Viral Misery (Book 1)

by Watson, Thomas A

  Coming to a stop, the man released the pistol grip of his AR and gave a wave. “Knew that group was going to spot ya,” the man said with a thick southern accent. He looked in his fifties with a gray beard and gray-streaked hair. “Word of advice; paint those red cans another color.”

  “Haven’t had a chance, but I’ll make time,” Wendy said, stepping out from the awning. Hating to do it, Wendy asked. “You need a ride?”

  “Nah, I live round here and if my kids lived through this Rudolph flu this is where they would come, so I’ll wait on ‘em,” the man told her and let his rifle hang from the sling. Pulling out a chewing tobacco pouch, the man put a wad in his cheek. “Lady, I’m grateful for you askin’, but you be wary of everybody. I seen stuff these last few weeks and people are just being downright mean. Even if they don’t have to be mean, they are.”

  Nodding, “Yes, we’ve seen our share of that,” Wendy said, relaxing and the more the man talked, the more she really wanted him to come.

  “You need to git cause that fella that got away took off with purpose. I’m bettin’ he’s goin’ for more,” the man told her.

  “Thank you again, I don’t know how I would’ve gotten out of that without your help,” Wendy said, walking over and held out her right hand. “My name’s Wendy, Wendy Steele.”

  Taking her hand, the man shook it firmly. “Nice to meet ya, Wendy. Name’s Logan Lancaster. Friends call me LL. If you are crossin’ the Mississippi, be careful. There’s a military checkpoint on the Louisiana side on the eastbound bridge. Two days ago, I only saw three soldiers still alive and they was coughing, but I’ve seen a few beat off that Rudolph flu even after coughin’ up the blood.”

  “I’m one of them,” Wendy said, glancing back and hearing the Tahoe crank up. “LL, if your kids don’t show up and you are looking for a place, head to Clarksville, Arkansas and call out on CB channel six.”

  “I thank ya, ma’am, but that’s why I’m watching that bridge in Natchez. Two of my kids would have to use it. I’d go with ya and keep ya covered, but I’m sure that yeller belly that got away will try makin’ a call on ya. I’m going to stay around and see he don’t,” Logan told her with a wink, then spit a stream out.

  “Thank you from my kids as well,” Wendy said, holding out her hand again and Logan shook it.

  “That’s why I was so determined to give ya a hand,” Logan said, tilting his head to the Tahoe. “They’s good kids. Now, don’t go anywhere near Shreveport cause the military is still there. Now some troops are helping, but others are still following those orders of keeping everyone in place and just shoot folks. My advice, avoid all of ‘em. If those troops are still on the bridge, you need to just shoot ’em. I never got a chance on those on the Louisiana side. The checkpoint on this side on the westbound bridge is cleared out, unless some of those on the other side came over.”

  “I’ll do that,” Wendy said and heard the window roll down on the Tahoe.

  “Come on, you know people can hear gunshots!” Sally cried out and rolled the window up.

  “Smart kids,” Logan said, raising his eyebrows. “You need to go cause I’m bettin’ it won’t be long ‘fore more of that group will be showin’ up.”

  “If your kids show up and you still want a place to head to, come see us,” Wendy said and then turned and jogged back to the Tahoe. Taking her M4 off, Wendy saw the driver’s door open up as she got close and Sally was climbing back over to the passenger seat.

  Tossing her rifle on the dash, Wendy shut her door and backed out. By the time she was heading for the road, Logan was gone. “I wanted to tell him to be careful,” Wendy mumbled, turning onto the highway.

  “That man just walked into the trees and was gone,” Jo Ann said behind her.

  Gripping the steering wheel, Wendy watched the road ahead as Sally leaned over the console with wadded up napkins. “You have blood on your face,” Sally said and wiped Wendy’s left cheek and Wendy grimaced. “I see a splinter,” Sally said, leaning over and almost blocking Wendy’s view of the road.

  Feeling a pinch on her cheek, Wendy gritted her teeth as Sally yanked her hand back. “It looks like a toothpick,” Sally said, holding up the splinter that was several inches long and covered in blood.

  With the splinter out, Wendy felt blood running down her cheek.

  Sally tossed the splinter on the dashboard and held the wet napkins on the wound. In wonder, Wendy drove as Sally dabbed her cheek, tending to her wound. “Here’s the first aid box,” Jo Ann said, passing up a yellow plastic box.

  Moving back to her seat, Sally grabbed some supplies and moved back over the center console. Feeling Sally spread ointment on her cheek, Wendy couldn’t help but smile. “These are bad Band-Aids,” Sally said, pulling out a two-inch Band-Aid. “They hurt coming off.”

  “It’s okay,” Wendy smiled at the warning as Sally put the Band-Aid on her cheek.

  When she was done, Sally looked at the side of Wendy’s neck and saw several abrasions and went to work on cleaning them. “None of these need Band-Aids,” Sally told her.

  “Okay, the rest will have to wait,” Wendy told her. “Logan said there was a checkpoint on the bridge.”

  Climbing back into her seat, Sally put the kit up and grabbed the binoculars. “I’m tired of bad guys,” Sally sighed.

  “Hey, we had a good guy help us out,” Wendy reminded her. “I was really getting worried there.”

  Looking ahead with the binoculars, “He looked like a nice Santa,” Sally commented.

  “There are mean Santas?” Wendy asked with a grin.

  “Well, yeah,” Sally huffed. “They don’t let you tell them what to bring and only want the picture taken.”

  “Oh,” Wendy said, reaching down and pulling the magazines she had used and passed them back to Jo Ann. “Reload those and hand me some more.”

  Reaching over the backseat, Jo Ann grabbed three loaded magazines and handed them to Wendy and then started reloading the ones Wendy had handed her. Loading magazines for the girls was tough and still a work in progress.

  When Wendy reached the outskirts of Natchez, she didn’t slow down from forty-five and the tires squealed as she drove the Tahoe around the few abandoned cars on the highway. Turning onto the highway that led to the bridge, Sally called out people and Wendy saw a small group near a store.

  They all just turned and watched the Tahoe speeding down the road.

  “Two people on the right,” Jo Ann called out and Wendy turned to see a woman holding a rifle in one hand and a small child’s hand in the other as they walked toward a group of houses.

  “I see them,” Wendy said, turning ahead. Seeing the bridge ahead, Wendy slowed as Sally turned forward with the binoculars. A sea of cars were parked on each side of the road and out into the grass, forming a funnel to the bridge.

  “I don’t see anyone moving,” Sally said and Wendy reached over and Sally gave her the binoculars.

  With the Tahoe slowly rolling forward, Wendy saw the sandbags in the outside lane with a HUMVEE parked and road barriers blocking the inside lane. The checkpoint sat under a railroad bridge that crossed over the highway. Turning, Wendy focused the binoculars on several tents that were set up in the median.

  Handing the binoculars back, Wendy gripped the Glock from the center console. “Girls, stay low because we may have to shoot our way across.”

  “Those are army guys!” Sally cried out. “They are good guys.”

  “Baby, anyone that doesn’t let us get home, are bad guys,” Wendy told her in a hard tone. “We can’t trust cops, army, or anyone, except us.”

  Sally leaned back in the seat and nodded, but Wendy never took her eyes off the checkpoint. Getting closer, Wendy rolled down her window to look for any movement and then looked at the sawhorse barricades and stopped right in front of them. She could see stop sticks placed on the ground under the barricades.

  Looking around, Wendy cracked her door, “Don’t get out, just run them over!” Sally cried ou
t, grabbing her arm.

  “See those things under the barriers? Those will give us flats if I run over them,” Wendy said, opening her door. “Keep watch,” she whispered back, stepping out.

  Moving the Glock to her left hand, Wendy trotted up to the first barrier and moved it to the side, then pulled the stop sticks back. When she moved to the other barrier, Wendy stopped at seeing a soldier behind the sandbags with a bullet hole right between his eyes.

  Looking past the soldier, Wendy saw two more with headshots and could tell they’d come from a rifle. “I have an idea who did that,” she mumbled, pulling the barrier to the side. Wendy stopped and turned back to the soldiers. Seeing a black tube mounted to the helmet and flipped up, Wendy ran over behind the sandbags and took the helmet off the soldier.

  Standing up, she saw the same on the others and took the helmets. Then she saw a bolt action sniper rifle with a tube attached in front of a massive scope. Knowing what that was, Wendy flipped the lever holding it on the rail system and pulled it off.

  She ran back and just tossed the stuff inside and ran back behind the sandbags. Looking in the Hummer, Wendy saw a soldier behind the steering wheel with blood over his face and knew he’d died from flu. Stepping closer, Wendy saw a box in the soldier’s lap that had binocular eyepieces at one end and a single lens at the other. Knowing it was something to observe with, Wendy grabbed it and yanked the helmet off the soldier.

  Moving to the backseat, Wendy gave a sigh to see two boxes of MREs. Putting the stuff that she had on the boxes, Wendy carried the stuff back to the Tahoe. “Open your door, Jo Ann,” Wendy called out and the back door opened and Wendy tossed the stuff in as Jo Ann got out of the way.

  Shutting the door, Wendy jumped in and slammed the shifter in drive before hitting the gas. “Are you crazy?” Sally gasped. “They are army and bad guys and you took their stuff!”

  “They were dead and didn’t need it,” Wendy said as the Tahoe picked up speed. “See if you see anything on the other bridge.”

  Picking up the binoculars Sally looked ahead, but they were almost over the bridge before she could see the other checkpoint. “Just an area like the one we just passed through. I don’t see anyone moving,” Sally told her.

  “Get down,” Wendy said, pushing the pedal hard and the engine roared. Like on the other side, there was a sea of cars pulled off the road on the eastbound side, but the lanes were clear. Speeding down westbound lanes, Wendy was thankful the road was cleared and then saw a crossroad ahead before a small town.

  A field off to the side had a pile of bodies with a HUMVEE parked nearby and a gun mounted on the roof. Glancing down at the speedometer, Wendy saw she was passing sixty and let the needle climb. They saw nobody in the small town of Vidalia that sat at the foot of the bridge.

  Fifteen miles down the road, Wendy slowed and they saw their first person in Louisiana, loading stuff in the back of a truck at a small store. The figure stopped and grabbed a rifle from the bed and then put it back, seeing the Tahoe speed past.

  Tapping the cruise control for the first time today, Wendy glanced at the dashboard clock and saw it was only four eighteen p.m. “I feel like a week has happened just since we pulled into that shed,” Wendy mumbled.

  “What’s in these boxes?” Jo Ann grunted, trying to move one box to the packed cargo area.

  “Food, baby, food,” Wendy smiled. “Open one and take out the packages so we can eat.”

  “Can we stop? I really need to pee,” Sally asked in a low voice.

  “Can you hold it for ten minutes? I want to get far enough away from the bridge, in case there were soldiers there. The farther we go, the more roads we pass and they won’t know which one we took,” Wendy explained.

  “I can hold it,” Sally assured her.

  In the backseat, Jo Ann started reading off the menu choices. “Can I have the Chili-mac?” Sally asked and Jo Ann handed the package up.

  “I want the stew, if you don’t,” Wendy said and Jo Ann passed it up.

  “I’m eating the Ravioli with Noah,” Jo Ann said with a smile.

  Feeling it was safe enough, Wendy slowed to a stop in the road and let Sally jump out. Wendy climbed out and did a walk around and found a bullet hole in the wheel guard of the trailer, but nothing else. “They really wanted those cans,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “There is shit everywhere, why risk it?”

  “Done,” Sally cried out and was already jumping in.

  Not liking any answers her mind came up with, Wendy climbed inside and took off. The girls loved the MREs with all the stuff inside. Wendy thought they left a lot to be desired. “What’s this?” Sally asked and Wendy glanced over at the binocular-looking box. “It’s heavy.”

  “Don’t know, but it’s for observing and we need to observe, so I grabbed it,” Wendy said, turning back to the road.

  Turning the thing around in her lap, Sally took the covers off the lens and eyepieces and lifted it up, but couldn’t see out. Putting it back in her lap, Sally continued her inspection and saw a switch and pressed it to hear the box whine. “I wonder if it’s a game?” Sally said and lifted the box up and looked through it.

  When it was at her eyes, Sally still couldn’t see out and was about to put it down when color started coming on. “This thing only sees in black and white,” Sally moaned, lowering the box.

  Reaching over, Wendy took the box and used her legs to keep the steering wheel straight. The box was heavy enough that she needed both hands to hold it up. Looking through the eyepieces, Wendy grinned. “It’s thermal binoculars.”

  “Are you sure?” Sally asked.

  “Yeah. Arthur made a thermal camera a year ago and don’t tell him, but this thing gives a much better image,” Wendy said, looking around. Passing it back to Sally, “Take a look and then let Jo Ann, but we need to save the batteries until we know what kind it takes,” Wendy said.

  Nodding, Sally grabbed the thermal binocular and looked around, then passed it back to Jo Ann. Looking out the side of the Tahoe, “Holy crap, I see a person hiding near that house!” Jo Ann cried out. Dropping the thermal, Jo Ann looked at the house across the field and couldn’t see the person hiding behind some bushes.

  “Where?” Sally asked, looking with her binoculars.

  Lifting the thermal back up to her eyes, “Behind those bushes in the front of the house,” Jo Ann said. “I can see the outline of a person.”

  “Let me see,” Sally said, swapping out with Jo Ann. “I see them,” Sally gasped and then they rounded a curve and lost sight of the house.

  “I couldn’t see them with these,” Jo Ann said, holding the binoculars and Sally looked ahead with the thermal.

  “I like these. People can’t hide,” Sally told everyone.

  “That’s why we need to save the batteries,” Wendy laughed at the girls’ excitement. Then Ryan let everyone know, he was hungry.

  Lowering the thermal, Sally looked at the box and saw a round cap. “Are the batteries in here?” She asked.

  “Probably, but don’t take them out until you turn it off,” Wendy told her. “How about you let me do it?”

  “You’re driving,” Sally said, turning off the thermal.

  “Do we have to keep all these helmets?” Jo Ann asked.

  “Those things on the front are night vision like I wore last night,” Wendy said over her shoulder.

  “All right! I want one,” Jo Ann cheered, grabbing a bottle of water. “Is this another one you took off a helmet?”

  Glancing in the rearview mirror, Wendy saw the clip-on thermal she’d taken off the sniper rifle. “No, that one is a thermal like the binocular,” Wendy told her. “My husband bought one and I almost broke his legs.”

  “Why? They are cool.” Sally asked.

  “He paid two thousand dollars for something that cost almost thirty thousand dollars,” Wendy told her.

  “Wow, he can shop,” Sally mumbled in awe.

  “Sally, the person he bought it from stole it, th
at’s why it was so cheap. Besides the fact that it has ‘Property of US Government’ on the side,” Wendy said.

  “Well, he didn’t steal it,” Jo Ann said, taking up for Arthur. “Just shows you he’s smart and can really shop.”

  Turning to look out the window, Wendy couldn’t help but laugh at the two taking up for Arthur. “In a way, I can see your side, but just having that is a crime. He already has enough shit buried that could have sent his ass to prison,” Wendy told them as Sally got the battery compartment open.

  “Hey, we have these,” Sally cried out holding up a battery. “Jo Ann, hand me the batteries with two big As. It takes four.”

  “Double As,” Wendy offered as Jo Ann passed up a package and picked Ryan up and put a bottle in his mouth. Instantly, Ryan was happy again.

  “Next feeding, Ryan needs to eat some baby food,” Wendy said, glancing back and saw Noah was caressing Ryan’s head as he drank.

  “I put that rice stuff in his bottle like you do,” Jo Ann told her.

  “Oh, you won’t feed him that nasty green bean snot when you sit back there,” Sally popped off as she fed in the new batteries.

  “All right,” Jo Ann moaned. “I’ll feed him next time he’s hungry.”

  Turning around and looking back at Jo Ann, “I’m feeding him the one that says chicken,” Sally informed Jo Ann.

  “I’ll feed him the green snot!” Jo Ann shouted, making Ryan jerk and open his eyes but he never stopped drinking.

  “Girls,” Wendy called out and both just turned to her smiling.

  With new batteries in, Sally turned the thermal back on and looked ahead. “I like having these,” Sally said. “How long are we riding tonight?”

  “If one of you girls can manage to stay awake and make sure I’m driving good, I don’t want to stop until we get home,” Wendy told them.

  Putting the thermal down, Sally opened the center console and pulled out the energy drinks. “Jo Ann, when Ryan’s finished eating, get that other pack of these from the back,” Sally instructed, taking the top off and draining one down.