The other boat showed its age. Its windows and control panel was covered with hard water spots, and calcium deposits littered the hull. The craft’s stainless-steel accents were coated with rust, and the blue police bubble light on the roof above the helm was cracked and held together with duct tape.
“They both look like shit,” Ein said as he approached them.
Teddy moved the rag off of his wound and looked down at the oozing gash with a grimace. “Yeah, well, we aren’t in a position to be picky.” He covered the wound again and looked at him. “Get on there and see if it works.”
Ein let go of Teddy, sat the backpack of supplies down, and climbed aboard. He gave the moldy puddles of rainwater a wide berth as he tip-toed his way to the helm.
Teddy sat down on the stuffed backpack and wrapped his arms around his stomach, groaning in pain.
Ein turned towards him and frowned. “Are you sure that you’re up to this?”
“I’ll be fine,” Teddy grumbled. He waved a hand at the boat. “Start her up.”
Ein turned his attention back towards the controls and shook his head in frustration. “There’s no key!”
Teddy slouched over and kept his arms wrapped around his abdomen. “Don’t need keys. Find the toolbox. There should be one on there somewhere… Probably under one of the seats.”
Ein crouched down and peered under the seats. He pulled out a yellow box and held it in the air. “Got it! Now what?”
“Get a flathead out or whatever is long and metallic.” Teddy paused and wiped the fever sweat off his brow. “Then find the solenoid and connect the s terminal to the hot wire.”
“The soul-what?” Ein turned towards him with a puzzled expression. “What are you even talking about?”
“Jesus Christ, kid…” Teddy sighed. “You better hope I don’t die.”
“Why’s that?” he asked, somewhat defensively.
“Because it’s clear that I got a lot to teach you before I go.”
CHAPTER 30
The boat’s powerful dual engines performed remarkably well and made navigating the mighty river a manageable task.
With just a few basic operating instructions from Teddy, Ein managed to maneuver around the occasional floating barge or collapsed overpass with ease.
By the time sunset approached, they had already passed the Louisiana state line and were nearing Baton Rouge.
Ein kept an eye in the sky for helicopters, but it seemed as if the government had given up the pursuit.
Out of boredom and some genuine curiosity, he occasionally turned the CB radio’s knob to scan the maritime, state, and local police frequencies, but there was nothing but static across every channel.
Ein became less concerned about any possible pursuers and grew increasingly worried about Teddy.
In the morning, Teddy was communicable and even managed to put together a lunch that consisted of canned pintos and creamed corn.
However, as the evening waned on, his condition rapidly deteriorated.
The fever escalated, and his festering wound oozed out a steady dribble of yellow pus.
Teddy bundled himself up in the covers and slipped in and out of sleep as Ein piloted the helm.
He knew that without proper medical treatment, Teddy would die.
The only place that he could think of that would have the type of help Teddy needed was a hospital inside one of the safe zones.
It was their only hope, Ein realized.
Ein pushed the throttle forward and hurried full-speed downriver towards Baton Rouge.
CHAPTER 31
JANUARY 7th
3:17 AM
Marquee lights and neon signs advertising ‘loosest slots’ and ‘$$$ big wins guaranteed $$$’ glittered off of the deserted casinos that lined both sides of the river as it passed through downtown Baton Rouge. The streetlamps glowed brightly and illuminated the side streets and avenues forever snarled with smashups and rusting vehicles. Gambling boats and paddle boats all full of corpses sat marooned along the shore crushed against overturned barges and tankers. Some of the paddleboats still had dancing neon signs as the river’s current kept their wheels dutifully spinning and generating electric power.
The city was a glowing graveyard whose brilliant hues lit up the muggy winter sky.
Amid this dazzling display of desolation, a section of downtown had been cordoned off with towering steel panels crowned with watchtowers and barbwire. Stenciled across the side of the steel slabs were the words: Baton Rouge Safe Zone.
Ein cautiously eased off of the throttle and stared at the safe zone.
High-rise hotels and a few office skyscrapers were encircled within the zone’s barrier wall, and surveillance drones ducked, dived, and buzzed overhead like cybernetic lightning bugs. Sentries, no larger than specks, patrolled the catwalks along the top of the barrier while searchlights swiveled from the watchtowers and threw their beams down alleyways and sidewalks.
“Just hang on a little while longer.” Ein turned towards Teddy and frowned when he noticed that his face was glistening with beads of fever sweat. “I’m going to find you help.”
Teddy kept his eyes shut and shivered underneath the covers. His labored breaths came out in weak gasps.
Ein turned his attention towards the piers and searched for a suitable place to dock.
Most of the wooden piers had been smashed to pieces by the passing ghost ships, but a few remained intact.
Molding plastic sacks and boney cadavers floated around one of the piers, and two dump trucks sat parked at the riverbank with their buckets full of plastic-wrapped corpses. Behind the trucks were multiple rows of weathered, tattered white tents adorned with the iconic symbol of the American Red Cross. Tilted high-mast lights peppered the pathways in-between the tents and lay toppled across the aluminum crowd control barriers.
It wasn’t an ideal place to drop anchor, but Ein knew that he needed something to carry Teddy to the safe zone, and he hoped that he could find a gurney in one of the tents.
Ein steered the boat through the stiff bodies as they thumped against the hull and brought the craft to a stop at the dock.
Teddy stirred and rolled over onto his side. He mumbled as he wrapped himself tightly in the covers.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back.” Ein tied the boat to the pier and hopped off.
A banner hung between two high-mast poles: Official Red Cross Influenza Treatment Center—Bashir Pier Encampment.
Ein followed a zig-zagging pathway between the crowd control barriers and stared uneasily around the abandoned camp.
Soiled linen, hospital gowns, and bits of trash blew across the ground and got stuck in the barriers’ aluminum bars.
He peeked inside one of the white tents and immediately recoiled with his hand over his nose as the ripe, noxious stench of decay wafted out towards him.
Inside the tent, cots sat lined in rows along with IV poles. Twisted, corrupted bodies lay sprawled on every cot—their leathery faces remained perpetually frozen in an expression of agony as they spent their final moments gasping for breath. Flies and gnats were thick in the stuffy air, and cockroaches covered the dirty floor.
Ein turned away and hurried further into the camp. He didn’t bother peering into any of the other numerous tents—he figured that the scene inside would be similar.
Towards the front of the encampment, next to a double-wide intake screening trailer, there were two Baton Rouge Fire Department ambulances with their rear doors open.
Hopeful, Ein climbed in the back of each one and looked around.
Unfortunately, anything of medicinal value was stolen, and the gurneys were gone.
He considered using the vehicle itself as a means of transport, but he could not find the keys. Besides, he doubted that either one would start after sitting idle for so long.
Defeated and irritated, Ein started to walk back towards the river to do another search when he noticed a few wheelchairs that sat behind the double-wide.
All of them were coated with a fine layer of rust. The faux-leather seats were already starting to peel apart from exposure.
Ein grabbed the one that appeared to be in the best shape and started rolling it back towards the boat.
As he passed between the tents full of the dead, he thought about the way Teddy was breathing.
He knew that there wasn’t much time, and he prayed that he wasn’t too late.
CHAPTER 32
It was sunrise by the time Ein wheeled Teddy through the congested lanes and by-lanes of the untenanted city and approached the main entrance of the Baton Rouge Safe Zone.
Throughout the journey, Teddy struggled to remain conscious and could only manage nonsensical mumbles when he wasn’t busy gasping for breath.
The infection seemed to have run deep, and it now formed a red web across his skin that started from the bullet wound and spread out across his entire abdomen.
Ein stopped the wheelchair a few blocks short of the safe zone’s entrance and watched.
Two of the wall’s large steel panels had a vehicular entryway on a section of the highway that led towards the safe zone, and a path had been bulldozed through the stalled traffic. Rolling chain-link fences controlled by security gatehouses cordoned off the roadway, while a small detachment of officers stood in sentry positions. An awning jaunted over the road along with bold-lettered signage that read: STOP! All Vehicles—Proceed Thru Right Lane For Decontamination & Inspection / All Pedestrians—Proceed Through Left Lane For Medical Evaluation & Admittance Protocols! DO NOT Approach Red Line Without Authorization! Deadly Force Is Authorized!
Ein saw people wearing white biohazard suits and carrying chemical foggers milling about just past the chain-link and counted at least four different machine gunner nests.
Additional officers carrying heavy weaponry stood on the roof of the awning and in adjacent watchtowers on top of the panels.
Drones hovered overhead—occasionally dipping down to check the rooftops of nearby buildings.
A recording boomed over an array of loudspeakers atop the awning: Reminder—failure to disclose any signs of illness is a punishable offense. Follow all posted signage and obey the intake officer’s instructions at all times.
Ein became queasy at the magnitude of the safe zone’s security chokepoint—he knew there was no way to rush through the fence or sneak past the sentries.
He looked at the steel wall, thinking.
At best, it was still just a bunch of segmented panels placed together to form a rudimentary barricade.
The space between the panels varied.
Some sections had gaps that were at least a foot wide, while others seemed to have no clearance at all.
If he followed the perimeter, perhaps he’d get lucky and find a hole large enough to sneak Teddy through.
Ein knew that Teddy would’ve objected to the very notion of going inside, but what choice did he have?
Teddy was near death, and medicine was just over the other side of those gleaming silver walls.
If he could stick to the shadows and avoid the watchtowers, then maybe, just maybe, he—
Ein’s thoughts were interrupted as a surveillance drone passed a little too closer than he’d like.
He cautiously backed into the shadows of a nearby alleyway and wheeled Teddy away.
CHAPTER 33
Just a little past dawn, Ein found what he was looking for.
Across the parking lot, just beyond a casino tower, a section of the wall had been placed askew thanks to an unforgiving, uneven section of pavement that made the urban terrain off-kilter.
The large gap led into an inconspicuous alleyway nestled between what appeared to be two high-rise apartment buildings.
Ein hopped the curb of the parking lot and pushed the wheelchair through the maze of dusty vehicles. He tried not to look at the rotting corpses slouched inside most of the cars, but he still managed to catch their ghostly visage in his peripherals.
His eyes kept jumping up towards one of the watchtowers positioned on the wall nearby.
The closer he got, the surer he was that the tower was unoccupied, given its disrepair.
It made Ein wonder just how many of the towers were actually manned.
A drone buzzed overhead and startled him to a stop, but whoever was operating seemed to have its camera focused towards the nearby casino rooftop.
Ein lowered his head and hurried away from the drone and through the gap in the wall.
Teddy’s limp body jumped and jolted as Ein pushed the wheelchair over old bottles and trash in the shadowy alleyway. He swam up in a brief moment of clarity and muttered something unintelligible.
“It’s going to be okay.” Ein place a hand reassuringly on his shoulder. “I’m going to get you help.”
Teddy opened his eyes and looked around with a frantic gaze before closing them once again. He placed his chin against his chest and gasped weakly.
A cardboard hobo encampment cluttered the alley. Rat-infested shacks made out of old appliance boxes and milk crates blocked off the pathway.
Ein knocked through moldy boxes and tore down the clotheslines and cobwebs of the tent city. He was thankful that nobody was still living in the makeshift shelters, but he didn’t figure that the vagrants had faired too well during the outbreak. He imagined that an entire forgotten population of panhandlers, vagabonds, neglected addicts, and the wandering mentally ill had been forever purged out of every major city across the globe.
Sunlight poured in from the end of the alley, and he could see passing silhouettes as people meandered along the sidewalk.
Ein kept the wheelchair parked in the shadows between a pile of boxes. He covered Teddy with the blankets and patted him on the shoulder. “Stay right here, okay?”
Teddy’s head lolled to the side, and he gave a weak mumble. He kept his eyes closed and shivered underneath the covers.
Ein frowned, turned, and exited the alley. He shielded his eyes from the sun as he squinted and looked around.
The sidewalk was bustling with people. Most wore business suits and winter dresses and carried briefcases and steaming cups of coffee. They milled about from the residential towers and hurried with determination towards the surrounding skyscrapers. Everyone seemed engaged in conversation as they yammered away with their colleagues or at familiar passing faces.
Ein stepped back against the wall as people quickly brushed past him and passed by without so much as a curious glance.
Two police cars marked with ‘Baton Rouge Federal Police Battalion’ slowly rolled down the middle of the avenue and beeped their horns at the passing foot traffic.
Aside from the cruisers, there were no other vehicles on the road.
As such, sidewalks appeared to be a mere suggestion rather than the acceptable norm as people mindlessly spilled out onto the streets and jaywalked carelessly towards their destinations.
It took Ein several moments before he realized that he was witnessing what surmounted to the morning rush hour in the strange new world.
Seeing so many people in one place was unnerving.
As Ein watched with detached disbelief, even more strangers showed up.
They funneled out of small coffee shops and steadily marched out of the apartments.
People—hundreds of them—filled the street and moved with the same vibrancy as that of the automatic drones who moved mindlessly throughout the confines of their colony.
Blissfully unaware of the perils outside the walls.
Blissfully unaware of the heavily armed officers who watched them from the rooftops above.
Blissfully unaware of the dirty newcomer who just wandered into their midst.
To Ein, it felt so peculiar to watch them.
It was as if they were all actors who were playing their part in some nostalgic performance that mimicked a time before the flu had changed reality forever.
All around him, he heard the prattling of pointless conversation and empty
laughter.
Ein covered his ears and clenched his jaw—it was almost too much to bear.
One of the police cruisers on the street slowed, and the masked man in the passenger seat stared at Ein.
It suddenly dawned on Ein that he was the only one standing still.
He stuck out like a goddamn sore thumb.
Ein put his hands down, lowered his head, and quickly wandered off to blend in with the crowd.
As he walked, an announcement played over the city’s PA system: Attention—Group A work call will conclude in fifteen minutes. Morning curfew for all other groups is in full effect.
Ein had no idea what that meant, but he knew that he had to find someone in the herd who could help him. He reached over towards a man who was worriedly glancing down at his watch.
“Excuse me,” Ein said as he tapped the man’s arm. “My friend needs help. Which way is the nearest clinic?”
The man ignored him and kept moving.
Ein frowned and turned towards a woman who walked next to him, sipping a coffee. “Miss? Could you—”
“I don’t have anything to give you, and I’m already late.” The woman gave him a pitiful smile and then hurried on her way.
Ein tried to stop others, but they ducked and dodged out of his way and started to give him a wide berth.
He became frustrated and stopped to block the path of an Asian man who was carrying a briefcase and wore an ill-fitting grey suit.
The Asian man adjusted his thin-rimmed glasses, surprised.
“Sir, please help me,” Ein pleaded. “My friend—”
“Group A only!” the man shouted in heavily-accented English. He shoved Ein aside and angrily stormed past. “How many times I say to you people? I no have handouts! Go back inside with your group, or I call cops!”
Ein, stunned, staggered aside and watched the man walk away. People elbowed past him and shoved him from side-to-side. He was soon swept along with the crowd and turned the corner at an intersection where a black police van sat parked in the middle. An officer stood on each side of the vehicle.
H7N9: The Complete Series [Books 1-3] Page 72
