“Yes, sir,” she said with a grin. “Now, get a move on, and thank you.”
“Anytime,” I said, and headed for the door.
Jackie followed, and the doctor did as I asked. The locks on the door clicked shut as we headed for the truck.
“No rest for the wicked,” Jackie observed.
“Unfortunately, she’s right,” I grumbled. “The kid’s life won’t wait for our convenience.”
“I know,” she said. “And I had such plans for tonight.”
“Keep ‘em in mind,” I told her. “We might get lucky with the radios.”
“I have all my digits crossed.”
I started up the Dodge and headed out. The dogs were still pacing around in their positions, like the troopers they were. All of them watched us go.
“What’s wrong?” Jackie asked at last as we pulled onto the interstate heading West.
“Something’s been bothering me ever since the burning gas station,” I admitted. “I can’t figure out how it could have caught on fire, and every thought I have points to a deliberately set fire.”
“But you can’t wrap your head around that, either,” she filled in. “Because why would someone just be destructive?”
“Yeah,” I said. “That.”
“I don’t know, either,” she admitted. “Whoever did it, if it was a person and not Wile-E-Coyote with an Acme MegaLighter, is probably not right in the head.”
“That scares the hell out of me, too,” I said, staring off in the distance. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I thought I saw a pair of taillights far in the distance before they disappeared around a bend.
“I’ll be careful,” she said. “I know you’re thinking about what’ll happen while you’re gone, but try not to worry. I’m not one of those ‘fainting flowers,’ you know.”
“That’s why I’m actually willing to make the trip,” I said. “You’re tough, and I trust you.”
“That’s a hell of a compliment, drill sergeant,” she said playfully. “I won’t let you down. You have to promise me something, though.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“That you’ll come back to me.”
“I swear,” I said without hesitation.
“Good,” she murmured. “You’d better.”
As we drew closer to our exit, I kept trying to see those taillights. Real or imagined, they hadn’t contributed to easing my nerves. Apparently, Jackie hadn’t seen them either, or she’d have commented.
I reached up and rubbed my eyes when I thought she wasn’t paying attention. Our exit was coming up fast, and I swung the truck off down the ramp.
“Seriously, Henry,” Jackie asked as we stopped for a moment before taking a right turn. “Are you okay?”
She studied me, concern in her eyes when I glanced over in her direction.
“Yeah,” I said after a moment. “I think my mind is playing tricks on me, though.”
“Sorry I wasn’t paying attention,” she said. “What did you see?”
At that moment, I loved the girl even more. It wasn’t, “What did you think you saw?” It was, “What did you see?”
“I thought I saw taillights way ahead of us,” I said slowly. “Right after we got onto Eighty-Five.”
“Maybe you did,” she said. “No point worrying about it right now, though. Stop the truck for a minute.”
“Okay?” I didn’t feel like questioning her, so I pulled off onto the shoulder and stopped, putting the Dodge in park.
The next thing I knew, she was kissing me, tangling her hands in my hair while her tongue danced with mine. Every other thought fled at that moment, and I returned that wonderful kiss. It was exactly what I needed, and when she slid one of her hands down to unbutton the fly of my jeans, there was no way in hell I was going to stop her. I just let my hands roam as well until she broke the kiss and grinned at me.
“Can you slide your seat back?” Jackie asked, her eyes bright.
“Yeah,” I said, and did so.
“Good,” she purred, then leaned over the center console to steal another kiss before bending down.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, letting my breath out in a low hiss at the first touch of her lips and tongue on my manhood. Damn, the girl was good.
20
We did, eventually, make it back to the farm, and even with the radio equipment. Estelle let us in without comment but did give us both a bemused look. Despite our best efforts, we did, probably, look a bit disheveled and flushed, even though raiding the electronics shop and driving back had given us a chance to wind down.
Well, not really, but we did need to get back, test the radio equipment, and save Tommy. I will say that I felt much better about life, and my worries had faded somewhat. We’d seen no sign of anyone during our shopping or on the way back, and the dogs were alert, but not acting as weird as they had when I fed the livestock earlier.
I started up one of the generators while Jackie unpacked the radios and did the initial setup. We’d opted for less mobile models, so as to ensure that they might have the range to reach from Opelika to Atlanta. Jackie would have the generator to power her radio, and I’d have the inverter I’d installed in my Dodge to power mine. Based on what little I knew of ham radios, the models we’d chosen had more than enough wattage of power to reach across the miles and allow us to keep in contact.
Within an hour, about 0145, we’d satisfied my curiosity out to about five miles. On the way to Atlanta, later today, we’d test it about every ten to twenty miles.
Estelle yawned behind her hand and looked blearily from Jackie to me. “You folks done?” she asked. “If we’re leaving early, there’s not going to be much time to sleep.”
I nodded. From personal experience, I could high-function on four hours, if I had to, but it might be best not to rush this.
“How about we try to leave by oh-nine-hundred?” I suggested.
“Oh-nine… Oh! Right,” Estelle said. “Nine a.m. That works. I don’t think Tommy’ll get any worse. He seems to be basically stable, but slowly declining.”
“I think that Henry and I will do everything in our power to help, doctor,” Jackie offered. “We should, um, get some sleep, though.”
“Go then,” the doctor said with a smile and a wave of her hand. “I’ll lock up, and I’ve got the shotgun.”
“Did you hear anything from the dogs?” I asked, curious. While they’d been alert, they didn’t seem to be on edge like they had been earlier in the evening.
“They barked at something for a bit, and I thought I heard howling in the distance, but no fighting or anything,” Estelle replied. “Seemed pretty normal to me.”
“Good,” I said with an approving nod. Maybe the coyotes had moved on for now. I certainly hoped so.
Jackie and I bade Estelle goodnight and head out into the cold night. She carried Sasha under one arm and had the other around my waist. I had one of my arms around her shoulders. Overhead, the moon shone dimly from behind some clouds, and stars peeked out through the occasional gap.
“It’s colder,” she observed.
“Yeah,” I said. “Hope the cottage isn’t too bad. I haven’t had the heat on for a couple of days now.”
“We just need to make it into bed and under the covers,” she said, and I could sense the grin on her face.
“Unlike you,” I laughed and leaned into her a bit. “I need to get some sleep before tomorrow.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Once more for the road, then? I’d even settle for a quickie.”
“I can probably manage that,” I replied, amused. This was the kind of girl every soldier dreamed of, especially since there weren’t any of the usual warning signs of crazy that typically accompanied the horny girls we tended to encounter in the military.
“Good,” she said. “I want to give you a reason to come back to me.”
We slipped into the cottage, and I locked the door behind me while she put Sasha down, along with
some bowls of food and water. Later, in the bedroom before we slipped into a deep and comfortable slumber, she gave me a damn good reason to get back home as soon as possible.
The next morning, my internal clock woke me around 0700, and I left her sleeping while I had a cold breakfast of dry cereal and well water. It wasn’t the most satisfying beginning to a day, but it was better than nothing.
I did a headcount of the dogs and breathed a sigh of relief when all of them were accounted for. It didn’t help my nerves, though, when they formed up and escorted me in relative silence while I handled the morning chores and fed the livestock. I didn’t want to leave the animals out for the day, but they needed their space. Jackie would know to put them up, and I suspected the pack would keep a close eye on her while she did.
All of them got a little bit extra with their morning meal by way of thanks from me. After I was done and had filled the Dodge’s gas tank, I wandered the property for about a half-hour, checking some of the various nooks and crannies. Out in the back, I did find what I figured was a coyote track in a clear patch of soft earth, along with some nearby scat.
That particular bold bastard was probably the one who had the dogs all in a tizzy yesterday. He was a big one, based on the size of his paw, but seemed to be alone. I stared off into the woods at the back of the property for a long moment, listening.
Eventually, I turned and walked back to the house and rapped on the door. Estelle answered after a minute, fully dressed and bright-eyed.
“Is it time?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “Get Tommy packed up while I roll Jackie out of bed and bring her over to take care of Irene.”
The doctor nodded and went back inside while I turned and headed to the cottage. Jackie waited at the kitchen table, a little bleary-eyed, with a half-eaten bowl of cereal and milk in front of her. She’d actually taken the time and used some of the supply of powdered milk.
“Time to go?” she asked, raising her eyes to meet mine.
“It is,” I said as I joined her at the table. “At least once you finish there and we head over to the main house.”
She nodded and went back to eating. I pursed my lips, then fished around in my pocket and slid a ring of keys across the table to her.
“That’s everything you’ll need,” I explained. “Even the tractor and the gun safes. Make sure you keep a weapon on you at all times when you’re outside. I saw a coyote print near the back of the property, and it was the biggest I’ve seen.”
“May not have been a ‘yote, then,” Jackie said between bites. “We might have us a coywolf.”
“A what?” I asked.
“Recent crossbreed that turned up,” she explained. “Wolf and coyote. They’re big, smart, and more pack-oriented than coyotes usually are.”
“That really fills me with confidence,” I said dryly. “Definitely keep a sharp eye on things.”
“I’ll watch for people, too,” she said. “Any special instructions if someone shows up?”
“Don’t let them in the house,” I replied. “Point them at the Roberts farm, or someplace else nearby if you must.” Then I paused for a moment. “Trust the animals.”
Jackie nodded slowly. “That makes sense,” she said. “If they need help, though, I’ll help them.”
“Just be careful if you do,” I said, fidgeting in the chair. “I really don’t like leaving you here alone.”
“I’m a big girl,” she said with a grin. “I’ll be fine. You’ll see. Irene and I will hold down the fort like proper ladies.”
“So long as they’re Viking ladies,” I stated. “I’m good with that.”
Jackie laughed at that. Fortunately, she had just swallowed a mouthful of cereal mush, so there was no spray or nasal fountain to accompany the laughter.
“Dammit, Henry,” she protested. “Let me finish my breakfast, and we can head up to the house.”
“Go right ahead,” I said.
She didn’t take much longer once I stopped talking, and we headed up to the house soon after. Estelle had Tommy ready to go, and he smiled weakly at me and wiggled his fingers in a half-hearted wave.
I knelt down in front of the boy. “We’ll get you feeling better,” I said firmly. “I promise.”
The smile grew a bit stronger on the boy’s face. He nodded and mouthed, “I trust you.”
A warm sense of satisfaction spread out from the center of my chest, and I looked sidelong at Jackie. She sniffled and wiped a sleeve across her eyes as I rose.
“I guess we’re ready,” I said.
“As we’ll ever be, I reckon,” Estelle added.
Jackie didn’t say anything, just stepped in and hugged me tightly, then gave me a deep kiss. “Come back to me,” she whispered.
“Don’t worry,” Estelle spoke up. “I won’t let him do anything stupid, honey.”
“Please,” Jackie grinned at the doctor. “And thank you.”
About ten minutes later, we were on I-85 heading East. Estelle rode shotgun while Tommy lay on the bench seat behind us. The sky was clearing of clouds, but the temperature had dropped. We were still above freezing, but the low-40s didn’t promise anything good for the next few days. Hopefully, getting to the CDC would be a relatively easy trip, but I rather doubted it.
Estelle mostly kept her attention on the little boy in the back seat, and I didn’t bother her. There wasn’t any real need for small talk at this point, and it was a pretty straightforward trip to the outer ring of Atlanta.
As planned, I pulled the truck into the Georgia Welcome Center parking lot and fired up the radio. “Atlanta One to Homestead, do you copy?”
There was a long moment of silence, then, “I copy. Homestead? Really?” Jackie’s voice came through loud and clear. “Over.”
“It’s better than some ideas I had,” I replied. “We’re at the Welcome Center, and you’re coming through clearly. I’m going to make the next call around Newnan, over.”
“Copy that,” the young woman slid into what little she knew of radio jargon. “All is quiet here. The little poop machine is fed and changed, over.”
Both Estelle and I stifled laughs.
“Little poop machine, huh,” I said. “Good enough. We’ll talk to you again at the next stop. Atlanta one out.”
“Over and out,” Jackie laughed, then cut the feed from her end.
I did the same, put the idling truck back into gear, and started towards the interstate. As I did, I glanced past the main building at the truck lot in the back. There had been a couple of trucks parked there before when Jackie and I had gone to LaGrange. Now there was one, and the second was a burned-out husk. I looked away quickly before my face betrayed me to Estelle.
Maybe my memory had slipped and there had only been one truck. Still, another fire was concerning, even if it was out, and hadn’t damaged anything more. I’d keep it to myself for now. Estelle had enough to worry about.
Now, if I could somehow slip a message to Jackie, I’d be happy, but hopefully, she’d be paranoid of any strangers nosing around the farm. If they even went that way. The taillights I thought I saw heading past Opelika seemed to be moving pretty fast. Perhaps the owner, if I hadn’t imagined them, were on their way to Montgomery to play Trashcan Man in a city.
I didn’t like that image one bit, but I’d read Stephen King’s “The Stand” several times in high school and during my time in the service, and it had made an impression on me.
“How’s he doing?” I asked quietly.
“Sleeping and breathing,” Estelle replied, shifting her gaze from the back seat to me.
“Do y’all have any kind of protocol or procedure for this kind of thing at the CDC?” I asked. If she wasn’t in the mood for conversation, I figured she’d cut me off.
“Not really,” the doctor replied. Apparently, she was at least in the mood to talk a little. “We never figured on a pandemic with a sudden, immediate death toll of ninety-nine percent or higher. It’s unprecedented, unex
pected, and pretty much every other ‘un’ you can think of.”
For some twisted reason, the word “unappreciated” popped into my head. I didn’t say it, just nodded.
“Now, I’m a big proponent of contingency plans,” I said quietly. “What do you suggest if we can’t get in, or there’s some other problem?”
“Emory has one of the best-equipped hospitals that I can think of,” she mused. “If nothing else, we can get everything I need to turn the house into a primitive research hospital for as long as the generator works.”
“Just tell me what I need to do,” I said, smiling faintly. “Mostly, I’m along to drive and do the heavy lifting.”
“You’ve done a lot, already, Henry,” she said. “I’m sorry if I don’t seem grateful sometimes, but that little boy…”
“I get it,” I said, keeping my eyes on the road and my hands on the wheel. “I really do. He’s suffering, and none of us can really do anything about it. At least, not yet.”
“True.” Estelle nodded her head and smiled thinly at me. “Not yet.”
“What do you know about the virus or whatever it is?” I asked after a moment.
“Not enough,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “It’s the same sort of virus as the common cold, to start with, only it’s extremely virulent, then, at some point, it mutates into something more like Ebola than anything else, sends the host into seizures and hemorrhaging. I think it actually kills by inducing strokes, as opposed to any other method.”
I let out a soft, low whistle. “Damn,” I muttered. “That doesn’t sound natural to me. Does it to you?”
“I couldn’t say,” the doctor replied with a sigh. “There are some extremely bizarre diseases out there. Admittedly, the confluence of factors that seem to comprise this particular virus points at a targeted pandemic as opposed to natural evolution.”
21
I let out a long, low whistle. If this was an engineered disease, that meant that someone had created it and unleashed it on the world, or, worse, it had gotten out by accident. I wasn’t sure which was worse, really.
After The Virus (Book 1): After The Virus Page 14
