by Tim Moon
“Wow, that does sound cool,” Ben said, smiling. “There’s no lava here though, at least not that kind. Mauna Kea is very old and doesn’t erupt anymore.”
He wasn’t actually sure if that was true, he just assumed it was extinct otherwise it’d be dumb to build all those expensive telescopes on the summit.
“Sounds better than another airport,” Oliver said as he looked out the window and watched the few sad looking trees give way to red and black dirt and dark rock.
“We think so too,” said Charlotte.
Ty snorted. “Speak for yourselves. I can’t wait to get to the airport.”
“I need to pee,” Oliver announced. “Do they have a bathroom?”
“Yeah, no problem, buddy. Just hold it for a few minutes okay?” Ben said.
Oliver sighed as if he’d just been asked to do the most difficult thing possible.
“It’ll be nice to get out and stretch. I have too much energy built up after all that shooting,” Anuhea said.
“Right? Me too.” Ben smiled. The firefight was thirty minutes ago, but his heart was still thumping away like a hummingbird.
“Sad thing is, I’m almost getting used to it.” Anuhea frowned as she drove. She only moved to roll down her window, letting in fresh air.
“These are changing times,” Ben said. He looked down at the fuel gauge. “Look at that. As soon as we get into town, we’ll need to find a gas station that has diesel. Otherwise, we’re walking.”
The road to the visitor center wound up the mountain. Large mounds of reddish dirt rose, while trees and bushes dotting the lower slopes. Soon they were charging up the last stretch before the Visitor’s Center appeared on their left. Surprisingly few vehicles sat near the building when they pulled up.
“Turn it around so we’re blocking the road and facing downhill,” Ben said.
“Sure,” Anuhea said, maneuvering the vehicle like a pro.
She turned, facing downhill at a slight angle. The bulky size of the Humvee blocked a good portion of the road. Keanu popped out of the turret and turned the machine gun to face down the road.
“Why are we in the road?” Charlotte asked.
“In case those guys come looking for us,” said Ben.
“Do you think they would do that?” Charlotte said. Her eyebrows creased in concern.
“I doubt it. We messed them up pretty good,” said Ben. “Well, Keanu did. I doubt they want any more of that.”
“Depends how prideful they are I suppose,” she said.
“Or stupid.”
Oliver poked his head up, looking at each of them.
“What’s prideful?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Visitor’s Center was a squat little building more than halfway up Mauna Kea. At an elevation of nearly nine thousand feet, it was high enough for some people to begin developing altitude sickness.
Below the Visitor’s Center sat several small buildings that looked a little like houses. There were no cars in the parking lot in front of the small houses, but a few cars sat in the small parking lot beside the Visitor’s Center.
It was impossible to tell if anyone was inside the structures. There was no sign of people other than the parked cars, no noise, no bodies, nothing. There was no telling what had happened to them, or if they were still in the area. Ben had a hard time believing that anyone would still be coming up to the mountain for a hike. The outbreak had happened long enough ago that almost everyone must have heard about it by now.
Ben looked up the road toward the next set of buildings. Nothing was visible because small trees and bushes blocked the view. Turning back to make sure everyone had their rifles, Ben was about to say something to Anuhea.
“Behind you,” she said as she raised her rifle and aimed it behind Ben.
Ben’s eyebrows shot up. He spun around, dropping to a knee and raising his own rifle.
“Oh, hello,” said a young man in a nervous British accent, emerging from around the corner of the Visitor Center building. “The guns are quite unnecessary, I assure you.”
The young man was tall, nearly the same height as Ben, and athletic. He was dressed well and looked like he was heading out for a day at a beach side golf course or something. He slowly raised his hands up.
Did this guy even know what was going on, Ben wondered.
“Are you alone?” said Anuhea.
Good question.
“Yes, it’s just me,” he said. “Everyone has gone to town for a grocery run. I’m here just enjoying a day on the mountain.”
“Did you know this is a volcano?” Oliver asked cheerfully. He stood next to Ben. “But it’s old and doesn’t erupt anymore.”
He looked at Ben to confirm. Ben smiled and nodded.
“Is that right? Lucky for us then, I’d say,” said the young man. “You folks don’t look like soldiers so I’m guessing you’re refugees of some sort. Yes?”
“Survivors,” Ben said, eying the guy skeptically. “Do you know what’s happening down there?” He jerked his thumb in the general direction of town as he lowered his weapon. It was clear the guy didn’t have any weapons and probably wasn’t a threat.
Anuhea also lowered her barrel but didn’t totally let down her guard. Her eyes scanned the other buildings.
“Oh yes. Dreadful isn’t it?” he said, frowning. “I was at the race when the outbreak happened…what, a few days ago now, I guess. I barely made it out alive, really.”
“We were there too,” Ben said. “I’m Ben by the way. What’s your name?”
Ben walked forward and offered the guy a hand.
“Nice to meet you, Ben. I’m Chadwick,” he said.
“I’m Oliver.” He ran up to offer his hand.
“Wait,” Charlotte said, but she was too slow.
“Nice to meet you Oliver.” Chadwick smiled at the boy as they shook hands.
Everyone introduced themselves. Keanu gave a short wave as he walked past Chadwick, carrying his M203. The gift shop door dinged as he pushed it open and entered. Ty said hi and then limped slowly toward the building. Charlotte shook Chadwick’s hand before she followed Ty; she needed to inspect the wound on his leg again. She hadn’t checked it out since he crashed the Humvee in the ditch.
Chadwick seemed like a nice enough guy. Ben thought he acted a little too proper, but that was common for most of the Brits he’d met. It was just their way.
“So what are you doing in Hawaii?” Ben asked. “Why are you up here?”
“I’m a PhD candidate in astrophysics,” he said.
“Okay,” Ben said with a laugh. “I never would have guessed that.”
He was unsure what else to say about it since he wasn’t very knowledgeable about science.
“Do you work here?” Anuhea asked.
“Not exactly,” Chadwick said with a shy grin. “I did come for a tour though. The head astronomist knows my parents. They are essentially in the same line of work.”
“So you’re sticking with the family business too then, huh?” Ben asked.
“You could say that.” Chadwick laughed. “I’ve been fascinated by it my entire life.”
Keanu came back out a moment later and stood next to Ben.
“Anything?” Ben asked.
Keanu shook his head. “It’s clear inside.”
“Clear? Are you expecting trouble?”
“Just checking inside for infected,” Keanu told Chadwick. “Is there anywhere we can get a view down the road?”
“Not that I’m aware of. I do enjoy a good hike, but I’ve been too preoccupied to hit the trail. Are you expecting visitors?” Chadwick asked.
“We hope not. Some jokers were down on the main road at a fake roadblock,” said Keanu. “One tried to pass himself off as a cop. But I knew the guy whose uniform he was wearing.” Keanu’s head drooped a little. “When I got up in the turret of the Humvee, I saw his body along with others in the ditch.”
Ben looked at Keanu. “I’m sorry, man.”
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“Bloody hell,” said Chadwick. “I didn’t even know there was a roadblock.”
“It was a goddamned mess,” Keanu said, shaking his head.
“Let’s get inside, shall we?” Chadwick said before turning and walking back to the Visitor Center building.
Ben remembered what it looked like last time he was there. He’d been disappointed by the lack of food. The first thing Ben noticed was that the food and drinks were restocked. Neither fridge was full, yet both held more than before, so that was a win in his book.
“Help yourself to anything you want,” Chadwick said, nodding at Ben.
Keanu pushed past Ben, grabbed a Coke and sat down on the floor. He twisted open the bottle, which hissed from the carbonation, and leaned back for a big drink. “What happened to your friends, Chad? Why isn’t anyone else up here?”
“I prefer Chadwick,” he said.
“Sorry, man.” Keanu glanced at Ben and rolled his eyes.
Ben bit his lip to keep from smiling.
“And I’m afraid I don’t know what happened to my friends. I haven’t seen or heard from them since they left, and that was two days ago.” Chadwick’s voice trailed off. He stared at the floor for a moment, and then he leaned against the counter with the cash register. He cleared his throat. “So, you came up from Kona, right? How does it look down there?”
“Not good,” Anuhea said. She went to the fridge and grabbed a few bottles of orange juice. She went to hand one to Ty and the other to Charlotte.
“That’s an understatement,” Ty said as he twisted open his bottle of juice and took a sip.
Oliver was looking at the merchandise. He’d found the astronaut ice cream and was eying it greedily.
“Go ahead and have some,” Ben said to Oliver.
The boy’s eyes lit up with excitement.
Charlotte replaced the bandage on Ty’s leg and stood up. “I wouldn’t go into town if I were you.”
“Oh no, I plan to stay here for the time being. News reports are not looking good and there’s seemingly nowhere to turn. It’s quiet up here, which suits me just fine,” Chadwick said. “What brought you guys to Kona?”
“Ty and I planned a vacation just for fun. We both taught English in Korea, so this was supposed to be relaxing.”
“And it’s been anything but…” Ty said with a sneer.
“I can imagine,” Chadwick said.
“You know about the triathlon attack?”
“I was there and barely got away. Those buggers were everywhere.” Chadwick shifted his stance.
“Well, after that we escaped and we all hid in our hotel room. After a couple of days some soldiers found us and took us to a FEMA and National Guard Quarantine Center,” he said. “From there they took us to the Kona airport for an airlift to…”
Ben shrugged.
“Molokai,” said Anuhea.
“Yeah, Molokai,” Ben continued. “But that didn’t work out. The airport was overrun by the infected and our plane crashed. We escaped into the lava fields.”
So much drama packed into each day it felt like they’d been there for months, even though it was only a relatively short time.
“We took a Humvee that was at the airport and went back to the QC hoping for help but they’d been overrun too,” Ben said. He pointed at Keanu. “That’s where we found him, surrounded by the infected.”
“Thanks again,” said Keanu. “Seriously, I was totally fucked. I don’t know how much longer I could have lasted. Those things…infected, were everywhere.”
“Once we found him, we switched Humvees to the one we have outside, with the machine gun, and drove to a grocery store for food, water, and supplies. It was late so we stayed the night there. We decided to try for Hilo’s airport, but those guys tried to stop us at the roadblock. We fought them off and got away. Then we literally ran into a huge group of infected roaming the highway. So we came up here to hide out, I guess. Let the infected wander past, or thin out, whatever works. We didn’t really talk about it. But yeah, that’s been our journey so far.”
“Incredible,” Chadwick said in awe. His eyes were wide and he wore a mixed look of shock and respect for their struggles. “After I escaped from the triathlon, I just rushed back here and have been here ever since. What a disaster that event was, just a terrible, terrible tragedy.”
They all nodded.
“To be honest, I was curious what you guys know about this…outbreak?” Chadwick asked.
Everyone seemed to be looking at Ben. It took a moment for him to realize this. When he did, he looked around. He didn’t like being the center of attention, again, but no one else was speaking up.
“We don’t know much. Just the basics, I guess. The infected people are dangerous; attracted to noise and light, they’re slow yet persistent and the infection spreads through their bites.” Ben gulped as memories flashed through his mind. “Killing them is difficult. They only die when you destroy their brain or sever their head.”
“That’s grim.” Chadwick shook his head sadly. “Sounds like you already know everything that the news is saying. I haven’t heard anything else to add to that.” He spread his hands to show he had nothing.
“Seriously?” Anuhea asked, clearly surprised.
Chadwick nodded and gave a shrug.
“What is the government doing?” Ben asked calmly.
“From what I’ve seen on TV, they’re setting up safe places for people to go. They’re calling them Quarantine Centers, like what you said,” Chadwick said.
Charlotte and Anuhea looked at each other. Keanu coughed on his Coke. Ben frowned. They’d already seen how that was working out.
“Soldiers and police are fighting the infected. Casualties are high and it’s been difficult for them to contain. Apparently, there are a few safe havens. For Hawaii, that’s Molokai. I can’t remember most of the other locations they mentioned. My parents are in California and their nearest safe haven is in Yosemite National Park. It looks quite far. I’m not sure they will be able to make it.” Chadwick got quiet again.
“You and I are in the same boat then,” Ben said. “We’re both stuck here with our family on the West Coast.”
“This is all well and good,” Ty said. “But what are we doing here?” He pointed at the floor. “Shouldn’t we be going to Hilo now?”
Chadwick looked at him curiously.
“I wouldn’t plan on going to Hilo,” said Chadwick. He had a sheepish look on his face like he’d just insulted someone on accident.
Ty looked up. “What? Why not?”
“Hilo’s no better off than Kona from what I can tell. Loads of people have died, prisoners rioted and broke out of jail, and police have been overwhelmed. You should see the news reports, mate,” said Chadwick. “I assume you want the airport, but the FAA has shutdown airports across the US. They have even stopped airlifts here. All of America’s airspace has been ‘locked down’ and any non-military aircraft will be shot down.”
“We heard that too, but at the QC they told us that they had special permission for flights to Molokai,” said Charlotte. “They should be doing the same thing in Hilo.”
Chadwick made a face. “I’m not so sure about that. Hilo is where my friends went and none have come back. It’s a much bigger city than Kona, so it might be that many times worse.”
“We have to try the airport,” Ty said.
Chadwick looked at him with sympathy. “I know it’s a lot to take in.”
Ty made a face and folded his arms over his chest.
“It was difficult to realize that I may never see my parents again and they’re just over in California. Suddenly, it seems so far away.” Chadwick frowned. “Terrible tragedy,” he muttered to himself.
“Where’s the TV?” Ty asked Chadwick.
“The telly is in the little room behind the counter,” he said.
Charlotte looked at Anuhea. “How will I ever get home?”
Anuhea hugged Charlotte. “I don’t know.�
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They crowded into the small employee room behind the sales counter to watch the news.
“This is ridiculous,” said Keanu. His big frame filled the doorway; there was no more space in the small break room. “Is there an extension cord so we can bring it out here?”
“I haven’t seen one, mate,” said Chadwick. “Then again, I haven’t really looked either.”
“Hmmm…it’s okay.”
“Geez look at that,” said Anuhea, covering her mouth.
Massive hordes like the one they’d seen at Kona’s airport were surging through the streets of New York City. News clips showed other cities around America. It looked like all the major cities were already deep sixed.
“How about overseas?” asked Ben. “We saw something before the triathlon about China.”
“Oh yeah, so some guy from the Associated Press looked at initial reports worldwide and he found an intriguing pattern,” he said. “It looks like places like China, Russia, and Middle Eastern countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, were the first ones infected.
“They say they don’t know how people were infected initially. FEMA does know that once those people were infected they spread the disease through bites. Something in the saliva transmits the disease but they haven’t identified it.”
“We’ve seen that happen,” said Ben.
Chadwick leaned forward apparently eager to hear what Ben meant.
“A guy we tried to help was bitten by an infected woman, his wife, I think,” Ben said. “Sometime during the night or early morning he turned and…and I killed him.”
“Bloody hell.”
“Literally.” Ben gave a weak smile.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you kill him?”
“With a toothbrush, it was all I had,” Ben said. He did what he had to do to protect himself and his friends. Thankfully, he had the strength to do it.
“A toothbrush?” Chadwick chuckled. “Bollocks.”
“I’m serious.” Ben shrugged. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore he just wanted to let it slip away to the back of his mind, in the shadows where it belonged. He’d come to terms with what he did, so there wasn’t much reason to dwell on it anymore.
