Influenza: Viral Virulence

by Ohliger, Steven

  “You told me to just bring the necessities,” she replied. “So, I only packed one hairdryer and curling iron and left the other hairdryer behind.”

  “You are joking with me, right?” he asked.

  “Hey, I might be blond, but I’m not stupid,” she said, looking back at him. “If the electricity was more reliable, I might have thought about bringing my hairdryer. Now don’t you start messing with me. I have knives.” In the faint starlight, he saw her smile at him.

  Even on rollers, the suitcases were difficult to manage, and the wheels made a loud sound as they rolled along the concrete. They were blessed that the wind had picked up, and the rustling of the tree leaves above their heads helped cover up the noise of the luggage wheels.

  Both Michael and Lorie noticed a faint light coming from the direction of the campus dormitories. Squinting, they saw flames licking the window in one of the rooms. It was in the same dorm where the gunshots had come from. They mutually decided not to go the same way that Michael had come. They took the longer path bordering the street that circled the outskirts of the university. It was twice the distance, but after what both of them had seen and heard tonight, they determined it was the safest route to take.

  The weight of the suitcases and the attempt to muffle the horrible rolling noise made progress very slow. They stopped multiple times to scan the way ahead for any signs of life. They also kept watching the sidewalk behind for anyone following them. When they finally arrived at the front of the university near Main Street, they stopped. Crouching behind the hedge that Michael had hidden behind earlier, Lorie was the first to see movement coming from their left.

  Watching intently, Michael followed Lorie’s finger. Soon, emerging from the shadows of the night was a lone dog wandering down the deserted street. Michael let out a sigh of relief, but they both remained hidden behind the hedge as the animal passed them by. The dog must have smelled them there and glanced in their direction before continuing to trot down the street. They waited until he was almost out of sight before crossing the street and continuing on their way. They didn’t talk much, and when they did, they whispered. All the time they tried to roll the suitcases as silently as possible.

  They finally made it safely back. Arriving at the squeaky steps of his apartment, Michael was happy to see that no light escaped the windows. To an unsuspecting eye, their apartment was abandoned. Trying unsuccessfully to quietly climb the creaking steps of the porch, Michael heaved the suitcases up after him. He and Lorie crossed the porch to the door, where Michael again used the prearranged “supersecret” knock. After a few minutes, Brian opened the door, looking ridiculous and holding a tennis racket in his hand like a club. It had taken him a while to remove the obstacle blocking the door and extinguish the lights.

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” he said softly, grinning at them.

  “Hey!” Lorie protested.

  “I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about him,” Brian said, pointing at Michael.

  “Good thing,” Michael said to Brian. “Have you seen the size of those knives she has?” If he didn’t know better, Michael would have thought that Brian’s tennis racket was an absurd weapon. But, having been previously hit by accident with a racket while playing matches against Scott, he knew it could easily hurt people or knock them out.

  Brian ushered them in quickly and then closed and blocked the door behind them.

  Seeing Michael, Sandy jumped up on him and proceeded to do a little dance around his feet.

  “And who might this happy ball of fur be?” Lorie asked, reaching down to pet her.

  “This is Sandy,” Michael said. “And Sandy, this is Miss Lorie.”

  Chapter 13

  Michael, Brian, and Scott headed out first thing in the morning. Michael left Sandy with Lorie, who was to lock and barricade the door and not open it for anyone else. She had the nail club and knife-spear that they had fabricated the night before with duct tape and a few miscellaneous items they found around the apartment. Michael tried to leave the shotgun with her, but she insisted that they would need it more than she would. When they left, Michael felt a little tug of regret. He consoled himself with the knowledge that she was actually safer barricaded in their apartment than in her sorority house or out with them.

  The chill of the night started to lift as the sun rose and warmed the air. Avoiding the downtown area and major streets, they took lesser-traveled roads that headed out of town. Seeing no one else around, they took a few shortcuts on gravel and dirt roads that would lead them more directly to their destination. It would have been safer for them to travel at night, but since they were not sure of the way, they had reluctantly decided to head out at first light.

  Mostly, they walked three abreast. All was quiet except for the crunch of gravel under their shoes and the birds singing in the trees beside the roads. If not for the previous day’s events, it would have seemed like a normal, humdrum day, and they were just out for a walk with their school book bags. The only piece of evidence that would shatter this reality was the stock of Michael’s shotgun sticking up over the back of his right shoulder.

  As they walked, they talked. But it wasn’t the normal, lighthearted, jovial chatting that they had always shared in the past.

  “You should have left for home days ago,” Michael said to both Brian and Scott. “It would have been safer.”

  “Just like the marines have a motto of leaving no one behind, us Pennsylvania boys don’t leave any of our friends in dire straits,” Brian said.

  “It may have been safer, or may not have been. Who knows what’s waiting for us,” Scott replied back. “And we don’t have the supplies for an extended trip.”

  Michael looked at him. “Supplies? It’s only a three-or four-hour ride.”

  “A three-or four-hour ride under ‘normal’ circumstances,” Brian said. “But who knows what kind of road conditions we would run into? There are probably traffic jams in the cities and stalled cars along the freeways. They might even have roadblocks up. We don’t know how long it would take.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Michael said. He really hadn’t thought that far ahead. He was just trying to survive one day at a time. That was all his mind could handle right now. “What about gas? If the grid is out all over the state, gas stations won’t be able to pump gas.”

  “We thought of that too,” Scott said. “When you were on your little trip to the pharmacy and to rescue Lorie last night, Brian and I went out to the gas station on SR 101.”

  “What?” Michael said, surprised. “You went out without any protection? You could have at least waited for me to get back, and we could have all gone out together.”

  Brian chimed in. “You may have a gun. But we have a two thousand pound weapon that doesn’t even need reloading. It’s called a car. If anyone had gotten in our way last night, we would have run them over before they had time to shoot us.” He continued, “We went away from town. You know the gas station on SR 101 hardly gets any traffic, even in normal times.”

  “Exactly,” Scott said. “And the electricity was still on long enough that the pumps were working. Thank goodness the pumps still accepted credit cards, because the station was abandoned. If the power had been completely out like it is now, I have absolutely no idea what we would have done.”

  Brian chuckled. It was the first time in days that any of them had found anything humorous. “It took us a while to fill up since the power kept going off and on, and we had to rerun the credit card each time. In normal times, I’m sure the credit-card company would have frozen our account seeing four to five charges within just an hour.”

  “But these days are not normal times,” Michael said.

  “Right,” Scott said. “The station itself had already been broken into, and all of the food and beer—no surprise there—had been stolen. But Brian did manage to find a few empty gas cans in the back storage room, and we filled those up as well.”

  “What are you goin
g to do once you get home?” Michael asked.

  Brian was the first to reply. “Of course, we’ll check on our families and friends. See if they’re okay and if they haven’t gotten sick…” His voice faltered at that point.

  Scott picked it up. “Then we’ll work on fortifying our homes and gathering supplies. That’s all we can plan on at the moment. There are so many unknown variables that it seems useless to make any long-term plans. We haven’t had the chance to talk to our families in days, so we’ll first see if everyone’s okay and then take one step at a time.”

  “Yeah, I have a hard time planning beyond tomorrow also,” Michael said.

  “And after this garbage is over with and things are back to normal, we’ll all come back here to finish up school, drink, and share adventure stories,” Brian said enthusiastically.

  “Yes, we will,” Michael replied. He liked that Brian could see the bright side of things. His glass was always half full. Michael didn’t care whether his own glass was half full or half empty. He was just happy that he had water in his glass. But he was pretty sure things would never get back to normal. They’d be very lucky if they all survived the long journey home. Right now, he’d be happy just to survive today’s journey.

  One glance from Scott told Michael that Scott felt just as unsure about the future as he did.

  Michael caught the smell of a nearby honeysuckle bush. He inhaled deeply, relishing the lemony, sweet aroma. The sun was rising high in the cloudless sky. It was still midmorning, and Michael could tell it would be a warm day.

  They walked in silence for a time until Brian called out a warning. “Someone up ahead.”

  Sure enough, they had just followed a bend in the gravel road, and ahead in the distance was a lone figure walking the same road directly toward them.

  “It’s just one person,” Scott said.

  “One person can still be dangerous,” Michael warned. “Especially if he’s armed.”

  “He doesn’t look very dangerous,” Brian observed.

  Scott squinted in the late-morning sunlight. He shielded his eyes with his right hand. “Looks like a young kid. He has a backpack like ours. He’s too busy eating something and hasn’t even noticed us. Is he someone from our school?” Scott obviously had better eyesight than either Brian or Michael.

  As they drew closer, Michael could see the kid better. Like Brian said, he didn’t appear to be a threat. The kid was walking toward them listening to recorded music, oblivious to the world around him. Wasteful use of good batteries, Michael thought. It seemed as if the kid was too preoccupied chewing on a jerky strip to even notice them.

  The kid looked up from his food and finally noticed the trio coming toward him. Startled, he stopped so quickly that he almost tripped over his own shoes. His face went pale. Meekly, he lifted a hand in greeting and pulled the earpieces out.

  “Hi,” Brian said, lifting his hand in response. “Don’t worry; we’re harmless. Where did you grab that stuff?” he asked, indicating the jerky strip.

  The kid nervously pointed back the way he came. “I found them at the gas station. It’s about a mile up this road where it meets a larger paved road. State Route 107, I think.”

  In the meantime, Michael and his friends kept walking toward the kid, closing the distance between them. Michael watched for sudden movements or for anything threatening. Not seeing any, he asked, “What’s your name?”

  “Richard,” the kid replied.

  “I’m Michael.” He pointed to Brian and Scott. “The big guy is Brian, and the little, wimpy guy is Scott.”

  “Hey!” Scott protested.

  “I’m kidding,” Michael said. Then he asked Richard, “You go to the university back there?” He pointed back the way they had come.

  “Yeah, I’m a freshman.”

  It was just as they had guessed.

  “What’s your major?” Scott asked, trying to relax the kid.

  “I’m not one hundred percent sure yet. I just started. I was thinking of getting a degree in science, maybe in physics.”

  “About that gas station…” Brian broke in.

  Richard looked back over his shoulder. “I was hungry and remembered the station. But it was pretty well cleaned out by the time I got there. I didn’t think I was going to find anything. Then I went around back and found some boxes they hadn’t brought into the store yet. I guess no one had thought to go look out back. And there was a box full of beef jerky! I dumped it all in my pack.” He pulled some jerky packages out and offered the food to them. “Here, you want some?”

  “Nah,” Michael said. “We’re doing okay. We have enough food for a while. Anyway, you found it, so you get to keep it.”

  “Oh, okay.” Richard smiled.

  “You should be more careful, though,” Scott added. “There are a lot of hungry people around, and they may not be as nice as we are.”

  Richard’s smile faded. “You’re right. I’ve seen enough bad things happen on campus that I’m not sure I want to go back.”

  “Why are you going back? Why don’t you go home?” Brian asked.

  “I don’t have a car,” he answered. “I’ve just holed up in my dormitory room, waiting for my parents to come pick me up. They said they’d come as soon as they got rid of their colds. They didn’t want to get me sick and all…” His voice trailed off.

  “Well, it was nice to meet you, but we’d better get going,” Scott said, looking at both Brian and Michael. “We got a long hike ahead of us.” Then he added, “But remember to be more careful. Always know what’s going on around you. You almost tripped over us before you noticed we were here. And at least hide your food. Don’t give them a reason to take you out.”

  “Do you want to come with us?” Brian asked suddenly.

  Michael started at Brian’s unexpected invitation but remained silent.

  “No,” Richard replied. “I’ve got to get back and wait for my parents. They may have come while I was away and are waiting for me right now. I knew I shouldn’t have left, but I was getting so hungry…”

  “Okay,” Brian said. “Good luck…with everything.”

  “Thanks,” Richard said, and then after they said goodbye, he continued walking back toward the university.

  They continued on their way also. After they had traveled a certain distance and he knew Richard was out of earshot, Scott turned to Brian. “What were you thinking, inviting him to come with us?”

  “Why?” Brian sounded taken aback. “He’s just a little freshman, an innocent kid.”

  “We can’t help everybody,” Scott said. “We’re barely getting along by ourselves.”

  “We’re actually doing okay for now,” Michael said in Brian’s defense. “But Scott is right. I already put an additional burden on us by bringing Lorie and a dog to the apartment.”

  “We’re fine with that,” Scott said. “We already knew Lorie. And Sandy is a cute dog. But we can’t take care of everybody we run across.”

  “And that means we can’t be civil?” Brian shot back. “With everything that’s happened in the past few days, are we in danger of losing our humanity?”

  “I’m just saying that you can’t go around inviting everybody into our group,” Scott said.

  Michael broke in. “Brian, I have to agree with Scott. We’re just trying to figure all this out. At the very least, before we make any major decisions, like adding more people to our group, we need to discuss it among ourselves and come to an agreement. Besides, although Richard seemed resourceful, he’s still just a kid. I’m surprised he’s survived this long by himself. But what he said about expecting his parents to show up at any moment—that shows that he’s…”

  Suddenly and without warning, shots came from behind them. Bang! Bang!

  Startled, all three of them spun around. Michael yanked the shotgun out from its resting place on his back. Looking down the dusty, gravel road they had just traveled, they saw no one. They couldn’t see around the bend in the road. It was obscu
red by bushes and trees.

  “What the…!” Brian exclaimed.

  “Quick! Down there!” Michael said, pointing at the edge of the road. Instinct told him that something very dangerous was bearing down on them, and it was going to appear from the way they had come, around the bend in the road. The ground sloped down the side of the gravel road, and there were bushes to hide behind. It wasn’t the best hiding place, but it would do.

  Leading the way, Michael scrambled down the side and hid behind a large bush. Brian was right behind him, followed by Scott. All three of them hid behind the bush. Trying to peer between the branches and leaves, Michael couldn’t see the road. Good, he thought, if I can’t see through, then neither can anyone see us. He silently slid a shell into the breech of the shotgun.

  He glanced over at Brian, hiding to his left, and then at Scott, who was crouched down on his right. Scott looked at Michael’s shotgun and nodded. Michael didn’t know exactly what the nod meant, but he thought Scott was getting some reassurance from the fact that they were not completely defenseless. Michael wished they had more protection. One gun wasn’t the best. But it was better than having nothing.

  They waited, trying not to move or breathe. Michael strained his ears, but heard nothing. No shouts. No more shots. Nothing. He was just about to move from behind the cover of the bushes when he heard the unmistakable sound of gravel being crunched. It was a continuous sound, not the intermittent sound that footsteps would make. On the other hand, it wasn’t the loud sound he would expect a car to make. Additionally, he didn’t hear the roar of an engine.

  The sound was approaching from the way they had come…the direction that Richard had just walked. It was getting louder, quickly. Michael held his breath as it came near. Whoever it was, they were just now passing by their little hiding place. Then, he heard the unmistakable clicking that only a bike chain could make. Whoever had just probably shot Richard was passing them on a bicycle.