by Connor Mccoy
But this one was a complete unknown to him. A possible virus? Tom knew how to handle human intruders. He also could fight Mother Nature by digging ditches or building shelters. But germs? This was out of his league.
At the moment, everyone was writing down notes under the artificial light. In an era where copy machines were still unavailable, people had to manually write down everything. Right now, those writings could be life or death, as Cheryl’s instructions were being repeated to everyone in the hope they would take that information back to their families.
Finally, the council got to the last page. Sarah had been reading off the last few paragraphs. “Now…” Sarah coughed. Her throat had been run dry from reciting Cheryl’s words. “Excuse me. Are there any questions?”
Simon raised his hand. Sarah was appointed the presiding officer over the council, so she pointed to him. “I think we need to talk about finding out what this, this thing is that Sheila’s got.” Simon’s gaze slowly turned to the resident physician on the council—Lauren.
The young physician turned to Cheryl. “I grabbed some isolation gear that was left over from the NATO occupation, and thank you again Cheryl for sealing off her room.” Lauren’s quick smile morphed into embarrassment as her face turned red.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with her. My education was mostly in physical wounds, abrasions, treating injuries to prevent infections. But I couldn’t finish my studies before the world went to pieces.” She sighed.
“There a lot of virus types I’m still not familiar with. I didn’t even get more than the basics when the EMP shut off my medical school.”
A middle-aged man in the audience raised his hand. Sarah pointed to him. “What about our other doctors?”
“Those were mostly kids I had to teach in a big hurry during the NATO occupation,” Lauren replied, “It was mostly making splints, setting broken bones, stopping bleeding, dealing with physical injuries. We just don’t have anyone here who can diagnose a virus.”
People in the audience exchanged worried looks and a few whispers. “What about the medical equipment that the soldiers left?” asked a lady, out of turn, but Sarah let it slide.
“A lot of it still works, but I’ll be damned if I understand it all,” Lauren said. “You need somebody with real experience, somebody who knows what to look for.”
The murmurs grew a little louder. Evidently the crowd was taken by surprise. Another council member raised his hand. Sarah acknowledged him. Jamie Cooper stood up.
“I believe I know somebody. Before I made this town my home, I had lived in a town that does have a very skilled doctor.” Cooper gazed at Lauren. “I believe he has the skills you need.”
“How far away is the town?” Simon asked.
“On foot, two days,” Cooper replied.
Sarah looked away for a moment, thinking. “That’s about four days there and back. And you still have to find him and talk to him.”
“It’s not like we can find his address on Google,” Simon added.
“We could tap our gas supply,” Sarah said, “If we take the truck and nurse the gas like hell, it could cut a day, maybe two, and we’ll still have some left over.”
“I will go,” Cooper said, “I know my way around the town. But I would like someone to escort me. Be a bodyguard.”
At that moment, one or two in the audience turned in Tom’s direction. More necks turned, as if following the leader. A burning sensation ran across Tom’s skin. Me? Not that Tom was surprised to be thought of. He was just surprised so many people instantly thought of him.
“You seem to be a bit of a legend around here.” Cooper smiled as he spoke to Tom. “I’ve heard you’ve killed a hundred men with your bare hands.”
A few men laughed. Even Tom had to chuckle. “Well, I don’t really keep count.” He straightened up. “If you need my help, you got it.”
“Great. I am looking forward to it,” Cooper said.
“Then it’s settled.” Sarah rose. “Are there any questions—”
“Hey!” Lauren interjected. “I think we forgot something.”
For a few seconds, nobody seemed to know. Finally, Simon piped up. “Vote! I think we’re supposed to vote.”
Sarah blushed. “Yeah, I suppose town councils do that, right?” She aimed a wry smile at the audience. Some of them laughed.
“Right. All in favor…” She raised her hand. Everyone else at the table followed suit.
“Guess it would be useless to ask if anyone was opposed.” Sarah lowered her hand. “Well, congratulations. That was our second vote.”
A few audience members clapped, perhaps out of good humor, but more people followed. Tom and Cheryl joined in. The scene may have been silly, but it was real democracy in action. They’d get used to it.
Chapter Six
Tom hated this truck. Unlike his car, this vehicle jostled and bounced as it rode the asphalt of the state road out of town. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
“The one pickup truck that survives the apocalypse and the damn air conditioner doesn’t work,” he muttered.
Cooper reclined in the passenger seat. His window was rolled down. He kept an eye on the road ahead. The man had been quiet ever since they had left. Gray clouds covered the sky. Tom hoped it wouldn’t rain, at least not until they had arrived at the doctor’s town. He didn’t want to pump the gas any more than he had to. As of now, he was giving it slight pumps to maintain its nearly forty miles per hour speed. He was just thankful the road was as straight as it was. It allowed them to coast for long periods of time.
Curiosity urged Tom to speak. Cooper still was an unknown quantity to him, to many in Tom’s town in fact.
“So, I noticed you talking with Karen before we headed out. You two friends?”
Cooper turned his head. “Yes. I had met her almost soon after I came to town.” He smiled.
“I was very concerned. I had seen smoke rising from the trees and I thought there was a fire. I did not expect to run into a war. She had set me straight on what just had happened.”
“You came in just as we finished fighting the NATO troops,” Tom said.
“I did. She was outside. She was bandaged. I assumed she was hurt in the fighting. She did not tell me what had happened until later.”
Tom bit his lip. “Yeah.”
“Turn here.” Cooper pointed to a crossing in the road, at the split where the road forked right. Tom complied. A short while later, they traveled over a railroad crossing. Houses and shops then popped into view.
“Perfect. We’re here,” Cooper said.
Tom drank in every detail he could. This was only the second community he had encountered since he put down roots in his adopted town. He wanted to see how this town had adapted to the new post-EMP world. He soon got a good idea. Small hills of mud and dirt had been dug in front of most of the houses.
“Those look like little levees,” Tom said.
“This is Carrollton,” Cooper explained, “These people suffered a terrible flood a few months ago. The water pumping station would usually take care of floodwater, but it doesn’t work anymore. So, this place is prone to flooding.”
It was easy to see what Cooper was talking about. Flood lines were visible on many of the structures as Tom passed. If the houses and shops were on hilly ground, the lines were near the bottom. But to his shock, some homes had lines near the halfway mark. If the residents had not evacuated, real tragedies could have occurred. He was almost afraid to ask.
“Were you around for the flood?”
Cooper narrowed his eyes. “Yes.” He said nothing more about the subject. Instead, he pointed to an intersection. “We’ll go left. Stop at the insurance building. Doctor Tran is staying there.”
As Tom turned the truck, the former bodyguard asked, “I forgot to ask, but we won’t be pissing off anyone here by borrowing their doctor?” Tom began noticing people stepping out of their homes to watch as their vehicle passed. Naturally, a working automobile n
ow was a rare sight.
Cooper turned and looked Tom in the eyes for the first time during this trip. “When the flood came, we had a choice. We shared, we lived. We didn’t, we died.”
Tom nodded. “Just checking.”
He noticed the insurance building up ahead. Tom pulled into the parking lot. His cynical side would die hard. Indeed, as he got out of the truck, it still nagged him. He waited until Cooper had climbed out, then locked both doors and tucked away the keys in his pocket.
Cooper fingered the strap over his shoulder. Tom’s neighbors helped prepare a care package as a sign of good will to the town. Hopefully, it also would prove their intentions and help convince them to let their doctor come with them.
Cooper knocked on the glass door. A young Asian woman, probably no older than twenty or twenty-one, unlocked it, then rushed out and took Cooper’s hand.
“Jamie! I’m so happy to see you!”
“This kind man gave me a lift.” Cooper winked.
“Thomas Criver from Eagleton.” He then glanced at Tom. “This is Janine Tran, Doctor Tran’s niece.”
Tom smiled. “Hi.”
“Can I prepare you something?” Janine asked.
“We cannot stay long,” Cooper said, “We must see your uncle at once.”
Daniel Tran sat behind a cluttered desk in the back office. His hair was straight black, his skin beginning to show age lines, perhaps signaling the onset of middle age. His desk was littered with notes, books, and a few medical instruments, and he was at the moment studying a notepad and writing down thoughts as they came to him.
When Cooper first entered the room, Tran froze as if in shock. “Jamie. My God, I never imagined—”
Jamie hurried over. Tran grasped his arms as if welcoming a family member. “How have you been?”
“I found a new home.” Cooper smiled. “I’ve actually become a leader there.”
“Well, it’s no surprise to me.” Tran looked past Cooper in Tom’s direction. “I see you have brought a guest.”
“Thomas Criver. He is a war hero.”
“War hero?” Tran raised an eyebrow. “Well, I can believe it looking at you.”
Tom chuckled. “I wouldn’t call myself a war hero. I used to be a security guard.”
“Thomas helped us fight back against an invasion of NATO soldiers. He is practically a legend there,” Cooper said.
“NATO, huh? And here I thought it would be the communists who would get us.” Tran walked over.
“I apologize if I can’t shake your hand yet. With what I’ve been working with, you might not want to touch my skin. Please, sit down and tell me what brings you to my door.”
Tom and Cooper each took a seat. Then, Tom explained the situation in his town. Tran listened intensely until he finally asked a question.
“What are the symptoms?”
“Headache, fatigue, and a horrible rash. It’s like agony. Waylon’s wife itched herself until she bled,” Tom replied, “She moans. It sounds like humming sometimes.”
“Has that happened to anyone here?” Cooper asked.
Tran shook his head. “No. Our last health issue was a rash of allergies caused by ragweed. And before that, we had all the problems with the flooding…” His voice trailed off. “No, this sounds like a virus.”
“It’s not in the water. We’ve been testing it like crazy,” Tom said.
“Well, perhaps, perhaps not,” Tran replied.
“We need your help. This is probably asking a lot, but we would like you to come back to Eagleton with us, help Sheila, find out what it is that’s infected her.”
Tran nodded. “I take it you have no doctors in your town.”
“None with the experience we need,” Tom said, “We know money’s pretty much not an issue any more. We can pay in food, supplies, water, building materials, whatever you would need for your town.”
“What we need can’t be replaced.” Tran looked at Cooper. “Are you staying long?”
“No. I have nobody else I need to see. I am ready if you should say yes.”
That exchange puzzled Tom. Cooper didn’t seem particularly enthused about being here. And what did the doctor mean?
Tran sat back. “Wait in the front office. You’ll be tended to. I just need about two hours.”
It turned out to be more than two hours. Tom and Cooper enjoyed a meal of hot chicken and rice, with water to drink. As they waited, different people, most of them Asian, came in and out of the office. Many nodded or smiled at the pair as they passed by. Once they got into the back, the tenor of their voices changed, as well as the spoken language. Almost all the voices in the back were in a different language. Evidently, Doctor Tran’s departure was the source of some controversy.
Cooper leaned closer to Tom. “Most of these people came from a Vietnamese community from Philadelphia. They fled riots. Some of them had relatives down south.”
That made sense. Many of these people must be speaking Vietnamese. “Is taking Tran with us a problem?” Tom asked as softly as he could.
“I know what you said earlier about sharing, but it seems as though we stirred things up a bit.”
“I think it is just a surprise. Imagine if you suddenly announced you had to leave town for a while.”
Tom nodded. “I think Cheryl would have kittens.”
Finally, Doctor Tran stood in the view of the open doorway. He was speaking intensely with Janine and another girl, possibly a teenager. The pair then hugged Tran in turn. Tran then whispered something to each of them. Then, a teenage Vietnamese boy approached and handed Tran a large, thick black bag.
The doctor then strolled into the front office. Tom and Cooper stood up. “Gentlemen, my journey awaits. You may take me where I need to go.”
Sam wiped sweat off his face. The boy just had finished erecting a wooden post, one of six that helped to hold up the tent. Amir, Charlie, Fred, Terry and Dominick all had pitched in to get the backyard tent up quickly.
Annie chose that moment to walk by. “What’s going on? Are we having a camping night out in our backyard?”
“Not quite,” Charlie said, “This is a quarantine tent.”
“Quar-en-tine?” Annie asked as if she never had heard the word before.
Dominick popped up from the tent’s rear. “Ever seen those movies where flesh-eating viruses infect everybody? That’s where they first go before they go totally nuts and try and eat your brain.”
Grimacing, Annie shook her head.
“Mom’s telling everyone to get a room in their house ready if they don’t have a tent.” Terry stepped out of the tent.
Fred, holding back the open flap, spoke up. “It’s so they can ice them.”
“Ice them?” Annie asked.
“Isolate.” That was the voice of their mother.
Cheryl marched over, carrying a rolled-up plastic sheet. “I-so-late,” she pronounced.
“It means to separate someone from everyone else. That way, if they’re contagious, if they can make other people sick, then everyone else is protected.”
“But how do you get somebody else sick?” Fred asked.
“Easy. You breathe on them.” Dominick then rushed up to Fred and exhaled his breath all over him.
“Hey!” Fred jumped back. “Knock it off! Your breath stinks!”
“Actually, that’s not the only way to spread disease.” Charlie walked by. “You can infect somebody by giving them your blood.”
“And if you touch them.” Terry held up his hands and flexed his fingers. Smiling wickedly, he approached Annie.
The girl didn’t seem fazed by him. “You touch me and you’re eating grass,” she retorted.
“Hey,” Cheryl said, “No touching and no fighting.”
“Bugs!” Dominick cut in. “Bugs can make you sick! Like ticks. They bite you, they can make you sick.”
“And mosquitoes!” Fred added.
“Mice?” Sam asked. It was unusual to hear him talk. “Mice can make you
sick, right?”
“Mouse shit can,” Dominick said, “Oh, and roach shit. Maybe there’s a ton of bug poop everywhere.”
Cheryl chuckled. “We’re thinking of everything we can think of.” She marched into the tent. “Believe me, even the mouse poop.”
The rampant speculation continued outside. “Hey, maybe it’s monkeys,” Dominick said, “I saw this movie where—”
“Monkeys? We don’t have monkeys!” Annie cut him off.
By now Cheryl wasn’t listening. She unfolded the plastic, unraveling it until she brushed against a child’s shoe. She looked up. Amir was standing over her. He still had been inside the tent, setting up the folding mattress.
“Hey!” Cheryl stood up. “The tent looks amazing.”
Amir nodded. No spoken words.
“Well someone’s being awfully quiet.” Cheryl grabbed one end of the plastic. “Here, give me a hand.”
Amir obeyed. The boy struggled a bit, but soon was able to brace it. Cheryl took special watch over him as she raised the plastic to the top of the post. Amir clearly had grown a few inches in the past year, and his skinny arms had added some muscle. The nutrition gained from regular meals and hard work were maturing the child nicely. Before too long, he’d be hitting his immediate pre-teen years and probably would hit a growth spurt or two.
He’d make a handsome young man, Cheryl thought.
She was enormously proud of him. In the past several months since the end of the insurrection, Amir had acted well adjusted, without evidencing the scars of his ordeal with the death of his family and being pursued by The Coach’s men. The savagery of the world had burned into Amir’s soul a violent darkness that he once had delved into. Amir had gotten his hands on guns that the NATO troops had taken from the town. To save Tom, he had used them to kill a number of enemy soldiers. The scene broke Cheryl’s heart. She had seen child soldiers on the battlefield before. She never wanted to observe that sight with her own son.
