THE VALUE OF JADE (Mace of the Apocalypse #2)

by Daniel J. Williams

  “This is bullshit,” said Mace, lifting his head to stare at the guard. “You’re not going to treat us like criminals. We haven’t done anything to you or anyone else.”

  Lisa couldn’t contain herself as she stared at the cells, which were six and a half wide by twelve feet deep with two bunks, a metal toilet and sink combination and a small metal shower. “There is no way in hell you are going to put us in there or separate me from my daughter.”

  The medical practitioner said gently, “No, of course not. We will not separate you two. I’m sorry, I should have made that clear. We really don’t want to inconvenience you. We just need to take all possible precautions to protect all of us. This is as much for your safety as for ours.”

  “You can’t just put a black man in a cell for nothing. You have no idea how wrong this feels to me.” Shawn looked extremely uncomfortable and claustrophobic. He broke out into a sweat and said, “This shit is just plain wrong, man, there’s got to be another way.”

  “I am truly sorry,” the doctor reiterated. “It is not our intention to cause you any discomfort. This is just the way it has to be. At least for a few days.”

  Mace studied him carefully as the guards went about checking everyone for weapons. “It’s airborne, isn’t it.” The statement came out flat, not like a question. “You think Melissa has it and it may have spread it to all of us.”

  Dr. Harman’s face stayed blank but after they had all been cleared, he quietly said, “It appears the incubation could be up to seven days. We will feed you well, let you shower, and make you as comfortable as possible. If you are still showing no signs after that time period you will be welcome to join our community. God knows we could use the help.”

  “What’s going to happen to Melissa?” Jade held the man’s gaze, watching his reaction.

  “If she has the flu she will be treated with antibiotics. If she is infected she will be spared the torture of that existence. Those are her only two options.”

  They all remained silent for a few seconds, processing the information. Finally Lisa said, “She’s just a child. How do you know it’s airborne for sure?”

  “We’ve only had one confirmed case so far, but the symptoms were very similar to what the young girl is displaying. We have no idea how to combat this. Time will really be the deciding factor. I’m sorry to throw this at you, but you deserve to know the truth.”

  Jade suddenly had a burst of inspiration and couldn’t believe she hadn’t remembered until this point. “We have the antidote. Actually, we are the antidote. All of us except Bill and Melissa have received it. It’s a long story, but we came here for a reason. We came to Overland Park to find Sarah Thompson. Is she part of this community?”

  Dr. Harman’s jaw dropped. He took a step back and stared at her for the longest time. “You’re Jade,” he whispered with surprise.

  It was everyone else’s turn to be floored. “Yes,” she said slowly, her heart now pumping furiously in her chest. “How could you possibly know that?”

  “You’ve been a bit of a ghost around here. We built this sanctuary in part because of you, or at least that’s what Sarah said. No one was really sure if you were real.”

  “I don’t understand," Jade said in confusion. “I don’t understand any of this. But Sarah is here?”

  “If you’ll just follow our procedures for now, I promise we will explain everything.” Staring at her for a few long seconds, he suddenly shook his head to clear it. “I’m sorry. I really just don’t know what to say. We’ve had a recent tragedy here. I’ll see if I can get Sarah to speak with you.” With that he turned to leave, whispering to one of the guards, “Take good care of them. Give them whatever they need.”

  The guard remained impassive as he left, motioning towards the cells with the M-16. “Everyone needs to be in separate cells except the woman with the child. It’s for your own protection. Just cooperate with us and it will be over before you know it.”

  “But wait,” Jade yelled after the doctor. “We might be able to help Melissa!”

  Pausing for a second to consider it, Dr. Harman shook his head and said, “I’ll think about it,” before leaving the building.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Inside the cells, they whispered to each other through the front of the bars. The guard sat in a chair at the end of the hall, ignoring them.

  “I ain’t even gonna sniffle. Probably get a bullet to the back of the head for it,” whispered Shawn from the cell farthest the guard. “If Melissa is infected, we might all be done anyway.”

  “She would definitely be more susceptible if it’s airborne,” said Jade, moving to the front of the cell and whispering under her breath to him. “But unless there was a bigger mutation than we know, we should still be protected. I just wish I could talk to them about trying to create the antidote again.”

  “I want to talk to them about how we’re being treated,” Lisa said loudly as she coddled Chelsea in the prison cot.

  The door at the end of the hall opened and Bo slowly walked through it. “Bo, what are you doing here?”

  With his head still wrapped, Bo looked haggard. He coughed and shook his head. “You need to put me in solitary. Do it now and don’t ask any more questions. You’ll want to keep me as far away from everyone as possible.” He coughed again and the guard took a few steps backwards.

  “Damn,” the guard said softly, concerned. “When did the cough start?”

  “About an hour ago. Sarah doesn’t know yet. Don’t tell her. I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do.”

  Jade was at the front of her cell immediately. “How do you know Sarah? Are you talking about Sarah Thompson? We came here looking for her.”

  Bo walked up to the front of the cell and stared at her for a few long seconds. Looking down at her belly, he said, “My God, you’re Jade. You actually made it.”

  Before she could answer he turned to the guard. “When did they arrive? How come I wasn’t informed?”

  “Dr. Harman just went to get Sarah. They just showed up at the gate twenty minutes ago.”

  “Twenty minutes! I should have known within five!”

  The guard shrank back. “Sorry. I thought somebody had told you.”

  “What are you to this place?” questioned Mace loudly, peering at him through the front of his bars. “We need to speak to somebody in charge.”

  “I guess you could say I run it.” He looked back towards Jade, who watched him from directly inside her cell. “You all might be our saviors. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  “What in the world is going on?” asked Jade, studying his face in confusion.

  “Your baby,” Bo said, glancing at her belly. “Sarah believes it is immune.” His eyes looked sorrowful as he spoke the words. He was about to say something more before he was gripped by a vicious coughing fit.

  Jade was too stunned to speak for a moment. After she gathered herself she said in astonishment, “How could that be? She doesn’t even know I’m pregnant! I never told her.”

  “Sarah has been having some visions,” Bo said matter-of-factly once he caught his breath before turning his head to clear his throat and cough again. He looked miserable.

  Ignoring the statement Jade focused on his condition, recognizing an opportunity to move things forward. “We are carrying the antidote. It’s in our blood. We might be able to save you as well as Melissa. We just need to figure out how to make some more.”

  “I’m not the doctor here,” Bo said weakly. “Have you spoken with Gene yet?”

  “He went to get Sarah,” the guard spoke up from behind him. “I just assumed he’d be back once he’d found her.”

  “She’s having a rough time right now. I don’t know if she’ll be able to make it.” He motioned towards the last cell on the floor. “Open that one for me. I’m going to need to stay separated.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Sarah walked briskly into the cell block trailing Dr. Harman. Wearing a wrinkled t-sh
irt and blue jeans, she looked disheveled and forlorn. Her hair was barely held up in a bun and dark circles hung under her red-lined eyes.

  Dr. Harman passed the first few cells until he stood in front of Jade’s. Sarah glanced at the others in the cells she passed until she stopped and locked eyes with the woman on the other side of the iron bars. She moved forward until she was directly in front of Jade. They stared at each other for a few long seconds. The pain of recent events seemed to disappear as a smile began to slowly appear on each woman’s face, followed a few seconds later by genuine laughter.

  “Sarah?” Jade asked.

  Sarah smiled and nodded. “Yes.”

  “My God, I never thought we’d find you! I can’t believe you are standing in front of me!”

  Sarah’s face looked momentarily refreshed and jubilant. “I’ve waited for you for so long, Jade. I can’t believe you’re finally here, either. There’s so much I want to say to you.” She looked at Gene. “Get her out of here. I want to take her back to my house so we can talk.”

  The Dr. shook his head. “That’s not protocol. We can’t start deviating now.”

  “Ridiculous. She’s not coughing or sick.” Her eyes lit up and she turned back towards Jade. “Do you have the antidote? My God, I almost forgot!”

  “Yes and no. We are the antidote. Almost all of us are carrying it.”

  A coughing fit from the cell at the end of the corridor suddenly caught Sarah’s attention. She immediately turned towards it alarmed. “Who is that?” she said to the guard. The guard stared at her nervously, unsure of what to say, and Sarah’s eyes darted from his to Jade’s. A second later she called out, “Bo? Bo, is that you?”

  She rushed down the corridor and stopped in front of the last cell, staring in horror at her husband who was bent over, suffering from a prolonged coughing fit. “Oh my God, no. Not this too!”

  “Sarah!” Jade yelled for her from her cell. “I think we can help him! We need to find a way to extract the antidote from our blood. We had help last time from a nurse. She separated the blood somehow to keep it from clotting. I don’t know how she did it.”

  With Bo sick, Dr. Harman was suddenly interested. “The process is actually called electrophoresis.”

  “You know how to do it?” Jade’s excitement was evident. Sarah was instantly by his side.

  “How do we do it?" Sarah asked in a panic. “We need to do it right now!” She looked back at Bo’s cell and then turned back towards Gene. “Now! We need to do it now!”

  The doctor seemed confused for a minute as he thought through the process. “Okay. It’s actually not that difficult. We could just draw down their blood and have a small amount of serum within a few hours.”

  “What are you waiting for!” yelled Sarah excitedly. “Let’s do it!” She turned towards Jade. “How much do we need?”

  “I’m not exactly positive but a small amount seemed to do the trick. You can take my blood to start. Let’s just get this done! We might be able to save Melissa as well!”

  The doctor motioned towards the cell to the guard, and within a few seconds Jade was being whisked away to the Urgent Care Center.

  The rain had let up as they exited the jail and Jade grabbed Sarah’s arm as they ran towards the car the doctor had arrived in. “We can still save him, Sarah. I know we can!”

  Sarah gave her a quick hug. “I know it too. I can feel it.”

  Ten minutes later Jade was watching her blood being drawn into several glass test tubes. She was sitting in a chair at the medical center and her heart was beating a mile a minute. She was about to say something to Sarah when she saw the look on Sarah’s face change.

  “Oh my God,” said Sarah. “There is someone here. I can feel his presence.”

  “What?” asked Jade, not understanding the situation.

  Sarah seemed to be staring into space. “I’ve been getting visions, but I’ve never had this happen before. I’ve seen him before. He’s told me things.” Sarah looked directly at Jade. “He knows you. He has much love for you.” Sarah looked into space again. “I think it’s your father.” She stared back at Jade. “No, he’s like your father. You called him father.”

  Jade completely forgot about the blood being drawn and began to rise from her chair. The doctor grabbed her arm, keeping her in place. “Just a few more seconds. Please, just stay still.”

  Tears began streaming down Jade’s face as she sat back down.

  “What are you saying?” she said, completely perplexed.

  “His name starts with a J. I think he might have been a priest. I saw him in a vision and he whispered to me that your baby could save us all.”

  “What?” Jade was speechless.

  Father Jack McCann had been one of the most important men in Jade’s life. An older priest, he had cared for her like a daughter. He had been with them through the worst of the infection and Jade had watched in horror as he was murdered by the teenage gang.

  “Your baby is immune, Jade. That is what he has been trying to tell me.”

  The doctor finished drawing the blood and said, “Place your finger here” as he put a piece of gauze over the extraction point. He glanced at Sarah and then back at Jade. “I told you. We’ve been waiting for you,” he said with the hint of a smile.

  With her head spinning, all Jade could think to ask was, “Is he still here? Could I speak with him?”

  “He says he’s been with you all along. He says his work is now done here.”

  Jade’s jaw was completely slack. Tears continued to stream down her face. The doctor took the vials and rushed out of the room, leaving Jade and Sarah alone together. Sarah felt a peace descend upon her as she walked to the chair Jade was in and sat down next to her.

  “I lost my baby, Jade.” Remaining silent for a second to compose herself, she slowly continued. “I understood that it could happen. I saw it.” Sarah looked at her for the longest time before a small smile finally appeared on her face. “I thought it was going to kill me. I thought I wanted to die. It will take a while for me to get over it, but I could still have other children.” She took a deep breath and Jade could see the anguish still fresh in her eyes. “I’ve been having visions for a little while now. It’s very hard to explain. The old man always seemed to be there. It wasn’t until recently that I actually learned the truth.”

  All Jade could think to say was, “I’m so sorry. Oh my God, Sarah. I’m so sorry about your baby.” She clutched Sarah’s hand and held it tight.

  “It’s okay. This will be a new beginning. I see it all clearly now. There is still a long way to go, but this is a new beginning.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Get away from me, Gene. I’m feeling fine.” Dr. Harman was conducting a thorough examination and wanted to check Bo’s prostate. “No finger test today. You’ve probed me enough.” He pushed himself off the examination table and moved towards the exit, covering the exposed rear of his hospital gown with his hand. “I’ve got stuff I need to deal with today and my rectum’s not on the list.”

  The doctor had a good laugh. “Okay, fine. Have it your way. But I would like to check every aspect of your and Melissa’s health considering your rapid recoveries.”

  “I know you would. But let’s just get everybody inoculated and safe. Right now that should be the first priority.”

  That night, in the midst of a celebration neither party ever expected, Bo pulled out a jug of Manny’s hooch, pouring two small glasses and passing one to Mace. The entire compound was gathered together. Mace and their party were sitting at a table hosted by Sarah and Bo.

  Standing up, Bo made an announcement to everyone in the room. “I’ve lost a lot of friends.” Without trying to bring the party down, he added, “I know we all have. This was made by one of my closest. I’d like to share it with our new guests to honor all their memories and to celebrate new friendships and new beginnings.” He turned towards Mace and lifted his glass, saying, “I’d be honored if you’d join me in thi
s small ritual.”

  “Amen,” said Mace, taking the glass and standing up. “What exactly is this stuff?”

  Sarah began to laugh immediately. “Don’t do it, Mace. I’ve seen what happens when grown men sip from that.”

  Sharing her laughter, he began to tease her back. “C’mon, Sarah, it really can’t be that bad!” Looking at Bo, he said, “What are you trying to do to me?”

  Bo’s smile couldn’t have been more genuine. “I want to share this with you. It’s something I shared on occasion with my closest friends. I’d like to now count you as one of them.”

  The entire party grew silent with anticipation, waiting as Mace stared at the glass. He looked at Jade and she just shrugged her shoulders.

  “Hey, it’s not my liver,” she said.

  Turning towards Bo, he nodded in appreciation. “What the heck. To new friendships and beginnings.” He shot the glass back and the entire hall began laughing as his face contorted. He looked at Bo, unable to speak, through eyes that quickly grew glossy.

  “Wow,” is all he could finally croak.

  Bo slapped him on the back. “Welcome to the compound,” he laughed. “It’s damn good to have you.”

  EPILOGUE

  Three months later, Jade gripped Mace’s hand tightly as she endured another contraction. Mace bit his lip as her fingernails dug into his palm. At the end of the bed, Sarah Thompson laughed as she saw a thick head of hair appearing in the birth canal. “You’re almost there! Keep pushing!”

  Outside, on the playground, Lisa chatted nervously with other mothers as their children played, waiting for the news. Chelsea was halfway down the slide while her best friend, Jodi, waited to go behind her. Giggling as Buster jumped around excitedly at the bottom, Chelsea yelled, “Look out Buster, here I come!”

  Enjoying the sun on their faces as they lay on the grass of the park, Yvette and Jim were playfully arguing over the sex of the baby.