Outbreak: Brave New World

by Van Dusen, Robert

  The broadcast returned, still faint but a little stronger than it had been once Carl managed to get closer to the glass doors. He turned up the volume a little louder, all of them transfixed by the first human voice any of them had heard in weeks that did not belong to one of them. The host gave information on how to salt and dry meat, purify water…all useful stuff to know, but not exactly what they were looking for. Frays dug out her little pocket notebook and tried to scribble down as much of what the broadcast said as she could.

  There was a brief fit of static. “I ow you’re scared. You might be hungry or lost.” said the voice coming in over the radio “Please, don’t…prey on each other. Things are bad enough out there right now without that. Help each other out. That’s the only way we..as a species are going to get through this, by working together.”

  After maybe ten or fifteen minutes the radio turned back into a hissing little box in the palms of Carl’s hands. A cloud of disappointment settled over the room as they moved back to the dining room table. The children watched the grownups from their place on the bed, drowsily blinking at them before rolling over and going back to sleep. “Who’s Ian Punnett?” Lacey asked as he stretched. He was tired, but too wired up right now to go back to bed at the moment.

  “He hosted a radio show that was on Saturdays in the middle of the night called Coast to Coast AM.” Amy said quietly. She frowned unhappily then yawned and looked at her watch. “Carl got me kind of addicted to it. They talked about all kinds of weird stuff.”

  The boy smiled a little. “I remember sent you shows on flash drives when you were in Iraq.” Carl said, still smiling as he got up and went to the fridge where he got out a big pitcher of cherry Kool-Aid. “Good thing I got them cheap, huh?”

  “Yeah.” Amy said coolly as she went to the cabinet and took down some glasses. The flash drives had gotten blown to bits along with everything else in her connex when a ‘private military contractor’ had accidentally fired an RPG in the air at the other end of the compound when she was overseas. She lay there blinking stupidly up at the sky everything kind of blurry and running together deaf save for the ringing in her ears no pain yet, still too much information trying to elbow its way into her addled brain… Amy shook the thoughts away as she set the glasses on the table and sat down. It looked like the meeting that she was planning on having in the morning was going to take place now.

  Carl frowned as he put the pitcher on the table and sat down. Somehow, he got the feeling that he had just put his foot in his mouth again. “So…” he said quietly and filled his sister’s glass then Frannie’s. “What’s going on?”

  “We need to assess the situation.” Amy said quietly. She sipped the Kool-Aid and did her best to hide a grimace. Carl had made it without sugar. After a couple seconds she managed to continue her voice a little choked and raspy. Frannie and Adam chuckled quietly until they tried their drinks. “So: here’s the facts. I’m about three months pregnant. I think, anyways. I dunno what the date is. We’ve got a pile of MREs in the attic, but we’re low on first aid supplies, medicine as well as canned and dry goods.”

  “And toilet paper.” Carl interjected, drawing laughter from the others around the table. Amy playfully swatted at her brother for interrupting her then put on a serious expression before continuing.

  “And toilet paper. On the plus side, we know now that, somewhere out there, there’s other people.” Frays said as she looked around the table. She rolled her shoulders and tried to stretch the kink out of the base of her neck. Amy felt a pop followed by a spasm in her arm which she did her best to hide. If anybody noticed they gave no sign of it.

  Frannie tried to choke down a little more of the awful tasting drink. “Did anybody catch it if he said where he was?” she asked. The woman looked thoughtful for a second as she scratched the scar tissue on her neck. “I don’t think he did.”

  “There’s something else.” Lacey said quietly. It had occurred to him after he and Frays had buried his wife and her parents two days ago. “I think we’re going to have to be ready to leave soon.” He did not like the way the others looked at him, but pressed on anyway. “I don’t know how many of those things are in town, but there were a helluva lot of them in Boston. It’ll only be a matter of time until more of them turn up here.”

  Carl frowned at the man. “Couldn’t we just…I dunno…build a fence or something?” he asked, looking nervously at his sister. Where the hell were they going to go? How far would Amy be able to go? “We’ve got a whole bunch of food and ammo, so why leave?”

  Rodriguez, Frays and Lacey all looked at each other. “There were thousands of those things in Boston.” Amy said quietly, shuddering at the memory of driving towards a checkpoint that was on the verge of being overrun. There had been easily a hundred or more of the things shambling towards their little convoy before she had ordered Eamon to turn around and abandon the mission. She felt a little cold when she visualized those bent, slouching figures stumbling towards them. “I think you might be right, Lacey.”

  They were quiet for a moment, drinking the horrible tasting Kool-Aid. “That brings me to my next point.” Frays said in a low voice, hoping that they were not keeping the kids awake. She sighed and scratched the tip of her nose. “I don’t think that I’ll be able to go out on missions with you guys anymore.” Amy looked at Lacey and Rodriguez, glad to see sympathy and understanding on their faces. It still made her sad as she felt kind of like she was abandoning them somehow. “I’m a little too preggers to be kicking in doors and stuff.”

  Adam smiled at her. “Don’t worry about it, boss.” he said as he stood and stretched, glancing at his watch. “To be honest, we were talking about it last night. Glad you volunteered as babysitter.” He frowned at his watch. “Well, Rodriguez, looks like you’re up on watch. Good night everybody.”

  Once Lacey was back in bed with his kids Rodriguez sat next to Carl. “Can I borrow your radio, man?” she asked. It took everything she had to not laugh at the kid when he looked uneasily at her and started trying to plug the headphones back in. He was young and she remembered how awkward things were at his age.

  “Um…y-yeah.” he stammered as he finally got the radio back together. Carl felt his cheeks getting warm. His voice had cracked and his heart was pounding away in his chest. “The battery might be a little low. You charge it up like this.” He could not see the scarred portion of her face, as it was dark and he was sitting on the opposite side. Carl could not help but wonder what she looked like before whatever happened to her as he demonstrated how to wind up the dynamo. Would she have even looked twice at him if she was normal?

  “Thanks, man.” Frannie smiled a little more at Carl’s nervousness. He almost looked like he was going to stroke out when their hands touched as she groped across the table to find the radio. It was kind of cute that the guy was so antsy around her and of course she had noticed the way the boy had been looking at her. Rodriguez frowned a little in the dark as Carl started to awkwardly move off towards his cot. “How are you doing, Carl?”

  The boy stopped and turned around awkwardly, almost knocking into the little hutch thing next to the table. “I guess I’m doing alright.” he said quietly. Carl stole a glance at Lacey, already asleep in the hide-a-bed with his kids. He wandered, trying to play it cool as he walked back towards the table and sat down. “You?”

  Frannie smiled, looking at Carl as if she could see right through him. She snorted a tiny laugh out of her nose. “I’m not sure either, man.” Rodriguez muttered and glanced at her watch. After a moment’s debate she dipped a hand into a pouch on her plate carrier, pulled out her meds and shook one out into her palm. The boy looked at her suspiciously as she popped the pill into her mouth and washed it down with a little bitter Kool-Aid. “Just my little blue battle buddies, Carl. Don’t worry about it.”

  Carl made a strange face in the dark. No…no he definitely was worried about it. “Why are you taking them?” he asked, moving a little closer to the wom
an’s side. The boy looked like he would have liked to try and hold her hand or maybe put his arm around her. “Are you sick or something?” Somehow he got the feeling that she was sharing a secret with him and one she was ashamed of at that.

  “I…guess you could say that.” Rodriguez said quietly. She rolled the pill bottle between her fingers and thumb a second before stashing it away. “It keeps me…you know…calm.” Frannie’s dark eyes flitted towards the table then looked towards the sliding glass doors across the living room. She smiled awkwardly when Carl finally took her hand. Frannie pulled it away after a half second and scratched the scars on her neck.

  They looked at each other for a long minute. “Carl, why don’t you go to bed?” Frannie asked at last. She liked the kid but she also did not like where this could be headed. He was a little too young and besides, the fact that Eamon was not there still weighed heavily on her. Frannie was shocked for a moment when Carl stood then pulled her to her feet and hugged her very, very tightly.

  “We’re not alone, Frannie.” he whispered in her ear. After the shock subsided, Frannie smiled and hugged him back. “We’re not alone. It’s gonna be okay.” Carl said as he continued squeezing the smaller woman to his chest. She had to admit that the earnest affection in the gesture felt really good. The woman relaxed slightly when he did not seem to be trying to take things any farther.

  “I know, buddy.” Rodriguez said quietly into Carl’s shirt. She reached up and put a hand around the back of the boy’s neck, pulling his head down towards hers. Carl’s heart skipped a beat for a moment: he thought Frannie was going to kiss him but she pressed his forehead against hers instead, their noses almost touching. “We got this. This ain’t shit. This ain’t shit.”

  The unexpected fierceness in the woman’s voice in such intimate circumstances kind of frightened him for a moment. “Sure.” he whispered then gave the very tip of her nose a soft kiss, making Frannie back off, giggling uncontrollably. She put a hand over her mouth to try and keep from waking Becca and Paulie a few feet away.

  “You’re crazy.” Rodriguez said, still giggling and trying to stay quiet as she pushed the boy gently towards his cot. “Get some sleep, you lunatic.” Carl moved off, smiling over his shoulder at her as he went back to the cot and lay down. Frannie snorted laughter, still shaking her head as she wiped off an earbud and stuffed it into her ear canal. She frowned wishing that she had asked Carl what channel that Punter guy had come through on.

  Paulie woke up and looked around. Daddy and Becca were still asleep next to him. Frannie was snoring on the recliner across the room and Carl was on his cot in the dining room. A familiar smell reached his little nose and an eager grin spread across his face as he threw aside the blanket, scrambled off of the hide-a-bed and hurried into the kitchen. He recognized the smell: Mommy making pancakes for breakfast.

  Since she had last watch for the night Amy decided to surprise everyone with a nice breakfast. She had to substitute some powdered eggs for the real thing but the woman judged that everything should come out alright. There was water in a kettle to boil water for instant coffee and, even though the very thought of eating it made her more than a little nauseous, a pan on the stove to fry up a couple cans of Spam. However, the crowning achievement was in the bowl next to the stove: thick batter with brown lumps of chocolate, the remains of a semi-stale Hershey bar that she had almost forgotten about in her rucksack and broken up into tiny pieces. Frays found smashing the candy bar to tiny little bits somewhat satisfying. She had taken it off of one of the friggin’ animals that Lacey had put down when they were holed up in the country club. They had…almost…they were gonna…

  It was one of a couple dozen things over the past few months that kept her awake at night. Amy shuddered and frowned as she started furiously stirring the batter. Last night had been a bad one. She had tossed and turned all night her dreams a terrifying confusion of zombie attacks, Lacey’s former squadmate’s beard pressed against her cheek as his penis jabbed her in the butt and the blaring klaxon signaling incoming mortars.

  Frays turned quickly, a spatula in her hand when she heard the little footsteps rushing towards her. Paulie stood next to the table an utterly crushed and disappointed look on the little boy’s face. The boy turned, his head hanging, and went back into the living room. Amy felt tears springing from her eyes and she wiped them away with her thumb as she concentrated on preparing the meal.

  Frannie woke to Paulie scrambling into her lap and burying his face under her chin, scaring the shit out of her for a moment until she blinked a couple times and woke up enough to figure out what was going on. The poor little guy was crying softly into the collar of her plate carrier. Rodriguez frowned and held him looking around a little to try and see what had gotten him so upset. “Shh…” she whispered in his ear as she jostled the boy and gave him a peck on the cheek “It’s alright little buddy. I’m right here.”

  Her stomach growled like a pissed off bear when she smelled the food cooking in the other room. It seemed that Frannie’s belly would not let her forget the neglect that she had shown it since the shit hit the fan. They had been down to one meal a day at the school and a pitifully small one at that: a handful of rice and beans or one slice of frozen pizza a little bigger than a deck of playing cards, three or four chicken nuggets and a little scoop of vegetables. It was a wonder they all had not lost it just from the constant hunger gnawing on their stomachs and absorbing their thoughts…

  Frannie had quickly found herself so hungry that she often dreamed that she was at this glorious clean white tile and chrome all-you-can-eat buffet. The place was brightly lit and the steam trays were piled with all kinds of hot delicious food: roast beef, all kinds of fish, roast and fried chicken, lobster, crab legs, countless varieties of potatoes, heaps of fresh vegetables, warm rolls and white bread fresh from the oven, eggs, pancakes, waffles, kielbasa, Italian sausage, sausage links and oh sweet jumped up Jesus the bacon… In the dream she was allowed to eat until she felt like her stomach was going to burst, so full that they would have to roll her towards the door…

  She would wake and cry into her pillow because the hunger pangs seemed that much worse after those dreams. To be honest the thought of being that hungry ever again terrified her more than any shambling rotten corpse. The few times they had actually slept together Eamon would hold her tight until the tears stopped…

  Frannie rubbed the little boy’s back. “What’s wrong, buddy?” she whispered in his ear. Lacey, Carl and Becca were all still asleep for now and it was still a little early, judging from the dim grey light coming in through the gaps in the boards over the windows. “It’s alright, kiddo. I gotcha.” She shushed the boy and rocked him “C’mon little man. What’s wrong?”

  “I…want…my…Mommy.” the little boy said quietly, punctuating each word with a little hitching of his chest. Rodriguez felt like someone had just ripped her heart out and replaced it with a ball of ice. Oh, Jesus… she thought as tears coursed down her cheeks Oh, Jesus fuckin’ Christ. She hugged the little boy just as hard as she could. Frannie hated seeing any kid so sad, but for some reason whenever Paulie started crying it really tore her up. Frannie became aware of Frays behind her in the dining room.

  The woman’s cheeks were wet, her face pale and drawn making the fresh scar on her cheek stand out like an angry crimson slash pointed towards the corner of her eye. Frays had a red and white checkered apron with the words ‘Kiss the Cook’ written on it in big red letters tied around her waist over her field gear and she clutched a spatula in one hand, making her look like weird cross between Martha Stewart and Rambo. The two women exchanged awkward little smiles, almost as if they had caught each other with their flies open or something. “I-I fixed a special treat for everybody.” Amy said quietly after a deep breath. The little boy’s tears were apparently contagious. “Wake up if you want breakfast.”

  Lacey stirred, panicked for a second when he realized that Paulie was not in bed next to him. Relief floo
ded over him for a half second when he saw that the boy was with Rodriguez in the recliner. Of course, it all went away again when the man saw that his son was crying in the recliner with Rodriguez. Adam threw the blanket off of him and leapt from bed, rushing to his boy’s side.

  “Hey, buddy.” Adam whispered as he tousled the boy’s hair. He gently took Paulie from the woman and held the little boy then took him over to the rocking chair. Paulie curled up in his father’s lap as Lacey looked across the room and arched an eyebrow at Rodriguez. “Good morning. You alright?”

  Frannie put the footrest down and stood up slowly the woman’s face twisting up in a grimace. Her leg had cramped up a little in the night giving her one helluva charley horse. Frays had gone back into the kitchen and was scooping something out of a bowl and pouring it on a griddle where it hissed. “Smells good. What’s cooking?” Rodriguez asked as she approached and then went to the cabinet where the plates were stored. Frays nodded thanks when Frannie handed her a plate just in time to receive the first pancake.

  Amy sniffed and blew her nose in one of her father’s handkerchiefs then washed her hands in the sink. “Chocolate chip pancakes.” she said in a low voice as she stirred up the batter and dropped another hissing dollop of batter onto the griddle. “Is Carl up?”

  “Yes!” a voice called as Carl threw his blanket off and stood up. He stretched, yawned then quickly set about folding up his cot. “Did I hear you say you’re making chocolate chip pancakes?” he called over his shoulder.

  Amy flipped the pancake on the griddle and poured two more onto it. “Yep. It’ll be a minute.” she said, glancing over her shoulder. Lacey was in the living room with the kids while Rodriguez was setting the table. “Carl, could you look in the fridge? I think there’s some syrup in the door. And put the kettle on the table, please? Thanks.”

  Lacey smiled at his children, jostling them on his lap. “C’mon, guys.” he said, forcing a smile and giving Paulie and Becca an exaggerated look of amazement. “Amy made us chocolate chip pancakes! Be sure and thank her, guys.”