August Burning (Book 1): Outbreak

by Lahey, Tyler

  “Call your parents,” Jaxton mumbled, stumbling into the hallway and shaking his head to clear it of the terror that had abruptly taken root there. He made it into the stairwell before puking, with breakfast and lunch coming up in violent retches. The sickening wave of nausea he had felt passed as he did so. His entire world was crumbling around him. The video on the news had, in a single instant, wiped out all the customary concerns and joys of a college kid. All the things that made him nervous, made him feel waves of pride, of joy…they were all trivial now. He suddenly became aware that society as he knew it was on the brink of total destruction. They had all seen the panic breeding around them, and a single video file was about to make the world explode. Moralities and political correctness would vanish, gone to the winds. Grades, resumes, job applications, bank accounts…all the things he and his friends had grappled with, had defined success with, were hollow. They were broken, empty promises shredded to futility by the explosive advance of a horrific pathogen. It was some sickness, a terrible illness that spread like wildfire. He considered his friends. He considered his government. It was about to become man to man. Each man would be his own dictatorship. Would it get that bad? Could the government contain it? Jaxton only felt comfortable trusting something when it had definitively earned that trust. The political realities of his own country had swiftly disillusioned him years before, with the advent of a new race war between the police and the black America they were supposed to protect. How often did people in positions of authority act with noble intent, for the good of the masses? Seldom, Jaxton knew. He would not place his faith in the government, who even now had attempted to hide the reality of the sickness from the people. Jaxton had to get his friends away from the government, and from the sickness. He fumbled with his phone, hands already slick with sweat in the stuffy stairwell. His mom did not pick up. Neither did his brother. Jaxton felt his stomach revolt and his vomit spattered on the bricks below him. Stifling panicking suspicions, he sent a single group text: “I’m making for home. If you can get there without too much danger, meet me there. I love you both.” Wiping away the remnants of vomit with a sleeve, he rose boldly to rejoin the others.

  The group was a rabble. Adira and Harley had been crying, it seemed, as they stared blankly with red-rimmed eyes. Bennett stared ahead, vacantly. Several tried to make phone calls, to no avail. The system seemed overloaded. Jaxton heard shouting in the streets below. The sirens continued to wail. Troy was at the window, looking upwards. The thud of helicopter blades rose in a crescendo. “It’s Marine One. They’re moving him.”

  Jaxton bumped into him with purpose, “you don’t know that.”

  “There are three of them. They go in different directions so you have no idea which chopper the President’s actually in. Trust me, they’re moving him.”

  Adira’s eyes burned bright and she dropped her voice to a harsh whisper. “What about all that stuff you said? You said the Army would have no problem handling this!”

  Troy rounded on her slightly, and his veins were bulging. “Things change. They’re going to retreat for miles. I need to get out of here. I need to find my unit. You guys are on your own.”

  Jaxton gripped his friend’s arm. “Take a deep breath. You’re freaking us out a little bit.”

  Troy’s eyes burned and he snarled. “Denying reality is how you get killed.”

  Jaxton felt an unnatural surge of anger coursing through him and he pinned the bearded figure against the plastic blinds. Troy reacted without thinking, instinctually struggling against the strong hands that held him. The two men, equally matched in terms of strength, roared in rage as their frayed nerves gave way to more base emotions. Troy spun around and kneed Jaxton in the abdomen, doubling him over. “Enough! Jesus enough!” Adira strode towards them, her dark, sultry eyes rimmed red and glistening. There was no shame in her countenance. She stood between the heaving men.

  “Don’t touch me again,” Troy snarled, resembling an un-caged beast.

  Without warning Adira slapped Troy across the face. Immediately, Bennett took a step towards Troy with his fists clenched. Troy’s frame snapped forward instinctually, and with tears in his eyes he lashed out at Bennett. Bennett’s high cheekbones absorbed Troy’s right fist and he crumpled on the floor, like a child. Troy looked at the shuddering form at his feet and shook his head with disgust. Grabbing his backpack he burst out the door.

  As the others tended to Bennett, Liam strode into the midst and grabbed Jaxton roughly by the shoulders. “We’re taking a walk.”

  The pair emerged into muddy afternoon air, where the streets were a blur of pandemonium. The people that ran about were in a full panic, oblivious to accepted social norms. Some cars drove on sidewalks to avoid traffic jams. One driver clipped an open door and slammed on the accelerator. Everywhere, people jogged. No one was walking anymore, even if there was no reason to jog. The air was filled with an infectious anxiety that seemed to be cured only be movement.

  Liam wouldn’t let go of Jaxton’s shoulders, though he struggled like a strong child. “Easy now. Easy. Everyone is too busy trying to pretend they aren’t scared as fuck.”

  Jaxton relaxed slightly, which was enough for Liam’s large hands.

  “And the worst is not knowing. Having no idea what’s really going on makes the mind spin. And that just takes you to places you’re better off not visiting. Know what I mean?”

  Jaxton nodded, breathing a bit easier.

  “Alright. Troy’s gone. He’s not as tough as he seemed, and he’s gone. Everyone else is panicking because we don’t have a plan. We need a plan, Jaxton. And we need it now.”

  Jaxton’s chest rose and fell rapidly. “Are you with me? We make for Cold Spring?”

  Liam remained calm. “If I had to guess, and I don’t fucking know much at all, but I would say within 24 hours we are evacuated to the southern states. I don’t trust that. I say we go with what we can control.”

  “If all hell breaks loose, our families will expect us there. We make for home.”

  Adira forced herself to sit straight, even though she wanted to slink back into the crack in the couch. She felt anxious, a feeling that was strangely foreign to her. If her skin hadn’t been the color of bronze, it would have been flush red with embarrassment. Those around her attempted to make phone calls and scour the Internet for any information on the crisis. Often they got nothing; the systems were overloaded. Adira didn’t even know who these people were, truly. She had met most of them at a party a few nights before. As much as she could make it on her own, she couldn’t deny the feelings of relief she felt looking around the room. They felt capable, and confident, and Adira could see they had a fierce, unspoken loyalty to each other. The images on the TV would make her shake at night, she already knew. How could she get back to her family? She looked to her phone again. No messages. Until she could reach her sister or mother, she would stay with Bennett, and his friends.

  She sighed. How had she gotten here? Her eyes drifted to Bennett shaggy blond hair and soft face. She knew at the heart of it, she was using him to feel better about herself. How many other boys had she chewed up and spat out, despite her own best efforts? There had to be something else she left behind. That had been the plan, anyways.

  Adira had thought the boiling crisis in the north would have abruptly removed human sexuality from the equation. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. She eyed all the men in the room, looking for any distraction from her panic.

  Elvis seemed a silly plaything, a peacock that was both charming and amusing at the same time, though the latter impression was not of his own design. Liam lorded over the group like a concerning uncle. Jaxton seemed to be the leader, of sorts. She wasn’t sure if it was just because he was the center of the wheel; the common denominator that all of them knew best. And her sweet Bennett was the eager school-boy.

  Jaxton returned to the room. She saw the way he carried himself, and couldn’t fail to note a well-built musculature unde
r that t-shirt. Those kinds of thoughts seemed to come unbidden to her, now that there was so much fear and tension in the air. Primal instincts had been elevated.

  “Our parents aren’t going to reach us,” he started, and Adira saw his eyes lock on her own for a second too long. “I’m pretty sure Elvis’s are the only ones that aren’t stuck in transit right now. It sounds like air travel is being grounded. No one is going to be able to move on the highways,” he explained, looking around with fierce grey eyes. “I, for one, do not want to stay here. The government is most likely going to evacuate us south. I don’t care what the risk is- I want to meet up with my family if I can. Home is where I’ll do that. It’s far enough west and south from New York that we can reach it if we leave as soon as possible.

  “To Pennsylvania?” Elvis asked.

  Jaxton nodded. “It’s 130 miles, maybe more if we stay off the roads. I have no idea how many days that would take us. We could get a car, somehow, maybe. Drive north as far as we can and then make the rest of the trip on foot.”

  “My parents are leaving today. They have a car, and we’re going to try and make it home as soon as I leave here,” Elvis ventured.

  “Is there room?” Harley asked.

  Elvis grimaced. “I’m sorry, they have so much shit from my room…”

  The girl put some distance between them, her mouth hanging open. “They could easily fit three or four of us if they trashed the stuff.”

  Elvis could scarcely look at the eyes of his friends. “They don’t see this thing as a huge deal yet. I’m sorry.”

  Jaxton spat on the floor. “We’ll make our own way. If we’re all lucky, we’ll see you at home in a few days. Alright everyone. Liam, Bennett, Elvis and I grew up in Cold Spring together. It’s in the country, pretty far from major towns and roads. Cold Spring probably has 5,000 people in it, and it sits in a small valley, enclosed on all four sides by steep ridges that cut across the earth. It’s the perfect place to be in a situation like this. We’re going to do everything we can to get back there before this really explodes. Anyone who wants to come with us is welcome,” Jaxton said, his eyes steely grey.

  Bennett stood, nodding. “I don’t trust the government. I want to make our way.”

  “Anyone else who wants to come, we’ll go together,” Jaxton added.

  Tessa immediately stood, her long, dirty-blond hair falling in curls to her mid-back. She looked nervous, but spoke cleanly. “I’m coming.”

  “What about those things? From the video?”

  “Don’t think about them now. We need to get somewhere isolated.”

  Bennett drew Adira to the side as the others began to organize. “Are you coming with us?”

  Adira hesitated. “I…I don’t know…my family is so far. How would I get to Boston?”

  Bennett smiled slightly, and his warm eyes sparked Adira’s flagging heart. “Come with us,” he said softly.

  “What’s this?” Jaxton asked, having overheard them.

  Adira looked to him, and she thought there was a strange glitter there. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Bennett answered for her. “She’s thinking about coming with us to Pennsylvania.”

  Jaxton nodded emphatically. “Of course she should. Your family is in Boston right? Our part of Pennsylvania is so far from the city. It’s the boondocks. We’ll weather whatever storm this is, and you can go from there.”

  She noticed Jaxton lean in as he waited for her response, and she felt herself agreeing.

  Chapter Eight

  12 hours after Outbreak. Washington, D.C

  The group of six crossed the street at the quick step. Jaxton looked back at them, and analyzed the friends that remained. No one had seen Troy again; he was gone. Elvis was in a car looping around far to the west, back to Pennsylvania with his own parents.

  Jaxton felt vaguely responsible for the others that followed him. This was his plan. He would bear the consequences if it failed. He knew they saw him as the leader, and he would do everything in his power to make sure they survived. Liam returned his glance with a sharp nod. His broad shoulders carried two obscenely bulky duffel bags, one at each hip. The metal cans of food inside rang as they bumped together. Campus was significantly more deserted than the days previous, Jaxton noticed with wary eyes. The only souls still outside were fiendishly hoarding supplies and making for various modes of transport. The families had almost all cleared out over the previous night. Streams of vehicles clogged the arteries of transit running south. They group rounded the brick building and approached the ZIPCAR service parking lot. It was totally empty save for a beaten-up silver minivan.

  “Is this going to work?” Bennett asked nervously.

  “We can’t just take the car,” Adira ventured.

  “We have to,” Jaxton croaked, his voice hoarse with fear. “Just stick with the plan, ok?” Jaxton felt his hands shaking as the sirens droned in his ears. “Remember the video. They’re coming for us.”

  Bennett shook his head angrily. “What are we doing here?”

  Jaxton rounded on him. “How else are we going to get up there? None of us can legally rent a car yet. I know this fucking guy. He monitors the lot, leaves his damn keys in his booth all day.”

  Bennett drew up as they crouched behind the brick wall. “Adira, don’t do this if you don’t want to.”

  “Don’t do this now, Bennett,” Jaxton breathed.

  Adira looked to the two men, both willing her to choose. “I don’t know if I want to.”

  Harley stood up, her auburn hair framing her curvy form. She sniffed and rubbed her eyes, still red. “I’ll do it.”

  Liam’s eyes met hers. “We could get in a lot of trouble if this goes wrong.”

  Harley looked at him hard, her giddy energy gone. “I want to get out of the city.” Without another word she trotted across the vacant lot, to the sleepy booth. As she approached, she began shouting at the man inside.

  “Ok, let’s see how good her acting is,” Jaxton whispered.

  “This is so fucked up,” Bennett hissed.

  Harley’s emphatic hand motions drew the pot-bellied man out of the booth, and the two took off at a jog down the opposite street.

  “What did you tell her to say?”

  Jaxton shrugged. “I didn’t have time to. She must have made it up on the fly. He’s out of sight. Go!”

  The group sprinted across the lot and Jaxton stormed into the booth, which was filled with lazy jazz beats. He emerged with a set of keys, and unlocked the doors.

  Adira took a peek inside, and recoiled at the stench. “What the hell.”

  “Did you see the fucking guy? Get in,” Jaxton commanded.

  Liam tossed the duffel bags into the back and seated himself in the passenger seat. Tessa, Adira, and Bennett clambered into the back.

  “Oh, fuck. She’s coming back already man!” Liam shouted.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jaxton muttered. He fumbled with the keys and dropped them on the floor. Coming back up, he saw Harley racing back towards the car through the rear-view mirror.

  “Leave the sliding door open!”

  Jaxton fired the engine and wrenched the old minivan out of park. Harley leapt into the side of the vehicle and yelled. Jaxton reversed the vehicle and scraped against the fence, and a figure appeared at the open side.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” The blustering fat man was too fast for his size. He sputtered and raged, trying to drag himself into the vehicle as it moved slowly forward.

  “Push him out damnit!” Jaxton ordered.

  Bennett, seated closest to him, did nothing. His face was a mask of confused horror.

  The vehicle rolled towards the exit, and Harley reached over Bennett to slam the sliding door. As it snapped closed, they all heard a sickening crunch and the pasty man with a balding head tumbled backwards out of the vehicle.

  “You just broke his fucking hand! What’s wrong with you?!” Adira screamed.

  Jaxton was sha
king his head over and over, though he couldn’t say why. His sweaty palms gripped the wheel and he dropped the steel to the floorboard.

  The car made a whining sound as it moved forward, though Jaxton could scarcely hear it above the thunderstorm. Thick deciduous forest crowded both flanks of the highway, and Jaxton dreamed of their homes, which were nestled in lazy mountain greenery one hundred miles to the north. The southbound lanes were completely clogged with traffic. As nature poured a homicidal deluge upon the thousands of travelers, Jaxton nursed the accelerator. He squinted; the arrow was dipping below a quarter tank of fuel. Cursing silently, he set the cruise control once more, letting the ancient mini-van coast at 50 miles per hour, the best speed for maintaining gasoline. The wipers were slamming back and forth excitedly, barely allowing vision. The rain drummed incessantly on the roof, and the sky cracked with vicious lightning. Jaxton caught Tessa’s eyes in the rear-view mirror and forced himself to smile. There was no sense showing them how nervous he was. They had made it out of the capitol and progressed about 30 miles, laden with all the bags of supplies they could manage to squeeze in. The others had barely spoken since stealing the car. Jaxton told himself that he had urged them to do what was necessary. Others weren’t willing to make the tough choices like he was.

  The paper maps crinkled as Liam fumbled with them in the passenger seat. “I’m too used to an app for this sort of thing. Are you still not getting service? I’m seeing nothing.”

  “Just something in case the road is blocked ahead.” Jaxton peered ahead. The line of cars to his left honked angrily, almost in a continuous delirium. It grated on his already frayed nerves. It smelled musty, and wet in the car. Jaxton found himself reaching for the AM radio knob and turning it. A voice every American knew crackled across the old speaker system, its country drawl lingering on almost every note.