Outbreak: Brave New World

by Van Dusen, Robert

  “I dunno.” Amy said quietly. She smiled weakly and glanced toward her father. “I…didn’t even know for sure that I was pregnant until like two or three days ago.” It suddenly hit her exactly how little she knew about a lot of things, not least of which the details of pregnancy and childbirth. She smiled shyly. “I kinda hope it’s a boy.”

  Becca looked up at her father, a puzzled expression on her little face. “Daddy, Amy’s pepbermint?” she asked as she scooted off of Adam’s lap and crossed into the living room. Intrigued by yet another mystery, the little girl walked up took Amy’s wrist and licked the back of her hand. “Amy’s not pepbermint.” Becca announced with more than a little disappointment. The girl frowned. “I like pepbermint.”

  Everyone cracked up. Amy gave the little girl a quick hug. “No, I’m not peppermint.” she said as she released her, still biting back laughter. “I’m pregnant. I have a little baby growing in my belly.” Now Paulie frowned and ambled over to stand next to his sister, the both of them seemingly perplexed by what was going on. Amy’s heart broke a little bit more looking into their red little eyes as the two kids studied the woman sitting in front of them.

  The boy frowned at Frays then poked her stomach making Amy snort a short laugh and wriggle away. “How did a baby get in there?” he wondered aloud, still poking away. “Did you swallow it?” It seemed perfectly reasonable to him. Daddy said not to eat watermelon seeds because you did not want a watermelon to grow in your tummy, after all.

  Amy snorted and shook her head, a bit of color coming to her cheeks as she squirmed away from the boy’s prodding finger. “Um…talk to your dad about that.” she said quietly and looked over at Lacey. Frays half smiled at the little boy and tousled his hair. “That sounds like a job for your dad if I’ve ever heard one.”

  Lacey seemed started then gave Frays a dirty look as the children came back to him and climbed back into his lap, demanding to know how Amy had gotten a baby in her belly. “Um…well…” he gave George a beseeching look across the table. “Ah…um…when a man and a woman love each other…ah…”

  “The good Lord blesses them, making the woman with child.” George said quietly. He sighed heavily as he pushed away from the table. The big man’s shoulders heaved as he turned and went into the kitchen to help bring stuff over to the table. Jessica had been experimenting with some kind of spicy smelling rice and beans thing. There was more cornbread, which he decided would make it worth it. They would have to start digging into the MREs stashed in the attic a little sooner than he planned. He did not plan on having five extra mouths to feed… It would be a hardship but they would make it work. Turning away a fellow Marine and his family, especially with the two small children, and a wounded soldier was not even an option as far as he was concerned.

  Jessica nodded towards their kids as she set the pot on the table and scowled at her husband. “Lunch is about ready. Amy, Carl would you set the table?” she said and started back for the cornbread, only to see that Frannie was bringing it over. “George, get the milk.”

  The air was tense as they ate. It hurt Jessica’s heart to see how her daughter glared across the table at her father. Paulie sat in Frannie’s lap, the little boy snuggling protectively against her chest. “C’mon, little man. Try some.” Rodriguez said as she held up a spoonful of food up to the boy’s lips. “It’s pretty good.”

  Becca leaned against her father’s side. Adam ignored his food, instead putting his arm around the girl and rubbing her shoulder. The girl had eaten some of the rice and beans then curled up against her dad. Lacey frowned sympathetically at his babies. They did not seem too hungry, but had just plain cried themselves tired. He picked up the little girl and took her over to the couch then covered her with a blanket. After a few moments Rodriguez took Paulie and sat down in the recliner, rubbing the little boy’s back as he drifted off to sleep.

  Once Becca was asleep Adam slumped against the side of the couch. In his mind he was sixteen again, sitting in the hallway of the hospital. A grey haired man in blue scrubs had just told him that his grandfather had died on the operating table. Grandpa’s heart had given out and there was nothing they could do… He stared at his hands too numb inside to even really register what was going on…

  Frays was crouched in front of him. “C’mon, buddy.” she said quietly as she helped him to his feet. “Let’s let the kids sleep for a minute.” Amy put an arm around his shoulders and guided him through the sliding door and out onto the deck. He sighed and curled up against the fence around the edge of the deck. It was humid with little wisps of fog coming off of the ground around the cabin, giving an eerie feeling of claustrophobia to the forest around the building.

  Frays spared a glance through the door at the child on the couch and the other little one asleep in her friend’s lap before sitting down next to him. The young woman frowned slightly as she watched Lacey out of the corner of her eye. In spite of everything that had happened between them she still liked the guy and she wished she could think of something to say that would make him feel better but nothing came to mind.

  It took her a minute to realize that the man sitting next to her was crying. Frays hesitated then slipped an arm around his waist, letting the man lean against her. “Shhh…” she whispered in his ear. “Shhh…it’s alright, buddy. It’s gonna be okay.” Amy held him tight and let him rest his head on her shoulder. It took everything she had to keep from shedding any tears herself. First Rodriguez losing Eamon and now this…

  “Damn it, no it’s not!” Adam grumbled. He leapt to his feet and paced in a slow circle, shaking with anger. “It…it’s not fair, goddamnit! After everything…and now…” Lacey shook his head and wiped at his cheeks. “Three days…I…my poor kids. Jesus. My poor babies…”

  A brief fit of anger ran through her and she mercilessly stomped it out. At least you had three days. Frays thought then sighed, shaking her head. She would give just about anything for three more days with Jacob… Amy stood up and crossed her arms over her stomach as she leaned against the railing. “I’m so sorry, Lacey.” she said quietly, wiping at the corners of her eyes with her thumb. “I was too slow. I coulda made the shot from the stairs. Maybe…”

  Lacey shook his head. It was just like her, to take the blame. He decided a while ago that it must be a Catholic thing. Every time something bad happened Frays would beat herself up over it. It drove him up the fucking wall every time, as he liked her and a good portion of the time there was nothing she could have done about it anyway. “And if you tried you might have hit my fucking wife.” he spat angrily, dismissively waving a hand at the woman. “Look…just don’t, alright? Not now.”

  Frays’ mouth opened and closed a couple times. She looked down then nodded a strange look on her face when their eyes met. “Alright.” she said quietly then took a couple steps towards him, wracking her brain for something comforting to say. Amy retreated and leaned back against the railing. She stood there looking at Adam, watching him with her arms across her stomach. Frays knew how much he had to be hurting and it was driving her nuts to see him going through it. Part of her wanted to hold the man and let him cry if he needed to…

  “Stop fuckin’ looking at me like that.” Lacey grumbled as he turned on his heel to face the house. Adam wiped the tears off his cheeks, rolled his shoulders. He had gotten banged up a little bit falling down the hill but nothing a little rest would not fix in his opinion. When he turned back Adam snorted at the look of concern on the woman’s face.

  “Are you hurt?” Amy asked, taking a half step closer to the Marine. “Come here and let me take a look at you.” She grabbed a chair and pulled it in front of her. Frays was suddenly angry with herself for letting him walk around after taking a spill down the side of the hill like he did. He could have really hurt himself… The man stayed right where he was, making Frays scowl at him. “C’mon, Private. Sit.” she said a little sharper than she really meant to. Her expression softened and she frowned. “Please.”

/>   Lacey grumbled under his breath and sat. Amy looked down at her hands, sighed and snapped on her last pair of gloves. “Hope you appreciate this.” Frays said with a small grin. She put a hand on the young man’s head and pushed it back, pulling her flashlight out of its pouch on her LCS with the other. “This is my last pair of rubber gloves.” The woman smiled a little as she checked his pupils.

  “That’s my squad leader.” Adam said without much humor. He blinked as the powerful little flashlight flicked in his eyes. “Always looking out for her Marines.” Their eyes met for a half second and he frowned, looking down at the floor.

  “Lucky.” Frays said quietly as she turned the light off and put it back. “Doesn’t look like you wacked your bean…um…so to speak.” Amy was secretly a little relieved when Lacey snickered and wiped at his cheeks again. “Not that Marines generally seem to have much of a brain to injure.”

  “Bite me, Zoomie.” Lacey said with a hint of a smile. He leaned back a little bit and started to relax a tiny bit as Frays ran her hands down his neck, shoulders and arms. Adam giggled in spite of himself when she touched his torso under his arms. “Fuck, watch it!”

  “Never thought you were ticklish.” Amy said quietly as she pulled her hands away and glanced at her palms. When no blood presented itself she continued on with her examination. “Keep still for a minute. Almost done, alright?” Frays moved her hands down Lacey’s torso and hips. “Any pain?”

  “No, I told you I’m fine.” Lacey said quietly. He glanced at her as she moved her hands down his legs. “C’mon, Frays. Lay off, alright? I’m fine.”

  Frays sighed and looked up at him. “I said I was alright too.” she muttered as she ran her hands along his left leg, glanced at her hands then moved over to his right. Amy frowned slightly as she examined her subordinate. “Just humor me, alright?” She could sense a tremor running through the man’s leg as her hands reached Lacey’s boot. Frays sighed and looked up at him. “Sorry.”

  Lacey’s lip trembled, a queasiness running through his stomach. “Me too.” he whispered in her ear as Amy helped Adam to his feet. The two of them looked at each other helplessly for a few minutes until Frays clapped him on the shoulder and turned towards the door.

  “You ready to go back in, man?” Frays asked. She glanced up at the sky and frowned at the gathering clouds overhead. The cloud overhead looked like big poofy grey cotton balls and the wind felt sort of clammy on her face. “C’mon. I think it’s gonna start raining again.”

  Adam shook his head and sat back down in the chair. “If…if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll stay out here for a little while longer.” Lacey muttered under his breath as he ran his hands over his face. He turned the chair around and stared out at the lake, watching the trees across the water wave back and forth. “Go back in if you want.” Frays smiled weakly at the man then pulled a chair over next to his and sat down.

  Frannie brushed the little boy’s hair away from his face. Her bottom lip trembled at the sight of the redness around Paulie’s eyes. As her Drill Sergeant in boot camp would have said, the Sleep Monster was smacking the boy in the back of the head: the poor little kid was struggling to keep his eyes open. “Frannie?” Paulie asked his voice barely above a whisper as he leaned in close to her ear.

  “What’s up, little man?” Frannie shifted around a little bit because her arm was starting to go to sleep. She gently rubbed the little boy’s stomach, trying to get him to finally drop off. It was quiet now that his sister was asleep. The Frays were in the foyer debating what was to be done with the dead (if that was the right term) thing Amy had shot. Thankfully they were being quiet about it. It looked like Lacey and Frays were talking out on the deck.

  “Is Mommy really going to be okay?” the boy asked. He settled his head under Frannie’s chin and snuggled up against her, letting the woman hold him tightly to her chest. She leaned back in the recliner and slowly started running her hand up and down his back. His breathing was starting to slow down and Rodriguez found herself hoping that Paulie would fall asleep before she had to answer his question. “Did ya hear me, Frannie?”

  Shit. Rodriguez thought as she glanced down at the top of the boy’s head. She pursed her lips, debating on wither or not she should pretend to be asleep or not. “I hope so, buddy.” Frannie said at last. Frannie ran a hand over the boy’s unruly hair and tried to smile at him when he looked up at her before snuggling back against her chest.

  The boy squirmed around for a moment. “Why is Mister Frays so mad at Daddy and Amy?” Paulie squirmed again and yawned, covering his mouth with the palm of his hand. “Why was Mommy yelling at Daddy too? Did Mister Frays think Daddy loved Amy so God made her have a baby in her belly?”

  Rodriguez sighed, her guts churning around as she fought back tears for the little boy in her lap. He’s just so little. So…so little. Frannie thought and squeezed Paulie tight. “You’ll understand when you’re older.” she said quietly. The boy’s weight was resting uncomfortably on her gunshot wound again so she lifted him a little and moved her leg. “It’s gonna be alright. I gotcha, little man.” She was relieved when the little boy dropped off. “I gotcha.” Frannie could not help but feel like she was lying to him.

  Chapter Three

  13 June 2011, 0532 hours 4 Old Trout Lane 10 miles north of Holden, Massachusetts

  Jessica wrung the cool water out of the washcloth, folded it and placed it on Laura’s forehead in the dim light thrown off by the lamp next to the bed. The woman was sweating so much that she and Amy had changed the sheets once already since yesterday afternoon. Adam leaned against the inside of the doorframe, his face hidden in the palm of his hand. Jessie leaned back in her chair and looked pitiably at the man. “We have some antibiotics, right?” she asked.

  Lacey sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Yeah, I think there’s some left.” he said quietly as he wandered over to his wife’s side. She had been drifting in and out of consciousness since around midnight. “I don’t know. Eamon had a bag full of pills and stuff.”

  Jessica nodded and stood up, drying her hands on her shirt. “I’ll ask Amy where it is.” she said quietly, letting a hand rest sympathetically on the man’s shoulder as she passed. Lacey sort of half smiled sickly and took Jessica’s place at his wife’s bedside. He took his wife’s hand and squeezed it, pained by how pale and sickly she seemed to him.

  He held her hand in both of his, pressing her raging hot skin against his forehead almost as if he were praying. “C’mon, baby. Stay with me.” he said quietly as he kissed the back of her wrist. “I dunno if I can do this without you, hon. Please…please please, baby.”

  Jessica frowned, hesitating a moment to put a calmer expression on her face before poking her head out into the dining area. Amy was sitting at the kitchen table, seemingly half dozing with her chin propped up on the palm of her hand. “Amy. Amy!” Jessica hissed, hoping to get her daughter’s attention without waking anyone else. She could not help but feel a little bad when Amy woke with a snort and turned to face her. “Do you know where the medicine is? Mrs. Lacey needs some antibiotics or something.”

  Amy blearily wiped at her face and nodded, flashlight in hand as she shuffled sleepily off towards the bathroom in search of the small satchel stashed on the top shelf of the towel cabinet next to the shower, high off the ground so the children could not reach it. She knew there was a bottle of amoxicillin in there but Frays could not recall how full it was right off the top of her head. They had used a lot of the antibiotics trying to keep Frannie’s wound from getting infected. It proved a double edged sword as the antibiotics had given Frannie a pretty serious case of diarrhea. There had been a couple close calls trying to get Rodriguez to the latrine before she had an accident and they had kind of a hard time keeping Frannie hydrated. There was the A&D Ointment she had been using on her feet too but Amy doubted very much that it was what Laura needed.

  Frays went to the medicine cabinet and took down a bottle of mouthwash, pou
ring some of the sickish green liquid into the cap and using it to get rid of the horrible taste in her mouth before taking the satchel down from the cabinet. Amy unzipped the bag and started digging through it in the dark, looking at the labels on the various brown plastic bottles inside. Her heart sank when she found the amoxicillin, opened the vial and peered inside. There were maybe five or six lonely little pills in the bottom of the container.

  Frays sighed and returned to the door of the back bedroom where she handed the bottle to her mother. “I think that’s it.” she said quietly. Amy glanced over her shoulders, afraid of waking the children asleep in the living room or her brother a few feet away. Frannie was sleeping with the kids on the hide-a-bed. “Will it work?” Amy wondered aloud.

  Jessie frowned at the bottle of pills in her hand. “I guess it’s better than nothing, kiddo.” she said quietly. She gave her daughter a rueful smile then Jessica took a half step towards Amy and threw her arms around her. “I’m sorry about how your dad acted, baby. I’ll talk to him.”

  “Dad slapped me and called me a slut, Mom.” Amy said sharply as she pulled herself out of her mother’s embrace. “After everything that happened…” Frays shook her head and went over to the blue recliner across the room. “I think he’s said just about enough.”

  Lacey looked uneasily at the older woman when she came back into the room and shut the door behind her. Jessica leaned against the doorframe, doing her best to hide a troubled expression and then tossed the little bottle to Adam. “It looks like that’s about it as far as the antibiotics.” she said quietly as she sat down on the floor in the corner opposite the gun cabinet bolted to the wall across the room. She reflected that Amy and Frannie’s carbines looked more than a little out of place next to the older more traditional wood and steel rifles and shotguns inside it.