Plague Book: One Final Gasp

by Druga, Jacqueline

  “Maybe God has another plan for you.”

  “It'd be nice to think that way. I have to go. I’m gonna go check on my mom. Float the idea of leaving in a couple days to her. See what she says. I’ll check back on you when I make my rounds in this area.”

  “Thank you. Get some rest, Luke, you been doing this for over a day straight.”

  “I’ll try. Enjoy the food.”

  Molly stayed near the door listening to the sound of Luke’s footsteps as they faded away. She’d wait a few minutes and retrieved the items he brought.

  Luke was a good kid, Molly hated the fact he not only carried a heavy responsibility over an accident, but now he felt the need to carry the responsibility for everyone in town.

  She hoped he was right, that he wouldn’t get sick. Molly liked him and she would think about the advice he gave about getting out of town with her kids.

  She just had to figure out where they would go.

  ◆◆◆

  Even before walking into his house, Matt thought his father-in-law had gone insane. He took the back way in, he didn’t really have a choice, and when he stepped into the dining room from the patio door, he spoke out loud his thoughts, “Stew has lost his mind.”

  Matt’s house was a basic colonial set up. Standard for the Northeast area. The front door led into an entrance hallway. There was a staircase in front and to the right the entrance to the living room, at the end of the small hall was the doorway to the kitchen.

  The dining room connected the living room and kitchen.

  Stew had gone overboard.

  At least that was Matt’s first thought.

  He had taken the plastic sheet he used for painting projects and sealed off the living room and kitchen doorways. Sealed them with plastic and duct tape. Creating a ‘boy in a plastic bubble’ for whoever was in those rooms.

  Stew was planning on it being Matt.

  He walked to the living room window and watched as Stew drove off, then Nash followed.

  He walked over to the television, it was on as there was still power. The news was on, but no one was speaking. It was an empty desk. They either were taking a break or they all had left, either case, the cameras were still running, and the ticker tape ran at the bottom giving words of advice and information about the virus.

  Before he heard the ‘Daddy’, Matt heard the patter of feet above his head. He turned from the television and walked to the living room archway.

  Emma, clad in her pajamas, holding her floppy doll stood there.

  The plastic separated him.

  “Pap took down the gate!” she said brightly.

  “He did,” Matt replied.

  “Where’s Hannah?” she asked. “Pap says she’s at the hospital.”

  “She is.”

  “Can I go see her?” Emma asked.

  “Maybe. Not now.”

  “Where’s your yellow suit like pap?”

  “I don’t have one.”

  “Oh.” She placed her finger to her mouth. “Can I come in there? Pap says to stay back one more sleep.”

  “Pap is being careful,” Matt said. “I think it will be fine.”

  He looked at his daughter, so full of innocence. Her smile showed how unknowing she was of everything going on. All he wanted to do was take his child in his arms and hold her. Matt needed to do that.

  “It smells like lemons,” Emma said.

  “That’s because Pap was …” Matt paused, “Pap was cleaning away germs.”

  “Are they all gone now?”

  Matt reached to the plastic. He was just about to remove it and pull it down, but he stopped.

  “Daddy? Are the germs gone?”

  Matt stared at his child.

  As crazy as Stew seemed to Matt, he had taken every precaution, over and above to make sure Emma stayed safe and germ-free.

  “Emma, I don’t know,” he said, withdrawing his hand from the plastic. “Let’s just be safe.”

  “I can’t come in?” she asked.

  “Not yet. As much as I want you to, not yet.”

  “One more sleep like Pap said?”

  “Yes.” Matt nodded. “One more sleep. Are you hungry, do you need anything?”

  Emma shook her head. “Pap brought me food.”

  “Good. Good. You eat that and after you get up tomorrow, we’ll take this down.” Matt pointed to the plastic. “Until then, you stay on that side and I’ll stay here. It will be like a game.”

  “So I can sit right here?”

  “You can sit right there.” Matt smiled. “That way I can see you.”

  Emma sat down on the floor on the other side of the plastic, Matt did the same.

  He wanted nothing more than to reach for her, to rip down the plastic and grab his child, but he couldn’t.

  If Stew went through all that trouble to make sure Emma was safe, who was Matt to tear it down. It would be selfish, and really, it would only be twenty-four hours.

  Matt could still see her, talk to her, and after the twenty-four hour wait was done, then he’d hold her. Until then, he left the plastic up.

  Even though he was certain he wasn’t sick or contagious, it was better safe than sorry.

  ◆◆◆

  It seemed like days when it was only a little over twenty-four hours.

  Everything had changed.

  On Luke’s walk back home he started to feel tired. That ‘moving with a stream of consciousness’ feeling, it was then he realized, it was Sunday and he hadn’t been to bed since Friday night.

  He wanted to sleep, but with so much to do he was afraid. Maybe just a nap. He’d make sure his mother woke him.

  The day before started out as normal as any other Saturday. Fridays were his mom’s paydays and they went shopping every Saturday, even if the grocery store was crowded. They were a little late in their routine. His mom was caught up in binge watching some TV show.

  Which meant late for the store, late for lunch with Mrs. Carr.

  Luke took that lateness as a sign when he not only ran into Marge Hader, but she told him something that should have changed a lot in him.

  When trying again to say he was sorry, Marge stopped him.

  “I know it was an accident. For what it’s worth, know I forgive you.” She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. “I forgive you.”

  She forgave him.

  She lay her hand on his cheek with a warm, motherly touch and forgave him.

  All of it went away, that instant feeling of ‘good emotion’ because Marge crumbled to the floor and died.

  Despite him and his mother’s attempts, and that of the paramedics … she was gone.

  Just like that.

  And just like that everything in Franklin was different.

  Luke, still rattled by the events, tried to focus on his lunch with Mrs. Carr. He wouldn’t cook anything elaborate, some soup and sandwiches, which he made at home.

  He was so focused on that he never realized the world was falling apart.

  The peaceful buzz of Franklin was shattered, and within an hour of his own visit to the grocery store all hell broke loose.

  People were fighting trying to get the last loaf of bread off the shelves.

  The violence, fighting and looting at almost every shop in town carried into the evening.

  It baffled Luke. He would have never expected his small town to turn on each other. If it was happening in Franklin, he didn’t want to think about how bad it was in the major cities.

  Although Nash kept saying a lot of the people looting weren’t local.

  Then came Sunday.

  From helping out Doctor Christoph with the injured, to the church where he assisted the pastor in setting up the community room for those who didn’t want to do the four week lock down alone, to painting markings on doors when people called the station to say they were sick, the town went from mayhem to a ghost town.

  The church bells rang for the eleven a.m. service, but no one really showed.
>
  Hervé’s Bites was the only place whose windows were intact. No lines formed outside the coffee shop or brunch patrons at the diner.

  Everything was barren.

  Only one day had passed.

  Luke didn’t see it getting much worse

  Then again, there were a whole lot of people still in town, not sick though. Luke hoped they’d stay that way.

  Tired, Luke made his way back to his home. He had to think about what time it was before he called out. Realizing it was already deep in the afternoon, he alerted his mother and called out, “I’m home. Sorry I was out so long.” He shut the door. “I didn’t realize how long I was gone.” He took a few steps into this home. “Mom? You hear me?”

  Thinking that she was in the bathroom or taking a nap, Luke made his way to the kitchen to get something to eat before he, too, went to sleep. Before he even stepped into the kitchen, he stopped cold. The refrigerator door was open, and on the floor was his mother.

  He raced over to her. “Mom.”

  She lay on her side so Luke rolled her over.

  She opened her eyes.

  Luke tried not to facially react when he saw her appearance. Her face was ghostly white, dark circles were deep under her eyes, and the left side of her neck was swollen with a rash that spread to her chin and mouth.

  “Luke,” Melinda said breathless. “Sweetie, help me to the couch. I’m so sick, baby, I’m so sick.”

  Minutes before Luke thought it couldn’t get much worse, however, for him personally, it just did.

  25 – TURN ON A DIME

  Boston, MA

  What the heck was going on?

  Elias stared at the television set in the hotel room, it had been the same scene, the same ticker tape. Brent from BNN excused himself two hours earlier and never returned.

  All morning Elias fed the nation information about the virus, and there was still so much to tell. He hadn’t yet explained what to do in the worst case scenario.

  Millions of people were heeding the advice, at least he hoped, to stay inside for four weeks. Yet, nothing was said about if a town or building was wiped out before that. Could they leave? What was safe? How long did the virus live on a dead body or surfaces.

  Brent apologized before leaving, and said someone would come in.

  Were there no camera people?

  Had the station simply abandoned post?

  There were other stations, Elias decided he would try to contact them. Although, their broadcasts were also sporadic and mostly consisted of an Emergency Alert screen.

  BNN was vowing to stay on the air, and so far they were keeping that vow. They were on the air, they just failed to have anyone delivering the news.

  There was absolutely nothing Elias could do but keep trying and downing those tiny single service bottles of booze.

  He didn’t worry about rations anymore. He grabbed a key from the housekeeping cart and had carte blanc to the other empty rooms on his floor. He didn’t go any further, it just wasn’t safe,

  The fires that burned through the night, still smoldered, the sky was dark with smoke, and even though the gunshots were less, they popped off every once and awhile.

  One thing stopped … the sirens.

  Without law and order, a virus wasn’t needed to bring about the downfall of mankind.

  Elias had been in the hotel room only a day and a half, but in that time frame, alone, watching his city fall, he finally felt a twinge of something he should have felt when he first heard the news.

  Guilt.

  Instead of the panic and fear over retributions of his actions, Elias panicked and feared over the retribution of his arrogance.

  His life work wasn’t supposed to end the world, it was supposed to save it.

  All he wanted to do was save his life’s work and it bit the world in the ass.

  The guilt would build, he was certain of it, the more he watched everything fall apart.

  The only thing left for him to do was keep trying the stations, and once everything was safe enough, he would return to his lab and work on a cure.

  It would be a little too late for those who already died, but it would give peace of mind to those who emerged from hiding to rise above the ashes.

  If, indeed, there was anyone left.

  ◆◆◆

  Magnificent Jewel – Cruise Ship

  The smell that permeated the air told Eve more people had died. A lot more people.

  On the cruise ship the virus and its effects were about a day ahead of everyone else, at least that was what she figured.

  What she faced on this day, the others in the world would face in the next day or two to come.

  Watching as life dwindled down. Numbers only known by the increased smell of sour, rotting bodies that baked not only in the sun but in their rooms.

  Going out for air on the balcony caused her to gag, and they doused towels with cologne to keep the smell to a minimum inside.

  But she had to go outside, she had to see for herself what was happening.

  Even in the middle of the ocean, the odor drifted to them with every gust of wind. In the morning, she watched as ten people worked together to toss bodies into the water, now only a couple remained.

  The one balcony gave her a view of the deck, while the other gave a view of the ocean. She could see as the bodies floated outward becoming bait for sharks and other fish that pulled them under. Would the virus affect them? A species that could have survived would probably die out now as well.

  Then again, she was only speculating. It was definitely a question she had for Doctor Death if they ever connected on the air again.

  BNN was down, and she quit trying to reach them on the satellite phone. In fact, she surrendered the phone to Silas. He needed it more.

  He was desperately trying to reach his daughter, but kept running into the same message that all circuits were busy.

  Either people were cramming the cell towers with calls or the towers simply just went down.

  Eve was out on the balcony awhile, as if the people tossing bodies and the shark attacking them were her only entertainment. She’d pressed the cloth tight to her mouth to mask the smell every time she felt a breeze because she knew it was coming.

  When Silas stepped outside, she could tell by the look on his face he had reached his family. There was a sense of relief, it made Eve happy. They weren’t sick, if they were Silas would look different.

  “Here.” He handed her the satellite phone. “I finally got through.”

  “And?”

  “They are on their way to the mountains. My daughter, her husband, the kids and his parents.”

  “Are they okay?”

  Silas nodded. “Yeah,” he exhaled. “No one is sick. Thank God. Knowing they’ll be safe is all I need.”

  “Did they tell you where they were at?” Eve asked.

  Silas nodded. “A lot of good that does. I’m out here on a dying boat that is stalled.”

  “We’ll get off this boat,” Eve said. “We’ll figure it out. There has to be a manual somewhere.”

  Silas chuckled. “A manual on how to man a cruise ship?”

  “You never know. Worst case scenario we have life boats. We’ll get off this boat and make it home. One way or another. I believe that. Then I’ll help you find your family.”

  Silas reached over and placed his hand on hers. “Thank you. Now that we have the getting off the boat part figured out I feel better.” He winked. “Let’s hope when all this is done, we’re alive and can try.”

  ◆◆◆

  Dubois, PA

  As soon as Stew hit Trade Winds Road, he pulled over and took off his suit. Being careful not to tear it, he folded it and placed it back into the plastic bag. He left out the mask just in case, but felt far enough away from populated areas that he was safe.

  He couldn’t believe the traffic on Interstate 80. A steady flow on both sides.

  Were people not listening or like Stew were they just try
ing to get out of densely populated areas?

  Nearly to the private road that led to his lake house, his phone rang. A spark of worry hit his gut until he looked down to see it was Marcy, his house woman.

  “Hey, Marcy,” Stew answered. “I’m almost there. Emma didn’t come with me, but I want to do an inventory and …”

  “Someone’s here,” she cut him off.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Someone just pulled up. They’re in the house. I called the sheriff, but they aren’t taking looting calls.”

  “Looting?” Stew asked. “Are you sure? I mean, the house is removed from town. Who would be out that way looting?”

  “I don’t know who it is. It’s not someone I know.”

  “Are you in the garage house?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does this person know you’re there?” Stew asked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Good. Stay there. Stay out of sight. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  “What are you going to do? Aren’t you scared?” she asked.

  “Marcy, with all that’s going on, there’s a lot more to be scared of. No worries. Stay out of sight. I have this handled.” He hung up the phone and placed it on the seat. And for the second time he pulled over. His pistol was in the case under the passenger seat of his car. He hadn’t taken it out of the case, even at Matt’s, but he did now.

  He opened the case removing the gun and inserted a loaded clip, he engaged the chamber taking it off safety before pulling back onto the road.

  Stew was taking no chances.

  On the final leg of the drive, he kept thinking about Marcy. Picturing her looking out the window, watching helplessly as someone went into the house.

  He had a security system, he wondered if it went off. Even if it had, would anyone come?

  It baffled Stew. It was a private community. Each house set on their own plot of land, no neighbors were even within shouting distance.

  If someone was at his home he figured they were there for refuge or stealing. Either case, they had to know the house and who lived there.

  That thought was reiterated to Stew the second he pulled up the long driveway and got closer to his house.