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Voices intruded on Abby’s thoughts. Everyone else had arrived and so she joined them, carefully putting her phone back in its clip.
“Hey,” said Meg, “Listen up, guys! Here are your bunking assignments, effective tomorrow. We’ll be splitting up the command, since we’re gonna be at two different sites starting tomorrow. Meals will be as one group, at Site 3; so Ted, you’ll be there along with your cooking crew. Cal and I, and Abby and Emmy, will be quartered there too.
“Lorie, Brad and his gang fixed up the old shower house yesterday, which includes the laundry room. Since we don’t have enough power for that, we’ll be installing the commissary in there. That puts you at Site 3 as well.
“Okay, Emmy has the lists of who will be at each site. As soon as the crews finish up this evening, around 2030, she and Cal and Pops will be making the rounds, letting everyone know where they’re moving to.
“Any questions?”
There were none. This group had worked together often over the years and, although the circumstances were completely beyond their collective experience and imagination, the duties and schedules were quite similar.
“Right,” said Cal. “See you in the morning, then. Ted, breakfast at 0600 tomorrow, yes?” Ted nodded. “Good night, everyone.”
Back in her own tent, Abby checked the list for tomorrow’s move. There were eight of the black trucks, altogether; that meant that Abby would have six passengers. A tight fit, but doable given the truck’s double-cab design. All the personal gear would easily take up the bed, but she already knew there’d be more than one trip. First, they’d load up with communal provisions: food, water, medical supplies, building materials.
The second trip would consist of the generators, gasoline, and weapons cache. Finally, a third trip for the personal items. It would be a long day, Abby knew, which was why they were starting so early. Still, she couldn’t relax just yet; she had to pack, too.
Fortunately, Abby traveled light. A few pairs of jeans, half a dozen t-shirts, a couple jackets, an extra pair of boots; besides some winter gear, which was stowed temporarily in a special after-market case under the bed of her truck, this was nearly her entire wardrobe.
Once she had her clothing stowed in her frame pack, she turned to her gun case. Starting with the Mossberg, she carefully cleaned and oiled each one, checked her ammo stash, and gently replaced each in its soft case.
Abby had just stretched out on her cot and was setting the alarm on her watch when Emmy finally arrived.
“I’m beat,” said Emmy, as she plopped down on the edge of Abby’s cot. “And I still have to pack!”
“Yep, you do,” Abby grinned. “Go ahead, I’ll supervise.” She made herself comfortable and slyly shoved Emmy onto the floor with her foot.
“Hey!”
“C’mon, Em, you can talk to me while you pack; tell me all about your rounds tonight. What’s everyone think about all this?”
“Well,” Emmy said as she began to stuff clothes into her pack, “They’re scared, but not as much as you might think. After being here for a few days, and knowing—or, rather, not knowing—much of what’s going on out there, they seem to have confidence in us. I mean, they’re mostly all here because they knew us, or someone they were close to knew us.
“There is that one couple, um, Tom or Tim or something, and his wife, Alana. I think they just sort of followed someone into the campground. But it’s okay,” she added when she saw the look on Abby’s face. “Noah said he’d heard of them from Janey, a few months ago.”
Abby relaxed and lay back down on her cot; in her tension, she’d not only sat bolt upright but had one foot on the ground. If Noah was vouching for them, it was okay then; she’d mention it to Cal tomorrow.
At last Emmy finished her packing and she, too, lay down on her cot. Abby yawned and stretched. Another long day was coming, and there were still so many unanswered questions.
By 0900 hours, the first convoy of trucks was loaded and headed to Sites 2 and 3. At the crossroad, three of the eight vehicles turned off and continued down the road further to unload the medical and building supplies. The remainder stopped at Site 3.
Abby was already there; she’d gone ahead of the group to check that everything was still secure at both campsites. Emmy had driven her truck for this load. Everyone got to work immediately, unloading and storing food and cooking gear. One truck backed up to the old laundry room to pack away extra supplies in Lorie’s new commissary.
Within an hour or so, all the trucks were empty and heading back to the old camp. Ted and his crew remained at Site 3 to put together a quick lunch for everyone and make sure the water jugs were full and coffee was brewing.
Abby wiped sweat off her neck and paused for a moment in the hot sun. She and Janey were loading the last of the rifles, and Abby had been particularly impressed with the cache of HK416s that Janey had, somehow, managed to acquire.
A moment later, Janey came trotting around the corner and Abby almost couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Okay, spill—how the heck did you get one of those?”
“Ha,” said Janey. “Don’t ask, don’t tell! Give me a hand here, will ya, and stop gawking.” Between the two of them, they lifted the M2 Browning into the truck bed.
“Sheesh,” Abby said. “Do you really think we’re going to need one of these?”
“Don’t know,” Janey told her, “But I’d rather have it and not need it. And at this point, who knows?” She shrugged. “C’mon, let’s go.”
The two girls climbed into the truck after Janey had carefully covered the M2. “Um, Ab. No one knows about this but you, okay?”
“Of course.” Abby drove over to the stack of ammo boxes and they began to load them, pausing only to wet their bandanas and tie them around their heads.
At last they reached Site 3, and stopped for lunch. It was much hotter now, pushing 100 degrees Abby guessed, plus the humidity. It was good to sit and rest in the shade for a short time.
One more trip and they were finished with the move by 1600 hours.
Abby plopped down under a tree, wiping sweat from her face. At least it was a little cooler up here by the tents. Almost everyone had rolled up the sides to try to get at least a little breeze moving under the hot canvas, but it was a mostly futile effort.
She could hear some light-hearted bickering as people unpacked and staked out their own personal territories. No voices were actually raised, however, as no one had enough energy left to actually complain too much.
Emmy came up the path and sat down beside her. “Man, that was tough. All Ted’s girls wanted to bunk with him and I had to practically drag a couple of them out of his and Lorie’s tent. Sheesh, you’d think they’d have better things to think about!”
Abby grinned. “And how did Lorie feel about all this?”
“Oh, she’s still down in the commissary, sorting and checking. Hey,” exclaimed Emmy, “I think I’ll go tell her! She’ll love it!”
“Where do you get your energy? I don’t even feel like going down for dinner. Blech, it’s too hot for anything else today.” Abby shifted and made herself a bit more comfortable.
“Oh, no you don’t,” said Emmy, pulling her friend to her feet. “You have to eat, same as everyone. You can crash later.”
“Fine,” Abby retorted. “Remember this when I get you up in the morning!”
The two moved down the path to the meadow; they saw Lorie coming before they reached the shelter. “Hey,” said Emmy, “Hope you don’t mind, Lorie, but I had to put a couple of Ted’s cooks in the tent with the two of you. They were pretty insistent and all and I knew, even though you—hey, ouch!”
Emmy glared at Lorie and rubbed her shoulder. “That wasn’t nice!”
Lorie was blushing. “Knock it off, Em,” she said, putting her arm around Emmy. “And keep it down, will you?” she pleaded.
Abby just stared off into space and grinned. So that’s how it was, huh? Boy, could she have fun with this!
“No idea,” said Emmy. “I do know that I’ll be tied up most of the evening checking on everyone; probably go over to Site 2 as well.”
Just as they finished eating, Cal stepped up to the front and raised her voice for everyone to listen up.
“I know that you have questions. I’m going to answer as many as I can, but you should know that we just don’t have a lot of answers yet.” Hands flew into the air. Cal nodded at a big, burly man.
“Hi,” he said, standing up. “I’m Mack.” He twisted his baseball cap in his hands. “I guess my main question is this: what the heck is happening?” He sat down amid several shouts of “Yeah, what’s going on?” and “Tell us!”
“Well,” said Cal, her eyebrows raised. “Let’s start off with the top question of all time, shall we?” There were a few polite laughs, but not many. Everyone was deathly quiet, waiting to hear the answer.
“Here’s what we know,” Cal continued. “First, I’m going to use the word “infected.” We’re not sure if it’s actually an infection per se, but that’s as close as we can come right now. Second, some people are infected, others are not; at this point, we don’t know why. Third, it appears to be fatal.
“Yes, I know that many of you have seen friends and family become ill and die in a short time. You know that’s what happened, but a few of you have also reported that the body you saw had later disappeared. I have no answer for that.
“Next question. James?”
“How do we know if someone has it?”
“Symptoms that we know of include scratches or scarring suddenly appearing on the victim’s face, minimal bleeding, followed by weakness and a trance-like state. Death is within minutes.” Everyone looked around nervously, trying to see faces more clearly in the lowering light.
Candy stood up next. “How do we know everyone here is okay? I mean, some of us don’t know everyone and well . . . what if someone here is infected?”
Cal smiled reassuringly. “We don’t think that’s a danger, Candy. We think that if anyone here was infected, we’d know by now.”
“Why did we move out of the meadow?” someone shouted.
“This area is easier to defend ourselves, with the hill and the trees,” said Cal. “It was a simple matter of safety and security.” Though she was a bit surprised by the question, she didn’t show it; she had thought that, last night, the mention of a potential threat would lead any thinking person to see the point of moving.
“What about food?” said another anonymous voice, this time a woman.
“We have enough for now,” answered Cal, “And there are plans to obtain additional supplies. Some of you will be a part of that over the next few days.
“As long as we can move about the general vicinity, outside the camp itself, we’ll be fine for quite some time.”
There were few additional questions, as most were tired and worn out from not only moving the camp that day but also from several days’ worth of fear and anxiety. The group finally disbanded, and the dozen leaders met at the commissary for further instructions.
CHAPTER NINE
“Lorie, Brad, Janey, and Abby are going into town tomorrow,” said Cal, starting the meeting off quickly. “Two trucks, just in case. Your primary purpose is to scout out anything that’s happening, any people around, but no contact. Plus, scope out any supplies you think we might be able to, er, acquire.
“Zoe? You can take over for Lorie tomorrow. And Emmy, I need some help with these reports and schedules.”
Sandy spoke next, which was rare. “As per Cal’s request, we’re stepping up patrols for at least the next week or so. I’ve added two crews, one at night and one during the day; that means at all times we have three people keeping an eye on things in our immediate area, and four on the camp perimeter.
“It’s going to take some work to keep all the slots filled, and I might have to ask some of you to sacrifice a little sleep.
“That’s all,” she smiled shyly and stepped back. “Noah, do you have anything for us?” asked Cal.
“Sorry to say, I don’t. Not much, anyway. I did want to check with you about setting up a small lab in one of those shacks at Site 2. Brad said he could fix it up for me pretty quickly.
“And, um, I’m going to need blood samples from all of you . . .” His voice trailed off a bit when he saw a few of them turn pale.
“We’ll talk about the details tomorrow, Noah,” Cal said hastily as she grabbed Meg’s arm to steady her. “Brad, what time will you all be heading out?”
“Right after breakfast,” said Brad. “Can’t wait!” He smirked at Abby and she stuck out her tongue at him.
By 8:30 the next morning, both trucks were pulling out of the camp gates; Sandy was there to carefully close them and then disappear back into the woods. Brad and Abby rode in silence for several miles along the winding road.
They saw nothing out of the ordinary until they reached the main road. There, cars were in the ditch, at least one was rammed into a tree, and several had crashed into each other. But there were no people. No bodies.
Both trucks pulled into the gas station at the corner of the main road and the highway. Brad and Abby jumped out, guns at the ready, while Lorie and Janey tossed out plastic gasoline cans and began to fill them. They filled the truck tanks as well.
Moving as one unit, the four walked carefully towards the building, eyes roving ahead and to the sides, constantly watching. Once inside the doors, the still-functioning air conditioning was cooling as well as surprising. Of course, most machines were automated and the gas pumps themselves ran on electricity, but still, in a world where everything else had changed so drastically . . .
There were bodies here. Nearly a dozen, in various poses, but all with the same telltale signs of the mysterious symptoms so far documented. Two cashiers, the rest customers. Perhaps a manager, or a delivery guy. After several days, it was getting hard to tell.
Determining that the area was secure, Abby began to empty the coolers in the back of the room. As she stacked cases of water, soda, and beer, Lorie searched for and found a wheeled platform used for stocking heavy items. The two loaded it up as much as they could.
Janey and Brad found and secured the back exit, along with the adjacent parking area. While they kept watch, Abby and Lorie pulled the trucks around to the back. The four worked in shifts, loading and guarding, until the beds were full, then Abby and Lorie went back inside.
Finding the storeroom, the pair discovered many cases of convenience-type foods, unopened, as well as canned goods; the type of fare usually available in gas stations everywhere. They started the process all over again, loading, unloading, guarding, this time stopping when both backseats were filled to the top.
“Not much of a ‘town’ trip, Brad,” teased Abby. “And here I thought we were going to see some big city lights, you know, maybe dinner, dancing.”
“Huh,” said Brad. “Next time, if you’re a good girl.”
Abby lightly punched him. “Schmuck.”
The four arrived back at the camp within an hour. It had taken some time, as they used the heavy trucks to gently move several abandoned cars off the road so the next trip would be a bit easier. They left the trucks at Site 3 for unloading and returned to town in two empty ones for the second phase.
This time they bypassed the gas station and kept going, crossing under the highway. They saw no signs of life but presumed that anyone would be just as cautious as they. The small convoy turned south at the intersection.
The four-lane, pseudo highway was less congested than the smaller road, but they could still see many cars along the shoulder. Here, however, while driving slowly out of necessity, they also spotted several bodies. Having been exposed to the hot temperature
s for several days, the smell of those corpses was overwhelming.
Abby rolled up the windows and turned on the air conditioning. “Phew,” she said, gagging a little. Brad merely nodded; his face had a greenish tinge.
They drove past the old drive-in on their right, a junkyard on the left. The road opened up a bit, with fewer parked cars, so Abby rolled her window down and lit a cigarette. After a couple more miles, businesses began to appear on either side of the road.
Janey and Lorie were behind them by about 50 yards or so when they reached the town itself. They closed up the gap, and both trucks proceeded slowly, all four of them keeping a close eye for movement and listening for any sounds.
Brad had a particular destination in mind. At last he directed Abby to pull into the parking lot of a strip mall. He signaled Janey to follow him as he stepped out of the truck, handgun at the ready. The two of them scoped out the electronics store as Abby and Lorie backed the trucks closer to the building.
Janey tested the door, which was unlocked, then covered Brad as he ducked inside; she quickly followed. Moving cautiously, the two secured the interior. Janey kept watch as Brad moved to the back, to the storeroom.
From which he returned, running, as a wild honking noise arose outside in the parking lot. Janey was right in front of him and both burst through the door.
Abby and Lorie were standing on the running boards of the trucks, shotguns cocked and aimed at a strange figure.
It was impossible to determine the woman’s age; indeed, the only way they could tell that the person was female was due to her outfit: a somewhat faded print dress, work boots, a cardigan sweater in spite of the heat and, of all things, an old-fashioned gas mask.
She was, however, pointing the business end of a rusty old rifle at Abby and Lorie.
“Hey there,” said Brad quietly. “Why don’t you put that gun down and we’ll talk.” He cringed, knowing that he sounded exactly like some actor in a cheesy cop movie.