Desolation

by Mark Campbell

“Is this the girl?” Andrew asked, nodding towards Jerri. “No,” the other officer answered. “ This girl answered the door. I’m about to arrest her for being in unassigned quarters. The dorm on her identification doesn’t match. She’s covering for the infected girl.”

  Andrew held out his hand.

  The officer handed him her ID card.

  Andrew studied the card and nodded. He slid the card in his pocket.

  “Did you search the premises?” Andrew asked the two officers, locking his eyes with Jerri.

  Jerri felt a knot rise in her throat.

  “No, sir, we were about to make entry when you arrived on the scene,” one of the officers quickly responded.

  “Get out,” Andrew said in a stern voice. “I’d like to handle this myself.”

  The officers looked at each other hesitantly.

  “Do you want us to bag her? She was out of her assigned confines…” Andrew spun towards the officers and narrowed his eyes. “Follow your orders and be on your way,” Andrew snapped. The two officers turned and hurried towards the sally port exit.

  Andrew turned his attention towards the gawking onlookers peeking out of their dorm room doors down the hall.

  “Inside!” he shouted.

  The women quickly slunk back into their rooms and left the hall abandoned.

  Andrew turned his attention towards Jerri and stared at her with suspicion.

  “Now, Jessica, what other secrets are you hiding?” he said. “Are you crazy enough to be harboring an infected?”

  Jerri shook her head and looked down. “Good. You’d prefer to talk inside? Me too. It would be much more private,” Andrew said. He brushed past Jerri and walked inside the room.

  Jerri reached into her pocket and grabbed the switchblade as she followed him inside.

  She shut the door behind her.

  10

  Andrew scanned the room, noticing the puddle of blood around Krystal. Jerri crept closer behind him. She flicked her blade open slowly. Quietly. Krystal cupped her mouth with her hands at the sight of Andrew and started to sob, terrified. She stumbled backwards and sat on her cot. Andrew locked eyes with her. Glared at her. The moment passed and he looked away, taking in the entirety of the scene again. “Him! Not him! He’s going to kill him… he’s going to kill him…” Krystal muttered, eyes swelling with tears.

  Jerri motioned for her to be quiet, raised the blade, and– Andrew’s wandering eyes spotted the dresser in the corner of the room and hurried towards it, stepping away just seconds before Jerri tried to make her move.

  Jerri fell forward in her momentum and quickly righted herself. He opened the top drawer of the dresser and stumbled backwards at the sight of the baby within. He bent over to pick up the dead child, and it suddenly started to wriggle and make a muffled crying sound.

  Andrew gasped, badly startled. Jerri quickly walked up behind Andrew, blade ready... She saw the child move and was surprised how tenaciously he clung to life. She hurried faster, ready to make her–

  Andrew drew his pistol and turned towards Jerri, frowning. Krystal screamed in hysterics.

  Jerri froze and felt her blood run cold.

  “Is there really any need for all of the theatrics? Hand the knife to me. Handle first,” Andrew said as he held a hand out towards Jerri, ignoring Krystal’s insufferable wailing.

  Jerri reluctantly handed him the knife and then stepped back, clasping her hands together, composing her next move.

  Andrew studied the knife, retracted the blade, and slid it into his pocket. He holstered his pistol and snapped it in.

  “Now stand back and let me see what I can do. Just please stop trying to kill me for a few moments,” he said.

  Embarrassed, Jerri crossed her arms across her chest and stared at him sullenly. Andrew took the baby in his arms and gently ran his thumb across his face. He frowned; the child refused to open his eyes. He ran his thumb over the thin membrane stuck on the child’s face and mouth.

  Krystal suddenly stood and watched with apprehension, fists clenched.

  “What are you doing to him? Why are you poking on him!” she cried. “Stop!” “I can’t do anything about his eyes… he’ll have to open them on his own. Hopefully there isn’t anything wrong with them,” Andrew said. “But as far as this gunk… I think it's the caul.”

  Jerri looked with confusion while Krystal watched with horror. “Try what exactly…?” Jerri asked.

  Andrew turned the child on its belly and held him with one hand. He tilted the baby’s head towards the floor.

  Krystal turned pale and started to scream. “He’s going to kill him! He’s going to drop him onto the ground!” she shouted. She ran towards Andrew and started to pummel his back with her fists.

  Andrew pushed her away with one hand and turned towards Jerri. “What the fuck are you doing?!” Jerri shouted.

  “Trust me!” Andrew shouted back. “Restrain her and let me help this child!”

  “You fucking bastard! Don’t touch him!” Krystal shouted as she charged towards Andrew.

  Jerri grabbed Krystal and held her back.

  “Let me go! Let me go!!!” Krystal shouted as she slapped and punched Jerri.

  Andrew started to slap the baby’s between its shoulder blades repeatedly.

  “NO! STOP! PLEASE!” Krystal screamed, pushing against Jerri. A bloody gob of tissue slid out of the baby’s mouth and fell onto the floor with a splat.

  Krystal screamed and fainted at the sight of the blood. Jerri caught Krystal mid-fall and laid her down on the ground as gently as she could.

  The baby’s screams were loud and clear. Andrew turned the child around onto his back and cradled the crying child against his chest, soothing him, shushing him gently. He reached one hand down, grabbed the knife out of his pocket, and handed it to Jerri.

  She took the knife, baffled by his actions.

  “He’ll need to be fed when she wakes up,” Andrew said.

  Jerri’s confused gaze drifted past him and looked towards the dresser…

  “What did you…?” “I cleared his airway,” he said. He gently handed the baby to Jerri and smiled as he stared longingly at the child. “It’s pretty amazing. That’s the first time I’ve seen a child that premature survive past birth. Keep him hidden for now until I think of a way to get him out of here. If he lives past a week, he’ll be lucky.”

  He started to walk towards the door when Jerri stopped him. “Why are you helping us?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. Suspicion didn’t even begin to describe how she felt about the situation. “I’ve never known one of you to be the compassionate type…”

  “You know what they say… about judging books and all,” he said casually. “Just stay inside the dorm. I’ll be very busy but I’ll come see you tomorrow,” he said. “You fascinate me… I’d like to hear your story and, of course, I’d like to check on the kid. It’s refreshing to see life after so much death. Wouldn’t you agree, Jessica?”

  Jerri smiled a half-smile.

  “Jerri,” she said, “My name is Jerri. And yes, I agree.”

  Andrew grinned and took her ID out of his pocket. He handed it back to her.

  “You don’t say,” he said. “Remember; stay low… out of sight, out of mind. Keep the baby bundled up and hidden.” Jerri nodded and smiled.

  “Thanks, um…” she flustered.

  “Andrew. Remember? Andrew the asshole. And you’re welcome.”

  He quickly left the room, moving as swift and silently as a phantom.

  11

  It was nighttime and things were quiet in the dorm. Jerri had no idea how things were outside; she didn’t dare venture out into the hallway after Andrew left.

  Silence, although reassuring, could be frightening because it gave her time to think. The worst part always came when she dreamed. She devoted herself to being an insomniac quite admirably.

  Krystal had fallen asleep on the cot with her baby curled against her chest. She was snoring gently. Jerri sat idl
y in the corner of the room and watched her friend sleep. After everything Krystal went through, she wondered if she would be able to regain her grip on her crumbling psyche.

  It didn’t look good. Krystal always seemed far too frail for this world. More so now. After Andrew left, Krystal regained consciousness. She rocked her baby in her arms and cooed softly to him with a glazed expression and a smile on her lips. The baby suckled on his mother for hours. She didn't speak so much as two words the entire time.

  Jerri’s eyelids felt heavy and her pupils started to burn. She closed her eyes to rest them, just briefly.

  “We’re sorry, all circuits are busy. Please hang up and try your call again.” “Dammit,” Jerri said as she hung up her cellphone.

  “Would you relax?” Mitch said, putting his arm around her. They were sitting outside in the university’s park on one of the many benches. The university ended up canceling all classes for the rest of the semester due to the flu pandemic. That made the park a pretty nice place to relax and escape from the panic that seemed to have gripped the nation.

  That was until Jerri saw the homeless man having a coughing fit. “You saw the way that guy was hacking his lungs out,” Jerri said, miffed. “I’m sure he’s carrying all sorts of disease.”

  Mitch laughed.

  “So was I, but you dated me anyway,” he said with a playful smirk. Jerri slapped his arm. “I’m serious,” she said, “he looked really sick.”

  “That stuff is on the east coast, babe. Remember what the news said? No cases have been reported as far as Arizona,” Mitch said. “You’re such a worrier… you’re going to drive yourself nuts if you freak out every time someone coughs.”

  Jerri bit her lip and thought a moment.

  “We should stay inside,” she said, “I don’t like being out now…” Mitch shrugged and gestured up at the sky.

  “But we’d miss this beautiful weather,” he said. “It won’t be too long until it’s as hot as hell again.” A squadron of jet fighters passed overhead.

  Jerri smacked him and gave a playful smirk.

  She started to shake uncontrollably.

  Her eyes fluttered open.

  “Jerri!” Krystal whispered, shaking her harder. “Jerri!”

  Jerri stumbled out of her sleepy stupor and looked around. Her heart sank as she found herself back inside the dismal dorm. Krystal was hunkered down in front of her, staring at her.

  “What is it?” Jerri asked.

  “We need to go to the store,” Krystal said. “There’s nothing to drink in here and I’m thirsty.”

  Jerri massaged her forehead.

  “The store? What are you even talking about?” Jerri sighed. “Just... Just wait here. I’ll go get you some water.”

  Krystal nodded and walked back to the cot with her baby. She sat and smiled down at him.

  “That doesn’t change the fact that we need to go shopping tomorrow,” Krystal said, oblivious.

  “Yeah,” Jerri said, not really sure what else to say to that. She stood up and walked towards the door.

  She could still see Mitch’s face. Could still make out the scents of the park.

  That was the worst part about dreaming. What clung to her after she woke. What was lost.

  Slowly, she opened the door and walked out into the dark hallway. The automatic hallway lighting was dimmed to conserve energy. A few tent dwellers had taken shelter from the cold outside, dozing in the corridor.

  Jerri maneuvered around the countless bodies and made her way to the bathroom, careful not to accidentally step on anybody. She kept her hand wrapped around the knife in her pocket and finally reached the bathroom door.

  Inside the bathroom, a few people slept in the shower stalls and used plastic bags and magazines as makeshift roofs to shield themselves from the water dripping from the ceiling.

  Jerri pulled a small Ziploc bag out of her pocket and turned on the cold water. While she waited for the water to run clear, she looked at one of the many framed FEMA posters on the wall…

  It made her remember her dream; it was the very same number she tried calling in the park that day. She missed Mitch, more than she would like to admit. When she closed her eyes she could make out every detail about him, every feature…

  Water started to soak through her slippers and snapped her back to reality.

  The water ran clear but it was overfilling the sink and creating a small lake on the bathroom floor.

  She cursed and turned the water flow down and filled the Ziploc bag.

  As she left the bathroom and made her trek down the hall, she tried to turn her brain off. Her mind shifted to the incident in medical earlier in the day. Shut up, she told herself.

  Once she reached Krystal’s room, she half-expected to find her friend holding a dead fetus. She didn’t know why she thought such a horrid thought, but she did. Clear as day she pictured it, and the morbidity of it all made her shiver in shame.

  Krystal was still sitting on the cot and held her baby close against her.

  The baby was sleeping and giving raspy little breaths through his mouth.

  “Thanks,” Krystal said, smiling. She happily took the water bag and then held it a moment, looking at Jerri. “No straw?”

  Jerri shook her head.

  “Well, that’s fine,” Krystal said. “I’ll just add that to my grocery list for tomorrow.”

  Jerri politely smiled and nodded.

  Krystal sucked the Ziploc dry, lay back down, and almost immediately fell back asleep. Jerri sat back down against the dresser and sighed, popping her knuckles. She was confident that her friend would snap out of it soon, but she hoped that it would be sooner than later.

  As far as the baby went, Jerri honestly didn’t see him living more than a few days.

  She leaned her head back against the dresser and closed her eyes, willing herself not to dream.

  But, instead of sleeping, she kept her eyes fixated on the television in shocked silence.

  Mitch sat next to her, holding an unlit cigarette with a shaky hand. “… unprecedented response to an unprecedented threat to our national security. Again, for those of you just tuning in, the United States has launched a volley of nuclear missiles along the east coast in order to curtail the lethal Piedmont Influenza… Confirmed strike zones are… New York City… Raleigh… Boston, DC, Phi– The… list, it just keeps going on. It’s just–The current casualty figures are… they…” the reporter stopped and stifled his tears. “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen… just… I just need a moment.” The reporter stood up and walked off screen, hiding his face.

  “We should go to the shelter,” Mitch finally said, putting the unlit cigarette in his mouth the wrong way. “If our blood is clean, they can take us to one of those camps. The camps have food, water, and soldiers. They’re safe.”

  “Mitch, no…” Jerri said, pleading with her eyes. “I can’t leave my family behind.” She looked down. “I was thinking… I should go stay with them for a while until things cool down.”

  Mitch slowly nodded and tried to light his cigarette. Realizing it was backwards he turned it around with fumbling fingers and lit it. He took a deep drag and blew the smoke up towards the ceiling.

  “Yeah, yeah… good idea…” he muttered. “I’ll stay held up here for a few days and see how things fall into place. If things get bad… promise me you’ll go with me to the camps.”

  Jerri nodded. “I’ll take my folks with us if things start to go south,” she said. “Both of them got vaccinated. I wish we didn’t wait so long… Maybe we should’ve gotten the shot too before they ran out.”

  “Yeah, I know but it’s too late for that now… I’ll give mom a call tomorrow… I need to check on her,” Mitch said. His mom was in Houston. He had no idea that she was already one of the infected.

  Mitch and Jerri stared vacantly at the television for several hours without speaking. The footage playing was surreal and horrifying. Some broadcasts were shut off mid-air while others felt
heavily scripted. The cameras didn’t lie though and they didn’t hide the virus’s true nature. Whatever it was, it wasn’t flu.

  Eventually, around sunset, the broadcasts stopped and the channels turned to static.

  Mitch tuned the television off and looked over at Jerri with the cigarette butt still between his lips.

  Jerri met his gaze, frightened.

  After sitting in stunned silence for several minutes, they embraced.

  There, on Mitch’s sofa, they made love for the last time. Jerri shifted in her sleep, fidgeting. She nestled herself onto the floor and curled up into a fetal position, hugging her knees against her chest.

  Her once beautiful neighborhood had become a chaotic nightmare. People were loading their cars up with everything they could handle. They shoved bags of clothes into the backseat and pushed their half-dressed children into the front. Police cars and ambulances sped down the narrow streets, narrowly dodging the screaming pedestrians and haphazardly parked vehicles. Some of the houses were boarded up as if a hurricane was approaching, others had their doors busted open by looters. Quite a few houses had their front porch splattered with blood.

  In the distance, downtown Phoenix burned and helicopters circled overhead. Mitch weaved his Taurus down the neighborhood streets, driving Jerri to her parent’s house. He watched the chaos around him with detached disbelief. Multiple houses burned out of control.

  Jerri watched with horror as she listened to the grisly radio reports. “ -I am. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m reporting live in south Tempe. I-I can speak freely. The soldiers who were escorting us and dictating our script have gone. I… I don’t know how long we can stay on the air like this…

  “Listen, don’t believe what the government is saying. Things are not under control. This thing is airborne! It’s not just bites! [COUGH] We –we just fled from the Arizona Mills Mall. It’s filled with… with… well, I don’t how else to describe them except for calling them–”

  Mitch reached over and switched stations.

  “–for Disease Control and Prevention has recalled the marketed Acexa vaccine and suspended all–”

  He cycled through stations again until he found one that wasn’t static.