by Mark Tufo
Robert finishes at about the same time as me and is walking my direction, spitting on the ground every couple of steps.
I see we still have a little ways to go on the siphoning techniques.
He has managed to fill one can and part of the other before the truck ran dry.
“Time check,” I ask, stowing the tanks, hose, and the now almost worthless duct tape.
“Ten after three,” Robert replies.
“Let’s head home then,” I say.
On the drive home, fir trees crowding the road on both sides soak up the afternoon sun. With the blue Honda showing in my rear view mirror, I think about the events at the store.
How could I have done things differently or better? Should I have just left when I thought there might be someone in there and no one answered? Should I have allowed Robert and Michelle in? How many of these things are there? What happened to everyone else?
No answers come readily to mind other than using this experience for the future. I start thinking about these ‘things’. I can’t think of any other way to put it. I think about what I have learned from the encounters, putting everything into a list-like compartment:
1.They are extremely violent in nature.
2.They seem to have a cunning aspect as ‘it’ didn’t attack immediately but waited for an advantage. I’m not sure of their cognitive ability as the food that was scattered inside was solely limited to what was in the open. The rest of the foodstuffs on the shelves were untouched. I’m not sure whether ‘it’ can use doors to go in or out. In both encounters, speech seemed limited to growls and shrieks.
3.They seem agile and strong, at least this one was. Pain did not seem to affect it as it should; it was able to turn around and attack again so quickly with a round in its leg.
4.From what I have experienced, the reports and assumptions of shying away from light seems accurate. However, I’m not sure how or in what way light affects them. One thing does seem sure, light from a flashlight doesn’t seem to affect them in the same manner as the sun, or I would have noticed the red appearance when I shined the light on the exposed skin of the corpse. My assumption is that they may be able to operate freely at night.
5.The best course of action appears to be avoidance and not drawing attention due to my limited understanding and knowledge.
I back into the driveway, wanting the Jeep faced toward the road in order to make a quick exit if needed. Leaving the keys under the seat, I notice Robert park in a similar manner and walk over.
“We’ll leave the water and stuff here. Leave the keys on the seat. I’ll bring a case of canned food in. Take Michelle, get the generator from the shed and put it by the front door,” I tell Robert. “Oh, and make sure you bring the spool of cable next to it.”
Walking to the front door with my arms wrapped around a case of chili, I see four pallets lying on the ground at the foot of the small deck in front. At the door, I notice the sun is about to touch the tops of the trees, but there is still time before it heads down behind the hills lying between here and the coast. There are a few hours of daylight left, but there are a lot of things to do and time seems short. Walking through the now open front door, I step into a house darker than when I left and the sound of hammering reverberates from the living room.
“Hey there,” I say loudly, setting the case on the kitchen counter.
“Come on in,” Mom says as the hammering stops.
“You’ve been busy,” I say, entering the living room.
Blankets cover the windows and doors. The only light in the house comes from lit candles placed throughout the rooms. Mom is standing on a step stool by the far window with a hammer in one hand and holding up the corner of a blanket across the window with her other.
“How did it go?” she asks, turning back to the task at hand.
“We picked up Michelle along with some food and water,” I answer.
Mom nods and the pounding resumes as she hammers in the last nail.
“Robert and Michelle are getting the generator, and I’ll wire it in shortly,” I say, relating the events since we left, including my assumptions and thoughts.
“Are you okay, Dad?” Nic asks, coming over to give me a hug.
“I’m fine, babe,” I say, hearing the front screen door shut.
“Done,” Robert says, emerging from the kitchen with Michelle following.
“Get the list and the four of you gather the items and put them in the vehicles where there’s room. Leave the front seat of the Jeep open,” I tell them after Robert introduces Michelle.
“And no arguing,” I add as I head back outside. This has become a ritualistic saying with all of us knowing that peace will last perhaps three minutes at best.
The next two hours are spent gathering the items necessary for the trip, wiring the generator into the house fuse box to the main fuse, breaking up the pallets, and nailing the boards across the windows and doors leaving only the front and side door clear. This will not stop anyone or anything determined to get in, but it will slow them down and give us some warning. With the generator, we will have running water and electricity. That’s the nice thing about having a well. After a dinner of chili and a few cookies from our loot, we settle in the living room.
There is a load of wood brought in from outside but the wood stove remains unlit. Robert sits in one chair, Michelle in the other. Mom, Nic, and Bri are on the couch. I take a seat on the floor against the wall near where a few bottles of water have been set. The sleeping bags we will be taking with us tomorrow are scattered throughout the room.
“We’ll have to turn off the generator in a little while. Our objective is to not to attract any attention through noise, smells, light, or movement tonight. Therefore, no fire or light, including candles, after the sun goes down. If you have to use the bathroom, wait until morning to flush. No running water. We need to make ourselves like a deep, dark hole,” I say, looking around the room at each of them. “I want to be off early tomorrow morning, but we need to keep a watch tonight. Robert, you take the first shift and I’ll take the second. Wake me at 0200.”
Robert is a night owl and I have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep, so this schedule should work out. I still don’t have a watch. Need to rectify that tomorrow.
“If something does happen tonight, we’ll form a semi-circle against the inside wall,” I say, nodding to where the water currently sits. “I have toward the kitchen and back door, Michelle, the two windows, and Robert, the side door and hallway. Mom, Nic, and Bri, you stay behind us and keep down.”
Mom gets off the couch and disappears down the hall to the back bedrooms. “I can help,” she says, returning with a six shot .32 revolver.
“Alrighty then. You back up the person who seems to need the most help. If things get too messy and we are able to, we’ll try for the Jeep and the Honda. I’ll lead, Robert in the rear. Michelle and Mom, cover the sides. Nic and Bri, you two will be in the middle. Mom, Michelle, Nic, and Robert in the Honda. Bri, you’re with me. We’ll all move to the blue car, and then Bri and I will head for the Jeep. The keys are on the seat. If we can’t get to both cars, the keys to the Jeep are under the driver’s side seat. Just pile in as best as you can from the passenger-side and we’ll sort it out down the road,” I say.
I gather duct tape, string, and empty tin cans. Rinsing the cans to get rid of the smell of food so the raccoons don’t displace them, I head outside and place pieces of gravel from the driveway in the cans. I measure lengths of string that will stretch across the stairs leading up to the front, rear, and side decks. Cutting the string, I tape it to the cans and set them on the railings with the twine across the stairs. The setup is about torso high and will give some warning should something or someone approach the doors. Making a circuit around the house, I check every window and door to make sure they are locked, and head back inside.
The rest of the evening is spent rehashing our list to see if
we have everything. We talk about the day’s events, speculate about what happened, make sure Mom has enough supplies, and cover our planned flight.
I head outside to turn the generator off. The sun sinks behind the hills bringing on that summer twilight. An orange hue shows behind and above the hills fading to a darker blue on the opposite horizon. The day’s temperature is falling to that warm, summer evening, making me think of late BBQs and friends, sitting outside feeling full, drinking beer, and watching the stars slowly appear in the night sky; the feeling of contentment and peace. A melancholy feeling settles inside thinking those days are now gone. No more. The world moves on and doesn’t seem to care. I look overhead and think about Lynn looking up at the same sky, hoping she is okay.
“I’m on my way, hon,” I breathe into the deepening twilight sky.
Chapter 121
I Hate Flu Shots
In almost total darkness, we unroll our sleeping bags in the living room that is lit only by our flashlights. There are plenty of flashlights, so we each have one that we will keep by our side. Mom is getting the couch ready for her with the remaining blankets from the spare bedrooms. The flashlights dance off the walls like lights flashing off a disco ball ─ moving, coming to rest, and moving again. Bri and Nicole climb into their sleeping bags as if they are part of a synchronized swim team. Michelle appears to be having trouble undoing one of the strings on her bag so Robert crawls over to help before resuming his position against the inside wall. I climb into mine after laying my gun on the floor by my side. It’s a lot harder climbing into a sleeping bag with your shoes still on. We are all sleeping with our clothes on and our flashlights handy. My light is the last one shining as I settle in. I switch it off and stare upward into the darkness that is now the room. I think over the day’s events before drifting off to replay the beginning…
Cape Town, South Africa—Health officials expressed concern about a new flu virus that has infected more than 1,000 people in Cape Town. The concern stems from the fact that so many have fallen ill in a short period of time.
"This situation has been developing quickly," said acting WHO director, Dr. Tom Alderson. "This is something we are worried about and could quickly escalate into epidemic proportions."
A team of World Health Organization doctors and staff are preparing to depart for the South African resort town after many reported coughs, fever, sore throat, aches and pains. Dr. Wilhelm Schoff comments that…
Oh my God! Why does the media have to be such drama queens? Everything has to be such world-ending news. Perhaps in order to keep the masses looking one direction and having to look out for themselves; part of the ‘keep the masses in order doctrine’, I thought, looking through the headline news one evening while waiting for my sweetheart to come online from the Middle East. We talked almost every night and morning, waiting for her deployment back to the States.
Cape Town, South Africa—The World Health Organization has issued an alert for South Africa for what is now being dubbed as the ‘Cape Town flu’. Medical teams from WHO are reporting more than 2,500 deaths from this new flu virus and an estimated 30,000 cases, most of which are in the Western Cape Province in which Cape Town sits.
“The majority of cases are occurring in adults between 25 and 44 years of age,” reports Dr. Wilhelm Schoff, the leading WHO official responding to this crisis. “This new strain of flu has resisted most antiviral drugs.”
Most of the reported deaths are occurring amongst the elderly, young children, and the malnourished. "I can say with one hundred percent confidence that an epidemic of this new flu strain will spread," Dr. Schoff continues to report.
Reports of outbreaks are being reported in Johannesburg and in the capital of Pretoria. Schools in the Western Cape Province have been closed…
Wow! First, there was the Hong Kong flu virus that was supposed to reduce human existence, then the Avian Flu, and the Swine flu not that long ago. Although it seems like a lot of cases, we have been here before. But that is also what happens when we hand out anti-viral drugs like they’re candy; more drug-resistant viruses come into play.
Atlanta, Georgia—The Center for Disease Control today issued a travel warning for all of South Africa...outbreaks of the Cape Town flu virus have been reported in Amsterdam, Paris, and London.
Pretoria, South Africa—The South Africa government issued a notice that all government services will be operating in an emergency capacity. The statement issued by the government in Pretoria included, “Only those services necessary for the essentials of government operations will be functional. All public schools will remain closed until this epidemic passes.”
Yeah, like I was planning to go to South Africa to begin with. I really don’t know why I continue to read this. It only enhances the reason why I stopped watching and reading the news in the first place.
It seems like the same old news, just insert different names and place in the old news and call it current, I thought, downing the rest of my coffee and getting ready to start my day.
I had just finished talking with Lynn and was getting ready to head out to run some errands before dialing into clients’ servers and doing my daily work. The kids were coming over this evening and I was looking forward to seeing them. I had a new movie for us to watch. The thought of what to do for dinner crossed my mind as I grabbed my keys and headed out of the door.
Geneva, Switzerland—The death toll directly related to the Cape Town flu has risen to over 5,000 in South Africa, reports the World Health Organization in a statement issued today. “The number of confirmed cases has climbed to over 50,000 and is really now beyond our capabilities to contain,” Dr. Wilhelm Schoff said in a press interview. “Our resources to combat this virus are stretched to the limit.”
Atlanta, Georgia-–The CDC has expanded its travel warning to include European travel. “With over 10,000 reported cases of Cape Town flu within Western Europe, we feel it is necessary to expand our scope,” reported Dr. Wendy Johnson from within the CDC. “We are continuing to focus our efforts on finding a vaccine and anti-viral drugs to combat this new deadly flu pandemic. It is only a matter of time before cases are reported within the border of the United States.”
You know, it really does seem like these outbreaks and epidemics are becoming part of normal life. It seems they are much closer together in epidemic proportions as opposed to the once usual twenty-year outbreaks. Maybe it is just a matter of time before one becomes a deadly force that sweeps over the world. I always thought that the more we messed with stuff and pressed deeper into unexplored areas of the world, the more deadly the viruses would become. And, the more we use and depend on anti-viral drugs, the less we will actually be able to combat those deadly strains.
DEATH TOLL CLIMBS
Washington DC—The death toll from the Cape Town flu continues to climb. In an unconfirmed report, the estimated death toll from this deadly virus has reached 20,000. The number of cases has climbed to an estimated 250,000 worldwide with cases being reported in almost every major country. The first cases have now been reported in Los Angeles and New York.
The House and Senate are meeting to pass emergency legislation authorizing funds for vaccine research. The expectations are…
Atlanta, Georgia—The CDC has confirmed reports of the first cases of Cape Town flu within the United States. “We have eight confirmed cases within Los Angeles and ten within New York,” reports Dr. Wendy Johnson of the CDC. “We expect this number to rise over the next few days and weeks.”
The CDC reports the symptoms to look for with the Cape Town virus are nausea, headache, sore throat, and fever. “What really makes this one different is the extremely high fever associated with the Cape Town flu,” said Dr. Johnson. “We have reported temperatures reaching 104 degrees which puts us into a danger zone. If you have any of these symptoms, please report them to your nearest medical facility at the first sign.”
I really have to stop reading this stuff, I thought, noticing Lynn had com
e online.
We talk about it some but are both under the impression that there is a fair share of media hype involved. Yes, we both think the numbers are high, and it is perhaps fairly dangerous if your immune system is not up to par. She even told me there are a few people that are getting sick and has had to pull extra shifts to cover for those who have fallen ill. More of an annoyance than a fear.
Washington DC—Both the House and Senate passed an emergency funding bill authorizing vaccine research for the deadly Cape Town virus that has truly reached pandemic proportions. The bill authorizes government health officials to use every means at their disposal to find a remedy to this threat.
Federal government health organizations have formed a coalition with seven major worldwide pharmaceutical corporations to combine efforts in order to…
Oh boy! Here we go!
Washington DC—Federal health officials issued a statement today that, with the combined efforts of the world’s major pharmaceutical corporations and government experts, that a viable vaccine has been discovered to combat the Cape Town flu virus.
“With over 100,000 confirmed deaths worldwide, and, with an estimation of that many deaths within the United States alone, this couldn’t come soon enough,” said Senator Jesse McCaffery in a statement issued by his office.
FDA approval of this vaccine within days is expected as this vaccine is expedited through the approval process…the military will be the first to receive this vaccine with it becoming available to the general public as soon as twenty-four hours later. Special clinics are now set up in locations around the world and are now only awaiting the FDA approval and arrival of the vaccine. A list of facilities can be found in your area at http://…
I am not taking this when it comes around, I think, reading the story in a fit of boredom.
I have not had a flu shot, well…since the Air Force, and I don’t plan on taking this one. The flu shots I have had generally made me more sick than the actual flu itself so no flu shot for me. These are the last thoughts I have before succumbing to sleep.