by Patrick Shea
Charlotte said, “I don’t think I can take a lot more of this. I don’t want anyone being shot or hurt or in an accident. If the police aren’t out, that means that the same is probably true for ambulance crews. Those people are probably home with their families.
She continued, “I know the radio keeps talking about how they think public servants should be on the streets until the end but I don’t agree. Those people risk their lives for the rest of us often, and they do so willingly. But now they’re just like the rest of us. Their families are being affected by this virus and I’m sure they want to spend as much time as they can with their spouses and children.”
James said, “I know, but I sure wish the streets would stay safer for a little longer. I was listening to the radio in the den and they are reporting sniper fire at a number of different locations this morning. I don’t know why folks would use this occasion to shoot at other people, but they are.
“Tiffany, I’m afraid you might not be able to visit your folks much longer.”
“I know. We talked about that during my visit today. My family has started showing symptoms also and my Mom is pretty despondent. But she does understand that when it gets dangerous I’ll have to stop coming. I would like to go at least one more time just to be able to say goodbye the right way. I don’t know if I could stand not seeing her again.”
James said, “We understand and I agree with you. We can take the risk of one more trip. Let’s plan on you and the boys going over again tomorrow, and from there we’ll just have to play it by ear.”
J.J. spoke up at this point and said, “I agree with that but I don’t know that both Jamal and I should go. I hate to risk both of us for the trip, and I think I can do okay alone.”
Jamal quickly jumped in and said, “No you don’t bro. I appreciate your concern for your little brother but if we get in a fire fight you’ll need me. I’ve spent a lot of years taking care of you and I’m not about to stop now.”
James interjected, “J.J., Jamal is right, at least in the part about two of you being better than one. One of you has to drive so the other can defend if need be. I hate the thought that someone might shoot at you again, but that still seems to be a small risk right now. It’s not like the whole city is at war or has gone crazy. Take a different route tomorrow and your Mom and I will pray that all goes well.”
J.J. and Jamal both said, “Okay Dad.”
James said, “Charlotte, are you okay with this?”
“No I’m not, but I don’t see any other way. I know how Tiffany’s Mom must feel and I think she needs her daughter to visit again. Maybe things will settle down after today and Tiffany will be able to visit more than once. We’ll wait and see what happens in the next few days.”
“All right ladies, I’m looking for volunteers to help me get lunch ready.” And with that Charlotte walked to the kitchen.
Chapter Fourteen: Butch and Sundance
Alvin Casady sat on the front step of a rundown house not far from Little Five Points. He had spent all of his twenty-two years here in Atlanta; almost all of it in this near eastside neighborhood.
Up until now he was afraid he would have to find a new place to live. The neighborhood was going through a revival and he wouldn’t be able to afford it much longer. Taxes were going up, middle class families were moving in, police protection was more and more evident and gangs like his were being pushed out.
Alvin had belonged to the Stars since he was twelve; first as a lookout, then as a runner, then as an actual gang member and now as a lieutenant. The gang had been his life and it had taught him well. He had thrived on violence and it had been a part of his life for so long that he no longer realized that others lived without it. He never even thought about a better life since rising through the ranks of the gang was the best he could ever hope to do.
He had been named Alvin at birth by a fourteen year old mother. He was a third generation heroin baby who had been raised haphazardly by various relatives and social institutions. He had spent his life living by rules that were mostly made up by those around him or by himself. He had learned how to survive and prosper according to his own definitions and he was proud of himself. He knew he was tough and he was willing to kill anyone who disagreed with him. Even by gang standards Alvin was violent.
He had also learned how to live without emotion. In fact the only emotions he let himself feel were anger and fear. He discovered early on that both emotions pretty much came and went on their own and by now he considered them both to be good emotions to have. All others seemed worthless.
Years ago a gang leader had nicknamed him Butch, due to his last name. For a while he had a friend who had been nicknamed Sundance for obvious reasons. Sundance had been killed in a shootout with a rival gang. A second Sundance had been with him for a while after that, but he had been shot in a robbery attempt and although he had survived he was now in the Macon State Prison. Since then no one had wanted to be Sundance.
This didn’t bother Butch at all. In fact nothing much bothered Butch. His only goal was to lead this gang one day and he was perfectly content to wait until it was his time. He knew he didn’t have to wait too long since gang leaders had a very short average life span. This didn’t bother him either, that was the nature of this life style. But in the back of his mind he knew there was an outside chance he could beat the odds, and that thought was the only hope he ever allowed himself.
On this particular Monday he was feeling good about life. The fact that he had been showing symptoms of the virus for a couple of days now had no impact on him, even though some of his gang members were freaked by their symptoms. The world was about to end and his worries were almost over. He had thought in the past about how it was unfair that he was born into a ghetto existence with no possibility of escape, and while he had long ago accepted his plight, he wondered why it had happened to him. Now he knew the rest of the world was about to feel the same despair and hopelessness he had always known, and he was glad to see it happen.
He and his friends all of a sudden had the same hope for survival as every other person in the world. The difference was that he could live comfortably under these circumstances.
He thought about the trip he and some of the gang members had taken to the church on Saturday. They had waited until the services had started before they opened fire from the second floor of an adjacent warehouse. They had each fired a clip into the windows of the church and then quickly fled. He had listened to the news later to find that they had not killed as many as he thought they would, but he was still happy with the outcome.
On Sunday they had done the same thing at a different church. This one was holding special services for those with the virus and while the church was not full, there were still a lot of people inside. They had learned on Saturday that the police response time was much slower than normal, and that only a handful of police had actually shown up.
On Sunday they felt they were able to take their time and sustain a high rate of fire for several minutes before they ran. They also brought their full arsenal with them and all nine of them were carrying assault rifles as well as handguns. The death toll on Sunday was much higher and Butch felt much better about it.
As he sat on the step thinking back on the weekend he felt that by now much of the city had to feel that God had abandoned them during their time of need. This was the message Butch had hoped to send since he knew that God had abandoned him at birth, if not before then. He felt it was only fitting that these good Christians, none of whom had done a thing to help him during his life, should share his feelings about God as the end drew near.
His thoughts now turned to what to do next. It was kind of exciting to know that there was no one around to stop him from doing anything he chose to do. The police were almost non-existent and there was no one else able to stop him. For the first time in his life he felt almost invulnerable.
He decided to walk the two blocks to Sully’s place, a neighborhood bar frequented only
by gang members. This was one of the places where by mutual agreement violence wasn’t permitted. The gang had to have a place to hang out where they could feel safe so Sully’s was protected by everyone in the gang. If there was a disagreement between two individuals everyone made sure they took their arguments to the street.
Butch walked down the street holding an M-16 in one hand and a 9mm in the other. He was about thirty yards from the first intersection when a car drove slowly from left to right through the intersection. Butch didn’t know the car or the occupants but he felt that folks should not be casually driving through his neighborhood, so without much thought he raised his handgun and fired two quick shots at the car. The car simply accelerated and disappeared from sight. He smiled to himself thinking that guy wouldn’t be back this way any time soon.
Butch felt a sledgehammer hit him in the side of his chest and he found himself backed against a parked car holding onto the mirror with no memory of how or why he was there. He looked down and saw blood spreading on his shirt and realized that the last noise he had heard was another gunshot. He looked up and saw old man Wilkens standing on his front porch with a gun in his hand.
Wilkens said, “You ain’t the only one around here with a gun, and you ain’t the only one who knows the police aren’t going to come. I’ve had enough of you and your gang and now I can do something about it.”
Butch watched as this man he had never even thought about aimed the gun and pulled the trigger again. Butch fell to the gutter and Mr. Wilkens looked up and down the street and then walked back into his house and locked the door.
Chapter Fifteen: Jack and Harry
Tuesday: The High Rockies
Jack met with his bunker team Tuesday afternoon, recapped the progress to date, and led a brainstorming session where they established priorities for the next couple of days. The team felt they were doing the right things and didn’t see a need for major changes. They discussed the fact that they were running out of things to do that would help survivors.
Next they would go into their response mode. They would be available to all the survivors to help talk them through the days to come. They could help them make decisions about how to bury their dead, where to pick up an RV, where to go initially, how to work the communication gear, and similar things.
In the last few days Jack had half of his team try to make contact via phone or email with the points of contact from the municipalities that would provide RVs. The contact information was part of the registration process on the web site. His team offered their help to those responsible for stocking the RVs. They could offer alternatives if suggested supplies weren’t available, and answer questions like which size or model of RV was best, how to find the refrigerated compartments they would need, and such.
Not surprisingly, the team found that not many people had questions about materials and supplies. They did have questions about the children and how to make sure they made good matches. Unfortunately, there were no easy answers. People would have to make their best judgments about the quality of matches, and make them quickly.
Jack still talked to A.J., Harry and Jane each day, amongst others. It pained Jack when A.J. told him that she was now symptomatic. She was matter of fact when she told Jack about her symptoms, and she continued to act normally. Jack guessed that most people by now realized this was going to happen and would just deal with it.
Jack asked A.J. about her family and she told him that while she had awoken two mornings ago with red blotches, Roger’s had materialized during the course of the day. The rest of the family had all shown symptoms within the next twenty-four hours.
Jack asked her how she felt and she explained that Harry was correct in his description. She felt like she was coming down with a cold, but without any severe symptoms. She said that mentally she thought she was doing okay, although she did break down when she saw the first splotches on Roger’s face.
She had thought about trying to cover up the splotches with make-up but quickly realized this would be a futile effort. Especially since everyone they knew was either now symptomatic or soon would be.
Meanwhile, Harry and his team in Edinburgh continued to work with the scientists from CDC in trying to find a vaccine. No one was having any luck, but Harry told Jack he was thankful that he was so wrapped up in his work that he did not have time to worry about dying.
He explained that while some of the team left to be with family, others had continued to work, even though they were in their final week. The hope of course was they would discover a vaccine that would save some people. One thing everyone agreed with was that they would spend the last three days with family, although Harry would stay at the lab until the end. Although he had received multiple invitations to stay with families, he didn’t see that getting to know a family at this late stage would be best for anyone.
Harry’s wife Jane was the hardest one for Jack to talk with. She wasn’t holding up well since both of her parents and both of her children had started to show symptoms this past Thursday. However, she was thankful that she would be the last to go and could care for her family until the end. But Jack had promised Harry he would take care of Jane and all he could do was talk with her a couple of times a day. Both Harry and Jane were thankful for this, but to Jack, it didn’t seem like enough. Moreover, it was looking like Jane might be a survivor since she was not yet showing any signs of the virus.
Jack and his team were amazed at the number of municipalities that were stocking RVs. In fact Jack didn’t know there were that many RVs available. He did some quick internet research and found out there are over eight million households in America with an RV, and the number is growing rapidly. When he first came up with the idea he thought many RVs provided for survivors would be used ones, he now knew that there were enough RVs on lots around the country that everyone should have access to a new RV.
After a week of registering RVs they found that over four thousand were being prepared, and that number was growing every day. This number was in the news each day, which motivated even more communities to prepare RVs. Jack was as pleased as he could be. While some of his team suggested they tell communities they had enough RVs, Jack said no to this idea. He wanted spares all over the country. More to the point, he wanted folks to feel like they were helping others and he saw no reason to stop the process. No harm would come out of too many RVs being prepared.
One question that kept coming up was about driving the RVs. Municipalities were concerned that survivors wouldn’t know how to drive one, or would feel that they couldn’t drive something that large. All the team could do was ensure them that anyone who could drive could handle an RV. No special training was needed and no special license had been required. RVs were almost all automatic transmission vehicles, and more importantly, there would be no traffic on the road to deal with.
The only thing that Jack and his team worried about was roads that had been blocked either intentionally or due to accidents that occurred after police and other services had ceased. Even then, if the RVs kept to the Interstate Highways, the worst case would be than an RV would have to go back to the last exit and enter the Interstate on the traditional wrong side, and bypass the blockage that way. Blockages on smaller roads would require rerouting.
However, the drivers should be in no hurry, would have no reason to drive after dark, and could drive as slow or as fast as they wanted to. Backtracking should not be a major problem.
In the new world anyone who could hold a steering wheel and reach the pedals should be able to drive.
There was still no good news from the bunker in Atlanta. Jack talked to them daily and they had made no progress at all. However, all of the scientists had been in this field for years and they all knew how difficult this endeavor was. They were nowhere near the frustration point yet and they would keep working for as long as they were able.
The scientists knew they were safe from the virus unless they screwed up. The seals on their bunker had been designe
d specifically for bio-safety level four agents, such as filo viruses.
Jack called Harry again, and Harry answered the phone but sounded terrible.
Jack asked “Harry, how bad is it?”
“I think this will be our last phone call Jack. I think the end will come either late today or early tomorrow. This thing works like clockwork so as bad as I feel it won’t last long. Right now I feel like I have the worst case of the flu I’ve ever had. Thankfully, the folks here have been as kind as they can be.
“As we’ve discussed, the survivors here have been following your advice closely and most have left for the Highlands by now. It’s a lightly populated area of Scotland and will provide an opportunity for the Scottish survivors to congregate for the next six months.
“We estimate there should be about 50 survivors in the country, although so far we’ve only identified 37. I don’t know if there are more or not, but our current group of survivors will continue to post messages telling others how to contact them.
“Over 100 RV’s have been prepared across the country so no one is going to be too far from an RV.”
“That’s great news Harry, but I’m worried about you. Are you alone now?”
“No I’m not. Everyone who worked here is now gone. But two of the survivors will stay here with me until the end. Apparently I’m the last one. By the way, one of the survivors staying with me is Anne Hamilton, the first survivor we found. We never did get her to the CDC but she and I have become friends of a sort. An impressive woman named Nancy Clark has accepted responsibility for Anne and since Anne won’t leave me alone, Nancy is staying with her. I don’t think they will have to wait too long.”
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am things turned out this way”
“I know Jack. And you know you don’t need to say anything. I’ve seen so much death in recent days that I’m kind of immune at this point. I would guess you feel much the same.
