by David Bourne
When they entered the store, there were hardly and traces left of the battle that had occurred here. Instantly, the children’s eyes brightened: They had not seen so much candy in quite a while.
“Robbie, look! Tootsie Pops!” Fiona called.
Robbie ran excitedly to his sister, wanting to pick all the available flavors and stick them in his mouth at once. At that moment, his father and Scott came in from the office, where they had placed Chris on the sofa, and Ray had stayed behind with him. Robbie stopped his eager inspection of Tootsie Pop choices and gave his dad a quizzical look. Phil couldn’t help but smile and nodded approvingly at his son, “But—only one for now, young man.”
Robbie was all smiles and stuck a raspberry-flavored Tootsie Pop in his mouth and said, “Thanks, dad!”
Fiona had meanwhile picked up a large bottle of lemon-flavored soda, and Phil pondered whether he should warn his kids they might get a stomach ache if they consumed too many sweets tonight, but he decided against it. The two had experienced enough upheaval in recent days to last ten children’s lifetimes, and he didn’t want to spoil their moment of happiness. Instead, he turned toward Scott.
“We should all sleep next door, closer to Chris. That room can be guarded more easily than this store.”
Scott nodded. His stomach growled loudly again.
Phil noticed the sound. “But before that, I’ll get a decent meal for all of us. I don’t think candy and soda are enough for a big guy like you,” he said jokingly.
“Sounds good to me. In the meantime, I’ll check on the dog once more,” Scott said and grinned. On his way outside, he picked up two bags of jerky and a tow rope he had found inside the office. Then he went to the area behind the store building.
The Rottweiler appeared to recognize him and slowly wagged his tail when Scott approached the kennel. At the same time, though, the apprehensive dog still flattened his ears and did not venture out of the corner of his confines.
Scott placed the tow rope next to the kennel, but it remained to be seen whether he could actually put the dog on a leash. He squatted down in front of the kennel and opened one of the bags of jerky, immediately smelling its intensive aroma. The Rottweiler’s eyes widened once he noticed the jerky’s pungent scent.
“Come on, boy, this is for you,” Scott whispered.
The dog slowly crawled closer as Scott slowly pushed two strips of jerky into the cage. Shortly before reaching the meat, the dog stopped and tilted his head. His look was full of suspicion, as if he expected there to be some sort of a catch. A string of saliva dripped from the famished dog’s mouth, but he did not dare come closer. Scott stood up and took two steps backward. The dog slowly crept forward, and suddenly made an enormous leap and snapped up the meat in one gulp. He then quickly jumped back into the corner of the kennel. From there, the dog practically inhaled the strips of meat.
“Slowly, boy, there is more,” said Scott grinning and pushed more jerky into the kennel. The dog cautiously approached Scott, but this time, he didn’t stop and took the food back to his corner. After devouring all the meat, he came forward and gave Scott a hopeful look. Now his tail wagged from left to right, and his ears were no longer flattened.
Scott pushed more meat through the fence. The Rottweiler snapped it up and remained sitting next to Scott while eating. As the dog was chewing, Scott could see a dog tag on its collar that read “Watson.”
“Watson, hmm?” Scott murmured. The dog stopped and looked at him. Scott had to laugh when he saw the dog’s amazed and eager expression, with half a strip of jerky still hanging from his mouth. Watson didn’t understand what was so funny, but he dropped the rest of the meat, jumped around the kennel and barked. This only made it worse for Scott, who now lapsed into an uncontrollable laughing fit. Fiona and Robbie ran outside to see what was going on. Both still had a Tootsie Pop sticking in their mouth and had trouble speaking clearly.
“F—ona, jjjjjus luk,” Robbie babbled.
“’E ish sho cuuute,” his older sister said, smacking her lips.
Scott had slowly calmed down and regained composure, his stomach muscles hurting from all his spasms of laughter. In the background, Phil stood by the back door looking outside.
“May I introduce Watson?” Scott asked.
“’ello, ’atson,” Robbie slurped.
“Take the pops out of your mouth,” Phil called. Robbie and Fiona turned around and obediently removed them.
“Can we keep him?” Fiona asked.
“Oh, yes, please, please, please?” Robbie chimed in.
“We’ll decide that tomorrow. Watson has to rest and get some sleep now. And that applies to little children, too,” said Scott with a smile and pushed the rest of the jerky into the kennel. Watson snapped up the meat and looked at the four humans who returned to the store.
Arrival
In the cabin of the military truck, the driver, Private Han Tsui, turned to the leader of the construction platoon, Private First Class Chad Petersen.
“Where do you think the Master Sergeant’s son came from, Chad? All access roads to the base on this side of the river have been blocked. No one was supposed to be there—and then all this screaming coming from the forest, really creepy. There’s something they’re keeping secret from us.”
“Sorry, but I cannot tell you more. All of the roads were supposed to be blocked, otherwise there’s only forest for miles and miles around. The nearest town is far away,” Chad Petersen replied and took a pull on his cigarette. He actually knew something about the situation and wasn’t quite honest with his buddy. Petersen had been briefed to be especially vigilant before he and the other soldiers embarked on this mission which would lead them outside of Fort Weeks. The soldiers had made sure all access roads on this side of the base had been blocked—and had even taken drastic measures and blown up the bridge on the road to Augusta—but they suspected there might still be civilians in the area. The group was advised to avoid any contact with civilians and immediately report it if one occurred. This was the reason, why Private Petersen and his men were now driving back to Fort Weeks.
He had been informed that a large part of the civilian population posed a potential hazard and should not be underestimated. This was also the reason why the perimeter installations were to be expanded. To him, this all made little sense because the base was already secured with a fence all around it.
Private First Class Chad Petersen could not begin to imagine a scenario in which the civilian population became so dangerous that it represented the slightest threat to the soldiers at Fort Weeks—until now.
The outer walls and main gate of the base came into sight, as the truck entered the huge clearing where Fort Weeks had been constructed. Josh peered over the roof of the truck cabin in an attempt to see something, but in the semi-darkness of the night he was not very successful. The truck stopped at the guard house at the entrance of the base, and Tsui stuck his head out the window.
“Come on—let us in, assholes! We’re all tired, and that civvie’s A-okay. I want to get the dirt off my fatigues and finish checking out some babes giving pink in my skin mag. Who the hell knows if there’ll ever be another issue available.”
Private Billy Maddox, a good-looking brown-haired young man, approached the truck. He was currently on guard duty at the gate and one of Han Tsui’s best friends at the base. Grinning broadly, Tsui climbed out of the truck and greeted his friend with a high-five. “Hey, Mugly Maddox! You bastard! How’s it hangin’? Did you take care of business while I was away? Did anything interesting happen?”
“Well if it isn’t Han Solo himself! You know how much I hate guard duty. I’d rather be out there with you, having some real adventures— who else would watch over your ass?”
“You didn’t miss much out there this time around. When we go out on a mission next time, you can show me how shitty you are at shooting,” Tsui joked, as he tilted his head and flashed him a lop-sided grin. “So what’s up with my girlie mag? I’ve
left Miss August all alone for too long.”
“Say hi to her from me when you see her—but don’t get the pages sticky!” Maddox guffawed as he nudged Tsui. “First though, you have to get this civvie to the medical center pronto.”
“Sure thing, bud. Now let us into paradise,” Tsui said and grinned. “How’s about we kick back with a couple of cold brain grenades later, Billy?”
“Affirmative—I’ll see you when my watch is over. Welcome back home.”
They heard the sound of counterweights scraping against steel cables as the large entrance gate slowly opened outwards to reveal a view of the base’s interior. Han returned to the truck, sat down again behind the steering wheel and started the engine. The truck began rolling toward the medical center, which was located in the rear right quarter of the grounds. Like all other visitors, Josh immediately noticed the large building with a glass front as they drove in. Over the entrance there was a wide wooden sign that read:
“This we will defend.”
It was the official Army motto, and he knew this had to be the officers’ mess. Josh would have loved to run and look for his father or call out for him, but he didn’t want to get his rescuers in trouble.
Josh suspected he would have to undergo a standard examination one he saw them approaching the medical center; he would have ordered the same procedure. Private Miller cleared his throat. “Let me guess,” Josh anticipated him. “I’m supposed to get out and be tested—right?”
Miller nodded a response.
“Okay, no problem. By the way, I’m really glad I ran into you guys. Thanks again.” The young private held out his hand. No longer annoyed with him, Josh shook it and gave him a look of gratitude. Tsui stopped the truck in front of the medical center and once more stuck his head out of the window.
“This is it, sweetheart. Take care now.”
Josh thanked the soldiers again and jumped from the truck bed. I hope this won’t take too long. I have to find dad.
Night Exam
Josh walked toward the medical center. He noticed a small building adjacent to it, whose windows seemed to have been equipped with bars after they had been finished. Looks like a jail to me.
Josh shrugged his shoulders and entered the tent. It was amazingly well-equipped and would have been the envy of quite a few doctors working in provincial hospitals. Among its amenities were a wide range of medications and medical devices, and a number of cots that were arranged in rows so that in a pinch up to about fifty in-patients could find room here and be treated. There even were some patients lying on cots further in the back. A few were asleep, while others were reading. A middle-aged female doctor seemed to be the only medically trained person available right now—apart from Josh himself. She was facing the other way and was handling some gauze bandages on a metal table. Her hair was tied up in a severe bun, though some grey strands were trying to escape from the fastener holding everything else in place.
“Be there in a minute,” she mumbled. Josh could hardly hear her, but he decided to sit on an examination table. She rummaged around and continued to mutter something that Josh didn’t understand either, though he had to smile. This lady seemed to be very feisty. He looked at his dirty shoes, let them hang over the edge of the exam table and out of boredom, knocked them together to shake off some of the dirt.
“Could you please stop doing that?” the female doctor said in an angry voice and turned toward him. Josh was looking down at the floor and had barely noticed her sudden outburst. When he heard a metal tray fall clanging to the floor, he was startled, raised his head and looked into her eyes.
He was surprised to see his very own mother, Dr. Margaret Pelletier, standing there before him. Both of them stared at each other in shock for several seconds without uttering a single word. Margaret was holding up her hands, frozen in place as if she were still carrying the silver-colored tray that she had dropped. Josh’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, resembling a goldfish gasping for air. The last time he had looked like this was when he received the formal letter announcing that he had been accepted into medical school. His mother was the first one to speak.
“Joshua?” At first she uttered his name as if she could not believe it. “My God! How wonderful! My boy! My boy!” she cried aloud. Then the usually reserved Margaret Pelletier could no longer control herself, and she raced toward her son and embraced him. She held him in a tight grip that any wrestler would have been proud of. Josh slowly began to understand what had just happened, but he couldn’t yet bring himself to say anything but “mom.” So instead, he just hugged her back, and tears began gushing from his eyes in a flood of emotion. Both mother and son stood for several minutes, holding each other and crying tears of joy. The fear of having to face his father slowly gave way to a profound sense of relief, and Josh couldn’t remember ever having been hugged like this by his mother, let alone seeing her shed tears. The words of Doc Stevenson echoed in his ears. “Don’t be so mean to your mom. She means well.” The doc was right—I was an idiot.
After a while they finally let go of each other, although Margaret still grasped her son’s shoulders. She had to choke back a sob as she began, “I was so scared for you.”
With every word, she had to fight back more tears. Josh could not control his feelings and emotions, either. Right now, God had forgiven the biggest mistake he had made up to this point in his life. He still had not faced the question what he should do as a penance if something had happened to his mother because of him, but fortunately now he didn’t have to this. He had gained precious time to spend with his mother, in spite of all the horrendous events that had occurred up until now. He silently swore to himself to appreciate this opportunity better than he did last time.
“Mom, how did you get here? I looked for you in the hospital but I couldn’t find you,” Josh lied. Margaret beamed at him. Only then did she realize her son had asked her a question.
“My shift was over and I wanted to get home. I waited for the members of my carpool in the hospital parking lot, but nobody came. After a while, I decided to drive home alone. There was nothing unusual on the way there, Josh. All that madness had not happened yet. I read a letter your father had left for us, asking us to come here. I first thought it was bad joke, but then I turned on the TV. There was looting in Boston–rampage in New York–Chicago suffering from an outbreak of a disease on the scale of Ebola. I gradually realized that something unusual was happening. Furthermore, your father does not indulge in careless exaggeration, so I did not hesitate. I went to the car and wanted to drive back to the hospital, but the roads were already blocked with cars and people...” She stopped her story and had a hard time retaining her composure.
Josh hugged his mother again and comforted her. He didn’t like playing the role of the victim in her story.
“It’s okay, mom. I had similar experiences.” He told her what had happened to him, but embellished his story with a detailed description of how he had searched for her in the hospital. Right now, that did not matter to her, as she was so happy to have her son back. When she had calmed down, she continued her story.
“Then I drove directly to the base. I had hoped you would have made it, too, but you weren’t here. Your father sent out soldiers to get an idea of what was going on. So many people all wanted something from him, all at the same time. There were a lot of deserters, and many of the soldiers fell victim to the virus. Nobody knew what had happened to their loved ones. We were so worried about you.” She glanced at the floor. Josh looked straight at her.
“It’s okay, mom. I understand. I’m not blaming anyone.” Josh exhaled deeply and moved to sit on a nearby couch. His mother gave him a worried look.
“Did you have any contact with these things?” she asked nervously.
“I did, but they didn’t injure me.”
“Thank God!” She sat down on a couch across from his and took a long breath.
“Your father will want to see you. You better go to him rig
ht away,” Margaret said.
“I’ll do that because I have something important to tell him. I’ll come back later, okay?”
“Sure. He should be in the officers’ mess. If the guards stop you, just tell them who you are.”
Josh gave his mother one more firm hug and then went on his way. After he left the medical center, he placed his hands on his hips, closed his eyes and turned his face upwards. A cloud moved past the brightly shining moon, revealing some light in the night. I hope that’s not the only ray of light, Josh thought.
A Feast
Phil managed to assemble a decent dinner from the readily-available supplies in the store. There were sandwiches from the refrigerated section, as well as beef jerky, and plenty of water and juice to drink. Scott practically wolfed down every morsel of his portion of food, and also brewed hot coffee from the coffee maker in the office to wash it all down with. Chris was still lying unconscious on the sofa, while Ray didn’t bother to eat anything.
“I’m starting to get worried about Chris,” Phil said. “If he doesn’t regain consciousness soon, we’ll have to think of something.”
“He suffered quite a nasty fall. I just hope he has no internal injuries. But whatever it is, he needs to be taken to a doctor. I hope they can help him in Fort Weeks,” Scott said. “What do you think, Ray?”
Ray stared absent-mindedly into the darkness inside the store, which was only interrupted by the gas station’s bright exterior lighting. He slowly turned his head in Scott’s direction. “I think I got to go pee—pretty urgently.” Then he strolled outside.
Phil shook his head. “How long is this supposed to go on?”
“I’ll talk to him. Lie down with the kids, and Ray and I will take over guard duty,” Scott said. “Then hopefully we’ll reach Fort Weeks tomorrow. We’ll see what happens then.”