Influenza: Viral Virulence

by Ohliger, Steven

  Michael grabbed an oil funnel, and finding little else, they left the station and made their way back to the truck. He pulled the wadded-up newspaper from his pocket and unwrapped the oil plug. Lying down on his back and wiggling under the truck, he tried to position himself so he could reach the oil pan.

  He saw that the rest of the oil had drained out onto the pavement, and he asked Lorie if she could get him a tarp from the truck bed. She found the large plastic sheet, and he put it over the oil puddle. Gravel pressed into his back as he struggled to get the plug back into the hole. After a few failed attempts to get the threads started, the bolt finally caught. He screwed in the plug as much as he could with his fingers and then used the wrench to tighten it. He made sure the plug was not going to come loose again.

  Extracting himself from underneath the truck engine, he added almost eight full quarts of oil into the engine. That should be enough, he thought. He checked the oil dipstick to verify that the engine was full of oil. He closed the hood and put his tools away.

  “I gotta go,” Liz announced.

  “Gotta go where?” Jeffrey asked naïvely.

  Liz gave her little brother a look like he was an idiot, but Lorie caught on right away.

  Michael looked at all of them, totally confused.

  “Go pee,” Lorie whispered to him.

  “Oh,” he said, slightly embarrassed.

  Liz pointed at a row of hedges over by the edge of the park. It looked isolated and private. Michael nodded, and she walked across the park toward the bushes.

  Michael took an old rag from his toolbox and tried to wipe off some of the oil that had gotten on his hands. The sun was starting to go down, and dusk was quickly approaching.

  Jeffrey walked up to him, leaning against the truck. “How did you learn all of this stuff?”

  “What stuff do you mean?” Michael asked back.

  “Like how to fix a car, all that stuff about the virus, and how to survive?”

  “Well, I really don’t know much about cars. Only enough to get by. We were lucky it was just a simple fix. Otherwise, we would’ve been in real trouble. I learned about viruses and other germs in pharmacy school. And as far as survival skills, I learned some from camping with my parents and some from reading books. But everyone has survival skills. All you need to do is use your brain, plan, and apply common sense. Surviving is about taking action and not relying on someone else, like the government, to help.”

  “But how…” Jeffrey began.

  Sandy barked in alarm.

  “Uh, guys!” Lorie called out urgently.

  Michael and Jeffrey turned toward Lorie, who was staring out over the park lawn. Liz was walking toward them. But Liz wasn’t alone. To Michael’s distress, two males, around eighteen to twenty years old, were escorting Liz on either side. Red bandanas were wrapped around both of their heads. Some sort of gang symbol, Michael guessed. They were smiling, and one of them was holding a long, sharp blade up against Liz’s throat. His other hand had a firm hold on her reddish hair. Liz’s eyes were wide with fear as she looked at Michael and the others. Her face was pleading with them for help.

  Michael instinctively raised his rifle, and seeing him, Lorie did the same, pointing her gun at the approaching duo. Jeffrey tried to lunge forward to protect his sister, but Michael managed to grab his shirt before he got out of reach. They had been fortunate with repairing the truck, but it looked like their luck had just run out. These guys must have snuck up on Liz as she was behind the hedge, and they appeared to be very pleased with themselves.

  Standing at Michael’s side, Sandy started a low growl. Her fur was bristling.

  “You know you’re trespassing on our territory,” the one with the knife called out.

  “This is a park! This isn’t your…” Jeffrey started.

  Michael spoke loud enough to drown Jeffrey out. “I’m sorry we’re trespassing. We didn’t know this was your territory. We don’t want any trouble. Just let her go, and we’ll leave.”

  “I don’t think so,” the kid with the knife said. “We require a fee for you using our land.”

  “Yeah,” the other kid finally spoke up, grinning. “We require payment.”

  “What do you want?” Michael said. “We only have a little food.”

  “Give us your truck, and we’ll let her go,” the first one said.

  “But first, drop your weapons,” the second male demanded.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Michael was alarmed to see Lorie starting to lower her pistol. “Don’t lower your gun!” he whispered to her out of the side of his mouth.

  Lorie glanced at him, confused, and as if reading the look in his eyes, she slowly brought the pistol back up.

  “All we want is your truck, your guns, and your girlfriend,” the one with the knife said. He looked Lorie up and down.

  Michael felt, rather than saw, Lorie start to get angry.

  “Yeah,” the second boy said. “We’ll take the pretty girl too.”

  They had continued to approach and were now about ten feet in front of them. Liz’s face was white with fright as the cruel-looking knife blade pressed hard against her throat.

  “I have a counteroffer,” Michael said.

  Lorie couldn’t help but glance at Michael, wondering what he was up to.

  The two guys were caught off guard. They hadn’t planned for anyone to deny them their demands. Apparently, this was the first time someone had stood up to them. They had mistakenly thought they were in complete control of the situation.

  Michael continued, aiming the rifle at the knife-wielding bandana punk. “Here’s my offer. You drop the knife, let her go, and we’ll let you both live.”

  “What?” the second guy protested. He started getting agitated. “Don’t mess with us! We will kill her!”

  “And then what?” Michael shot back. “If you kill her, then we’ll shoot both of you dead. If you don’t kill her, then you may have a chance to live. As I see it, you only have one option.”

  Michael took three long steps quickly forward, continuing to point the rifle at the guy who held the knife. Those strides brought Michael close enough so the barrel of the rifle was almost touching the red bandana. The would-be gangster punk now had a really good close-up of his rifle barrel.

  “The bullet from this rifle travels at seven hundred feet per second. That’s faster than you can blink. If you so much as twitch, you’ll be dead before your brain even knows I pulled the trigger. So, drop the knife now!” Michael demanded. His finger started to put pressure on the trigger.

  Caught completely off guard, the boys glanced at each other. They looked back and forth from the rifle to Michael. They could see Michael wasn’t joking. The one with the knife suddenly spun around and bolted away. Seeing his partner flee across the park, the second one was soon running right behind him.

  As they disappeared into the hedges, Michael let his breath out slowly and lowered his rifle. Relieved, Lorie also lowered her gun. They continued to watch in the direction the boys had run to make sure they didn’t return. Michael had just played a game of chicken with the thugs, and this time, he had won.

  As soon as the first boy bolted, Liz ran to the safety of her brother’s arms. She started to cry as Jeffrey held on to her tightly.

  Pulling Michael aside from the siblings, Lorie looked flustered and confused. “What just happened? They could have killed Liz when you didn’t give them what they wanted.”

  “Lorie, you can’t give in to these people. Our guns are the only defense we have. If we gave them our guns, they could easily just kill all of us. Our guns and our brains are the only power we have over the enemy. Don’t ever give up, either.”

  “But…” she started to protest.

  “Never surrender, even if they do have guns. Never, ever give up. Never give up hope. Don’t give them the upper hand. Even if the bad guys seem to have the advantage, don’t give up your only defense. It’s best to go down fighting. Maybe we’d even take o
ne or two down with us.”

  “They still could have killed Liz,” Lorie said, looking down at the ground.

  “Doubtful,” Michael said to her. “A bullet from my rifle would have put him down long before his knife hand even twitched. Besides, you can’t play their game. You can’t do what they expect you to do. You have to do the unexpected…keep them off balance. Keep them from controlling the situation.”

  Lorie lifted her eyes to look at Michael. “What if that had been me with a knife to my throat instead of Liz?”

  “Then, I would have killed them,” Michael said matter-of-factly. Turning to Jeffrey and Liz, who were still shaken up, he said, “Let’s get out of here.”

  Eager to leave this area behind, they threw their things in the back of the truck and climbed in the cab as Michael closed and locked the trunk bed. Darkness was quickly descending on the park. He got behind the wheel and started the engine. Watching the dashboard, he was relieved to see the oil pressure gauge begin to rise. The blinking red light was off. Putting the truck into gear, he started driving toward the far exit of the park.

  Jeffrey was still trying to help Liz calm down as they approached the park exit. Suddenly, emerging from behind the surrounding hedges, a group of figures wearing red bandanas walked out into the street and blocked the way out. Michael recognized two of them right away. Those two punks that he had let go had run off and gathered the rest of the gang. Now, they wanted payback.

  A few of the gang members had baseball bats. Others waved crowbars threateningly at the truck’s occupants. Only one, obviously the leader, held a pistol at his side. They intended to take Michael and his comrades down. They would break the windows and drag them kicking and screaming from the truck. Then, they would kill Michael and Jeffrey and do who-knows-what with the girls.

  For the second time that day, Michael threw the truck into reverse and backed up as quickly as he could to get away from the gang. Then, he hit the brake as more red bandana figures appeared behind the truck out of the gloom of the failing light. They were now trapped between the two groups of gang members.

  As if picking up on the tension and fright from the people inside the truck, Sandy started to pant loudly from the backseat.

  Michael quickly went through his options. From inside the truck, there was no way he could aim the long rifle at them. Even if he could, he might only get off two or three shots before the gang was on them. Lorie’s pistol would fare a little better. But even if they made every round count, there would still be more than a dozen gang members coming at them. And he didn’t think they would take kindly to him asking for a time-out in order to reload. There were too many of them, and they would overwhelm Michael and his friends easily.

  The gang leader yelled, and the group in front of the truck started racing toward them, weapons raised. At the same time, the other group behind the truck also started advancing.

  They were trapped, and time was quickly running out!

  That was the moment when Michael was transported to that time when he was walking peacefully on a dusty, gravel road with his friends, Brian and Scott. He had just learned that the two Pennsylvania boys had gone without backup to an abandoned gas station to fill up their car. He distinctly remembered Brian saying that they hadn’t gone unarmed, that he was driving a two-thousand-pound weapon. Michael’s mind snapped back to the present danger.

  He had just told Lorie about having to take the aggressive position and never give up hope. It was time to back up his words with action. With no other options available, Michael slammed the truck gear back into drive and floored the accelerator. Leaping forward with tires squealing, the truck exploded toward the leader and his group. They were stunned by the sight and sound of the large truck bearing down on them. Confused, they quickly looked at each other and their leader for direction.

  Momentarily startled, the gang leader with the pistol hesitated.

  Michael’s truck was gaining speed and getting close. The leader looked directly at Michael, and gaining some of his composure back, he lifted his hand and gestured that Michael was number one. Then, grinning, he aimed his pistol.

  With nowhere else to go, Michael steered the truck directly at the guy with the gun. Lorie gasped, and someone in the backseat cried out. In the dwindling light of dusk, Michael suddenly flipped on his bright lights and blasted the horn. “Get down!” he cried to his friends.

  Everyone in the truck got down. Behind the steering wheel, Michael crunched down behind the wheel as much as he could, but he could not duck any lower and still see where he was driving.

  The leader had Michael dead center in his gun sights. Suddenly blinded by the bright lights and temporarily disoriented by the loud horn, the red bandana gang leader was immobilized, and his senses were overwhelmed. As some of gang members managed to dive out of the way of the fast-approaching truck, the leader and a few of his friends weren’t so lucky.

  Michael heard a few thumps and felt the truck tires bouncing over something, first the front tires and then the back. Breaking through the line of gang members, Michael straightened back up and drove the truck out of the park as fast as he could. Lorie and the rest cautiously got back up. Glancing in the rearview mirror before disappearing around the corner, Michael saw the rest of the thugs gathering around some figures lying motionless on the pavement. He was glad they were more concerned with their friends than in pursuing his truck.

  Leaving the park and turning out of sight from the red bandana gang, he hit the steering wheel with his fist in anger. He was upset at himself more than anything else at the moment. Because he had been weak…because he had just let those two kids run off…he had put all of his friends in danger. They had threatened Liz’s life, and he had just let them go. He was a fool.

  In the passenger’s seat, Lorie looked at him but remained silent.

  “Whew! That was too close!” Jeffrey said. “Does the supply of creeps ever end?”

  “I just want to get home,” Liz cried out from the backseat.

  “We’re almost there,” Jeffrey said, trying to comfort his big sister.

  “Do you really want to go home now?” Michael asked, regaining his composure and looking at them in the rearview mirror. “Those people are still in the area.”

  “Yes, we still want to go home,” Jeffrey said with conviction. “We live far enough away from here that those creeps won’t bother us. And if they do manage to stumble on our house, my father has a few surprises for them. My dad was in the marines.”

  Chapter 18

  Twenty minutes later, they were parked outside a clean two-story home with light blue siding. It was fully dark now, and without the aid of any streetlights, Michael could only see what the truck headlights revealed. The lawn was overgrown, and the hedges needed to be trimmed. But overall, the house looked like it was in good shape. At least, no windows had been broken, and the front door had not been kicked in. He stopped the truck and before he could shift the gear into park, he heard both back doors open as Liz and Jeffrey jumped out.

  “Wait!” he called out, but his words fell on deaf ears.

  While he was unbuckling himself from the seatbelt, the two siblings had already crossed their front yard and were using the key to open the front door. Michael had planned to scout the neighborhood for any signs of danger and then make sure the house was safe, but Liz and Jeffrey were so excited to be home that they had rushed on ahead.

  By the time he, Lorie, and Sandy had gotten out of the truck, Liz and Jeffrey had disappeared into the dark house. He could hear them both calling out for their parents from within the depths of the home. He imagined that they were running from room to room searching for them. Having known the layout of the house for so many years, they probably didn’t need any light as they looked for their parents.

  Michael and Lorie shared concerned glances as they crossed the lawn to the wide-open front door. They stopped at threshold and waited. Michael reached inside the door with one hand and felt against the in
terior wall. He located and flipped the light switch. Of course, nothing happened. Like everywhere else, the electricity was out. Without any light, neither he nor Lorie felt comfortable entering an unknown house. They’d probably trip over a coffee table or bang themselves into a chair in the darkness. Sandy sniffed some grass and then came over and sat down beside them.

  “What was that all about back there?” Lorie took the opportunity to ask him while they were alone.

  “What?” Michael asked.

  “Your little temper tantrum in the truck back there.”

  “Oh, that,” Michael said sheepishly. “I screwed up. I should never have let those two guys get away. Because I didn’t stop them, they had time to round up their friends. We were lucky to get out of there alive.”

  “But we did get out. And look,” she said. “I still don’t have a scratch on me. You saved all of us.”

  “I know. We were lucky. But how long will our luck hold out? My bad decision put us all in danger.”

  “And what were you supposed to do? Shoot them?” Lorie asked bluntly.

  “Maybe,” Michael stammered. Then he looked down at his feet in confusion. “I really don’t know. Is this what we’ve become? Killers?”

  Lorie moved forward and put her hand on his cheek. She turned his face to her and looked him in the eye. “You do what you think is right. If it means that you have to kill someone to save a life, then I don’t see a problem with that.”

  Michael looked back into her eyes. The warmth emanating from her hazel eyes penetrated his soul. “Brian said not too long ago that we might be in danger of losing our humanity in times like these. I see his point now. Where do we draw the line? If we kill, what makes us different than those people out there?”

  “We’re different because we are the good guys,” Lorie said confidently.

  They could hear Liz calling out for her parents as Jeffrey’s face suddenly appeared before them in the doorway.

  “They’re not here,” he announced, frustrated and worried.

  From the noise they were making, Michael wasn’t surprised. If Jeffrey’s parents had been home, there would have been a happy reunion as soon as Jeffrey and Liz had entered the house. He was afraid that the commotion they were causing inside the house would soon attract unwanted attention. He could still hear Liz running from room to room, opening and closing doors, and calling out for her parents.