by David Nadas
into a net.
Asha and Dan were both flat on the tarmac with Dan on his back and Asha on top of him. The event happened so fast Asha had no idea what was going on. She glimpsed out the side of her visor to see the five bodies lifting off the ground but holding on as they came down in a tangled mess, managing to keep their focus on the distance.
She looked at Dan, her face in shock. He placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Are you ok?” Dan asked, their visors bumping up against one another. She did not move, her large brown eyes blinking.
"Asha!" He said more calmly, giving her a slight shake of her shoulders.
Asha collected herself and quickly rolled over onto her back, her gloved palms flat on the ground. Dan sprang quickly to his feet, pulling her up with him. She hugged him.
"That was close. Are you ok?" Dan asked, trying to bring her back into the moment.
"I'm... I'm ok. You saved my life, Dan." Asha said looking into his mask.
"You saved your own life. It’s a good thing you didn't stay in the truck like I told you to." Dan remarked with a smile, an attempt to lighten the situation. They looked back at the burning Bronco and mangled SUV. There was a hard banging from within the SUV as the driver’s side door kicked open and a body, bloodied, stepped out and started toward the others, falling onto one knee then into a crawl, grasping both red hands onto the last woman in the line. What happened next was alarming. The last people in each line reached toward each other and clasped forearms, forming a ladder rung between them. Dan looked back at Asha, who seemed troubled by this. He turned her away and she buried her mask into his shoulder and began to shake. “What’s happening here?”
They needed to escape from the horror before them. After they had walked about a hundred yards, a white truck appeared in the distance, heading their way. When Dan stopped, Asha looked up.
"Oh my God! Not again!”, she shouted, clutching onto Dan's arm.
"It's ok! It's Matt.”
Matt pulled over and jumped out of his truck. He and Laurie were in their hazmat suits.
"What happened there?" Matt questioned, looking beyond at the billowing black smoke and fire that had spread to the Phragmites field behind the boat yard. The wind was blowing away from them as a flurry of seeds rocketed upward into the sky.
"I hope the heat is enough to kill those things." Dan said looking back. "But I get the feeling it's only aiding their flight."
"I’m thinking the same thing.” Matt said. "Come on. Let's get you two into the truck." Matt removed a canister from the back of his Land Rover and sprayed them down with chemical bath used for contaminant exposure. They peeled the suits off and traded them for some lighter Tyvek suits and filter masks until they were all safely in the truck, Laurie swapping seats to sit in back with Asha while Dan rode shotgun.
"Where to now?" Dan asked.
"I think we head north, to the camp. You okay with that?" Matt said looking in his rearview mirror at Asha. "Is there anywhere you need to be, or anyone you need to call?" Asha shook her head no. Laurie reached out and clasped her hand into Asha’s giving it a slight squeeze to say everything was going to be okay.
"Were there any new developments while we were out?" Dan asked.
"Yes. More reports. Lots more up in north Jersey, around Carlstadt, behind the stadium. They found twenty employees clinging onto one of those electrical transformers behind a warehouse. No one found them for a day. Freaky, they were in lines of two-"
Dan cut in. “Some were holding onto each other’s arms like rungs on a ladder."
"How did you know that?" Matt asked.
"We just saw that happen here. I have no idea why they did that, but that antenna idea of yours seems logical."
"There's more to this. The twenty they found were like husks. From what Andy told me, in confidence, one of the officers on-site told him that the string of bodies were precisely aligned, but in some weird, twisting portrayal of a helix. Their skin had transformed into a light shell, their bodies partially hollow and covered in a gray powder."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, but I haven't been able to reach Andy since. His voicemail is full so I can't even leave a message. I tried texting and emailing him and got a 502 back; inbox has exceeded limit. Must be a clusterfuck going on in Trenton."
"Oh God." said Dan, as if forgetting something. "The Meadowlands. The concentration of Phragmites in the Raritan is far more massive than almost anywhere on the east coast. There are millions of people surrounding that zone. This thing is alien Matt. I'm right about this."
"Hate to admit it, but you might be.”
"Back there," Dan said, looking sideways at Asha and trying to keep his voice low. “There were only six bodies," he mouthed. "There are 23 million people in the tri-state area. What would that look like?"
"Can't imagine that right now." Matt replied. "I just want to get out of here."
"Any PSA's from the state or national level yet?" Dan asked.
"Good point." Matt turned on his Sirius radio to talk news and pressed scan. They caught a talking head that sounded official, but no mention of any public safety announcements.
"We told all our friends and family in the area to get out. Cindi, Ed, their daughter Jen and dog are heading up to the camp. They will call and let us know if the routes are OK. I had them head west into PA and head north from there. I don't think the turnpike is a good choice right now.”
"What's in the back of the truck?" Dan asked. There were boxes obliterating the back window.
"Lots of supplies. Bottled water, canned food, and a box of the Tyvek gloves, boots and tape. We also drove to the pharmacy and stocked up on some major drugs. Not that we think Tamiflu or Cipro will help, but who knows.”
After many hours, it was dark when they pulled onto Fish Creek Road in Upper Saranac Lake, NY and followed the tire tracks in the light snow toward the camp. The camp in the Adirondacks was left to Laurie by her parents, along with a small trust for the upkeep. Laurie and Matt would never have been able to afford this place on his salary or her modest income as a pharmacist. She and Matt used it almost all year, typically spending some fall weekends and the Christmas holidays and for a couple of weeks in August to escape New Jersey's summer heat. Dan had been there many times and would disappear for days at a time in one of their kayaks, chasing after some illusive amphibian or plant species. Laurie's parents had purchased the camp in the seventies, not knowing the adjacent camp to theirs was the famous resort now known as The Point. When they found out, they had appropriately named their camp Beside The Point. There was nothing camp-like about it. All the homes there were called camps; they were typically grand, five plus bedrooms, each with en suite bathrooms and multiple fireplaces, sitting on acres of waterfront property. Although their camp was far from modest, it retained much of its original charm.
"These are pretty good digs to sit out a pandemic. You married up, dude!" Dan said as he looked up through the windshield at the tall firs towering above.
Laurie reached between the seats and flicked Dan's ear, gaining a laugh from Asha, who had been quiet for most of the trip. They passed the turn-off to the local Fish & Wildlife post on the same road as the camp, which could provide Matt, Dan, and Asha access to equipment that might come in handy. Matt pulled into the top of the driveway, the lights of the camp already on. Cindi, Ed, their daughter Jen and dog Oscar had arrived safely.
Matt was the first to open his door and step out into the cold air. It felt good. The others soon followed and for the first time in hours, they did not fear inhaling fresh air.
“Why don’t you girls go in?” Matt said to Laurie and Asha. “Dan and I will start to unload the truck.” As the girls were walking toward the house, Matt called out. “Hey, and send Ed out to help us.”
“And tell him don’t forget the beers.” Dan added. "I forget how beautiful this place is." Dan commented, looking around at the tall birch tre
es, lit from below, and the porch railing made from tree branches was a work of art.
“I know. At times I pinch myself and forget we own this place. I will forever be grateful to Bill and Gail. We might be here for a while.”
The front door opened and Oscar came bounding out, his tail as thick and hard as a billy club, knocking over the stacks of water and boxes Dan had unloaded.
“Ed! You have got to do something about Oscar’s tail, man. I get bruises on my shins every time he sees me.”
“Oscar!" Ed called out. “Come on, boy!” Oscar eagerly padded back into the house.
“Hey guys.” Ed said handing Matt and Dan a Negra Modelo. "No problems getting here?"
Matt and Dan looked at each other. "We’ll tell you about it when we get inside.” Matt said.
“It’s a little freaky, Ed.” Dan added then changed subjects. “At least someone’s got nice taste in beer,” he said, giving Matt a solid punch on the shoulder. “I usually get Bud in a can from Matt.”
“Dude, you’re lucky you get anything.” Matt said, twisting off the cap and the three men clinked bottles.
“How was your ride up, Ed?”
“No problem. It got a little squirrelly on route 50. We saw a lot of flashing lights near Corbin, so I took route 46. Not much traffic after that.”
“How’s Cindi’s hand?" Matt asked. "What did she do to it?”
“She was opening a can of dog food for Oscar and the can opener broke. So
