Genetic Flux (Phase One Book 1)

by Eckrich,Jeremiah P.

  “No you didn’t! You tried to do a nice thing for me.”

  “It turned out very bad though.” He mumbled.

  Sue stood up. “We’re all safe here. Let’s move forward from that.”

  Emily and Daniel agreed. Living at Sue’s was the best decision they could have made because Emily was safe there.

  “I’m going to give my mom a call.” Emily announced.

  “Okay, I’ll help Mom with dinner.”

  She went up to her bedroom and sat on the bed for her phone call.

  “Hi Mom.”

  “Hi Emily. How are you doing?”

  “Okay and you.”

  “Good, but if this doesn’t come to an end soon I don’t know how good any of us will be doing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, Emily, I worry about you so much. You’re there by yourself and—”

  “Mom, I have friends that live near me.”

  “But you are in the apartment by yourself. I worry something will happen with the virus changing people. And you lost your job when they stopped passenger flights. How are you going to pay your bills?”

  “It’s okay, Mom. I have some money set aside and the government is looking into getting those of us who lost our jobs new ones.”

  “I still worry about you. I wish we lived closer so you could come and stay with me.”

  “It’s okay, Mom, really. I hang with my friends, go shopping… all the things I normally do.”

  “Well, I still wish you were here with me.”

  “It will be fine. If I need to come stay with you I think I could get permission from the government because I lost my job.”

  “Oh Emily, would you do that?”

  Emily’s heart sunk. She didn’t mean to lead her mom on. She just wanted to put her mind at ease. “I will try, but if they think they have a job for me to do here, they will make me stay.”

  She worried it sounded as weak to her mom as it did to her.

  “At least try dear.”

  “I will. I’ll let you know what they say when I find anything out.”

  “Okay.”

  “Well I’d better go. I’m going shopping with some of the girls.”

  “I’m glad you are at least keeping busy. Have fun. Bye.”

  “Bye, Mom.”

  Once Emily hung up she took a deep breath. She wasn’t use to lying to her mom. After a few minutes she went downstairs to join the others. After the second UN speech, it seemed as though the media was filled with only stories about the flux. Politics, murders and everything else took a back seat. Everything they could find, small or large changes, was covered. The more people saw what was happening the more frightened they became and the more erratic their behavior got.

  ***

  Sue was some shopping when she ran into three sisters she knew from working at the school. “Well hi ladies.” She said to them all.

  Brailey was the first to speak. “Hi Missus Bragden.”

  “How have you been since graduation Brailey?”

  “I love my job. Today we had an interesting turn of events.”

  “I hate when you talk about work!” Brianna chimed in, “Those poor people. It’s not so bad once they don’t know what’s going on, but in the beginning… to know what’s coming, must be horrible.”

  “Alzheimer’s is a destructive disease, but you will like this.” Brailey said cheerfully.

  “How could we like anything about that disease?” asked Allie.

  “They are getting better!” Brailey answered.

  “What?” Sue said in shock.

  “How?” Brianna and Allie asked in unison.

  “We think it’s the flux. The tests are showing a reversal.” Brailey explained.

  “A reversal!” Brianna stated.

  “All of them?” Allie questioned.

  “Yes a reversal, but no, not all of them. We noticed it about a week ago, a few patients who were pretty far along seemed to be acting differently. Now, those who were in the beginning stages are acting normally and those who were in a more progressed state are still getting better as time goes by. Their tests come back free of the disease!”

  “They just had some people who have Parkinson’s on TV.” Allie chimed in.

  “What about them?” Brianna wanted to know.

  “They said they believed that they had gotten the flux from someone whose genetic make-up did not include Parkinson’s and that now their tests come back clean.” Allie explained.

  “Is that possible?” Brianna asked.

  “Well, it’s a genetic pre-disposition.” Brailey pointed out then added, “Look at that family of little people on the news a few days ago. They had a follow up with them and the dad is five feet nine inches tall now. No one would have thought that possible.”

  Brianna, Brailey, and Allie were the quintessential of every human on earth who could understand what was happening. To see a virus attack mankind was frightening, but to also see some good come from it was reassuring.

  When Sue arrived home Daniel and Emily went out to help with the groceries.

  “You won’t believe what I just heard.” Sue couldn’t contain her excitement.

  “What?” Emily asked.

  “I ran into three sisters from Windsor. One just graduated from Jefferson College and has a job in a nursing home. She was saying how some of the residents who had Alzheimer’s are now free of the disease!”

  “What?” Daniel stood still in amazement.

  “I know, it’s just crazy to think someone could be in the last stages of Alzheimer’s and then be cured but that’s what she was saying.”

  “So there is good that will come from this.” Emily said as she picked up three bags of groceries.

  ***

  Once the virus was put into motion, it took only two weeks to quickly filter out into the populace. By the end of three months Austin’s new lab had been set up, those with immunity to the virus had been discovered and the United States called for a state of emergency. At the end of the fourth month most of humanity had lost their physical differences. The problem was as more people became re-infected, with some having painful changes, the masses were panicking. What other changes were in their future no one knew.

  Watching from the immunity compound, Tracy and the others could only stand by and watch humanity suffer. She was thankful that her younger sister and a cousin had been able to join her. The compound had enough room for thousands of people, but there were only about one hundred and twenty five living there now. There was talk of other immunity compounds around the world, but no one knew where, how many, or even the number of others immune. So, all-in-all, they felt like the last true humans on earth.

  Everyone in the compound that was old enough was given a job. Everyone had to go to morning or evening workouts and those who were over the age of thirteen and healthy enough had to learn how to handle and shoot a firearm and defend themselves.

  Retha walked up to Bill’s office door trembling. “Bill could we talk?”

  “Sure come on in.”

  As she walked into his office, she got right to the point. “Bill, I want to go home.”

  “I know you miss your baby, but going home is not possible.”

  Retha was so agitated she completely lost it. She moved in front of Bill’s desk and cried out, “I’m going home!”

  She stormed out of his office, slamming the door behind her.

  Bill called his assistant in. “Betty, I need you to find John.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  His office door was left open. When John arrived a few minutes later Bill saw him come into the outer office and motioned him inside. “John, come on in.”

  Even though he wore only civilian clothing now; John was still in the Military Police. “Hi Bill.”

  “John there’s a young woman named Retha who was brought here after giving birth. She’s—”

  A loud screech outside grabbed their attention. A siren wailed a few seconds
later. Both men jumped to their feet and ran towards the noise. When they got outside, they saw two men helping Retha out from under a four-wheeler.

  As they met up with the group Bill grabbed the hysterical woman. “Are you alright Retha?”

  Over and over again she screamed, “I want my baby!”

  Bill had no luck in calming her down. A doctor arrived to examine her for injuries. Bill shrugged and pointed at her. “Give her something to quiet her down.”

  They kept the young mother in the hospital to look after her. A few days later a nurse asked, “Retha would you like to go outside? It’s beautiful out and you could use some fresh air.”

  “Yes.” She answered sullenly.

  Once outside the nurse asked, “Where should we sit?”

  “Under the shade tree.”

  The two headed towards a bench under a large oak tree. In mid-stride Retha shoved the nurse and took off running for the fence.

  “No, Retha, don’t!”

  The nurse tried to catch up to her, but couldn’t. Right before Retha reached the fence she leapt into the air, trying to grab the fence as high up as possible. The moment she touched it an electric shock sent her flying back. She hit the ground with a dull thud and began shrieking, “I want my baby!”

  No one knew what to do for the young mother. Those at the immunity compound had no choice but to forget the life they had left behind and begin anew.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Starting a Risky Trip

  “Honey, does your cell work?”

  “It should, I’m charged,” Lexi hollered back.

  “Nothing,” he mumbled as he set the useless phone on the counter.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t get a signal. I wanted to touch base with mom before we leave.”

  It was a treacherous journey at a dangerous time, but he felt his family would be safer at his moms. There they could grow their own vegetables and find meat in the woods. They would join one of their friends who had a raft and try to stay on the river for the trip. With four adults and three children it would be a hard journey, but they felt the children would fare better in Barnhart as the flux worked its way through the population.

  “Kaden?”

  Lexi waited a few moments for a response. When none came she shuffled down the stairs and called out a bit louder, “Kaden!”

  Her husband rushed around the corner, coming face to face with her. “I’m sorry dear, what?”

  “When will we leave?”

  He took a deep breath to clear his head. “Probably in a few days.”

  “A few days? Kaden how can we be ready? We have no food to take with us and what about the state of emergency?”

  He took his wife gently by the arms and looked into her eyes. “We have to try. Look at all the damage they did rioting about not being able to move from country to country! Now that they have declared a state of emergency what are we going to do? Lexi, we’ll have to make it on our own. Bob having a raft is just a godsend. We’d be much worse off without it and we’ll find food on the way.”

  She took a step back. “But how? We have children to feed. How will we not starve to death? At least here we can still have food.”

  “For how much longer? Look how painful getting a prominent jaw was Lexi. Little Beth cried non-stop for days. Can you imagine how much worse it could get?”

  Kaden paused for a moment wondering how he could get his wife to understand. “What do you think will happen if this goes from bad, and babe this is just bad, to worse?”

  “How can it get worse?”

  “I don’t know, but whoever dreamt something like this could ever happen? No one is happy with the state of emergency. At work there’s talk of different groups trying to plan an overthrow. We’re not use to taking orders in our everyday life, Lexi. Some will not stand for it much longer.”

  She moved into her husband’s embrace and cried, “What will happen to us?”

  “We’ll get through this.”

  ***

  Only a few days after the state of emergency was declared, there was news that most of the U.S. had settled in to their new routine. Streets were bare the majority of the time, but at least one could get out during the day. However, a few towns further away from the populace, had trouble. They became towns like in the Wild West and were ruled by those who had the most gun power. The small town of Grasmere, Idaho was having problems keeping its citizens under control and it seemed like the situation was going to spill into an outright revolt.

  The military was first placed in the large cities and then they fanned out into the counties. No one wanted more uprisings. The two boarders and all ports of entry were secured. The Navy and Coast Guard kept patrol of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. The government wanted total shut down. In some outlying areas, where there were small towns spread out from one another, the military didn’t have enough troops to cover. They were at the mercy of whoever thought they could take it over.

  ***

  Sue picked up the phone and rang her sister, “Hi Abby.”

  “Hi, Sue. How are you doing?”

  “Okay and you?”

  “We are holding on. Joshua went to town the other day and, wow, it was bad.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well he was going into Grasmere for a few things when he saw smoke in the distance and a panicked feeling came over him. He slowed and checked his rear view mirror for trouble when all of a sudden, six people ran into the road in front of him. He slammed on his brakes screeching to a halt. He said the sight was shocking.”

  “What did he see?”

  “A man, Joshua could not guess his age, moved towards the car. He was unsure whether to run him over, go around him, or back up and leave. Without thinking, he opened his door and got out of the car. He said he held out his arms and asked them what they wanted.”

  “He must have been scared to death.”

  “Yes, the man stopped and told him that he shouldn’t go into Grasmere.”

  “Did the guy tell him why?”

  “Yes, he explained the smoke was from people setting houses on fire.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “The guy told him that the local police lost control when a large group of men decided to take the town over. Those who tried to fight against them had their houses burned.”

  “Oh Abby, I’m so sorry. The changes are hard enough to deal with. Now with the state of emergency some folks aren’t wanting to give up complete control of their lives.”

  “It really weirded him out.”

  “Why?”

  “Well to him the six people looked just like each other. He could tell male and female but their ages were hard except for very young or old. Joshua asked if they were all family and the guy said no, just one of the girls was his. Sue, this is just getting worse as more time goes by.”

  “You’re safe where you are Abby.”

  “Yes, we were both smart in getting places further out. It is eerie though looking at a group of people and everyone looks so similar, the only differences are in the way one smiles might be more crooked or one might tilt their head a certain way.”

  “Yes. It is unnerving.”

  As Sue spoke to her sister she was looking at Emily sitting on the couch watching TV. If you knew the whole truth of what the flux was doing you’d think it was more than just eerie.

  “Well I’ll let you go. I just wanted to touch base.”

  “Okay. You guys take care.”

  “You too. Bye.”

  Sue looked at Emily once more as she hung up the phone then went to the kitchen to cook supper.

  ***

  In Montana, Kaden tried to ready his family for their trip. They would have to time it so they leave the night before his two days off. With a state of emergency being imposed, they ran the risk of being put in jail. He believed staying in town could turn more dangerous if they could not find a way to stop the flux, so the
risk was worth it. Friends of theirs; Bob, his wife Miranda, and her daughter Brianne would be joining them.

  “Lexi, make sure everyone has their backpacks,” Kaden told her as they gathered their gear.

  “We can’t carry everything we need.”

  Kaden spoke to his wife in a quiet but firm manner. “Look, this is going to be the toughest thing we’ve ever done.”

  “But Kaden—”

  “Listen to me. We’ll have to carry everything we need. There won’t be a place to get anything. If we don’t have it with us, we won’t have it at all. Do you understand?”

  “I understand, but—”

  “No, Lexi, you don’t understand. We’ll have to carry it. Our food, cooking utensils, clothing… everything!”

  “But the children will grow. What do we do then?”

  “All we have to do is get to my mom’s house. We’ll be safe there. Any other problems can be dealt with once we are there.”

  Kaden was very meticulous on what they would and wouldn’t take. All of the must haves were in one pile and the other growing assortment of items he had designated as the ‘if we have room’ pile. His wife had been putting some objects he classified as the latter in the wrong section. “Lexi we can’t take all this. You have to get rid of half this stuff.”

  Lexi had been pushed about as far as she could be. She snapped out, “Do you want to tell your daughter she can’t take her dolly with her?”

  She threw the toy across the room. She began to sob as she looked around their living room.

  Kaden went to his wife and took her by the shoulders. “Lexi are you going to carry all that?” He asked as he pointed towards the two large piles on the floor, “Will I be able to carry it while carrying little Beth?”

  “No,” she said meekly.

  “Okay. We need only essentials. Yes, we’ll take Beth’s dolly she can carry it in her backpack.”

  “I’m sorry Kaden. This is just too much.”

  “We can’t stay here, Lexi. It’s too dangerous and I believe it will only get worse. It’ll be hard, but we’ll make it.”

  With a heavy sigh she answered, “I know.”