Defending Against Affliction

by Connor Mccoy

  The former security guard went down into the grass of Pete’s lawn. Tom’s vision blurred. That was one hell of a hit. He didn’t see it, but he heard another smack, and another body fall. Tom struggled to gather his wits and sit up, but was too out of it. He could just watch Lara, tears streaming down her face, say “I’m sorry” many times before Pete ushered her into the truck, before they drove away.

  “I’m okay. My legs just feel like jelly,” Theo said as Ruby Andrew, Ian’s wife, helped the teenager sit up.

  A few steps away, Nadia was pressing a cold cloth on the side of Tom’s head. “Damn,” Nadia said, “A housewife got the jump on you?”

  “I’m just glad it wasn’t a rolling pin.” Tom gingerly felt his right cheek.

  “It’s bruised. Anything broken?” Nadia withdrew the cloth.

  Tom blinked his eyes. “Just stings like hell. No sharp pains yet. Feeling a little less dizzy.”

  “Here.” Nadia gave him a water bottle.

  Tom drank deeply. As he inhaled the liquid, he got a chance to glance at Ruby tending to Theo. Ian’s two girls, Kayla and Sara, stood on the sidewalk. The family had shown up just minutes after Pete had driven off. Evidently, they all had rushed here hoping to get onto the truck.

  The truck…

  Tom’s wits were returning, but so was his anger. Ian was standing nearby. He hadn’t taken a direct hit from Lara’s paddle, so he required little help from Ruby.

  Tom gave Nadia back the bottle and started storming up to Ian. After Tom was finished with Ian, he might very well need some additional medical care.

  Ian frantically started running, but he then tripped and fell on his knees. “Tom…Tom…”

  But Tom didn’t stop or slow down. His single-minded goal was to get his hands on Ian. He finally seized his shirt collar and hoisted him back up on his feet. “Ian. Buddy. Let’s chat.”

  “Tom, I didn’t mean for this to happen!”

  “The paddle in my face? Oh, I’m sure that was just one-hundred percent out of the blue! How the hell did that happen? How about we talk about the truck, and your little plan?”

  “Let him go!” Ruby rushed up to Tom and then seized his arm. But against Tom’s strength, Ruby couldn’t budge him.

  “Easy,” Nadia said, stepping in between Tom and Ian.

  “Don’t hurt him too badly before he spills the beans on his little truck heist.” Then she glared at Ian. “And the answers better be good.”

  “Look, I just wanted to get my family out of town!” Ian said rapid-fire. “That’s all! We were going to take the truck and find another town or a refugee camp, anywhere but here, away from this damned virus!”

  “We need that truck to carry around heavy equipment, maybe even people in an emergency. Did you ever think about that?” Tom roared, “You selfish bastard! You may have cost a lot of people their lives!”

  “I’m desperate, man!” Ian cried, “I can’t take my wife and kids out into that…that jungle out there! We needed those wheels.”

  “It was Pete’s idea,” Ruby said. “He and our family and the Carusoes all were going to take the truck. Pete was going to get it for us with all the fuel we could find.”

  Tom finally released Ian, but not without an accompanying shove that knocked him back a step. “Why do I get the feeling that the Carusoes aren’t going with him, either?”

  “Please.” Ruby took Ian and held him. Their two girls followed, walking as far from Tom as possible while getting to their dad. “We didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  “You have a family, Tom.” Ian shook. “You sure as hell have to know what it feels like to be scared for them!”

  Some of Tom’s anger began to cool. Looking at Ian, huddled with his wife and two daughters, it was hard to keep the rage churning. And he had to admit, he couldn’t exactly say Ian was wrong.

  Instead, Tom jabbed a finger in Ian’s direction. “This is not over.” Then he turned to talk with Theo some more about what just had happened.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cheryl finished the last of the bread. “That was great.” She sighed in bliss. “Cathy really knows how to bake bread.”

  Nadia chuckled from her side of the quarantine plastic. “I wish I could learn how.”

  “Hasn’t she taught you?” Cheryl stood up.

  “Sure, she’s taught me, but that doesn’t mean I learned it.” Nadia smiled. “Italian was always more my thing.”

  “I started out cooking pot roast. I moved on to vegetables when I began learning about prepping,” Cheryl said.

  Nadia chuckled. “You probably know how to prepare the entire food pyramid.”

  Cheryl laughed. “The food pyramid, the animal kingdom, the insect kingdom, hey if it’s edible, I can prepare it.”

  The pair laughed, but Nadia’s died down a little more quickly. A cloud had moved overhead, obscuring the sun slightly, making the inside of Cheryl’s tent a little darker.

  “Say, do you ever get bored in there?”

  Cheryl looked up at the tent’s ceiling. “Not really, and that’s kind of weird. I guess it’s because I’m so tired. I don’t have the energy to be bored. Actually, with you and Tom and the kids coming to visit, I’m not really alone unless I want to be, or if I’m asleep.”

  The redhead then reached down and picked up a pile of small notepad pages. “It’s also given me time to write down stuff. A lot of it is ideas for how to improve the garden or the house, but some of it is just my thoughts. I never had so much time alone to myself. It’s given me time to think about…” Cheryl blew out a sudden pop of air. “…life, God, I guess my role on this planet. It’s like I’ve been going on adrenaline for so long that I never had time to just stop and think.”

  “That’s great. I mean, it’s great that you have something to do in there.” Nadia laughed nervously. “I can’t imagine being stuck inside a room or a tent for days and days. I’d probably go nuts.”

  Cheryl took a drink from a water bottle before she spoke next. “So, how’s Tom? How’s the town? How’s everything? I know Tom tells me things but I just want to hear it from you.”

  Nadia scooted her chair a little closer. “He told you about Ian?”

  “Yeah. Tell me Tom didn’t hurt him too bad.”

  “No, Ian got off without a scratch, from him or me!” Nadia smiled. “Tom was pissed as hell last night, but I think he gets that Ian and Pete and the Carusoes were just scared. But losing that truck is going to hit the whole town hard. We’re just lucky we got those car batteries to the hospital. With so many people hunkered down, it’s tough to get anyone to help.”

  “What’s going to happen to Ian and his family?” Cheryl asked.

  “Nothing. There’s no police to arrest them. Lauren’s the only council member who’s not sick or dead, so the town council’s pretty much done for. No one wants to come out and vote for replacements. We cancelled the school year, we shut down plans for a mail service…” She shook her head. “It’s all grinding to a halt.”

  “I’m sure we’ll pick it all back up again, once we beat this thing,” Cheryl said.

  “Yeah.” Nadia tried to put more enthusiasm into it, but even she wasn’t as sure anymore. Then she scratched her arm. It felt increasingly warm out. “I’m sure you’re going to be out soon, right?”

  Cheryl nodded. “Hey, I only puked once today. That’s progress.” She laughed, but then stopped and laid back down. “Sorry. The room just started spinning for a minute. It’s the damn fever.”

  “Do you need anything?”

  “I’m okay. I get these dizzy spells if I sit up too long. It’s not unusual.”

  Nadia rubbed her stomach. The nerves must be getting to her. “Hey, would you mind if I bugged out for now? I think I need something to drink. It’s a little warm out here and I’m probably taking an electrolyte hit.”

  “Sure. Knock yourself out. I’ll just fill up a few more note pages.” Cheryl groaned. “When the room stops spinning.”

  Nad
ia got up and headed back to the Criver house. She wiped a slick of sweat off her forehead. At that moment, Tom approached from the side door.

  “She’s all yours.” Nadia stumbled. “Whoops! Guess the heat’s making me a little dizzy.”

  Tom looked at the sky. “It doesn’t feel that hot to me.”

  “Really?” Nadia steadied herself. She decided not to press the issue.

  “I said stop scratching!”

  Karen’s admonition did no good. Jamie Cooper’s fingers were still clawing at his flesh. “Just a little,” he said.

  “Just a little, my foot, you’re bleeding again.” Karen then seized Cooper’s hands and pulled them away, back to the man’s sides.

  “Damn, I thought we were making progress. Your skin seemed to be healing.” She rushed to the sink and grabbed one of the several buckets of water.

  “Here, clean your fingers.” She brought it to her patient. “And if I ever see you scratching again, I’m tying both your hands to the bed!”

  “A shame. I was getting quite good at it.”

  Karen fetched a fresh cloth, dipped it in the water bucket, and then proceeded to clean off Cooper’s stomach. “You might even leave scars, is that what you want?”

  “Unfortunately, there isn’t much to do when you’re sick and all the world’s electricity has stopped working.”

  “Well, how about we talk?”

  Cooper nodded. “It’s a lost art, but I guess we should give it a try. What would you like to talk about?”

  “You said you were born in Europe, right? Tell me more about your family.”

  “I actually was born in Ethiopia. My mother was a college student. My father was British.”

  “Okay.” Karen dried off Cooper’s skin. “Uh, were both of your parents…” She wiggled her hand, signaling her unease with the question.

  “Black?” Cooper finished her question, then chuckled.

  “Yes. Don’t worry about asking about my ancestry. My father was British, my mother was Ethiopian, but I was raised in England. Between America, England and Ethiopia, I have citizenship on three continents.” He grinned.

  “Wow. You speak English very good.”

  “They do speak English in England. And the correct way to say it is, ‘You speak English very well.”

  Karen laughed. “Damn. I’m sorry. I really suck at knowing what goes on in the world.”

  “I think without satellite television, we all rather stink at knowing what the world is like.”

  Karen pulled out a bottle of skin cream. “No kidding.” She started applying it. “Do you miss England, or Ethiopia, any of them?”

  “Sometimes. But if I had to end up anywhere, I am glad it’s here.”

  Before Karen could say anything, a shout from Theo drew her and Jamie’s attention. “Hey!” he cried. “Lauren said one of the patients is improving, and I mean really improving. Doctor Tran thinks this disease definitely is beatable!”

  “Really?” Karen dashed up to the plastic barrier.

  “Yeah, and it’s an older patient, too. He’s about fifty. So, maybe it’ll be even better for younger patients. Tran thinks the vitamins in the fruit juices are helping.”

  Karen let out a happy laugh. “That’s great!” She turned back to Cooper. “Now there’s no way that you’re not getting out of here!”

  Tom Criver shut the back door. Obadiah Stone was at the dinner table with several of the kids, all boys. Tom raised a finger. “Boys, you know how you know you’re in love? It’s when you’re willing to dispose of your wife’s poop all by yourself.”

  “That’s sick!” Dominick said through laughs. Terry, Fred and Ricardo all joined in, while Irvin just grimaced.

  “There’s not a chute for the poop to go out?” Irvin asked.

  “Nope. We don’t really want it going on the lawn anyway. It’d attract bugs and vermin and God knows what else. She just does her business into a bucket and I take it out and dispose of it.”

  “You’re doing the Lord’s work, Squirrel,” Stone said, “Oh, that message on the counter’s for you.”

  “Message?” Tom picked up the paper and unfolded it.

  “It’s from Nadia. Says she can’t come by for the next few days. Has some important work that suddenly came up. Says she’s sorry and hopes to be by again soon.” He frowned. “Kind of odd that she doesn’t say what it is.”

  “Probably had to restock on supplies for her home,” Stone said.

  “Yeah, but we give her food from our garden. Actually, I think we give her almost everything she needs in exchange for helping to watch the kids.”

  “She could have been in a hurry,” Stone said.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Tom and Ricardo peered into the Criver living room. Dominick, Terry, Fred and Charlie all had gathered around the wooden coffee table while Rio and Juan set up small wooden sticks the size of popsicle sticks. As they set them up, one of the Criver boys would administer glue to the top end or the back. Then Ricardo’s boys would set up another stick on top of it, or bracing it from the other side.

  “It’s a miracle,” Tom said quietly.

  “Your boys are fast learners,” Ricardo said with a chuckle.

  “More than that, you got them to sit down quietly for the past hour,” Tom added.

  “Glue is a boy’s best friend. My boys found that out as soon as they were out of diapers.”

  Tom backed into the kitchen. “I would have said a good throwing ball, but I can understand glue.”

  As Tom’s path took him near the side door, he stopped. “Thanks for stopping by. Obie’s tied up at the diner and Nadia’s been a no show for three days.”

  “It is no trouble. My boys are happy to have made new friends,” Ricardo said as Tom reached for a jacket hanging on a wall hook. “I hope the trade goes well for you.”

  “Rumor had it that the Watsons had a small can of gasoline.” Tom slid on his jacket. “That stuff’s like gold. They just came into town. That, and with so many people hunkering down, I probably could get to them first and make them an offer for it.”

  “I hope so. I will keep a close eye on your house until you return.”

  Tom reached for the door. “Say, what’s Ian been up to? I haven’t seen him since he was running away from me in sheer terror.”

  Ricardo laughed a little. “Well, I don’t know. He has been very quiet lately. I suppose he is wary of you. Perhaps he is ashamed for what he tried to do.”

  “Well, I guess I really can’t blame him. Maybe sometime I’ll pay him a visit, see if I can smooth things over.” He turned the doorknob.

  The backpack weighed a little heavier on Tom’s back, but it was worth it. It turned out the Watsons were more than willing to barter some of Tom’s food and supplies for gas. To make sure he could handle the load as he rode home, he divided the gasoline into a can in his pack and hung the rest off his bike seat in a separate pouch.

  The sad part was, once the Watsons got a good idea of how much panic there was in town because of the disease, they might clam up like everyone else. Tom was starting to wonder if this town should be taking in new residents. They could be signing their own death warrants as well.

  But most of the town is still healthy, he told himself. Doctor Tran said a lot of the town’s citizens might be immune, including Tom and his own kids. Perhaps soon this malady would burn itself out.

  Tom turned at the street corner. He was definitely getting the hang of this, although he still had to be careful when he was weighed down with something. However, it wasn’t his lack of skill, but the sight of someone familiar, that caused him to screech to a stop.

  Nadia was walking down the street—actually, more like jogging, with an over-the-shoulder bag thumping against her back. It was good to actually see her again after three days. Was she too busy to say hi? Tom didn’t know what she was up to.

  As he studied her running, it bothered him how erratic her steps were. She definitely looked unsteady. Perhaps she was worn
out from jogging a long way. Tom started pedaling again.

  Soon he caught up with her. “Hey stranger!” he called.

  Nadia jumped. “Whoa! Tom! My God!”

  “I’m flattered, but I think I’ll pass on the whole deity thing. I wouldn’t trust myself with the job. So where have you been?”

  “Just…busy…” Nadia tried to pick up speed.

  “Looks like you got a load there.”

  “Food,” Nadia said through pants.

  “From where? And why? You know we would give you anything.”

  Nadia shook her head, flinging sweat. “Look, it’s nothing you got to worry about. Can we talk about this later?”

  Unfortunately, Thomas Criver was the wrong person to tell not to worry about something. “Looking at you, I’m a little worried about what later’s going to look like.”

  Nadia didn’t get the chance to respond. She tripped and fell onto a grassy lawn. Tom quickly skidded to a stop and pushed out the kickstand, then ran to her.

  The former policewoman already was on her feet, scrambling to pick up her bag. “I’m okay! I’m…okay.”

  A look at Nadia’s face belied her statements. She was sweaty, out of breath, and her eyes were haggard. She looked utterly exhausted. Also, there was a bulge around her stomach under her white buttoned-up shirt.

  But that wasn’t what really got Tom’s attention. A red spot had appeared on Nadia’s shirt on her left side.

  “Look, I really have to go.” Nadia pulled the bag over her shoulder. “I’ll get back with you later—”

  She started walking, actually jogging, away, but Tom Criver wasn’t going to let what he saw go. “Hey, wait a minute!” He quickly caught up to her and barred her path.

  “Okay,” Tom said, his voice low and intense. “What’s going on?”

  Nadia swallowed. “It’s nothing. I’m just a little weak.”

  She turned, but Tom matched her movement, staying in front of her. “Why are you touching your stomach like that? And why are you bleeding?”