The sun was shining in Jackson’s face, but he felt his whole world spiraling out of control. He wanted to run, but the echo of Jax’s voice made him abruptly pull the truck onto the shoulder. Besides, he found it a challenge to operate it anymore.
He was too sick.
He flung the door open and stepped out of the truck as the officer stepped out of his cruiser, using the door to shield himself. He squatted behind it as he used his megaphone to give commands.
“Stop where you are! Place your hands above your head and interlace your fingers! Do it now!”
Jackson took one more labored step towards the officer, who was two seconds from pulling the trigger, before it all went dark.
He collapsed to the ground.
Chapter 37
“The authorities are certain?” Franco asked.
“Yes,” Jamie replied, her face dripping with sadness as they faced each other in the hallway. “They matched his bloody handprint at the scene. They’re saying he killed that man, Franco!”
“Wasn’t there another guy there? Couldn’t it have been him?”
“Thomas Long. They have him in custody and he told the Maine authorities what happened.”
“His version. Which is what?”
“He said Jackson didn’t want to pay for the collection and he attacked them.”
“No way! Jackson wouldn’t do that.”
“He would if he isn’t Jackson anymore.”
“That remains to be seen. What about the knife? The dead guy’s prints were found on the knife. Right? With some blood?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe this Long guy isn’t telling the whole story. Maybe Jackson was simply defending himself.”
“I don’t know what to believe, Franco. I haven’t been able to talk to him in days. To really talk to him. His dad died and didn’t even tell me. Jax sounded so scared.” She fought off the tears but couldn’t hide the tremble in her voice. “I don’t know what’s going on!”
“What do you want to believe?”
“I believe I need to see my husband and my son ASAP. That’s all I know.”
“Where are they now?”
“In a hospital in Virginia.”
“When are you leaving?”
“We.”
“Huh?”
“When are we leaving?”
“We?”
Jamie nodded. “There’s a C12 Huron parked at a private airfield minutes from here ready to take us both to Virginia.”
“I can’t go. I have things to take care of here.”
“Apparently, your presence has been ordered by General Wingate.”
“Who told you that? I haven’t been given any orders from the director.”
“He left a message on my voicemail when he couldn’t reach you. He said there is no time to waste.”
“I see.” Franco turned white. All he wanted to do was hunker down with his family.
“He said he’ll be there too.”
“Doug is going to be there? He’s here in Atlanta?”
“Yes. Along with Lars Bigsby and some agents with the CDC, the FBI, or the CIA, or whoever the hell everybody works for now. He wants to have a face-to-face meeting with us both while we are at the airfield.”
Franco sniffed his arm pit. “I haven’t had time to shower in days.”
“I noticed. Neither have I, Franco. The good news is there is a shower at the hospital that we can use. There is a conference room at the hospital that is being prepared for a meeting. Do you have your go bag ready?”
“Always.” Franco could feel his heart racing, competing with Jamie’s.
“Good. Get it. We're leaving now. You can call your wife from the car.”
Chapter 38
“He’s waking up! He’s waking up!” Jax yelled to anyone who would listen as he launched out of a chair in the hospital room and rushed to Jackson’s side. Jumper barked as a doctor and a nurse walked fast into the hospital room and rushed to their patient.
“Where am I?” Jackson asked, groggy, as he opened his eyes. He could see the habitat with the locust inside on the bedside table. It was blurry along with all the faces in the room.
“You’re in the hospital. Virginia Regional Medical Center. Can you tell me your name?” The doctor flashed a light into Jackson’s eyes.
“Jackson,” he replied after thinking for a second. “Jackson Mills.”
“Good. Can you tell me what happened to your elbow, Mr. Mills?”
Jackson raised his arm and looked at the wound, unsure for a second. It didn’t look like it could be his arm. It must belong to a cadaver. Did they sow a dead guy’s arm onto me?
“Mr. Mills? Your arm? What happened to it?”
“I was bitten by a mosquito.”
“That’s what your son told me.”
“So why the fuck are you asking me again?”
The doctor frowned to his nurse. “Just protocol, Mr. Mills. I don’t mean to agitate you. Are you feeling irritable?”
“Wouldn’t you be? My father just died for Christ’s sake. I was shot in a robbery. And now you have me hooked up to all this shit.” Jackson picked up the tube that connected him to a bag hanging from a medical pole and dropped it callously. He felt like all his strength had been syphoned from his body. “When can I get the hell out of here?”
“As soon as you’re stabilized, sir.”
“I feel plenty stabilized now.”
“Hi, dad,” Jax said as he leaned in and hugged Jackson to distract him, as he didn’t seem to know he was there.
“Hey, buddy,” Jackson said with barely any feeling.
“We’re waiting on the results of some tests,” the doctor continued.
“What tests? Who gave you consent to run tests?”
“Your wife.”
“Jamie? Is she here?”
“No. We spoke with your wife by phone and she authorized the tests. You are very sick, Mr. Mills. You are lucky the police brought you here.”
Jackson looked around the room and spotted a familiar face of law enforcement, Detective Chambers.
“What are you doing here?” Jackson asked, clearly not happy about it.
“The police found my card on you again and called me. I was in the area so I came. What’s going on with you, Jackson?”
“Hell if I know.”
“You need to rest now for a while, Mr. Mills,” the doctor said.
“I’ll rest when I’m damn good and ready. When I get home I’ll rest. What tests did you do?”
“We took some blood and tissue samples.”
“Why? What are you looking for?”
“We need to get those test results back to be sure, but it looks like you may have a flesh eating bacteria of some kind, Mr. Mills. We are pumping you with antibiotics now. We may have to take off that arm if it doesn’t improve.”
“The fuck you will!” Jackson started to get out of the bed, but realized that he had been physically restrained to the bed. That made him even angrier. “You’re not taking off my fucking arm! Why the hell do you have me tied to this bed?”
“Please relax, Mr. Mills,” the doctor said. “We just needed to make sure you didn’t get out of bed suddenly.”
Jackson saw red. He felt strength coming back. “How long have I been here?”
“Since early this morning.”
Jackson looked at the clock. It was well after seven o’clock in the evening. He again struggled to get up.
“Please lay down,” the doctor continued. “Relax now. You need your strength.”
“Relax? Right.”
“We need to keep it real, Mr. Mills.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“If we can’t get this infection under control soon, amputation will be the only option we have to save your life. Whatever you have in that elbow is eating you alive, sir.”
“You’ll have to kill me to take it off.” Jackson stared at the ceiling, refusing to look at the doctor anymore.
“Please just get some rest for now. We’ll see how your body responds to the antibiotics.”
The doctor walked out of the room.
“Is there anything I can get you?” the nurse asked. Jackson could see it in her eyes. There was something he wasn’t being told, and she knew.
“Can I use the phone?”
“Sure.” The nurse hesitantly moved the phone from the bedside table onto Jackson’s chest. “Who are you calling?”
She looked worried.
“What does that matter?” He waited for a response. “Just a friend of mine.”
“Okay. Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. I’ll be at the nurse station.”
“Okay.”
All eyes in the room watched the nurse leave.
“You didn’t need to come here,” Jackson said to Detective Chambers.
“My town. It wasn’t any problem at all. By the way, I talked that officer out of giving you a ticket. You were going like one hundred and five.”
“Kind of you.” There wasn’t t a shred of sincerity.
“Anytime. Why were you going so fast?”
There wasn’t a shred of sincerity from either man. Neither trusted the other based on everything they learned and knew up to this moment of their lives.
“Trying to get home. Where’s my truck?”
“Oh. The officer had it towed here to the hospital.” Detective Chambers looked out the third floor window. “It’s parked out there in the lot I suppose.”
“Where are the keys?”
“Well, standard ops is to put them in the glove… box. Why?”
“Cool. Appreciate it.”
“Sure. You won’t be in any shape to drive for a while of course.”
“Of course. I need to make a private call. Could you bring the phone over here and give me a few minutes?” “Sure. How about you and Jumper come on a walk with me?” the detective asked Jax. He knew that any call that Jackson made on that phone would be monitored.
“No!” The room was silent. Jackson sounded like he was on the battlefield. “They will stay.”
Detective Chambers didn’t hide his distaste. He also looked offended. “It’s no trouble. Come on, Jax,” he said and put his arm around the boy.
“No, damn it!” Jackson yelled. “Get your fucking hands off of him.”
Detective Chambers looked like he was about to throw a chair, the same way he did the last time he felt this way around Jackson. He was, at a minimum, ready to handcuff Jackson to the bed, regardless of how many straps were already confining him to it. He knew Jackson was a wanted man for the murder in Maine, though he wasn’t about to give that away.
“I’m sorry, dude. I just don’t want them to leave. I like having them here with me. It’s been a rough couple days. Makes me feel better.”
“I understand,” Detective said with a suspicious look that he didn’t try to hide. “No problem. They can stay. I’ll be out in the hallway if you need me.”
“Why would I need you? Why are you even still here?”
“The hospital asked me to say. Do you not want me here for some reason, buddy?”
“No. I mean, it’s not that. Why does the hospital want you here?”
“I’ll be right outside soldier. Go ahead and make your calls.”
Jackson waited until the door latched behind Detective Chambers before he said another word. He didn’t like the look in the detective’s eyes. He didn’t like the way he talked. He didn’t like the way he moved.
He didn’t like anything about him, and he wasn’t totally sure why.
“We have to get out of here,” he said to Jax as he started to dial a number on the hospital phone, but had some trouble.
“Why dad? You’re sick. These people are trying to help you. Finally you are getting help.”
“You heard ‘em! They want to cut off my arm.”
“We should call mom.”
“Did you talk to your mom? Damn! Can’t remember his number.”
“Yes. I did. Whose number?”
“Did you…”
“Tell her what you did? No. That’s for you to do. Let’s call her now. She wants to talk to you. She’s been worried about us.”
“We will. First I need to call Ben.”
“Uncle Ben? Why?”
Jackson said a series of numbers out loud, correcting himself a couple times, and then pressed the necessary buttons on the dial pad. He put the receiver up to his ear.
“Hello?” the voice on the line asked with uncertainty, unfamiliar with the number on his caller ID.
“Ben.”
“Jackson? Is that you?” Doctor Benjamin McCoy asked.
“Yeah.”
“How are you, buddy? Where are you? You still coming by for a visit?”
“I’m in the hospital, Ben. In Virginia.”
“Why?”
“I’m sick I guess.”
“What’s wrong? Too much Kabuli palaw before you left the desert?”
“You know I don’t eat that crap. I have some kind of skin eating infection. They are talking about taking my arm off!”
“Shit, Jackson. That sounds serious. How did you get the infection?”
“Hell if I know. I guess… from a stupid mosquito bite. Sounds crazy, I know.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I didn’t lose so much as a fingernail after all those damn ants bit me. But a little mosquito bites me and they want to cut off my arm. Can you believe that shit?” The line was silent. “Ben? Are you still there?”
“I’m still here, buddy. Tell me more about that mosquito bite. When and where did you get it?”
“Jesus! Why does everyone want to know about this fucking mosquito bite?”
“We are doing some tracking at WHO.”
“Really? Tracking mosquito bites?”
“Yep. So, where?”
“It happened a few days ago in the woods off the interstate. Here in Virginia.”
“What part of Virginia?”
Jackson thought back to the spot where he captured the locust. The sign. “Bridge of Roses.” Ben was silent. “Ben? Did you hear me?”
“Yeah. Where on your body did you get bit, Jackson?”
“My left elbow.”
“What symptoms have you experienced?”
“I don’t know.” He was getting more irritated.
“Any itching?”
“Yes! It’s a mosquito bite for fuck sake!”
“Okay. It’s alright, Jackson. Stay calm, man. How about fever? Any of that?”
“I think so. I was really hot about one or two nights after I got it. I felt so hot this morning again, before I… passed out.”
“Nausea?”
“Yes. Enough questions already. I need your help, Ben.”
“Sorry, old friend. What can I do for you?”
It sounded so strangely clinical to Jackson. Everything did all of a sudden. He stared at the locust. It wouldn’t stop trying to escape until it took it last breathe.
“Come pick me up.”
“Oh. I can’t do that right now.”
“Fine. Bye, Ben.”
“Wait! Don’t hang up.”
“If you can’t come get me, I need to figure out how to get out of here.”
Jackson tried to sit up so he could unhook all the tubes, but was stopped by the straps across his stomach and the others confining his feet to the bed. He groaned with the phone still up to his ear.
“I think you should stay there and do whatever the doctors say you should do.”
“I’m going home. Take care, Ben.”
Jackson started to hang up the phone.
“Wait! Wait, Jackson! I don’t want to scare you, buddy,” Ben continued as Jackson put the receiver up to his ear again. “There is a shit storm happening in the world right now. Very few people know about it.”
“So?”
“Based on what you’re telling me, I’m worried that you are right i
n the middle of the storm.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“An outbreak, Jackson. End of days kind of shit.”
“What?”
“Have you heard or seen any of the news reports on the reverend? Kenneth Rally.”
“Yes. The whole damn drive up to Maine. The guy who lost his mind and killed the girl in the park. Right?”
“Right. Do you know what started that whole thing?”
“No.”
“He was bit by a mosquito while camping in the Virginia woods. Not far from where you were bitten.”
Jackson laughed like a lunatic. “I see. So you think because I was bitten by a mosquito, I’m going to start killing girls in the park.”
“No. I don’t think you will, Jackson. But the monster you might be turning into could.”
“Monster? What? What the hell, Ben?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to call it.”
“Damn it. Tell me what you know.” Jackson felt his heart racing and was worried the monitors would start alarming, bringing people back into the room. “Right now!”
“No one’s sure what this is yet, Jackson. It’s bad though. Very bad.”
“Is it bacterial? They have me on antibiotics here at the hospital.”
“No. It’s definitely viral, and it’s the nastiest bug we’ve never seen, until now. Tell me more about your symptoms. What was the first thing you noticed after the itching?”
“I puked.”
“Weakness? Chills too?”
“Yes. Damn it, Ben! I already told you that!”
“What about your behavior?”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you found yourself being more aggressive? Hypersexual?”
“Jesus! That’s it! I’m getting out of here. Bye, Ben. Take care.”
“Wait! Stay there. Please.” Ben paused, waiting. “Please, Jackson. I’m shutting down my office computer right now. I’ll be there as soon as I can. You can introduce me to that bug you found.”
Jackson paused, thinking. “What bug, Ben?”
“The one that you mentioned. There with you.”
Jackson looked again at the locust that seemed more agitated then ever inside the plastic habitat. He contemplated what he just heard his best friend say. He looked around the ceiling for evidence of cameras, or spy devices of some type. He didn’t see any. “I didn’t mention that to you. How did you know about that, Ben?”
And We All Fall (Book 1) Page 28