Plague War p-2

by Jeff Carlson

  Cam was careful not to study her too closely, looking at the boys’ faces instead. The girl had been quiet so far, yet the boys kept glancing at her for her reaction. For approval. That sort of charisma would be a heady feeling for such a young woman, and Cam and Newcombe were about to take it away from her.

  That made her dangerous.

  * * * *

  They had set eight boulders around their ‚re pit, like chairs, inside the larger ring of windbreaks. Brandon and Hiroki gave up their seats for Cam and Newcombe, and Cam ‚nally realized that Brandon was a beta male, possibly because he was the brother of the girl. Cam would have thought Ed’s son would be his right-hand man, but Alex and D Mac appeared to be the lieutenants here.

  It was an odd dynamic, but it had been shaped by their circumstances. Ed very likely hadn’t had the energy to spare to groom his son while protecting his daughter, which in turn had given rise to Alex and D Mac as those two worked to prove themselves and eventually dominated the rest. Brandon just didn’t have the same goal or motivation. More than that, he might have put himself in danger if he’d fought to keep a place near the top of pack. A king and a princess did not need a prince to stand with them, they needed knights.

  “It’s not much,” Ed apologized, as Brandon handed over two battered plastic canteens. Then he fetched two aluminum cups full of berries and roots. Cam had also seen a small pot and a crude canvas bag heaped with grasshopper carapaces. There was a smooth rock for mashing the bugs, along with tree bark and fresh tufts of weeds and moss, but Brandon had held back the insects and the weeds on his own initiative, offering their best instead.

  “I have something, too,” Newcombe said, rummaging through his jacket. From one pocket he came up with a spare notepad, which he gave to Ed. From another he produced a colorful sixteen-ounce packet of Berry Storm Gatorade powder.

  Most of the boys cheered. “Oh, fuck yeah!” Alex said. Even the girl smiled.

  Ed let them mix up the sweet red powder. The girl and a few of the boys choked theirs down immediately — the sports drink was loaded with salts and sugar — but Brandon drank his in sips with his eyes closed and Alex held on to his for later, demonstrating remarkable control.

  “So how did you get here?” Newcombe asked.

  “What? Where did you—” Mike began, but Alex shushed him and said, “Tell ’em, Mr. S.”

  Ed Sevcik nodded, recognizing like Alex that Newcombe’s question was a test. He understood that Newcombe and Cam had the ability to get up and leave. “We were snowshoe camping,” Ed said, gesturing back down into the west. “Me and the boys, my wife, and Samantha.” He touched his shirt absently and the three square patches stitched onto his chest. 4. 1. 9. A troop number.

  The girl was indeed sister and daughter to Brandon and Ed. Samantha and her mother had also been avid hikers and ‚shermen, and they’d tagged along for a week in the snow with the Scout troop. Ed was a roofer and usually worked straight through every summer, so the annual camping trip had doubled as a family vacation for years. His wife liked to say it beat the heck out of standing in two-hour lines at Disneyland. All of the kids were glad to skip school even if it meant extra homework afterward. Sam got to bring her iPod. Brandon had merit badges far ahead of his age. Both he and Alex had achieved the rank of Eagle Scout before the plague, and by Ed’s estimation all of the boys — and Samantha — had long since quali‚ed for Eagle Scout themselves.

  They’d reached these low, tiny islands with three people they didn’t know, Ed said honestly, when he could have lied. Cam didn’t ask about the unlikely statistics. Why was it only the three strangers and Ed’s wife who were dead? Either someone made a move for the girl or her mother, or someone started cheating with the food. Cam had committed murder himself for all the right reasons, and anyway the killing was long done.

  The Scouts were perfect to help spread the vaccine, Cam thought, and it wasn’t such a coincidence that he and Newcombe and Ruth had found this able group. No one else could have survived on these miniscule patches of ground.

  “We need your help,” Newcombe said, as he explained about the vaccine and the ‚ght for control of it.

  Ed and his wolf pack were aware of the sudden air war. At ‚rst, the surge of jets and helicopters had ‚lled them with wild hope. They’d wanted to believe that a massive rescue effort was ‚nally underway, but the batteries for their little radio had faded more than a year ago and they had only been able to guess who was ‚ghting and why.

  “You want us to go out there,” Ed said uncertainly when Newcombe was done, but his son was more ready to get away.

  “We know there are people over there,” Brandon said, pointing across a narrow valley to the east. “We’ve seen smoke on two of those mountains.”

  At the same time, Samantha ‚nally spoke up. “It doesn’t look like your vaccine works very well,” she said, gazing at Cam. “I’m sorry. I just have to say that.”

  “All of this happened before we got the nanotech,” Cam explained, gesturing at his face, but it was no accident that he’d kept his gloves on, hiding his hands.

  “The vaccine works,” Newcombe said.

  “This will be the most important thing you ever do,” Cam said, meeting Brandon’s eyes for an instant before turning to Alex and D Mac. They were the ones he really wanted, but D Mac was frowning and Alex seemed uncharacteristically quiet.

  Alex was waiting for Samantha and her father, even as D Mac made his ‚rst small break from them.

  “How do we get it?” D Mac said. “I mean, is it a needle?” he asked, and then Brandon and Mike ‚lled the circle with words, leaning forward as they competed to be heard.

  “So you’re on the rebel side—”

  “—but how do we know—”

  “You have a duty,” Newcombe told them.

  “I’m not sure we want any part of this war,” Ed said, and Cam understood. The man had seen these children through the entire plague year. His paternal instincts would be cut deep in him. He must have given up any hope of changing things and begun to plan through the grim, impossible chore of enduring in this place, breeding his daughter with each of the boys.

  They’d surely talked about it — their limited genetics, the maximum population this string of islands could sustain. Cam couldn’t see how else it would have played out. Ed must have used the promise of her to keep them patient until Samantha was old enough not to complicate her childbirth, and somehow their discipline had held. He’d done well, but now it was ‚nished.

  “You go or you don’t get the vaccine,” Newcombe said. “I’m sorry, but that’s the way it has to be.”

  “We’re not asking you to ‚ght anyone,” Cam said.

  “You are,” Ed said. “They’re looking for you. They’ll look for us, too.”

  “You’re still Americans,” Newcombe said. “You can be a part of that again. Just help us spread the nanotech. That’s all we want. Just help a few people like we helped you.”

  “That sounds pretty good, Dad,” Brandon said.

  “But the planes,” Ed said.

  “You’re still Americans,” Newcombe repeated, looking around at their frayed uniforms and B.S.A. caps. He was obviously ready to draw on their past and their patriotism.

  Cam could see it would be much easier than that. Alex might stick with Samantha. He was the tightest with her, but the other teenagers were restless and girl-hungry and excited. “Listen,” he said. “Those other mountains over there are just the beginning. There’ll be people everywhere who will be very, very happy to see you.”

  Samantha shook her head. “It’s so dangerous.”

  Yes, Cam thought, looking at the boys instead of Ed and his daughter. “You’ll be kings,” he said.

  * * * *

  It was early evening before Cam and Newcombe returned for Ruth, allowing D Mac, Mike, Hiroki, and Brandon to come along. The boys had looked like they were ready to ‚ght to keep them from walking away. No promise to return would have been enough
.

  “We might drop below the barrier for an hour or more,” Cam warned them, but D Mac shrugged and said, “We’ve done it before.”

  Even without Alex, the teenagers were extra noisy as they descended, questioning Cam and Newcombe about the war and the plague. They knew so little. They were still in shock. They were good kids, mostly, but it made Cam uneasy that Alex had stayed behind with Ed and Samantha and Kevin, the sixth boy. Kevin had big eyes and a small mouth. He was the bottom dog as far as Cam could tell, and he would probably do whatever Ed and Alex told him.

  What if they decided to stay? They could be forced off of their mountain at gunpoint, he supposed. Either way, it would be better to give them the vaccine. Cam wouldn’t abandon them here without it, but if Ed or the girl saw that, they would never leave. Not at ‚rst.

  They won’t stay here forever, he thought. Even if a few of them delayed for months, even if it took them the entire summer to become comfortable with the idea, ranging ever-farther below the barrier for food and wood, they would see the truth. Winter would drive them lower. And if Samantha did become pregnant, especially if most of the Scouts had left, wouldn’t Ed want to ‚nd other people to help him raise his grandchild?

  Cam smiled faintly as he led the boys across a ‚eld of rock and wild grass, listening to Newcombe fend off Mike.

  “But if the president’s in Colorado,” the boy asked.

  “There are at least two presidents now,” Newcombe said.

  “But if the real one is in Colorado—”

  “President Kail died in the ‚rst month of the plague and the VP stepped up, but the Speaker of the House was in Montana, which went over to the breakaways.”

  “So the vice president is the real president.”

  “Look, kid, it’s all fucked up, okay?”

  He just needs to know he’s on the right side, Cam thought, but they were within a quarter-mile of the camp spot and he wanted to be sure Ruth didn’t run away. He cupped his mouth with his gloves and shouted, “Ruth! Ruth, we’re okay!”

  No answer. He felt a thread of nervous fear, but the whitebark forest was murmuring in the breeze, a sound like distant ocean surf, and they were still pretty far away. She might not have recognized his voice.

  “Ruth! Hey!”

  “There,” Brandon said.

  She’d gone to high ground, running to the splintered mess of a deadfall on the slope above them. She stood among the tangle of branches with a fresh red scratch across her cheek, her chest heaving for air. In her good hand was her pistol and Cam smiled again, glad for her. “It’s okay!” he said.

  “Are you all right?” she called.

  The waiting had been hard on her. He realized that, but his heart changed as he closed the sixty feet between them. Ruth pushed off her goggles and he saw more than relief in her expression. Last night she had managed to hide it in the dark. Now he saw genuine affection, even attachment, which made him sick because he didn’t know how to accept it. He knew that his bent, ragged hands on her would be repulsive.

  Her eyes swept over the boys and also went to Newcombe, yet her smile and her tears were for Cam. “I was scared,” Ruth said without shame. Her boots crunched in the twigs and pine needles. “You were gone so long, it was hours—”

  Cam stepped back from her embrace. Her ‚ngertips touched the back of his neck and then slid to his shoulder as he turned. His own arm came up brie†y to her waist. That was all. Then he tipped his head at the boys and said, “We got lucky. These guys are great.”

  Ruth’s face was torn with surprise and her lower lip hung open in a dull way that looked very much unlike her.

  “Cam,” she said, reaching for him again. She’d clearly made her decision. She was opening herself to him, and yet he had to say no.

  “Let’s get our packs. Come on.”

  “Cam, wait.”

  “It’ll take us a while to hike back up again and we can have dinner there,” he said as he moved away.

  The four boys had shifted back from them, glancing at each other, but D Mac stepped forward as Cam went past, allowing Cam plenty of room. “Miss,” D Mac said, ignoring the fact that Ruth was nearly twenty years older. “I’m D Mac. I mean Darren.” He blushed and tried to cover it with a grin. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you so much.”

  “Yes.” Ruth took the boy’s hand, but Cam was aware of her gaze following after him.

  * * * *

  They said nothing about who she was or the data index. They’d already risked enough, and they had to keep in mind that rumors would spread with the vaccine. They didn’t want anyone else to come hunting them for any reason.

  The wind continued to pick up as the sun fell. It scraped over the mountain, howling and cold. The wolf pack did not complain. They put on all of their extra clothes. Samantha kept herself very noticeable in a yellow jacket. Then they hunkered down behind their rock berms in twos and threes, using each other for shelter and heat. Cam found space for himself beside Brandon and Mike, leaving Ruth with Ed, D Mac, Hiroki, and Newcombe. The distance between the tiny groups wasn’t much. Their camp barely covered thirty square feet inside the piles of rock, but he saw Ruth glancing at him again and again.

  They threw a small party — a large ‚re and exotic food from Cam and Newcombe’s packs. Deviled ham. Canned pears. The ‚re snapped in the wind, throwing sparks and ashes, but Ed allowed the boys to use as much wood as they liked to keep the †ames high. “There won’t be much left for breakfast,” Alex told him, and Ed said, “What the hell. We’ll get more.”

  The boys hollered at the ‚rst can of food as if they’d never seen anything like it, but every one of them was careful not to dig out too much of the ham with their ‚ngers. They passed the tin around so that everyone got some, even if Mike and Kevin had to lick the insides. It was the same with the pears, the crackers, the chocolate. Even faced with sudden wealth, they were careful. They were a team. Despite his raw mood, Cam was glad for their joy. He felt jealousy and pride.

  The sky turned dark but held its blue half-light for more than an hour. Shadows grew in pockets across the land below, ‚lling the leeside of every hill and low place like black lakes and seas, but there was nothing to shield this peak from the sun except the edge of the world itself. A few distant clouds glowed on the horizon.

  “I say we take off tomorrow!” Mike still held one cracker in the frayed wool glove of his left hand, treasuring it. “That was the best food I’ve had in a year,” he said. “We might as well hike on it.”

  “Yep.”

  “Makes sense to me.”

  That was Brandon and Hiroki, and Cam glanced up to ‚nd D Mac. He’d expected the boy to add his voice to theirs, but D Mac was quiet. A minute ago, Samantha had risen from her spot with Alex and Kevin to join her father, asking if she could brew some bark tea, but her real goal had been D Mac. She’d pulled him aside and Cam saw them whispering together. That must be how she operated. Just a private moment with her was an enticement and she had already drawn D Mac back to her side.

  “We can carry as little as possible,” Mike said. “Bedrolls, canteens, just one cook set. We can make it there in two days, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe you want to carry more,” Ed said in his tentative way of moving around a problem. Cam had noticed that the man did not give absolute commands. He tried to nudge the boys with half-formed concepts instead, letting them come to him to complete his ideas.

  “You mean in case there’s a problem,” Hiroki said.

  “We don’t know what’s down there.”

  “Yeah. Fine.” Mike nodded impatiently. “So we also take a tent. Extra food. We should still be able to get over there in two days. Maybe less.”

  “I just want you to be prepared,” Ed said.

  He’s bending instead of breaking, Cam thought. The man had realized he’d never hold on to them, but he still hoped to rein them in a bit.

  “It’s been a long time,” Ed said. “If it takes another week, w
hat difference does it make?”

  “Maybe just a couple of us could go ‚rst,” D Mac said. “Someone should look around, you know. Look for food. There must be all kinds of good stuff down there.”

  Cam glanced past D Mac at the girl. It was her fear that D Mac was expressing.

  “No,” Cam said, pushing himself up. The wind was like freezing water in his hair and just the change from sitting to standing made a vast difference in the light. The orange heat of the bon‚re only rose to his waist. Above it, the sky went forever, empty and cold. “You go or you don’t get the vaccine,” Cam said. “It’s that simple, and every day matters. We told you. We’re at war. Leadville could †y over this mountain tomorrow. And why the hell would you want to stay on this fucking rock anyway, when the whole world is down there?”

  “That’s right,” Mike said, muttering.

  “You go or you stay.” Cam stared across the leaping ‚re at Ed and D Mac. “But you don’t get the vaccine unless you go.”

  “You were careful with us,” Ed said evenly.

  “Yes.” This wasn’t a conversation that Cam wanted to have — the monsters they might ‚nd. “You can be careful, too,” he said. “But you have to go. You have to try.”

  * * * *

  Cam noticed Ruth and Newcombe with their heads together and was immediately reminded of Samantha and D Mac, full of anger and suspicion. It was a weakness. He recognized that, but the destruction of his body had also destroyed something in his mind. He couldn’t see how he would ever have a woman again and it colored everything about them both, the girl and Ruth.

  The camp was settling down for the night. The ‚re had burned down to coals and only Mike and Brandon remained at the red glow of the pit, murmuring together. Ed, Alex, and D Mac moved in the darkness, carrying blankets from one tent to two others to make room for their guests. Ed’s voice carried from the second tent as he argued with Samantha.