Viral Misery (Book 1)

by Watson, Thomas A

  “So, we are taking that and not your pickup?” Wendy asked.

  “Hell, yeah,” Arthur sang out and started blabbering, explaining why.

  Stepping over to him, Wendy raised her finger and put it over his mouth. “Hun, you’re taking your Adderall today,” she told him with a stern face.

  Giving a groan, Arthur stepped back and stormed off toward the house. “I hate taking that shit!” he shouted.

  “Then stop talking so damn fast and moving like the people in the Matrix!” Wendy shouted after him. “You make me tired when you do that!”

  Wendy chuckled as Arthur held up his middle finger as he opened the back door and her black labs ran out. “Here, Kit. Here, Kat,” she said, clapping her hands. Kit, the male reached her first and sat down. As Wendy started petting him, Kat, the female sat down.

  “Were Don and Daisy bothering you?” Wendy asked, petting Kat. Don and Daisy were Arthur’s Rottweilers.

  Taking off at a jog, “Come on,” Wendy said over her shoulder and the labs took off after her, beating her to the back door. Walking in, Wendy found Arthur at the sink drinking a glass of water. Seeing a medicine bottle on the counter, she grinned and walked over to wrap her arms around him.

  “How about we go to the bedroom and you make me feel like a woman before we leave,” Wendy purred.

  The next thing she knew, she was scooped up in Arthur’s arms as he carried her in a run to the bedroom.

  Chapter Two

  Life is good

  April 2

  Looking around the boardroom, Zhang gave a grin at seeing the other thirty senior executives from Tong Shipping, the largest seafaring freight shipping company in the world. Every office was represented from Rome to Los Angeles, thirty-four in all. The most senior of the outlying executives was James Taylor, over from the London office.

  When the senior vice president called for a break, Zhang stood up and turned to James. “So, will you be joining us tonight?” Zhang asked, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand.

  “Are you kidding?” James laughed. “I haven’t missed a gathering after a meeting since I’ve been with the company, and that’s over ten years.”

  “I’m glad tomorrow’s meeting starts at noon,” Zhang laughed.

  Glancing at Zhang’s tag, “Zhang, that’s why they start the next three days late,” James laughed.

  Tilting his head to James, “If you don’t mind, can I stay near you?” Zhang asked in a low voice. “I don’t know how to act in an executive gathering.”

  Holding his hand out, “Mate, if you don’t have a blast, I won’t ever attend another gathering,” James bet.

  Shaking James’s hand with relief, “Thank you,” Zhang said relieved. “I don’t want to be noticed as the new guy.”

  “You’ll have a blast,” James laughed as everyone moved over to a table filled with refreshments. Running a finger around his collar, James wiped his forehead with his hand. “Grab me a cup of coffee if you wouldn’t mind, Zhang. I’m going to find the thermostat and turn on some air.”

  “Yes, it is a bit warm,” Zhang chuckled, even though he thought it felt nice in the boardroom.

  As James walked away, a visitor he didn’t want had embedded in his nasal passage. The unwanted visitor had a communicability level of over ninety percent, so anyone close to Zhang would receive the slow, deadly visitor. James just got it faster.

  Arkansas

  Riding on the tractor, Arthur looked behind him at the plow. He looked ahead and slowed as he neared the fence. The garden was on the east side past the fish pond and was ten acres, surrounded by ten-foot deer netting. They had found out last year that the netting worked on elk as well. However, Arthur had still had to put up an electric fence to keep the black bears out of the beehives they had put in the garden.

  That was a lesson he had learned seven years ago, when he’d started keeping beehives. One bear had decimated his four starter hives in one night. Then two days later, the bear had gotten into the chicken coop. Unfortunately, that same bear had come back a week later after Arthur had brought four more beehives home, and had died suddenly of lead poisoning.

  Not satisfied with a normal electric fence, Arthur had made his own controllers for his electric fences. He’d only forgotten one time when he’d bumped into the electric fence he had put around the chicken coop. When he’d woken up a few minutes later lying on the ground, Arthur had hung engineering ribbons on the fences, so he wouldn’t do that again. After that, he’d never had bear problems again.

  That couldn’t be said about raccoons. He had always heard they were smart, but he had gotten a lesson those first few years. After losing half his chickens to the bear, Arthur had lost the rest to coons in the same week. Buying more chickens, Arthur had put a game camera up and watched in awe as a raccoon had climbed the chicken wire up to the door handle and opened the door.

  As the ringleader had climbed down, Arthur watched two other adults and four smaller coons waltz right in and have a feast. That was how the coon war started for Arthur, and it would last full bore for the next five years.

  The first thing he’d done was put a deadbolt on the door and then bought traps. There were casualties on both sides. Arthur lost chickens and cats, but the coons were losing numbers. Over five years, Arthur had trapped, stalked, ambushed, and hunted thirty-four raccoons in the war.

  Last year a ninja coon showed up, but a veteran now, Arthur had dispatched him with only losing one cat and one chicken. The cats around the barn weren’t really pets. Arthur let them live there as long as he didn’t have mice. Not only did the cats help keep the mice down, but they did a fair job on the squirrels, gophers and wild rabbits. Only able to guess, Arthur thought about a dozen or so cats lived on the property.

  The only cats he claimed were the two Persian cats that lived in the house; Mickey and Minnie. They were inside cats and as far as Arthur was concerned lazy as hell and got hair everywhere, but Wendy loved them so he kept his mouth shut. If he fed an animal, that animal better show him respect. That’s why Arthur didn’t like cats.

  Lifting the plow up, Arthur turned the tractor around and started another set of rows. Glancing over, he saw Wendy driving her four-wheeler down the rows he had already made, planting seeds. It’d only taken him four years to convince her to use the four-wheeler, instead of planting the rows by hand.

  Walking ten acres back and forth to him was wasteful, but Wendy had put up a fight until the first time Arthur had let Joseph use a four-wheeler to plant. After she’d watched how fast their son had planted, her four-wheeler had better be set up for planting or she would let him know about it.

  When he was done, Arthur pulled the tractor out and turned it off. He climbed out and checked the sprinkler system as Wendy finished. Hearing the four-wheeler turn off, Arthur turned around and saw Wendy walking over to him. “Don’t say it,” she said, holding up a gloved hand.

  “I would never say that you were hardheaded about using technology,” Arthur gasped in fake shock.

  Chuckling, Wendy turned to look at the neat rows. “We should’ve planted two weeks ago,” she sighed.

  Standing up, “We only have one shift a month as nurses and someone volunteered us to help build the new fellowship hall at church,” Arthur chided.

  Punching Arthur lightly in his arm, “You said it was okay,” Wendy popped off.

  Laughing, Arthur put his arm around her and turned to the north. The house he had built was sitting a hundred feet over the valley below. The hundred acres below them were all fields, divided into twenty acre sections so they could alternate the cows, horses, and sheep. Their property stopped at Pine Creek, but Arthur thought it should’ve been called Little Pine River.

  The creek on the east side of the property that he used for hydropower was a creek. There was another creek to the west, plus three ponds. Only the valley floor they owned was fields, the rest of the land was covered in trees and most were hardwood. They had orchards of mulberry and peach tr
ees. But Arthur loved his oak and pecan trees.

  At the very back edge of the field below the steep rise was a massive red barn, then further to the east was the original two bedroom house. Looking at the small house, Arthur was proud of how far they had come with all the work. “Ready to go work in the greenhouse?” he asked.

  “I get stung by a bee today, I won’t be happy,” Wendy sighed. “I like working in the greenhouse when they are in the hive.”

  Shrugging, “We can go swimming and do the greenhouse this evening,” Arthur offered.

  Looking behind her, Wendy saw the eight-hundred-square-foot building that housed their gym beside the pool. On the outside, Arthur had put a shower and people could use the bathroom in the gym without tracking water into the house. “Okay,” Wendy said, heading for the swimming pool.

  “Skinny dipping only!” Arthur sang out, running past her for the swimming pool.

  “Then we aren’t getting in the hot tub because you’ll fall asleep,” Wendy shouted, breaking into a run. Their closest neighbor was over half a mile away up the valley. Within five miles of the house, there were only six other houses and all of them were up the valley. Their land sat at the end of the valley, so they had isolation.

  In fact, they had to drive twenty miles just to reach a small gas station. Clarksville was just over twenty-eight miles away, but they had to drive almost fifty miles to get there. As Arthur liked to point out, they lived at the ass end of nowhere and that was fine with them.

  Both stripped as they ran and were soon joined by the dogs. “If your dogs take off running with my bra again, they get shot,” Wendy shouted as Arthur skidded to a stop and pulled off his cowboy boots.

  “They haven’t done that since they were puppies,” Arthur snapped, dropping his boot.

  Watching Arthur dive in, Wendy put her right boot at the back of her left and pulled her left foot out as she started unbuckling her jeans. “One day, someone is going to drive up here while we are acting like teenagers,” she laughed as Arthur tread water.

  “My dogs know how to attack because the gate up here is locked. Everyone we know calls before showing up,” Arthur told her, watching Wendy strip. He loved their lifestyle. Their job was here and they laughed and played just like they had when they’d met.

  Thinking of the other families they knew, Arthur really felt sorry for them running the rat race. They made almost everything they needed. Hell, they pumped so much extra power back into the grid, they made good money.

  When the government had offered to pay for half of any solar setup years ago up to twenty grand, Arthur had taken them up on it. Near the small house were fifty panels, and working with the hydro, wind turbine, and sterling power plant, Arthur was sure the power company hated them. Every quarter, a large check had to be mailed out to Arthur and Wendy.

  Watching Wendy dive in, Arthur swam over to her as she broke the surface. “I’m going to work on my next book tomorrow,” Arthur told her.

  “The fantasy one?” Wendy asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  Nodding, “Yeah, I’m getting e-mails from people wanting the next book,” Arthur said. He had four hobby project books out, along with two fantasy series. With the stuff they sold from the farm and with his patents and books, they only worked a few nursing shifts to keep their licenses. Truth be told, they worked as nurses so the IRS bandits would leave them alone. Everything they earned as nurses was turned over to the government.

  That was their whole idea of this land they’d bought. Become self-sufficient, so they didn’t have to buy and pay in taxes. So far, it was paying off and was only getting better. Not only were Arthur and Wendy married, they were best friends.

  Chapter Three

  The world is really a small place now

  April 8

  Relaxing in first class, James grinned, just thinking about the fun times they’d had every night. It’d been the second night that Zhang had finally loosened up and had a blast. On the last night, Zhang couldn’t stop sneezing until he’d drunk five shots. “The company picks up the dime, you have fun,” he mumbled, remembering the VP handing over a credit card for the first bar tab of ten grand.

  They had spent money like they were mad at it.

  Feeling his nose itch, James rubbed it with the back of his hand while feeling the airplane level out. “Care for a pillow, sir?” the attendant asked beside him.

  “Please,” James smiled. When the attendant placed the pillow behind his head, James reached back and brushed her hand with his as he put the pillow where he wanted it.

  “Care for a cocktail?” she asked, smiling.

  Feeling his stomach inform him not to, James looked up. “You have any tea?” he asked.

  “Certainly,” the attendant smiled, leaving James.

  Before his layover in Greece, James gave ten others on the flight an unwanted visitor, including the attendant. On his four-hour layover, James unwittingly infected over a dozen but also, touched an ATM and his armchair in the first class lounge. Those two surfaces alone delivered another eight unwanted guests. Not to mention the man who’d taken James’s credit card to pay for his bill. Before flying out, James was able to enjoy his hobby.

  Before he’d reached London, James had spread the invisible guest to over sixty people.

  The problem was, out of the other thirty executives who had also been infected, James had infected on a scale none could ever imagine. Because of James, the visitor was spreading like wildfire across the globe, thanks to his hobby.

  April 10

  Hearing his cellphone ring, Zhang reached a hand out from under the covers, patting around his nightstand. Feeling his phone, he grabbed it and pulled it under the covers. “Hello,” he mumbled, seeing it was only five a.m.

  “Zhang, you must come home. Father is very sick,” an elderly female voice cried out.

  Jerking upright and sitting up in the bed, “Mom?” Zhang asked, blinking his eyes open and gave a hard sneeze.

  “Yes,” she sobbed. “Your father is coughing up blood.”

  “Take him to the doctor,” Zhang shouted, jumping out of the bed and hearing his mother sneeze.

  “You know we can’t afford that.”

  “Mom, get the envelope I left and take dad to the hospital,” Zhang ordered, grabbing a pair of pants. “I have to get someone to cover for me, but I should be on the road in an hour.”

  In the background, Zhang heard a violent, barking, hacky cough. “He is burning up,” his mom wailed.

  “Mom,” Zhang barked in the phone, hoping to calm her down. “When did the coughing start?”

  “Just after midnight and continuously getting worse,” she answered.

  Feeling relieved at that, Zhang slowed down in getting dressed. “Then the doctors can help him, mom. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  “Son, he started passing blood before he started coughing.”

  Zhang stopped in pulling on his shirt, “Father peed blood?”

  “No, out of his bottom,” his mother sobbed.

  “Mom, get dad to the hospital. We have money now,” Zhang told her. “I will get there as fast as I can.”

  “Okay, I will get Chen next door to help me get your father in the truck,” his mom said, sounding more relaxed and then sneezed. “Please hurry, so you can explain what the doctors say.”

  “I will, mom. See you in a few hours,” Zhang said, hanging up and calling the office to tell them that he had an emergency.

  Thirty minutes after hanging up with his mom, Zhang’s father died on the way to the hospital.

  April 16

  Sitting on the front porch with Wendy and watching the sun set, Arthur heard the phone ring. Giving a sigh, he got up and jogged inside. Grabbing the cordless phone, he grinned to see Joseph’s satellite phone number. “Hey, son,” Arthur sang out, answering the phone.

  “Hey, dad. How are you and mom?” Joseph asked.

  “Doing good, and you?”

  “I’m living the Navy
dream, baby!” Joseph yelled out.

  “That’s good, so you are still coming home on leave?”

  “Yeah, that’s one reason I’m calling. Got my ticket and you can pick me up May first at 2300 at Little Rock,” Joseph said. “Man, I can’t wait to see the place! I miss those hills and trees. The guys think I’m crazy spending thirty-two days at home.”

  Grabbing a marker, Arthur made a note on the dry erase board beside the phone. “Well, the place misses you, but not as much as we do,” Arthur said, dropping the marker. “You find a woman yet and start on some grandkids?”

  Giving a long groan, “Dad, please,” Joseph moaned. “I will give you some grandkids, I swear. I’m only twenty-four, I have plenty of time.”

  “What about us?” Arthur chuckled.

  “I have a layover in Greece, I should just find a kid and bring them so you and mom will give me a breather,” Joseph offered.

  “Hey, we’ll take it,” Arthur laughed, walking back outside and Wendy turned. Seeing the happiness on Arthur’s face, she knew who he was talking to.

  “He find a girl yet?” Wendy asked in a low voice and Arthur shook his head. “He doesn’t have to marry them. Just shack up with one, he’s handsome enough,” she cried out, throwing her hands up.

  “Tell mom, I heard that,” Joseph replied in a flat voice.

  “Son,” Arthur said. “You know damn well she wanted you to.”

  Busting out laughing, “Yeah, mom may not cuss much, but she damn sure doesn’t mind letting others know how she feels,” Joseph howled.

  Getting serious, “Son, did you say one reason you called was to confirm your flight?” Arthur asked.

  “Yep,” Joseph shouted proudly. “When I report back for duty after I leave the farm, I report to Tampa on June second and learn to fly F-18s. I’m going to be a real Naval Aviator and not a delivery man.”

  “That’s great!” Arthur said enthusiastically. He and Wendy didn’t like Joseph in the service, but it was his life. If the military was used as it was supposed to, they would’ve liked it more, but they always supported Joseph no matter what he did. They understood the military was being used like a police force for the large corporations to make tons of money.