Roland: Reluctant Paladin

by N. C. Reed

  “Works for me,” Roland nodded.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  “Anyway, Mister Nevers, this here set-up’ll do you fine. I just ain’t got the makin's for a solar panel. But it’s a good way to get exercise,” Ralph grinned. He’d just finished attaching a car alternator to a bicycle. It ran to a bank of six car batteries linked together, and would provide a small but steady source of power.

  “Don’t know why I didn’t think of that,” Nevers was shaking his head. “Reckon 'cause I’d bought that old Hallicrafter set-up for emergencies, and was locked into it.”

  “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with it,” Ralph assured him as he put his tools away. The Barnes girls were helping him, and started carrying the boxes to the truck Jesse had driven them out there in.

  “But this here set-up should work better, and plus, you need or want to use the radio, there’s power ready all the time. Won’t need to crank to keep it runnin’.”

  “I appreciate it, son,” Nevers smiled. “You’re welcome to move out here with us, you want. I got a fine young granddaughter your age.” The Barnes girls frowned at that.

  “Uh, thank you, sir, but I reckon I better stay on with Roland,” Ralph replied. He noted the twin’s reaction. They’d been awful. . .clingy, lately. He’d tried to ignore it, but that was getting harder to do. He’d have to try and talk to them, and soon.

  “Appreciate the formula, young fella,” Nevers was talking to Jesse, now. “And you, miss, for givin’ us all the once over,” he turned to Jennifer.

  “My pleasure,” she smiled. “I gave your wife a list of the home remedies we’re using right now, so she should be able to start treating some of the more common problems we’re seeing. If you have an

  emergency, someone is always monitoring the radio at the school.”

  “We’re beholden,” Nevers nodded.

  “Not in any way,” Jennifer shook her head. “I’m glad I’m able to help.”

  “You folks travel safe,” Ben smiled, as they reached the truck, “and keep a sharp eye on that lad,” he nodded to Ralph. “He’s worth his weight, no doubt.”

  “We will,” the twins replied in unison. Ralph cringed at that, but remained silent.

  “Take care, sir,” Jesse shook hands, and started the truck. Soon they were back on the road. Two of Drake’s men, along with Tom Mackey, followed them.

  “Anywhere else?” Jesse asked.

  “That was the last,” Jennifer shook her head. “We can head for the barn.”

  “Barn, huh?” Jesse grinned.

  “I’m trying to fit in,” the doctor told him. “Learning to speak the language.”

  “Going native, are ya?” Jesse teased.

  “Well, it does have its attractions,” she gave as good as she got.

  -

  “You can’t do this!”

  “Oh, yes I can, and I am,” Roland replied to the outburst. “You were elected to manage this county, and you ain’t been doin’ your job. Ain’t seen you one time working on anything. If you aren’t going to do your job, then you won’t have one.”

  The county mayor, one William ‘call me Bill!’ Harrison, was red-faced with anger.

  “What is it you expect me to have done?” he demanded.

  “Anything would be better than what you have done, which is nothing,” Roland spat back. “The Sheriff has been working for months, day in and out, trying to keep people fed, housed and protected, let alone doing his own work. Where were you during that time?”

  Harrison stammered for an answer, but Roland provided it for him.

  “Sitting here on your ass, that’s where!” he snarled. “So you’re out. We’ll find someone else. Go get your crap outta what used to be your office. Got 'til closing.” With that, Roland turned on his heel, headed to the Hummer, where Vaughan was waiting.

  “This isn’t the last of this!” Harrison all but screamed.

  “Wanna bet?” Roland called over his shoulder. Without another word, he climbed into the Hummer, leaving a still-sputtering Harrison behind.

  “Just makin’ friends everywhere you go,” Vaughan commented.

  “He’s a jackass,” Roland snorted. “He’s the main one that’s been riding Tom about guards and cars and drivers. Like he’s too damn good to drive himself around. Or protect himself. Anyway, we need someone else in there.”

  “Like who?” Vaughan asked.

  “I got no idea.”

  -

  “Not bad,” James nodded as Susan’s tomahawk thunked into the target. The two had been training together since the attack, and had become friends of a sort. Susan had turned her inner turmoil into a determination unlike anything she’d ever known, and was becoming a warrior.

  “Thanks,” she nodded.

  “You’re pretty intense, Susan,” James noted. “Relax a little. This can be fun, if you let it.” He threw a knife at the target, and hit just millimeters from the bulls-eye.

  “I don’t have time for fun,” Susan said flatly.

  “You have to make time,” James stressed. “You can’t just. . .be angry all the time.”

  “I’m not angry,” Susan said at once, “just. . .determined. Focused.”

  “What’d you do before the fall?” James asked suddenly. The question caught her by surprise, and Susan stopped and looked at him.

  “What?”

  “What did you do before things collapsed?” James repeated. “You know, for work?”

  “I...I was a secretary at the Court House,” Susan replied, “in the Trustee’s Office.”

  “Cool,” James nodded, “did you like it?”

  “Yes,” Susan admitted, “it was a good job, and paid fairly well for around here. I met a lot of people, and was. . .hey, that’s not fair,” she almost growled.

  “What is?” James asked.

  “Making me think about better times,” she complained.

  “I think about them,” James shrugged. “Might be like that again, someday. Hope so, anyway,” he added.

  “It won’t be like that for me again,” she said sadly, suddenly deflating.

  “Won’t be the same,” James nodded, “but no reason it can’t be good.”

  “I’m. . .I won’t ever be the same. No,” Susan stated, “I’m damaged goods now, James. No one will want me around. Not anymore.”

  “Being a little hard on yourself, aren’t you?” James asked.

  “Just telling the truth as I know it,” Susan shrugged helplessly. “I…they hurt me, James,” Susan said softly, and he realized that she was crying. “Hurt me bad. Jennifer, she. . .I always wanted a family, but...” Finally, she broke down, and fell onto him. James held her as she cried, soothing her as best he could.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry we weren’t there to stop it.”

  “Me, too,” she sobbed into this chest, “but you saved me, at least,” she added. “Thank you for that.”

  Saved her? James wondered.

  -

  Roland was about to eat when Angie came to him.

  “Roland, I need to talk to you.”

  “Have a seat,” he pointed.

  “No, in private.” Roland sighed. He opened his mouth to ask if he could eat.

  “Now,” she stressed. Roland nodded, and followed her out. He was surprised when she led him to the radio room.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Jenkins is on the radio for you,” Angie said evenly. Roland frowned. Something was wrong.

  “This is Stang,” he said, having forgotten his code.

  “Roland, this is Gerald Jenkins,” he heard. Apparently Jenkins had forgotten his, too.

  “Nashville is quarantined. The flu has hit here, and a lot of other places, in the last three days. It’s not like the regular flu, Roland, which would be bad enough.”

  “This new flu, something maybe akin to the old avian flu virus, is deadly. Starts with a dry cough, moves into the flu, and then usually into pneumonia. It’s got a seventy to ei
ghty percent mortality rate, Roland.”

  “Anything we can do to help?” Roland asked.

  “No!” Jenkins almost shouted into the radio. “Don’t come near us! We’re already sick, there’s nothing to be done. Any survivors might need help at some point, but under no circumstance are you to come here until it’s clear. We have a few patrols out, so they may show up looking for a home. Do what you can for them.”

  “You got it. Are you sure there’s nothing we can do, Gerald?” Roland felt helpless.

  “Roland, there’s nothing to do. Just try and stay healthy. The word we’re getting is that the flu is everywhere. People are dying by the thousands, Roland. Maybe tens of thousands. There’s no vaccine that works, and antibiotics are useless. There’s. . .there’s just nothing.” Roland heard Jenkins cough before the other man released the transmit button. His voice was that of a man who was defeated.

  Beaten.

  “Let us know if that changes,” Roland said.

  “Remember what I said. Isolation is the key. Don’t come here, or send anyone else here, and be careful who you have contact with. Good. . .good luck, Roland,” Jenkins finished. That sounded final, Roland noted sadly. Almost like Gerald had really meant to say ‘good-bye’.

  “Same to you, Gerald,” Roland replied. Jenkins was gone. Roland put the mike down and looked at Angie.

  “Well, we’re in for it now.”

  “We better tell Jennifer,” Angie temporized. Her face was a conflict of emotion. Jenkins and the others in Nashville were friends. They had been in combat together. Not helping was. . .wrong.

  “I’ll go get her,” Roland sighed.

  -

  Kingston was eating with Jesse when Roland reappeared in the mess hall. He bent down and whispered in her ear. The young doctor’s face froze in mid bite. Rising from the table she left the room immediately, following Roland out.

  Maria saw that and frowned. Something was wrong. She walked over to where Jesse was still looking at the door.

  “What’s happening?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jesse said, looking up at her. “She didn’t say a word to me, and neither did Ro’.”

  “Let’s go, then,” Maria ordered. Jesse didn’t even consider not following her. The two made their way to the clinic by unspoken agreement.

  “. . .we’re going to do?” they heard Roland speaking.

  “What can we do?” Kingston replied, her voice frustrated. “If we tell them, and don’t have an answer, then there’s panic. And we don’t have an answer.”

  “What is the question?” Maria asked, as she entered.

  “What to do about the new flu,” Roland sighed. “Jenkins just called us. They’ve got it in Nashville. It’s pretty much nationwide, now. With a high mortality rate and no treatment available.”

  “Not available, or just not available to us?” Jesse asked.

  “Not available period,” Jennifer replied to that one. “There’s no known remedy. A new strain, likely a branch of Avian origins, but that’s not confirmed, last I heard. I need to go to the radio room and see if we can contact CDC.” This to Roland.

  “Go ahead,” he nodded. Kingston left, brushing Jesse’s cheek with her lips as she went.

  “We got problems,” Roland told the two of them. “There’s no treatment, there’s no vaccine, there’s not enough of anything to treat people with. The flu will get here, sooner or later, and when it does all we can do is pray.”

  “We need to start warning everyone, I guess,” Jesse sighed. “Print out some protective measures, preventive measures I mean, and get it circulated.”

  “We should, but I’m worried that will cause a panic,” Roland pointed out. “I’m open to ideas.”

  “Be truthful,” Maria said. “Tell them there’s no vaccine, no treatment. Remind them that the preventive measures are all we have. Stay home, avoid others, wait for the virus to run its course.

  There’s little else we can do.”

  “She’s right,” Jesse nodded, thinking about Jennifer. She’d be exposed to this virus treating the sick. He couldn’t protect her from something he couldn’t even see.

  “Maria, will you get that going?” Roland asked. “I’ll round up Drake, and he and his men can start distributing the fliers. Two men per Hummer. Jesse, see if you can round up some staple guns.

  Notices can be tacked up everywhere with them.”

  “Yes, Roland,” Maria nodded.

  “Got it,” Jesse replied, and the two left. Roland walked outside to the trailer that Drake and his men used as a barracks. Knocking, he walked inside.

  “Evening, sir,” Drake stood from the desk as Roland walked in.

  “Sergeant,” Roland nodded, “we have a problem. There’s a flu bug in Nashville. Well, it’s actually pretty much nationwide by now. There’s no effective treatment or vaccine for it, either. I need you and your men for a public service mission. Take your Hummer and mine, two men to a vehicle, and start posting fliers that we’re making up everywhere you can. Hand out extras when you meet someone. Ask them to pass it along. Leave bundles at every meeting place, store, community halls, and the like.”

  “Yes, sir,” Drake nodded, sketching a salute. “We’ll get on it.”

  “Thank you,” Roland nodded, and left.

  As he walked slowly around the building, a habit now, Roland allowed his mind to wander.

  How many of them would catch this flu? And how many would die? How would a nationwide, maybe a worldwide virus of this magnitude affect things?

  They were right in the middle of starting to get things going again. Now, not only would that likely stop, but maybe begin to undo itself. If seventy to eighty percent of the world’s population died, those left would be in dire straits, in his opinion. Influenza was not selective in who it killed. True, many of the worst people might perish, but so might many of the good ones. People with knowledge they needed. How would that affect the rebuilding? Had they survived all this time, worked this hard, to see it all die out with this new super flu?

  So wrapped up in these thoughts was he, Roland never thought about the coughing fit a young boy had had the day before. Or the coughing child in the cafeteria the night before.

  It would bring him no comfort later when he realized that even if he had, it wouldn’t have mattered.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  James finished hammering the last stake for the new sign into the ground, then leaned on the sign itself, wiping sweat from his brow.

  Five days had passed since the warning from Jenkins, but for the school at least, it was too late.

  The children, at least some of them, seemed to have brought the flu back with them. The signs James had just finished putting up had a simple message:

  FLU PRESENT, STAY BACK.

  Over half the children were already sick. Worse, precautions had not been put in place until it was far too late to do any good. Vaughan, Maria, Fiona, and Mindy Barnes were also infected, as were two of Drake’s troopers.

  Deena and Melissa were coughing. James’ heart tightened at the thought of Melissa. He had come to love the nurse a great deal. Had even allowed himself to think about some kind of future with her.

  That was all in jeopardy now.

  According to what Jennifer had learned from the CDC, not everyone who developed the cough actually caught the flu. There was still hope for the three of them, but it was a small percentage.

  Roland was pretty much shot. Seeing Maria fall so fast into sickness had stunned the man everyone around depended on. James had quietly risen to the occasion, filling in for Roland everywhere he could. Drake and Jesse had assumed responsibility for the military aspect of Roland’s job, but there wasn’t much to do, anyway. Since they had all been exposed, they were quarantined here at the school barring the most strenuous of emergencies.

  Jennifer chafed at not being able to go into the community to treat others, but she herself had to bend to the quarantine. She’d been exposed too, after
all. The risk of carrying the infection into areas not already stricken was too great. As a result, she spent hours each day on the radio, acting through proxies to help as many as she could.

  The stress level was the highest James had seen it, including the apprehension everyone had felt waiting for the attack by the gang. At least they could prepare for the attack, and then defend themselves.

  There was no defense against this. They couldn’t fight something they couldn’t even see. There was no treatment for the flu. All Jennifer and the others could do was treat the symptoms, try to keep fevers down, and guard against pneumonia.

  James wiped his brow again and started back for the school building. He and Ralph had been working to keep things running, but it was getting harder and harder. They needed ice to combat the fever, and the school’s ice maker couldn’t always keep up. Worse, it needed to work almost continuously. This caused more than one problem.

  The power needed to run the ice machine had to come from the generator, which meant it had to run pretty much all the time, which burned fuel. The promised additional fuel couldn’t be counted on, now, with Nashville under the same quarantine they were under at the school.

  The solar rig and batteries could and did provide power to the equipment Jennifer had to use, but the batteries were usually near drained each morning. Soon, they would actually run out before sunrise. James wasn’t sure the generator would pull everything at once.

  And, sooner or later, they’d get a cloudy day, or even rain, and the batteries wouldn’t get a full charge. When that happened...

  Well, James didn’t know. He hoped he wouldn’t have to find out.

  -

  “Roland, how are you?” Maria asked weakly. “You look tired, mi amor. You should rest.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Roland smiled weakly. “Just worry about getting better. That’s all you need to think about.”

  “Roland, you know that I may not get better,” Maria chided gently. “You must accept that, mi gringo,” she added with a weak smile.

  “Don’t even think like that,” Roland said sternly. “People do recover, Maria, and you’re going to be one of them.”