by Newman, AJ
After the house went dark, they all met in Jon and Barbara’s camper. They had placed blankets over the windows and met around candlelight. Jon filled them in on the unfolding events, to their surprise. He also finished filling them in on meeting Froggy.
“I plan to have us moved in two to three days. Does anyone object?”
Granny Jane said, “Jill, I’m sorry to say I never trusted your dad from day one. He’s all hat and no cattle. Walt doesn’t know ranching, and his men are mostly thugs. I’ve wondered if he’s actually in charge of the ranch. Could it be that we’re reading him wrong?”
Jon’s face had a big frown, and then his eyes grew. “Are you trying to say that Walt’s trying to get us out of harm’s way and not the asshole we think he is?”
“I’m struggling with that myself,” said Jill.
Granny Jane stood up with her hands on her face. “Well, we’d better make up our minds before any lead starts flying.”
Jon led the convoy of their three trucks north from the ranch. He took every one of their people after telling Walt they would return in a day or two to get the rest of their belongings. He knew Walt would search their trailers and the barn and quickly find almost all of their gear and supplies were gone. They headed to the Naval Air Station and arrived there just as the sun was barely above the horizon.
Froggy’s men watched them unload but kept their distance. They were happy to move their possessions into their new homes. Jon told everyone to split up their extra supplies and place a portion into an empty room in their new homes.
Chapter 14
Reese NAS - October 2038
Froggy’s number two guy, Steve, was a helpful and pleasant sort of fellow. He kept a close eye on Jill and noticed she wasn’t attached. Jon tried to steer him away from Jill but had to be a bit blunt. Steve got a dumb look on his face and stayed as far from Jill as possible.
Jill noticed her helper had disappeared. “Jon, why is Steve avoiding me now? He was kind of cute and a lot of help.”
Jon gulped and fidgeted. Jill noticed and said, “You didn’t.”
“Yes, I did. Steve was worrying you to death. I didn’t want him bothering you and then get mad when he figured out his hard work wasn’t getting him anywhere.”
Jill broke out laughing. “Kind of like what happened to you.”
“Kinda sorta.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him that you were already spoken for.”
“By who? Oh, shit. That’s why Steve’s been giving the stink eye to all of the men. You . . . are a bastard, but I guess you’re my bastard.”
Barbara overheard the banter. “He can be your bastard as long as he’s always my asshole. Hey asshole, get your butt over here and help me carry these boxes into the storage room.”
Steve was back to his smiling self by lunchtime. He suggested they take two of the trucks along with a contingent of his people into Lubbock to scavenge for household supplies and any more medicines they might need.
Charlie approached Steve. “Do you force anyone into the quarantined area?”
“No, but we tell them they can go through the quarantine if they want to stay. So, I guess we do force them. We have to reduce the infected people to eliminate the spread of the infection."
Charlie wondered about that statement and wanted some clarification. “Shouldn’t they have all died off by now?”
“Yes, but there seems to be a few stragglers who infect others before they die. They keep passing on the virus. Our doctors think the virus has mutated down to a less deadly form, and the infected might not all be dying.”
“That sounds like a Typhoid Mary situation.”
“The doctor’s exact words.”
Charlie passed on the information to Barbara. “Jon, what Charlie said makes sense. I’ve been wondering why the virus hasn’t died down and gone away. The population in the world has shrunk so much it should be hard for the virus to spread. Add in that most people shy away from others, and we shouldn’t see that many infected now, but we keep seeing pockets pop up around the country.”
Jon asked, “So quarantining a person for the fourteen days wouldn’t necessarily show us a person is virus-free.”
“No, a carrier who doesn’t show the hemorrhagic symptoms would still infect the others. The only way to handle the quarantine would be to quarantine the people in small groups of three or four. Then if there’s a carrier, three of them will die or at least get the symptoms. Placing a carrier in a group of fifty only means everyone will get infected.”
Jon took a minute to mull it over and looked up with a frown. “I think we should volunteer to take over the responsibility for the quarantined folks and split them up as you said. The first bunch will be a problem, but after that, it will become easier.”
Barbara grinned as the wheels spun in her beautiful head. “We could say that since I’m an immunologist, I know how to handle them, and then we can secretly start looking for other immunes.”
“I hadn’t thought about that. What’s the chance of finding more?”
“Ding-a-ling, think about the fact that everyone who died from the virus wasn’t immune. That drives the ratio of immune to normal people from one in a thousand to one in a hundred, or maybe one in ten. We should find a dozen or so around Lubbock.”
Barbara gathered the team and filled them in on including Froggy in the transfusions. All agreed, and then Barbara and Jon met alone with Froggy. He was astounded at first, but then said, “Crap, that’s why you weren’t afraid to pick up our stranded families and take on the quarantined folks.”
Jon said, “Yes, it was the least we could do to help your team.”
Froggy chuckled, “You mean our team. So you give me blood, and I become immune in three weeks and can then pass on the immunity?”
Barbara smiled and wondered how many times she’d have to give this story. “At a minimum, it takes three weeks with two people donating blood. Any faster, and you screw with the health of the donors.”
“How long will it take to spread it to the rest of my team and the city?”
“How many folks are in your core team?”
“I have about ninety.”
The wheels in Barbara’s head spun for a few seconds. She frowned. “How much synthetic blood can you get?”
“I’d guess a couple of hundred liters.”
Barbara said, “We can make your ninety people immune in about four months. It’s a slow process that doubles every three weeks. Six months from now, we’d have about four hundred immunes. If we use the synthetic blood on another group, we can have a second operation that lags about three months behind. Then immunity begins increasing by half every three weeks. I calculated that with just our nine we have now, we would have a million immunes in about six hundred days.”
Froggy said, “We guessed there’re about five hundred people left alive in Lubbock and another several hundred in the country around the city. Slow out of the gates but a quick finisher. I feel guilty asking, but …”
Jon said, “Sorry, Froggy, the decision on who gets the immunity is our shot to call, and we say your top lieutenants and your family are first in that order.”
Froggy smiled as Barbara rolled up his sleeve, rubbed the alcohol on his arm, and inserted the needle. Granny Jane, Bobby Jr., and Sally also received transfusions that day.
☣☣☣
Later that day, they’d been scavenging in Lubbock. When they were about to head back to the NAS and their new homes, Charlie told Jon about the young girl in Wilson and talked Jon and Steve into letting him go back to get her. Steve said, “Tie this banner on the front of your truck, and none of our people will bother you. It’s the Gadsden flag. It’s our flag and motto.”
Then Charlie asked, “Jon, could Barbara, Cindy, or Jill come with us? I’ll need one of the immune women to come with Bob and me. I don’t think the girl will come with a man.”
Jon knew Charlie was a big-hearted man, but sometimes tha
t trait could get you killed these days. “Barbara, please get Cindy and Jill to come over here.”
She saluted and went to get the ladies. While they waited on Barbara and the ladies to come back, they transferred the loot in Samantha to the other trucks. The ladies arrived a few minutes later.
Jon said, “Charlie, make your best pitch, but they have to volunteer.”
Charlie gave them a sob story about a homeless young lady starving on the streets. If they could save just one person a day, life would be worth living. Tears came to Jill and Cindy’s eyes. “Dad, you stole that from that war movie. I’ll volunteer.”
Jill also volunteered, but Cindy politely backed away from the conversation. Charlie then turned his attention to Jon. “Could you come with us? Bob has children, and I’d like him to stay with them as much as possible.”
Jon didn’t believe that was the reason because Bob was always with them no matter what the situation was. Jon also wondered about Cindy stepping away when she knew Barbara’s leg hadn’t fully recovered. Jon didn’t ask any questions and went with the flow.
The ride south to Wilson demonstrated that Froggy’s people had complete control of the area. Several people stepped out of their homes and waved at Samantha as they passed by their places. Samantha observed, “What, no bullets, rocks, or middle fingers for us? I like these people.”
Charlie said, “Does your truck always speak up while you’re driving?”
“Doesn’t everyone’s truck? Seriously, these new AI operated vehicles can be trained to fit your personality or just keep quiet and drive the truck. I like my trucks and women a bit on the sassy side.”
Samantha said, “And I like men who appreciate an AI who works her …well, I was going to say butt, but I don’t have one. Let’s say I work my program off to please my master and his sassy wife.”
Charlie chuckled and changed the subject. “All of us are immune, and that’s why I didn’t want Bob to come with us. I don’t want to kidnap the girl, but we’ll be in close quarters with her. We don’t need any of our non-immune to catch the crap.”
That answered Jon’s question about Bob but not about Cindy.
They arrived in front of the pharmacy, where Charlie had seen the young girl across the street. Charlie had given some thought to how to get the young lady to come with them. “I need Barbara and Jill to take the lead in coaxing the lady to join us. She’s very shy or scared. Jon and I will stay in the background with guns ready, but I need you two to get the girl to go with us.”
Barbara and Jill fetched a couple of meals and sat on the tailgate, eating sandwiches, chips, a candy bar, and Cokes. They made sure anyone watching them would see they had plenty of food and then slowly ate, relishing each bite. Nothing happened right away, and they wondered if the lady had moved on. Then Jill saw something move to their left.
Jill whispered, “I think someone’s watching from your left.”
Barbara saw more movement. “I see a small boy crawling in our direction. My God, he’s dirty and has a snotty nose.”
Barbara thought the little boy was about five and looked hungry. He suddenly stood up and ran to Barbara, yelling, “Mommy! Mommy!”
He jumped into Barbara’s arms just before a young girl came out of the shadows. “Billy, where did … Oh crap! Let my brother go!”
Barbara had already given the boy a sandwich and a drink. The boy waved at his sister, who looked about twelve, and cautiously walked toward them. She said, “You look like our momma. She died. Can I have some food?”
“Yes, what’s your name?”
“I’m Julie.”
“Come on over here and sit with us. Good, here’s a sandwich, and if you eat it all, you can have a candy bar.”
Both children ate all of their food and stayed with Barbara and Jill on the tailgate. Barbara asked them several questions and felt their heads for fever. “Where’s is your father?”
The girl placed her hands over the boy’s ears. “Daddy was killed by those bad men who have all the cows. He tried to catch one to feed us, and they caught him. Momma tried to stop them, and they shot her too. Could we live with you? Marcie says we have to stay away from people, but Billy and I thought you were our momma. I know she’s dead, but you look so much like her.”
Jill was startled and asked, “Who’s Marcie?”
“Our big sister. She’s sixteen and out looking for food. She should be back soon. Can she have some food?”
“Yes, we have plenty of food. Would you two and Marcie like to come live with us? We have nice homes and plenty of food.”
Julie stopped talking and became quiet. Barbara asked, “What’s wrong, Julie?”
“Marcie says we can’t trust anyone because they want to hurt us.”
Jill asked, “Do you mean they would give you the virus?”
Julie smiled. “Oh, no, we’ve been around the sick people many times and feel sorry for them. Daddy kept Momma away from the sick people and said we had to take baths before we could be around Momma after helping the sick people.”
A light bulb lit in Barbara’s brain. “Was your Daddy in the military?”
“No, he was in construction.”
“Did he get injured on his job?”
Julie thought for a minute. “Daddy got hurt in a car wreck a long time ago. He almost died.”
Jill whispered, “I thought they just started using the synthetic blood about five to ten years ago.”
Barbara said, “Yes, for the latest edition. It was the fourth iteration of the same formula. The first formula was introduced during the Iranian war back in the early twenties.”
“So the immunity might be more prevalent than previously thought,” Jill said.
Barbara was quiet for a minute. “I also think the immunity was passed on to the children. Also remember, a child thinks a few months is a long time.”
Jill started to speak when they heard a rustling noise coming from the shadows. Barbara looked at the young girl. “Call for your sister to join us. I’ll bet she’s also hungry.”
“She don’t like outsiders.”
Barbara said, “We’re good friends now. We won’t hurt you. We’re working hard to get this area back to normal and stop bad people from hurting others.”
The pre-teen turned and yelled, “Marcie, come on over here and get something to eat.”
A voice pierced the shadows. “Get away from them! They’ll hurt you!”
“Marcie, these are nice people. They won’t hurt you.”
A ragged young lady with red hair slowly edged out of the darkness with a knife. “If you don’t plan to hurt us, why are the two men over there in the pharmacy watching us with their guns ready?”
“The skinny one is my husband, and the other is my dad. They’re here to protect us while we found you. My dad’s the man who left food for you the other day. We have nice homes a few miles west of here and plenty of food. We’re looking for people to join us and get the area back to normal. We also had trouble with the bad men who killed your parents.”
Jill cringed again when she heard Barbara call her dad a bad man. She had resigned herself to the fact, but it still hurt. Jill said, “I’m a policewoman, and I promise we won’t let those men hurt you again. We need good people to join us and restart this end of the country with good people.”
Marcie was still doubtful but knew her family was in danger on their own, and she had to provide for them. She still had her hand on her knife handle. “We’ll go with you, but if anyone tries to hurt my brother or sister, I’ll kill them.
Barbara placed her hand on her pistol. “I’ll bet you would, but that won’t be necessary because we have a great group of people that’ll protect you and your family.”
The kids moved in with Jon and Barbara for the fourteen-day quarantine. Charlie and Betty wanted them right away, but Betty wasn’t immune yet. Barbara took charge of getting them fed, cleaned up, and clothed. She was bewildered that the kids weren’t very hungry. She also noticed
they weren’t malnourished.
“Marcie, y’all appear to be well fed. Why did you and the kids act like you hadn’t eaten in a month?”
“Because if we looked well-fed and clean, people would wonder where our food supply was and take it from us.”
Later that day, Jon began asking them questions about how they’d survived and why they hadn’t joined Froggy’s group.
Marcie told him they had lived off canned food they found in stores and abandoned homes. She’d also killed a few rabbits for fresh meat. Her parents had been country people, and she’d been raised hunting and fishing. She hated Froggy’s group because they’d tried to catch her sister one day. She was also upset they’d scavenged most of the food in Lubbock. She was afraid to hide in homes or businesses because the ranchers or Froggy’s team might find them.
Jon now had her talking freely. “Marci, do you know of any supplies, weapons, or medical supplies that we could use?”
“I know several places with medical supplies and weapons. I’ve been carrying an AR 10 for months.”
“You didn’t have it when we found you.”
“I dropped it when I panicked searching for Billy and Julie. I can take you to weapons and other supplies.”
“We need you to stay in quarantine until you’re cleared of having the virus. Just give me the directions, and we’ll fetch them,” Jon said.
“My cache is in the backroom of that old church on the corner of Fifth and Vine. I blocked the door so no one could see it. The door is in the hallway to the rectory. It’s behind the huge painting of God throwing thunderbolts at the devil.”
“Thanks, I’ll take my truck over and bring the supplies back.”
Marcie snickered, “Ya better take a couple of semis. I was stocking up for the long haul.”
The next day, Jon led three pickups over to the church and was shocked at the number of supplies they found in the basement. There were stacks of cartons of canned goods and other groceries. In one corner was a pile of long guns, pistols, and ammunition. Jon was most pleased when they found the medical supplies. Marcie’s hoard must have taken months to accumulate. They filled their pickups, came back with large enclosed cargo trailers, and emptied the place.
