There was a pause and the operator came back on. “Who are you trying to reach Ma’am?”
“Lt. Dean Hayes.” She looked at Robbie with confidence.
“Dr. Hayes has checked out of the hotel. He did leave word however, if anyone is trying to reach him, we are to tell them he was pulled for medical emergency reasons.”
The phone dropped from Ellen’s hand as she backed into the wall. The continuous call from the operator saying ‘Ma’am?’ over and over was heard as she stood there stunned.
Robbie picked up the phone and ended the call. Laying his hands on Ellen’s shoulders, he said nothing. He just stared at her frightened expression and Ellen just fell into his arms.
<><><><>
May 31- 10:22 a.m.
The certainty of Dr. Catharine Donovan’s voice as she spoke at the CDC news conference was the only sound in Ellen’s silent living room. Robbie and Ellen sat alone on the sofa listening to the doctor detail facts and symptoms that were as painful to hear as they sounded like they must feel. Alone in the house with only Pete and Ellen’s children upstairs, Robbie had rushed Johnny back home to his mother and encouraged Kelly to stay away, though he knew, as did Ellen and Joe, that she and her four children had already been exposed.
Ellen sat right next to him. Robbie felt her body leaning on his as she listened against her will. Her fingers were locked so tightly in between his, her forehead resting on the cupped, intertwined security she found within his hands.
Robbie knew the reality hit Ellen hard when the news conference was finally over and she lifted her head with the uttermost look of horror anyone could have on their face.
“No” Ellen jumped up. “No. Oh God. My kids.” Stumbling, she ran from the living room to the stairs.
“Ellen.” Robbie reached back and grabbed her arm. “Ellen, listen to me.”
“My kids Robbie. My Kids. I have to check them. Go, you’d better go. They’re sick.”
“Ellen.” Robbie turned her to face him. “Don’t go up there like this. Do you hear me? Calm down when you check on them so you can see things clearly.”
Ellen’s lip quivered. “This can’t be happening.” Turning quickly, she headed up the steps. “Please dear God, let them be better.”
Robbie closed his eyes. His hand still felt the trembling arm of Ellen’s that just slid from his. He leaned back against the wall and heard her run about upstairs. He turned in surprise when the front door opened. “Dad? What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on Ellen. How is she?”
“Frantic. She’s not taking it well. How about Kelly?”
“She’s too calm.” Joe peered up the steps.
“Kelly calm?” Robbie asked. “is she in denial?”
Joe shrugged. “What about Ellen’s.. .” He didn’t have to finish the question. Ellen, walking slow and zombie-like down the steps, told him it all.
Lifting her hand as she neared the bottom of the steps, Ellen shook her head. “They’re sick. They’re fevered and tired and ...they’re sick, Joe.” She tried not to cry. “My babies are sick.” Just as her body moved to drop to the bottom step to sit, Robbie stopped her. He took her by the arm and pulled her to him.
Holding Ellen, clutching her head close to his chest, Robbie could feel as she began to cry. “We can’t be sure they have it, Ellen.” He tried to comfort her.
“I wish there was a way.” Ellen’s muffled words came through as she sought her comfort. She felt Joe’s hand run down her back. “I wish …” She lifted her head. “Pete.” She turned to Joe. “Pete, Joe. He’s been sick since yesterday. If he has, he will be the proof.” She broke from Robbie’s embrace and tried for the steps.
Joe pulled her back. “Stay here. Don’t move. Robbie, let’s go.” Joe saw Ellen trying to follow. “Ellen, stay here, If he has it, it won’t be pretty. Stay put.” Charging up the steps, Joe led the way. He knew which one was the guest room and he reached for the door. “Locked.”
Robbie stepped forward. “Want me to break it down?”
“I can…” Joe saw Josh coming from his bedroom. “Josh?” The boy looked pale.
“Mr. Slagel, is my mom all right. She was screaming.”
“Yes son. Josh, go back in your room and stay there. Please.” Waiting for the young boy to obey his orders, Joe stepped back and kicked forth, bursting the door open. He immediately covered his mouth and nose with the back of his hand when the scent of the sickness which emanated from Pete lunged at them viciously.
Robbie followed in the same manner. “Fuck.” He saw Pete on the bed lying in a puddle of any and all body fluids he could expel from his body. “I don’t see any blood.”
“Neither do I ... Pete.” Joe grabbed Ellen’s husband’s face. His eyes rolled slightly to the back of his head. His face was drawn and covered with dark purple splotches. “Pete.” He tried to get a response. “Robbie, we have to clean him up and submerge him. He’s burning up.”
“You want me to do that? And you can get this cleaned up. We have to. We can’t have it like this in here.”
“I’ll handle him. You handle this.” As Joe began to lift Pete, he heard the gasp coming from the door. He turned to face Ellen, who was holding her mouth.
“Oh God,” she gasped.
“Robbie,” Joe grunted. “Get her out of here now.”
“El.” Robbie rushed to her. “Let’s go.” He tried to pull her out.
“No Robbie, tell me this won’t happen to my babies. Tell me this isn’t going to happen to them.”
“I ... “He led her out into the hall. “I can’t. Stay here.” Backing up, he shut the door, leaving Ellen there while he helped his father with Pete.
<><><><>
May 31 - 3:05 p.m.
In the kitchen Ellen closed her eyes tightly. She grabbed a piece of paper and pen and turned her back to Robbie and Joe as she spoke on the phone. “All right. What are the dosages?”
Joe watched as she painfully wrote down what she was told. He remembered the argument she had given to the town’s only doctor and remembered, there and then, that Ellen was the town’s only known nurse.
Hanging up the phone, Ellen laid the paper on the counter. “Robbie or Joe, could either of you watch my family. I have to go get supplies. I’ll be about a half hour.”
Joe looked with curiosity at her. “People are going to come here?”
“For medication only,” Ellen answered. “I’ll leave a note on the clinic door. I have no choice, Joe. I seem to be the only one.”
“Ellen.” Joe stood up. “When people find out you are an aid station, honey, they won’t leave.”
“Yeah they will, Joe,” Ellen insisted. “I’ll kick them out.”
Joe gave a gentle smile as he grabbed her hand. “No you won’t because it’s up to us, those who aren’t sick, to do what we have to do. We have to help those who need us.”
“Joe, I’ve known you for a lot of years. When did you start to give a shit about people?”
“It’s a new thing. Don’t get too used to it. I don’t know how long it will last.” Joe reached in his pocket and handed her the keys. “Take my SUV. It holds more. And…” Joe looked at Robbie. “Take my son. You may need him.” Grabbing his revolver, Joe handed it to Robbie. “Take this. With you and her carrying pain medication, who knows what will happen. You know how quickly people panic. Robert, that is for peace purposes only. Don’t shoot anyone for Christ’s sake.”
Grinning, Robbie checked the safety and tucked the revolved behind him between his shirt and pants. “Got it. Ready, El?”
“Yeah.” Ellen stopped before going out. “Joe, could you check on them a couple times for me, please?”
Joe laid his hands on Ellen’s saddened face. “Sweetheart, how about I just go up there and sit with them until you get back.”
Ellen nodded, trying not to cry. With emotion, she hugged Joe, then pulled back and regained herself. “Let’s go Robbie.”
“Doe Breyer wants me
to over-medicate them in the final stages.” Ellen drove nearer to the doctor’s office.
“Kill them? That may not be a bad…” Robbie lifted in his seat when he saw the packed parking lot of Doctor Breyer’s office. “Shit.”
“Look at this.” Ellen stopped the vehicle, throwing it in gear. “Did they think because there is plague we’d open special on Sundays?”
“Ellen.” Robbie tried not to snicker.
“I’m serious. Look how many people there are.”
“You have a point.”
“Shit.” Ellen opened the car door, found the office keys and immediately, as she and Robbie approached the building, they were bombarded. The cries, the shouting and questions rang annoyingly in their ears.
“Where’s Doe Breyer?”
“I’m sick. I need help.”
“My wife is at home. I need the doctor.”
Robbie shoved Ellen through the crowd, holding tightly to her back and clenching the revolver from sight as they made it to the front door. “El,” he whispered. “You got it?”
“I wished they’d shut up.” She fumbled with the keys.
Feeling the surge of people and anger, Robbie clicked back the hammer on the revolver, held it high in the air, and fired one shot. There was silence. “Back up now!” He shouted and refaced Ellen. “O.K.?”
“That’ll do it.” After pressing her ear from the ringing, she opened the door and immediately could see, in the reflection of the glass, the crowd of people, fifty or so strong, stampeding toward her. She turned around. “Stop,” she shouted as loudly as she could. “I am getting medication. If any of you need medication, stop by my house for it. I live at5567Elks drive.”
“We want the doctor!” An angry man shouted.
“Mr. Murphy, please. Doc Breyer is sick and I am it! If you don’t want my help, if any of you don’t want my help, then go to Stamford.” Her hands flew about. “I will not deal with anyone who will give me a hard time—period. I’m sorry that I am all this town has now, but at least it has that. I have my instructions. Give me an hour and stop by my house. I will be happy to help you as best as I can.” She looked at Robbie. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” Robbie closed the door to the clinic and locked it. He saw all the people trying to peek. Replacing his revolver behind his pants, Robbie closed the blinds.
<><><><>
May31-8:25 p.m.
Joe was astonished, nearly amazed, as he pulled his SUV down Ellen’s street. The amount of people that had turned up in the mere three hours since he had been there left him breathless and speechless. Was there a billboard somewhere? Did that simple little sign on the doctor’s office door bring about the amount of people that now camped out on Ellen’s front law and spilled into the neighboring lawns as well? At least there wasn’t the line at her front door, like there was when he left. Maybe she and Robbie had taken care of all the people and now they just awaited their second dosage.
“Ellen?” Joe called out, walking into her home. He saw her coming down the stairs. “Ellen.”
“Hi Joe.” She walked up to him.
“Where’s Robbie?”
“In the backyard finishing up,” she answered and walked into the living room.
“Finishing up? Did you two see all those people already?”
Giving an emotional laugh, Ellen shook her head. “Hardly. We’ve seen about hundred and seventy-five. The ones in the front haven’t been seen yet. The ones we’ve seen, we moved into the back yard.”
“How are the children?”
Ellen shook her head. “Not good, Joe. And Pete, he’s really bad. He and about three others. They definitely are in the final stage. We have to get him to Stamford.”
Before Joe could say anything, Robbie walked in. “Won’t do any good, El. What are they gonna do in Stamford that we can’t do here.”
“Joe, Robbie has a point.” Ellen turned to him. “But maybe if we can get them to Stamford, we can get some help. We need help, Joe, really we do. We three can’t do it alone.”
“You’re right.” Joe laid his hand on her face. “I’ll take them. You and Robbie stay here and keep things running as smoothly as possible. With aid station traffic, I should be back by dawn.”
“What about Kelly and the kids?” Ellen asked. “How are they? Will they be all right alone.”
“Yes,” Joe answered. “Kelly just doesn’t want to be bothered with anyone right now. I won’t be long. Robbie, let’s you and I get Pete and the others ready.”
<><><><>
May 31-10:00p.m.
Stamford, Connecticut Aid Station
Joe left Ashtonville with Pete and three others. When he arrived at the aid station for help, he was less one. Pete didn’t make it. It was unreal what was happening there. There were so many people, a scene of what he imagined Ashtonville would become before long.
Leaving the three at the check in line, Joe began to check every tent in the huge set up for someone that could be considered important. Mid aid station, he spotted an elongated table. Three men sat there and another man stood by. Walking up to them, hoping they were his answer, Joe spoke. “Excuse me. I need some help.”
One of the men lifted his eyes above his mask. “You have to check in. That’s the only way we can help you.”
“I’m not sick,” Joe told them. “I brought three people who are.”
‘Well then they have to check in.”
“Look.” Joe grew frustrated. “I just need to speak to a doctor, ask him some questions, and then I’m out of here.”
“I’m a doctor.” Dean, who had come to the station for more help, turned to Joe. “What do you need?”
“I’m coming from a little town called Ashtonville …”
“Ashtonville?” Dean asked.
“Yes. Now the whole town is sick. I know everyone is sick but we don’t have a doctor. We have one woman and one man right now caring for hundreds of people. And more are coming in.”
“Ashtonville?” Dean turned to the table of men. “Can we … can we get Ashtonville some help?”
All three men shook their heads ‘no’
Joe snarled at them. ‘Well, screw you people. That poor girl dealing with the patients needs help. Her own children are dying and she is making time for others.” Joe turned and walked away.
“Wait!” Dean called out to him. “Mister?”
“Slagel, Joe Slagel.”
“Mr. Slagel, I’m sorry but I’ll tell you what. I might know someone that can help. I’m not making any promises but I know he isn’t dying of the virus and he’s volunteering here. I’ll talk to him. Ashtonville’s not that far.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“Dean Hayes. Call me Dean.”
“Dean Hayes.” Joe stared at him.
“Do we know each other?”
“Your name … sorry … rings a bell.” Joe shook his head.
“That’s okay. Just give me the address and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Already done.” Joe reached into his chest pocket and handed it to Dean. “Thank you. Please try to help us.”
“I see what I can do. I’m not making any promises.” Seeing Joe walk away, Dean opened the slip of paper and peered at the address. A twinge hit his stomach when he saw it. Immediately Dean reached to the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet. Opening up the money section, he pulled out the folded hotel stationary. Tucking his wallet under his arm, he compared them. His views quickly went back to Joe. “Mr. Slagel”
Joe stopped walking when he saw the young doctor running to him. “Yes?”
“This woman you were talking about, is this her house?”
“Yes it is,” Joe stated.
“Is she...is she sick at all?”
“No, Ellen is fine. Why?”
Dean’s eyes closed and a race of his heart took his breath away. “Tell her, tell her that help will be there first thing tomorrow.”
“You sound very certain. You didn’t a minu
te ago.”
“I am certain.” Dean clenched the address. “And that’s a promise. I’ll be there tomorrow.”
“You?” Joe seemed surprised.
“Yeah,” Dean spoke with certainty. “Could you tell Ellen I’m coming? I’ll be there to help her out.”
“I’ll tell her.” Joe extended his hand and shook it. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Thank you, Mr. Slagel.” Dean backed up. “I have to run.”
Joe watched the small built doctor hurry and dart his way through patients back to that elongated table. Joe knew, with confidence that this young doctor would pull through. And he knew he could go home and tell Ellen that a doctor from the aid station would be arriving in the morning.
Monday, June 1- 5:45a.m.
Ashtonville Connecticut
It was peaceful as the sun began to rise yet it was eerie as Joe made it into Ellen’s house. Sleeping and waiting ill spewed forth everywhere. Even more had arrived. Joe himself had led a group of eight in from the highway. The ticking of Ellen’s mantel clock was the only sound. Seeing the kitchen light, Joe walked through the empty downstairs. He saw Robbie seated at the table. He slumped, leaning his headon his arm. “Hey.” Joe laid his hand on his son’s back.
Robbie sprang up. “Dad.” He rubbed his eyes.
“Were you sleeping like that?”
“I guess.” Robbie stretched out. “What’s that?”
“A short wave radio.” Joe sat it down on the table. “We’ll need it just like you’re gonna need some rest.”
“I’m getting it. So is Ellen. She’s upstairs with the kids. It’s Jenny’s turn to make the rounds for two hours.”
The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series Page 449
