she has none.

  “There’s more important things to do than shoot looters and put grief-maddened rioters in pens,” Lisa says hesitantly.

  “What the hell do you mean by that?” Holden snarls. This bitch has no right to judge. She’s hiding down here drawing lines on a fucking map while he and his men—

  He sees her eyes widen and realizes how he must look to her - like an animal. Like a killer.

  She fights the urge to flee - because there’s nowhere to run. One way or another, her fate is in his hands. She lifts her chin and stares him down.

  “We need answers if we’re going to stop this thing.” Her words, once started, tumble over each other. “One - nobody knows how this thing spreads,” she ticks off on her fingers. “Two - nobody knows if it can jump to other species. Three - the most important question of all. What if it’s like small pox? That virus can go dormant for long stretches of time, waiting for another human host.”

  She pauses, horrified at her next thought. “What if - once it’s killed all the older people - it simply waits until a fresh batch of humans ripen?”

  THE ER IS LARGELY ABANDONED. Corpses have been left where they died. The outrage Lisa feels at this callous disregard for human remains vanishes in a sudden burst of understanding. Doctors, nurses, orderlies - all of them had family members dying or dead - but they would never have abandoned living patients. Which means after the last one died, they could all head home - because no more Geezer victims were being brought in.

  The reason this should be so is unthinkable. For a moment, Lisa stands swaying, fighting the need to cry out. She swallows hard and, for the first time, acknowledges to herself the enormity of the disaster. The Geezer virus has killed every human in its targeted demographic. And there is no doubt in her mind that it will move on, looking for other suitable hosts.

  “Jesus,” a soldier says in a subdued voice. “It kinda feels like they’re gonna wake up any minute and go for my throat.”

  “This ain’t make believe, shit-for-brains - so shut the fuck up,” Holden growls, glancing at the doctor’s white face. She looks like she’s about to fall to pieces. “You watch way too many zombie movies, McAllister,” he adds.

  He approaches Lisa warily. “If you show us what supplies you want, we’ll start loading up, ma’am.”

  It takes what little strength she has left to pull herself together. “Thank you, corporal,” she murmurs. Then in a stronger voice, “I’ll need to see for myself what’s there. Follow me.”

  Holden feels a grudging admiration. “How much do you think it’ll be?”

  “I don’t really know. A lot, I hope. Medical supplies will be worth more than gold now. Without antibiotics, people can die from a simple cut.”

  The squad begins hauling out box after box. The lower half of their faces are covered with scarves to block out the smell, but they can’t hide the horror in their eyes.

  When Holden steps into the storage room a little later, the doctor is still rummaging for anything useful. “You about ready?” His words are muffled by the scarf he wears.

  Lisa ignores him. Why is he so determined to head for the east coast, where the battle is already lost? The thought almost breaches the wall she’s built around her emotions. She will not think of her parents who died in Massachusetts...or her grandparents...or where Roger might be. She unconsciously reaches for the ring hanging from a chain around her neck. It’s hidden beneath the army shirt she wears and it takes her a second to find the reassuring little lump through the fabric. How long has it been since she’s worn it on her finger? Large diamonds have an unfortunate tendency to puncture surgical gloves.

  Was she still wearing it the day Roger called in a panic? Her fiancé begged her to grab the next flight to Boston. He would wait until she arrived, he said, before heading to his family’s summer house in northern Maine. The two of them could safely wait out the pandemic there, far from the chaos of the cities. Part of her had desperately wanted to join him - but her gut reaction to his proposal had been, How can I run away when so many people need help?

  She comes back to the present, embarrassed by the way the corporal is looking at her. “I gave up everything to stay here and help people,” she says sharply. “And I’ll be damned if I stop now.”

  He pulls the scarf from his face. “I let you get your supplies - now let’s go.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Lisa says suddenly, in a burst of inspiration. “But a by-the-book kind of guy like you - I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

  “You don’t know me well enough to insult me.” Holden shoves the scarf in his coat pocket and heaves a sigh. This woman is quickly becoming more trouble than she’s worth - but he can’t rid himself of the picture she painted of an unthinkable future.

  Lisa is determined to share her thought with this man before he drags her along on his futile mission. “All the time I was working in the ER, I took blood samples from every Geezer patient.”

  “That’s a standard part of treatment, isn’t it?”

  “I mean, I saved blood samples for myself,” Lisa explains impatiently. “They’re in that refrigerator over there.”

  “Jesus!” He’s not sure how much longer he can stay on his feet, and this doctor’s crazy theory is giving him a violent head-ache. She takes a step backward, and he’s dimly aware that he’s done more than intimidate her. She’s scared as hell of him. “Just get to the point,” he mutters.

  “I collected them so I can study the virus,” she says in a rush. “I want to try to find out if it’s a mutation of one that’s already known - or a whole new animal.”

  He rubs at his eyes, which feel like someone’s thrown hot sand into them. “You can do that?”

  “I’ve studied virology for the last five years.” The doctor is talking fast now, like she’s afraid he’s going to stop listening any second. “I can do it - I know I can!”

  She takes a big gulp of air before she dares to say it. “But the lab equipment I’ll need is right here in Pittsburgh.”

  Holden’s eyes narrow. “So you want to stay put in this hell hole and do your research?”

  She shakes her head vehemently. “I want to leave the city - head south. It’s pretty clear what’s happening in big population centers - but I want to find out what’s going on in the rural areas. Were they hit as hard?” She lowers her voice conspiratorially. “The CDC keeps a mobile laboratory here in case of emergencies, and I certainly think this qualifies - don’t you?”

  He snorts at the idea. “You are a piece of work, lady. You really think I’m gonna steal a multi-million dollar piece of federal property?”

  “It’s not stealing! I work for the CDC - and I need it for a health crisis.” She pulls her wallet out of her backpack. “I’ve got my ID right here, in case somebody wants to know what we’re doing.”

  “You’re still asking us to go AWOL - which is a huge deal, by the way.” His haggard face scrunches into a frown again. “Come to think of it - you’d be doing the same.”

  “Oh for he
aven’s sake!” Lisa says. “Look around you. Who’s going to stop us? Whatever authorities left are far too busy running around in circles to pay any attention to us.”

  Holden doesn’t answer, and Lisa rummages in a cupboard under the counter for a small cooler with a red cross emblazoned on it. She grabs a hazardous waste sticker and slaps it on the side before gently transferring her precious trays of slides from the refrigerated storage unit.

  The hell with him, she fumes. I’ll take it myself. I have several degrees. I should be able to figure out how to operate a damn truck - even a monster like the lab.

  Holden can see that she’s determined to follow through on her plan - with, or without, help. Another death on his conscience, and for what? If they follow orders and head east, he knows what’s waiting. I can’t do that any more, he thinks. I can’t shoot one more poor bastard whose only crime is being crazy with fear.

  “I’ll do it,” Holden says suddenly. “But every one of the guys in my squad gets a choice. I won’t order them to break rules and commit felonies.”

  CHAPTER 2: Hide n’ Seek

  Corporal Holden maneuvers the mobile laboratory out of its position behind the CDC field office. The gleaming white trailer is an eighteen wheeler, and between it and the semi cab is an enclosed generator designed to provide power to high tech instruments and keep biological samples at a constant temperature. Without this multi-million dollar piece of equipment, the quest to find a way to kill the Geezer virus would be over before it begins.

  Lisa watches anxiously. It seems to her that the trailer is going in the opposite direction of the cab, and she wonders if the corporal has ever driven anything as massive before this. But he seems to know what he’s doing, and soon enough he climbs down from the high cab and gives a shrill whistle.

  “Listen up, shit heads,” he says to the soldiers who gather around him. “Moby Dick here is ready to roll. Last chance to back out of this cluster fuck. Once we’re on the road, we’re officially AWOL - and guilty of stealing federal property.”

  Lisa is impressed. The corporal has somehow managed to conceal his exhaustion and uncertainty from his men and is doing his best to lift their spirits.

  “Who the hell is Moby Dick?” one of the soldiers asks. “Sounds like a guy with the clap.”

  The thoughtful private - Marcelli - glances apologetically at Lisa.

  “Jesus, Diggs, are you really that ignorant?” another soldier asks. “It’s a God damn white whale in an old book.”

  “Forget the book report,” Holden says. “This is the most important thing you got to know if you choose to join this mission - no matter what shit you see happenin’ - keep driving. Don’t get sucked into the crazy. It’s officially OOC - out of control.”

  But when he says it, he’s not looking at his men. He’s speaking directly to Lisa.

  The southern suburbs of Pittsburgh look like the outskirts of hell. Fires, large and small, flicker everywhere. Fender benders turn into pitched battles. Somewhere a car alarm screams on and on. Shopping carts of electronics are shoved across the crowded parking lots of big box stores and used like battering rams by looters desperate to make their escape. Lisa wonders if all the food and bottled water have disappeared from the grocery shelves, but quickly realizes these people aren’t thinking about survival - only getting their hands on what’s always been just out of their reach.

  Lisa watches incredulously as a burly man beats a teenage boy to the ground and pries a carton of iPhones from his arms. “Stop the truck!” she pleads. “That kid back there is bleeding out!”

  Holden presses hard on the accelerator. “If we stop the convoy, we’ll never get on the road again. While you play doctor, the rest of the mob will swarm the trucks - and our only choice will be to shoot ‘em or watch ‘em make off with everything we got.”

  LISA SNEAKS A GLANCE at the corporal, who’s barely spoken to her in the past three days. He seems totally focused on the road ahead, like he’s forgotten she’s there. She knows she made a big mistake demanding they stop and help that boy. She’s never been very good at apologies, but there’s really no choice.

  “This mission is more important than giving first aid to rioters and looters so they can continue their mayhem,” she says, gritting her teeth. Even as she’s saying the words, she realizes they sound more like an acknowledgement than an apology. “I won’t forget again,” she adds into the silence.

  Holden barely hears her words. By last night, they were finally far enough away from populated areas to stop for the night. It was the first time in days - maybe weeks - he’d slept for longer than a half hour at a time. But his sleep had been fitful, populated by the dead and dying.

  “Good,” he mumbles. He feels her eyes on him, curious, inquisitive. He needs to distract her from the questions she’s about to ask. “I don’t care if you did go to Harvard,” he says. “Right now, my military training trumps it.”

  “How did you know I went to Harvard?” Lisa asks. One thing is for sure - he hadn’t Googled her.

  “Just a lucky guess,” he says with half a smile. “But it figures.”

  Lisa feels a rush of anger and knows her thin skin makes it impossible to hide - even if she wanted to. Has she made a horrible mistake in thinking the two of them can work together?

  “You don’t know me well enough to insult me,” she says, throwing his own words back at him.

  “It doesn’t take long to get to know someone in a foxhole.”

  “I’ve never been in a war zone before,” Lisa says. “So I don’t have that skill set - yet.” She knows she should stop right there, but she doesn’t. “So - where did you go to college? What did you major in?”

  She can see she’s hit the target by the involuntary tightening of his hands on the steering wheel.

  “I’ve got an associate’s degree from a community college you never heard of,” he shoots back. “And I treasure it - these days you never know when your gonna run out of toilet paper.”

  Lisa wrinkles her nose, but now that she’s landed a solid punch to his ego, she’s beginning to feel a little remorseful. It was a low blow.

  “So Harvard Medical,” he says. “That’s a big deal. How did you end up in the Pittsburgh office of the CDC? Seems like you coulda aimed a little higher.”

  Lisa’s temper flares again. How dare he insult her? And then she remembers that she was the one that threw the first verbal punch. Without this guy and his squad of soldiers, her search is over before it’s gotten started. Lisa considers how to answer his question. If she was to explain that her privileged upbringing had fueled her desire to help others - he’d probably point out that choosing altruism over success is pretty easy when success is waiting any time you decide you’ve had enough.

  She opts for a lesser truth. “I guess I’m just one of those lucky people who discovered something fascinating when I was a kid and followed where it led me.”

  When he looks blank, she explains, “I’m talking about viruses.”

  Holden’s eyes slide from the road beyond the windshield to her face, and back again. “Most little girls love playing with dolls.”

  “I didn’t say I loved viruses - or played with them,” she says a little defensively. “I think they’re fascinating. Big difference.”

  It begins to rain and Corporal Holden turns on the wipers. “Fascinating,” he repeats, and she can hear the quotation marks in his voice. “Why?”

  “For one thing, viruses have lived among us for - well, nobody really knows how long - tens of thousands of years? Hundreds of thousands? But scientists only discovered their existence in the nineteenth century - and it wasn’t until the 1930s that the Germans developed the electron microscope so viruses could actually be seen.”

  “If I remember Biology 101, nobody knew about germs, either.” He gropes in the pocket of his uniform for a cigarette. “Or do you find them fascinating, too?” He lights the cigarette and takes a drag.

  Lisa pointedly rolls down the window
on her side. “Those things will kill you eventually,” she can’t resist noting.

  “Pretty sure something else will get me first,” Holden replies. He takes one last drag, then cracks the window and tosses the cigarette. “So - bacteria?”

  “Bacteria is a whole different story. There are more microorganisms in our bodies than there are human cells.”

  “I can believe it - about Diggs, anyway.”

  Lisa doesn’t get his sarcastic reference to Private Diggs - but she’s not about to get sidetracked. “Our symbiotic relationship with bacteria is amazing,” she continues doggedly. “Viruses, on the other hand, are parasitic.”

  Holden frowns. “Jesus - I hate parasites.”

  “Who doesn’t?” Lisa says. “They often kill their host.”

  “I’d say that’s pretty obvious by now.”

  Lisa can’t tell if he’s agreeing or being sarcastic, and she acknowledges to herself again that she doesn’t know this man well enough to hazard a guess. Either way, she decides to return to the science of virology in general. She’s doesn’t want to get bogged down in a discussion about Geezer. Until she spends some time in the lab, she has no clear idea of how to start looking - and she’s certainly not telling Holden that.

  “For years, scientists couldn’t agree on whether or not viruses were living things.”

  “They sure as hell act like it.” Holden frowns again. “Well - are they, or aren’t they?”

  “In its wisdom, science has settled on the term biological agent.”

  “Weasel-wording,” he says with another half smile.

  “Something for which academics are famous,” Lisa admits. “They have trouble adapting to new ideas they didn’t think of themselves. And, of course, nobody can think of everything.”

  “What about you? What do you think viruses are?”

  “For all I know they could be an alien life form that lives among us and survives by using us as a biosphere - and quite a lot of the time, they end up killing us before moving on to a new one.”