17: Unsettling News

“Dad, I think Mom wants to talk to you,” Alice warned David. He was partway through erecting a panel of the greenhouse. He was in the process of positioning it while the girls got it aligned, and he wasn’t quite ready to be disturbed, so he was glad to get the advance warning.

“I’m moving as quick ... as I can,” he mumbled past the heavy glass panel leaning against his face.

He and Maggie got it in place and the girls got it secured, allowing him to finally get a break. As he stepped back, Linda silently stepped up and handed him a note.

“This is from Amy?” he asked. She merely nodded her head.

“Shit. Thanks for letting me know. OK, girls, I’m going to need to take a break for a while. Something has come up.”

He turned and hurried toward the house. Alice, having been watching his expression during the entire encounter, hurried after him, sure that something significant had happened. Her father had been in too much of a hurry to bother closing the door, so it was left hanging open. She glanced in and saw him heading into the living room, but her mother stopped her, grasping her by the shoulder.

“I think they’ll need their privacy for this,” she told her.

David found Bob sitting alone in the living room, quietly listening to one of his books on tape. This was the first time that David had seen him using the device. He’d seen him using other devices before, but usually he’d used something more interactive, like his smart phone, his PAC Mate—which he used to maintain all his notes—or his radio equipment, but this one, while not unusual, seemed to signify something in its use at the moment. Like maybe Bobby didn’t want to be engaged. Like maybe he simply wanted to escape, to get away, to be distracted, and not have to deal with everything around him for once.

David glanced up, seeing Amy watching him from the door to his den, now the radio room, home of several radio hookups. He also noticed Ellen looking on from the kitchen. David motioned Amy in, he’d need her here for this, after all, she was the one who’d gotten the message. He figured Ellen could help later, but right now he wanted as few people involved as possible.

Walking up to Bob, David tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. Bobby sat up quickly, fumbling with his device to shut it off.

“Yeah?”

“Bobby, we need to talk.”

“David? Oh, OK, let me just put this away,” he replied. So David gave him time to square his equipment away. He’d been listening to it while lying back on the couch. It was one of the older book readers the Library of Congress still shipped out for the blind. Although there were many sources of talking books now, the blind still tended to favor these more ubiquitous devices, largely because they could get books that were hard to get otherwise. David had a feeling Bobby was probably listening to something he was familiar with, rather than reading anything new. After all, he’d be unlikely to have gotten anything new from the National Library Service, or NLS, anytime recently.

“OK, what’s up?” Bobby asked, once he was ready. Amy settled in next to David as he addressed Bobby.

“Bob, we’ve got some unsettling news. Amy was on the radio a little while ago, and she contacted the hospital to see what was happening. When she reached them, they gave her some bad news.”

They could both see him stiffen at this introduction. He didn’t need to be explicitly told, as he’d been dreading this news for some time. But it was necessary to go through with it anyway, if for nothing else, simply to take away the last pieces of hope he had remaining.

“Ma passed away this morning. She died at 3:42 AM. They said her passing was ... well, it wasn’t peaceful, but they were glad her suffering had come to an end, because she’d been suffering a lot.”

“They’d wanted to contact us earlier, but they’re so understaffed they only allocate so much time, and we need to be on at the same times,” Amy hurried to explain. “They wanted to convey their sympathy, as well as to express their thanks to you for her many years of service, especially her work lately, which has been so helpful in the current crisis.”

Bobby just sat there, seemingly as if he hadn’t heard any of it, then suddenly he seemed to hiccup and began crying, looking lost and forlorn. Ellen rushed in at that point, and David was glad to be chased away. He’d felt he needed to be here, to give Bobby this unsettling news himself, but he didn’t think he was the best one to try to help him wrestle with his emotions. Surely Ellen would be better at that. But David would be here if and when he needed him. But Bob had to process his own emotions at the moment.

Turning, he glimpsed Amy, currently wiping her own eyes. He hugged her, and they both quietly cried to each other. Although Amy had only known Ma for a short time, she’d grown close to Bobby, and she knew how close the two of them were, listening to them tell each other the news throughout the day. She shared his pain. They all shared his pain. Only now, David was worried just how well Bobby was equipped to deal with it.

“Dad? I hate to bother you, but I think we need you. There are some people approaching the house,” Alice told him.

That got David’s attention. Hardly anyone knew where he lived, and it was so far away from anything else that it wasn’t likely anyone would stumble across it by accident. Even with the only power nearby, and the lone source of lights, the place was hidden away in such a way that the light wasn’t noticeable to anyone passing nearby.

“You know where I keep the guns. Get the rifle for Maggie and bring me my pistol. She can cover me from the garage, where they won’t initially look for her,” he said, setting everything aside and getting up. The other girls who’d been helping him, started looking around franticly.

“Don’t let them know we’re aware of them yet. Just play like we don’t know anything. If they’re trying to sneak up on us, we’ll have the advantage if they don’t know we’re aware of them,” he advised the girls.

“Ellen’s getting the guns now, and Amy’s getting ours, too, so we can help if you need extra coverage,” Alice replied.

“I seriously doubt we’ll require that much firepower. How many are there and how far away are they?”

“We don’t know. Amy saw them out the main window. They drove up in a car, apparently as far as the gate, but they seem to be walking from there.”

“Unless they’re taking a more indirect route,” he pointed out. “Since you’ll have your own rifles ready, I want you and Amy to take up positions watching the woods to either side of the house. Keep a lookout for anyone sneaking up on the house trying to surround us. Take up inconspicuous spots and lie flat on the ground. That will keep you hidden and give you stable firing positions. Don’t call out and give yourselves away. If they try anything, shoot first and warn me later. If they aren’t posing an immediate threat, give a short bird call, that’ll let me know that something is up.”

“Got it, Dad. We’re on it,” she assured him as she calmly but quickly headed off.

“What do you want us to do?” Caitlyn asked.

“Just keep working. That will keep them off guard, potentially giving us an advantage. I’m going to try approaching them directly, since they likely aren’t a threat. Just don’t go lifting any more panels. After all, I’d hate to lose one because you had to drop it unexpectedly.”

With that he moved towards the road. Walking away from the others, he could make out three figures coming out of the woods along the road, but the sky was so overcast that it was hard to make out any distinguishing features. Maggie, who was carrying some supplies back, met him halfway.

“You see them?”

“Yeah, I thought I’d talk to you first before I went for my gun,” she answered just as Ellen trotted up, handing David his facemask and subtly passing him his pistol, hiding it with her body.

“The girls have it ready for you. Alice and Amy are going to watch the woods to make sure they don’t have any friends, but they look peaceful right now. Go ahead inside. I’ll give you a couple of minutes before I go talk to them.”

“Just be careful. We don’t know who they are, nor even if they’re sick or not.”

“Yeah, I’m well aware of the risks, but as far as we know they don’t pose any danger and only want to talk.”

Maggie ran inside, and Ellen joined David as he slipped his mask on, she was already wearing hers. The girls gave up trying to look inconspicuous, and were busy trying to observe what was going on.

“You know, they look familiar,” Ellen observed.

“I think it’s the guys from the community college who helped us with the antenna and the broadcast equipment,” David told her, finally being able to identify them. “But I’m not sure about all of them.”

“That’s far enough,” David called out, stepping forward to distance himself slightly from Ellen, who remained behind. “We’re worried about the spread of the virus, so pardon us if we’re not overly welcoming. What can we help you with?”

“Mr. Scott, it’s me, Billy Adams. We were here the other day to help you with the antenna.”

“Yeah, I recognize both you and Adrian, but I don’t see Tommy, and I don’t know who the other person with you is. You’ll pardon me if I’m being overly cautious, but I’m trying to protect us from exposure. So far we’ve managed to avoid anyone getting sick.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Billy yelled back, advancing no further. “Tommy got sick. We decided that staying at the campus at that point was a bad idea. There wasn’t much of anyone left there and we were worried about being attacked, as people started to come to the campus looking for stuff to steal. Tommy was being looked after by his girlfriend, and we met Frank Moore here who was also looking for someplace else to go. We figured you probably had the safest place we knew of, so we came here hoping you might have some spare room for us.”

For as nice as Billy was, he was pretty scruffy looking, with uncombed hair, a couple days worth of growth and a dirty shirt. Of course, he’d looked similarly the other day as well, but at least he was friendly, outgoing and hardworking, so David hated to have to turn him away.

Adrian Malcox, the other guy who’d helped them the other day, was a little better looking. He had long scruffy hair, dark intense looks, but he was intelligent and seemingly sincere. David didn’t mind helping him out either.

The other one, Frank Moore, though, was a complete unknown. He had a gruff demeanor with light curly brown hair. Like Billy, he was unshaven, but unlike the others, he wore sunglasses, despite its being so overcast, which prevented David from observing his reactions. That didn’t help David trust him much.

“Since you’ve potentially been exposed to the virus, you can understand why I’m cautious. The house is pretty full, but we have room if you want to spend the night, but I don’t want to expose any of my girls to anything, so you’ll have to stay outside.”

“That’s OK. We understand why you’d want to insist on that. Do you have someplace we could sleep?”

“I’ll tell you what, I’ve got an old trailer from when I was building the place. It’s a bit dirty, but it’s functional. I’ll have the girls clean it out for you. We also have quite a bit of building material, so if you need to stick around, we could always fix up something more.”

“We’d really like to stay longer, if we could,” Adrian called out.

“I’ll tell you what, you stick to the trailer, don’t expose anyone, and if you aren’t showing any symptoms after five days we’ll ease the other restrictions. We’ll give you food and supplies as well.”

Frank started to argue, but Adrian shut him up.

“That sounds great,” Billy called. “As we said, we understand your caution, and this is better than any other alternative we have at the moment. Between fear of exposure and threats of violence, either from criminals or from people afraid of others, there’s really no place else to go. What’s more, just as you’ve been saying, we’re afraid to ask anyone for food, since that might expose us to the plague as well.”

“Well, we’ve got food, but another three mouths to feed is likely to stretch us a bit. If you want, I’ve got a research proposal for you. I’ve recently discovered that the viruses have spread to deer, but so far we haven’t noticed any sick animals around here. While you’re stuck outside as the girls set up the trailer, I’ll give you some cages and you can start trapping animals, as well as some binoculars for you to observe the ones nearby as well. I’d love to find out whether the animals around here are safe, and whether we could attempt eating them if things get tough. After all, knowing if they’ll kill us will determine how we handle our food supply between now and then.”

“That sounds good. It’ll keep us out of trouble and give us something to do. We’ll also look at what we can do with the building supplies.”

“That’s OK,” David called back. “I need something for the girls to do. We’re currently setting up a greenhouse, but after that we’ll create a better structure for you off to the side, away from the house so you’ll have some privacy.”

“Thanks, doc,” Billy said, using the semi-formal honorific since they were all aware of his advanced degree in accounting. “That really means a lot to us. We didn’t know where else to go, and this gives us a place to stay, keeps us from having to risk additional exposure, gives us something to do, and gives us something to look forward to at the end of the week.”

“I’ll show you the trailer. I’ll also have the girls bring you some food. Just remember to keep your distance. If you break any of these rules, you’re out of here. You put any of my girls in jeopardy, threaten anyone, or endanger us, and you’re out on your own.”

Frank started to argue again, but Billy hushed him up again.

“That’s fine. Lead on. We’re looking forward to getting busy again. There wasn’t much to do at the campus.”

With that David led them to the trailer, moving around the girls, giving them a wide berth.

“I’m telling you guys, you’ve got to put out an announcement telling people that we’ll no longer be able to pick up bodies,” Sheriff Adams told them.

Julie had told David that he was needed as someone from the police station had called, warning them that Ben wanted to speak to them.

“What exactly is the problem?” David asked.

“The problem is that we have too damn many bodies and too few personnel. Aside from everything else, I’ve started to lose people to this sickness, and I had too few to begin with. I’ve tried calling in others that I hadn’t had equipment for earlier, but now they’re refusing because of fear of becoming infected. So far I’ve been paying everyone with gasoline and food, which they’ve been using to communicate and get supplies on their own, but now it’s just not enough to overcome their fears.”

“Just how bad is the situation?” David asked, trying to get a clearer idea of how dire things were.

“Well, we have three cars, including mine. We have four people, but no backups at all. We had been using people in their own cars, like we have been doing with you, but now we don’t even have that anymore. Between policing, picking up bodies, disinfecting homes and disposing of bodies, it’s too much for our small force. In fact, the policing is becoming more of an issue, as there are more aggressive actions now being conducted against the sick. There are numerous reports of people harassing the sick, regardless of what they’re suffering from. They aren’t being allowed to leave their houses, and cases of neighbors threatening to burn them alive in their houses.”

“So what message do you want us to convey?”

“They’ll either have to bury the dead themselves, or if they can carry them to us we can bury them, but we can’t patrol the neighborhoods looking for bodies and dedicate our time to picking them up and transporting them. What’s more, people leaving them out in the open is proving to be a major health hazard. Frankly, it would be better if they left them where they were when they died, than it would be to just dump them in the street like they have been.”

“Do you need us to help you out?” David asked.

“Frankly, if you’re offering, we’re not about to reject it, but right now I just want to warn people that we aren’t equipped to dispose of these bodies for them. I like how you’ve been getting the word out about how to handle the bodies. It seems that people are listening to it, even though many people haven’t discovered your broadcasts yet. We’ve been carrying spare batteries and a couple extra FM radios to help with that, but we can only cover so much territory.”

“Speaking of bodies, just how bad is the sickness getting?” David asked, dreading having to ask for such gruesome details.

“It’s bad. It looks like every family has lost at least one person, in some cases it’s whole families, in others whole neighborhoods are sick. What’s more, someone will seemingly recover, then they’ll get sick again, and no one is sure if it’s a reinfection, or whether they have something new. But it’s enough that bodies are now beginning to stack up along the streets, enough that it’s becoming a health hazard.”

“Yeah, we’ve encountered some of them, both the bodies and the angry attitudes. OK, you got it, we’ll get the word out. What’s more, we’ll try to get by to help out again. We’ve got our hands full at the moment, as we’ve started several new projects. What’s more, we’ve also gotten some new people, so we’re trying to take care of everything at the moment.”

“Did you ever hear from that one woman, the one that headed into the city?”

“No,” David replied, sighing unhappily. “These are those kids from the community college. They were beginning to have trouble at the campus and felt they had to flee, one was too sick to accompany them. So now we’ve got three people who may or may not be infected.”

“Well, just let me warn you, if any of them get sick, isolate them quickly. While no one’s been able to authoritatively state just how this virus is passed, it seems to be highly contagious. Taking care of the sick is the quickest way of getting it. If you need it, we’ve got more gloves and disinfectants, but it’s going fast.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve already isolated the three young men, and so far we’ve been pretty lucky here.”

“Well then, you’re an isolated case, as no one else seems to have been spared, especially with as many people as you have there.”

Amy, who’d been listening, was busy writing notes as David signed off, preparing the latest broadcast as the others got ready to send it out. They’d finally worked out a system where each girl would do a separate broadcast. They were rotating between Alice, Amy and Caitlyn, though the other girls were helping with it so they could take over in case something happened to the main three girls, but they felt that people would tune in to catch whichever girl they happened to like, and that a familiar voice would be more reassuring than a whole succession of new ones.

“So it’s looking like it’s officially a plague?” Julie asked.

“Well, I don’t think anyone’s ever defined what constitutes an ‘official’ plague, but I’d have to say yes. What’s the latest from the hospital?”

“It’s bad,” she advised him. “They’ve been storing the dead bodies in a little used room in the basement where it’s slightly cooler, and they’ve managed to borrow an earth mover so they can perform mass burials every now and then. But they’ve had to isolate the Emergency Room from the rest of the hospital, otherwise no one would visit it. As it is, they are refusing to release bodies to their families, and they’re constantly on guard from angry protestors who want them to punish the sick rather than aiding them.”

“Any word on the official death rates?”

“Not really, there are too many new arrivals, and the numbers are getting so overwhelming that it’s becoming difficult to differentiate between whose been there how long. But they’re guess it’s now approaching 80%. And that applies nationwide.”

“What about the overall infection rate? How many people are getting sick?”

“They can only report on who they see, and so many people are without communications and transportation that they have no idea. The cities, as you’d likely expect, are reporting higher numbers, but that just might be because they have an easier time of reaching the hospitals or other aid centers. But so far no one has been able to do any kind of widespread study to compare the healthy to the sick populations, and people haven’t recovered from the initial meteor showers enough to count who is missing, so there’s also no base population numbers. Most cities had a lot of tourists at the time of the first meteor showers, so that’s inflated their residency counts.”

“David,” Caitlyn asked, “shouldn’t we also be broadcasting some of what we’ve been doing? You know, like the greenhouses you’ve set up, and collecting and preserving foodstuffs so we can survive after the disease has passed?”

David considered that before responding. “Frankly, if people are fighting to survive day to day, I’m not sure how much they’d appreciate hearing how others are preparing to continue on after they’re gone. So if you mention it, do it very delicately. Suggest that the weather is likely to turn bad before long, and that people need to begin preparing alternatives since there is no more ready supply of foodstuffs. That at least will get people thinking about it. We can always follow that up in a few days with suggestions on what people can specifically do about it,” he suggested.

“Uh, David?” Julie nervously asked after the other girls started revising their notes to take advantage of David’s suggestions.

“Yeah?” he asked, not wanting her to be afraid to ask questions in this environment.

“Why are we doing so well here? Is it because we know what to do, or is there something else involved?”

He stopped to consider that. “Frankly, I don’t really know. So far we’ve been very lucky. We’ve lost two of our number, but both were already well away from here before they ... before they were lost. But I don’t know why none of us have gotten sick so far.”

“I’ve actually been thinking about that,” Alice said, speaking up to address the issue. “We’ve always had the wind blowing down the mountain, sweeping into the valley, I’m pretty sure it’s been blowing the ‘bad air’ away from us.”

“Could that even work?” Julie asked. “I mean, if air mixes freely, can you even have good air and bad air?”

“I’m not sure, honey,” David replied, “but it may explain why we’ve been so healthy for so long. It would also explain why we haven’t discovered many dead animals here, whereas the only time I went hunting away from here I almost immediately found sick animals. But if that’s the case, it’s not going to last for long. As you said, air mixes pretty freely, and even if there are concentrations of ‘bad air’ close to the earth, it eventually mixes in the upper atmosphere. So, if anything, we’ve merely been given a temporary reprieve.”

The girls considered that and all it implied, as David headed out again, anxious to finish off their current tasks so they could take on yet more. There was a lot to be done, and it looked like they were running out of time to do it in.

“Billy? How are you guys getting along out here?” David called out from a safe distance away, although it was hard to get someone’s attention when your voice was muffled by a face mask.

“Oh, we’re doing well. Thanks again for taking us in, we really appreciate it. Frank and I are cleaning up in here, and Adrian is out setting the rest of those traps.”

“Did you manage to get your car?”

“Yeah, we got it out of the road for you. We figured, knowing you, that you’d likely be heading off to help someone, and we didn’t want to be responsible for preventing you from assisting anyone.”

“Well, I’ve got some dinner for you guys. I’ll try to find Adrian so his doesn’t get cold. You should eat it while it’s still warm. After all, we’ve all got to keep our health up. By the way, have you noticed anything about the local wildlife yet?”

“Yeah, we have. We haven’t done any tests, obviously, but they seem healthy enough. It’s not like near the school, where there were dead squirrels, possums and other things lying around the ground. Not only that, but these animals seem to be fairly trusting, almost like they’ve been domesticated.”

“Well, they have been to a certain degree. I often leave out salt licks, water or occasionally corn for them.”

“I hate to ask it, but is that legal or even intelligent?”

“As long as you don’t use it to shoot them, there’s no problem with taking care of the local wildlife, what’s more, we haven’t been training them to come to us for food, only to reinforce that this is a safe environment for them. We don’t leave garbage out, so they don’t associate us with food, but they also know that we don’t present a threat to them, so they don’t treat us as such. Hopefully that won’t change much after you start trapping them.”

“Well, we’ll be sure to treat them kindly. Hopefully they’ll tell their friends about it,” Billy said, laughing. They both heard Frank’s dismissive grumblings from inside, but it was nice to see that most of the guys were keeping their spirits up, at least.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll see if I can find a spare razor for you guys to share. I’m sure you’ll feel better after cleaning up. Have you noticed I’ve cobbled together a water supply for you?”

“Yeah, thanks, man. Having running water and a flushing toilet mean a lot, although it took forever to clean the scum out of the toilet. Several years of neglect take their toll, I guess.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what, if you guys finish with what I’ve already given you, there are some other less glamorous jobs you can try. If you’re interested, let me know.”

“Less glamorous than cleaning out years of mold and slime?” Frank asked, coming forward. “What the hell is it?”

“Hey, don’t give him a hard time. Besides—” Billy started to say before Frank hushed him up with a dismissive wave.

“Well, you’re not likely to appreciate it, but the Sheriff needs some help processing the dead bodies they have. I realize it’s not pretty, and is potentially dangerous, but if you follow the safety protocols we’ve laid out you should be OK. But if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, we’ll do it ourselves once we manage to finish our other tasks.”

“Man, you’re nuts!” Frank announced before storming off into the small trailer.

“Don’t mind him. Yeah, once Adrian gets back we’ll make some plans to try it tomorrow. We’ll have to check the various cages in the morning, but after that we should be clear. You people have your hands full at the moment, so anything we can do to help out we’ll be glad to do.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. Oh, and if you guys have any media devices, give them to me and I can either recharge them or give you one of ours with some movies loaded on it. After all, I wouldn’t want you guys to get too bored late at night.”

“Thanks, man, we’d really appreciate that. We’d charged our smart phones with the car, but about all we do is either listen to music or play games. Otherwise we’ve been listening to your broadcasts using the truck’s radio.”

“Well, if you guys need anything else, be sure to let us know. Here, I’ve also got a small walkie-talkie you can call us with if you need anything. After all, there’s no knowing when something may go wrong, like a water pipe bursts, and you’re anxious to repair it before the rest of us wake up in the morning.”

With that David lay the stuff on the ground and headed back in, assured the guys would be OK for the time being.

“David?” Ellen asked during dinner, once they’d gotten the food laid out and everyone was busy eating. “Linda, Maggie and I have been talking, and we’ve got a somewhat unsettling topic to discuss.”

“Yeah?” he answered, setting his fork down so he could give them his undivided attention.

“Everyone is worried about what’s going to happen if one of us gets sick. The girls are worried too, even if they won’t actually say anything. Anyway, we wanted to know if you’ve made any arrangements if that were to happen.”

“Actually, I’ve been considering it. Anyone who shows symptoms, or who’s been infected, will probably need to be isolated, like the boys are outside. However, if anyone dies, I’ve got a little tractor out back. I figure if everything goes to hell in a hurry, I’ll try to dig a pit well away from the house. If anything happens to any of us, and if I’m not here to respond right away, you should dump any bodies there, and it’ll be fairly easy to cover them again with the tractor, which I’ll leave out where you can readily access it. Beyond that, I don’t know what to say, but I think you are all pretty well equipped for whatever happens. If something happens to me, you’ll still have all the resources of the house and the property, so you should be able to fend for yourselves, but personally I plan to be around for as long as I can manage. So I have no plans to be heading south anytime soon.”