The Rectify Series (Book 3): Rectify 3

by Druga, Jacqueline

  “Tents,” James said. “The quarantine and field hospital tents. They’re thirty to fifty feet long. The walkways that go between them. We only need a couple and … they’re retractable.”

  Ella asked. “What does that mean?”

  “It means,” Tom explained. “You pulled them out like a Slinky. Not bad. We put them as best as we can together. Those things weigh at least a hundred pounds.”

  Don snapped his fingers several times rapidly. “How about we do one better? How about we use Doctor Ung’s Hamster wheel idea, but go with tubes., Like the ones that the hamsters go through. From the dock ramp straight to the gate.”

  “How?” Paul asked.

  “Three foot diameter construction chutes. You know the ones used on buildings that hang down for debris. Three feet in diameter pretty much anyone can crawl through. Lightweight plastic, each extends twenty feet, they interlock, easy to assemble and they weight thirty-seven pounds.”

  Ella blinked in shock. “That’s a pretty detailed knowledge of those things.”

  “I know them well. I look at the purchase orders and I know where we can get them. MeinCo Construction. Got about eight sitting in the back warehouse, they were supposed to go out when the jobs were still running. I … I know this, I am Chief Financial Officer there.”

  “Wow,” Tom said. “He comes up with not only the idea for the boat, he can man it and … he solves the Sanctum dilemma. Pretty good, huh, James, for a neighbor you don’t like.”

  Don quickly looked at James. “You don’t like me?”

  “What?” James snapped in shock. “No, I never said that. Please, what I said was …” He stopped talking when he noticed everyone’s attention was elsewhere. Not only that, they looked surprised. James turned his head to see Bradly standing in the kitchen.

  “What ... what happened?” Bradly asked, confused.

  “Son.” Tom approached him. “How are you feeling?”

  “Fuzzy. Weird,” Bradly answered. “I remember not feeling well. Sick to my stomach, you know. A bunch of the guys were. I laid down, next thing I know, I’m … staring at her.” He looked at Ella. “And then nothing again.”

  “You had an episode.” Tom placed his hand on Bradly’s shoulder.

  “In fact,” James added. “I’m a doctor. I’d like to examine you now if I could.”

  Bradly nodded slowly. “Okay. I would like to go back to bed if I can.” He turned, took a step and stopped. Slowly, he turned back around. His eyes widened, almost with a saddened revelation. “Major Tom?”

  “Yes?”

  “If you see my mom, tell her I love her.”

  “Son, why don’t …”

  Before Tom could finish, Bradly’s eyes rolled behind his head and he fell to the floor.

  No convulsions, no noise … nothing.

  Hurriedly, James rushed to him and joined him on the floor. His hand felt his neck, then James put his ear close to his face. “He’s dead.”

  In a whisper, Don spoke, “The virus killed the virus.”

  James peered up at him.

  Don explained. “He was healthy, the vaccine was part virus. He got it, you hit him again with the vaccine, the virus canceled itself out.”

  “What are you talking about?” James asked.

  “I’m just theorizing.”

  “He thought of his mother,” Ella said sadly.

  “He was twenty-three years old,” Tom said. “So young.”

  “Will he come back?” Ella asked, looking at Don. “Will he revive?”

  “Why are you asking him?” James snapped.

  “He seems smart,” Ella replied.

  “I am, with a high IQ,” Don said. “But I don’t know. I would say yes.”

  “I say …” James cupped his hands over Bradly’s chest. “Let’s not give up on him.”

  Tom stopped him. “He has the virus Doc. One way or another he has it. CPR means mouth to mouth. You wanna risk doing that, having him vomit in your mouth and give it to you?”

  James closed his eyes. “As a doctor …”

  “You have to preserve the integrity of life as well,” Tom told him. “Let him go. He was one of my men. Let him go.”

  “How much integrity is it giving him if he revives?” James asked.

  “He won’t.” Tom knelt down by Bradly and reached into his front chest pocket. The object he carried protruded like a long pen. But it wasn’t. It was an instrument of eternal peace for those infected.

  Tom swept his hand down Bradly’s face, closing his eyes then placed the thin narrow instrument to Bradly’s temple. Tom looked down to the young man and with a depress of his thumb to the end of the tool, Tom whispered his standard, “Rectify.”

  THIRTEEN – EAVESDROPPING

  Legs extended and resting on the desk, Clay kicked back in his chair, watching the radio and sipping a warm beer.

  “I don’t know how many are in your town,” Ella’s voice carried over the speaker. “Just giving you the warning. If he woke up. So, will they. I know around here, everyone got the immunization. So, everyone went down.”

  Clay lifted his beer, speaking to himself out loud and not into the radio. “Don’t have that problem here. No one got the immunization.”

  “They went down and will get back up,” Ella said.

  “Yeah, well, ours caught the flu and turned.” He took another sip.

  “He seemed different, though. Which scared me. Almost as if he were fully aware of what was happening. He was one of them, a Codie, but had a look about him.”

  “Is that so?”

  “He died though. He died shortly after we hit him with the vaccine again.”

  “You double dosed him, of course he would. And, you have a doctor. Ha!”

  “Anyhow, I’ll check back later. Just wanted to give an update to Grant and to anyone else that is listening. Night.”

  “Night.”

  “You know …” Jerry, the residential fill in doctor, stepped into the room. ‘You probably would get a lot further if you picked up that mic and actually let her hear what you were saying.”

  “Nah. I’m just listening.”

  “What is she saying?”

  “Like a news update. She talked about those who got the immunization and kinda went comatose.”

  “We knew that.”

  “They’re rising.”

  “We didn’t know that.”

  “Well, we don’t have that problem here,” Clay said. “We never got the shots. Did you catch that last part about the one being different?”

  “I did. So, she was being an apocalypse Delilah.”

  “I’m sorry, a what?” Clay asked.

  “Delilah, she ... just ... it was a woman DJ a while back that used to be on the air, sultry voice, talked to people and they all thought she was their friend. She played music.”

  “This chick was talking about music. Trying to break down the words to some old David Bowie song. Strange. She was also talking to her friend, who wasn’t replying. Seems she came up with some elaborate chutes and ladders rescue for him and the town. Gonna boat up to their riverside compound and set up tubes for the people stuck to crawl through. From the compound to the boat. Only way out. Apparently, that part of town was the dumping ground for Codies. Radio chick says there are tens of thousands of them crammed in the area.”

  “That really is elaborate. How do they propose to do that with tens of thousands of Codies?”

  “Sneak in from the river. Less of them that way. And one of them is invisible to the Codies. That’s what she said. She said she is like the Jesus of Codies, she walks among them.”

  “She called herself the Jesus of the Codies?”

  “No, I did.”

  “You’re insane. Pick up the radio and talk to her.”

  “Nope.”

  “Clay, you’re the one that said everyone is welcome.”

  “I did.” Clay nodded. “But I don’t know. Call it a gut instinct. I just don’t trust them. They’re tr
ouble.”

  “Your gut is wrong. Think about it. Good night.”

  After another swig of his beer, Clay lifted the bottle as his form of goodnight and returned to focusing on the radio.

  FOURTEEN – ONCE BITTEN

  Jennifer and Ben Fields, a couple that lived several doors up the road from James, were wandering aimlessly down the middle of the street. They staggered, Ben was half dressed, Jennifer in workout clothes. They looked lost and confused.

  In fact, Tom thought at first that was what they were ... confused, maybe they woke up, didn’t know what was going on. Following a short whistle from the second floor window where he held watch, Tom knew better,

  They honed on in him and raged his way.

  That told Tom, they were like Bradly and had risen.

  How long would it be before the entire neighborhood was at their door?

  The spotting of those two people wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if Rhonda hadn’t also seen them and decided that was the moment she wanted to check and see if she was like Ella.

  She walked right out of the house and up to the couple. They walked around her, ignored her as if she weren’t even there.

  As if she won the lottery, Rhonda did a celebration dance right there in the middle of the small front yard.

  Tom told her to get back into the house.

  He watched awhile longer, then decided to join the others. He could hear their voices carrying up from below.

  After coming down the stairs, Tom double checked the locks before joining the others in the kitchen. “The natives are getting restless,” Tom said., “You have two wandering out there. We need to get a move on before the entire neighborhood, or those who got the shot, get up and make it impossible for us to leave.”

  Ella gathered up the map. ‘So basically, we need to stay clear of areas where people were tucked in their beds thinking they had some bad side effect.”

  Tom nodded. “James, I know this is your home. You may want to take this time to get things you want to take.”

  “I’ve already been doing that,” James replied.

  “Paula and I will do the same thing,” Don said. “We’ll head home. Get some items, grab the rest of our guns and will be back. We’ll head to the construction company first. There are trucks in the garage there, we can take one of those trucks to the boat.”

  “Unload the chutes on the vessel,” Tom said. “And head out for supplies. Use the day to get supplies and practice moving and carrying those chutes along with connecting them.”

  “Any of the clipper fleet big enough to do that,” Don said. “Taking the day is a good idea.”

  Don then excused himself from the kitchen and left the house with Paula.

  “Are they safe out there?” James asked, in reference to Paula and Don.

  “I only saw two Codies,” Tom replied. “For now. Once we get to the fleet, James, you’ll set up inside, I’ll head out for supplies and when I am doing that…” He then looked at Rhonda and Ella. “You two have to practice moving those tubes. They’re gonna be heavy.”

  “Why are they doing the chutes?” James asked.

  Rhonda answered. “Because Ella has some sort of immunity and I do, too. It’s the best combination.”

  “You’re not well, Rhonda,” James said. “I know you feel it. I know it’s been a couple weeks since you had the baby, but it’s only been a few days since Tom gave you the serum. Your legs …”

  “I know. Have rotting flesh.”

  “I was hoping to find a way to do the invasive surgery today,” James said. “Hit the hospital. Get what I need. Do it either here or find a way to do it on the boat. Either way, it needs to be done.”

  “Then it can wait,” Rhonda told him.

  “The longer you wait, the more chance you have of losing your legs all together.”

  “What about I do it alone?” Ella suggested. “They’re tubes, they roll. I can roll them into place.”

  Rhonda faced her. “It is a two person job. So, unless you …” she turned again to James. “Have another suggestion. The surgery is going to have to wait until after the rescue.”

  “I do,” Tom interjected. “What about if I go. I’m strong. I can move those chutes quick. I’ll do it with Ella.”

  Ella lifted her hand. “There you go again being chivalrous. Thank you, Major Tom, but really in this instance, chivalry be damned. Those Codies will be all over you making it impossible for us to lay those chutes efficiently and fast.”

  “Not if I’m like you.”

  James chuckled. “And how do you suppose you do that.”

  “What if I …” Tom extended his hand and laid a syringe on the table. “Get bit.”

  ◆◆◆

  “This is totally insane, you know that, right?” James asked Tom.

  “I do.”

  “You know this is not guaranteed to work.”

  “I am going to try to repeat the process,” Tom said. “Bit in the left arm, give the virus time to hit me and then take the vaccine.”

  “And it if doesn’t work?” James asked.

  “I prefer to believe it will.” Tom smiled. There was a bit of nervousness in his smile and James saw it. He raised his eyes to Ella. “Watch him.”

  “We’re good. We’ll be three houses over. They have a big fence, we’re letting one of the gnarly ones in. Only one. We can handle one.”

  James shook his head. “Gnarly. Anyhow, control the bleeding.”

  “We will,” Ella replied.

  “As soon as the skin breaks, I’ll rectify it,” Tom said.

  James was hesitant. He actually hated the idea and the plan, but they seemed dead set on it and all he could do was step back and hope for the best. He had to. Truth be known, other than him being a good guy, Tom was an anchor in the group. They couldn’t afford to lose him.

  ◆◆◆

  Ella figured the people that lived in the house down from James had to be either particularly protective of their garden or were up to something in their yard. They were the only reasons she could figure why they had the large wooden plank fence. It was the epitome of a privacy fence.

  The particularly ‘gnarly’ one that Ella described was at least a few days old as a Codie. He paced back and forth in the driveway and dove for the truck as soon as they pulled in.

  It was silly driving only a few houses down, but it was the safest bet.

  Get in, get out.

  The Codie didn’t pay any attention to Ella. His hands hit and squeaked against Tom’s window and she slipped from the truck to check the backyard of the house.

  She wanted to make sure there were no others around.

  After getting out of the truck, she walked to the fence a mere five feet away. It was latched and she had to reach up to undo it.

  The gate pulled outward and Ella opened it a few inches to peek in. The yard was empty. She closed the gate again, stood there and waved Tom to come.

  He climbed over and slipped out her side of the truck, closing the door and drawing the attention of the Codie.

  It came his way, and he kept the pace even enough that it followed him to the gate and stayed on the other side as he slipped into the yard with Ella.

  She held the gate closed.

  The yard wasn’t big, and it was obvious the owners hunkered down and were probably still in the house. The first floor windows, including the patio doors were boarded up tight.

  “You ready?” she asked him.

  Tom nodded.

  Ella knew the plan. She would open the gate and the moment the Codie charged in, she’d push it close then grab for him, so he didn’t go after Tom full force.

  Tom was to block him with his left forearm, hoping that was where the Codie would bite down.

  When she saw Tom had his small rectifying tool ready, Ella opened the gate.

  There was a second delay, then Gnarly Codie made his way through. He locked on to Tom and full force headed his way.

  Ella slammed the
gate and grabbed Gnarly, arms around his waist, holding on to him. He felt slimy, making her gag. His clothes were damp and stunk.

  She tried to see what was going on, but Gnarly struggled against her hold.

  The second she heard the soft grunt from Tom, she knew he was bit.

  It was only a second, and she didn’t have to hold on to Gnarly any longer. His body went limp and he dropped from her arms to the ground.

  Tom held his forearm and Ella whipped a cloth from her back packet, throwing it over his wound. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, son of a bitch hurts.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “It’s five after ten. How long after you were bit did he give you the shot?” Tom asked.

  “About an hour,” Ella said. “My heart was racing so, I am guessing it pumped through my blood pretty fast.”

  “I have news. My heart’s racing right now.”

  “You’ll be alright,” Ella said. “I believe that. And … I’ll drive.”

  “Keys are still in the ignition.”

  Not that he needed it, but Ella held on to Tom as a sense of support and opened the truck door for him.

  It was going off without a hitch.

  The backed out of the driveway and drove back down to James’ house.

  As soon as they pulled in front, Ella saw the woman across the street. She moved rigidly, her head swinging back and forth as if looking for something.

  “That’s different.”

  “That’s the neighbor of James. She was with a man this morning. Jennifer Fields. Her husband is Ben. I wonder where he went?”

  “Is that really their names?” Ella asked.

  “That’s what Paula said.” Tom opened his door, he stepped out at the same time as Ella and headed up the walk.

  Ella didn’t follow. She was busy watching Jennifer and her odd movements. She had seen a lot of Codies, but Jennifer was different. Almost like Bradly.

  “Ella?” Tom called her.

  “Was she a riser? I mean, you think she had the vaccine and went down like Bradly?”

  “I would assume so. You coming in?” Tom asked.

  Ella briefly looked over her shoulder. “Yeah. Go on. I’m coming.”