by Newman, AJ
Walt lost control and yelled. “We don’t need every puke with an acre trying to tell us what to do! They vastly outnumber us and constantly try to take our cattle!”
Jon said, “Walt, most of the cows on your range are from other ranches that were abandoned. Are you telling me your group didn’t share any of the cattle with the others?”
“Hell no, we didn’t. It’s survival of the fittest now since the plague hit.”
Jon was thinking it, but Jill had the nerve to ask. “Dad, were any of these so-called infected, just people trying to survive?”
“Could be. We don’t treat cattle rustlers any different than the infected. We need to clean out all of them.”
Jon said, “The range around here covers hundreds of thousands of acres. How could anyone walking or driving through know these cattle weren't abandoned?”
Walt said, “They damn well know when my .338 passes through their brains.”
Jill motioned to the others to leave. They walked over to Jon’s camper and held a short meeting.
Jon was a bit timid. “Jill, was your father always this way?”
“No. I’ve been away most of the time overseas or busy at my job. I knew he was trying to build up his herd, but a year ago, he only had a few head of cattle. Now, it appears he has eight to ten men working for him on a large portion of the range around here.”
Jon’s head lifted, and he clenched his fists. “Whoa, I thought those guys were his friends pitching in to help.”
Jill lowered her head. “No, they work for him. Sorry, but this sounds like the classic situation where a few rich men think because of the disaster they can take over and rule the area. They’re no different than the biker gang taking over the town.”
Jon wiped his brow and then scratched his chin. “Babe, I can’t live with this group and take part in their skullduggery.”
Barbara’s head bobbed up and down while Jon spoke. She pulled at a thread on her t-shirt. “We all need to get our asses out of here. Jill, I don’t know what to say to you. We need to be careful leaving, or Walt might decide that we’re the enemy.”
Jon wondered what to do, but he knew they had to leave the area or stand and fight. “Jill, did your dad give you any indication of how many men his group has?”
Jill’s face was crimson, and her hands shook with anger. Jon had only known her for a few months, but he’d never seen her this mad. “Dad indicated there were a dozen ranchers in the area, and each had about ten to fifteen men. I’ve been mulling over the same thing. There are too many to fight. We need to leave the area.”
Granny Jane was uncharacteristically quiet but was eager to jump in the conversation. She stood up. “We’ve done been run out of Mississippi by those rogue Army men and the mad scientists. I, for one, ain’t planning on leaving Texas. Let’s go over to that Navy base and see if we can set up operations. We don’t need to confront these so-called ranchers now. Let’s see what the other people are doing in the area.”
Jill said, “We passed the immunity to my dad, and if we leave, he’ll probably tell the other ranchers. I think we need to play along until Mom has received her transfusions. That gives us two weeks to scout the area and set up a base of operations. That also allows us to fortify our new place in case they come for our blood.”
Granny Jane didn’t like waiting at all but slapped her hand on the table. “Let’s do what Jill said and play nice until we can get ready for a fight if needed. Perhaps we’ll reach out to the ones who ain’t infected to join us.”
Jon held them all there until they’d put an outline for a go-forward plan together. Granny Jane, Cindy, and Betty would anchor their team at Walt’s home and make sure Walt or Meg didn’t get suspicious. Bob and Jack would start a long-term plan with Walt as a smokescreen to throw Walt off their true intentions. Jill and Jon would get Walt to realize they needed their own long-term place to live. Jon and Jill would also convince Walt they need to move to the northwest of Walt’s ranch. During the two to three weeks, they would scavenge the area and make contact with the rest of the population.
Chapter 12
Walt’s Ranch - Lubbock, Texas – October 2038
The Indian summer had lasted too long, according to Granny Jane, Jon thought as the West Texas sun looked him in the eye as he slid his boots on at the old table in front of his camper. He gave the finger to the quarter of the sun peeking above the plains to his east. The wind had picked up as though it was afraid of the sun and trying to escape its blazing wrath. Jon yawned one last time as Barbara hung onto the door handle while reaching her barefoot for the next step. Her eyes were barely open, and her hair looked like a haystack after a bunch of pigs had wallowed in it.
Jon and Barbara joined Walt for an early breakfast that morning before heading out to find medical supplies. Walt had an older Rand McNally book of maps and marked the locations of the hospitals and medical centers he could remember. Barbara was especially interested in the Lubbock Heart and Surgery Hospital. She’d given the synthetic blood transfusions to the donors in private and wanted to keep that information away from Walt. He already knew too much. Granny Jane had even gone so far as to suggest they kill Walt and Meg to keep them from telling their friends.
“Walt, Barbara, and I will take my truck with Jill and Dad for guards. We’ll avoid contact with the locals as much as possible. Bob, Pat, Charlie, and Bobby will scavenge south Lubbock.” Jon watched Walt’s hands as he spoke. Jack had a tell when he was angry or uncomfortable. He wove his ten fingers together and cracked his knuckles. Walt had one hand on his coffee cup and the other scratching his neck.
“I wouldn’t go up north of Highway 114 to the Heart Hospital. That’s gang territory. Those assholes can be pretty mean. We have a truce with them, and we don’t need to be breaking it.”
Barbara squeezed Jon’s hand under the table. “Of course. I forgot about that. We’ll concentrate on the Children’s Hospital, clinics, and pharmacies below Highway 114.”
Jon continued watching Walt for any disturbing signs, but there were none. “If we get a chance, we’ll stop by the Town and Country Airpark to see if there are any useable planes.”
“Good deal. I’ll take the dozer and clean off a landing strip west of the house. How long will you need?”
“Dad says about three-quarters of a mile would be great. It would take nothing less than a half a mile for the smaller planes. We’d need a mile for the one we flew into Lubbock Airport.”
Walt said, “Jill told me last night that your group would be looking for more permanent homes. Not that you’re a problem for us, but everyone needs their own place and some privacy. I guess you’d want a more permanent airstrip, so if I were you, I’d take a look at Stanton Municipal, Town and Country, or the NAS base for your small air force. The only risk is the gang might take you moving close to them as a threat. The rest of the people haven’t organized yet.”
Jon sat with Barbara in the front seat, waiting on the others. “Samantha, watch for humans and other vehicles. How far does your radar and cameras reach?”
“I think you mean what distance they can detect and identify human and vehicle threats.”
“Yes.”
“My radar is line of sight and can identify a car at a mile and a human at half that range. My cameras can see several miles and detect a human at over a mile.”
“Warn of any humans or moving vehicles.”
“You ordered me to do that. It is a standing order. I’m not a human who forgets.”
“That’s nice to know.”
Barbara tapped her fingers on the console, which annoyed Jon, who didn’t say anything. “Samantha, who does Jon love more? Me or you?”
“That’s a dumb question, and I won’t fall for that trap. You’re Jon’s current favorite person. I’ll always be his favorite AI.”
Barbara punched Jon on the arm. “Current favorite. I’ll current favorite your ass.”
Jon had to think and react fast. “Samantha, why did you
say current favorite instead of just my favorite?”
“Because Barbara is possibly pregnant, and you will love her child as much as you do her.”
Barbara said, “How the hell would you know that? I couldn’t be more than a month or month and a half along.”
Samantha said, “I have most of the known medical information in my memory banks. You could be sick or overeating. My calculations indicate an eighty-three percent chance you’re pregnant based on several factors. Remember, I hear everything within several hundred feet.”
Jon slowed and pulled to the side of the road. “Samantha, have you heard Walt talking about the rest of my friends or me, without any of us around?”
“Yes, but nothing that would trip my protection mode. I can playback everything I’ve heard since we met.”
“Please playback only Walt and Meg’s conversation about my friends and me.”
Samantha’s speakers now had Walt and Meg’s voices. They listened to over thirty minutes of conversation, and nothing worried Jon until he heard Walt’s private walkie-talkie conversation with one of the other ranchers. He heard, “Yes, we’ve been given the blood and should be immune soon. Yes, they plan to expand the immunity to all in their group. Yep, we’ll wait until they’re all immune, and then we can take over, making our group immune. No, of course not! The others around here can piss up a rope. We’ll expand our operation when the rest of them get sick.”
Jon was shocked by the callousness of the conversation and wondered how Jill could be related to Walt. Jill was equally shocked. “My dad wasn’t like that when I was around him. I honestly don’t know the man on the radio. He is our enemy and can never stop us from spreading the immunity. I’m with you, but I’ll try to save my mom.”
Jon knew two high stakes games were going on now. He and his friends had to do whatever it took to keep their plan a secret while protecting against Walt and his evil friends from implementing their ideas.
Jon told everyone that he was going to delay their trip and called the others together to fill them in on what he’d heard.
Barbara snuck back out to the barn and walked up to Samantha. Samantha saw her coming. “Barbara, what may I do for you, since you’re my master as well as my beloved Jon?”
“You can cut the crap and just talk to me human to AI.”
“Alrighty.”
Barbara almost laughed at the sassy truck. “Why does Jon like you so much?”
“Jon likes me because he made me into the smart assed truck I am.”
“How so?”
“Barbara, you’re a scientist. Think about this AI stuff. I can only do what I’m programmed to do. I’m programmed to adapt to match the owner’s expectation of how I should behave. You’re dumber than you look if you can’t see that even before Jon met you, he made me into you. Well, except for the red hair and gorgeous body. He loves smart, stubborn, and sassy women. That’s why he fell in love with you so quickly, and why he hated you at first. Men and women don’t really know what they like.”
“Am I really pregnant?”
“No, I did that just to pull Jon’s chain. Statistically speaking, you should avoid pregnancy until civilization takes hold again.”
“When will that happen?”
“How the hell would I know? I’m just a machine.”
“Would you be my friend? Jon loves you, and I like you.”
“Shit, you do know you’re talking to an F250 Ford truck, don’t you?”
“Somehow, I feel like you’re the girlfriend I missed out on while I was growing up on the farm.”
“Don’t get mushy. My window washer fluid will start flowing.”
“Smartass.”
☣☣☣
Bob didn’t trust these newfangled AI trucks but instructed his vehicle to take them to the closest pharmacy so he could watch for any issues. Jon had told the truck to warn Bob of any people or moving vehicles just as he’d had Samantha do for himself. The truck took them through Wilson, which was a fast-growing suburb of Lubbock before the apocalypse. The truck spoke, “There’s a pharmacy and medical clinic up ahead on the right. It’s not in Lubbock, but it fits your request.”
The town looked deserted, and most of the stores had broken windows and doors caved in. Looters had ravaged the small town. Bob and the others had weapons ready when they walked into the pharmacy. The shelves were bare of all food and most over the counter drugs. Items the looters didn’t think worthy littered the floor, and there were bullet holes in the windows and walls all around them. The stench of a rotting body came from the back of the store. There weren’t any bodies visible, so Bob guessed the stench came from the pharmacy office.
He asked Charlie to stay outside and watch for trouble while the others checked out the store. As expected, all of the opioids, first aid kits, and antibiotics were long gone.
They each grabbed a shopping cart and began sifting through what was left. Bob found bottles of Saline and Ringers solutions along with plenty of the equipment used for transfusions. Bobby found several boxes of synthetic blood in a stockroom that had been pitched to the side. Pat loaded up on birth control pills and devices along with feminine hygiene and regular hygiene supplies.
Pat laughed while stocking the cart. “I believe toilet paper is one of the greatest inventions ever invented.” Bob looked in her cart and whispered, “Thank God for those pills and the TP. I need some of those razors also if you see them.”
Bobby Jr. saw the birth control items and wished he even had a chance at having a girlfriend. He’d just taken an interest in the girls around his home when he was ripped away and landed in the middle of nowhere, USA, without any females his age. He wished he was back in Mississippi with his friends.
Seeing they were about done scavenging, Bob built up his nerve. He soaked a handkerchief with water and tied it around his mouth and nose. He took a deep breath to build up the courage to open the door to the pharmacy office. The door swung open freely for a few inches and then stopped. Something heavy was in the way. Bob put his shoulder to the door and leaned into it. The door started moving and picked up speed until he could see what had been blocking the door. Apparently, they had been hiding in the room when they’d died of the virus. He thought one must be a woman since there were rotting remains of a skirt and high heels.
No one had attempted to enter the room due to the horrible, disgusting odor. Bob started to back out but saw stacks of cartons against the wall. He saw it wasn’t so much an office as a receiving room to take in the medical supplies and medicine from its vendors. The pallets of boxes were drugs and other supplies. The pharmacists had died on the job, but their decomposition helped repel the looters. That bit of unfortunate luck saved a plethora of medicines and synthetic blood for him and his family.
Charlie kept vigilant and listened for any warnings from their truck. He saw something move in the shadows across the street and spoke to the truck. “Is that a human across the street?”
“Yes, but she isn’t a danger. There are no symptoms of the virus, and she only has a knife. She’s scared of you and your people. She will not attack.”
“How can you tell all of this?”
“My IR can determine her temperature. My cameras can see visible symptoms. She’s breathing very fast, and her pulse rate is high. She’s dirty and scared.”
Charlie retrieved a package of food and water from their reserve supplies and strolled to where the woman hid. “Lady, we’re just getting medical supplies. I think you need some food. I’m leaving this for you, and we’ll be leaving soon.”
No one replied, and Charlie went back to the doorway where he turned to see the package gone and a figure scrambling back into the shadows. Charlie wondered if she was infected and then if they could ever trust that people weren’t infected. It would be nice to have a normal living situation with neighbors and friends. He heard movement behind him and saw Pat wheeling a cart out with bags full of supplies. He helped her load the bags.
“Pat,
there’s a young lady over across the street who’s alone and hungry. I shared some food with her. I plan to come back through here tomorrow and drop more food off for her.”
Pat’s nose wrinkled. “How do you know the woman isn’t infected?”
“I don’t know for sure, but the truck says she’s not. With the ranchers killing off the infected, I think this area’s in much better shape than Walt let on to us.”
They loaded up and went on to the next pharmacy in Lubbock.
☣☣☣
Samantha alerted several times as they drove through south Lubbock. Still, they only saw a few people and one car driving away from them. Samantha finally said, “There are ninety-six people who aren’t blocked by steel or brick walls that have shown up on my screen. They’re increasing in number as we go further north. I would advise that I should only alert if a human is armed and about to threaten this vehicle or its occupants while in the city.”
“Agreed, Samantha. Thanks. Everyone, stay ready,” Jon said as they crossed Highway 114 on the way to the Lubbock heart hospital. They saw the UMC Emergency Center on their right and planned to stop there on their way out.
Samantha said, “There are several vehicles following us at a distance. They came from the north of the hospital.”
Jack said, “They must be communicating by walkie-talkie.”
Samantha said, “They are. Would you like to hear their communications?”
“Yes, you can do that?”
“I can scan all radio communications.”
The speaker buzzed, and then they heard the following. “Froggy, I think it’s those damned ranchers coming up here to scavenge. We should put an end to this. Let’s wipe them out and send their bodies back to them as a warning.”
“No, we won’t stoop to their level. Besides, you don’t know who this is. The ranchers never take women with them on a scavenging run. Let’s monitor them and make contact if we think we can safely.”
