In Hunter’s trek across southern Minnesota, he’d given a wide berth to most of the roads, staying at least a hundred yards away. However, he had to cross some no matter what, and when he did, he couldn’t believe how many cars he saw in ditches, crashed into trees, pile-ups and other cars just abandoned. The dead bodies littering the roads showed where those who had abandoned their cars had ended up. A few managed to make it into the brush and corn fields before succumbing to the disease. More than once, Buddy had given them warning of a body. His nose would hit the ground, and he’d whine. Hunter would have to call him close and make him stay near, or the dog would try to investigate the body.
One thing that struck Hunter was how many people had been on the move when the illness hit, either trying to flee to safety, as he had done, or driven by an apparently irresistible urge to be around other people. He shuddered, wondering how he’d managed to avoid catching the virus so far. He guessed he could thank his education struggles for saving him. In his determination to pass his classes, he hadn’t had time to socialize for the last month. He’d also had a bad cold that had kept him in his dorm room except for classes. He wondered if some of the victims of the accidents had been healthy, but killed when a sick person crashed into them. The chances were pretty good. Or they were killed in food stampedes. He’d heard about some of them on the radio the day after he left. Everyone had tried to stock up on food, but the stores didn’t have enough stocked. Thank god his dad had given him an early warning. What a shitty way to die.
Hunter pulled his face mask from the bag and realized that Sophie didn’t have one. He had a few extras packed with his other gear. “Hold on.” He dismounted and rummaged through his gear until he found the box of respirator masks. “Here.” When she looked perplexed, he showed her how to get the bands placed on her head. “This mask will filter everything. So far, it’s worked.”
“I never had one of these, and I didn’t get sick.” Her voice emerged muffled from the mask. She slid one of the elastic bands higher on her head and squeezed the metal bridge against her nose.
“I guess you’re lucky. Or maybe you’re just immune. My dad said that some people have some kind of genetic mutation that resists HIV. Maybe you have something like that to resist this virus.”
“Are you calling me a mutant? Like a teenage turtle?”
He shrugged. “If it means surviving this, I say turn me green, slap a shell on my back, and mutate me.”
As he remounted, he heard a muffled chuckle, but she had already moved ahead of him down the hill. He took a deep breath and urged Red forward.
It hadn’t rained since Hunter had left the farm, and each day had been warmer than the last. The stench of decay mixed with the smell of swamp and mud saturated the air. The mask helped a little, but he didn’t have masks for the horses, and they balked at crossing the bridge.
Hunter dismounted and, ignoring the unrecognizable corpse fifteen feet away, stroked Red’s neck and murmured reassurances to the animal. He hoped that if he coaxed Red forward, Princess would follow his lead, so he motioned for Sophie to remain mounted.
Buddy trotted towards the corpse and Hunter had to interrupt his soothing of Red to issue a sharp command to the dog to get away from the body. He obeyed but turned towards another victim lying half out of a car. Hunter whistled and called Buddy over. “Stay.” He wondered if the dog knew how to ‘heel’. It would be hard enough coaxing the horses forward without having to keep a constant eye on a curious dog.
“Hey, Buddy! Come!” Sophie held out a small piece of beef jerky. The dog darted over, and Sophie had him sit before giving him the treat.
With her distracting the dog, Hunter led Red forward, his voice low as he spoke in a soothing tone. Princess followed Red, and Hunter was relieved to see Buddy staying right beside Sophie and the horse and not darting off to investigate the bodies. Vaguely, he heard Sophie praising the dog.
“Watch out, Hunter!”
His heart thundered with an instant adrenaline surge at her warning, and he spun, keeping a tight grip on the bridle. He’d expected an attack from some unknown foe, but instead, he found a pile of corpses. A few more steps backward and he’d have tripped over them. Ugh. Time to get back in the saddle. Keeping up his soothing litany, he re-mounted.
Red skittered a few steps sideways before Hunter had him under control, but then he skirted the pile and continued across the bridge. The horses had no more desire to remain on the bridge than Hunter and Sophie did. Red picked up his pace on his own accord.
By the time they reached the last third of the bridge, the horse was in a near panic, his coat drenched, and Hunter had to fight to keep him to a fast walk. If there weren’t so many obstacles in the way, he probably would have let the horse have its head, but cars, motorcycles, a camper, and several semi-trucks created almost a complete barricade at this end. He was glad they hadn’t switched to a car because there was no way one would have made it through, but the horses had just enough room to pick their way around. Even Buddy was no longer interested in the corpses and raced ahead of them to the eastern side of the river.
Hunter turned in the saddle. “You okay?” Sophie’s eyes were wide as she stared straight ahead.
She nodded but didn’t speak. Princess was generally calmer than Red, but she had picked up her speed as well and snorted, tossing her head.
“Are you doing okay?” Hunter wondered if he should take Princess’s reins and lead her, except he wasn’t certain he could lead her while keeping Red under control as well. The last few days had improved his riding skills, but he was far from an expert horseman.
“No. I’m good. She’s just a little spooked. Can you really blame her?” Sophie stroked Princess’s neck. She leaned forward, her face near the horse’s ear. “I don’t like any of this either, girl, but we’ll get through it together.”
He scanned the wrecks wondering if anyone had survived, and if they had, where they had gone. Before the virus hit he’d never seen a dead person, but now he had seen enough corpses to last him the rest of his life. Even his own mother had been hidden by a closed casket, which was a good thing because he had only been a little kid. Would he have tried to wake her? His memory of what his mom looked like was hazy, and he suspected the mental image he had of her was composed of photographs he’d seen his whole life, along with a few precious videos.
He glanced at Sophie, wondering what her story was, but he hadn’t broached the subject yet. He’d tried to ask her about the men who had her captive, but she ignored the question, said nature was calling, and headed behind a bush. Hunter hadn’t mentioned it again.
His gaze caught on a car seat in the vehicle they were passing. The remains of a baby lay strapped into the seat. The only clue it had been a human was the tuft of blonde hair. Blood dripped down the window. At first, he thought maybe the person inside had just recently died, but then he noticed the condensation on the inside of the windows, and he knew what caused it. He swallowed hard to keep his stomach in check and averted his eyes.
It wasn’t fair. What had that little baby done to deserve death when his life had barely begun? As he rode on, he imagined how the last day had played out. The parents would have strapped him or her into the seat, never aware that it would be the last time they would ever hold their child. What had the child had for a last meal? A bottle? Chicken nuggets from a drive-thru or had restaurants already closed?
His knowledge about babies could be written on a postage stamp with room left over, but he knew there would have been a last diaper change, a last time the mother had guided a little hand through a miniature sleeve, and a final time she would have tied tiny shoes onto baby feet. Or maybe the dad had done those things. He knew firsthand that dads were capable of doing all the things mothers did for their kids. That train of thought led him to his father, and his chest tightened with longing to see him again. What if he got to the island and they were all dead?
“Hey, Hunter. Hold up a second.”
; He twisted in the saddle, drawing Red to a halt. “Something wrong?”
“I think so. Princess is walking funny.”
He observed the mare, noting she was favoring her left rear leg. Shit. They couldn’t stop here for long. He’d have to look her over once they were clear of the bridge. He had one foot out of the stirrup to dismount, but then had an idea. “Here, you can ride behind me. Maybe Princess is just tired.”
He took Princess’s reins from Sophie and removed his foot from the stirrup so she could wedge her foot in. With a firm grip of her hand, he helped her swing up behind him. “Do you have enough room back there?” He had saddle bags, but the bow was behind the saddle, almost on Red’s rump so that should be out of the way.
“Yeah, I can deal with it for a little while.” She wiggled a bit.
Trying to ignore her movement as she tried to get comfortable, he handed Princess’s reins to her and decided that as soon as he found a good location, they’d stop and rest. Let the horses graze and check both of them over. He worried about the cause of Princess’s irregular gait
Sophie wrapped her arms around his waist, and he didn’t mind that it was hot out, and she was pressed up against his back.
24
“I’ll do it.” Cole blocked Sean from leaving the kitchen. “You shouldn’t have to see Trent like that, Sean. I’ll go. I’ll take care of…his body. Joe said he’d help me.”
Trent had become silent in the middle of the night, and this morning, they opened the door of the quarantine and found his body in a puddle of blood. Jenna had to be physically restrained by Sean from going to her son’s side.
The commotion had drawn Joe from his cabin, and he’d offered a couple of codeine pills left over from a dental procedure and insisted he no longer needed them. Sean had managed to get Jenna to take them, and she now slept, with Piper curled beside her.
Sean’s eyes closed and his throat worked. “He’s my son. I should be the one to bury him.”
“I’m sorry, Sean. It’s too dangerous. You’ve never had to handle contagious bodies before.” Unfortunately, Cole had become proficient at the task in Africa.
Sean pushed at Cole’s chest in an attempt to get past. “I don’t give a shit if I get sick, don’t you understand?”
Cole grunted as he struggled to keep his brother from getting by. “Listen to me! I get it. You don’t care what happens to you now. I feel the same way, but we have to think about Piper and Jenna. What if we die? What’s going to happen to them? For any of us to survive, we all have to do our best to stay alive—even if we don’t want to.”
“What the hell do you know about how I feel? It’s not your son lying out there in,” he made finger quotes, “’quarantine’! It’s not your son’s blood staining the floor and swirling down the drain!”
“You’re right.” Anger and his own fears about Hunter fueled Cole’s strength as he shoved Sean, sending him staggering back a few steps. Cole advanced, stabbing two fingers against Sean’s chest. “I know how you feel because the chances that Hunter is still alive are pretty much zero.”
Cole stood nose to nose with Sean, his chest heaving as he fought to control his emotions. He was losing the fight and losing it fast. “Hunter is out there somewhere,” Cole flung an arm wide, “and I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. That’s how I know how it feels. I want to keep hoping, but…” He swallowed hard and retreated, allowing his brother to pass if he chose. “You still have a wife and child who need you.” He drew in a deep breath and met Sean’s eyes. “I don’t.”
Sean held Cole’s gaze for a long moment before he shifted it, looking beyond Cole towards the beach. Finally, he nodded, his shoulders slumped.
“We’ll have a funeral, Sean. We can do that much.”
“But you said you have to burn his body.” There was a hitch in Sean’s voice.
“We do, but afterward, we can bury his ashes and make a marker. Joe says he can do a little bit of stone work if he has the right tools. We’ll get him those tools, somehow.”
Cole's heart ached for his brother, and when tears pooled in Sean’s eyes, he felt helpless to comfort him. After several hard blinks and a swipe at his eyes, Sean turned and plodded back to the room he shared with Jenna. “I’m going to see how Piper and Jenna are doing.”
Sighing, Cole gathered the supplies he’d need and then knocked on the door to Joe’s cabin. “If you’re still willing to help…”
“Of course.” Joe took one step out but then reached down to lift the mask he kept around his neck up and over his nose. “Sorry. I should have put it on as soon as I saw you at the door.”
“Don’t bother. Just wear it when we’re taking care of Trent. If you haven’t shown symptoms of the disease by now, I don’t think you’re going to. Not unless you have a new exposure and all of us are at the same risk for that.” Cole didn’t think they had become contaminated this morning because he hadn’t allowed anyone into the room nor to touch anything. They had all worn their masks as well.
Joe fell into step beside him as they headed for the work shed where the gardening tools were kept. “What about the exposure while we take care of your nephew?”
“I have some gear for that, and I’ll be doing most of the risky stuff. What I need you to do is help me dig a pit and build a really big, hot fire and keep it going. Once we have Tre—the body burning, we can make another fire to burn all the gear that can’t be decontaminated. Basically, all the paper or disposable stuff, and everything that was in the quarantine with him like blankets and pillows.”
Cole handed Joe a shovel and ax and took the same for himself. He headed for the beach, intending to build the fire there because of the proximity to the quarantine, but Joe put a hand on his shoulder.
“The wind is blowing from the southwest.”
Puzzled, Cole shrugged. “Yeah? So?”
“Right into the house.”
Then it dawned on him what Joe was getting at. “Oh. Shit.”
Sean’s family didn’t need to smell that. Not if they could help it. He took an abrupt left turn towards a small, rocky beach on the east side of the island and north of the house. “We’ll have to move him farther, but you’re right. Thanks. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“It’s a wonder you’re able to think at all. You’ve done a great job keeping us all safe, Cole.”
Surprised, Cole stopped and looked at Joe. The last thing he thought he’d done was keep everyone safe. Trent was dead, and it was partially his fault. “I wish I could accept that praise, but it’s kind of hard when my nephew died because of my decision.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Nobody could have predicted that boat would come out of nowhere.”
“I should have predicted it. It was my job to predict scenarios like that.”
Joe gave him a skeptical look. “Well, that’s neither here nor there. It was a different world then. It’s nobody’s fault Trent got sick. Not yours, not his, not Sean’s and not even the kids who infected him. You know none of them are in their right minds when the sickness hits.”
Cole shrugged but didn’t reply. If it helped Sean and Jenna deal with Trent’s death, he’d take all the blame.
“I’m gonna miss the kid, though. He helped me in the work shed a few times—always with masks and gloves—I wouldn’t risk contaminating anyone. Anyway, bright kid.”
Cole made a sound of agreement, but he was surprised at the sentiment. Joe had kept mostly to himself, but had shared what he had, and in return, Cole and the others had also shared everything. Joe had turned into an asset with plenty of mechanical knowledge. He and Sean were close to getting a windmill working. However, with Joe somewhat segregated in a modified quarantine, the rest of them didn’t get too many chances to speak to him.
Cole chose a location at the edge of the grass before the beach began. It was far enough away from the house, but not too far. There was a large boulder that must have been deposited eons ago, perhaps when glaciers receded. It would pr
obably remain in the same place for eons more. There was something comforting about that idea, and he hoped Sean and Jenna felt the same. He envisioned them sitting on the boulder to be near Trent as they gazed out over the bay.
“This is a good spot.” Joe looked at Cole, his weathered face solemn. He rested his hands on the shovel, leaning on it. “His folks can come and visit him.”
Cole nodded, glad for the confirmation, but his tongue felt too thick to speak. He dipped his head and used all of his strength to jam the shovel into the sandy dirt.
It didn’t take long for them to dig a deep enough hole. It didn’t have to be deep enough to keep animals out since they were cremating Trent, but it had to be deep enough to start a fire, place Trent on top, and add more wood on top. Cole didn’t know how he was going to be able to lay his nephew in the fire.
As if reading his mind, Joe said, “You know, after we get Trent here and everything…” He cleared his throat. “After we get the fire going, I’ll stay and make sure it doesn’t burn out. As bad as this is, it would be worse if the job was only partly done. Do you want me to cover the hole when it’s done?”
Cole swiped his forearm across his brow. He hadn’t given it that much thought. The epidemiologist side of him had taken over, wanting to stem the chances of contamination from the body. He didn’t know how contagious victims of the disease were but opted to assume they were at least as contagious as Ebola victims had been after death.
“I’ll have to ask Sean and Jenna. I’m not sure if they want to see him that way.”
Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set Page 22