Pandemic: Level 6: A Post Apocalyptic Medical Thriller Fiction Series (The Pandemic Series Book 3)

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Pandemic: Level 6: A Post Apocalyptic Medical Thriller Fiction Series (The Pandemic Series Book 3) Page 19

by Bobby Akart


  Despite their differences, the two millennials enjoyed each other’s company and a relationship blossomed. It hadn’t been taken to the next level, as they say, but the two had established a solid foundation for the future. Just as important, they had each other’s backs.

  The checkpoint was located at Colorado Route 9, which stretched from Breckenridge southward through Alma, Fairplay, and down to Pueblo. It was not a heavily traveled route and didn’t produce much traffic noise even before the collapse caused by the pandemic. An occasional eighteen-wheeler would wind its way up and down Route 9, requiring its driver to deploy its Jake brake to slow the heavy vehicle’s descent. Other than that, as is typical of the backroads that traversed the Rockies, quiet was the norm.

  Until now. Derek and Janie had been practicing dry-fire pistol training at the now empty homes adjacent to the checkpoint when a low rumble could be heard emanating from the south. The sound grew louder, prompting Janie and Derek to abandon their drills and race back to the checkpoint.

  The distinctive sound a Harley-Davidson motorcycle makes was universally loved by enthusiasts and despised by most everyone else. What created the unique pop-pop-pop sound when the motorcycles were idling was the engine design and the corresponding exhaust system. Some bikers would dampen the noise with a certain type of exhaust pipe while others would intentionally enhance the rumble.

  At a normal cruising speed, each cycle could produce up to eighty decibels on a sound meter. When a dozen or more motorcyclists rode in formation, the noise was incredible. When the Vagos decided to head north, looking for greener pastures, the sound of their bikes bounced off the canyon walls created by Hoosier Ridge and North Star Mountain.

  “We don’t have much time!” After they bolted out the front door toward the checkpoint, Derek shouted to Janie. “Call Hunter and I’ll raise my dad. Trouble’s coming!”

  Derek ran through the rocky front yard, screaming into the radio, “Blue Lakes to Base. Blue Lakes to Base. 9-1-1. Over.”

  “I hear you, son. On our way. Whatcha got?”

  “Bikers, Dad. It’s the bikers, and from the sounds coming up the highway, I reckon it’s all of them!”

  “Hold tight, son. Don’t engage them. We need five minutes.”

  “Dad, we don’t have five—.”

  Derek slipped and tumbled down the embankment leading to the side of the road before he could finish his transmission. He ripped open a gash in his chin and blood gushed out onto his shirt. His upper lip was cut and his mouth immediately filled up with the taste of salty blood.

  Derek scrambled to retrieve his radio, but the noise was now deafening. They were less than a mile away. He had to grab his rifle and get in position.

  Janie rushed to his side. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  “I tripped and fell down the hill,” replied Derek. Janie found her backpack and pulled out some sterile pads and a towel. The bikers were getting closer.

  “Here, let me clean you up,” said Janie as she reached for his face. “Hunter and Tommy are on their way.”

  Derek thought about their options and pushed her hand away. “Janie, we have to stall. We don’t have time. Leave the blood. I need you to take your rifle and run up the bank. Stay hidden until I holler for you. Okay?”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, hurry!”

  Janie took off and scurried up the hill. Just as the first bikes made the hairpin turn and headed toward him, Derek took a chance. He squeezed his chin and squirted more blood onto his shirt and neck. Then he wiped it all over his arms and face. Also, Derek grimaced in pain as he bit down on his lower lip, which filled his mouth with more blood. He looked at his reflection in the car window.

  He looked gruesome. Perfect.

  Chapter 41

  Day Sixty-Eight

  Blue Lakes Road Checkpoint

  Quandary Peak

  The first bike slowly approached the parked cars. Hunter had placed the vehicles in a V-formation, which would force any foot traffic or motorcycles into the center of the road, where a third car was parked side to side, preventing access. A large bearded man stepped off his bike and was joined by two others, who carried shotguns. They approached Derek with their weapons raised.

  “Don’t come any closer!” yelled Derek before he feigned a coughing fit that spewed blood over the hood of the car he stood behind. His coughing continued, allowing it to spray more blood toward the bikers, who immediately took a step back. “This is a—cough, cough—quarantined area. Stay away.”

  This time he genuinely entered into a coughing fit as he accidentally swallowed some of his own blood. Derek’s ploy was having the desired effect. Some of the bikers were already turning around.

  “Is the whole town sick?” asked the leader of the pack.

  “Not all,” mumbled Derek. “Only the homes from here to the south entrance. This stretch of Route 9 is quarantined. There are only a few hundred—cough, cough, cough—of us now.”

  The lead biker stepped back farther and spoke to his associates. They looked around at the abandoned homes and then back to Derek. His blood loss subsided. When they weren’t focusing on him, he tried to bite his lip again, but he was out of bloody ammo.

  The sound of his dad’s trucks approaching from the north caught the bikers’ attention. Derek’s peripheral vision detected motion to his right. Hunter was moving through the woods to catch them in a crossfire with Janie. Soon, he’d have the numbers and the high ground to open up on these guys if they didn’t cooperate.

  “Y’all better get goin’!” shouted Derek. “Security is on the way and you don’t wanna get in a gunfight over infected territory. There ain’t nuthin’ worth fighting about. If you need a place to stay, try Timber Ridge back a mile or so. They’re mostly vacation homes anyway and nobody’ll bother you. Trust me, you don’t wanna come this direction.”

  Derek was beginning to sweat and it poured down his face to mix with his blood. The stinging pain of his busted chin began to fill his senses. He considered his options if it turned into a shoot-out. All of the bikers were clumped together and most remained seated on their Harleys. Derek had Hunter on the right, and Tommy somewhere in the vicinity. Janie, who was only marginally trained with her weapon, occupied the high ground. Derek began to feel more comfortable. The positioning of his guys could allow them to wipe out the bikers, who were clustered in a kill zone.

  “All right, kid,” shouted the biker who was done consulting the others. “It’s your lucky day, or maybe not.” He began laughing and the bikers maneuvered the heavy machines to drive away.

  No, it’s your lucky day.

  When the sounds dissipated, Janie emerged from her position and shouted, “They’re gone! All clear!”

  Derek set his rifle down and fell over onto the hood of the car, not out of exhaustion, but relief. He’d stood up to the Vagos MC and lived to tell about it. That never happened.

  Chapter 42

  Day Sixty-Eight

  Noah’s Ark

  Boreas Pass at Red Mountain

  Levi and Seth were the thirteenth and fourteenth sons of Rulon Snow, and the first sons born into the large family after they arrived at their new home up on Red Mountain. As the first born on the mountain, they shared a special status. Born to two separate mothers, Levi and Seth were seen as a miracle and were rumored to be the chosen ones to succeed their father when they came of age. They were conceived on the same night and born within minutes of each other, a coincidence too great for most. Therefore, it was generally believed only God could have a hand in the conception, making Levi and Seth special.

  Unlike the other children, who lived an austere life within the gates of their home, Levi and Seth were afforded special treatment. They didn’t rise at dawn to dig in the garden all day. They weren’t required to attend religious study instruction and pray in the evening with the rest of the children. Levi and Seth came from the loins of the new Prophet, Rulon Snow, who intended to continue his seed bearers
approach to expanding his family in religious purity.

  Only now, the impregnation scheme had a new name—Noah’s Ark. According to the teachings of the LDS doctrine, a second coming of Jesus Christ to earth would occur sometime in the near future. LDS followers believed there would be an increase in warring nations, man-made disasters would wreak havoc on the earth, and natural disasters like earthquakes would provide signs preceding this big event.

  As news of the plague pandemic grabbed the attention of Snow, he formulated a new prophecy for his flock. The concept was called Noah’s Ark. In the Bible, Noah’s Ark was the vessel described during the flood in Genesis.

  According to the scriptures in Genesis, God instructed Noah to build an ark to withstand the great flood. Seven days before the deluge, Noah entered the ark with his family together with male and female species of the animals. The ark was a microcosm of the concept of creation—destruction and re-creation after a cataclysmic event.

  Snow saw the pandemic as a sign from God. He viewed his community of sister wives, children, and fertile land to be Noah’s Ark. The task bestowed upon Snow, as it had been placed on the shoulders of Noah, was to repopulate the earth following the death of humanity.

  Snow’s commune was made up of blood relatives. He respected the medical issues and genetic disorders associated with inbreeding. Over their years on Red Mountain, the sister wives were tasked with finding more women to enter their community and enjoy the privilege of marriage to the Prophet Snow.

  At first, they found Breckenridge to be fertile ground. Young, idealistic runaways from California, looking for love and attention they couldn’t get at home, were the perfect targets. Several were brought into the commune, but eventually Snow’s wives pushed a little too hard in their recruiting efforts, drawing the attention of Sheriff Andrews.

  After a lot of debate about an adult’s exercise of their own free will, Sheriff Andrews agreed to allow Snow to practice his polygamy as long as his sister wives stayed out of Breckenridge with their recruiting efforts.

  The truce was agreed upon and continuously honored until five weeks ago when Snow received the message from the heavens to expand his family. His sister wives could no longer cultivate relationships with women in the surrounding communities to convince them to join with the Prophet. Time was running short and pickin’s were slim. Therefore, Snow turned to another tack—kidnapping.

  His number one sons, Levi and Seth, were sent out to find mates for Noah’s Ark. They spent most of their days crisscrossing the mountaintops and valleys surrounding Breckenridge—watching. They knew more about the residents of Breckenridge than their neighbors did. Snow gave his beloved sons their instructions and they set about gathering carriers for their seeds.

  Perched high atop Red Mountain with powerful binoculars, they took turns watching Janie and Derek as they scrambled to confront the approaching motorcycles. Levi wanted to admire Janie and joked with his brother about making her his real wife and not just another captive to impregnate.

  The boys took a moment to watch the scene unfold before the bikers were turned away and the others joined together around the checkpoint in celebration. Levi and Seth became jealous of the comradery. They knew Doc’s son well. Over the past year, he’d hunted on their side of the mountain for sport, not food. The Snows considered this unacceptable but were powerless to do anything about it because of the agreement reached with the sheriff.

  Now, Levi and Seth surmised, agreements could be cast aside. Soon all of these others would be dead and the two of them would carry their father’s legacy forward. Besides, the boys decided the sheriff had already broken the truce by sending search parties up Boreas Pass, looking for missing men, who’d never be found, and their women, who were safely tucked away inside the numerous caves above Noah’s Ark.

  “Levi, how many women have we got?” asked Seth.

  “Two dozen, maybe more. Why?” replied Levi.

  “I think that’s enough, don’t you?”

  “It ain’t up to us, Seth. It’s up to the Prophet.”

  “He’s not happy about them folks nosing around the Ark. Why don’t we help by putting a stop to it?” asked Seth.

  “How?”

  “Come on, brother, I’ll show you the way,” replied Seth.

  Chapter 43

  Day Sixty-Nine

  Bald Mountain

  Breckenridge

  Beth Anne, Naomie, and Snow’s firstborn, Keira Snow Jessop, the eldest daughters of Rulon by two different mothers, were the functional equivalent of the personnel managers of Noah’s Ark. Rulon’s sister wives spent the majority of their time tending to the finances of the Jessop family. They’d also taken on the additional responsibility of implementing the seed bearers program.

  The sister wives provided medical assistance and comfort to the women held within the compound as the Snow babies grew inside them. They were very nurturing for the most part. Most of the time, they provided a loving and caring approach to those who accepted it, and meted out punishments to those women in captivity who did not.

  The three older sisters were flabbergasted when Seth and Levi appeared for breakfast and prayer at six that morning. They hadn’t participated in the morning ritual in over a year as they came of age, making the transition from a youngster to a teenager. Snow encouraged the boys to sow their wild oats before they were given positions of responsibility, and sow they did.

  Their sisters resented the boys’ freedom, but they followed the Prophet’s wishes. At first Keira tried to instill discipline in the youngsters. The boys rebelled against her and were ultimately excluded from morning chores. When they showed up for breakfast, Keira suspected there was an ulterior motive.

  “Well, look at my sleepy-eyed strangers,” started Keira. “I feel so honored to have been joined by you both for breakfast and prayer. Pa would be proud.”

  “Good morning, sister,” said Seth, the more dominant of the two brothers. “We have an important job to do today. We need to be well fed because our work will take us well into the night.”

  “What kind of important work, Seth?”

  “The kind one only talks about with the Prophet,” he snapped back. “Come on, Levi. Let’s eat and get started.”

  The boys gobbled down their meal of oats and eggs before starting off for the day. After they were released through the front gates without being questioned, they started down the driveway toward the trails they’d created through the mountains over the past eight years since they were allowed to play on their own.

  “Seth, do we need any tools or anything to do this?” asked Levi.

  “No, brother,” Seth replied, patting the metallic object in his right pocket. “Everything we need is right here. Our first stop will be Mineral Hill.”

  The boys were in excellent condition. Their entire day was spent hiking and traversing the mountaintops. Were such a competition held, Seth and Levi could cover more ground at higher elevations than anyone in the Rockies. Every day was spent climbing up one side of a 14er and down the other. Some of the ridges that rose up a gentle slope to a point below the tree line could be jogged by the boys without getting winded.

  Today, their stamina would be tested as they began their task at Mineral Hill, closest to Breckenridge and farthest away from their home. They would then traverse their way through the foothills just above the town over to Bald Mountain. Their final stop would be Mount Argentine, just to the north of McCullough Gulch and their own Red Mountain.

  It would have been quicker and easier to make their way toward Breckenridge along Boreas Pass Road, which connected the town to their compound, but the boys wanted to avoid being seen by the locals. Besides, the trails were more fun. Along the way, the boys had plastic storage bins buried in the woods, which they’d stolen from garages around town.

  They had stored all manner of treasures ranging from fishing gear to girlie magazines. Seth and Levi had become accomplished burglars, taking advantage of the local homeowners’
false sense of security in the quiet town. An open garage door provided an opportunity to grab something of interest and quickly slip back into the woods. A wife who was distracted while unloading her groceries would find herself short a six-pack of beer or a bottle of wine. Their years of silent thievery had paid off, preparing them for the most significant activity of their young lives.

  It was a long, tiring day for the boys. As darkness crept in, they stopped by their favorite swimming hole along Pennsylvania Creek for a swim. Despite the dropping temperatures and the frigid water, they splashed and laughed and wiped off the stench.

  Satisfied, they made one final hike, a climb to the top of Red Mountain. Their mountain. In the past, they’d stare down into the valley and overlook the ski slopes of Breckenridge and the glimmering lights of the quaint town below. The boys had many conversations about life outside the compound, living in a world completely unknown to them.

  When they were told by the Prophet that God had swept the earth with a deadly plague, they took that to be a sign to remain on the path chosen for them. Tonight, rather than look upon the valley, wondering what might have been, they looked down upon the sinners, mesmerized by what God had in store for them.

  Chapter 44

  Day Seventy

  Breckenridge

  Fires are unpredictable. They could ignite from just one spark emanating from a car’s hot exhaust on dry grasses, or from a discarded cigarette by a careless smoker; perhaps a lightning strike, or even an overturned candle during a power outage. Oftentimes, they were the work of arsonists, typically greedy for a big insurance payoff.

 

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