“You think?” Juan eyed her. “The human race is pretty durable…adaptable. I think we would have been just fine without the government interfering.”
“I don’t know about that,” Caroline Trove shook her head. “I mean, you look back at things like The Plague or more recently Spanish Influenza, and you can see just how fragile human beings really are when it comes to their health and ability to fight off diseases and infection. I think we’ve just become complacent…maybe a little overconfident even. We haven’t had a real civilization killer sweep through for several generations. And with all our technology and advancements in medicine, we think we’re infallible now. It wasn’t that long ago that our ancestors were only living into their late thirties or early forties at best, and there was a reason for that.”
The commercials were over and the news was back on. This brought the conversation to a halt as everyone turned their attention back to the clubhouse television. Even the kids were watching, having temporarily stopped their Monopoly game.
“Joining us in the studio tonight…” newscaster Trish was saying, “…is our special guest, Mr. Jose Suarez. Mr. Suarez isn’t a health expert. In fact, he doesn’t work in the healthcare industry at all. However, he might be able to offer some valuable insight into this new wave of bite attacks sweeping the Chicagoland area.”
She smiled and turned slightly to face a nervous-looking man seated at the news desk beside her.
“Mr. Suarez, thank you for join us tonight.”
The man swallowed hard.
“Uh…sure, yes…my pleasure.
Jose was obviously nervous and wiped a beat of sweat from his forehead and nodded with a slight twitch of a smile.
“So Mr. Suarez, you say that you think you might have knowledge of just where this disease came from. Is that correct?”
“Well, yes…maybe…I think so.”
“And it’s related to the mummified remains discovered last month in that south-side apartment, isn’t that also correct?” the newscaster prodded.
“Yes,” Jose nodded, wiping more sweat away.
“Can you tell us why you think that?” the newscaster pressed.
“Well, me and this other guy, Victor, well, he was my boss. We work scrapping out metal…piping, wiring, tin roofing materials, that sort of stuff from old houses, apartment buildings, offices…”
“Yes,” the newscaster was obviously growing impatient for Jose to get on with his story.
“Well, anyway, we were working that apartment building, the one where we found the bodies of that dead family. Anyway, when we found the bodies, Victor was well, he was…he was looking inside one of the bags where the bodies were found.”
“And why was he doing that?” the newscaster asked with a smug stare.
“Well, to…to see what was inside. Well anyway, when he was opening one bag, something poked him in the hand. He didn’t see it, so he didn’t know, but I saw what got him.”
“And what was it?” the newscaster was suddenly more interested now.
“It was a rat or a mouse or something, some sort of small animal. I’m thinking that the people who were killed in that apartment building might have had this disease or virus or whatever it is. I think the dude that killed them, the building owner; well, I think he was trying to help them or something. But maybe he had to kill them to keep other people safe, to keep them from biting others. I don’t know. Anyway, I think that the mice or rats that lived down in that basement, they must have eaten on those bodies, and when they did, they picked up the disease. And they just kept on living down there, passing the disease on to their babies until we came along. When one of them bit Victor, they gave the disease to him.”
“And why do you think that the bite Victor received had anything to do with these biting attacks that are now spreading across the Chicagoland area?” the reporter seemed not to be making the same connection as Jose.
“Well, I’m not totally sure. I mean, I could be way off on this. But after he got bit by that rat or whatever it was, Victor started acting real weird. He started having some really weird symptoms. Pieces of his teeth started chipping off. He just kept getting worse and worse. He looked real sick, and he was saying and doing some really weird stuff.”
“Like what sort of weird stuff?” the newscaster’s interest was piqued again.
“Well, one day he came in with a hamburger for lunch. That wasn’t all that unusual, but when he unwrapped the thing, it was raw…like literally raw burger meat. It was disgusting. That was the first time I saw him chip a tooth…eating that burger. A piece came right off of one of his front teeth. Then there was this time, it was like either the same day or the day after, I can’t remember now. We were sitting in the truck on our coffee break and he was just staring into space. Then he said something like, ‘Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to eat human flesh?’ I told him, ‘Hell no’, I’d never wondered anything like that. Then he looked at me and tried to play it off like he was just joking or something. But he had this weird kind of look in his eyes when he was talking to me, almost like he was inspecting me or something. I kept finding him staring at me, kind of like when a guy likes a girl in the bar or something. Well, it wasn’t long after that when he didn’t show up for work, which didn’t surprise me. At the time, I’d been telling him that maybe he should see a doctor, so at first, I thought he’d just taken a sick day and didn’t bother to tell me. But after a couple days, I began seeing these stories about people getting bit, and started putting two and two together.”
“Is there any other reason why you think the bite from the mouse or rat might be linked to this new virus?” the newscaster urged.
“Well, what the police didn’t talk about with the bodies we found, but that me and Victor saw first hand was the straps…the leather straps.”
The newscaster perked up, suddenly looking interested.
“The straps, yes, those were actually mentioned in police reports,” she nodded.
“Yeah, but what they didn’t say was about the teeth.” Jose explained.
The newscaster nodded impatiently, waiting. Finally, Jose went on.
“Well, the teeth on those bodies, the front teeth at least, it looked like they’d all been yanked out…or they were missing at least. I mean, they might have fallen out naturally. I’m not a dentist or anything, it just seemed weird.”
“But why? Why would someone have pulled out their teeth?” the newscaster eyed Jose somewhat incredulously.
“Well, here’s something else the police and the hospitals aren’t saying, but that I saw happen with Victor as he got worse and worse. His teeth started…changing.”
“What do you mean by changing?” the newscaster frowned.
“Well, I don’t know how Victor took care of his teeth, but they started chipping and breaking for like no reason at all. I mean, I could see biting into something hard and chipping a tooth. But his teeth were breaking for no reason at all on soft stuff like that burger I told you about.”
“So they were falling out for absolutely no reason?” the newscaster shook her head.
Not ‘falling’ out. They were like chipping, and getting real sharp. He showed me. Like were sharp as…as crap…almost like razor blades. It was crazy. And while they chipped real easy at first, once they were sharp, they got real strong…and longer, like little steel knife blades or shark or piranha teeth or something.”
“And where is Victor now?” the newscaster pressed wide-eyed.
Jose shook his head.
“I don’t know. I have no idea what happened to him. He just disappeared. I tried calling him and stuff, but he never answered his phone or anything. But then these attacks began, and I started thinking that maybe Victor had something to do with them. I went to the police, but they just blew me off, like I was crazy. That’s when I called you guys.”
“And we are thankful that you did, Jose. By the way, have you been contacted by the CDC?” the newscaster shot a direct look in
to the camera.
“Uh…no, no I haven’t.”
“Well that certainly seems like a misstep on their part. Our producers will see if they can get you in touch with local officials. Thank you for being with us, Jose. We’ll be sure to keep our viewers posted with any new details on this developing story,” the newscaster wrapped things up.
Manny flipped back over to the basketball game that was just getting ready to resume. “Ha, ha!” he laughed. “I remembered to go back to the game!”
The Blender children had returned to their game of Monopoly, having largely lost interest in the virus story during Jose’s interview. With Thanksgiving around the corner and Christmas coming up with a nice multi-week holiday break from school, they had bigger fish to fry. Rather than worrying about the potential spread of a new and terrible virus, they were busy marking off days left of school on their calendars and adding items to their Christmas wish lists.
The Blender adults just kind of looked at one another.
“This virus thing could get bad,” Michael frowned, chewing the inside of his cheek and neglecting the whiskey neat he was slowly sipping at his station behind the bar.
“Ahh,” Juan again waved his concern away with a hand as he re-focused on the basketball game being played on television. “Talk, talk, talk…we’ll see what really happens. How much you want to bet that in two weeks we won’t be hearing one thing about this new virus. They’ll have moved on to a bigger and better story to string along the peons with.”
“But Michael has a point,” Julia Justak said. “Justin! Stop that! Natasha’s the banker…let her do her job!” she scolded as she walked over to the round, white, patio table at which the kids sat playing their game.
“But mom, she’s taking too long to count the money!” Justin argued.
“Justin,” his mother gave him a pursed-lipped look.
Justin quickly let go of a handful of money that he and Natasha were playing tug-o-war over and plunked sullenly back into his chair.
“As I was saying,” Julia walked back to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools, “if this thing does start spreading, what do we do?”
“Well, it’s all over the news,” Juan said. “If it starts spreading, we’ll certainly know about it. It’s not like they’re trying to keep it a secret.”
“But that’s just the problem,” Michael said. “They’re telling everyone. So if it should blow up into something big, everyone is going to be scrambling to get their acts together all at the same time. Chicago will be a mess because everyone will be hitting the grocery stores, the gas stations, the roads, all at the same time. It’ll be gridlock of the umpteenth order.”
“Don’t you have a friend with some land out in the west part of Illinois somewhere?” Josh asked Michael.
Michael nodded. “Yeah, he had about a hundred acres worth right around Beardstown.”
“Where the heck is that?” asked Margaret Simpson.
“Down past Peoria and west of Springfield,” Michael clarified. “He’s had it for decades. He’d planned to build a house there one day, but he never got around to it. He has a little cabin there, but that’s about it. I don’t think it even has electricity. But there’s plenty of land and not much else around, so it could make for a great retreat. Problem is, if things start going to pot here, we might not be able to make it that far. We could find ourselves trapped in the city.”
“Fortress Chicago,” Manny laughed.
“More like prison Chicago,” his wife frowned. She dumped the last sip of her wine in the bar sink and rinsed the residue. “You about ready for dinner?” she asked her husband.
“Yep,” he nodded, finishing his beer.
“Where are you guys going tonight?” Josh asked them.
“New Italian place over in LaGrange,” Michael answered for him.
Michael and Caroline often went out with Manny and Margaret for Friday night dinners. They were the only two Blender couples that weren’t straddled with young kids who often turned what were meant to be relaxing dinners into stressful, not to mention expensive, outings. Sometimes Ms. Mary went with them.
“Enjoy the peace and quiet!” Victoria Hines called over the childish chatter from where she was helping the table of kids clean up their Monopoly game.
The other Blender adults also began cleaning up the clubhouse in preparation to return home and begin making or ordering dinners of their own. For most, the meals would consist of spaghetti or ordered pizzas to satisfy the ravenous little beasts they called children.
Chapter 10
“Mom?! Are you ready?” Victoria Hines called upstairs.
Seven-year-old Sarah ran past her, followed closely by nine-year-old Anthony who was chasing her down the stairs.
“No running in the house!” their frazzled mother called up after them.
“Almost!” Victoria’s mother, who was visiting from Tennessee, called back from the upstairs guest room.
“I can’t hold these heathens off much longer! They’re hungry and ready to go!” Victoria yelled back.
“Two minutes!” her mother responded.
Ten minutes later, the entire Hines family – all seven of them, including Victoria’s mother – were at the Trove house.
“Welcome! Welcome! Happy Thanksgiving!” Michael Trove greeted them at the front door. “Betsy…good to see you again,” he hugged Victoria’s mother.
“Thank you for having me,” she said.
“How was the trip up?”
“Not too bad,” she unzipped her coat.
“Here, let me take that,” Patrick Trove took her coat from her.
“Thank you,” Betsy said. “I hit some traffic around Louisville and of course coming into Chicago, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle,” she smiled.
“That’s my girl,” Michael grinned warmly. “Well, you guys know the drill. Most everybody is already downstairs. Dinner should start in about an hour, but don’t quote me on that. There are plenty of drinks and appetizers, though, and the football game just started.”
“Sounds good,” Monte led the group through the Troves’ living room toward the rear of the home where they found the stairs down to the basement.
The Trove home had the biggest finished basement in the neighborhood. Their bungalow-style home’s downstairs layout lent itself to providing a great gathering space. Were it not for the clubhouse at the Simpson home, the Trove basement would likely have been the Blender’s gathering spot. It actually had served this purpose for several years before the Simpson’s moved into the neighborhood.
The Troves’ bungalow basement was a long rectangular shape. At the far end, was a sectioned off closet space that contained the home’s water heater and HVAC system. Just outside this space was a sizeable, and largely unused, walk-in pantry that the younger Blender children often liked to hide in and explore. Sometimes they would emerge with ancient relics – unopened bottles of soda from the late-90s that they would pop, and drink, and then complain about how disgustingly flat they were. Sometimes they found old magazines and newspapers. There were even posters from Patrick’s younger days that included several pop and rock bands that the younger kids had never heard of.
From this point on, all the way to the front of the home, and with exception of a half bathroom and a laundry room located to one side of the space, the rest of the basement was one big open, rectangular space.
The walls were white-painted concrete. The floors were checkerboard white and green six-by-six linoleum tile. And the ceiling was the standard, two-by-four-foot panels commonly found in many drop-style ceilings across America. Fluorescent tube lighting would have given the basement a hospital feel were it not for the other cozy fixtures interspersed throughout the space.
Just outside the pantry was a well-used pool table. Down from this, was a small card table covered with a red tablecloth. Upon this table sat an aluminum Christmas tree that had been Michael’s mother’s and was a constant fixture in the basement n
o matter the season.
Opposite the ever-present aluminum tree, and against the wall that divided the laundry room and half bathroom from the rest of the basement, was a massive bar. The bar had been there when Michael and Caroline bought the house almost 30 years ago, and no one could imagine how it would ever have been possible to move the massive piece down into the basement. Caroline theorized that it had been lowered down before the upstairs flooring had been put in. Michael postulated that it must have been built in several sections and then fitted together once they were brought downstairs.
No matter how the bar got there, it was there, and it was the focal point of the basement. The bar itself was almost 15 feet long. It was built of a rich mahogany that curved inward at both ends. This curvature wrapped around completely at one end so that it connected with a shelving unit on the rear wall.
The entire bar formed a sort of sideways U-shape. The shelves behind it held things like napkins, glasses, bar supplies, and an array of bottles containing various alcohols. At its top was a three-foot wide by nine-foot long mirror. Bordering the mirror on each side were vertical, white, six-inch-wide by three-foot-high light fixtures in the art deco style. Similar style lights ran down each side of the bar’s front. At the open end of the U was a hinged, lift-open counter that allowed people access behind the bar. Meanwhile, the bar front was lined by eight, darkly stained, high-backed wood stools.
The bar top itself contained an array of bar accessories, supplies, holders, trays, coasters, and of course on a day like Thanksgiving, cocktails.
The Last Bastion (Book 1): The Last Bastion Page 10