Reset (Book 2): Salvation

by Jacqueline Druga

  Aside from him, Maggie and Trey, four others would be joining their journey to find the lost stations of Genesis. A virologist, historian and two military men.

  Malcolm reiterated the story about the woman that shot his travelling companion. He was told unfortunately, those who lived outside of Salvation, especially those who lived alone were off balance at times.

  Hence why they needed protection.

  It was Maggie’s dream to see the wall removed in her lifetime. That started with a cure. They had taken much of Malcolm’s blood. That was a start. Finding something in one of the Genesis labs would be a great asset. But then they still had to reproduce it.

  There were many born inside the walls and who had been there since there were young. They had never saw the ocean, the Grand Canyon or even a large natural body of water. All things that would be a new American Dream.

  While sipping his coffee, Malcolm packed a small bag. They had given him clothing and new shoes. He was just about done when a knock came at his door.

  Maggie poked her head in. “You have someone that would like to speak to you. He thinks you might have answers. You don’t have to.”

  “Who is it?”

  Maggie stepped aside and an older gentleman walked into the room. He was seventy, maybe a few years older. He was strong looking and his age was evident more so by his white hair and deep lines around his eyes and mouth.

  “Thank you,” he said to Maggie and tipped his head. Then the man turned to Malcolm. “Thank you for taking a moment to see me. I had to fight for this.”

  “It’s okay. What can I do for you, sir?”

  “It’s a long shot. I know. But my wife was supposedly killed in that hotel explosion. They never found her body, only her wedding ring. I accepted that. Until the day you walked in through these walls and they said, you were at the hotel and were in some sort of freeze for thirty years. Just out of curiosity … were there any women there with you. Maybe some that were believed to be dead.”

  “Yes,” Malcolm answered. “Many of them died. They didn’t wake up from the process. But I can tell you I committed to memory every single last name. So if she was there, even if she didn’t make it I can help you.”

  “Thank you. Her last name was Lane.”

  Malcolm blinked. “As in Nora?”

  The man stumbled back. “You knew her?”

  “Are you Rick?”

  “Yes, I go by Richard now. Yes.” Rick said with excitement. “You know her.”

  “Yeah. She’s great.”

  Rick gasped out. “She’s alive?”

  “Very much so. She went to find you and your daughters.”

  “Our one daughters died.” His hand shot to his mouth. “This is a lot to handle.” He reached back and sat down. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I wanted answers. You told me more than I expected to hear. Will she be coming to Salvation?”

  Malcolm exhaled. “I don’t know. If she can find it she will. Those of us who made it out of the project were supposed to meet up. But now I’m doing this thing with Salvation. I’m gonna try to get word to them. Try to meet up. Find them. I’ll tell her we met. She’s going to be very happy.”

  “I’m not expecting a love rematch. I … I can’t. I since remarried.”

  “You’re remarried?” Malcolm asked, instantly feeling bad for Nora.

  “How will she handle it?”

  “Hard to say.” Malcolm said. “Please remember, to us, it’s only been a couple weeks. Our feelings are still the same. Knowing Nora and how she is, I’m gonna say she’s realistic and won’t be hurt.”

  “I don’t want to hurt her. I just want to see her.”

  “She’d like that, I’m sure.” Malcolm reached out his hand to Rick and shook firmly. “I am very glad she has family alive.”

  Malcolm finished up his packing and spent the rest of the time with Rick before he had to leave on the journey. Rick asked if he could go, but Maggie refused. Plus, Malcolm reiterated that should he not meet up with Nora, they could make their way here and wouldn’t Rick want to be waiting.

  He got the information on Rick’s life, and Nora’s daughter. He assured Rick that Nora was going to be fine, but Malcolm knew that wasn’t the case. How could she be? Not two weeks earlier she was in a loving marriage.

  That wasn’t Rick’s burden to carry. He believed his wife was dead.

  Nora would face pain, but she’d move on, eventually. They all would have to.

  There was no reverse, no ‘reset’ on what happened. Thirty years had passed and there was nothing they could do about it.

  <><><><>

  Rusty had taken an old map and made changes to reflect the state of the United States. It wasn’t really an old map to John, it was a land and country he had seen not weeks earlier. Rusty scratched out roads no longer viable and marked highways that were no more than trails.

  What happened to the world?

  It was known that there was a limited nuclear exchange on American soil. The solo journey back to Rusty gave him ample thinking time. He wondered what would have happened if they were released when they were supposed to. John would have come out of stasis in the thick of war. Or what if it were only a year or two.

  The virus was out of control, there was no turning that back. Would John have survived? The worst thought for him was thinking about his family. How if he had been released decades earlier, how he would have had to watch them die. If, of course, he wasn’t killed with them.

  A part of him was glad he missed it all. Missed the pain of losing family and the horror of nuclear war. All that was behind him.

  The only bad thing was despite the fact that everyone he knew was gone and the cities he loved were dust, John still carried the memories and feelings of his former life. It wasn’t that he was spared the hurt, he was just experiencing it differently.

  It was a quiet journey. He didn’t realize how much Meredith talked until he wasn’t with her.

  He supposed Rusty would be like, ‘What the heck? I just left you’, he and John would have a chuckle, smoke some of that weed and John would enjoy the look on Rusty’s face when he told him about a Wrecker world beyond the savage ones.

  John recognized the surroundings and route, albeit in reverse. He distinctively recalled seeing the old rusted mini van parked on the side of the road as they left Rusty’s property. A van rich with the growth of weeds and bushes, its own apocalyptic botanical garden. It had caught John’s eye, and now it was a landmark to let him know he had arrived.

  He saw the dirt road just ahead and heard the dogs barking the moment he drove on the dusty road.

  The horses had been turned out and were exercising in the fenced in area just to the left of the road. What surprised John was Scooter coming out of the house. Rusty’s son looked just as shocked to see John.

  John stopped the buggy.

  “Hey, John, everything okay?” Scooter asked. “You guys just left. Is Meredith alright?”

  “She’s fine. We’re fine. I came back to see your father. Hoping he may be able to …” John stopped when Scooter lowered his head. “What it is? What’s wrong?”

  “My father died this morning.”

  It was as if John had been hit with a baseball bat. He stumbled back. “What? What happened?”

  “Weirdest thing. Two nights ago he got sick. I came by yesterday and he was pretty bad. I mean real bad. Whatever bug he got, knocked him out. He never woke up, and died in his sleep.”

  “I’m … I’m terribly sorry. I mean really sorry.”

  “Yeah, me, too. He was all I had. He knew it though. He knew he was gonna get really bad and die.”

  “How?”

  “On his way back from taking you guys, he saw a Wrecker on the road. It was sick. My dad said it looked like the old virus. He was even gonna try to help him, but the Wrecker died. My dad just sensed the virus was back. After all these years, it’s back.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Me? I’m fin
e.”

  “Scooter, was the Wrecker you father found a violent Wrecker. One of the ones that hurt people.”

  “What other kind are there?”

  “There are civilized ones,” John said. “We happened upon them and that was why I came back. This virus has hit there as well. We were hoping to get some of your father’s herbs. His medicine.”

  “I don’t know if it can help, but I can get you some.” Scooter stepped back to the house. “There really are civilized Wreckers?”

  John nodded.

  “And they’re hit with the virus, too? Scooter shook his head. “Ain’t that the darndest thing? All this time, and the virus is back. Scary.” He walked into the house.

  It was scary, in more ways than Scooter realized. John began to process his thoughts as he stood waiting on Scooter to get the medication. The stasis stranger that strolled into Matthew’s village was without a doubt the carrier of the virus there.

  But what of the violent Wreckers over a hundred miles away? Or Rusty for that matter. John recalled waking to the sound of Rusty sneezing.

  The only stasis strangers they were exposed to were him, Meredith and Grant.

  John was fearful that when they woke from stasis, their presence woke the virus. If indeed they weren’t carriers themselves somehow.

  And while they were determined to look for the living, something inside of John told him, that maybe that was a task they should put on hold. They were placed in stasis to ensure life, and John was starting to wonder if the best way to make sure the human race survived, was to stay as far away from everyone as they possibly could.

  NINE – NOT QUITE

  Christian Life Church. That was the name of it and it took Jason a good twenty minutes to remember. That was all he focused on. What was the name of the church? It was one of the first places he did a worship service. A traveling Christian band with Jason as Worship leader, not yet a full-fledged preacher, singing his hit song. Bring it.

  He slipped into the a reminiscent phase after Grace pulled out an older CD.

  Jason had longer hair, his face not as smooth since he hadn’t had any peels yet. His eyebrows weren’t plucked. He supposed they’d never be again, and without a doubt, his teeth weren’t as perfect.

  “You were young,” Nora commented.

  “Not really. Just not polished physically,” Jason replied.

  Grace gave them supplies, wished them well, and told them they were welcome back. She drew them a map, which resembled something more like a treasure map from an old pirate movie. Grace also said, while they picked a good spot in Champaign, the survivors were actually in an outlying town called Rantoul.

  Rantoul.

  That was when it clicked for Jason.

  He had been there.

  “If she’s right,” Nora said in the drive. “What are we gonna do?”

  “Huh?” Jason was preoccupied.

  “About the others. We said Champaign. Do we wait in Champaign or do we look for survivors in this Rantoul.”

  Jason stared at her. His mind was elsewhere.

  “I guess we could leave a note. I mean. We aren’t supposed to be there yet. But for the life of me …”

  “That’s it.”

  “What?”

  “Life.”

  “Okay.”

  “The name of the church. Christian Life. In Rantoul. I played there.”

  “Really?” Nora asked. “That’s actually pretty cool. Is that one of the memories that just popped back at you?”

  “Yeah, it is.” Jason sat back.

  “I had one yesterday. It was eighth grade. I got my period.”

  “Is that a joke?” Jason asked.

  “No but it could be.”

  “I have no doubt.”

  “I have a new one.”

  Jason shook his head with a smile. “Go on.”

  “Did you hear Fred and Wilma Flintstone found Betty having a good time in a nuclear apocalypse?” Nora paused. “She was under Rubble.”

  No reaction.

  “Get it? Rubble. Barney. Betty? Barney is her husband. Under …”

  “Yeah, yeah. I get it.” Jason sat up. “Are you writing these down?”

  “I am.”

  “I figured.”

  “So what should we do?” Nora asked. “Go to Rantoul or leave a note.”

  “I think we should see if there are people in Rantoul, then if there are, we leave a note.”

  “Okay, that’s what we’ll do. So you really were in this town?”

  “I was. I remember it was crazy too. It was an election year and for some reason Illinois was a big state in the race.”

  “Oh!” Nora said excitedly. “Did you hear about the meteor that fell during the New Hampshire primary?”

  Jason groaned.

  “It made a big impact.”

  “These are so bad.”

  “But the best jokes you heard in thirty years.”

  Jason smirked. “Best jokes I heard in thirty years, yes.”

  <><><><>

  Just as Grace indicated, Champaign was a wash. There were no quarantine signs or warnings. At the onset of the city limits in the parking lot of a sporting goods complex were the remnants of an aid station, but there wasn’t a person to be seen. However, the further they drove, the more Grace’s map made sense.

  How she knew about things, they didn’t know. She hadn’t left in a long time. Perhaps it was memories of things Bruce conveyed.

  They couldn’t wait to meet Bruce. Driving through the tail end of Champaign, they knew they would have to leave notes everywhere.

  Jason didn’t remember until that very second that Rantoul wasn’t a hop skip and a jump from Champaign.

  “Grace has it’s fifteen minutes on the old highway north,” Jason said.

  “So like another twenty miles,” Nora replied. “For sure we’re gonna have to leave notes. No one will find or think to look for the town.”

  “That’s if they’ll have us. They may not.”

  “Grace says they’re nice.”

  “Grace is nuts,” Jason commented.

  They passed the sign for Rantoul. The old sign had been weather worn and was hard to read, nearly covered completely with overgrown weeds. Was it a five or an eight mile journey? They weren’t sure. But it was flat land so they were hopeful they’d see the town ahead.

  “Where do we want to park the buggy?” Nora asked.

  “I say as soon as we spot the town. Keep it hidden. We have to head back to Champaign anyhow, right? And just on the chance they aren’t friendly.”

  “How about that. We wander for days and finally we find people. Now we’re worried they may be hostile,” Nora said.

  “They may be. Just don’t tell them your jokes.”

  “Grace liked them.”

  “Again, Grace is nuts.”

  “Do you think the others found anyone?”

  “We can only hope.”

  The time came for them to pull over and park the buggy, it was evident but not by a visual sighting of the small town. They knew it was time when they saw something else. Something different. It was alive. Buildings went from abandoned to useful. Roadside gas stations, fast food restaurants, were dilapidated monuments of the past swallowed by a field of life. Parking lots, roadways had been transformed into farmland.

  Not big farms, small farms to reflect a small population.

  They pulled over, got out of the buggy, concealing it some, removed the battery and hid that well. The both grabbed a small tote bag and headed into the small town. Neither of them knew what to expect. They banked on Grace being right and that the people were friendly.

  At first they didn’t see anyone. That worried Jason.

  “Either they aren’t here or they’re up on the roof taking a sniper position,” he said.

  A male voice echoed out. “You got that half right.”

  Jason and Nora stopped.

  Nora whispered. “Something tells me you got the sniper part
right.”

  “Who are you?” the man asked.

  “I am Nora Lane, and this is Jason Rudolph.”

  “Are you recruiters?” he asked.

  “From?” Nora retorted.

  “Salvation.”

  “No,” Nora answered. “We’re looking for it.”

  “This isn’t it.”

  “Obviously,” Jason quipped.

  A single shot fired ricocheting at his feet, causing Jason to jump.

  “Hey!” Jason yelled. “We’re not armed. What the hell?”

  “Not a fan of sarcasm from strangers or bad jokes.”

  “Well,” Jason said. “Apparently Grace thought we were a hoot.”

  “No,” Nora argued. “She thought I was a hoot. She didn’t like you.”

  “Are you crazy? She loved me. I was her fantasy.”

  “Hey, now.” The voice called out. “Enough bickering. How do you know Grace?”

  Nora answered. “We met her. She’s all fenced in. Nice woman. Said Bruce is nice to her.”

  The unseen man, whistled one short whistle then called out. “Okay, I think they’re fine.”

  “Wait.” A woman called out. “They were with Grace, how do we know they aren’t infected?”

  “We’re immune.” Nora stated.

  Another voice called out. “If you’re immune how come you aren’t in Salvation?”

  And another said. “You would have been young enough, orphans or not.”

  “It’s just the way things worked out,” Nora said.

  “No.” A person argued. “That doesn’t make sense. Are you sure you’re immune?”

  “Yes. Our families died. We never made it.”

  “Bull,” someone called out. “This tale stinks of lies. Probably members of the Anti trying to infect us with carriers. I told you I heard stories about carriers. Secret biological weapons in the form of people in white.”

  “We’re not carriers or weapons,” Nora said. “We’re immune. We had a vaccine.”

  “There is no vaccine. Tell us another story.”

  Jason shook his head. “This is ridiculous.” Then he shouted. “We’re immune because we did get a vaccine. They knocked us unconscious, told our families we died, and then put us in an underground facility where they kept us frozen for thirty years. We just woke up.”