“Mac’s been our historian and I’m not big on rehash,” said Jack. “He keeps a journal. I’ll leave it to him; besides, it’s well after dark and time for the first watch.” He abruptly rose and left the room without apology.
Mac was reluctant to interrupt the fun to say so, but thought Jack’s conduct had been rude. Testing Hirsh’s fortitude, he asked, “Do you want it quick or blow by blow?”
“We’ve got the whole evening. I hope you have a better understanding of what happened than I. So, I apologize in advance for breaking the party mood, but I must to come to grips with this… calamity… for the sake of my own sanity.”
“Hirsh, I can tell you for sure that I have no special insight. We’ve all considered what happened, but you’ll have to draw your own conclusions.”
“Of course… that’s all I can ask.”
“As a nurse, Judy can better describe the pathology if that’s what you wish.”
“Later, perhaps… thanks,” said Hirsh.
“Then if you want the full boat, I’ll start with my trip to Nome for a back country fishing trip with Abel, where I got my first hint of trouble. Some of you others haven’t heard the beginning of my journal.”
Mac’s story began with three weeks in the wilderness on the Pilgrim River away from all contact with home and the news. He described Abel’s grandfather, his return to the Nugget, the shocking reports, the insane flight, and all the events since that day. He didn’t spare any of the graphic reality. He concluded with the decision to settle into a resort at Lake Louise.
“Hirsh, one of the sad realities of our experience is the shocking secondary death among survivors. We are responsible for killing far too many people who seemed bent on killing us first. Most of us wanted to welcome people into our band. For me, it’s the least understandable outcome of all that’s happened. Perhaps tragic events unhinged some people…even among some of us. But so many survivors we’ve encountered, especially the young ones, seem to have joined gangs for self defense… or worse.”
“Some of your story is disturbing, indeed,” said Hirsh quietly. His mood turned to somber sadness.
“Hearing it all again is upsetting even for me,” said Pappy. “Until now, I didn’t realize how much of the trouble I’d put out of my mind. We’ve lived with the anxiety of catching that disease every step of the way… and almost everyone we’ve met seems rather fanatical.”
“I have to say that another part of your story troubles me,” said Hirsh. “I have to agree with your captain. Wouldn’t it have been better for your entire group to have remained together?”
“Maybe, but…”
“Wait!” interrupted Judy. “Before any of you say another word, I knew that nun better than any of you. She was a master of manipulation. She wouldn’t rest until we were all under the dominion of her cult. She believed she was an exorcist sent by God to expel the devil… meaning all of us! Mac had it right – a Jim Jones crazy!”
“Hirsh, none of us would have survived under those circumstances,” Mac said. “Their determination to depose the Captain resulted in a gentle man being killed.”
“I understand that, but didn’t the trouble begin by expelling a peaceful man?” asked Hirsh. “His only offense was a few hot-headed words, rather harmless under the circumstances, don’t you think?”
“Threats they were!” said Tony with an edge, “and not harmless at all!”
“The Captain was our leader,” said Pappy, his voice growing strident, “and I wasn’t about to accept some addlebrained zealot as a substitute. And in the end, we decided to leave. The choice was ours… for our own good!”
“I’m not judging…” said Hirsh, “just trying to understand.”
After a pause to reflect, the Captain spoke, “Our little band is better off with new blood as you suggest, Hirsh. I hope you’ll join us; you’d be a welcome, calm addition.”
“I hope you will as well,” said Judy enthusiastically.
“Thank you very kindly… I’ll have to consider that.”
Mac thought the offer was ill-timed. Hirsh was obviously distressed by such aggressive defense measures. Onita, who had never heard the story, also seemed startled. The exchange took the bloom off the evening. Capping the bottle, they all retired to their sleeping bags. Mac was discouraged by the unfortunate late evening talk which had begun so positively.
As always in the morning, Jack and Tony were out and about long before anyone else. With the luxurious warmth of the stove and without a flapping tent, Mac was lulled back to sleep. Breakfast aroma wafted nearby and he lay dreamily in his sleeping bag trying to convince himself that duty called. A rifle blast persuaded him.
Darwin launched his trouble baying in earnest! Mac leaped from his bag and threw on his pants. He hesitated at the rear door before plunging outside barefoot. But there was no trouble after all. Tony had killed a caribou calf at the salt lick, and seeing Mac, asked him to put on shoes and help dress the animal.
Everyone welcomed fresh steaks and especially a cozy warm room for breakfast. No one but Jack wanted to move along, but eventually several offered plans for the day, most focusing on Hirsh who knew his way around town.
Hirsh had visited every building within walking distance except those overwhelmed with the stench. “I was finally driven by hunger to search for food. Without Rachael, I didn’t much care if I lived or died. As you can see perfectly well, I didn’t get sick.”
“Did you contact any mortal remains?” asked the Captain.
“Not intentionally because I was frightened by the sight,” answered Hirsh. “But I could have brushed against one or more of them inadvertently.”
Judy asked, “Has it remained below freezing while you have been here?”
“No,” replied Hirsh. “The weather warmed up after the first storm and the air became rather unbearable for awhile.”
“Have you ever been sick with a serious respiratory disease?”
“Perhaps, as a child.”
“Had any inoculations recently?”
“Just for polio and tetanus as an adult... oh, and for shingles just recently.”
“Hirsh… I think you’re naturally immune… one of the lucky few,” said Judy.
“Lucky? That’s debatable.”
“A solid, rational survivor, then, especially compared to most we’ve met.”
“Hardly… I didn’t find much rational wandering town.”
“You heard our story… so much senseless death and weird people after the fact.”
“I suppose one might make a rational explanation for that as well.”
Pappy had been listening to the conversation and offered, “Seems like you’ve been the most initiated man of us all… so you could do us a big favor, if you would.”
“I’m braced,” replied Hirsh.
“We desperately need supplies of every sort as you know.”
“And…”
“You’re familiar with town and could lead our search.”
“So… you want a point man, I take it.”
“Help us, Hirsh?” asked Judy.
“Sure, I’ll help, but what do you have in mind?”
“We need everything, especially preserved food and clothes,” said Pappy.
“I can see that. I’ve seen better dressed men sleeping on a bench in Central Park.”
“…and baby clothes,” said Onita.
“Food is scarce without breaking into homes, I think,” said Hirsh. “What about other things?”
“We all have things in mind,” said Tony.
“Good place to start is a business on the highway north… an amazing place for a small town, but there are victims.”
“Damn… where aren’t there? But I think I know the place.” said Pappy.
The miners drove off in the cat somewhere nearby and returned towing a long flatbed trailer. The scale of their scrounging was far greater than Mac anticipated.
The first stop was the Ace Hardware store beyond the junction on the Richardson Highway. The entry gate stood open. The business carried a bounty of merchandise displayed in orderly fashion outside, more under a broad covered porch, and a full stock inside. The store tailored its inventory to the lifestyle of its rural customers and farmers.
The last shoppers had left the merchandise disorganized, cluttering the aisles. Jack implored the gleaners to sort first… thinking long winter, late spring and no electricity. Tony searched for a garden tiller but found only hand tools. Everything associated with irrigation was passed outside for Jack to load. Mac heaped a cart with fasteners and clips, fencing tools and hand saws and then returned loading another cart with twine, rope, wire, and duct tape. Judy and Onita concentrated on canning paraphernalia, rolls of cloth fabric and binding, and most surprising, found a modern foot operated sewing machine. The pilots gathered every manner of container, bucket and garden hose the store possessed.
The bounty filled only a small portion of the trailer. Jack surveyed the lot and said, “Now for the heavy lifting… too bad none of us knows about farming.”
“That’s not so,” said Judy. “Onita grew up on a farm in Canada.”
“Great! Ask her to go back and gather anything useful that we haven’t. Might be seed packets, or fertilizer or...” Judy looked irritated, but left without comment.
“Boys… come with me,” said Jack. Together they loaded bags of cement, grout, fertilizer, soil amendment, steel fence posts, rolls of hog wire, barbed wire, dozens of railroad ties and a variety of lumber and plywood.
After a late lunch, Jack asked, “Besides fuel, batteries and spare tires for the rig, what do we need that we haven’t found?”
“Clear plastic for a greenhouse and pots for sprouting,” said Onita.
Tony added, “Flat steel or more fence posts.”
“Got all they had. Why more?” asked Jack.
“Bear proofing…” he replied.
“Good thought. How ‘bout chain link fencing?”
“… then add a bolt cutter and link hardware.”
“Work clothes like coveralls and boots,” added Pappy.
No work clothes were found nor were clear plastic or pots.
“There’s another hardware store here in town,” said Pappy. That store yielded a few work clothes, more lumber, more gardening supplies, but no boots or plastic. The store was tight, well organized and hadn’t been plundered. Pappy marked it in mind for the future.
Late afternoon brought Scotch, dinner and a tally of the day’s gleaning. In the morning, finding food staples and clothing, especially boots, was declared the order of the day. Hirsh explained again the need to search private homes for food. “I saw bodies in that big food market down the street, so I avoided the place. Most people hoarded food, but the owners never left. They’re still inside, so you need decide for yourselves whether you go in. I’ll check the houses first if that helps.”
“Are our lives worth the risk?” asked the Captain. “Even one of us getting sick would be a tragedy.”
Jack answered first. “Maybe clothing isn’t worth the risk, but food is way short. Think about how much food we’ve eaten since those first days… and we’ve all gotten lean with what little we’ve found. We’ll need five times that much to survive until what we grow is ripe… and who knows what hunting will be like through winter.”
“We need preserved food most of all,” said Judy.
Jack said, “This is our last chance before we get snowed in.”
“I think exposing ourselves to any corpse indoors is pushing our luck,” Mac said. “How do I say this? A corpse inside a closed-in house has got to be… sort of a culture of trouble, especially if it has something to do with bacteria. Do I have that right Judy?”
“We’ve talked about this before, but I suspect cold has something to do with suppressing the pathogen, at least from spreading through the air.”
Judy paused to finish her cup of coffee allowing Jack to interrupt.
“So there’s a risk. I’ll volunteer myself if that gets us moving,” he said forcefully.
“Jack, let her finish!” said the Captain.
“Dammit! The alternative is to starve,” said Jack. “There’s a risk either way.”
“There you go again, Jack,” said Judy. “Cutting off discussion. Well I do intend to finish and I’ll ask you again not to interrupt!”
“Please go on,” said Hirsh. “You’re on the track of something I’ve been thinking myself, so I’m interested to hear what you think. Something has to be at work or none of you would have survived passing through those towns… especially driving over those skeletons. Somehow that flu has already been arrested naturally.”
“You’re right. It’s unlikely that those of us who fled are immune. Only you, Hirsh, and probably Onita seem to be naturally immune. If one of us acquires it, six of us will certainly die. So before anyone jumps to conclusions, I think it would still be far too risky to ask Onita to be intentionally exposed. Immunity is likely a matter of recessive genes, so her unborn child may not be protected. Are you getting my drift? I think there’s a better way, but I’m getting another cup of coffee before I explain…” Jack rolled his eyes. “…and I’m not finished yet, Jack… so just be patient.”
“Judy, before you begin again, I think we should leave Onita out of food gleaning,” said the Captain. “We need her and her precious child as well as your own.”
“I’m glad you see it that way and I’ll be quite careful myself,” resumed Judy. “I think there’s a more cautious approach if Hirsh is still willing.”
“I’ve heard nothing to change my mind,” replied Hirsh.
Turning to face him for emphasis, Judy said, “I’m relying on your story to assume you’re immune.”
“But if I’m not, I spread it to all of you.”
“Then I must tell you that my plan doesn’t help if the air we breathe still conveys the disease. Nothing can be done if the cold isn’t at work.”
“I fully understand, but you all breathe the same air I do.”
“Then, we can only hope for the best because we desperately need winter food.”
Judy described her plan, “First thing in the morning, three teams should survey houses looking through the windows. They’ll mark an ‘X’ on any home containing a corpse or an ‘OK’ on those which look safe. By the chill of evening, the teams should return and open doors or break windows in each safe house so that freezing air penetrates during the night. Onita and I will prepare tubs of Clorox disinfectant for you to dip cans or wipe packages later.
“The next morning, wearing vinyl gloves, Hirsh should enter each safe house alone, but retreat if he finds anything morbid. When he confirms a house is truly safe, you others will look for anything useful while Hirsh moves on to the next… and so on.”
Waiting patiently, Jack said, “I don’t understand all the caution. That’s way more than we’ve done with those stores we’ve busted and they were way more likely to have had sick people in ‘em! We need all the food we can find no matter those dead bugs!”
The plan fell apart early the next morning. Mac and Hirsh formed one of the teams. Inspecting their first substantial cabin, they found appalling conditions inside. From the window, Hirsh trained his lantern in the living room. The bodies of six children lay about, some prostrate on furniture, others sprawled unnaturally on the floor. All were in a grotesque state of corruption and appeared as nightmarish skeletal caricatures in a horror movie. Dark fluids stained the furniture and the carpet. One child was wrapped in a bed sheet discolored with mold. It seemed there had been no help for siblings left alone to
die.
House after house revealed death and corruption. Most had been occupied during the calamity. The pairs moved through their assigned neighborhoods marking the few safe houses they could find. Discouraged, they returned to Hirsh’s cabin to find others waiting for them. All had experienced much the same.
Jack wasn’t perturbed. “We’ve gotta deal with this one way or another,” he said. “If the cold works, it doesn’t matter. We find enough food or we starve.”
“I still think you shouldn’t expose yourselves to any corpse inside,” said Judy.
“If we don’t disturb them, why would this be any worse than driving over those skeletons,” he replied. “Tony and I just found a garage stuffed to the ceiling with goodies. We need to get inside that one for sure.”
“I think we should start with the safe houses and see how much we come up with,” said Mac. “Then if it isn’t enough, we let nature do her thing and come back when we must.”
“I think that makes better sense,” said Judy.
The next morning they gleaned every marked safe house which proved more rewarding than expected. With that success, morbid homes were avoided. The wonder house with its hoard of cans in the garage had even more ‘goodies’ inside: clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, sewing material and supplies, fabric, tools and nearly a thousand 12 gauge shotgun shells.
Mac thought the owners might have been preppers but the wonder house remained unoccupied throughout the calamity as had all the other safe houses.
Nestled and roped together on the trailer, the hoard looked disappointing. They needed to search further. But grocery outlets had been plundered, looked frightening through the windows and were avoided. In a farmer’s warehouse, they found metal tins of whole-grained wheat mixed with flax seed. A laundry business held unclaimed clean clothes, and a bounty of dry detergent and cleaning fluid. Nothing was left behind which might sustain a ‘boot strap’ life.
Flight To Pandemonium Page 41