by Lynn Lamb
“You have an accent. What kind?” asked the man who was obviously becoming suspicious.
“I am from Africa. I’m American, though,” Mark explained. “What’s your name?”
The man ignored the question. “You ain’t Muslim, are ya?”
I looked at Mark and shook my head. “No, I’m Christian,” he lied.
There was a long pause followed by a sigh. “Paul. My name is Paul.” Progress.
I took the mic from Mark. I knew that if he continued to hear Mark’s accent he would have more questions, and he would eventually hang up on us. Do you even “hang” these things up? I need to read the book the man who sold us the radio made us pay extra for.
“Sir, my name is Laura. I am in Monterey, California. Where are you?”
“I’m in Lebec, Cali,” Paul finally gave in.
“I know that place,” I exploded excitedly. “Near Bakersfield?”
“Yep. I have family in Seaside. My wife’s brother and his family are up there. You know how Seaside is doin’? They ain’t answering,” Paul said. Thank God he had a reason to talk to us, and I was going to make good use of it.
“We have been fairly roughed up here; something akin to being scrambled in a blender,” I said.
“Ha, ‘akin.’ Whatever. What happened up there?”
Note to self; don’t use any words that might be misperceived as snobbery. “We can’t see out yet. We have our windows and doors boarded up completely, but we know what we felt. I have had a lot of time to think back at exactly what we felt at the time. First, there was the sound of flying, you know, ‘vrrrrr,’ which must have been the sound of missiles of some kind.”
Mark grabbed the mic from me. Oh, no. “I am army, and I can confirm that was what it was,” Mark said officially.
“What you do in the army?” Paul questioned unbelievingly.
“MP. Twenty-nine months in Iraq.” That was the truth, but I didn’t think that would be enough for the dubious Paul.
“I was Seventh Light Infantry. Did my time on Fort Ord. Nam,” Paul replied, now calmer.
“I…” I started excitedly, but Mark cut me off with a look that told me he had it under control now. They had their army-speak going now. They really are “brothers,” I guess.
“Yeah, my wife’s family have lived there forever. They were here before Clinton shut down Fort Ord,” Mark’s voice was now authoritative and sharp, like he was speaking to a high ranking officer.
“Well, boy. I can tell you a thing or two about that area in 1972,” said Paul. Now he was completely into the conversation. Keep it up, Mark, I thought. I gave him a wide smile, but he ignored it.
“Sir,” Mark continued. “We can get back to you about the shape of Seaside when we are able to go outside and check out the state of things. But we can’t go out until we know the air is alright to breathe. The strike went on for a few hours. I’m not sure how many. We think that there were drones and air drops of biochems. Do you have any information, sir?” Mark said sharply, but with respect.
“Yeah, we know some stuff. You are probably right about the drones and drop. Some are saying anthrax, some smallpox, but I don’t think the smallpox is right. It’s been under ice for a long time, but you can never be too sure with those chinks and towel heads.”
Oh shit, I thought. Mark is going to explode at him. He hates racism and usually goes off on anyone who hints of it, and these were no hints. Mark looked me in the eye to make sure I wasn’t going to go off myself. I have a real problem with racism and bigotry, too.
“Sir, have you heard anything about the Variola virus? That one is sneakier. It doesn’t show until it gets out there. It is very contagious,” Mark calmly replied. I was impressed at his constraint. This communication is important, and he knew it.
“Don’t know ‘bout that one, but people have been talking about some that might not show up right away. I talked to someone in Ohio yesterday, and she said that she’s heard of people who were just fine at first, and all of a sudden get fevers, pukin’ and welts on their skin. Then they just go down fast,” Paul sounded sad now.
I took the mic from Mark, and gave him a knowing look. I wasn’t going to blow it with the guy, either.
“Sir,” I asked. “Have you been getting people moving through there trying to make it over fifteen? My family would be coming that way.”
“Sorry, ma’am. We can’t see the highway from here, and we aren’t goin’ out either. We didn’t board up before. Maybe we should’ve. We can see out the windows, but we don’t have much of a view of anything, anyway. But it’s real dark out there. And lots of ash, tho’. They nuked L.A., cooked it completely, ya’ know?”
My head dropped down. Mark took the mic gently from my hand.
“Thank you, sir. This information is very valuable. Do you think we can keep in contact? We can let you know about Seaside, and you can give us info about down there.”
“Okay, Mark. Will do. I’m on a lot, but I’m talking to a lot of folks now. I will get back to you as soon as I know more. When do you think that you’ll go outside?”
That is the number one question.
Mark finished up with him while I went to sit on the couch. They were exchanging personal information, and Paul was letting Mark know how to reach him on the ham.
~~~
After hanging up with Paul, Mark joined Annie and I on the couch. We were both in tears at the news of Los Angeles. I guess I knew all along that the big U.S. cities would get “cooked,” as Paul put it. But it was too much to think about. I was born in L.A. and lived in the suburbs before we moved to Monterey. We had friends and relatives down there; mostly people we were no longer in touch with, but it didn’t matter. It was loss.
I was lost, deep in thought. I was trying to figure out how my brother, Jake, and the girls would get up here now. I got the map, but my brain was completely overwhelmed.
“Well, we got Paul on our side,” he said. “He’s not that bad of a guy.”
I didn’t respond to that. Mark had a habit of seeing the best in people, some of whom did not deserve it.
We spent the rest of the morning in quiet thought. Mark did call Jill and tell her our news. She was glad that we had an outside contact, as were we.
We made a plan to have our next “meeting,” as we were now calling them, at noon.
I did have something of an epiphany this morning. I remembered that I had printed instructions that I had kept in our old emergency kit on how to make a stove-like flame from a can of beer, rubbing alcohol, a pocket knife and some scissors. We had a twelve pack in the fridge, and I got two cans out. Following the directions, I cut along the top part of the ridge and took the entire top off the can so it came off cleanly. I continued to follow the directions, feeling that it was a questionable concoction. But when I lit the alcohol, it worked. We have hot coffee, praise the Lord. When I was done, I smothered the flame with a plastic bowl, and now we have it for tomorrow.
I am sitting with my hot cup, writing and petting Hershey. I almost remember what it felt like before.
~~~
We started our meeting at noon.
“Hi, Jill. Are you ready?” asked Mark.
“Ready, willing and able,” said Jill. She was sounding more upbeat.
“Hi Jill,” I said. “Like we said, we made a contact on the ham radio, and now we have some news and a way to get more in the future. That’s a big accomplishment. Now, maybe we can make a decision on when we can get out of our jails.”
“Wait, you have a ham radio?” Jill asked. “How did we not know you had one? Joe has been a ham operator for years. Ours was broken, well, you know how, and he has been working on fixing it.”
“I should have it working by tonight,” said Joseph in the background.
“I wish I had known that,” said Mark. “Oh, well. Once yours is working Joseph, you can take over the communications some. This guy was not happy that we don’t have a license to use it. Like that matters now.”
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“Yep, we don’t like talking to newbies. Later, let me know his information, and I will talk with him,” said Joseph.
“There is something you should know, Joseph,” I said. “He is a world class bigot. We told him that Mark was not Muslim, that he’s a Christian. We had to, or he wouldn’t have talked to us at all.”
Joseph chuckled. “Okay, I’ll take care of it.”
“You aren’t the only ones with big information,” said Jill. “I reached some neighbors about an hour ago, the Grahams over on La Playa Street. You remember talking to them, Laura?”
“Of course I do,” I replied. “Katie is a psychologist and Malcom is a family practice doctor. They were like hitting the lottery.”
“Yep, and they are doing pretty well,” she continued. “I mean, as well as can be expected. They were really happy to hear from us. They have been on channel nine. That’s why we weren’t hearing them. They said that a few of the other neighbors told them to be on that channel, and they completely forgot that we had a different channel; understandable. We have all had too much on our minds.”
“I think we should include them in this meeting. Jill, do you think that you can reach them now?” I asked.
“Yep, hold on and I will hop on channel nine and ask them to join.”
My heart was beating hard. That makes twice today that we have heard from new people, people with information, and people who may be able to help. Although it has only been days since we have been locked inside, the isolation, outside of my family, has been miserable.
“Hello, this Malcom.”
“We are back,” said Jill.
“Okay, great,” I said. “Malcom and Katie, I would like to introduce my mother, Annie, and my husband, Mark.”
We all said our “hellos.” Then Mark jumped in. “It is great to meet you both. I am sure Jill has filled you in on all that we knew up until this morning. But first things first, when can we take our masks off, Doc? They are itchy, hot, and they smell horrible.”
Malcom laughed “You can take them off right now. The truth is that they can only do so much, and after this long, they are not going to do you any good.”
Oh my gosh, that felt so good, but what’s that smell?
Mark continued. “Well, the main thing we got from our early morning communication with Paul is that Los Angeles has undergone some type of nuclear blast. And in the rest of the country, it seems that there have been plenty of biochemicals dropped, too. Part of my army training was a two week course on biochemical warfare, and I think that we might be dealing with the contagious Variola virus, anthrax, and less likely, smallpox.”
Malcom agreed. “Yeah, I am not certain about the smallpox either. But Variola and anthrax are good possibilities. There could be fifteen or more that I am thinking of, but the one I am really concerned about is Yersinia pestis.”
“Yer what?” I asked.
“Yersinia pestis, better known as the pneumonic plague,” said the doctor.
“THE PLAGUE?” yelled Annie.
“I’m sorry,” said a woman who I identified as Katie. “I know that the word ‘plague’ is very frightening. He shouldn’t have just blurted it out like that.”
“I’m sorry,” apologized Malcolm. “Let me explain. It is one of the agents that the Center for Disease Control thinks is possibly coming from the bioterrorists that we know of. It is treatable, if we get to it fast enough. We have to treat within twenty four hours of the first symptoms with a seven day course of antibiotics because it is spread person to person, and even animals can be contagious to humans.”
“Oh my God,” I said. It was my turn to panic. “That means that even though we are staying inside it could be out there, multiplying within our food sources and from people who don’t know about it. Meaning pretty much anyone could have it.”
“Yes, you are right,” said Katie. “It is very scary, but we know it exists, and we can take precautions. It’s important that we don’t scare ourselves into inaction.” It was easy to tell that Katie was a psychologist. We will all probably need to see her after everything we have been through.
“But do we have access to enough antibiotics?” asked Joseph.
“Good question,” said Malcolm. “The truth is, at this point we just don’t know. It depends on if we can get to the hospital, doctor’s offices, and other places we can find stashes, mainly pharmacies. Because we don’t know what the landscape looks like out there, we just don’t know.”
“This morning Malcom and Katie have been telling me about their communication with the other neighbors,” said Jill, effectively changing the subject.
“Yes, and we have good news on that front,” said Katie. “Like Jill must have told you, we have been on channel nine, which we all should change to, because that’s where everyone else is.” I felt like we had been missing out on the human companionship that we desperately needed.
“You make it sound like you are in contact with a lot of people,” Mark said.
“I’m not sure it’s ‘a lot,’ but we have made contact with eight other households,” Katie said.
“Holy crap. I can’t believe we were not monitoring the other channels. How are they doing?” I asked.
“They are in various states,” Katie said. “Unfortunately, some of them didn’t take the proper precautions. They all covered windows and doors, but some people only did so minimally. Two groups even stepped outside, but they went right back in when they said the air burned their lungs.”
“Shit,” said Annie.
“Realistically, it is not good that they have had contact with the outside air. But no one seems to be sick yet. Speaking of which, Jill told me you all sustained injuries during the occurrences. Can you tell me what kind of injuries and how bad they are?” asked Malcolm.
Mark jumped in before I had a chance to speak. “My wife might have some broken ribs. She was having trouble breathing for a while, but it’s better now. Annie has what I believe to be a broken wrist. We have it wrapped tight. We all have bruises and scrapes, black and blue, but on my black skin, it’s purple.”
“Is everyone breathing alright now, and is the pain bearable?” asked Malcolm.
“Yes, we are okay,” I said. “I was taking some Hydrocodone we had in the house, but I don’t need it any more. We are all breathing fine now. All in all, we really are okay.”
“Good,” said Malcolm. “Because we know that there are going to be a lot of people needing medical attention, and I have no idea if any other doctors made it through.”
“Doctor, I think the question on all of our minds is; when can we get out of what we so loving call ‘our tomb’?” I asked.
“I believe that we need to stay in for two weeks as a precaution, as long as we all have enough water and food to get us by.”
“We will if you think so,” said Annie. “We have enough food and clean water. My daughter saw to it.”
“It’s not going to be easy though. Being in the dark all day, every day, is depressing,” said Joseph. I suspected that he had problems with depression before the war.
“I know. We have been feeling depressed, too,” said Katie empathetically. “It’s natural when you are getting no light. And compounding it with the events of the last two weeks, it may get even worse. I can’t promise that it will go away when we get out either. This is the ultimate of horrible situations. But, now that you are connected with more people, you might find it a little bit better. It’s important that you stay active, and not only getting things ready for when we emerge. Play games, cards, board games, whatever you have around. You can read and even drink a little. But remember that alcohol can be a depressant, so be careful not to consume too much.”
“Oh, trust me, we have popped open the bottles,” said Joseph.
“And if you need to talk to me in private, go into another room and call me. We will find a private channel and we can talk it out. The point I am making is that it’s just as important to stay in front of the depressio
n as it is to stay in front of physical pain. When we get out of here, we need to be ready to rebuild our lives.”
I like Katie.
We all said our good-byes, and we setup our next meetings. We finished up by working out the walkie talkie channels and how to use them.
~~~
I just realized that I haven’t taken a real deep breath since I heard the first news story about the East Coast. Well, until just now. The news about the continuation of our incarceration is not great, of course. However, the fact that there are eight more households worth of people we are going to have contact with is incredible news. I love my family, but I think we are getting rather tired of sitting around staring at each other.
I have been thinking about everything we talked about with the two doctors, and there was a lot. There isn’t that much that can be done right now about the possible biochemicals, but what about our mental and emotional well-being?
I know that Katie recommends that we stop thinking about our predicament, but thinking about how we can fix things makes me feel better. Plus, I have the outlet of writing my thoughts here. Annie and Mark are engaged in a game of cards, and that really is great considering that they weren’t even talking not too long ago.
I have been considering our present assets and right now none look better than our walkie talkies and our ability to communicate, besides our food, water and toilet buckets, of course. Katie is right about our need to feel better about our circumstances, and I think that one way to do that is to be able to socialize outside of our homes, even though we are stuck in them for now. First, I need to know if everyone has enough juice for their walkies and then perhaps we might be able to establish some ways to keep ourselves occupied and to become acquainted with each other better.
I can’t pretend that I haven’t been thinking about what Malcom said. The pneumonic plague has me completely freaked out. Obviously, whoever did this is completely evil, but this? Maybe demonic is a better label for them.
There are tons of farms in Salinas, which is only seventeen miles from here. I was thinking that we could find some livestock when we can go out again. In fact, it was part of a plan that I have been developing in my head. But the animals could be dead or have infected each other until they are all gone. What are we going to do without meat and dairy?