“Andy, grab a seat. When we didn’t hear from you, we assumed the worst. Glad you’re okay. Where were you?” said Sgt. Heffernan drinking from a large coffee cup. It looked to Andy as though he’d not been sleeping and the heavy bags under his eyes were a dead give away his body needed it. Andy wasn’t quite sure there was just coffee in that cup either, not that he could blame him.
“I was out of my car dealing with a call. Guess I forgot to turn my radio on,” said Andy dismissively.
“Well, like I said, glad you’re ok. We’re down to only about a quarter of the department now. But since we aren’t going to go out there any more, we just need to alternate guard duty. Some people’s family members and people from the community are helping out,” said Sgt. Heffernan in between sips.
“How many do we have here now?” asked Andy.
“I think about 30 last count, all included,” said Sgt. Heffernan. “That’s not why I called you here though. We still get regular updates from the CDC in dispatch. They’re really big on trying to find people who are immune or at least resistant to this disease. They have armed teams out there checking on any leads, God help them, and they don’t want us to hesitate if we suspect someone may be immune. So, I’m checking in with everyone who’s been out there recently and you’re the last one back.”
“If there were an immune person out there in the town now sir, they’d not last long and I doubt they’d be alive by the time anyone from the CDC got there,” Andy lied.
“Are you sure? No one holed up somewhere or someone out there in the shit that seems to be showing no signs of infection?” pressed Sgt Heffernan.
“No sir,” Andy said, maybe a little too quickly.
Sgt. Heffernan stared at Andy for a long few seconds. Andy thought that he might be seeing through the lies, but after a few seconds, let out a long sigh and slumped his head. “Then we really are fucked,” he said, heavy resignation in his voice. “Look Andy, as far as I can tell, the CDC are having no luck at all finding a cure for this thing. I mean this disease wasn’t even here a week ago and now the town is completely decimated. Other than the people here at the PD, I’m not sure if there is anyone left alive in the this town, maybe even the fucking state!”
There was a long silence that followed. The internal debate in Andy’s head once again started up. Rose was his best friend. He couldn’t let her be carted off to an uncertain future and likely death, could he? Should he protect his friend at the cost of anyone left alive in the city? The world? There were whole families living in the PD now-from kids to the elderly plus his surviving co-workers. Could Rose be the key to ending this once and for all?
“Go down into dispatch, there is a list of the guard rotations,” said Sgt. Heffernan, breaking the silence. “Sign up for as much as you can handle. Oh and send in my wife. I need to speak with her.”
Andy stood and opened the door. Sgt. Heffernan’s wife was standing there, apparently about to knock. Andy moved outside the office as she slipped in, closing the door behind her.
There were several empty administrative offices in this part of the building. Instead of heading down to dispatch, Andy opened one of the doors and walked inside, closing the door. Andy knew he needed to make a decision, this infection was out of control and he had to do something about it. Would Rose help them? Would he have to turn her in? Andy sat down at the desk and took out his phone. Scrolling through the contacts, he knew he needed to make one of two phone calls. The first name he came to was his Uncle Robert at the CDC, the second was Rose. Andy stared down at the “R” section of his contacts, the internal struggle in his head coming to a crescendo. Andy tapped the contact and the phone began to ring.
Chapter 6
Kate’s infection and death still weighed heavily on Rose’s mind, but she knew that she couldn't dwell on it forever. Burying Kate with the help of Andy had given Rose the closure that she’d desperately needed after such a violent death. Rose, despite the irregular sleep schedule she had the last week or so, couldn't easily snap back into a “normal” routine. She’d worked midnight shift for too long. Therefore, Rose had been up all night and had decided to clean the house. It was still too early to tackle the bedroom or the basement, the pain was too fresh. However, the rest of the house was fair game. So Rose cranked her vast collection of Led Zeppelin on the stereo and blasted it all night long as she cleaned every other part of the house. By morning, the house was more or less back to normal and Rose felt better than she had in days. As the sun came up, Rose decided to take a shower.
It wasn’t until she was standing under the steaming hot water that Rose realized she’d not taken a proper shower in a week. It felt good to wash off all the grime and blood she’d accumulated. The cuts and bites she had all over her body stung and ached when washed, but in the end she felt better for it. As Rose stood there, now clean but still letting the hot water stream down her back, she gave her first real thought to her situation. Rose had been attacked and bitten numerous times by Kate who’d died from her infection, but Rose barely had a stuffy nose, let alone any of the symptoms that Kate had shown just hours after she’d been bitten once. This was puzzling, but the longer Rose thought about it she could only come to only one startling conclusion over and over again. Rose somehow was immune to this disease. What other explanation could there be? As hard as Rose tried, she always came back to the same conclusion.
As the realization of this washed over her like the hot water streaming out of the showerhead, so did the possible repercussions. The CDC were going to want her, and badly. She wasn’t just resistant it seemed, she was fully immune. If they got wind of her immunity, they’d scoop her up quickly and she’d probably never see Green Forks, or anywhere else for that matter, ever again.
On the other hand, by giving herself up and letting them experiment on her, there is a possibility the CDC could save a lot of people...But could they? According to Andy, Green Forks was in serious trouble and it’s only been a week. New York happened months ago, she can only imagine how the disease must have radiated out from there and every other major city they’ve had outbreaks in. How could they have time to save people? How many would be left to save by the time they developed a cure? Is that how Rose wanted her life to end? To be a lab rat for some questionable medical experiments that might not be of help to anyone anyway? The thought of sacrificing herself and there being no one left to save was a decidedly bad scenario but also a likely one.
In the end, that isn’t what Rose wanted for herself, she finally decided. Rose turned off the water and stepped out into the steamy bathroom. She dried herself off and bandaged up some of her larger wounds. Wiping condensation off the mirror, she stared at the reflection of herself for a long time. Should she save herself? Could she? The question still hung in her mind as she put on some pajamas and laid down on the bed in the guest room. After covering the windows to block out the light, it was almost dark in the room now despite the bright sun outside. Rose decided a good solid block of sleep would help her be sure she made the right decision. Her survival, and her health, needed to take priority and she hadn’t slept well since before Kate was infected. If it was as bad as Andy had said it was out there, even survival may be difficult to achieve so she needed every advantage she could give herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several sleep-filled hours later, Rose was dreaming of the afternoon a week prior with Kate perched on the hood of her truck. They were embracing, whispering into each others’ ears….when she was awakened by the incessant ringing of her cellphone on the nightstand next to her bed. Groggily, she reached over to turn off the alarm but upon picking it up, realized it wasn’t the alarm, Andy was calling her. Annoyed, she rolled over onto her back and held the phone up to her ear after answering.
“Hey Andy, what’s up?” said Rose, trying not to sound too annoyed.
“Look Rose, I need to tell you something,” said Andy. By the tone of his voice, Rose could tell it was something serious.
“What? What’s wrong Andy?” said Rose rubbing her eyes and shaking off some of her grogginess.
“Rose, there is no easy way for me to tell you this, so I’m just going to tell you. I think I made a mistake. Rose, I think...Rose you’re immune this disease aren’t you?” said Andy. He was stressed and Rose didn’t like where the conversation was going.
“I don’t know what I am Andy. What do you need to tell me?” said Rose sitting up in bed.
“I called my uncle, Rose, I told him I suspected you’re immune to this thing. I’m sorry.” said Andy quickly.
“You did what?!” shouted Rose into the phone, panic and shock flooding her body. “You told your fucking uncle, who works for the fucking CDC that you think I’m immune? Are you fucking crazy?” Rose was standing in the bedroom now yelling into the into the phone and shaking.
“Look, when I came for Kate’s funeral, you’d been bit days earlier,” said Andy, desperately. “You’re still not showing signs, you...”
“Don’t you say Kate’s name!” screamed Rose, cutting Andy off. “You were here for her fucking funeral and you take it as an opportunity to spy on me and report back to the CDC? Fuck you!” said Rose slamming her fist on the nightstand for emphasis.
“Rose, you know I didn’t come there for that reason” Andy said remorsefully. “The world is going to shit. You need to help us out. If you’re immune, you can do something to help find a cure! You could save a lot of people!” Andy sounded desperate now, searching for any reason to convince Rose had he made the right decision.
“You were the one who told me the CDC were doing fucked up things to find a cure! ‘By any means necessary.’ You remember that shit Andy? If they come here, they’re going to fucking kill me to find a cure for this if they have to and you know it!” said Rose. She’d moved over to a window and was looking out at the driveway. It was empty for now.
“We don’t know that for sure Rose. We don’t know what’s happening. Rose, this is for the greater good. This is why we became cops right? To help others?” Andy was getting really desperate now.
“Jesus, Andy. Jesus fucking Christ are you kidding me right now?” said Rose. She was so mad her vision had taken on a shade of red. “How long ago did you call your uncle, Andy? When will they be here?”
“I called a couple hours ago or so. They should be there anytime now but Rose…” said Andy.
“Fuck you Andy” said Rose yelled into the phone and mashed her finger repeatedly into the “End Call” button on her phone. Rose wished she still had a landline so she could have slammed the receiver down to end the call, but no use destroying her phone. She was going to need it if she was going to get away before the CDC paid her a visit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After hanging up on Andy, Rose quickly changed into her “range uniform” from work. It consisted of blue khaki cargo pants, an Under Armor shirt, and boots. She called it that because it was typically what they wore when they went to the shooting range. The outfit was comfortable but very practical which was just what she needed. After changing, Rose grabbed a large hiking backpack out of the closet in the spare room and began to fill it with clothes. Most of her clothing was in the master bedroom, and any hope of finding clothing she could still wear in there wasn’t likely, not that she had time to hunt for some anyway. Rose piled whatever old clothes of hers she could find into the backpack. These were mostly clothes from college that had been boxed up but she and Kate had never gotten around to donating. Once done, Rose hefted the backpack up onto her back, ran downstairs and out the front door, and threw it in the bed of her truck.
Turning around, Rose then ran back into the house and grabbed several cloth shopping bags from the kitchen, filling them with canned food and soup, protein bars, bottled water, and whatever else she could see in the kitchen that might be of use and last without refrigeration. Rose then hustled the bags of food out to her truck and put them in the bed as well.
Sprinting back into the house for a third time, Rose ran upstairs. In the spare bedroom where she’d been sleeping just minutes before was where she and Kate kept their gun safe. Rose had hunted a lot with her father when she was younger and still did on occasion. Rose had been teaching Kate to shoot from time to time so Kate wouldn’t mind having some guns in the house. The safe was secured to a wooden bench that she and Andy had built specifically for it when Rose had bought it. The safe was about five feet wide and three feet tall: just enough space to fit a black and white camouflage patterned shotgun, a black AR-15 rifle, a Glock handgun as well as some ammunition for all three guns and a holster for the handgun.
To be extra cautious, Rose decided to take a few minutes to load all the guns before heading to her truck. Rose loaded her handgun, a Glock 45 caliber, attached its holster to her hip and then secured the gun inside. She then set to loading the AR-15 and shotgun. Once done, she grabbed both long guns and headed down the hallway toward the stairs. Rose rounded a corner and hadn’t taken three steps when she heard the slam of several car doors outside the house.
Rose stopped dead in her tracks, listening intently. Slowly, she crept to one of the windows facing the front of the house. Moving a curtain ever so slightly, Rose peeked out the window at the front yard below. Outside she could see two white SUVs parked side by side, one in her driveway behind her truck and one on her lawn, the blue CDC lettering clearly marked on the sides of the two SUVs. There appeared to be a man sitting alone in the driver’s seat of the car parked behind her truck, the other SUV was empty. Three men were walking up to the front door of Rose’s house. The front door to the house was rarely used and was always locked so Rose wasn’t immediately worried about them coming inside, but she kept a close eye on the men all the same. One of the three men was dressed in the same type of white coat that Dr. Knight had worn to their briefing at the police department. The other two men appeared to be some sort of military soldiers or security guards. The man waiting in the second car was dressed similarly to the other guards.
The man in the white coat reached out and knocked on Rose’s door. When Rose didn’t answer, he knocked again, louder. After the third series of knocking, the man yelled at the door “I’m from the Centers for Disease Control, please open the door! We’ve received a report we need to verify and shouldn’t take much of your time.” The man waited a short time and then knocked again saying “Hello! This is the CDC, please come to the door!” Rose refused to answer or move from her spot. Her gut was churning with fear, her muscles rigid and clenched as she stood next to the window. After another short wait, the man in the white coat let out a sigh. He turned to the man on his right and said “Alright, guess we’ll have to do this the hard way. Call back and let them know we will need an extraction team. There is the possibly of at least one infected inside. One of the females listed at this address was bitten at the the Green Forks Hospital about a week ago.” The security guard nodded and all three men turned away from the house as they began walking back to their cars.
Rose could see that the security guards weren’t wearing radios so that meant their means of calling back to the CDC for backup were likely in the SUVs. Rose had to make a decision now. She could either fight back or she could give in and turn herself over to be taken by the CDC. It’s possible she might not be killed by their tests or be otherwise imprisoned in some laboratory for the rest of her life, but how could she be sure? Rose also couldn't just hide in her house and wait them out. Eventually they were going to be coming in after her and likely with a lot more people. Rose’s stomach roiled and she felt sick to her stomach. She knew what she needed to do. What other choice did she have? She needed to defend herself, but she was no killer...was she?
The seconds seemed to drag by as if time was almost standing still. As hard as Rose tried to deny it, she could only see one way out of this situation and her window of opportunity was rapidly closing as the men walked to their SUVs. Pushing aside her doubts, Rose forced herself into a decision, into action.
Rose lifted the rifle up and aimed first at the person sitting in the driver’s seat of one of the SUVs. The window to the room was closed so she knew the first shot or two wouldn’t be accurate as they’d have to break through the house window and the windshield of the car. Rose steadied herself in preparation of the upcoming fight, flipped off the safety, slid her finger onto the trigger, and squeezed.
Rose’s shots were quick but methodical. She knew what she needed to do and she was going to accomplish it. Just as Rose predicted, the first couple shots weren’t accurate from having to break through glass. The several that followed however, those were deadly accurate. The driver of the SUV was killed in his seat before he knew what was happening. Rose pivoted quickly. She took out one of the security guards as he was turning, dumb-struck, toward noise of the shots coming from the house. Her shots ripped through his chest. He collapsed to the ground where he stood. The other guard and the man from the CDC took cover behind the empty SUV parked in the yard as the shots rained down. By the time Rose moved her attention to them, they were hidden. The standoff continued for a few tense moments as Rose didn’t have a shot and the two men were staying hidden.
A minute that seemed more like a year passed before the guard popped out from behind the back bumper of the SUV he was hiding behind. He fired off a few shots at the window Rose had originally been shooting from. However after shooting, Rose had moved to a new window. From her new vantage point, she could see parts of her two targets, but she still couldn't get a clean shot. Rose decided not to shoot from her new spot. She would wait for the men to make a move. Rose could see the front seats of both SUVs from where she was. That meant no one could get to a radio in either car without her seeing.
Break Away (Jordan Rose Duology Book 1) Page 8