Behind the main building, school, and theater were the tennis courts, soccer/football field, and the basketball court. On the far side of the soccer field was the recreation building. It had a pool, indoor track, all sorts of exercise equipment, a boxing ring, a full size basketball court with bleachers, an arcade room and so much more that Tracy wondered just how much work would get done. To the right of the recreational building were two-office buildings and then there were rows of buildings used for storage and manufacturing. They had sewing machines, looms, canning equipment; more machines than Tracy knew existed. To the right of these was the hospital and chapel.
At the far back starting behind the recreation building, ran a larger field for crops and rows of greenhouses. Then more warehouses, some with machinery for manufacturing of goods as in a lumber mill, kilns for baking clay or just holding pallet upon pallet of goods. Anything from jewelry to shovels and rakes, too numerous to count, was kept in these warehouses. Clothing, blankets, computers, hygiene supplies, batteries of all sizes, fans, pet supplies, shoes, there was everything one could imagine needing including toys for children and four wheelers. A section in one of the warehouses was a pet store. They had birds, cats, dogs, hamsters, ferrets and much more.
It was in the warehouses when Tracy realized she was going to be here for a very long time, if not for the rest of her life. There were enough goods to last decades and that didn’t include what they could grow or make themselves. They even had their own resources to generate electricity and the water came from wells instead of a public water system. Tracy realized this base was self-sustaining. She knew some bases were built around a nuclear power plant so there were a few places those who were immune could be sent to. Her base had a reservoir of natural gas. They used generators to produce the electric they needed and could refine the natural gas to power their vehicles. The immensity of all this was too much for her to take in.
The main barracks had a ten-foot chain link fence with barbwire around it. Surrounding the ten-foot fence on three sides was the area for pastureland, large fields, and animals. Around the entire complex, including the pastureland, fields and helicopter pad, was a fence. The fence was a welded wire mesh system for highest security needs that is virtually indestructible and un-climbable to offer the best protection. Security seemed to be the top priority.
Chapter Eight
Emily’s Secret
After the UN’s speech, Daniel was more leery of their situation. Changes were effecting everyone without discrimination and he was worried things might get out of hand. He decided he would make the call.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, Daniel, how is everything?”
“Okay. Um, I have a favor to ask.”
“Anything Daniel you know that.”
“Well, would it be okay if I came to stay with you for a while?”
“I would love that.”
“It may be for quite some time.”
“Is everything okay? What about Emily?”
“We just need a break. I thought we would stay at your place, if it was okay.”
“I’ll get things ready for you. When will you arrive?”
“Is tomorrow too early?”
“No, I’ll see you then.”
“Thanks Mom. I love you.”
“I love you too son. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Daniel hung up the phone then called out, “Emily?”
“In the kitchen.”
“I’ve made the arrangements. We’re going to stay with my mom.”
Emily leaned into his arms. “When will we leave?”
“The sooner the better. Could we get the house in order and packed by this evening?
“Tonight? Are we leaving tonight?”
“No, in the morning, but I’d like to get the packing done today.”
“We’d better finish lunch and get started.” Emily pushed her food from spot to spot on her plate with her fork, not really interested in eating.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Actually, I feel relieved.”
“You are?”
“Yes. It’s so hard staying inside all day. When I do go out I’m frightened someone will see me and turn me in.” After a pause she added, “Or worse.”
“Mom’s house will be safe. Luckily Barnhart is less than an hour away.”
“Yes, and it’s nice she has property outside of town with no visible neighbors.”
Daniel laughed. “And those dogs of hers! No one can sneak up on the place.” After a brief moment he sighed, “Emily, I’m sorry.”
She rose from her chair and went over to where Daniel was sitting and. “You didn’t mean this. I know that. It is frightening to know something no one else does, but I believe you are a good man. This happened; we will deal with it together.”
Daniel stuffed another bite in his mouth. “Why don’t you get all the food we can fit in the car together while I start packing up some of our bathroom supplies.”
“Alright, but what will we do with everything? I mean should I pack for a short visit or what?”
Daniel’s head slumped. “Emily, I don’t know if we will ever be able to come back here. With the knowledge we have I think we will be much safer in Barnhart, away from the city.”
“I’ll take what is most important to me and we can leave the rest.” She smiled sweetly. “So, we are going to have an adventure? Let’s get started.”
The next morning as they stood in the doorway looking back into the house Emily held his hand tightly. “Looks rather bare doesn’t’ it.”
“Yes, but we have all we need and want. We’ll be okay, Emily, I’ll make sure you are happy and taken care of.” As Daniel pulled out of the driveway he paused in front of the house for one last look before starting the next phase of their life.
***
Daniel’s mom was on the front porch resting after making sure her son’s room was ready for them. The dogs started to bark, running up the driveway so she knew someone was coming to the house.
It’s a beautiful driveway, so long and meandering. A pretty drive, but it has nothing on this yard! Her mother-in-law’s yard was bordered on all sides with tall brush and wild roses. It made for a pretty privacy fence when in bloom. She owned over eighty acres but only the middle was for the house and yard, the rest was left wild so the roses were a mess of dried branches with thorns from many years as a natural fence.
“I can’t wait to sit outside! Will the dogs always be this noisy?”
“There’s no sneaking onto this property is there?” He laughed, but deep inside he felt grateful for that fact.
“NO!” She laughed back at him, a bit relieved herself. They rounded the corner and saw Daniel’s mom stepping off the porch towards the driveway to greet them.
Emily suddenly began trembling. “Daniel I can’t get out of the car. What will your mom say?”
“Just stay here for a moment.” He answered as he got out.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, Daniel.” Looking toward Emily sitting in the car she added, “Is Emily getting out?”
He took his mom’s elbow and turned her towards the house. “Mom, I need to talk to you first.”
“What is it Daniel?” Her voice was shaky with concern.
When they were both seated on the porch words just rushed from him. “You know the work I do?”
“Yes.”
“Well, my boss and I finally perfected our virus.”
“Oh, Daniel that’s wonderful!”
“Well not any more. I took some of the virus and gave it to Emily’s cat to turn her eyes blue, like Emily’s. It worked, but it also infected Emily.”
“Daniel, what are you trying to tell me?”
“The changes you are hearing about.”
“Yes.”
“That is my virus. I set it loose!” He wailed.
“What?”
“That’s my virus, Mom. Not only that, but there are things going on that no on
e knows about, only Emily and I do.”
“Not even Austin knows about this?”
“Yes, Austin knows what I did and told us not to tell anyone because they would take Emily to study and put me in prison.”
“That’s probably true.”
“But, Mom, there’s more that you have to know.”
“What is it?”
As Daniel told his mom his story, Emily sat in the car and watched. Finally, she looked up at her. Emily turned her face away; she could not watch her mother-in-law’s reaction to the news she was getting. It seemed to her an eternity before someone was opening her door. She turned, expecting Daniel, and was shocked to see his mom, Sue, standing there with Daniel still making his way to the car.
Sue stretched out her hand to Emily. “My dear child you’ll be safe here.” The smile on her face was one of compassion and love. Emily could take no more. The stress of her existence could not be held back any longer. She took Sue’s hand, weeping hysterically.
Sue took the young woman in her arms and held her there until she was able to calm down. “Let’s sit on the porch. Daniel, take your things to your room.” Sue turned her attention back to Emily.
Emily turned her head away. “I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for Emily. You will be safe here and can even enjoy being outside.” They sat for a quiet moment before she continued, “You sit here and I’ll get us some sweet tea.”
“Thank you.”
While waiting she went out to where the sun was shining and stood with her face towards it. A smile crossed her features as she felt its warmth.
“Tanning?” Daniel asked coming out the front door.
She held her hand out for him to take. “No. Haven’t been out in the sun for so long I just wanted to feel it on my skin.”
“I’m sorry Emily. I have really messed things up.”
“It’s done. You didn’t mean any harm and I don’t blame you. I’m scared for our future, but as long as we are together we will be happy.”
The two young people were talking when Sue came out the front door laden with a tray full of sandwiches and sweet tea. “I thought we could sit and have a bite to eat out here.”
“Oh that would be wonderful.” Emily said delighted.
The three of them ate their sandwiches and drank the tea in what seemed like an odd normalcy. Sue tried to make Emily as comfortable as she could and the three quickly fell into a routine.
The next day Emily, Daniel, and Sue watched TV. B.J., an anchor for a local station, was saying, “I have Jadonna Smith with me.”
“What are you trying to say Jadonna?”
“We feel the government is hiding information from us.”
“What kind of information?”
“I think they know what’s going on.” As she spoke she pointed at her own face. “I think they did this to stop the violence.”
“I don’t think I understand what you are saying.”
“This!” She repeated as she pointed to her face once again, “They did this to stop the violence.”
“What violence?”
“The cop killing, black on black violence… things like Ferguson and Chicago.” She paused then added, “I’m African American, the government couldn’t stop the violence so I believe they did this…” She made a gesture to her hair, “to us to stop it.”
The camera panned in close on her head. Her hair was a natural dark blonde.
“But the government is trying to find a cure.” The reporter blurted out, obviously flabbergasted at Jadonna’s idea.
“If the government didn’t do this then they still aren’t doing their job, they need to find a cure!”
“Let’s give it over to Kathy.” The anchor was shaking her head.
“Thanks B.J. We’re in Washington, DC, watching Americans protest against what their government is doing, or not doing depending on how you look at it.”
The camera panned across the city. “Fires in various stages run from one end of the city to the other.” After a pause she continued, “Look at that group.”
The cameraman panned to show a small group gathered around a cell tower. “Look at the man half way up the tower, he’s going to hook a cable to it.”
As Daniel watched the TV he saw the man hook the cable to his truck and connected it to a winch. As he started the winch, another got his chain saw and began to cut at the pole. Bright sparks flew from the saw, but after a few minutes the man threw the saw to the side. The cell tower was scratched but no major damage was done to it. The chain saw, however, was a chewed up mess. As the camera took all this in, you could hear a chuckle come from the man behind it.
Kathy said, “Looks like these guys need help.” At that moment, a man pulled a large flatbed truck up to the tower. “Maybe now they’ll get somewhere.”
He had an arc welder, mig welder, and an acetylene torch on it. He picked up the acetylene torch, opened the valves, and lit the torch. A bright blue flame emitted, and the man began to cut the tower.
He got about half way through the tower when all of a sudden it began to buckle on one side. People began to scramble for safety. The man on the truck with the cable connected to the winch, jumped to the side the moment before the cell tower hit his truck.
“Well,” the anchorwoman dryly intoned, “a job well done I guess.” She smiled and finished, “This is Kathy Brown in Washington, DC.”
Daniel changed the station.
“This is downtown St. Louis,” an anchor said. The camera was panning the city, and all one could see was fire and smoke. “People are angry at the government. Let them see,” he told the cameraman.
It looked like a low-lying cloud over the city. They could see rows of homes all engulfed in flames. Streets looked as though they were part of a movie with fires on each side. The cameraman panned closer to show a group of people outside downtown city hall. They were angry and wanted to do as much damage as possible.
“This is their way of telling the government they want answers,” the anchor said. One could see all across the city buildings on fire. Firefighters who were trying to put them out were being attacked. The police and military were of little use against such masses.
***
This was happening all across America. Within the U.S., it took days for police and military to get enough control of the cities to quiet the rioters. Billions of dollars in damage had been done and thousands were arrested around the country. St. Louis, Missouri looked like a war zone that spread out for miles into the county. What the government had tried to avoid had come to pass.
Chapter Nine
State of Emergency
At the secured lab the scientists were trying to find a way to keep the virus from spreading. Austin was checking a report. “Ronald, do you have the data from the group in New Mexico?”
“Yes, it came in a few hours ago. They have been trying to see if they can use the virus to cure a lady with an advanced stage of breast cancer. So far all the data shows if they can just get the virus to pass the non-cancerous DNA they should be able to cure her. Or, that is the perception.”
“Let’s hope they —” At that moment a lady came in the lab.
“Everyone, the president is coming on TV. Hurry, so we can hear it.”
They entered the TV room, which was already overflowing. Everyone waited patiently for the news conference to start. The President of the United States finally appeared and made a brief announcement. “My fellow Americans we must keep control of our country and ourselves. I’m declaring a state of emergency. This will allow us to make sure everyone is working and producing the goods needed to survive. Anyone caught breaking curfew will be arrested on sight. Thank you.”
As the president moved from the podium, a general moved up to it. “I’m General Reagan. We are declaring a state of emergency. All citizens are asked to stay in their homes for the next two days. Please do not leave your house, anyone caught out will be arrested and will n
ot be returned home. We will pass on any information as needed. Thank you.” This was repeated on TV, radio and over the Internet.
***
The U.S. Government had everyone in place to make their next move. In the afternoon, the National Emergency Alert System took control of all the airways and began announcing. Radios, TV’s, the Internet and sound systems for the towns all began the same message simultaneously. “This is the Emergency Alert System. Everyone must stay in your home. A state of emergency has been declared. This is the Emergency Alert System. Everyone must stay in your homes. A state of emergency has been declared.” This was repeated continuously throughout the day.
Ramps getting on and off the interstate and highways were blocked. The military stopped each person, checking to make sure they were going home. Those caught out of town were taken to a detention center until arrangements could be made to get them back to their homes. A few gas stations were left open with the military standing by to check everyone who was stopping.
The Sheriffs’ department, state, city, and parish police were going from business to business closing them down and sending everyone home. By 2 pm, the United States looked like a ghost town. At three pm, the broadcast began a new statement. “This is the Emergency Alert System. The government of the United States has declared a state of emergency. Turn your TV, radio, or internet on at six pm for a news bulletin. This is the Emergency Alert System. . .” This was repeated until 5:55 pm then stopped, the silence was deafening after hearing the loudspeaker system all day.
The first two full days of the state of emergency was the most difficult. Once the emergency was declared all movement was stopped. The military moved most of the troops into the larger cities. They kept all ramps going to or from interstates and highways blocked and the local police and sheriff’s departments, along with the National Guard kept the local roads blocked. No one was allowed off their property. 911 centers were inundated with calls that went unanswered. All local police and sheriff’s departments now came under military rule.
Genetic Flux (Phase One Book 1) Page 8