“So, are we safe to gather food from homes?” Betty looked skeptical.
“It sounds like the answer is yes,” said Father Paul. “But, just to be on the safe side, we should warn everyone to stay clear of any bodily fluids.” He turned to Betty. “If I get you a small army of helpers to collect and prepare food, can you run the cafeteria?”
“Yes, of course. I’m happy to be responsible for keeping people fed. We’ll set it up like a soup kitchen. No one goes home hungry—that’s my pledge,” she said, holding up her hand as if taking a solemn oath.
“As for the long term,” added Father Paul, “we’re going to need to get seeds in the ground. It’s almost spring, so at least the timing is in our favor.”
Steve said, “There are tractors all around the county just sitting idle. We could set up several large communal gardens to help feed the town through this coming year. I think we should also suggest that individual families establish their own small gardens. Many of us have farming in our blood, so I’d be surprised if we couldn’t make a go of it. That said, it would require that nearly everyone learn to work the land.”
“What could be more important than eating?” said Mason. “People need to understand that if they don’t grow it, they won’t eat. It’s that simple.”
Again, a plan was quickly drawn up and assignments issued. By the following evening, the college’s cafeteria would start serving a single evening meal to anyone who was hungry. Seeds from the local cooperatives would be gathered and rationed out to the townspeople so that everyone would have what they needed to put food on their tables through the coming year.
“Next on the table is a more … difficult subject,” Father Paul said, a little sheepishly. “We have to do something about the dead.” He looked around the table, and many looked down at their hands. “It took me nearly a full day to carry out the bodies in the church. And, may God forgive me, but they’re piled out back like bags of old clothes. Despite my best intentions, proper burials just weren’t possible. I will need help putting them to rest.”
“The bigger question is what to do with all of the bodies?” asked Ava.
Everyone looked around the table, but no one seemed to have a solid answer.
“Perhaps we could burn them in a giant bonfire?” suggested Chief Blue.
Steve shook his head.
“The amount of fuel required would be tremendous. I know it sounds awful, but you’re better off burying them in a big pit somewhere. I have a couple of bulldozers that could be put to use.”
“A mass grave?” whispered Betty, horrified. “We’re talking about our friends and family. They deserve better than that.”
“I’m open to ideas,” said Steve. “If I had to guess, I’d say we have about fifteen thousand bodies in and around the city. That’s a whole lot of grave digging.”
“Fifteen thousand is probably pretty close,” agreed Ava. “That would put our current population at around two thousand.”
“Fifteen thousand dead sounds impossible for us to handle,” Chief Blue said more to himself than those at the table.
“Maybe there’s another way,” Mason said, rubbing his chin.
Everyone turned to him.
“What if we clear and bury only those bodies that are truly in the way? Leave the others where they lie. Within a few months, there won’t be anything left but bones and hair. You could clear the remains out later without having to deal with the bodily fluids.”
“But we’d have cars and homes all around us, with decaying bodies inside,” stuttered Betty. “How can we expect people to live like that?”
“They’re already living like that,” countered Ava.
“Look, I understand it’s not ideal,” said Mason. “But, for a while, people are going to have bigger concerns. If we can clear the homes of bodies where there are still survivors, as well as any businesses or public venues that might be viable, it will be enough for now.”
“We could use police tape or paint to mark off houses that shouldn’t be entered,” offered Chief Blue. “And the bodies that are removed could be buried over at Winkler cemetery. Maybe not one to a grave, but we could get them in the ground where they belong.”
“Given some time, I could clear the major streets by towing the cars with bodies to keep-out zones at the edge of town. Auto grave yards, if you will,” volunteered Big Al, the owner of a tow-truck service company.
“Will you need help?” asked Father Paul.
“Nah. The missus and I can do it. But we could probably only move about ten cars a day, so it will take some time.” He turned to Steve Price. “We’ll be needing some of that fuel, too.”
“Understood.”
“So, it’s settled then,” said Father Paul, looking around the table to see if anyone objected. When no one spoke up, he said, “Chief Blue, will you take point on marking the houses and coordinating disposal of those bodies that absolutely must be moved?”
The retired police chief nodded.
“Next on the list is security,” said Father Paul. “As you heard, people are afraid not only of the virus but also of the strangers who have taken over our town. Convicts, criminals, call them what you will—they’re terrorizing everyone.”
“People should be afraid,” said Betty. “These are awful men.”
“Fortunately, Marshal Raines has volunteered to help us with this very serious problem.”
Mason took his time to make eye contact with each person at the table, trying not to linger when he met Ava’s eyes.
“I hope that everyone appreciates that this is going to be a difficult conversation. We’re talking about setting up a rule of law that has punishments that we will have to administer.”
“Marshal, we’ll need to start by making it clear what those rules are. We can’t just assume that people know what’s allowed. Many people, myself included,” confessed Chief Blue, “are taking things from abandoned stores, cars, and homes in order to survive. Are we going to allow that to continue?”
“Chief, we’re all doing what we need to survive,” said Mason. “We don’t want to get in the way of that, but we must establish a set of basic laws to provide a measure of safety to the townspeople.”
“Like the Ten Commandments,” said Father Paul.
“Exactly. We’ll keep it simple by outlawing violent crimes, including murder, rape, assault, and robbery.”
“Is it really necessary to tell people not to murder?” murmured Betty. “What’s happened to our humanity?”
“I can tell you that some people have no humanity,” Ava said, shaking her head. “Violence is occurring every day in Boone. Gangs of men are raping young girls, some no older than ten. People who have been infected are being shot for target practice.”
“What will we do with the lawbreakers?” asked Chief Blue. “It’s not as if we can toss people in the city jail to await trial.”
“The way I see it is we really only have a few sticks,” said Mason. “For the most minor offenses, we’ll mandate some form of community service, basically giving them a second chance. We certainly have lots of work to be done. More serious crimes will lead to banishment from town. Finally, the most violent offenses, including rape and murder, will be dealt with on the spot. No trial. No second chances.”
Charlie Buttons, the owner of several ski rental stores, blurted out, “My Lord. You’re proposing some kind of brutal frontier justice.”
“That’s exactly what I’m proposing. If you’d prefer, we can have Ava and the other doctors castrate the rapists,” Mason said without the slightest hint of a smile.
“I’d be happy to,” she replied, biting her lip to suppress a grin.
“And who will kill these criminals?” demanded Charlie. “You, Marshal?”
“My deputies and I will be responsible for enforcing the law.”
“This doesn’t sound right,” said Charlie. “We’re better than this.”
“Charlie, do you have any family still alive?”
>
He seemed surprised by the question.
“Why, yes. My eighty-year-old mother and both my sons survived the virus.”
Mason leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table.
“I want you to imagine that a gang of men grabbed your eighty-year-old mother. Beat her. Raped her. And then cut her throat. Imagine that for me.”
“You’re disgusting,” Charlie sneered, staring hard at Mason.
“What would you have me do to such men?”
“That’s insane. That would never happen.”
“Or maybe one of your sons is brutalized. Evil can do unspeakable things when left unchecked. On my way into Boone this morning, I found a young man whose face had been bashed in with a hammer. His wife or girlfriend was taken, almost certainly raped and murdered. Again, I ask, what justice is fair?”
Charlie looked down at his hands resting on the table.
“I don’t know, Marshal. I’m a man of peace. I … I don’t know about these things.”
Mason’s voice softened. “We’re living in a new world, one that, for the time being, will require this frontier justice that you’ve described. It’s not something anyone should be comfortable with, but it is the only way forward.”
Hoping to diffuse the tension, Father Paul said, “Marshal Raines, can we trust that you will be judicious in your use of force?”
Mason nodded, his jaw set hard.
“You have my word that I will be only slightly more vicious than my enemy.”
CHAPTER
15
Tanner drove east on Highway 20, the red Honda Odyssey minivan slowly navigating the congested road, like a mouse working its way through an experimenter’s cruel maze. For the past ten miles, the number of abandoned cars had been steadily increasing, and, while the interstate was still passable, it never allowed him to exceed ten miles an hour.
The two rows of rear seats had been folded down, and Samantha lay resting in the back with a couple of blankets draped over her.
“It’s not very comfortable back here.”
“And yet you slept,” he said, catching her eye in the rearview mirror.
“Evidently, being in a helicopter crash makes you tired. How far have we gone?”
“About eighty miles. We’ll be coming up on the outskirts of Atlanta soon.”
Samantha climbed up into the front passenger seat, pulling one of the blankets with her.
“Are we going to drive straight through?”
“No. We’ll get on the 285 loop and go around the city.”
“Why not go through the middle? Wouldn’t it be quicker?”
“Atlanta had roughly five million people living there when this thing hit. You can imagine how bad it must be.”
“Oh, right. Okay, let’s go around.”
“At this rate, though, it will take several hours.”
She looked out the window.
“We won’t make it before dark.”
“Another reason to stay out of the city.”
After a moment, she said, “I’m sorry, but I really need a bathroom break.”
“Okay.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes. When Tanner spotted an exit that was still passable, he pulled off the interstate. A McDonald’s restaurant and two gas stations came into view. He pulled into the parking lot of the larger of the two gas stations.
“Let’s hit the restroom and maybe grab a few snacks,” he said.
They got out of the van and approached the store. Surprisingly, it was still in remarkably good shape. There were a couple of deserted cars out front, but the glass door to the store was unbroken, as were its large windows.
Tanner gave the door a push. It didn’t budge.
“Try somewhere else?” she asked.
“Give me a sec.” He went back to the van and returned with a small crowbar.
“You don’t mind breaking into places, do you?”
He cut his eyes toward her.
“If you’d rather pee in the bushes, that’s okay with me.”
“I was just making an observation.”
“Uh-huh.” Tanner slipped the blade of the pry bar between the door and the jam, and leaned into it. The doorframe bent and the bolt pulled free of the striker plate. He gave the door a gentle push, and it swung inward. “We’re in.”
“Two thieves in the night,” she muttered under her breath.
Even with the limited light remaining, it was clear that the store had been cleaned out. Shelves were mostly empty, and the glass coolers had only a few bottles lying in the bottom.
“Not much here,” he said. “Let’s hit the restroom before it gets too dark.”
He led Samantha through the store until they found the door of the women’s bathroom. “Let me check it.”
“Okay, but please hurry. I’ve really got to go.”
He swung open the door, but immediately closed it when the stink of human decomposition poured out.
“Let’s check the other one.”
She followed him to the men’s bathroom door. He opened it, and this time, there were no unusually foul odors. He stepped inside and looked around, handing the door to Samantha to hold open. The bathroom was a simple single-room unit. No one, living or dead, was inside.
“I doubt that the water will run,” he said, stepping back out.
“I’ll manage.”
Tanner grabbed an empty milk crate from the hall and wedged the door open.
“I’ll get what I can from the store.”
Less than a minute later, Samantha came out of the restroom.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yes. What did you find?”
“Let’s see, I’ve got a few Slim Jim beef sticks, some licorice, and about half a dozen purple sports drinks. We can check the other store, too.”
“Let’s just keep moving.”
“Fine. Wait for me while I hit the can.”
She opened one of the drinks and began sipping it.
Tanner went into the bathroom and relieved himself. When he came back out, Samantha was gone.
He scanned the dark room to make sure that his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. She was nowhere in the small store. He raced out of the building, looking left and right. A man shuffled across the dark street, carrying Samantha under his arm like a prize he’d won at the county fair. Tanner sprinted after him.
He caught up to the stranger before he had even finished crossing the four-lane road.
“Put her down!” he bellowed.
The man spun around, panting from the exertion of trying to run while carrying an eighty-pound girl. He was disfigured in a way that no man should have been able to survive, let alone endure. Deep pockmarks permanently disfigured his face like craters on the surface of the moon. His eyes were swollen and oozing a black, inky fluid from their corners.
Samantha was kicking and screaming, fighting to get free.
“Put her down,” Tanner repeated.
“You stole my daughter,” the man said, still trying to catch his breath. “Took her from me while I slept.”
Samantha finally broke free and fell to the ground. The man reached for her, but she quickly scooted away. When she was far enough away, she scrambled to her feet and ran around behind Tanner.
The man looked utterly distraught and reached out his arms to her.
“Jenny. Jenny, come here.” He took a step toward them.
Tanner struck him with a short heel palm to his chest. The man stumbled back and fell on his backside. He sat there, holding his disfigured face, crying, “Jenny, Jenny, my dearest Jenny. Where are you, Jenny?”
Tanner and Samantha slowly backed away, watching him until they made it back to their van. Without saying a word, they loaded up and drove back onto Highway 20.
When Samantha’s heart finally stopped pounding like a Japanese Taiko drum, she said, “What do you think was wrong with him?”
“The virus, I guess.”
“He scared m
e.”
“He was ugly enough to scare Frankenstein.”
She choked out a little laugh.
“Thank you for not killing him.”
“Huh?”
“He seemed to be a very sad man. I don’t think he needed killing.”
“Despite what you might think, I don’t go around killing people.”
“Sometimes you do.”
He sat quietly, letting her words sink in.
“Yeah,” he said, “sometimes I do.”
“Do you think …” Her voice trailed off.
“What?”
“Well, he carried me with his hands.”
“Ah, and you’re wondering if you might be infected. Is that it?”
“I don’t want to end up like him.”
“You won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“His face was scarred, not blistered like others we’ve seen.”
“So he wasn’t contagious anymore?”
“I wouldn’t think so.”
“But you’re not sure.”
“Do I look like an expert on viruses?”
“No, you look like a football player.”
“Thank you. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“So, you’re pretty sure?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure. And if I’m wrong, you’ll turn into a cheese face.” She laughed. “If I do, you will, too.”
“Maybe, but I’ll look good as a cheese face. Probably marry a cheese- face lady and have a house full of cheese-face kids.”
She smiled and looked out the window
They drove for another thirty minutes, silently witnessing the growing pandemonium of the interstate. Cars were smashed into one another, flipped upside down, and sitting at every possible angle. Tanner steered the van onto the shoulder and navigated the wreckage as best as he could, but it was becoming more and more difficult. He wasn’t entirely sure that the road would even be passable closer to the city.
Still looking out her window, Samantha said, “There are dead people inside a lot of these cars.”
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