by S. B. Poe
She guided the cart straight to aisle 7. That was where they kept the bread. She got halfway down the aisle before she realized that while they kept bread on aisle 7, they did not keep oyster crackers on aisle 7. She walked back down the aisle and scanned the overhead signs for crackers. Aisle 4. Away she went. She found oyster crackers and threw two bags into her cart.
“Really? That’s what we came for? Oyster crackers.” Scott asked
“Your father likes them with chili. So yes.” Kate defiantly stated.
She walked down the aisle absently adding cans that were on sale to her cart.
“Does dad really like this stuff too?” Scott asked sarcastically
“No, I just wanted to pick up a few things while we are here.” Kate said.
Her mind was starting to tick off a list of things that for some reason Kate felt like she really needed. She went to the water aisle and grabbed two cases, ignoring her strong urge to grab more. She grabbed some rice and dry beans. She had grabbed a decent stock of canned goods but she wanted to add to it. As she turned down the aisle she saw an older woman. Their eyes met and Kate realized that the woman had the same sort of list running through her head. Kate stopped and looked around.
“We need to leave now.” Kate whispered to Scott.
“Yeah, there is kind of a weird vibe in here.” Scott agreed.
They casually went to the registers and starting checking out. Kate looked at the young man checking her out and smiled. He smiled back. She could see it in his eyes too. Everybody is wondering if they should just panic and hoping someone doesn’t step over the edge first. Kate and Scott pushed their cart, now all bagged up, out to their SUV. As they pulled away, Kate noticed the parking lot had filled up.
As they turned back into their neighborhood, she noticed that the deputy was gone. They drove home. They walked into the kitchen and unloaded their stuff. Kate started getting things together for making the chili and reached over and flipped on the TV so she could hear the news.
JW reached down and started changing the radio in Josh’s SUV.
“What are you doing, I like that song.” Josh said.
“Just gonna try and catch a little bit of news” JW said landing on the station he wanted.
***
“The White House briefing is expected to begin in just a few minutes. We expect them to address the confirmed case of Marionette virus in New York and to also address the level of concern that is coming out of other parts of the world as this strange infection spreads. There are reports of almost unbelievable atrocities coming out of Africa and Australia. Mr. Martin, the White House Spokesperson is briefing now.
‘Good morning, today we are going to try and answer your questions. The Surgeon General will be speaking here in a moment and will bring you up to speed with what is happening and the latest information about the virus from the CDC. But first let me start with a statement from the White House.
President Wilson has been fully apprised of the situation in Madagascar and has directed the NSC to gather as much human intelligence as possible in Africa and Australia. We are at this moment putting eyes on the ground. President Wilson was forced to dismiss the head of the CIA and the Secretary of Defense this morning because of their failure to have proper oversight of intelligence sources during this outbreak. He views that lack of control as a dereliction of duty on the part of those entrusted to provide our security. President Wilson has named Asst SecDef Johnson as acting SecDef and has nominated Senator Umbridge from Tennessee as the next head of the CIA. Since congress is not in session President Wilson has used his executive authority to appoint Umbridge as acting director effective immediately. The President has entrusted the Surgeon General as coordinating authority in all efforts related to the containment of the Marionette virus. The President has great faith in Surgeon General Camer to ensure that the American people continue to remain safe from harm.’ That concludes the statement. Surgeon General Camer” he motions to a uniformed man standing next to him.
***
Camer was a former doctor at Walter Reed. He had been the right doctor to the right people. He wasn’t a bad doctor. He was actually pretty good but this position was supposed to be mostly ceremonial without any real authority. The President had just changed that and now the nation was waiting hear what the man who was now supposed to fix this had to say.
***
“Good morning. Let me begin with New York City. Yesterday afternoon there was a reported case of Marionette virus in an apartment complex on Long Island. The supposed infected patient was a newly arrived visitor from France here with his wife to visit their daughter and grandchild. They arrived yesterday and he began showing symptoms this morning. His family had found him unresponsive and called 911 assuming he had suffered a heart attack. When paramedics arrived they reported that the patient had resumed respiration but was unresponsive to stimuli. That was the last report from the paramedic unit. The apartment complex has been quarantined and the residents are being told to shelter in place. We are attempting to gather more information about the travels of the couple prior to their arrival and we are also attempting to contact anyone who was on their flight from France. Thus far those contacted have shown no sign of infection. We are classifying this as a potential pandemic as we expect this to become more widespread. We do not have mortality rates yet but we believe they are higher than we would like to see. We are continuing to develop information about this virus and we will continue to update the American people. At this time we are advising all businesses to consider skeleton crews and for most people to remain close to their homes unless immediate needs arise. The US government will remain staffed but we are declaring that all non-essential personnel to be furloughed until further notice. We will remain vigilante. Questions?”
***
“Shit” JW said under his breath turning down the radio. “I think we need to skip the burger and head on home.” He called Kate.
Kate had just started browning the meat when her phone rang.
“Where are you?” Kate sounded strained.
“We should be there in about thirty minutes. I left my truck, I’ll tell you all about it when we get home. How are you doing?”
“I am better now, I just wish you were here” Kate did not sound relaxed.
“Be there soon, love ya” JW hit the end button and started flipping through his contacts again.
Kate walked into the living room and turned the sound down on the TV. The images were jumping between street cameras and phone video interrupted briefly by one talking head after another.
Bridger was stubbing out his fourth cigarette and lighting his fifth. He had spent the last twenty minutes on the phone with the newly promoted deputy post commander at Ft. Bragg, who just happened to be his last commanding officer in the 82nd Airborne when Bridger was finishing out his contract. Colonel Eckerd, oops, General Eckerd had told him just about the same thing he heard in the last three calls he placed. Nobody knew anything for sure except that there were places they were talking to a few hours ago that they couldn’t talk to now. There are whole parts of nations just going dark. They are trying to figure out if they are having communications issues or lost power or just what the hell was going on. The conversations all told him one thing for sure. There was a lot of confusion about exactly what was happening.
He stood there smoking and thinking. Downtown Nashville is a beautiful place. It invites people to stroll the streets and wander down by the river. He was about a block from Broadway and he wondered if going into a bar at 9:30 in the morning and having a couple of shots would raise any eyebrows. He started walking.
The morning was in full swing and some folks were standing outside out their workplaces enjoying the morning sun. The day was warming up nicely from a cool start. It was the first really cool morning that had a good north wind with it. The blustery air made folks stand a little bit closer to the buildings and he was able to navigate the sidewalks without too much interference.
He made a right hand turn away from the river he had been strolling beside and started up Broadway. He turned right again into The Oasis. The guy behind the bar looked back over his shoulder away from the TV that he and the rest of the folks in the bar were watching and asked Bridger,
“What can I get for ya?”
“Too early for tequila?”
“Hell no man, according to the TV, right now seems like the perfect time for tequila!”
“Serve it up.” He said as he sat down at the bar.
The other folks there appeared to be the live act that played the day shift. A guy from Georgia, another from South Carolina and the singer trekked all the way from California and looked like he wanted to be the new Garth Owens or somebody, Bridger didn’t really get country music. He was listening to them discuss the news. One said he read online that if you get infected you start trying to eat other people. Another one said the brain shuts down and people just wonder around. What was obvious to Bridger was that nobody here really knew what was going on. He wondered if that was true everywhere. He looked up at the newscast. His phone rang.
“JW, I am amazed at your timing,” he said
“What do you mean?” JW said as he sat in the passenger seat of Josh’s SUV.
“Well I was just wondering if anybody knew what was going on, and you call.”
“You have got to be kidding, tell me you know something about this. How bad is this going to be?” JW starred out the window, beginning to get a nervous feeling in his gut.
“JW, I have talked to several people including Mike Eckerd, he’s deputy Post CO at Bragg now, and they all tell me the same thing. They don’t know shit, but they all paint the same picture. Area reports infection, area urgently calls for help, and area goes dark. And it all happens within hours. I don’t KNOW what this is but it doesn’t matter at this point. If this thing gets going, it doesn’t stop. I am about one drink away from getting in my car and coming down to hook up with you.” Bridger was almost sure he had made that decision already.
“We’ll have that drink together, when you get here,” JW said, wishing the drive from Nashville to South Springs was a lot less than five hours.
“JW, I am serious. I am about to get in my car, stop by my house, get my big bag of guns, my bulk box of ramen and my secret spy compass I got in my cereal box and head your way.” Now Bridger knew he had the makings of a plan.
“I’ll keep the beer cold.” JW said.
“Brother I am on my way” Bridger downed his drink and stood up.
“Folks y’all have a great day” he exited the bar and headed back the way he came.
When he got to his townhouse he changed out of his suit and put on some jeans and a shirt. He started to head to kitchen to see what kind of supplies he had because he did not intend to stop on his trip. Was he really going to do this? Load up and head south to see a guy he hadn’t spoken to in years just because they happen to be both nervous about the same thing. If it were anybody other than JW Toles the answer would be obvious. Since it was JW, the answer was pretty obvious too. He started pulling cans off the shelf.
Josh and JW had about five miles to go, they came to the main intersection on 44. If they turned left they would find themselves headed to the highway and the big bridge over the river. Continuing straight would take them across the river on the old two-lane bridge and on down 44 to the turn into their neighborhood. Josh went straight. When they crossed the bridge JW briefly came out of his thoughts to notice Kate’s school. It looked all nice and neat. The buses parked in the parking lot all lined up just waiting to bring the kids back. All the playground equipment stood perfectly still, anticipating the end of the fall break. JW went back to thinking.
Kate opened the pantry and grabbed the beans. She was headed to the fridge to get the tomatoes when Scott yelled out.
“Mom, come in here, now!”
Kate went into Scott’s room and he had a live stream running on his main viewer. It was chaos. People running. There were people down on the ground and people leaning over them, a lot of people leaning over them.
“I don’t want to see anymore of this stuff from Spain Scott” Kate said turning back
“Mom, that’s Atlanta!”
Kate stopped.
JW and Josh turned into the driveway. As they pulled into the garage JW got out and looked back down the driveway. Standing on the front porch across the street was Evelyn Collins. Evelyn was the only other person still living in the cul-de-sac that was here when JW and Kate moved in. There were five houses in the cul-de-sac and four of them had been bought during the downturn. One was JW’s but the other three had been speculators who sold them at the first chance they got to make a profit. Since then they had been bought and sold a few more times. Evelyn and Max Collins had been living here when JW and Kate moved in. Right now two houses were for sale and empty, the latest just two weeks ago when Ray and Margie Dockery moved out and headed to Ray’s new job in Huntsville. The other one, Joe Strong’s house, had been empty for about three years. Which leads back to Evelyn Collins, sort of. Evelyn was a year or two younger than JW but she carried herself like she was much older. She was a widow. A young widow by most standards. Her husband, Max, had died in a freak hunting accident. He and Joe Strong had gone duck hunting with a few other guys. Somehow Max fell out of the boat and his waders filled up with water. He drowned. Joe had told JW once that when Max went in the water his waders got so heavy they couldn’t pull him out. Joe said they got him within an inch of the surface and he could see Max desperately trying to reach his neck out to get his mouth above water, but he couldn’t. Joe said he watched the light go out right there one inch below the surface. Joe had moved out about three months later and his house still sat empty. JW wondered if Evelyn had ever heard that part. It wasn’t something you brought up on a casual hello at the mailbox. The only other neighbor on the street was Carlos and Rosita Menendez. They had been living here about three years. Carlos was a professor at the University and Rosita was a pediatric nurse. They had left two days earlier heading to Disney with their son and his family. So for right now Evelyn and the Toles were the only people in the cul-de-sac.
Bridger was a firm believer in the 2nd Amendment. He actually did have a big bag of guns. He decided in his mind that he was going to fully commit to this being a full-blown Armageddon event and he was going to be armed to the teeth. If it turned out to be a false alarm, oh well. It was always fun to get all his guns out. He loaded the bag into the trunk of his car. He carried his Glock 19 on his hip and he had a Sig stuffed into the glove box. He loaded a backpack with a days worth of food and water into the passenger seat and he put a box with more supplies in the back seat. He knew he would stop and get gas at the station right down from the house. He was ready to go. He walked back inside to see if there was anything else he needed. Bridger never married. Never had kids. Never wanted to. For times just like this.
“Nope, got everything I need.” He locked the door, chuckled, and got in his car.
He pulled into the gas station. There were several cars getting gas and he put his credit card in the terminal to start his pump. As he stood there pumping he looked around. He made eye contact with a few of the other patrons and he saw a look he had seen before. Whenever they were in some shithole village in some shithole country and the bad guys were planning an attack, word would begin to spread through the town. Usually the moments before an attack, the locals would have this look. Anticipation of annihilation is what JW had called it. Bridger was seeing that look right now.
An explosion broke through the sky. It wasn’t close enough for him to fear the effects but it was close enough that he felt them. His body vibrated and his ears registered the pressure change. He brought his shoulder up around his neck and bent his knees. The sky darkened with a smoke cloud to his north towards the river. He had put 11 gallons into his tank. Bridger decided that was exactly enough. He dropped the nozzle back into the slot and pulled away without getting a r
eceipt. He processed the quickest route south and turned left then right then left again. He was trying not to act like he was running for his life, but there was a nagging feeling up the back of his neck that he needed to go faster. He made a right and headed for the on ramp to I-65 south. He didn’t see the man until he had made contact with him. The guy just (fell?) walked right in front of him as he went under the bridge. He slammed on the brakes. He jumped out. What he expected to see was someone broken to bits with bones sticking out everywhere, which is what he saw. What he didn’t expect was to see him trying to get back up.
“Hey, hey stop. Sit back down. Let me help.” Bridger said, “ I am so sorry, I didn’t see you”.
But the man just continued to try and stand. Both his legs were broken below the knee, typical in a car strike. The right leg had broken cleanly and was only partially attached; the bones were sticking out, just like the bones of his wrist. He kept trying to swing his leg back under him and every time he did the foot and ankle swung awkwardly away. He would fall forward bracing himself on the bones sticking out of his wrist. He never cried out in pain or said a word. The asphalt had torn his face and his nose was gone. A flap of skin that had torn off his forehead covered one eye and the whole right side of his face was a streak of blood and skin. His left eye settled on Bridger. He was dumbstruck. The good eye, well better eye, was opaque. He could tell that it was looking at him. He saw the expression of the man’s face change when the eye settled on him. It turned angry. The man (thing) doubled his effort to stand. Bridger stopped. He stood there for a second processing what he was seeing. He squinted and turned his head sideways.
“Was this it? Is this Marionette? Here, right here.” He decided he would get in his car and dial 911 and wait for an ambulance. He hit send. No service. He hit send again. No service. The man outside was now unable to do anything more than just drag himself on his stumps and was dragging as hard as he could, blood trailing behind. His better eye never leaving Bridger.