Viral Misery | Book 3 | Revelations

by Watson, Thomas A.

  There were so many rats, it looked fake to Wendy’s mind. Her rabbit was only a thrashing, fur-covered mound now and the squeaking was very loud. So loud in fact, Wendy started to wonder if her hearing protection would cut off. In less than a minute her rabbit collapsed under the weight of the rats that were swarming him. “Fuck me,” Wendy gasped lowering the binoculars. “How did you know?” she asked turning to Arthur.

  “You don’t smell it?” he asked.

  Wendy inhaled deeply through her nose and gave a jerk, smelling a sharp pungent musky odor. “Is that rat?” she asked because she’d damn sure never smelled it before.

  Nodding, “Yes, and when you smell it, don’t get near any structure,” Arthur warned. “Your rabbit was caught and I’m sure given the choice, he would’ve chosen to be killed by you.”

  Thinking that should’ve offended her, Wendy pondered and finally had to agree. Death by rats would be damn near at the top of her list on the way not to get killed. Last month she had seen a dog get taken down, but it had only been taken by maybe two hundred rats. The rats had cornered the dog in a dead-end alley on one of their trips to Little Rock. After seeing that, Wendy had been ready to go home. She had a hard enough time dealing with ants on a biblical scale, which were thankfully hibernating with the cold. But rats on a biblical scale weren’t something she wanted to deal with at all.

  Turning back to the street, the spot where her rabbit had gone down was a six foot tall mound as the rats continued to pile on after smelling blood. “Next time, make Daisy trip my ass,” Wendy informed Arthur. “Why are all those doors open? I swear, if you tell me rats opened them, we’re heading to the Arctic Circle, buster. North or south, I don’t give a shit,” she informed him.

  Shaking his head and grinning, “No, they don’t open doors, Wendy,” Arthur told her. “I noticed it in July. When people search a house, they leave the doors open so they know and to let others in their group know what’s been searched. Stupid, I’ll admit, but effective.”

  “That just gives rats a shelter,” Wendy groaned.

  “No, babe,” Arthur told her. “Door open or closed, rats will get inside if they want, but with the doors open they can get out very fast, as you saw. Saw a crazy get taken down in Russellville in September like that.”

  Holding up both hands, “You never said the crazy was swarmed by a flood of rats!” Wendy snapped.

  “Babe, Jason and I were inside Russellville. We weren’t going to wait and find out how many showed up,” Arthur scoffed. “There were enough rats to cover the crazy and I told Jason our patrol of Russellville was over. I told Jason I didn’t give a shit what was moving about in town because we were leaving.”

  Not looking away from the mound of rats, Wendy saw no problem with Arthur’s reasoning and was very proud that he had left. “Arthur, we’re in Dover,” she huffed. “Not Clarksville, Russellville or Little Rock… Dover, and look at that shit!” she cried out, waving her hand toward the rats.

  “Babe, they’re out of food in the cities so they moved out. The further they move out, the more the rats will disperse. But if you smell that musky odor near any structure, you leave and let me know so we can avoid it,” Arthur told her.

  Finally turning away, “Let me go introduce myself to my bitch,” Wendy grinned and they headed the mile back to the building. When they got back, they found Wendy’s bitch still on the floor and passed out. Jason and Samantha had moved the three captives who were outside inside and had them sitting against a wall with the teen girl.

  “Fucker must’ve been able to run,” Jason chuckled and when Arthur turned to face him, Jason stopped laughing.

  “No, rats are in that tiny subdivision a mile to the south,” Arthur told him.

  “We went through there just a week ago!” Jason cried out.

  “Oh, remember Russellville?” Arthur asked and Jason just shivered violently. “It was worse. I mean rats in the tens of thousands.”

  Moving over to stand between Jason and Arthur, “I say, let’s get Wendy’s bitch and get the fuck away from here,” Samantha offered then nodded toward the captives. “What do we do with them?”

  Turning to the four, “After we leave, they can load up in one of those trucks outside and leave. I suggest they get far away because anyone who gives up is worthless,” Arthur replied, and the four never looked up at him. Then Arthur turned to Wendy, “Start asking your bitch what we want to know,” he told her.

  Giggling, Wendy bounced over on her toes toward her bitch, but stopped when Jason blocked her path. “Wendy, may I see your sidearm?” he asked, and Wendy pulled her XD from her holster handing it over.

  Looking at the holographic sight Jason let out a moan because it hadn’t been on there when he’d reworked the gun. “Arthur,” Jason whined very hard. “Why did you put this piece of shit on here? These damn things only cost forty dollars for a reason.”

  Smiling proudly, “Not if you buy six at one time. Then you can get them for twenty-eight dollars each,” Arthur proclaimed with pride.

  Looking at the sight, Jason could tell Arthur had done some work to ruggedize the housing and had even put a pressure switch on the side, so when Wendy pulled the gun from her holster it turned on. “Arthur, if you polish a turd, it’s still a turd. No matter what you do, this sight is a piece of shit. There’s only one other on the market that’s worse,” Jason moaned.

  Giving a shrug, “I only found one cheaper, but they didn’t have six in stock,” Arthur replied.

  “Why didn’t you put a good sight on here? Hell, you have boxes of them. I’ve seen ‘em.” Jason asked. “I just reworked this gun. Hell, I would’ve done it.”

  Shrugging, “Never used them,” Arthur answered.

  Knowing Arthur bought cheap and fixed the object up to improve it, Jason could understand on some things, but there wasn’t anything that could be done for the piece of crap sight on Wendy’s gun. The one he’d just reworked into a work of art. “Arthur, have you ever bought an EOTECH, Trijicon, or Holosun and took them apart to see what they do to make them so well?” Jason asked.

  Letting out a gasp, “Are you insane?!” Arthur cried out. “Some of those sights cost a grand! After I took it apart it might have stopped working, and then I’d have to spend even more to fix the damn thing!”

  With a deadpan expression, “You have some at home and tomorrow, I want you to take one apart and see the craftsmanship they put in them. You pay for quality,” Jason told him, then got an idea. “Tell you what, if you take one apart and show me you can upgrade this piece of shit sight to the same quality, I’ll babysit Robin for a week.”

  Just hearing someone offer to take the little nudist, Arthur nodded. “Deal.” He loved Robin, but in the last few months her nudist colony had expanded beyond Nolan. There were now six toddlers in the nudist colony, and everyone just gave up trying to keep clothes on them. The only thing that’d helped was the cold weather coming early. Oh, outside the nudists would wear clothes but as soon as they got inside the house or car, they stripped. And just like Wendy and Arthur suspected, Robin would help them strip if they had problems.

  When Jason handed her gun back, Wendy shoved it in her holster. “Jason, I’ve tried for nearly three decades to get him to buy quality and it’s like beating my head against the wall,” Wendy told him, then moved over to her bitch.

  Skipping over, “Can I help?” Samantha asked with a grin.

  Wendy grinned and jerked her hip to the side to bump hips with Samantha. “He can be our bitch, girlfriend,” Wendy chuckled.

  It only took half an hour to find out what bitch had to offer for information. They then shackled his ankles together and tossed him on the hood of the Blazer. Then to show Samantha and Jason, Arthur drove around to the subdivision and sped down the road to the cul-de-sac before stomping on the brakes. There were still some rats about but no more than a few hundred roaming the yards, and the only sign of Wendy’s rabbit was a wet spot on the asphalt. That changed the second Arthur l
ocked the tires up on the road. Once again, rats poured out of the houses as the bitch flew off the hood. By the time the bitch hit the road Arthur was already in reverse and popping the clutch, making the tires squeal as the massive mud grips burned rubber. Before they reached the end of the road, the bitch was under a rat blanket. They didn’t wait to see how thick the blanket was going to get as Arthur slammed the shifter into first, taking off.

  “Damn,” Samantha panted from the backseat. “I never even imagined there could be that many rats on the planet, much less a tiny little town.”

  Turning off the blacktop road onto a dirt road, Arthur’s eyes scanned around as he drove along. “I’m sure hundreds if not thousands of people died in New York this summer from rats. I can say the numbers, but my mind can’t produce the images.”

  “My mind doesn’t want to produce the images,” Wendy huffed out, reaching in the back and pulling a jug of water to her lap. Taking off her gloves, she started cleaning the blood off her hands then did her face.

  She didn’t have nearly the blood on her that Wendy did, but Samantha scooted over to clean off as well. “You think Albert and Jill have seen the rats?” Samantha asked.

  “I know they have. That’s why Jill went searching for me,” Arthur answered. Jill was the girl he’d found when he’d hit the gang’s house looking for Dean. She was a mid-thirties black woman and Arthur had killed the three gang members holding her down and raping her. At the time Arthur was only thinking about Taco Bell, since the marijuana smoke throughout the house had given him the munchies from hell.

  It was the middle of August as he, Jason, and LL were making runs to collect shipping containers and supplies when they saw Jill again. All alone, she was sitting on the side of the highway beside a truck with a white poster sign. ‘Caravan Man, can I please talk to you?’ was printed in bold back letters. Intrigued to say the least, Arthur was in the lead driving the Suburban and told the others to keep going.

  When he’d gotten out of the truck he vaguely remembered her, but it was her eyes that Arthur really remembered. They had the will to live. The very same eyes he’d seen when he’d stopped and talked to Albert, the man pushing the shopping cart. Unlike Albert, Jill didn’t ask for Arthur to take her in, she’d just asked for pointers and ideas. But Arthur did want to take Jill in because she had persevered and kept on pushing. Arthur asked how many were with her, thinking at the very least, he could get them into Albert’s because Albert had the drive, but was having trouble managing such a large operation. By July, Albert had four hundred and thirty-one people. They all worked and worked hard, but Albert couldn’t direct all of the tasks laid out at the same time.

  Jill had told Arthur she was set up outside Cravens at a small resort and had three hundred and eleven in her group. For several minutes, Arthur had just stared at her then asked her to repeat the number to confirm he’d heard right. After she’d repeated it, Arthur asked Jill where she’d found everyone. Jill had said they’d found the group she had left with and others just kept showing up. If they didn’t help they were told to leave, but they’d only had to do that a few times. Telling Jill to wait, Arthur had gone to the Suburban and grabbed another leather-bound notebook like he’d given Albert. He hadn’t really expected to give this one away.

  He had offered the same deal to Jill that he’d done for Albert. Unlike Albert, Jill didn’t snatch the chance, instead she’d asked questions which impressed Arthur greatly. In ten minutes Jill had held out her hand, saying she accepted. It was then he’d found out Jill wasn’t even from Arkansas.

  She was originally from Georgia and had been in Russellville for a business convention when the virus hit. The day she had arrived for the convention was the start of the travel ban, so she’d stayed in the hotel until the government had turned off the power, trapping everyone in place.

  Since she wasn’t from the area, Arthur had gotten another map from the glove box because he wasn’t giving his away. He’d showed a spot to Jill that was north of Pettigrew, in Madison County, for her to set up operations. Studying the map, Jill nodded and gave a startle when Arthur told her to take the map. Jill then opened the notebook to see the diagrams laid out and lists of supplies to gather. Very impressed, Jill had closed the notebook and folded up the map. Arthur had told her he would be by in five days, and if the group was serious, he’d bring people to build the fence.

  It surprised him when Jill had said her group should do it, but was thankful for the offer of help. When Arthur made the trip to check on them, he’d been blown away. Most of what he had laid out on the lists was there, and it was placed neatly around the area. It had taken only eight days to get the fence up and for Arthur to put in the small hydro stations on the stream.

  Drying her hair off, Wendy saw Arthur was in ‘remote mode’. He was driving and scanning around but she could tell he was thinking about something. At first, she wanted to ask if he’d taken his medicine but for some reason lately, Arthur was very diligent about taking it. “What are you thinking about?” she finally asked.

  “Jill’s group,” Arthur answered. “If I had known she was staying in the area, I would’ve given her Albert’s site and sent Albert to hers.”

  Having met Jill, Wendy understood very well. “Albert’s doing much better,” she offered. “The second fence should be up before November.”

  Giving a nod, Arthur watched a herd of deer bouncing through a field. Each site would put another fence up to expand their enclosures down into the valleys that would be used to house the lakes for real power generation because each site now was only getting twenty kilowatts from their hydro stations. Well, except for Jill’s site. She had sent groups out to get any and all solar panels they came across and was now generating forty kilowatts with the sun shining and the hydro.

  Albert wasn’t lollygagging. He had sixty people working every day on the fence Arthur had put up. Like Arthur was doing, Albert was reinforcing it with another. Where Arthur was using concrete, Albert’s crew was building a rock and mortar wall behind the original fence. It was very apparent Albert wanted security but Arthur had to remind him, ‘being safe don’t mean shit if you don’t have food’. Albert had greenhouses, but they were barely producing enough to feed his masses, and Arthur knew production would go down as the weather turned colder because Albert didn’t have the power to heat the greenhouses. Both Albert’s and Jill’s sites would eventually have similar setups, but Arthur knew they needed safety and needed food growing fast so the rest of their projects were laid out to do this winter.

  “They’re doing all right. You worry about the ranch,” Wendy told him.

  “Oh, I am,” Arthur chuckled, and the chuckle caught in his throat as he tapped the brake. “Look at that!” he gasped with a grin. A massive pack of Basset Hounds crossed the road in front of them. Unlike other packs that had all kinds of dogs, it was only Basset Hounds in this one.

  Pulling up between the seats, “Arthur, you think they came from Razorback Hunting Lodge?” Wendy asked.

  Arthur remembered the lodge very well because one of the members of their church had been a member of the lodge and had asked them to go hunting one weekend with him two years ago. The lodge had the most Basset Hounds he’d ever seen, and the dogs were used by the members to hunt. “That’s the only place I can think of that had that many Bassets, but that damn lodge is near Horseshoe Mountain. That’s like sixty miles to the south,” he replied.

  “They’re so cute,” Samantha cooed, pulling between the seats with Wendy. “There has to be a hundred or more.”

  “They had over two hundred when we went hunting there,” Wendy said as the end of the pack crossed the road. “Those dogs can run forever and track anything.”

  “Why aren’t there other dogs with them?” Jason wondered out loud.

  “Wondering that myself,” Arthur admitted and released the clutch to drive on. Twenty minutes later, Arthur stopped and pulled off the road. “The house we saw the crazies using is up that ridge,�
�� he pointed out to the right but Wendy and Samantha had already been shown the spot on the map and satellite photos, along with other areas they were scouting. After the areas had been pointed out earlier, Wendy and Samantha started committing them to memory.

  Everyone got out, checked their gear, and then followed Arthur into the trees moving slowly and quietly. It didn’t take them long to reach the dilapidated house. Easing to a stop, Arthur looked down at Donald and Daisy just panting and knew the crazies weren’t there.

  At the back of the group, Jason knew why Arthur was looking at the dogs and he turned to see Adam and Eve just looking around with their ears standing up but relaxed. “It was worth a try, Arthur,” he said and Arthur continued on to what was left of the house. Most of the roof was caved in and only three walls were standing. What was left of the roof and walls made a shelter Arthur saw as he stopped.

  “Well, they used this place for more than a few days,” he said over his shoulder and the others moved up to see piles of bones in the corner. Nobody said anything about the different sized human skulls in the pile. “Fuck,” Arthur sighed.

  “We’ve been hearing the crazies were cannibals on the shortwave,” Jason reminded him. He could tell just like Arthur, those skulls weren’t virus victims. Every skull he could see was cracked from a blow to the head.

  “Let’s go check out the house where the attack happened,” Arthur sighed.

  “Maybe the crazies did it?” Wendy offered hopefully.

  It was a few seconds before Arthur replied. “No, there were four adults and nine kids there. All the adults and two of the kids carried guns. Albert said the bodies weren’t touched.”

  “Why weren’t they with Albert?” Samantha asked.

  Scanning around, “They didn’t want to join. Albert asked them a few times,” Jason answered from the back. Seeing Arthur was thinking again, Wendy was tempted to tell him they just needed to go back to the ranch for the rest of Date Night.