H7N9: The Complete Series [Books 1-3]

by Campbell, Mark

  Ein didn’t say a word.

  “Good.” Teddy paused and sighed. “I know it isn’t what you want, but it beats going around killing folks or getting stuck in some government lab… I’ll watch after you, just like I have been.”

  As they neared the mouth of the Mississippi, barges and smaller ships crashed onto the marshes and joined scores of other battered vessels that ran aground.

  Teddy peered out into the darkness, squinting as he tried to find a safe place to stop. “You know, docking this thing safely is going to be a real pain in the—”

  Ein slammed a fist against Teddy’s bandaged wound.

  Teddy cried out in pain and fell back onto the deck with his arms wrapped around his abdomen.

  Ein quickly reached down and pulled the pistol out of his waistband. He stared down at him with teary eyes as he backed away and pointed the weapon at him.

  Teddy held a hand up at him as he hurried back against the bench, shaking his head. “Kid… don’t…”

  Ein sniffled and narrowed his red eyes. “You couldn’t just let me go…”

  “This isn’t you…”

  “Neither is living isolated on some island!” Ein shouted. “I’d rather be dead!”

  Teddy stared up at him and lowered his hand. “So, after everything… it comes down to this?”

  “I didn’t want it this way, but I guess so…” Ein cocked the hammer back. “Goodbye, Teddy.”

  Teddy leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

  Death.

  He accepted that fact and in some morbid way, almost welcomed it. Call it a release or a reprieve, but at least it would be an ending.

  Ein’s eyes darted up away from Teddy and towards the stern. His hard-lined face melted into a shrinking, fearful expression. “Oh, Jesus!”

  Teddy opened his eyes, but before he could turn around to see what startled Ein so severely, it was too late.

  They both were pulled under as a riverboat’s paddlewheel struck the back of the speedboat and shattered the fiberglass hull to pieces.

  CHAPTER 44

  He couldn’t see.

  He couldn’t breathe.

  Water filled Teddy’s lungs, and everything was pitch-black as the rough current propelled him spiraling forward.

  He tried to swim up towards the surface, but chunks of debris and wild undertows kept pulling him back down.

  Despite the current’s pull, he swam maddeningly up towards what he thought was moonlight.

  As he drew closer, the light blurred as his vision started to fade.

  Teddy flailed wildly, fighting against his own body as it started to shut down.

  He shot a hand up and broke through to the surface.

  Teddy’s head followed shortly after that.

  He retched water and gasped desperately for air.

  His body was weak, and his head swam from a lack of oxygen.

  Suddenly, his legs seized.

  Just as he was about to get pulled under yet again, he reached out and grabbed a piece of the broken fiberglass hull that floated nearby and clung onto it for dear life.

  Teddy held on and caught his breath as the water swept him downriver.

  Around him, it looked a battlefield.

  Broken boats, twisted steel, and the remnants of a large paddlewheel were careening alongside him, all headed in the same direction along the river delta.

  The paddlewheel came to a sudden halt and broke into wooden splinters as it crashed into a muddy river bar and got lodged in the muck.

  One by one, other debris joined growing mounds of wreckage as they each struck soppy mounds of sediment.

  Teddy came to a jarring stop as the piece of fiberglass he was holding onto struck one of the mounds.

  He was flung forward and landed on his side in the mud.

  Teddy slid across the sludge before finally rolling to a stop a good ten feet away from the edge of the river bar and ended up in a ship graveyard that was full of battered boats and heaps of washed-up trash.

  He got on his hands and knees, coughing and gagging as he spat out water.

  The mud swallowed half of his body.

  Teddy fought his way up to the surface and got on his feet. He staggered around the muddy mire, struggling just to keep his feet above the ground.

  As he looked around, he saw hundreds of raised sediment bars that were all littered with the river’s trash.

  Teddy turned behind him and saw the open sea as the delta opened into the Gulf of Mexico.

  The waters calmed once they reached the sea, and whatever trash made it past the river bars lazily drifted out into the gulf and disappeared in the dark horizon.

  Teddy looked around at the narrow bar and knew he had to find a way to get back to shore before the earth washed away from right under his feet.

  He pressed a hand against his throbbing wound and started to walk across the sludgy bar, losing one of his boots in the process.

  He noticed that all manner of boats had washed up onto the sediment, but one, in particular, caught his attention.

  A few yards west of where he had come ashore, he spotted what the remnants of the speedboat.

  He found the bow, some of the helm, and pieces of the hull, but there was no sign of Ein.

  Kid probably washed right out to the gulf and drowned, he thought.

  To be honest, it was a welcome relief and kept him from doing something he knew that he couldn’t get himself to do.

  As much as he hated to admit it, Ein was right about one thing.

  He had saddled his guilt over losing Jane and Danny on the kid’s shoulders and made it his mission to keep him alive.

  No other explanation made sense.

  Why else would he keep him around when he was so inherently useless?

  Ein had no survival skills, and Teddy never cared much for him other than the fact that he had become a familiar face in an unfamiliar world.

  Then, after everything, the kid had the balls to throw a coward’s punch at his gut and pull a gun out on him.

  Teddy would’ve killed a man for much less of an offense back in prison.

  Still—would Ein have pulled the trigger had they not crashed?

  He didn’t think so, but a part of him disagreed.

  He started to realize just how much he underestimated Ein.

  The kid was a selfish, cowardly, meek individual who probably stuck around out of survival.

  However, if Ein ever found his back against the corner, he’d lash out with everything he had.

  It was true what they said—the quiet types were the most dangerous.

  Teddy remembered part of an old verse that the bible thumpers used to quote a lot back when he was locked up. It took him a little while, but it came to him. “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

  He supposed there was some truth in that even if it meant lots of backstabbing and throat-slitting in the process.

  Teddy continued trudging through the bog till he came to a four-foot gap of rushing water that separated where he was standing from another marshy mound that touched the shore.

  Wooden beams and scrap from the broken paddlewheel littered the shoreline, but up the slippery, sandy embankment the ground leveled off and led back towards the city.

  As much as he hated wandering through the outskirts of a safe zone, he loathed the thought of staying on the sludgy barrier islands even more if he was honest with himself.

  He tried to jump the gap, but failed miserably in his weakened state and ended up clawing at the muddy earth as he scrambled back up to land.

  Teddy, completely covered in mud, crawled up into the swamp grass and wiped the junk off of his face with a grimace.

  When he finally got to his feet and started walking towards the shore, he heard a familiar voice.

  “…help… someone help me…”

  Teddy turned and saw Ein laying near the water’s edge along the shoreline.

  In-between a broad cross-section of wooden
beams, he spotted Ein.

  Ein lay washed-up on his stomach in the soggy sand. He left a trail from the water’s edge towards the embankment as he tried to crawl to safety.

  Teddy could see that walking was out of the question—a large sliver of wood poked through Ein’s thigh and left a bloody streak in his wake. “Ein…?”

  Ein craned his neck towards the voice with wide-eyed fear. He struggled to keep his face above ground as he gradually sunk deeper and deeper into the earth. He extended a muddy hand out towards him, shaking. “Teddy! Thank God. Help me… I hurt my leg bad…”

  Teddy went towards him, nearly falling in the sloshy muck. He stared down at the piece of wood protruding from his leg. “Christ, kid… Can you even stand?”

  “No… It’s bad.”

  Teddy noticed that the earth seemed to be swallowing the kid. He took a few steps backwards when he realized what it was: quicksand.

  He wagered that the whole area was pocketed with it, considering the erratic water levels.

  “Help me up!” Ein said as he stretched his hand out towards him. The more he moved, the faster he sank. “I can’t get out!”

  Acting without thinking, Teddy started to reach down and grab his hand, but then his eyes caught the glint of New Orleans’ lights.

  He paused.

  Ein waved his hand up at him urgently. “I… can’t do it by myself! Help me!”

  Teddy’s gaze lingered on the distant city and then flicked back down at Ein.

  If he got the wood out and stopped the bleeding, the leg would probably heal up on its own—it would just take some time.

  They could lay low in some nearby abandoned buildings for a week or two.

  Teddy was sure that there were still supplies scattered around—maybe even a proper first aid kit.

  If he couldn’t find any decent antiseptic, there was saltwater nearby thanks to the gulf.

  What troubled Teddy was the thought of what would happen after Ein’s leg healed.

  As he gazed at the city lights, he already knew exactly where Ein would go once he was healthy enough.

  After New Orleans, then where?

  Atlanta?

  Charlotte?

  How many cities would the kid bring destruction to as he rode across the country on his white horse?

  Teddy could yell at him, threaten him, and even beat him, but the kid wouldn’t listen.

  What then?

  What recourse did he have?

  Hell, even when he had a pistol pointed at the kid, he couldn’t get himself to pull the trigger.

  He couldn’t do it.

  He couldn’t…

  At the same time, he couldn’t let the kid do what he was going to do neither.

  Teddy’s heart ached as he took another step back and looked down at him with a sorrowful expression. “I wish you’d go with me...”

  “I’ll go,” Ein said earnestly, nodding his head vigorously. “I’ll go where you say to go! Honest!”

  Teddy swallowed hard and said nothing.

  “The-the-the islands!” Ein stammered, eyes darting towards the ocean. “The barrier islands, right? We can go!”

  Teddy held a hand out at the river bars. “They’re all muddy heaps of shit…” He lowered his hand and tucked it in his pocket. “You were right—we can’t live there.”

  “Then we’ll find somewhere else! Somewhere isolated!” Ein gave a crazed smile as he nodded again. The sand came up to his chin. “That’s a good plan!” He fidgeted, but it only made his lower body sink faster. “I know I’m sick—I see that now! Just get me up, and we can think of or next move.”

  “All that stuff you spoke about earlier… Community and other people…” Teddy’s voice was as flat as his expression. “That doesn’t mean anything to you anymore?”

  Ein laughed, but it was the sound of a deranged, panicked man. “Naw—hell naw—come on, man! I wasn’t thinking right! Me and you against the world, right?” He extended his hand as far as it would go. “You’re my friend, right, Teddy? Help me up, and we can come up with a new plan together. How about it?”

  Teddy stared solemnly down at him, frowning, silent.

  “Come on… I didn’t mean those things I said. I saved you, remember?” Ein lost his smile as the quicksand passed the bottom of his chin and completely swallowed his legs. His voice quickened, and his words started slurring together. “I know I’m sick, and I’m going to do things your way from now on—I swear it! Just get me out of here!”

  Teddy gave a heavy sigh. “I… I wish I could believe you.”

  Ein lost his smile, and his face contorted with anger. He started pounding the earth like a petulant child. “I saved you! I could’ve let you die, but I saved you!”

  “Goodbye, Ein.” Teddy pressed one hand against his bandaged wound, turned, and slowly limped up the sandy embankment. He wiped the tears from his eyes and kept his gaze downcast as he moved further away.

  “You’re a selfish fucking bastard!” Ein screamed, belligerently at his back. “I saved you! You—” Sand covered his mouth and then his entire face, silencing him forever.

  Teddy could hear Ein thrashing as he tried to fight the inevitable, but whatever fight he had didn’t last very long.

  He almost turned back around to look, but he couldn’t get himself to do it.

  He couldn’t bear the burden of yet another corpse.

  Maurice

  Big Al

  Jane

  Danny

  Roger

  Perry

  Lizzy

  Ein

  Everyone who came close to him wound up suffering the same tragic fate.

  Maybe, Teddy thought, everyone’s life would’ve been a lot better if he would’ve died back in SHU.

  After all, what change did he make in the world?

  What did he leave behind besides a string of names and bodies?

  Teddy swallowed—choking back an overwhelming urge to break into a mad sprint. If he kept moving, maybe he could outrun the dark cloud of despair that was threatening to suffocate him.

  He had to move away—that much was true. The question was, where could he go?

  In the blackness of the new world, where could he find any semblance of normality?

  His gaze lingered on the long Interstate 10 bridge that crossed over Lake Pontchartrain just east of the city.

  Out east, Florida.

  Out west, California.

  A whole undiscovered world lay in-between.

  Teddy didn’t want to discover the world, nor its inhabitants—he didn’t want to be responsible for another name on a growing list of deceased that he seemed to keep leaving at his wake, no matter how hard he tried or how fiercely he loved.

  He felt like the hermit who emerged after a long break from society, only to discover that the world had moved on without him.

  He wanted to shrink back into his cave.

  Most of all, he wanted to escape to a place where he could finally breathe without looking over his shoulder every few seconds.

  Teddy mulled over the possible options in his mind.

  He could go home to his parents’ place back in Texas, provided it was still standing.

  He thought about his old home and his ex-wife.

  It was doubtful she still lived there.

  Even if she did, and survived the flu, he didn’t particularly want to bump into her. He reckoned the feeling was mutual.

  He stood there and listed off old friends and relatives from what felt like many lifetimes ago until an idea finally occurred to him.

  It was a long shot, but the more he thought about it, the more appealing it felt.

  Teddy limped ahead towards the interstate and headed west.

  CHAPTER 45

  —Eighteen months LATER—

  United States Federal Penitentiary

  Tucson, AZ

  The wristwatch’s alarm beeped steadily, but Teddy Sanders was already wide-awake. He had always been an early riser. He turned
off the alarm and stared up at the empty iron bunk above him as he mentally prepared himself to start another day.

  Teddy gave a heavy sigh and forced himself to sit up. He was wearing his usual sleeping attire, which consisted of a t-shirt and wrinkled khaki pants.

  He sat on the side of the bed and put on his boots.

  Boots were still the first thing he put on in the morning since the routine remained firmly ingrained in his mind.

  He yawned and slowly sauntered over towards his cell’s stainless-steel sink and mirror. He was old, and he was tired. He now had a pronounced hunch, thanks to his aching back. He kept his greying brown hair shaved close to the scalp.

  Teddy gazed into the mirror and thought about shaving as he ran his fingertips across his hairy chin. He usually kept himself well-groomed, but lately, as he stared at the old stranger in front of him, he couldn’t help but wonder who he was grooming for. Here, in the solitude of an empty prison—who would see him?

  “Routine,” he told his reflection.

  He had always been a methodical man who found a somber comfort in everyday routine. After spending the better years of his life in custody, routine was all he had left to get him through whatever remained of his life.

  The whole prison ran on a very predictable routine—Teddy made sure of it.

  It was risky coming back.

  Damned foolish, truth be told.

  Luckily, Lady Fortune seemed to have been smiling on him after his arduous cross-country journey back to Arizona.

  Tucson’s quarantine center sat abandoned, and most of the city lay razed to the ground during what looked like one hell of a firefight.

  When he got down to USP Tucson, he discovered that FEMA had, in fact, tried to reactivate the facility.

  The fence, control center, and most of the other buildings stood repaired. Solar panels sat in neat rows in what was once the recreation yard. The bodies were gone, and all that remained of the previous carnage were bullet holes and slaked lime residue that still stained the concrete floors next to old bloodstains. Department of Homeland Security signage renamed the housing units to “civilian detention wings,” and a children’s playground was built right next to the guard tower in the middle of the compound.