Viral Misery (Book 1)

by Watson, Thomas A

  Pulling down the driveway, Arthur reached up and pressed the gate button. He slowed to let the gate swing open, then pulled through. Glancing back, Arthur saw the gate closing after Shawn had pulled through. “Very good,” Arthur mumbled.

  Driving past Jack and Starlie’s farm, Arthur looked at all the stuff parked around the yard; everything from two more skid steers to a mini excavator. Glancing over at Jim in the passenger seat, Arthur grinned to see Jim scan around them with a serious expression.

  Looking in the rearview mirror, Arthur saw Vicki and Jodi had their hands full with Robin, getting her dressed. Risking a quick glance back, Arthur saw all three babies asleep even though Robin was yelling ‘NO’ as Vicki and Jodi struggled to dress her.

  Halfway to town, Robin finally gave up and let them dress her.

  Passing the retail store, Arthur glanced at the gas station across the street and saw crows picking at the two bodies he’d shot. Next to the pumps was Shawn’s go-kart.

  Keeping his speed around forty, Arthur kept swiveling his head around but didn’t see anyone. “Where is everyone?” Vicki asked from the back.

  Knowing each of the kids had seen their families die, Arthur cleared his throat. “Either dying or inside,” he told her.

  Reaching their first stop, Arthur pulled around the large home improvement center to stop at a large roll up door at the back of the store. Putting the Suburban in park, Arthur looked around before he got out.

  Walking to the back-cargo door, Arthur opened it up and let the dogs out as he got his mini jaws of life and moved over to a small pedestrian door. Checking the knob and finding it locked, Arthur put the wedge in between the door and the frame and flipped the switch.

  A few seconds later, the door popped open. Putting the mini jaws down, “Donald, Daisy,” Arthur whispered and the dogs trotted inside.

  The kids all looked around with wide eyes as Arthur followed the dogs inside. When the large overhead door started rolling up, all the kids jumped. Even the babies jumped in their sleep but thankfully, didn’t wake up.

  Walking back out, Arthur climbed in the truck and pulled it inside almost to the front of the store, stopping at another rollup door that led out the front. Turning off the truck, Arthur looked over at Jim and then turned to Jodi. “You two have to keep an eye out, plus watch the little ones,” Arthur said in a serious tone. “It’s a hard job, but you can’t let anyone sneak up on us.”

  Grabbing his radio, Jim climbed between the seats and stopped in the middle row with Jodi. “We will,” he said with a nod but his six-year-old voice was trembling.

  Turning to Jodi, Arthur saw the seven-year-old force a smile as Vicki opened her door and climbed out. Giving the sleeping babies a last glance, Arthur stepped out as Shawn put Beth in the Suburban with them. Arthur grabbed Kirk and climbed on a forklift. Having already shown Kirk how to drive one, Arthur hung on the side to make sure Kirk was doing all right.

  Directing Kirk to scoop up a stack of empty wooden pallets, Arthur guided him around the store to drop one off and then move on. The first ones Kirk dropped off, Arthur pointed at what they needed and Shawn, Pat, and Vicki started stacking the items on the pallets. “You have your list for the other areas,” Arthur told them and they just nodded.

  Then Arthur guided Kirk over to the cement aisle. “Just like you practiced yesterday, put them on the trailer,” Arthur said, climbing off.

  After watching Kirk load up two pallets, Arthur left to get on another forklift. Driving to where he’d left the kids loading, Arthur found a pallet filled with buckets and boxes of screws. Moving on, he found the kids when he saw the dogs sitting in the main aisle.

  “Pat, come with me,” Arthur said and Pat stood up, wiping the sweat off his face. Pat ran over and climbed up. He gave a startle when Arthur put him behind the steering wheel. “You drove one yesterday,” Arthur told him and then turned to the dogs. “Daisy, guard. Donald, come.”

  “But you stand up and drive on this one!” Pat gasped with wide eyes as Daisy moved closer to Shawn and Vicki.

  “It’s the same,” Arthur smiled, putting Pat’s hands on the steering wheel and moving to the side.

  Barely able to see over the top, Pat lightly pressed the pedal and the forklift moved. Letting out a cry, Pat took his foot off the pedal and looked up at Arthur. “That’s what you want to happen when you press that pedal,” Arthur told him with a grin.

  Nodding, Pat turned back and pressed the pedal again and the forklift crept along and Donald walked along beside them. Stopping at the doors that led outside to the outdoor area, Pat was drenched in sweat as Arthur climbed off and tried to push the doors open. When they didn’t budge, Arthur stepped over to grab a long pry bar and helped the doors to see things his way.

  Leading Pat outside, Arthur climbed up behind Pat and directed him to an aisle of fencing. Helping Pat the first time, Arthur pressed the lever to lift up a pallet of chain-link fencing. “We need this entire row,” Arthur said, waving his hand around at the pallets.

  “Some of those are barbed wire,” Pat said almost panting.

  “Yes, and in the next aisle, you will see the metal poles for each type of fence,” Arthur chuckled as Pat gave a groan.

  When they backed up, Arthur lowered the load until it was almost on the ground. “Lower your load so you can see,” Arthur told Pat and Pat just nodded, turning the forklift around and driving back toward the trucks.

  After dropping the load off, Arthur rode back as Pat drove slow enough to be passed by a turtle. Donald would take a few steps and wait, then take a few more. “Very good driving because if we break this, we would have to load this stuff by hand,” Arthur said and Pat tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry.

  After the second load, Arthur stepped off and told Pat to continue loading. Watching Arthur walk away, Pat felt sick to his stomach as he drove off.

  “Holy shit!” Arthur gasped, coming to a stop and seeing ten pallets of cement on the trailer he was pulling. He turned to see Kirk driving from the back of the store with another pallet and stacked it on top of another pallet of cement.

  Jogging over as Kirk was backing up, Arthur stopped him. “Where are you finding the cement?” Arthur asked. He’d used this store a lot and had never seen more than six pallets of cement.

  “In the back,” Kirk said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

  “How many more?” Arthur asked, turning to the twenty-foot-long trailer. Even with three axles, he could tell it was strained under the weight.

  “Fourteen,” Kirk answered and Arthur gave a jump.

  Giving a nod, “Go ahead and load what you can fit,” Arthur said as he walked off. Speaking under his breath, “If the Suburban breaks, we’ll just get another one.”

  Moving to the electrical wire aisle, Arthur started loading up spools of wire and turned to see Pat driving slowly past the aisle he was in. The concentration on Pat’s face, one would think he was on the Indy Five Hundred. When the pallets were full, Arthur moved to the front of the store and found Vicki and Shawn loading tools up on pallets.

  “Why the little tools?” Vicki asked, holding up a child’s hammer.

  “For you guys,” Arthur replied. “You have to have tools to help me turn our place into a fort that we will be safe in.”

  “Oh,” Vicki said, tossing the hammer in a plastic bin.

  Hearing a forklift coming, Arthur turned around and held his hand up, blocking the driving lights from shining in his eyes until the forklift pulled up beside him. “I filled the trailer,” Kirk said, but wasn’t smiling.

  “What’s wrong?” Arthur asked.

  “I don’t think that trailer can carry that much,” Kirk admitted.

  Nodding at the intelligence Kirk showed, “Very good,” Arthur said. “It can’t, but we can’t afford to make a hundred trips because the trailer is acting like a pussy.”

  “The trailer is acting like a cat?” Vicki asked, looking up clearly confused.

  Shawn snorte
d, then turned and walked off. “Vicki, load your pallet,” Arthur said, lifting his radio. “How are you doing in the truck, Jim?”

  “Okay, haven’t seen anything. Just finished feeding the babies and they are back asleep. Robin took off her clothes again and we are just letting her play naked in the back,” Jim called back.

  Shaking his head and dropping the hand holding the radio to his side, “That girl was raised by a nudist,” Arthur decided. Lifting the radio back to his mouth, “Very good, we will be leaving soon.”

  Hearing that, Shawn spun around. “There’s no way we can get just the stuff we loaded on pallets on my trailer,” he cried out.

  “You’re right, your trailer will be filled with fencing,” Arthur told him. “We will be coming back for another load, just not today.”

  Thinking it over, Shawn gave an impressed nod at the thinking as Arthur turned to Kirk. “Go help your brother load up the fencing stuff,” Arthur told him and Kirk took off. Arthur couldn’t help but grin at watching Kirk stretch out his leg and use his tippy toe to push the accelerator.

  Moving to another aisle, Arthur saw large plastic bins already on a pallet. Moving his AR so it would hang off his back, Arthur started loading the plastic bins that were on the pallet. Hearing the forklifts, Arthur looked up to see Kirk move past his aisle on the forklift at a walking pace.

  A few minutes later, Pat crawled past on his forklift at a drunken moonwalk pace that an old woman with a broken hip using a walker could outrun. “Don’t push him,” Arthur told himself and went back to loading the pallet.

  As the two continued on the forklifts, Arthur found out that for every load Pat did, Kirk did two. Moving to another pallet, Arthur stood up to stretch his back and saw Kirk pull to a stop at the end of his aisle. Walking down to Kirk, Arthur saw Pat creep past with Donald walking and stopping beside him.

  “I don’t think we can get much more on,” Kirk said with a grimace. “I’m scared it’s going to fall off.”

  Giving a nod, Arthur headed toward the trucks. Getting closer, his eyes widened in surprise. The twenty-foot double axel trailer Shawn would be pulling was stacked two pallets high all the way back as Pat dropped off the last load.

  Very impressed the boys could even load rolls of fencing like that, “Very good, boys. Turn your forklifts off and let’s secure the load and drop it off,” Arthur told them and then called Shawn and Vicki on the radio.

  Grabbing several packages of straps, Arthur pulled his knife out and cut them out of the packages. Hearing a small cry, Arthur looked up to see Jodi climbing out of the Suburban with a small bundle. Dropping the straps, Arthur folded his knife up as he ran to meet her. “What’s wrong with Nicole?” he gasped, locking his legs and skidding to a stop in front of Jodi.

  “She won’t stop crying no matter how much I rock her, and I just fed her,” Jodi winced as Arthur took Nicole into his arms.

  “What’s wrong, baby blue eyes?” Arthur sang out and Nicole stopped crying. She opened her eyes and saw Arthur and smiled. “You didn’t have to throw a fit to get me to hold you,” Arthur said and then pulled a glove off with his mouth. Stroking Nicole’s face with his fingertips, Arthur felt very giddish to see Nicole smile wider.

  “Knew that would work,” Jodi said with a nod and headed back to the Suburban.

  Grabbing the baby sling from his seat, Arthur put Nicole in it after he’d draped it on. Seeing Nicole give a small yawn, Arthur pulled his glove back on. Being very careful, Arthur showed the kids how to strap the load down. When he was done, Arthur had to admit, never in his life had he seen so many ratchet straps holding loads down.

  Walking to the front, Arthur unlocked a pedestrian door beside the overhead door at the front. “Donald, Daisy,” he called out softly and the dogs ran over. When the dogs stopped beside him, Arthur eased the door open and looked around.

  Stepping outside with the dogs, Arthur very slowly scanned around. Off to his left, he saw five dogs running up the road away from him. The way they were bouncing he could tell they were playing. Off to the west, he heard the faint report of a gunshot and figured it was outside of town and they weren’t heading that way.

  Stepping back in with the dogs, Arthur closed the door and moved to the roll up door and unlocked it. Grabbing the chain, he pulled it hand over hand and heard Nicole give out a cry from the noise the door was making. “Sorry, puddin’,” Arthur told her, but didn’t stop until the door was open enough for them to drive out.

  “Everyone is accounted for,” Shawn told him, standing beside the Blazer.

  “Heard a gunshot, so tell your lookouts to keep their eyes peeled,” Arthur called out, opening his door. Climbing in with Nicole still crying, Arthur started the truck and put it in drive. When he hit the accelerator, the massive Suburban’s engine revved up but didn’t move. “Fuck me,” Arthur gasped, pushing the pedal down more.

  Slowly, the Suburban moved forward while pulling the heavy trailer. Pulling outside, Arthur turned toward the road and stopped, leaving enough room for Shawn to pull out.

  Climbing out, Arthur let the dogs jump in the back and then ran past Shawn into the open bay door and grabbed the chains. Pulling the door closed, Arthur pulled Nicole up to his neck as he walked out the small pedestrian door. “It’s okay now,” he said softly over and over.

  By the time he climbed back in the Suburban, Nicole had stopped crying and was looking up at him. “Let me have her, so I can put her back in the seat,” Vicki said.

  “Nah,” Arthur replied, putting the transmission into drive. Pulling out slowly, Arthur took a different route home. Glancing back, he saw Vicki’s hair was plastered to her head. “You guys are doing an excellent job,” Arthur said, looking around the truck.

  “I want our house safe,” Vicki said, holding a bottle for Lucas. “Can I hold Lucas? He doesn’t like drinking in his seat.”

  “Sure, we aren’t going fast and we don’t really have to worry about cops,” Arthur said, cradling Nicole to his chest. “I know it’s for their safety, but we need quiet.”

  Glancing in the rearview mirror, Arthur saw a naked Robin standing in the cargo area with the dogs. Not in the mood, Arthur just headed home.

  Stopping at Jack’s, Arthur pulled near the barn and turned the Suburban off. Looking down and seeing Nicole sound asleep, Arthur climbed out to see Pat and Kirk moving to the track steer and rough ground forklift. Letting Pat take the forklift, Kirk climbed up on the track steer that had forklift bars over the bucket.

  The others moved over as Arthur let the dogs out. When he turned back around, Arthur chuckled to see Shawn carry over the cooler. “Guess it’s time for some sandwiches,” Arthur laughed.

  “Nah, I know how to make sandwiches,” Shawn grinned as the track steer and forklift fired up.

  After unstrapping the loads, everyone gathered around as Shawn made sandwiches. Standing in the shade of the barn, Arthur watched Kirk unload the pallets of cement and drive them into the barn. It seemed Kirk was much surer of his abilities with the track steer and its ability to pivot on the spot.

  Both trailers were unloaded before anyone ate a second sandwich. When Pat and Kirk walked up, they both smiled as sandwiches were held out for them. “Why aren’t we heading back today to load up the pallets we left?” Shawn asked as he made another sandwich.

  “You think we made noise others could hear?” Arthur asked and then shoved the last of his sandwich in his mouth.

  The older kids nodded as Shawn spoke. “Hell yeah, those roll up doors alone were loud.”

  “Think of it like this,” Arthur explained, pulling off his gloves and grabbing a bottle for Nicole as she started to squirm in the baby sling. Arthur would feed himself with gloves on, but never Nicole. “If someone comes, they will see stuff loaded. If they are bad they will wait around, but we won’t show back up. They can’t stay there long because there isn’t much food there and they will know others may have heard, so they will leave.”

  The older kids thought a
bout that as Shawn looked at Arthur in awe. “How long would you stay there?” he asked.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t,” Arthur replied, looking down at Nicole as she drank the bottle. “I would find supplies somewhere else.”

  “No, if you were bad,” Shawn blurted out and then looked at Arthur in shock. “Not that you are,” he said quickly.

  Laughing, Arthur looked over at Shawn. “I know what you meant,” Arthur winked and Shawn relaxed. “I wouldn’t wait around more than a day. That building is too big to secure with only a few people. To hole up, you need someplace that’s easy to defend and that building isn’t it. Anyone with a brain knows there are bad people out there. Hell, even other bad people know there are others meaner than them and will move off.”

  “What if someone is there?” Kirk asked, finishing off his sandwich and then gulping down a bottle of water.

  “We kill them,” Arthur said with a shrug. “If they are there, then that means they are waiting. Now, if we see someone loading up, we move on. There’s more stuff we can gather elsewhere.”

  None of the kids showed any surprise when Arthur said ‘kill’. They were adapting to this new world very fast.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Survival is easy compared to taking care of kids

  After eating, everyone loaded up and Arthur led them to another store. This one was a smaller hardware store and they had to park along the back. Since there was only one forklift, Kirk started loading as the others pulled stuff over to empty pallets.

  With those in the Suburban keeping watch, Arthur left it running since it was rather warm.

  The hardware store only had half as much cement and fencing, so Kirk was done loading that rather fast. Then he started on the pallets the others were loading. No sooner than one was loaded than Kirk would scoop it up and run it to the trailers.

  Feeling cocky and thinking he had the hang of this driving down, it was then that Kirk knocked over a small shelf. Thankfully, it was small and only blocked off one aisle. After that, Kirk slowed back down and had no other mishaps.