Chapter 4: Another New Face or Two

“This is Radio Scott again, signing on a bit late today since we no longer have the support staff we once did.

We had an interesting time exploring today, making new discoveries and finding new signs of life. We discovered several new animals including a coot, a smaller duck if you’re unfamiliar with them, a turtle and a fully grown dog that hadn’t yet turned aggressive or suffered a major bout of sickness. Whether the dog can continue to avoid it will remain to be seen, but I’m hoping that the death of so many of her species will actually improve her odds.

Which brings up an interesting point, while we were busy playing Noah, trying to find at least two of each species to help propagate the planet, it leaves certain questions remaining. While we’re fighting against a massive extinction event for hundreds if not thousands of species, we potentially have a wonderful opportunity in hand to enrich the future genetic stock. I’m talking zoos.

I imagine they’ve been left abandoned, and chances are most of the animals have already died, but if they haven’t, they provide a wonderful opportunity for us. The idea is that numbers mean everything now. A species with a lot of members stands a higher risk of dying out, while an even higher number can mean their eventual survival. In the case of these exotic species, I’m sure their relatives back in their homelands are gone by now. I can’t picture tigers being prevalent enough in the wild to survive this blight, though they’re probably just numerous enough to acquire the disease, especially since they’re carnivorous and live by killing weaker or sick animals.

However, in America they remain exotic enough that the disease variants that affect their species at home won’t have a chance to reach here. Thus we may find that most of the animals in zoos, assuming they survive starvation, may escape with nary a cough.

Now I’m not suggesting anyone go out and set these wild animals loose on the public. Instead I’m asking if there’s anyone nearby an existing zoo, if they can’t stop by and give the animals at least a fighting chance? Just tossing them some leftover food would help, and it would make repopulating the world with enough genetic diversity much more likely. We’re already facing a world without any carnivores, and with only a sprinkling of omnivores. Such a scenario doesn’t sound promising for our long term survival as an established ecosystem.

So if you can, adopt a zoo, even if it’s just a little bit at a time. Any animals you help survive may make repopulating their homelands a reality after this disaster passes.

Now on to other news: we’ve noticed that people are not being very helpful towards each other. We’ve seen threats, blockades and signs of fights throughout our travels, and it needs to stop. We can’t survive if that means that everyone around you has to perish. There is no reason to block public access roads, restricting survivors from reaching whatever resources they need to survive. As my father says, if you want to avoid other people, that’s fine. That’s what your refuges and homes are for. But you can’t restrict others from doing what’s necessary to survive. That’s just criminal, and if we encounter it, we’ll fight it with whatever it takes.

That said, we’ll reiterate that we won’t stand for anyone trying to kill other people. If you encounter anyone that’s purposely killed other survivors for their own benefit, or who attempts to harm other survivors, those people must be put down immediately. We’re too weak now to allow criminals to whittle down those lucky enough to survive. We need the strong to rise, not those too lazy to work, only trying to steal what others have struggled to achieve.

Anyway, although this seems like contradictory advice, you’ll need to plan out your actions. Simple decisions affect not only your survival, but everyone else’s as well. We need to get everyone working together, even if they don’t interact with each other. But harming each other, or making their lives that much harder, are simply not valid options.

Sorry for getting so worked up about these elements. Tomorrow I’ll try to relate some more ideas about long term survival and what you’ll need to know to get your plumbing, septic and heat to work in time for this winter. It ain’t going to be easy folks, which is why you need to start planning for it now.”

“It’s certainly a surprise seeing you two up before me this morning,” David announced by way of greeting as he descended the stairs to find the two girls working on breakfast.

“Lassie woke me, needing to pee,” Alice explained, “so I’ve already gotten some exercise.”

“And I got up when Alice and Lassie did,” Mattie said. “I started the coffee and breakfast while they were out.”

“I hope someone remembered to tell you how I like it,” David commented when she handed him a coffee as he looked at it skeptically. But he smiled, thanking her after taking a sip. “Good job, mate, welcome to the team.”

Mattie smiled at that simple rejoinder and hurried to finish the toast. Although David had the foresight to freeze several loafs of bread when the disaster had first struck, they had stopped shopping when the Great Deaths first appeared, and now their bread supplies were running low. David realized he’d need to learn to bake his own bread, and he’d have to do it from unprocessed grain instead of using packaged supplies. They could always rely on bread machines for a while, but it wasn’t a very long term option. He wasn’t sure he was up to that challenge quite yet. He decided they needed to visit the library like they’d planned that day.

“So how is Lassie behaving?” he asked.

“It’s odd, she’s wonderful and follows me everywhere. In case you didn’t notice, she slept beside us all night long. But she’s funny about a lot of things. She won’t taste anything without sniffing it, and she won’t eat anything she hasn’t experienced before. And since we don’t have any dog food, it’s interesting trying to get her to eat anything. I ended up mixing the various animal chows, figuring she’d eat whichever she found to her liking.”

“I guess that’s my fault,” David admitted. “When I was picking up the supplies and trying to fit them into our limited space, I never considered the likelihood that we’d adopt a dog. I kind of figured they’d end up killing themselves eating every stinky thing they found lying beside the road.”

“But that’s just it; Lassie doesn’t do any such thing. Not only won’t she eat it, she also won’t lick anything she doesn’t like the smell of. What’s more, she won’t even go near the burial site. She seems to know what’s there and simply won’t cross over it. Instead she’ll run all the way around it in order to avoid crossing it.”

“Hmm, that is interesting. Maybe the diseases and pathogens have some unique smell? Or maybe the organs give off a certain scent when they fail that she can identify? That would explain both why she never ate the wrong things and why she’s been able to survive for so long.”

“As I said, she tore off her leash, but I checked after I gave her a bath yesterday, which she appreciated, by the way, and I found the remains of a name tag. Apparently her name began with ‘Bon’.”

“Maybe her name was ‘Bon-Bon’,” Mattie suggested with a smile.

“God, I hope not,” Alice replied, rolling her eyes. Alice took after her father too much, and like him preferred workings dogs that were able to do things, rather than cute animals that one carried around with them.

Mattie immediately glanced at David, trying to gage how he reacted to Alice’s language, but seeing how he didn’t react, she relaxed, not worrying about it quite as much.

“So what plans do we have for the day?” Mattie asked. “Another trip along a different road?”

“Not today,” David answered. “Today we’re supposed to meet Tom, whoever he is, at ten o’clock. We’ll visit the library beforehand in order to kill time, but I suspect he’ll show up early. That is, if he even saw our message yesterday.”

“Man, it’s going to be strange meeting someone who’s not trying to shoot us,” Alice idly commented.

“Hey, I never planned to shoot,” Mattie objected. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t trying to steal my stuff.”

“I hadn’t really meant you, but you’re right, I was wrong about that,” Alice replied, holding her hands up in surrender as she smiled at her younger companion.

“You’d better keep your hands up,” Mattie warned. “I’m getting better with both guns, and I plan on getting good enough to be able to hold my own in a firefight.”

“Don’t speak too soon,” Alice told her. “I’d only had a handful of lessons before I ended up in my first gunfight, and I ended up getting shot too.”

“Really?” Mattie asked, her eyes growing large.

“She did, but only because someone surprised her. She and her friend both killed someone, saving my life earlier, and we were hunting a whole group of survivalists hidden in an armory equipped with the very best weapons. I was lucky to have her there.”

“Wow! Now I’m really going to practice. If she can get shot, even knowing as much as she does, then I’m going to have to be twice as good if I’m going to keep up as small as I am. It’s hard to aim when you’re shorter than everyone else is.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get better, and I’m sure you’ll get some experience under your belt before long, as well,” he said as he jostled her hair in a jocular fashion. She was already growing on him, and David was already beginning to think of her as his own kid. Beginning to, at least, they weren’t quite there yet.

“I’m really surprised this Tom wasn’t waiting for us,” David said entering the local library. They’d arrived early, since the girls had gotten up and organized so soon, so maybe it was understandable, but David figured if someone had been looking for him for that long, that they’d wait around to avoid missing a potential opportunity. Again, it was hard working out how people thought in this new environment. To both Alice and David, it made sense to connect with others who could help you survive in the long run, but everyone else seemed to be more concerned with short term goals—like staying alive.

“That’s what you get when we arrive just after dawn,” Mattie told them looking around at all the books. Despite the sun’s being up and the many windows, the place was still dark inside. When they’d arrived they’d found it locked up tight. David had been prepared to break in when Alice noticed a side door already broken in, so they entered via that route.

Mattie flicked on one of the several flashlights they’d brought with them.

“Remember, we’re looking for specific information,” David told them. “Mattie, look up any school books appropriate to your current school year. Alice, after you look up your dog training book, I want you to check schoolbooks as well. I’ll be looking for both science and farming books. But any Do-It-Yourself book would be helpful. We need to learn how to do everything we’ve had done for us in the past.”

“Got it, Chief,” Alice said, saluting him before the two girls took off, running between the stacks, laughing as they went. Apparently libraries still held good memories for them, and being back in one let them feel like children again, even if they hadn’t been children since the asteroid storm first struck the Earth weeks ago.

David tried looking for books on weaving, bread making, plumbing and handmade electric generators, but found the available references in short supply. Apparently someone had already been there and had already grabbed the best titles, leaving nothing but duplicate copies. David assumed they must have struck before everyone had died off, proving that other people had been planning ahead of even him. Still, the few books he managed to find would be useful, even if it left gaps in their knowledge. But even knowledge with specific gaps was better than not knowing at all.

After looking through the Do-It-Yourself sections, David moved over to the science section, picking up whatever looked like it could be used for educational purposes, then shifted over to the math section. Despite his own math background, he considered teaching math and sciences more important than ever now that they’d lost most of what they once had. If they hoped to preserve that knowledge, they’d have to train the next generation, and instill in them just how important the principles were, even if they couldn’t apply them for many more decades, or possibly even centuries.

After that he visited the education section, which the girls had already abandoned, and picked up several books he thought they’d be able to use in the future. He also found a couple of volumes on the topics he’d missed before concerning plumbing, electricity and construction. His stack of books was already becoming quite large, so he started moving stacks of books near the door to carry out when they left.

He met the girls there, as they were carrying a variety of fiction works to the cars, preparing for many future nights reading. Though they had the benefit of electricity that many others didn’t, that didn’t mean it would last indefinitely, and Alice and David hadn’t relied on their electronics for entertainments much since disaster had struck. Instead they’d spent much of their time talking, or simply doing busy work. Alice had also collected several books on broadcasting and radio technology, which David thought was a good idea.

“OK, that’s a good start. We’ll have to try again when we have a better idea of what we need, but we’d better leave if we want to get to the meeting early,” David told the girls. Nodding, they all carried their latest books to the cars.

Arriving at the police station, they saw someone sitting on the step, and a white van parked nearby. The guy looked to be in his late twenties or mid-thirties, long scraggly hair and bore several days’ worth of beard. Curious, David parked and cautioned the girls before getting out.

Walking up, he broached the conversation first.

“Tom?”

“David?” he asked in return, standing up as well.

“Excuse me, but how do we know each other?”

“Oh, you don’t know me at all,” Tom assured him. “I was told about you from someone associated with the local hospital. I worked at a university near DC, but lost my job when all the power went out. They restricted access to the power, but when they ran the generators dry they simply closed up shop. I wanted to research what was happening, but without a reliable power supply, I couldn’t do much. I came out to be near my family, but couldn’t find them when I got here. I’m Tom Landers, by the way, though I’m not sure what meaning last names will have in this new world, seeing as how no one knows my family anymore.”

“Glad to meet you, excuse me if I don’t shake your hand, but that may be yet another casualty of our new reality,” David responded. “This is my daughter Alice and someone we just met named Mattie.”

“Oh, you both survived the plagues?” Tom asked with unconcealed excitement.

“We not only survived it, we survived all four variations we were aware of. We drifted in and out of consciousness for days; sure we were both moments from death the entire time. It was rough, but we’re pretty sure we’re safe from contracting it again, and we’re also confident we can’t spread it anymore as well.”

“Oh, great. I learned about you when someone mentioned that you had someone here who’d survived the plague. You mentioned he was available for testing if anyone could make it up to collect his samples.”

“Oh, that was Billy. Yeah, he survived one plague, but then died from a different strain only a few days later. Alice and I got sick at the same time along with the last people remaining here, and we each had a separate strain. Figuring it was too late to avoid it, we took to bed together and held each other as each one passed. Both Alice and I were sure the other had died and we each waited to pass away as well, but were surprised when we both survived.”

“That’s even better than I was planning,” he told them. “I set out as soon as I heard about this other fellow, but no one knew quite where you lived. They told me what station to listen to your broadcasts on, and they knew what town you lived in because they knew someone who’d lived here, but she never gave them a specific address or directions.”

“Yeah, that was Ma. She was the wife of the person who taught us how to communicate using ham radios,” David explained, wondering what this supposed researcher was hoping to achieve.

“I loaded all my stuff—I managed to grab a lot of equipment from the university when I left—and I drove up here, but didn’t know where to look for you. They’d mentioned you lived by the mountains, so I started driving down all the outlying roads. But then I got sick. Like you, I was sure I was going to die. Not wanting to spoil the expensive tools I brought with me, I set up by the side of the road in a tent. I was sick for days but I think I only had a single strain, since I was well aware of what was going on the entire time, and I knew when the symptoms finally eased off.”

“Yeah, in our case we knew when one disease eased up, but then we’d get hit with a different strain, and then another one after that,” Alice explained, including herself in the discussion.

“When I recovered it took me a while to regain my strength, and then I set about finding you again,” Tom continued, not letting Alice sidetrack his discussion. David had a feeling he was pretty single focused, tending to ignore anything that didn’t concern what he was currently dealing with. “But by then there wasn’t anyone left alive to ask where you lived. I’ve been searching for you ever since.”

“So what kind of equipment did you bring with you?” David asked, interested in moving the conversation along.

“I’ve got a bunch of stuff. Microscopes, blood filters, plasma separators. I even have a DNA sequencer. I had to borrow a friend’s van after he got sick, but I managed to carry most of it. They told me that you had a reliable 24/7 power supply.”

“Wow, you’ve got a whole lab here. Yeah, we’ve got a wind turbine set up on the side of a nearby mountain. It kept us from being exposed as well. It didn’t stop the diseases, but it allowed us to avoid it as long as possible,” David explained. “So do you think you may be able to isolate what it is that allowed us to survive?”

“Possibly. I’m encouraged that you both survived, as that reinforces the notion that you survived because of your shared DNA. I’ve got most of what I need, but if the diseases are virus based, they’ll have infected everyone’s DNA, meaning I’d need an electron microscope, and there’s no way I could carry that out of the university. If we need too, we can always travel there and try to get the lab working long enough for me to examine some samples, but that would be a final step.”

“Yeah, yeah, but the important thing is, do you think you could isolate what kept us alive?”

“I’m hoping to. That’s what I came up for. I’m hoping I can discover a treatment for this, hopefully becoming known as the person to cure this disease.”

“We’ve taken to calling it the ‘Great Death’, since there’s no single disease but a whole variety. We thought the term better described what everyone was facing.”

“Yeah, I listened to your broadcasts. Unfortunately I never stopped to consider bringing any signal based tools, otherwise I could have triangulated your signal. But I heard your descriptions of the diseases, as well as your ideas about what caused it. I must say, you had the best explanation I’ve heard, and you sounded like the first person to describe just what was happening.”

“So, is it just you?” David asked, even though he knew it was a stupid question.

“No, actually I’ve got my dog, John-John. He’s a Jack Russell terrier. I left him in the van so he wouldn’t annoy you. I knew this meeting was going to be important.”

“That’s interesting. We just found another dog, so if you’re particular about the pure-breed status of any pups, you might want to keep them separated. At least until we determine whether there are any other dogs. But I’m assuming most dogs died off based upon their habits of eating or rolling in anything they encounter.”

“Not John-John,” Tom laughed. “He’s a real psychotic. He’s got ADD, attention deficit disorder, and some compulsive disorders. He’s paranoid and refuses to touch anything I haven’t personally cleaned for him. He’s a pain in the ass, but he was with me the entire time I was sick, so now I feel like I owe him my life.”

“Yeah, we know the feeling,” Alice replied. “Dad and I are closer than we’ve ever been since we recovered. We were there for each other before, during and after our illness, and there really isn’t anything that’s quite as personal as that.”

“So what about food?” David asked. “Have you and John-John had enough to eat lately?”

“Not really. I’ve been scrounging for whatever I could find, venturing into abandoned houses, but I’ve been afraid to touch anything with dead bodies in the house, so I haven’t been able to collect much. Frankly, I’d love to eat a solid meal again.”

“I figured that might be the case. We brought a picnic basket, but it looks like we should return home to get your stuff safely stowed away where you can use it.”

“That’d be great. I really appreciate this. The people at the hospital had nothing but wonderful things to say about you.”

“That’s all based on what Bobby and Ma told them, as I never talked to anyone there.”

“Yeah, they said you were pretty understated, but that you really came through for those that depend on you. That means a lot based on what we’ve been through.”

“Well, let’s get on the road. The sooner we get going, the sooner you can eat. You don’t have a problem with handling dead bodies, do you?” David asked after considering it for a while.

“Not if it’s necessary I guess, though John-John won’t get near any such thing,” he teased.

“Good, we shouldn’t have a problem then. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, there are dead all over, and they’ll eventually have to be cleaned up, and since there’s no one else to do it, that job falls on us. Come on, let’s get you on the road,” David said as they headed back to their car after Mattie handed him the lunch bag they’d prepare for him.