The Death: The Complete Trilogy

by John W. Vance

  Cassidy kept watch, but her attention wasn’t focused. Images of the mushroom cloud and helicopter gunships flashed in her thoughts. When a chilled breeze came, she shivered and moved to a sunny spot. The warmth of the late spring sun felt good. Along with the chill, the air brought the smells of spring. Tall grasses and flowers were in full bloom. A wet April had helped, and it seemed so amazing to her that out of such horror the simple beauty of a flower could still last. While the world of humans savaged one another, Mother Nature proceeded on. Spring followed winter and soon the hot summer days would be coming. In the wild nothing changed or stopped, it just kept on going.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Travis asked.

  “It’s nothing, just thinking.”

  “You still in shock from yesterday?”

  “I’ve never seen anything like that. I suppose I’ll get used to it. Oh my, how bad does that sound? What kind of world are we living in where you get used to seeing barbarism and mass death?”

  “A fucked-up one.”

  “I don’t know if we’re doing the right thing?”

  Hearing Cassidy say this, Bill and Tom stopped what they were doing.

  “You don’t think going to New York is a good idea?” Travis asked.

  “I want to find Devin, but here you three are, soon to be four. I’m sure you have family somewhere too that you’d like to find.”

  “I do,” Tom blurted out.

  “You see, Tom here has family, probably along the way, that he’d like to find. I’m sure Bill does too and Josh as well. Look, I know Tess may be in Bismarck and that’s close.”

  “Cassidy, I appreciate that, but this trip is about you. These men here volunteered to get you there safe and sound,” Travis challenged.

  “But things have changed,” she fired back.

  “Nothing’s changed except that Pine Bluffs got nuked. You were gone already. If we had left a day earlier, we may never have known. Would you feel differently then?”

  “Maybe but maybe not, I don’t know. I only know what I know based on my experiences. These men are sacrificing for me; I’d like to return the favor.”

  Travis was impressed with her courtesy, but he hated last minute changes to plans. Also there was danger in being on the road for an extended period of time.

  “You’re sweet, but I say we stick to the plan.”

  “The lady has a point,” Bill chimed in.

  “She is right. I wouldn’t mind trying to find some family,” Tom added.

  “How can I deny them?”

  “Easy, say no.”

  “You were part of the military; you have to be used to plans changing. Adapt and overcome, isn’t that some sort of motto?” Cassidy asked.

  “We stick to the plan,” Travis insisted.

  “I say we put it to a vote,” Cassidy offered. “Make this a democracy; we go to other places only if all of us agree.”

  “Hear, hear,” Tom said.

  “If it has to be unanimous, then we’ve already lost. Captain Priddy here will veto this proposal,” Bill added.

  Travis pushed off the truck and walked out in the open field that sat adjacent to the grove of trees.

  “Let’s see what Josh says when he gets here,” Cassidy continued.

  The radio came to life suddenly. “Rover One, this is Josh.”

  Tired of listening to the others, Travis answered the radio, “This is Rover One.”

  “Hi, Captain Priddy, you told me to contact you when I reached that mile marker.”

  “Now go a few miles further, you’ll see an overpass. Exit there and go right. Stop at the end of the ramp.”

  “Okay, see you all soon.”

  Travis dropped the handset and lowered his head. A headache began to develop and he knew exactly why. He opened the back and dug through a backpack until he pulled out what he was searching for, a packet of coffee. He ripped it open, and with a bottle of water in the other hand, he poured the instant coffee into his mouth and guzzled the water down. It wasn’t the most ideal way to drink coffee, but his need for caffeine was without a doubt an addiction. If he went a twenty-four-hour period without any caffeine, he’d get a raging headache that no amount of Advil or Motrin could lessen.

  The three were still discussing this new plan and where they’d get started when Travis walked back up. “Hey, time to load up. Josh is coming. We’re going to meet him at the off ramp so let’s remove the brush and get going.”

  “Roger dodger,” Bill said. He was a robust man in his mid forties. After losing his wife and only child to the Death, he became a critical part of the magistrate’s scavenger teams. Upon hearing the magistrate ask for volunteers to travel cross-country, he jumped at it. The loss of his family had hit him hard and the only way for him to avoid thinking about his personal tragedy was to keep busy. The scavenger teams gave that to him.

  “Hopefully Josh will join us,” Tom added as he climbed into the truck.

  Travis got behind the wheel and wished he could turn up the radio to block out their endless talking.

  The drive to Josh took them only a few minutes.

  Bill and Tom practically killed themselves getting out of the SUV to inform Josh of their new plan.

  Cassidy could see Travis was struggling, so she stayed behind. “You okay?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “So you’re in complete opposition to this?”

  “Not complete, but don’t you want to find Devin?”

  She leaned over the center console from her rear seat and sincerely said, “I’m not giving up on finding him, I’m just putting it off. I want nothing more than to find him, but it’s only fair the rest of you get a chance to find loved ones too.”

  “It’s been so long since I’ve seen Tess and I’m now a day’s drive from Bismarck.”

  “We can go to Bismarck, just agree.”

  A truck horn ceased their conversation.

  “Let’s go see what they want,” Travis said and exited.

  Walking up, Travis and Cassidy both saw the large grin gracing Josh’s face.

  “What’s he smiling for?” Travis asked Cassidy.

  “So I hear we might be making some pit stops along the way?” Josh asked.

  “It’s an idea, but we can only do it by unanimous consent.”

  “I know exactly where I want to go,” Josh said.

  “Oh yeah?” Cassidy replied.

  Josh paused in his response for dramatic effect.

  “Well, where?” Cassidy asked.

  “I’ll give you a hint,” Josh joked.

  “Look at this guy,” Travis snapped.

  “The Windy City, baby, let’s go,” Josh said.

  “Not going to happen. We have a job to do and that is get her to New York as soon as possible!” Travis exclaimed.

  “Not sure who died and made you boss, but if this trip is about the lady here and she doesn’t mind stopping along the way, then why not?” Josh barked.

  “Too long on the road is dangerous,” Travis replied.

  “Oh, come on, it’s dangerous, period. Look, we just barely made it out of Pine Bluffs alive. I’d like to go find my cousin in Chicago if we can.”

  “Travis, it’s your decision. The group will do whatever you decide, so make up your mind,” Cassidy said.

  Charleston, South Carolina

  Devin rubbed his bruised hands over his battered body. The past few weeks had been hard on him physically. Never in his life had he been hurt so much. It was to be expected, though; he’d joke to himself that the apocalypse was not a walk in the park.

  His mental strength had increased tenfold since his days as a writer living in New York. In fact, he would have been described as a metrosexual. His emotional fortitude was also stronger and he gave credit for that to Tess. When he thought about it, he could give Tess credit for a lot of his growth in this world. Without her he might have been dead. She taught him how to shoot and handle a weapon. She made him step up and make the tough choices ev
en though the easy would have been preferential and closely mirrored his decision-making pre-Death. The one area that still needed improvement was his overall physical strength. After leaving Reed, Illinois, he made it a priority to wake up every morning and do pushups and crunches. It wasn’t an ideal workout regimen, but he did see improvements. This morning wasn’t unlike those days. The first thing he did when he woke was to knock out a hundred pushups in twenty pushup increments with a thirty second break in between. When he first began doing this, he couldn’t make the total one hundred, but he pushed himself past failure until he built the muscle. After his fight and near loss to Charlie, it validated the need to be strong and capable. Defensive martial arts skills was something he desperately needed, but in the meantime, he’d work towards building strength.

  Several men in the tent made rude comments when he started his workout, but he ignored them. He had found in his short time with them that these pirates acted like murderous frat boys. Hazing, torment, abuse and a pecking order were firmly entrenched in their ways. If they weren’t so deadly, he would have openly made fun of them.

  He felt rested this morning because he had allowed himself to actually sleep. He had a renewed confidence because of what had happened yesterday. If Poppy had truly doubted him, he would be dead, no further questions needed, but Poppy also didn’t do anything to signal that he was being accepted.

  What gave him the greatest pause was that his test was still coming, and the thought of having to harm an innocent plagued him.

  “Look at the faggot doing his jazzercise,” a man hollered from the far end of the tent.

  “Fucking Yankee, thinks he’s a stud or something,” another snarled.

  Devin ignored their comments and kept pushing.

  The flap of the tent opened, allowing the morning light to briefly chase away the darkness.

  It was Poppy. He stood at the entrance of the tent with his hands on his hips. “Devin, Chris, John, Trent, Mike, grab your shit and meet me at the front staging area!” Just as quickly as he had appeared he was gone.

  Devin stood up and brushed off his hands.

  One of the men who had taunted him made another verbal jab. “Do you need to go shower and shave your legs now?”

  “You can’t seem to stop looking at me; have you told Poppy you’re gay yet, or are you waiting to come out later?” Devin jabbed back.

  “What did you say, fuck face?” the man bellowed and marched towards Devin like a large bull in a china shop.

  While he wasn’t fully trained in martial arts, Tess had shown him a few moves.

  The man was just about on top of him and began to telegraph his punch.

  Devin squared up to him, stepped quickly to the side and used a shikan ken punch to his throat.

  The man groaned then gagged and grasped his throat.

  Devin then stepped into him and with that force used his elbow to strike the man squarely in the head.

  Like a sack of bricks, the man collapsed to the floor.

  The other men in the tent were in shock.

  Devin felt proud and asked himself why he hadn’t fought like that yesterday.

  The boisterous tent was dead silent as they all looked at Devin.

  His past analogy of a frat house was half correct; these pirates were a cross between frat and prison rules. If Devin hadn’t established himself as capable of protecting himself, he would be considered weak, and in this place weakness was not respected and, much worse, preyed upon.

  Devin looked down at the man and said, “Next time, keep your fucking mouth shut.” Filled with pride, he stepped over him, grabbed his backpack and exited the tent.

  Dulce, New Mexico

  Like a nervous parent watching over their sickly child, Mueller had woken early and immediately checked on the woman’s condition.

  The first twenty-four hours was when he knew she was on the road to recovery, and if things progressed further in the next twenty-four, there was a ninety percent chance she would make a full recovery.

  He checked her temperature and it was just slightly high, around ninety-nine degrees, and her pulse and blood pressure were all in the normal range. When he pulled open the Velcro cuff on the blood pressure monitor, its ripping sound woke her.

  She opened her eyes and stared at him. Again she pulled away from him out of fear.

  “I won’t hurt you; I was just checking some of your vitals.”

  She sat up and pulled her legs up and, using her arms, hugged them. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “Well, you passed out yesterday afternoon and have been asleep till now, so about seventeen hours.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’m curing you.”

  “Why?”

  He paused before answering because he didn’t know how to. Unable to find the right response, he asked, “Are you hungry?”

  She nodded.

  “I have some prepackaged food. How about some spaghetti or chicken à la king?”

  Her eyes darted around the lab. She was scanning her whereabouts again, no doubt looking for the two assistants.

  “You’re safe. Please believe me,” Mueller stressed.

  “I came here with my brother. Where is he?”

  This was another question that he paused on. Not because he didn’t have the answer, but because he did know and the answer was her brother was dead and the reason why was him. Not wanting to upset her, he lied, “I’m not sure. I have treated many people.”

  “He was in here with me. I saw you treating him, but then I don’t remember much after that.”

  “What does he look like?” Mueller asked, faking a concerned appearance.

  “He’s short, skinny with black hair, it’s curly, and he had a slight beard.”

  “I think I do remember him.”

  “Where is he?”

  “We were treating him here, but…I’m so sorry, but unfortunately he didn’t make it.”

  The news struck her hard. She tucked her head between her knees and began to cry.

  “I’m so very sorry.” A deep-seated uncomfortable feeling enveloped him. His hands began to shake badly. It felt like he was about to have an anxiety attack. Not wanting her to see him this way, he said, “If you’ll excuse me.” He raced back to his office and shut the door. Chewing his fingernails as he rapidly paced the office, he mumbled one question after another. “What are you doing? What exactly do you think is going to happen here?” He caught his reflection in a mirror and stopped. He leaned in until his face filled it and peered into his dark eyes. “How do you see this ending, hmm?”

  A tap on his office door jolted him back. His eyes darted over first followed by his head then his body; he slowly walked over and opened it up. To his surprise the woman was standing there, holding her IV bag.

  “Is everything okay?”

  Mueller wanted to laugh because here was a woman who not two days ago was about to die from a deadly virus asking him how he was doing. “Um, I’m good. Sorry I took off, but I didn’t feel well.”

  “Oh, ugh, you mentioned some food. I’m really hungry.”

  He looked at her standing there, frail and gaunt. “Yes, yes, I’m sorry, how rude of me.” He squeezed by her and made his way towards a storeroom. Seconds later he came back with an MRE, a meal ready to eat, prepackaged meal. He found her back at her bed, and just before he handed it over, he double-checked to see if he had gotten the correct one. “Good, it’s spaghetti with meat sauce. Ha, I hope you’re not a vegetarian.”

  She took it and opened it quickly.

  “I was going to suggest a better way to open the packet, but you seem to know what you’re doing.”

  “I’ve eaten hundreds of these while in the camp.”

  “How do you feel?”

  “Tired.”

  “I am sorry about your brother.”

  His comment made her pause. She stopped chewing and put the packet down. With a mouth full of food, she replied, “Thanks for trying to
help him.”

  Her responses indicated that her memory wasn’t complete. Curious and nervous he asked, “What’s the last thing you remember?”

  “It’s all kinda vague, patchy.”

  “Do you remember getting sick?” he asked and took a seat in the chair next to her bed.

  She looked at him then began to look around.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “This room, I remember two other men. At least I think, I’m not sure if it was a dream, but they hurt me.”

  “Yesterday you became very upset and even asked if you’d been raped,” Mueller pressed; his intellectual curiosity had gotten the better of him.

  She took another large spoonful of spaghetti and chewed. Using her hand, she wiped her mouth and tucked her long dark hair behind her ears. With most of her face showing, her prominent high cheekbones beautifully etched a curved line on her face that ended just below her almond-shaped brown eyes.

  “Yesterday seems like a dream too. I’m having a difficult time knowing what was real and what wasn’t,” she replied.

  “You remember being transported here?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you—”

  “Where am I?” she asked, interrupting him.

  At first he hesitated to answer but then questioned the real harm it would cause in telling her. “You’re at a secret military base called Dulce.”

  “Am I still in New Mexico?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s happening, Doctor? Where is everyone else?”

  “You’re under my special care. Listen, to be quite candid, we are a secret medical facility. There’s a new virus and we have a cure for it. We brought you here to give you, oh, I should just tell you.”

  “What?”

  “There’s a new virus, more deadly than the Death, and we created a vaccine, we tested you.”

  She dropped her food. The blood drained from her face and her limbs felt weak. “You gave us the Death?”

  “No, no, the thing is, everyone has just recently been exposed to this new virus. We brought you here to test you with the new vaccine, which saved you. Consider yourself lucky,” he said, twisting the truth.