by Jack Hunt
“So where you heading?”
“Queens, you aren’t going that way, are you?”
“No, sorry, I’m heading to Vermont.”
“Um, you think you can drop us in Lowville?”
Lowville was the closest town.
“Sure, not a problem.”
“Any idea how long it will take?”
“About forty minutes, as long as this traffic keeps on moving. It was unreal last night.”
“Tell me about it.”
“So how did you guys end up in the middle of nowhere?”
Frank was a little hesitant at first to tell him out of embarrassment but then figured they wouldn’t see the guy again. He was just glad to be out of the cold. His legs were aching, and he was pretty sure he had a blister on his foot. After he finished telling him, Al shook his head.
“That’s why I generally don’t stop for anyone. No sir. There are lunatics all over this country.”
Frank frowned. “Then why us? Hell, we are carrying guns.”
He gestured to a rosary that hung loosely around his rear-facing mirror. “Figured I needed to put in a few points with the man upstairs. I just got a feeling about you two.”
Frank glanced at Sal and he just rolled his eyes. “Well Al, if that’s what it takes to get in his good books, then you just earned yourself a medal of honor.”
The rest of the journey they were treated to some good ol’ country music. Frank wanted to listen to the news but Al had some issue with polluting his mind with bad news, so he decided to just wait until they got to the next town.
“Al, you wouldn’t have a phone by any chance, would you?” Sal asked.
Al leaned over taking his eyes off the road and Frank instinctively grabbed the wheel.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Keeping us alive,” Frank muttered.
“You know how long I’ve been driving? Thirty-two years. And you know how many accidents I’ve had?”
“Thirty-two?” Frank replied.
“One, smart-ass. And it was someone else’s fault. So keep your hands off.”
“Yes, sir.”
He handed Sal a phone and Frank gave him the number for the cottage.
“Thank god the grid isn’t down.”
Sal stared ahead, a look of concentration, perhaps concern spread across his face.
“Gloria?”
Over the next few minutes he attempted to convince her that they were okay and that nothing untoward had happened to them but she wasn’t buying it.
“Gloria, for once just listen to me. We need you to wire some money. Head on into town.”
There was silence as he listened to her. Frank could just pick up what sounded like her giving him heck.
“Yeah, I know, I know. Just do this one thing for me. We need the cash, Gloria.”
He put his hand over the phone.
“Where can she wire it to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Community Bank. There’s one on State Street in Lowville,” Al muttered.
“That’s if the place is even open. With all the shit that is going on in the country right now, I would be surprised if any business is open,” Frank added.
“Oh, you guys are paranoid,” Al muttered. “I’ve been driving for the past twenty-four hours and towns are still in operation. Sure, people are a little antsy but business is business. Not everyone is going to stop because of reports of a flu. Life keeps on trucking.” With that he honked his horn and let out a big belly laugh.
Frank was glad he could see the funny side to it all as there wasn’t much about their situation that was amusing.
“You got that, Gloria?” There was a pause. “How much?” He turned back to Frank. “How much do we need?”
“Well, enough to buy a vehicle.”
“Buy a vehicle?”
“Rent. We need to rent a vehicle, Sal.”
“Wire us a thousand.”
“We’re going to need gas, food, clothes for you.”
“Hell, Gloria, just wire five grand.”
Frank heard her reply bellowing over the speaker about the amount and having to use the boat and… well, after that Frank tuned out. When Gloria got going she would find all manner of things to moan about. How Sal had managed to stay married to her for so long was anyone’s guess. He often wondered if his best client was his own wife.
“Just do it Gloria, oh and the bank is on North State Street. Okay? You got that? Go now.”
When he hung up and handed the phone back he shook his head.
“Women, you can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them,” Al muttered before roaring with laughter. Sal remained straight-faced, there were few things that ruffled his feathers but Gloria certainly could.
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, Frank thanked Al, and slammed the door on the large truck. It hissed as it pulled away and let out a honk sound. They looked around at what Frank had called a town but Al had corrected him and told him it was a small village nestled in the Black River Valley near the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains.
“I guess there are some good people still in the world.”
He pulled out sanitizer and began covering himself in it. Al had dropped them outside the community bank. It was a large, light brown building with two huge pillars out the front and a burgundy sign high above it.
They took a seat on the stairs out front and planned to wait there for the next half an hour to give Gloria time to get over to the mainland.
“You know, the first thing I’m going to do when that money arrives is head on over to the diner and buy myself sausages, fries, egg, toast, coffee and I’m going to wash all that down with a large dessert. I am absolutely famished,” Sal said.
“Actually, Sal, I was thinking that probably we could dump your clothes and get you some new ones first. Food tastes a whole lot better when you’re not sitting beside someone who smells like a urinal.”
He grinned. “Good point.”
“So how was Gloria?”
“What? You didn’t hear?”
“I kind of tuned out once she started raking you over the coals.”
“She’s a good woman, Frank. You know, I’ve been married to her eighteen years and even though we fight like cats and dogs at times, there isn’t anyone else I would want beside me in my bed at night. She keeps me level-headed.”
“Yeah, I used to think the same about Kate.”
“Do you think Kate’s okay?”
“I hope so. She’s a tough woman and knowing her she will stay there until the ship goes down. Did I tell you she’s seeing someone?”
“Yeah, I think you did.”
“A doctor. Figures, right? I have to wonder if she was seeing him when we were together.”
A few people walked by them and gave them disgusted looks. Their clothes were a mess, their faces had bruises and cuts. They must have looked like local bums looking for handouts.
“Kate never struck me as a woman who would cheat. I think she just got tired of…”
Sal trailed off and Frank knew what he was going to say.
“Carry on, Sal. Say what you were going to say. She got tired of me.”
“No, I mean.” Sal sighed. There was no easy way to discuss separation. Frank still hadn’t signed the papers even though she had a lawyer send them to him. He couldn’t bring himself to put his John Hancock at the bottom and watch twenty-one years of marriage disappear down the drain. He knew she had moved on but he hadn’t. He still loved her and everything that he was doing to get well was because of her.
“By the way, remind me to pick up a disposable phone. We’re going to need to get in contact with Ella and find out what’s going on.”
“She’ll be okay, Frank. You raised a strong kid there. If anyone knows how to survive a pandemic, it’s Ella.”
“Yeah, it seems kind of ironic, doesn it?”
“What?”
“That when the world decides to go to shit, it�
�s a virus,” Frank sighed. “All that crap that I put Ella and Kate through.”
He dropped his head and Sal put his arm on his shoulder. “But you’ve made progress, Frank. Remember, you won’t have to keep living in fear of what might happen.”
“Won’t I?”
He wasn’t sure whether to believe that anymore. The truth was, no one could control the outcome of what others did. Especially of a deadly virus that was sweeping across their land and would soon be beating down their door and causing all manner of trouble.
“How much do you know about the Guthries?” Frank asked.
“Why?”
“Just curious.”
“I know Butch is fucking insane and his brothers and cousins aren’t exactly the smartest folks on the block. Sure, they know a lot about survival, hunting and getting people to sign up for their prepper retreats, but uh, I wouldn’t want to be around them if and when the virus hits Clayton.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Makes me wonder what they are capable of. What lengths they would go to, to survive.”
It had been bugging him since they had left. The look Butch had given him, the questions he’d asked about medicine and who was staying at the house. He desperately wanted to get back to the island but there was no going back until they got Ella.
They had only been in Lowville, five, maybe ten minutes when two cop cars came screeching around the corner with their lights on, and sirens wailing. The officers jumped out of their vehicles and pulled their firearms.
“Get on the floor now.”
Frank’s brow knit together in confusion. “What?”
“I said, get on the floor now!”
Frank threw his hands up and they slowly got down to their knees.
The officers remained behind their vehicles as if they thought their lives were in jeopardy. Then it dawned on Frank. In all the drama of the day, he hadn’t given thought to the fact that they were open carrying rifles, and sitting outside a public bank. Frank squeezed his eyes shut. “Oh fuck!”
“You know, you said things couldn’t get any worse,” Sal muttered.
“Shut up,” he said as they hit the ground and put their arms behind their back. The police moved in on them and even though they tried to explain, the cops weren’t buying it. They dragged them back to their cruisers and shoved them inside like common criminals. Al was right. Even though the country around them was being thrown into a panic by the threat of a killer virus, it didn’t mean that everyone stopped doing their jobs. In the eyes of the law it was business as usual, and business told them that two shifty-looking guys sitting outside a bank with two rifles was major cause for concern.
CHAPTER 22
Ella couldn’t rely on her parents. That was something she learned very quickly after heading off to college. It had been a defining moment in her life, a transitional phase that everyone went through.
“Where are we going?”
“It will be explained in a moment.”
The man trudged ahead while a soldier kept a firm grip on her as though she was a danger to society. Outside she could see that in a matter of twenty-four hours they had set up a perimeter of tents throughout the campus. Soldiers geared up in masks were positioned in different areas as if getting ready to engage with some unseen enemy.
“You want to ease up on the grip, Hercules,” she said to the soldier that was hurting her arm. She was taken into another tent, however this one was set up like a command center with computer tables all over the place and everyone looked dead serious.
The man gestured to a table and she was thrust into a chair. She stared back at the soldier in disgust before hearing her mother’s voice.
“Ella.”
“Mom?”
She turned to see her mother on the screen in front of her. She immediately put her hand up to it as if hoping to reach out and touch her. Tears began to roll down both of their cheeks at the realization that the other was still alive.
“They say you don’t have the virus. Are they treating you okay?”
She shook her head. “They have us isolated and are treating us like terrorists.”
Kate sighed. “I’m sorry, honey. They have to take precautions.” She paused for a few seconds. Her chin dropped before looking at her again. “Tom is dead.”
Ella grimaced. “What?”
“He became infected.”
“Mom, I’m sorry. I—”
“I know how you felt about him but he was a good man. He wasn’t attempting to take the place of your father but…”
“Mom, have you heard from dad?”
“No, I tried his phone several hours ago but I can’t get through.”
“Are they going to let us go?”
“Mark, the man who brought you over. He’s going to run a few more tests on your friends but if they are clear, he’s said you’d be clear to leave.”
Ella breathed a sigh of relief. It was the first good news since this whole event had begun to unfold. She stared at her mother who looked tired. Kate had dark circles and bags under her eyes. She even looked as though she might have lost some weight. When her mother had decided to move to Atlanta two years ago, Ella was still in high school in Clayton. She had asked her if she wanted to go with her but understood if she wished to stay. Ella decided to stay as she only had a year left. In some ways, she resented her mother for leaving her father when he needed her the most but time away from home had helped her to see that life was not always so black and white. She had been through two relationships already and both had gone sour pretty fast, partly because of her own habits that she had picked up from her father. It wasn’t that she had OCD but she almost had to live as if she did while staying with her father just so they didn’t end up in an argument or he didn’t end up sleeping outside of the home.
The years had worn all three of them down, divided and pushed them apart. She could have enrolled with the New York State Police Academy in Albany. It would have been closer than Queens but she wanted that extra distance from both her mother and father. A little space to branch out and see if she could make something of herself without all the input they gave. Her father wanted her to stay in Clayton and get some ordinary job so he could keep an eye on her while her mother wanted her to pursue medicine.
She just wanted to have a say in the matter.
“Mom, what are you going to do now?”
“I have to help. I can’t leave. I was… I was going to but I realize they are relying on me to find a cure to this.”
“It can’t all fall on your shoulders, can it?”
“No, there are others. There has to be but…”
“Mom, come home.”
“Ella, we’ve talked about this before. Atlanta is home.”
“I’m not saying move back in. I’m saying head to the island until this blows over.”
She offered back a warm smile. “Honey, this isn’t going to blow over. What you are seeing right now is only the tip of the iceberg.”
“Even more reason then to leave. I don’t want get a phone call telling me you have died.”
Her mother looked down and then met her gaze. “I don’t want to argue, Ella. I have a job to do and that’s it. This is what I trained for. Just sit tight, okay. They are going to let you out and well, if your father is on his way, he’ll be there to pick you up.”
“And if doesn’t get here?”
“He will.”
She scoffed. “Surprising how much confidence you have in him now. Where was that before?”
Her mother’s eyes squeezed together tightly. “It’s not as simple as that.”
“No?”
“Ella, I don’t want to have another argument, just please do I as I say. Okay?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“I love you.”
Her mother waited for her to say the same but she said nothing and then the video stream switched off, and she wished she had. Who knew what the days ahead would bring. Immediately after she wa
s guided back to her plastic prison and told they would be releasing them in a couple of hours once they had the results back on the final batch of testing. All of them were tired of getting their arms pricked and being prodded and having lights shined in their eyes, but if it meant getting out, then it’s what had to be done.
“NO, I just told you I don’t have my license on me. It was in my wallet —”
“Which was in the truck that just so happened to go up in flames. What about these hunters, what did they look like?”
“How many times do we have to go over this?” Frank asked.
The officer leaned back in his chair and picked at his teeth with a ballpoint pen. “You have to see this from our point of view. Two guys show up in our town, outside a bank with guns that they don’t have a license for, a shotgun and a rifle, and they have one hell of a story about being hijacked, beaten up and having their possessions set on fire. What do you expect us to think?”
“I don’t expect you to think anything. I expect you to do your job. Look up the serial number on the weapons.”
The village officer’s eyes widened and he leaned across the table.
“You and your friend are in a whole heap of trouble. You hear me?”
He was obviously excited to have such a situation on his hands.
“We didn’t enter the bank. We were waiting on a wire.”
“Our officer is looking into that right now. So in the meantime you can give me the description of those hunters and perhaps I can do my job, as you so quaintly put it.”
After going around in circles for almost an hour, the local boys in blue eventually decided they weren’t going to get any information out of them beyond what they had given, so they put them in a cell until they could figure out what the law actually said, at least that’s what Frank thought. They looked like the kind of cops that spent more time swallowing donuts and writing up speeding tickets than doing any real police work.
Frank and Sal had been separated and placed in individual cells. There was enough room inside for a bed, a piss pot and a place to walk back and forth but that was it. The cinder blocks that surrounded them were coated in a thick cream paint and the metal door that sealed them in had a small hatch that had been lowered so they could look out. A tiny camera in the top part of the room no doubt gave them some entertainment. They had removed what few belongings they had on them as well as their jackets and shoes. Of course, they didn’t want them hanging themselves with shoelaces.
