Avalon: Beyond the Retreat (The Avalon Series Book 2)

by L. Michael Rusin

  Nobody knows where it came from. No one can pin it down exactly, but I’ll tell you what we do know. It can kill in as little as a few hours or a couple of days from the time you contract the disease. Your joints begin to hurt and you develop a pounding headache. Within an hour or so, the small pimples break out all over your body and begin to grow and change color. In a little while the pimples go from bright red to dark purple and begin to fill with a yellow puss that oozes out. It is almost always fatal.

  There was a pause. Eric and his men thought they had lost the station at first, but it came back strong.

  I’ve just been handed a message from the station manager. This is just about the scariest thing I have ever reported; listen up everyone. The plague is airborne and you can contract if you are in close proximity to anyone who has it. Don’t touch anyone who is sick and don’t get close to them either!

  There was a pause.

  My God, my head hurts… he paused again… I’ve got it. My God I’ve got it! Oh Lord… have mercy on me and mine. Honey… if you’re listening, stay home, don’t go anywhere. I love you!

  The station went dead. There was some noise in the background, but it wasn’t discernible.

  Eric and his people were stunned. He looked into the faces of his men and they were looking at him for answers. He was at a loss for what to say. One of the Soldiers yelled at him, “Sarge we need to do something! What are we going to do?”

  Eric felt himself floating away and for a moment he felt detached from it all. He seemed to be hovering over this in a dream, and he was a spectator instead of a participant. “Sarge! What are we going to do?”

  Eric came out of it and looked at the young Soldier and all of the men who were counting on him. “We need to get back to the Box Canyon. That’s our only option. Let’s hope that none of us has contracted it yet. Move… quickly!”

  They broke camp and headed toward the cliffs. Eric wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to find the Box Canyon again, but he knew they needed to try. They were vulnerable to this new killer, and they had no way to defend themselves against it. Eric knew that if one of them got it, they would all get it. Not breathing wasn’t an option. How do you not breathe, he wondered as he walked? The hike, at their hastened pace, was grueling with all of their weapons and gear.

  They walked for three hours. Here and there things felt somewhat familiar. Eric called a couple of his people near. “Does anyone remember any of this terrain?”

  “Sarge,” it was Darrel, “there’s the creek! Remember, we went north from here?”

  Eric did remember and turned toward the hills to the north. It wasn’t much longer until he saw the rocky outcroppings leading to the secret tunnel. “This was lucky. We need to keep heading in this direction, and I think we need to make a few turns. Everyone look sharp and keep scanning for the path to the entrance.”

  Tim found a path that was recently traveled. “I’ve got a trail here. It has to lead us to the opening in those rocks ahead.”

  Good old Tim, Eric thought as he gave his spotter a big grin. He was right of course. Tim was one of the best trackers he had ever known. Eric often thought that his friend was part Indian, but Tim always denied it. “You ever hear of a Scottish Indian?” Tim scoffed.

  Another forty-five minutes of walking and they found the turns that led them to the tunnel. Eric knew that if he had not passed this way before, he would likely never have found it. He made a mental note to hide their telltale signs to ensure that no one else could find them. They walked in single file and soon came out of the tunnel into the canyon. It was a welcome sight for all of them, almost like coming home. They believed they would all be safe here. Eric said a small prayer that none of them had the sickness in them.

  He let out a piercing whistle to alert the canyon dwellers that they had arrived. It wasn’t long before he saw Charles coming toward them carrying one of the M-16’s at the ready. He wasn’t smiling. Eric thought Charles was not too pleased to see them.

  Eric tried to explain, holding his hands up in front of him as he approached Charles, “I’ve got some bad news to share with you. I understand that you aren’t too happy to see us again, but please, hear me out.”

  Charles nodded. He was curious and decided that all of these men couldn’t be judged on the actions of only one of them. He would hear them out. Eric and his men followed Charles back to the main camp and they sat down near the gathering place where they had all been the night before. Some of the young women gathered close to the young Soldiers. Eric addressed the group.

  “Listen up! I understand how the hormones work and that we all have urges. Control yourselves… and you ladies need to do the same. This is not the time to be playing games with any of my men. I encourage all of you to respect each other. We are confronted by a new challenge. After we left here, we came across what appeared to be a family. A man, his wife and two small children were lying on the ground and covered with sores. They were dead or dying the same day they contracted this new disease.”

  This elicited a couple of mild shrieks from the women and several of them put a hand to their mouths. “We came back to not only warn you of this new danger, but to ask you to please allow us shelter here with you until this sickness passes. Out there beyond the tunnel is a killer like none we have ever faced before. It kills indiscriminately… and it kills nearly everyone who comes in contact with it. From what I’ve heard and seen, it’s a pretty rough way to go.”

  “We will pull our weight,” he continued. “We will share all that we have with you, and we offer at least one other thing… protection from invaders. Please consider our request. If we’re forced to leave this place, we might all die from this sickness. We will abide by your decision.”

  Charles and several women moved away, out of earshot. They talked for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually Charles and the women came toward them, the look on Charles’s face wasn’t encouraging. He looked sad and defeated. His shoulders slumped and Eric braced himself for the news. “We have decided to accept you all into our fold, temporarily.”

  He eyed them all and then continued softly. “I have to tell you in all honesty that I am opposed to this decision because of the incident that occurred last night. I fear that something else might happen. You are armed Soldiers, and our group is comprised of mostly women. You could overpower us at anytime, and I hope this decision will not be something that I live to regret.”

  “On the other hand, I realize that we are sheltered here and somewhat secluded from the outside world. We cannot, in all human compassion, turn you people back out into a world filled with this sickness that could surely cause you all to die. I will go along with what the others have decided. I was a young man once and I remember what it was like. I cannot fault anyone from being attracted to any of these women. I am married to one of them and I really do understand the needs between a man and a woman. However, I would ask that you remember the times we live in.”

  “What was once normal in our world changed when we were nuked. Nothing is normal any longer and we are all dependent on one another. In some ways, I like that… but in others, I don’t. None of us can predict what another person will do. Please, for the love of God, have some respect for each other and remember that everyone has feelings just like you do. Don’t misuse anyone for your own personal gain. We will not tolerate it.”

  Charles turned and headed for one of the small houses across the campsite. Most of the young women and Soldiers cheered. Although Eric felt good about what Charles said, he understood the unspoken message and worried about it as well.

  These men might be under his command for the time being, but he only knew one of them well enough to predict most of his actions, and that man was Tim. The rest were people he met at the Mountain Climbing Camp, and they were practically strangers.

  That night Eric gathered his Soldiers and Marines around him. “We are fortunate that we have been allowed to stay here. You all saw those infected people out there
. By tomorrow, we will know whether any of us has been infected. Hopefully none of us has. If one of us has contracted this disease, we’re all dead. If not, this will be a good place to pass the time until we feel it’s safe to leave. We’re in pretty good shape right now. With our store of food, combined with theirs, we should be okay for a while. I think once we feel it’s safe to leave here, we’ll want to go to the beach and see how much food we can catch and bring back to these people to replace what we will consume.”

  Then he paused and looked at each of them. “You all understand what Gomez did here. That cannot happen again. If it does, I will kill the offender myself.” He let his warning sink in.

  “Does anyone not understand that?” None of them said a word. “Dismissed!”

  The women came forward as a group after the meeting, those who had decided to pair up with one of the Soldiers each resumed her position. Most couples locked arms and meandered toward various private spots. It was amazing how in only one day and a night, their feelings could have cemented so quickly. Of course, the fact that they were the only men and women in the world at this juncture seemed to help.

  That night the Soldiers tuned into a radio transmission. Everyone in the enclave gathered around to hear the radio announcer.

  The plague is spreading to every locale, and people are literally dying in the streets. Even the people who were collecting the bodies with protective clothing contracted the disease and have died, as well. No one is safe. No place is safe.

  There is no way of counting the death totals at this time. Some have estimated the deaths in the U.S. alone at upward of one hundred million people.

  Do not touch anyone infected. Stay away from crowds, and do not breathe the air in the vicinity of anyone who is sick. The disease kills the victim as quickly as a few hours from infection, to within a day or two.

  From what we can ascertain, the disease is nearly 99% fatal. Those of us here at the studio are buttoned up tight, and no one comes or goes. So far, we are all safe. Our food from our civil defense stores will last a few months. I pray we can hold out that long before we are forced to leave this building.

  The infrastructure on the east coast is nearly destroyed, and nothing has been heard from anyone on the west coast. People in the east are moving inland toward the mid-west.

  We have had word from some authorities that we must all maintain hope. We will broadcast every hour on the hour. This is your announcer, Darrel Williams, signing off in Springfield, Illinois.

  God Bless everyone.

  WZXT… out.

  Everyone listening to the broadcast was stunned. No one commented; they simply stared at the radio, or each other. They all said a silent prayer that they would survive this new and deadly threat. It was the first radio broadcast the canyon dwellers had heard since they moved here and the second one for the Soldiers.

  They were all going to be at the camp for some time to come.

  Eric’s men built latrines and dug a well on opposite sides of canyon and away from the stream. The well was lined with stone, as was the custom in days long gone. They built a fish trap in the stream by stacking rocks to ensnare many of the fish swimming in the water, and they worked in the garden… weeding and making a rudimentary irrigation system.

  They also made improvements to the canyon dwellers’ makeshift houses. Several men gathered firewood. They cleaned and maintained the walkways with stones embedded in the earth, which made walking about from place to place easier for everyone.

  They built a nice cooking area lined with rocks so that virtually anything could be cooked over the fire. One of the Soldiers explained to the women that there were three types of fire needed for cooking.

  The first was an intense, lasting fire for boiling, the second was a slow, steady heat for frying, broiling, or roasting, and the third was a sustained, low fire for heating food. They simply lowered or raised the cooking grate away from the fire to increase or decrease the heat. They could also increase the intensity of a fire by using a bellows and lowering the heat by sprinkling water on the coals. They fabricated a rotisserie and mounted it in place with a handle to turn the spit.

  Most of the Soldiers and the women teased each other and talked excitedly as if they were children. The mood was oddly festive, considering their situation.

  The Soldiers built a pool downstream so they all could bathe in relative comfort. It had a couple of steps that led down into the water and a place to sit down. This was accomplished by stacking rocks in areas that were excavated to accommodate them. They also erected a screen for privacy made from small trees and set upright, stockade-style, by lashing them together. Now everyone could bathe at their leisure, in private. Although the water was cold initially, once immersed, it was tolerable.

  They established a schedule to ensure a modicum of privacy. All of the Soldiers had soap from their hygiene kits and the women encouraged them to share. They put up a flag pole to show anyone from a distance that the pool was in use. There was a blue flag and a red flag. The blue was for the men and the red showed everyone approaching that there were women using the bathing area.

  Another welcome accessory was the shower. The Soldiers took a five gallon plastic bucket, drilled holes in the bottom and fastened a rotating device inside that resembled a dish split down the middle. A rod connected the two pieces. A handle was placed on the outside of the bucket and a rope was tied to the handle. When the rope was pulled, the two pieces of the plate raised and allowed the water to flow out of the bottom of the bucket.

  It was semi watertight but wasn’t intended to be absolutely leak free. It was designed to reduce the leaking water just before it was put to use. There was a small hook on the inside of the shower stall to secure the rope and tie it in place.

  The bucket was mounted on a long pole that was secured toward the opposite end of the bucket on a swivel, which was fastened in place with a long rod that went through the long pole and two posts set deep into the ground, securing the center pole. It was a raise and lower pendulum. They lowered it to put the water in the five gallon bucket and then raised it up to position the bucket into place for the shower. This way they could heat enough water to bathe, and while the rotating apparatus was in the closed position they could soap up, then pull the rope and release the water to rinse off.

  A counter weight was placed on the opposite end of the water bucket to ease the raising and lowering of the bucket once the bucket was filled with warm water. A barrier was built around this to enclose it with an open doorway to give access to the shower area.

  It was an instant hit.

  The Soldiers conducted various classes routinely, which proved to be beneficial for everyone. They taught the women how to make soap. Since it involved the use of lye (sodium hydroxide), they had to make sure they wore protective gloves scrounged from the nearby houses and makeshift safety masks to avoid accidental contact with the corrosive compound. Other than this, they only needed basic supplies – a candy thermometer was the hardest to find. They used a hand egg beater as a blender and the the bottom of plastic bottles as the molds. They also wrote down the recipe as they refined their homemade soap:

  Easy Goat Milk Soap

  Ingredients:

  • 4 cups pure goat milk

  • 13 cups lard (slightly melted)

  • 1-2 cups lye made from wood ashes

  • 1 cup hot water

  • V cup honey

  Directions for Preparation:

  Take a non-reacting container (preferably enamel or stainless steel) and add goat milk, honey and hot water. Stir well and slowly add lye to the milk mixture. Leave it to cool until it reaches 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Warm lard to the same temp and pour this into the lye mixture. Using a wooden spatula, stir until the consistency is like honey. Pour the soap base into the molds.

  This soap was an excellent cleaner and the use of goat’s milk made it gentle on the women’s hands. Fragrance was added using different herbs, making it much like any other h
omemade soap. It wasn’t hard for them to do as long as they followed rudimentary safety rules.

  In the past soap makers knew what they were doing. They knew when dunking a feather into the lye, how much of the feather could be dissolved by the lye for a particular type of fat. They knew how much of the egg should float above the water line. They taught this principle to their children or those learning how to make soap. The women learned quickly. Soap was an important addition to their stockpile of basic necessities.

  They set up a trap line to catch small animals, rabbits and other small creatures unfortunate enough to happen along and become ensnared. Two Soldiers and one of the women visited the trap line twice a day to clear or reset the traps. Others collected fish from the fish trap or searched for dead wood dropped from the branches of trees to augment the ever-needed supply of firewood.

  Another vital essential came from Sergeant Bill Kit, a trained agronomist who got bored one day and joined the Army. He was skilled in finding edibles that grew wild and plants or herbs that could spice up or improve the flavor of their food.

  He explained the four basic groups of plants to the settlement.

  “THALLOPHYTA is the first group. They consist of plants such as bacteria, yeast, mold, mildew, rust, mushrooms (fungi), diatoms, seaweed, and pond scum (algae). These lowly plants have no roots, stems or leaves. They can be microscopic (yeast and bacteria) to longer than 200 feet such as Giant Kelp. The thallophytes are divided into two groups… the algae and the fungi. Lichen is one of those plants that attach themselves to rocks and grow. They break down eventually and become soil.

  “Second are BROYPHTA. These plants are the mosses and the liverworts. Most have simple leaves and root-like growth.

  “The next is called PTERIDOPHYTA. These are fern, horsetails and club mosses. Ancient fossils have been found that show these plants grow to forest size in many areas on the earth.