“Well?” Mike asked. “What did you find?”
“We’ll get to that. But how is Street?” John asked anxiously.
“He’s great!” Angel replied. “He’s still locked up; but it’s been almost six days, and there’s no sign of infection from either the wound itself, or the bite!”
“That’s awesome!” Steve said. “That means he’s probably in the clear, right? I mean, based on everything we know.”
“Yes, I think so,” Angel replied. “But we’ll keep him locked up for a few more days. The guy is pretty pissy about it all, but I keep him company for as long as I can stand him each day.”
The group laughed.
“So, tell us about the farms,” Jonas said, redirecting the conversation.
“We visited all seven farms Shift had recorded. Every animal was dead at six of them. But we don’t know whether those were the animals that had already died before you guys got there,” John said, looking at Angel, “or whether they were the ones you vaccinated.”
“The bodies were all stripped clean. Just skin hanging onto bones,” Steve added. “So, unless the animals you inoculated left, they’re dead.”
“What about the other farm?” Marilyn asked.
“They were thriving!” Steve replied, a broad smile lighting his face. “It was the farm farthest away from any other human or animal population center. So, likely, AE arrived there, if at all, much later because there was so little contact with the outside world.”
“Yeah, it was like AE was never even there,” Jon added, attempting to insert himself into the adult conversation. “I mean, there were cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, horses. There was even a couple of llamas!”
“I forgot that it was you who took care of the animals in Cabo Rojo,” Angel said, acknowledging Jon’s input. “You may inherit yourself a farm, if you’re not careful,” she added, smiling.
The others laughed.
“How were the animals eating and drinking?” Marilyn asked. “Well, mostly, I wonder what the chickens and pigs ate. I get all the others.”
“The chickens were all in a barn . . .” John began.
“Yeah, we put the chickens in the barn,” Angel said. “And dumped the chicken feed all over the ground. We didn’t know how long we’d be gone, but they had plenty, obviously, or they’d all be dead. And we put the pigs in the field with the orchard. There were lots of young trees there with fruit starting to grow low on the branches. We assumed that they may be very hungry for a while, but when the fruit matured, that might feed them. I guess we were right.”
“Well, it’s good that you found them before winter set in,” Marilyn said. “What would they have eaten? What would any of them have eaten when the snow fell?”
“They would have died,” John replied.
“Then I’m glad we made it home in time,” Jonas said.
The news was good. They would have meat. Now they hoped they could live long enough to enjoy it.
November 26—Near Juneau, Alaska
“Is this the right place?” Anta asked as they approached the cabin high in the snow-packed mountains, several kilometers east of Juneau.
“Well, it’s the coordinates they gave us; and unless the Net’s gone on the fritz, this has to be the place,” Hasani replied, shivering even with the heater going in the hover. It wasn’t usually quite so cold in November this far south. The windows were fogged and hard to see through, but the GPS coordinates brought them to this location. Having never been here before, that was all they had to rely on.
“Let’s go knock,” Shift said. “That’ll probably scare the crap out of them.”
“You two go ahead,” replied Hasani. “I’m afraid if I let the hover shut down, we may not get it started again.”
“Good idea Hasani. We’ll try to be quick.”
Marcus and Lin knew the group had landed in Florida. A post to the IIA Database confirmed the same. When Shift had asked for their address, it seemed kind of funny. Like friends were just coming for a visit and needed directions.
What Marcus and Lin didn’t know, was that anyone was coming so soon. They had expected someone to show up to inoculate them at some point, but nobody had said when that would occur, because nobody knew how long it would take to get to Juneau and cellular communication systems were down.
Shift and Anta struggled along a slight depression in the snow that appeared to be a winding path, toward the front of a small, modern cabin tucked into the trees and half-covered by snow drifts. The cabin was constructed of dark brown, faux wood. Three large windows looked to the west over a small, wooded valley.
A picnic table was mostly buried under snow on the side of the cabin next to a small shed probably containing landscaping or gardening tools. From that table, its occupants would have had a beautiful view of the sea in the distance, but not on this day. A stiff breeze flowed through the bare trees, causing them to sway back and forth over their heads, and a dark sky above threatened more snow.
Shift raised his hand and gently rapped at the half-exposed door.
Shuffling sounds could be heard from inside. Something banged against the floor; perhaps a chair being knocked over.
“Startled them all right,” Shift said with a smile.
After a few moments of silence, Anta began to feel a little guilty. “I’m going to call them. This isn’t very nice.”
Shift nodded.
“Hello in there! Marcus, Lin. It’s us, Shift, Anta and Hasani, from the moon.”
More noises, but this time the noises were less muffled and came toward the door.
“Who is it?” a female voice called out.
“Shift, Anta and Hasani, from the moon,” Shift called out, laughing. “We’ve come to rescue you!” Anta joined his laughter. This was a joyous occasion, and Marcus’ and Lin’s trepidation would only last a few more moments.
A few seconds later, a male voice called out, “Can you prove it?”
“Um, not really,” Shift replied. “What do you propose as proof?”
“I’m not sure really,” said the man behind the door. “Maybe you could tell me what technology we used to dissipate the hurricane. Hasani asked me some questions about it through the database.”
“Hasani is back at the hover, keeping it from freezing,” Anta replied. “But he told me it was WDD, right? Wind dispersion and diffusion.”
“That’s right. Do you have the vaccine with you?” the male voice asked, getting right down to business.
“Yes, so it’s safe to open the door,” Anta replied.
“What about the Anthrax E? How do we keep from being contaminated?”
“Not a problem. If you receive the injection within the 24- to 30-hour incubation period, there’s no risk of contracting the disease.”
The door hinges creaked as the door was pulled slowly open from the inside. Snow cascaded into the cabin from the drift. Two faces, healthy but nervous, looked out from the darkened room into the daylight outside. The faces on the outside were beaming as the two faces from the inside revealed that they were connected to heads and bodies, now crossing the threshold into the suffused light from the overcast sky.
Marcus and Lin hadn’t been outside in a very long time, and they had kept the drapes closed most of the time, fearing that the monsters that had roamed down in Juneau might come around and see them. As their eyes adjusted to the natural light, they backed up to allow Anta and Shift to lumber into the cabin, stomping snow off their boots and wiping it from their clothing. Marcus and Lin were quickly wrapped in hugs from the two strangers, saviors really.
“I can’t believe you’re really here!” Lin said excitedly as the crush of hugs began to lighten.
“I really believed this day would never come,” Marcus added. “We are so glad to see you. How many doses do you have with you?”
Anta wondered at Marcus’ question, but she let the thought slip away as Shift spoke.
“Enough for the two of you,” Shift said as he pulled a sm
all rubber pouch from the pack on his back. “Time to inoculate! I hope you’re ready!”
“Oh yes, we’re ready. So very, very ready,” Lin replied, rolling up her sleeve. Then she walked back into the small cabin, leaving the path clear for the others to follow.
“We should close the door,” added Marcus, with a laugh as he looked at the pile of snow in the doorway. “And let’s eat. You guys look like you could use a rest. But let’s get this over with first,” he added, pulling up the sleeve of his t-shirt.
“Yes to everything,” Shift replied. “But Hasani is still in the hover . . .”
“Oh, yes. We can solve that little problem. But I don’t really want to go out there without the shot first.”
“I don’t blame you,” Shift replied. “Come sit down.”
After Marcus and Lin had received injections, Marcus walked back to the front door and picked up a long cable and some equipment on the floor. “It’s a little old-fashioned, but it still works.”
“What is it?” asked Anta.
“It’s a portable electric engine warmer,” Lin responded as Marcus handed the equipment to Shift and went for his winter gear. “They’ve been used, in one form or another, for a couple hundred years in Alaska.”
After pulling his winter coat and gloves on, Marcus took the heater from Shift and headed out the door with Shift trailing him. They soon returned with Hasani, all three laughing at something that was said, to find the snow cleared from immediately in front of the doorway, with a rough slope cut for access. They entered the cabin to find the women warming water on the stove and setting food out on the table.
The small group shared a pleasant, simple meal. Both groups shared their stories. They all laughed, and cried. Finally, several hours later, Marcus and Lin showed the others to the spare bedrooms. Neither Marcus nor Lin could sleep. Tomorrow, they would be leaving this temporary home and traveling into the world. For the first time, they would see, first-hand, the extent of the damage caused by AE.
After Lin finally dosed off, well past midnight, Marcus opened the com port on his watch.
“They’re here,” he typed. “We’ll be leaving in the morning.”
“How many doses do they have with them?” he read in response.
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t say.”
“Then stay close to them.”
November 30—Cape Canaveral, Florida
“It’s so good to see you again,” Neirioui said quietly to Hasani after most everyone else had gone to their respective beds for the night. “Those people seem very nice.”
“Yes. We’re lucky to be part of such a wonderful collection of people, aren’t we?” Hasani replied.
She scooted closer to Hasani and slipped her hand into his. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a very long time,” she said as she leaned closer and parted her lips.
Hasani closed the gap and their lips met for the first time.
March 25, 2094—Athol, Massachusetts
“Get those damned animals into that train!” Street yelled above the cacophony of noise surrounding the men.
“I’m trying,” John yelled back. “Shift, you gonna help, or what?”
“Dude, I’ve only got two hands man. This little prodder thing isn’t working.”
“Gentlemen,” Jon Porter yelled over the noise, “this isn’t really that hard. For guys that outlived AE and the Skins, you three are such wimps.”
Jon smiled as the three men laughed and tried a little harder. The day was bright and beautiful, if not a little chilly. But the fresh air of the countryside, away from the smells of the corpses that littered the cities and towns, was wonderful. Jon tucked his chin into the top of his coat to keep it warm as he moved from side to side, herding the animals.
Six weeks earlier, the group left Florida and traveled by hover to the one farm in Massachusetts where John, Steve and Jon had located the previously-inoculated and living farm animals. Various members of the group had traveled to and from the farm in the two and half months since the discovery. Now, they were all living there, tending to the animals. But there wasn’t enough room.
A decision had been made to move their plantation from Massachusetts to Boise, Idaho. They wanted to be closer to the California coast, in farm country with plenty of water and room to grow. Since that time, a couple different plans had been made, then scratched, for transporting the cows across the country. The best plan, the one they were currently attempting, was to just remove the seats from a mag train and push all the cows on board. Sure, the train would be ruined, but there wasn’t really much use for it these days. They would come back for the other animals later.
The real problem had been herding the animals the nine miles from Queen Lake to the station in Athol. Street, Shift, John, Jon and Suvan had taken on the assignment. The others were already on their way to Boise to find a permanent home. Dr. Jonas Sampson had been to Boise for business a couple dozen times—mostly to lecture at Boise State University. So, he knew the area a little. Well, he knew where the best bars were; or at least, where they had been.
“So, are we going to make it today, or what?” Jon called out.
“You’re such a hardass,” Suvan said, smiling, as she watched Jon lecture the grown men.
“Well, I’ve got to be with these clowns, don’t I?”
March 25—Boise, Idaho
“Okay boss, where do we start?” Hasani asked Jonas as they pulled up to a service station at the eastern edge of Boise, not far from the Boise International Airport.
Like almost every other town and city across the northern United States through which they had traveled, Boise’s infrastructure was largely intact, and its buildings whole. But AE had consumed the human population and most of the animals too. The Skins had probably caused their fair share of chaos in Boise too.
In every town, the evidence of death was visible in the homes and buildings they passed. Dry bones were strewn across lawns and parking lots, and rotting clothing and trash was pressed against walls and fences where the wind had left it. Boise was no different.
“Well, I know there’s good farmland on the other side of town,” Jonas said. “A place called Sunny Slope. That’s where I want to go, just to check it out. If it isn’t any good, there are a few small towns up in the hills above Boise, but they probably get more snow than we’d like in the winter.”
“Sunny Slope sounds like a nice place,” Neirioui said.
“It certainly was a nice place before AE. Some of the students and faculty from Boise State would go fishing on the Snake River that runs right along the base of the hills. I joined them a couple times. It was a peaceful little place. The suburbs hadn’t expanded that far when I was there last. If that’s still the case, Sunny Slope promises to be a pretty great place!”
“Off we go then,” Hasani replied.
March 26—Boise, Idaho
“How are we supposed to get to this place?” Shift asked. “We’re not herders you know.”
“That’s what I hear,” Anta replied, her voice betraying the smile on her face.
Shift and Anta were talking on a telephone—a land line connected to a small, old café in Boise. When Anta and the others had arrived at Sunny Slope, Mike found a farmhouse with the landline still connected, then traced the line digitally up the network until he located the phone numbers of both the farmhouse and the café where Shift and the others were waiting, near the train station.
Anta had sent Shift an old-fashioned email yesterday morning, which Shift received on an old smartphone connected to the wifi at the train station in Athol. Even though cellular communications were down, the Net was working just fine for now, and so was wifi, at least in some places.
“You’ve got to take the train out to a place called Caldwell. From there, it’s about a 10-mile trek across mostly farmland. If you stay on the paved roads, the traveling should be much easier.”
“Can you send some people out to help us herd? Getting these stupid animals
to the train in Athol was no picnic.”
“Sure, we can be there in 10 minutes. How much time do you need?”
“I don’t know. Give us 45. Thanks babe!”
March 26, later—Sunny Slope, Idaho
“This will definitely work,” Shift said as he gazed out over the grassy farmland that gently sloped down to the Snake River. He and Anta were standing on top of a small rocky bluff that overlooked the river, watching the sun set in the west. An iron cross was planted firmly in concrete at the top of the rise next to them. It was rusted and dented, but still held firm. A plaque called the hill “Lizard Butte”. A diminutive engraving at the bottom of the plaque, attributed to someone whose name had been scratched out, said: “Your destination is where your next journey begins.”
On the land all around the hill, apple, pear, cherry, apricot and peach trees were choked with the first blossoms of spring. Farms with large gardens that needed tending were dotted sporadically along the sides of the few dirt roads leading off the main highway through town. White picket fences and rock walls encircled vast patches of grassy grazing land, just now beginning to green in the warmth of the spring sun. The river was wide, filled to the brim with the run-off from winter snows from as far away as Two Oceans Plateau in western Wyoming, a distance of more than 400 miles.
Across the river to the southwest, the small town of Marsing, with its various shops and stores, looked like a dream in the dying light. While it had never been a large or wealthy town, recent gold strikes in the Owyhee mountain range to the south of town had led to several beautification measures and the construction of several boutique hotels and posh homes throughout the area. They would need to visit the town soon to see what supplies remained. Less than a mile away, it would probably become the center of their new home.
Tomorrow We Rise (The Killing Sands Book 2) Page 29