* * *
Outskirts, Erie, PA
Rose had no idea her phone was even ringing. She spotted the rest area and when she saw Mick wasn’t there, she figured she’d ride ahead just a little.
It was only a few miles and Rose slowed down her bike and then turned it off. Something was happening ahead. She saw men moving cars on the highway and across, forming a blockade of sorts.
They must have heard her motorcycle because a few of them stepped away to look.
Rose was fast. She moved her bike quietly to the side of the road, walked it a little bit then when she was at a safe enough distance, jumped back on and rode to the rest area.
It was quiet there and didn’t appear to have been touched or visited in some time. She removed her helmet, kept the bike idling, and reached around to her pack.
When she pulled out her phone she saw she had missed calls. Two from Mick and three from Tom.
Opting to return Mick’s call first, Rose readied to dial when it rang.
“Tom,” she answered. “Hey, can I call you right back? I want to get a hold of Mick. I’m supposed to meet him and something is going on in Erie.”
“That’s why you need to talk to me. Erie is taken over. Don’t know much more than that except it’s a dangerous situation. I got a call from Chris. He and Tigger are fine. They went the wrong way and are in some small town in New York. And it’s that takeover that’s making it tough for them to get home.”
“What the fuck do we do?”
“You head back here. Especially since we know they’re fine. And I’m thinking, unless Mick decides to take on those guys in Erie, we send him for the boys. I got the name of the town.”
“You wanna call him or should I?”
“I tried, he’s not answering. Probably can’t hear the phone. But head on back, and I’ll keep trying.”
“That sounds good.” Rose ended the call, stowed the phone back in her pack and was grabbing a bottle of water when she saw the truck pull into the lot.
They pulled up fifteen feet from her and stopped. Her hand stayed inside the bag, yet instead of a water bottle, she held a knife, concealed in her grip, and slowly removed her hand. She didn’t think reaching for her rifle, strapped on her bike, was all that good of an idea.
Four men stepped from the trucks. They all were armed and looked more like a pack of wayward hunters than anything else.
“Well it’s a broad,” one said. “Saw you riding. Thought for sure you were a man.” He stepped closer. “Kind of look like a man. What you doing out here all alone, Grandma?”
Rose had a grip on one handle bar and didn’t answer. She sized up the men. Two stayed back while two walked closer to her.
“You may want to get off that bike,” the same one said. “That’s a commodity we want.”
“You’re not getting my fucking bike,” Rose said calmly.
He laughed, hyena style and mockingly. “Listen to the mouth on Grandma.” He aimed his weapon at her. “Off the bike, lady.”
The kickstand was down and Rose slowly dismounted, not moving far from the bike.
The other men laughed as if the intimidation tactics of the front guy were the funniest thing.
Bullies.
They just seemed like dimwitted bullies to Rose. The last thing she wanted to do was show any reaction to them.
Stay cool. Calm.
The first man stepped even closer, his friend right at his side. He reached out and touched Rose’s face. “You think you’re a tough broad. Look at you. Still not bad looking for an old lady. You can be my cougar.”
“Don’t touch me again,” Rose warned.
The man brought this fist to his mouth, laughing at her. “Feisty. I like it. You’re gonna come with us. We can …” he dropped his voice some, “we can have a good time. I like feisty.”
“No.”
“No?” he scoffed. “Really? No.” He reached for her.
Rose swatted his hand away. “I told you, don’t touch me again.”
“Look, lady…” He stopped face to face with Rose. “You’ll come with us or I will fuck you up.”
Cool, calm, and staring into his eyes. Rose whispered. “How about I fuck you up instead?”
He laughed loudly and obnoxiously. He looked over his shoulder to the two men hanging back and said, “Did you hear her? She said she’s gonna fuck me up. Now how does she figure?”
No sooner did he turn back to look at Rose, than she said, ”Like this.” Then reared back and gave a short quick head butt to the man. He stumbled, not much, but enough for Rose to jab hard and fast to his nose. He flew backwards to the ground.
The other man lunged for her and with a pivot of her body and the ejection of her knife, she swung out hard and in one motion, slit his throat.
Her adrenaline pumped fiercely and Rose didn’t have time to comprehend any pain she was in from the head to head connection. She jumped on her bike, gave it a kick start, and peeled out of the parking lot. Her heart beat out of control and she could barely catch her breath.
She heard the gun shots and prayed they wouldn’t hit her.
They didn’t.
They hit her bike instead.
At full speed, her tire gave in and the bike spun out of control to the right. Despite her attempts to steer, she was unable to control the bike and it flew off the road. The second it went over the grade it toppled, sending Rose sailing high in the air. She landed hard against the grassy surface and all went black. Her limp body rolled until she came to an abrupt halt, deep in the woods.
* * *
West of Erie, PA
At the two miles to Erie sign, Mick’s motorcycle gave out. It fluttered its last bit of energy and just died.
He opted against fixing it, because he wasn’t all that far from Erie. He could smell the lake, saw that the trees were bending. He was close, and decided he’d walk.
After grabbing his gear, he reached for his phone. He figured he’d call his mother to tell her he was on his way. He tried and it went to voice mail. He then did the next best thing. He called Tom. He conveyed to Tom his battery was beeping, and only heard Tom say Rose was headed back to Lodi. He didn’t hear why. The phone died.
“You gotta be fucking shitting me,” he shook his head. He longed for the day of cheap, no nonsense phones that held a charge. It had been twenty-four hours since he charged his phone. He should have known better.
About a mile into his walk, he realized how lucky he was that he wasn’t riding on a noisy bike.
Cars lined the road and a huge crane lifted more cars on top of each other.
Someone had built a wall across the highway. Who? And why would they have done that? It concerned Mick mainly because if the boys headed in the direction of Erie, then they had run into that blockade as well.
He dodged to the side of the road. He had to get a look to see what was happening and how he could get to the other side. He stayed low and as he neared the blockade, he belly crawled to stay out of sight.
Arm over arm, he inched his way closer to the road, and just as he reached it, a foot slammed to his back and he felt the cold steel of a gun to his head.
A voice whispered, “Don’t move. Don’t make a sound. Inch back. They’ll shoot you if they see you.”
“How do you know I’m not with them?” Mick asked in a low voice.
“Because you wouldn’t be sneaking a peek, now would you? Get back.”
On his stomach, Mick crawled backwards. He felt vulnerable unable to see who was aiming at his head. Once a distance from the road, the man ordered him to turn around.
Ready to fight, to take the man down, Mick flipped over.
A steady aim was held on him, not by one man, but by three. All three were dressed in some sort of black and green camouflage outfits.
Mick plopped back in defeat.
“What are you doing sneaking around in the woods?”
“My bike broke down,” Mick said. “I saw the blockade. I wanted
to see if there was any way around. I’m just heading home. What are you—”
The quick footsteps drew Mick’s attention and another man, dressed the same way, slid down and joined the others.
“Who’s he?” the newest member asked.
The other guy said, “Trying to get through. What do you have?”
“Not good, Dexter. They created a barricade around the tourist section of town. They spread out but the outer areas aren’t that guarded.
“How many men?” Dexter asked.
“A lot. At least a hundred.”
“Shit. Armed?”
“Yes. Very.”
Mick sat up. “Who are you guys?”
Dexter indicated his men. “We’re from the United America Army. My name is Dexter Green, this is my unit. We were sent here to surveil this area and report back to the commander.”
Mick’s head spun. Commander? United America Army? What had he missed? Had he been so focused on Lodi that he never even noticed what had evolved in the country around him?
Dexter asked his spotter, “Did you see civilians?”
“I saw them bringing a couple in. I heard kids.”
“Shit,” Mick said, and started to stand.
Dexter guided him back down. “What the hell are you doing?”
“The kids. I have to see if my kids are in there,” Mick replied.
“You can’t go rushing in there. Didn’t you hear? There’s a lot of men and they are armed. Why do you think your kids are there?”
“We were at a camp. I left with another guy to search a town and—”
“You left your kids alone?” Dexter interrupted.
“They weren’t alone, there were other adults there, but yeah, I’m an asshole.” Mick rubbed his head. “I’ve been following their trail. They got ahead of me because they found some sort of ride back to Lodi and I’m afraid they are in there. I gotta get them out.”
“Did you say Lodi?” Dexter asked.
“Yeah.”
“One of the kids named Chris?”
Mick’s eyes widened and he sat up. “You seen him?”
“Yeah, about thirteen years old. He was driving a car with three other kids. He hit the commander.”
“Are they alright? Was there a little boy there? He looks like a toddler, but he’s not.”
“Yeah. Blonde haired boy.” Dexter laughed then caught himself. “Sorry, but he tried to drive the car after Chris got out to check on the commander after he hit him.”
“That’s sounds like Tigger. Where are they?”
“We picked them up. They were headed the wrong way, which was a good thing now. They’re fine, back at our base.”
Mick exhaled a breath as big as his huge frame. “Oh my God. Thank you. You don’t know what that means. They aren’t going anywhere, right?”
Dexter shook his head. “No. They’ll still be there and you’re welcome to come with us. But we have to finish up here first, and we parked a ways back.”
There was no question on what Mick would do. Of course he would go with the men. Rose was safely headed back home and Mick would go to the boys. He was abundantly relieved to hear the kids were safe, and Mick could rest a little easier. He could think beyond finding his children. His mind swirled with questions while waiting. He wanted to find out not only who these people barricading Erie and holding civilians were, but also who the hell were these men calling themselves the United America Army?
Journal Entry
I’m not sure if I should call him ‘Commander’ or ‘Jonah’, but he’s a pretty cool guy, and I told him all about our town and the people there. He seemed to know it from the news. I threw down the challenge again for him to take on Mick in a wrestling match.
I told him it would be a great way to show the world that we’re coming back and yet entertain. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see the two biggest guys in the apocalypse fight it out?
Mick would win. I have to say Mick would win.
Speaking of Mick, my pap said Mick got our note. I’m glad. I was worried about him. I’m sure he was scared for us kids, but think about it: he lost us. Not on purpose, mind you, but he had to be blaming himself. I think I’ll tease him about that when I see him.
Jonah Briggs said he was instituting rules in town for the kids. Doc’s girlfriend has a weird name. It’s Mary. I told Jonah that it was a weird name. I mean not that Mary sounds like it’s unusual, but no one under the age of eighty is named Mary and I don’t think I ever met a Mary.
Anyhow, Mary was the kindergarten teacher in Damon and Jonah wants to start school again. Back to the one room schoolhouse days until he gets more teachers. There are too many kids for them to go every day. Doc volunteered to teach science one day a week, that’s what Jonah said. I like Doc. He’s funny and doesn’t look like a Doc.
As odd as it sounds, I like the idea of school starting again. I hope Lodi does that. But there aren’t that many kids left. Not that there are all that many in Damon, but there’s at least a hundred and that is way more than Lodi.
Every afternoon is movie day at the theater for kids only. That’s when I realized there were a hundred, cause I counted the kids in the seats. It was an old cowboy movie but it was fun. Me, Tigger and Jake got our popcorn cup and were told to bring it each day. Man, it wasn’t a lot of popcorn, but it was sure good. I ate one piece at a time really slow so it would last.
Me, Tig and Jake are at the library now waiting on Jonah. Him and that other guy had to speak to Doc about something. The library is cool.
Tig is having fun. Even though it’s not too bad here, I can’t wait to go home.
13. Dark Turn
Las Vegas, NV
“Anything?” Bill asked as he walked into the new lab, which was the laundry room at the hotel at one time.
Lexi bit her bottom lip. “I think I failed in the picture.”
“Let me see. I was an award winning photographer you know.” He held out his hand for her phone.
“I don’t think anyone takes good phone pictures.” She gave him the phone.
“You’ve got a good phone, you should …” Bill paused. “Scratch that. This is the worst picture I have ever seen. Do you need glasses?”
Lexi playfully slapped Bill on the arm.
“They aren’t gonna be able to figure this out,” he said.
“See I think they will,” she said. “You’re under the misconception that they’ll look at the microbe and know what it is instantaneously.”
“Won’t they?”
“No, it’s not that easy.”
“However, picture taking with an expensive phone is,” Bill said sarcastically. “And you failed that. Get it up on the screen again please.”
With a few clicks, Lexi pulled up the images. Using the phone, Bill snapped a few pictures. He reviewed them.
“There. They’re good.” He handed back the phone.
“Thank you.”
He took in the screen shot of the microbe and remarked how it reminded him of an alien. “Do you have any clue what this is?”
“It looks familiar,” Lexi said. “Like I should know it. And when and if they figure it out, I’ll probably get mad for not knowing it.”
“I have no idea what it is,” Bill said. “In case you were asking me.”
Lexi laughed, and her smile dropped when Matt walked in the room. “Hey, you look upset. I was just with your mom. She’s doing well.”
Matt shook his head. “Not her. Are our other people okay?”
Lexi nodded. “Stable. Why?”
“Can you guys come with me? We found some sick people. And you were right, they didn’t come here because they had no clue we had a doctor.”
“You didn’t bring them in?” Lexi asked.
“No, and I don’t think I should.” Matt gave a wave of his hand. “Come with me.”
Lexi walked across the room for her bag. She added a few things back into it, zipped it and asked Bill, “I wonder what’s up?”
“Would you think I was overreacting to say I just got a twitch of fear about this?”
“Not at all.” Lexi tossed her bag over her shoulder and left with Bill.
She had no idea what they were going to see, but like Bill, she was fearful.
* * *
Damon, NY
Doc held out his hand to halt Briggs from opening the door. He had led the commander to the top floor of the hospital and to the far back set of rooms, stopping at the glass wall. “I can’t let you go in there.”
“Why not? You said it was about the patient that came in from out west.”
“Yes.”
“That’s her, right?” Briggs pointed to the window and the lone occupant of the room, a woman in a hospital bed.
“It is and that’s why I can’t let you in there. The flu pretty much wiped out all the quarantine stuff and bio hazard suits. What we have left is minimal and we need it for our workers until you can find us more.”
Brigs gave an inquisitive look. “What’s going on?”
“I asked her when she left the west. She said eight days ago, give or take a day. She said they stopped twice overnight, once in Vegas, the next day in Indiana, and that’s where our guys got her. So it’s falling in the incubation period. The child and another woman with her are showing symptoms. I need those men who brought them in. I need them here and away from everyone for two weeks.”
Briggs closed his eyes with a tense expression.
“They went back out?” Doc asked.
Briggs nodded. “Not for a run though, to head home. They’re taking the long route because of that insurgent blockade. Hopefully, they won’t run into them and get captured.”
“No, actually, if they’ve got this, hopefully they will get captured by this problem camp.”
Briggs seemed offended. “That’s heartless for our men.”
“Well, if this band of merry mercenaries clocked Erie and burned a town, who knows what else they can do? It would be an easy elimination of them.”
The Flu 2: Healing Page 13