“Ok,” she shrugged. “Hey, is that my dad in the corner booth.”
“Yep.” Stew didn’t turn around.
“He’s up early. Is that the Gray Grocer checkout lady from Hartworth?”
“Yep.”
“Hmm. He dates the strangest women.”
“Heather,” Stew snapped. “You aren’t that naïve, are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Never mind.” Stew shook his head. “So you have this concert.”
“Oh it’s gonna be so great, Pap. The Yards, Don Simmons, and Ace of Hearts.”
Stew nearly choked. “My God, those bands are from decades ago, those people gotta be my age.”
Heather nodded.
“Who the hell wants to see old rockers?”
“It’s not age, Pap, it’s music, and it’s good. And … my dad is leaving …” Her head turned as Del walked right by her. “Maybe he didn’t see me.”
“I’m sure,” Stew said. “Now let’s talk about this concert.”
And they did. Heather called it life changing and that the night was gonna be like no other. Little did she know how right she was.
<><><><>
Cody’s fingers were tiny, and Emma was amazed how she moved them and controlled them with ease. Although her little droplet of icing on the cookies for a face were a little skewed, Emma was proud.
“Good. Good girl. Ain’t that good, Andy?” She looked up to Andy who was working on his own cookie creation.
“G … great.”
Emma smiled. “Andy’s jealous. Man of little words, that’s how you can tell he’s jealous,” Emma told the little one. “But it’s nice of him to come over and play today.”
“Yes, Gam. It is,” Cody said with excitement. She tucked her growing hair behind her ears, smoothing it from her face. She took her task at hand very seriously.
“Maybe with Gam being in charge tonight,” Emma said, “Andy can come over and play tonight?” She winked.
Andy shook his head. “B … busy. S .. sorry.” He then laughed.
“Asshole,” Emma said then turned to Cody. “Andy is joking. He’ll be by tonight. We’ll get pizza.”
“Pizza?” Cody asked.
“Yes and we’ll …” Emma stopped talking when the alarm on her phone beeped in a siren style mode. She grabbed it. “Oh, God. Yellowstone erupted.” She jumped up and swooped the baby into her arms. “We gotta get to the hole. We have four minutes.”
“Run, Gam, run,” Cody said.
Emma raced toward the front door and Andy stopped her before she ran out. “Andy, what? The ventilation pipes need to be checked before we go down there.”
“I …” Andy nodded his words. “G … got. Go. Re-retract from b … below.”
With shivering breath, Emma nodded. “Hurry. You don’t have much time. The cloud is on its way and it will sweep you away.”
When she said that, Cody screamed.
“It’s ok, baby, we’re gonna be okay.” Emma, cradling the child, raced back to the kitchen. She opened the basement door, pulled it closed behind her and ran down the steps.
She ran across the unfinished basement to the laundry room and to the tall white cabinet next to the washing machine under the single well window. It wasn’t a cabinet at all. When opened it exposed a metal door.
Emma quickly punched in her code. The door slid to the right and she went inside. With the baby she raced down a twenty-foot hall until she arrived at another door. That one was open. She ran inside, sealed the door, and set down the baby.
The room resembled a family room. “Stay here, Cody. Play with the toys.”
Cody nodded, and Emma ran into another hall. She arrived to see the ventilation system already on its way into the shelter. Andy had beaten her to the punch by manually lowering it.
“Come on, Andy,”
She looked up and down the halls and didn’t see him. She had to worry about Cody, so she returned to the family-style room to hold her granddaughter.
She waited.
One minute, two.
Surely the cloud passed. But no Andy.
After ten minutes, Emma knew he wasn’t arriving.
“I guess it’s just you and me,” Emma told Cody. “Thank God I have you, baby. Thank God.” She kissed the child. “Maybe Andy came in one of the other entrances. What do you think?”
Cody nodded; she didn’t seem scared at all.
“Let’s go check.”
The ‘hole’ was huge. It was actually as big as Emma’s ranch home, but built underground. A family-style room, a kitchen and eating area, two sleeping rooms, showers, and toilets. The hydroponic room and the storage facility, which held the tank of water, were bigger than the other rooms combined.
There were two other entrances into the ‘hole’ other than the house.
One was a door in the storage area. It led down a small tunnel to a hidden hatch in a nearby storage barn. The other was located at the far end of the shelter, another tunnel that went to the yard. It was a steel tube, much like the ones in the bunkers of the eighties.
But Andy was nowhere to be seen.
Emma gave Cody some cookies and turned on a cartoon for her. After about twenty minutes, the child grew restless and Emma grew irritated.
“What the hell, right?” She asked Cody.
“Right.”
“It’s been close to a half hour. Jeez. Let’s find him.” Emma sighed, grabbed Cody, and left the shelter. She secured it again behind her, and they emerged back into the basement.
She heard footsteps above her head, and she walked back to the kitchen, holding the baby.
“Andy,” she called out as she opened the door. “What the heck. This was a drill. Yellowstone erupted. You died.” Her final words trailed as she saw Andy cringe and then noticed her father standing there. “Shit.”
Stew folded his arms and looked at Andy. “So you’re encouraging this?”
Andy lifted his hands.
“You know, Daddy,” Emma said, “he is encouraging because he’s smart. He knows why civilizations didn’t survive when they should have. The Bog People. Ice Age Eskimos. All died in the middle of doing something because they weren’t prepared enough. That won’t be me.”
“Uh, huh.” Stew nodded. “You aren’t an Ice Age Eskimo. Or a Bog Person.”
“I certainly hope not,” Emma said. “I have no plans to die in an extinction level event.”
“You’re a nut,” Stew said.
Andy laughed.
“Oh, you think that’s funny?” Emma asked. “No sleep over tonight, pal.”
“Emma,” Stew scolded. “This behavior with Cody …”
“Will save her life one day,” Emma cut him off. “So there.”
“Maybe you should have let Val watch …”
Emma’s loud gasp silenced Stew. “Bite your tongue.” She gave a quick look to Andy. “Did you hear that? He wants the spy to watch my granddaughter. Uh … no, Daddy. I don’t even like when she visits him. He speaks Russian to her. Lord knows what vile things he is saying.”
“Um, Em?” Stew said, “The Cold War ended. Val is a doctor, not a Russian spy, and you need to stop this.”
“I hate him.” Emma folded her arms. “I hate him, Andy, and he hates me.”
“He does not,” Stew defended.
“Daddy, he was the one who had me committed.”
Stew growled, “Because you wouldn’t come out of the goddamn hole!”
“I thought the world was gonna end!” Emma yelled. “And he used it as his excuse to get me away because he knew I found his picture on the ’net.” She faced Andy. “I found his picture on the internet. He’s a missing spy. I’ll show you.”
Stew tossed his hands in the air. “Let it go, for crying out loud. You are both grandparents to that child.”
“I don’t trust him.”
With another growl, Stew turned. “I’m leaving.”
“Why are you here?” Emma asked.
Emma chuckled. “And he calls me crazy.”
Andy laid a hand on her cheek. “You … you’re fine.”
“Thank you.” She tiptoed up and darted a kiss to Andy.
“I … want … t… to see …”
“The spy picture of Val?”
Andy nodded.
“Absolutely. But first …” She placed Cody back at the table, pulled the cookie decorations to her, and then grabbed her phone, resetting it. “We do the drill again. Right this time.”
<><><><>
Hartworth, Montana
Val kissed Heather on the cheek as he put on his coat. “I will be making rounds at the hospital, so I will not get to see you two off.”
“Thank you,” Heather said, “for letting Roman get time off.”
“Have fun.” He stepped to Roman and kissed him on the forehead. “Drive safely and call when you arrive.”
“We will, Father. Thanks.”
Val grabbed his briefcase and walked from the clinic, waving one more time.
Heather spun to Roman. “All right, what’s left to do?”
“I did all the work, we can leave as soon as Vivian gets here.”
“Sweet.”
“Hey …” Roman leaned to her. “We got about fifteen minutes. No patients. Wanna do something we’re not supposed to?”
“Fool around?” Heather asked.
“No.” Roman grabbed her hand. “The basement.”
“Seriously?” Heather asked. “You mean the stuff that your father is obsessed with?”
“Yeah, aren’t you curious as to what it is?” Roman asked.
“You bet.” Heather looked at her phone. “Ok, let’s look, but we don’t have much time. We don’t want Vivian to bust us down there and tell your dad.”
“Cool, let’s go.”
Roman led the way to the basement, leaving the door open. He turned on the light. Sitting center were several boxes and two old trunks.
“Why do you suppose he is obsessive about this?” Heather asked.
“I’m betting there are pictures in here. He doesn't talk about living in Russia at all.”
“Was he a doctor there?” Heather asked.
“Yeah. He was a lot older than my mother.” Roman began going through the boxes. The flaps weren’t sealed. “Books.”
Heather checked another box. “Oh my God.”
“What?”
“How freaking old are these boxes?” She lifted a tape from one. “These aren’t even VHS; they’re the ones before it.”
“Oh wow. Beta?” Roman laughed and took the tape. “This is so great.”
“Let’s try the trunks.” Heather walked to the first trunk. They both knelt on the floor.
“It can’t be all that secretive,” Roman said as he turned the key. “He left the key in the lock.” As he opened the trunk lid, the key fell out. He didn’t think much of it, he’d get it later.
Inside the trunk were books, some clothes, and a few pictures.
Heather’s hands rummaged at the same time as Roman’s. “What’s in here that he’s so protective over?”
“I don’t know. Maybe there’s a diary or an old girlfriend.”
“Oh, maybe he had a wife in Russia.”
“You think.”
“Bet this is her stuff.” Heather reached deeper into the trunk; as she pulled items out to view she paused. “The side is loose.”
Roman looked. “It’s not loose. It’s a compartment.”
“No way,” Heather said with excitement. “A secret compartment?”
Roman nodded.
“He’s got something in here. Maybe my mom is right.”
Roman paused. “Stop. She is not. It’s just …” The side flap folded over as if it were supposed to. Silver cases were revealed, no bigger than four inches. They lined against the case.
“Drugs?” Heather asked.
“No way.”
“Should we open one?”
Roman hesitated. “Bet it’s money or gold.”
“Oh, he’s probably worth a fortune. And you just aren’t supposed to know. Go on.”
Roman pulled out one of the cases. He opened it, and inside were six silver tubes that looked exactly like cigarettes. Same size and shape; in fact, they were made that way, down to the part that resembled a filter.
“What are they? Just metal cigarettes. Oh my God, Roman, your dad invented the first E cigarette.”
“Weird.” Roman lifted one. He touched the mimicked filter end and it turned. “Oh wow.”
“Drugs.” Heather nodded. “Or secret scrolls.”
Roman took off the filter and tapped it on his hand. “Nothing. Just this.” He pulled out a wire. The size of a Q-tip. Straight on one end, the other was a small glass coil. “Son of a bitch, you’re right. He invented the first electronic cigarette. Wow.”
“Kind of a letdown.” Heather said.
“Yeah, but …” Roman stopped when he heard the footsteps above them.
“Roman?” The woman’s voice called out. “Are you here?”
Roman cleared his throat. “Be right up.”
“Shit. Vivian.” Heather cringed. “You think she’ll tell your dad?”
“No, but let’s get back up there.”
Hurriedly, as a team, they returned things to the way they were, or so they thought. In their haste, they neglected to notice two things.
One, Roman never replaced the key.
The other … when he hurriedly replaced the coil back into the metal tube, he never noticed that he broke the tip of the glass spiral.
FLASH FORWARD
Ground Zero – 4
December 23rd
Hartworth, Montana
For the first time in his career, Edward had to pause to throw up, and then he downed a drink. His examination of Vivian Morris went about as far as it could go before he got sick. It wasn’t just the sight and smell of her, it was the thought of what had occurred.
“I need an investigative team,” Edward told Dr. Lange, head of the Centers for Disease Control, in his first telephone conversation to headquarters. “Body removal and another team of virologists. We have to trace this thing. We need to find out exactly what it is.”
“You’ve only been there three hours, Ed. What in the hell …”
“Over eight hundred bodies. One just thawed enough for me to examine … my God, Bill.” Edward grabbed his flask. “This woman … these people … this … thing. I’m scared to death.”
At first, his soft laugh carried over the line, then Dr. Bill Lange breathed outward. “You’re very serious.”
“Yes. Yes, I am. Bill.” Edward paused to take a sip. “I don’t even know if I’ll end up with it, for as much precaution as I’ve taken. This thing is like nothing I have ever seen. Nothing. And it’s fast, my God, is it fast. Last phone call out of this town was placed a few days ago; that’s when I guess the town died.”
“When did it hit there? Any guesses?”
“No more than a week.”
“Jesus.”
“Tell me about it,” Edward said. “I just did my first examination, and I got sick. Sick, Bill. Underneath what was left of her skin … and I say what was left because the victim either scratched her skin away or it tore from within. And what was beneath it … it was like tar, looked like tar and smelled like bile. Everything inside was destroyed. Internal organs barely recognizable. They were mush. If there was any blood left in the victim’s body, it was too thick to run through the veins and just seeped through any bodily orifice it could find.”
“Where … where did it start?” Dr. Lange asked. “Any idea?”
“I’d be guessing,” Edward replied. “But I’d say it was inhaled. Maybe it started as a respiratory ailment, who knows, but it hit the digestive system and ate through it like acid.”
“Septicemia?”
Edward laug
hed. “We need a new word for it. Trust me. Septicemia is a walk in a park compared to this. And you know what the worst part is?”
“There’s worse?” Dr. Lange asked.
“Oh, yeah. The brain. Barely touched. That tells me the victim knew every single thing that was happening to them. This woman felt every single ounce of pain and sickness, and my guess is she went through an agony that was inhumane.”
“I’m disbursing as many units as I can to you. They’ll be there by the end of the day,” Dr. Lange said. “Have you tried the neighboring communities?”
“I am keeping the State Police at bay and out of those towns just in case. I’m scared. There’s a town thirty miles north of here, one forty miles east. The last phone call went to Lincoln. Those are small towns. But Billings … it’s only ninety miles away.”
“This hit fast; do you think it broke boundaries?” Dr. Lange asked.
“It should have under normal circumstances,” Edward said. “But these aren’t normal. You have everyday folks, dead cowboys in pickup trucks with shotguns on every single road leading in and out of town. This makes me wonder if there is a BSL-4 lab around here. Maybe a resident here brought in the germ, knew it was released, and they shut down and sealed in the town. Set up an aid station, prepared for it. Kept it down until everyone died.”
“Someone knew it was this bad?”
“Without a doubt. My only hope is they shut down this town fast enough.” At that instant, Edward’s eye lifted to the opening of the lab door. “My team just returned. Let me call you back.”
Dr. Lange told him he was assembling more teams, and the conversation ended.
Using the intercom, Edward told Harold to double disinfect, then waited for him to walk into the office portion.
He knew by the look on Harold’s face that he had more information.
“We found a whole bunch of bodies,” Harold said. “Maybe a eighty or more.”
“There’s eight hundred plus people in this town, of …”
“No.” Harold stopped him. “Let me finish. We found a bunch of bodies. Apparently infected … but they didn’t die of our sickness. They were shot.”
Edward was barreled over by the news. “It can’t be.”
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