The Emerald Virus

by Patrick Shea

  “You didn’t offend me, or at least not much, and I appreciate your concern, but our only problems are going to be getting to Old Faithful.”

  “Understood. Would you mind if I refer others in your area to you for advice on how to get into the park or would you rather be alone for the winter.”

  “Actually I think we would both rather be alone, but I don’t think that’s realistic. We won’t be the only ones that realize the coast is out of reach until spring, although some of the people will go south for sure. Yellowstone will be an obvious place to winter for other survivors as well. We’ll work with whoever wants to join us for the winter. Anyone who chooses Yellowstone will know this area and they’ll be hardy folks like us.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate that. I’ll ask anyone I talk to tell you I referred them to you, just so you’ll know.”

  “Sounds good. Before you go tell me where you are, this isn’t the number you were showing on your web site.”

  “That’s pretty observant, and you’re right. I’m in Virginia now with another of the survivors.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I assume that means that you’re a survivor also?”

  Jack grimaced and said, “No I’m not. I drove here from the bunker to help out a friend, who is a survivor. Don’t put too much into that, the seals in the bunker were going to fail anyway. All of the others had.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you don’t mind me saying so but you seem pretty at ease for someone who’s about to die. Oh hell, I’m sorry, that didn’t come out the way I had hoped.”

  Jack laughed and said, “Don’t apologize. I’ve had enough time to think about it and I’ve come to grips with my own mortality. Or at least I think I have. I’ll know more in just a short time.”

  “Jack, I’m going to compliment you by telling you that you remind me of my father, who I buried yesterday. It was so strange; if I didn’t know better I would’ve thought he just had a cold.

  “I’ve loved and looked up to him my whole life; and he was always larger than life to me. He was a combat veteran of Vietnam and a Montana rancher. I can’t think of anything harder than those two things, and yet he impressed me more these last two weeks than ever before.”

  Jack realized that he was now sharing Samantha’s grief and he was happy he could help her. He said, “Sam, your Dad sounds like a man I would have enjoyed being with. I’m also impressed with how he raised his daughter. I’m guessing he was very proud of you. How about your mother? You didn’t mention her.” Jack felt that he might have asked the wrong question but he wanted to help Sam get through all of this if he could.

  “You would have liked her too, but she died when I was in high school. There was just me and my Dad after that.”

  “I’m sorry Sam. If you aren’t driving in the mountains why don’t you take a couple of minutes and tell me a little about your father. You’ve made me curious about him.”

  Sam talked for the next minutes and cried a little and told a couple of funny stories about her dad and the ranch. When Jack asked she told him how the ranch had come to be known as the Blue Wolf Ranch. When she had talked herself out Jack told her he would call her again in the next day or so, but she should feel free to call him if she wanted to talk.

  When he hung up Jack told Jane about the woman he had just spoken with and as much of the conversation he could remember.

  Jane said, “It sounds like Ben is in good hands anyway. He’s going to grow up the hard way now, but it looks like he has a good mentor.”

  “Yes it does.

  “I’ve been thinking today about how to stay in touch with so many people and help them get together. I really don’t like the thought of anyone spending the winter by themselves, unless they really want to. I think I may ask others who I think I can trust to help me out. Samantha would be a good choice for the northwest I think.”

  “That sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe we can spend some time this afternoon going over the database and chat room notes and start screening people for the job.”

  “Great, I could use your help with that. Especially when I call folks, you’ve always had great intuition for people, certainly better than mine.”

  Chapter Twenty Two: A Day in the Park

  Sunday: Shenandoah State Park and I-95

  Heather Sharp was thrilled that she had talked to Jack Sweeney and now had a specific destination and someone to help her. The past couple of days had been more than she thought she could survive. Her parents had both died yesterday, along with her older sister. She had only received her driver’s license two months ago, but she had gone by herself to get the RV, her family had insisted on it. She thought she was going to be killed on the freeway. It seemed to be full of crazy drivers.

  Her father had made things as easy as possible for her by digging the family grave in the backyard. He had insisted that the three of them spend their last day in the living room so Heather would be able to move the bodies out of the house herself. He had been alive, albeit barely, when her Mom died so he helped with the first body. But Heather had to move her dad’s body and her sister’s body by herself. She was sure it would prove too much for her but she surprised herself. She just couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her family without burying them.

  She read the bible verses the family had selected and prayed for them and for her.

  She was now on the road but wasn’t enjoying the drive. However, she thought she was doing okay. The weather was clear thank goodness, and there were no other vehicles on the freeway. Heather was trying to stay in the right lane and drive slowly. She was still nervous, but with no traffic she knew she would be okay as long as she paid attention. Her biggest fear was failing to see another vehicle in time and plowing into the back of it. There weren’t a huge number of abandoned or wrecked cars on the roadway, but there were enough to be scary. And she kept losing her concentration and thinking about what she had gone through, and what the future would hold for her.

  Out of nowhere a horn honked loudly and had it not been for her seat belt she would have jumped out of her seat. She looked to her left to see another RV driving along side of her. It was being driven by a middle aged man who was looking at her and smiling and waving. For a minute she didn’t know what to do and then she realized that this had to be another survivor who had been driving faster than her. That was no surprise.

  She looked over and tentatively smiled and waved quickly and then looked ahead and put both hands back on the wheel. She didn’t know what to do except let him go where ever he was going. However, he seemed to think differently since he continued to drive along side of her. She turned on the CB radio and waved the microphone at him. She remembered that channel eleven was the one they were supposed to use, but he just looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

  After a while he slowed down and pulled in behind her. Maybe he wanted to go where she was going. She thought most adults would have a destination in mind, but maybe not. Well, if he wanted to follow her he was welcome to do so, but she didn’t think she was going to stop for anyone until she was with Jack Sweeney. She felt he was the only one she would be safe with. Her parents had spent time warning her of the potential danger a young girl would face in the new world.

  Karl Schumann had been driving along minding his own business when he saw another RV ahead of him. The vehicle was still a long way but he was obviously driving faster than the RV so he knew he would catch it.

  Looking over at the other driver he felt his luck had come back to him after almost being killed by that maniac truck driver. He could still see the truck bearing down on him from the rear with the driver blasting away on the air horn and grinning from ear to ear as he bounced through the median. Out of desperation Karl had jumped away from his RV as the truck slid further into the median than the driver had intended. Between the air horn blasting and the noise of the truck smashing into the RV he thought the world was coming to an end. But the truck went hurtling past him, pushing the RV a
head of it. The explosion and fireball started as the trailer of the truck passed Karl and he knew he had won this round because he had lived and the truck driver had died.

  He had located another RV by luck only. First he had found an abandoned car with the driver still inside. He had to pull the driver out and let the car air out before he started it and headed south on the Interstate. Two exits down the road he had seen a hand written sign that said ‘RV’ with an arrow to the right. He exited and drove for about two miles and saw an RV with a trailer parked outside of what looked like a public building. There was a man and a woman standing next to the RV.

  Karl parked and walked over. He knew he looked like a mess so he said, “Hi, I’m a survivor, some guy just ran me off the road. I think he was trying to kill me. He must be jealous of survivors.”

  The woman looked at him and said, “How would he know you were a survivor, there are a lot of RVs on the road.”

  “The people that gave me the RV had put large signs on the side of the RV saying ‘Good Luck Survivor”. They insisted I keep the signs on the RV and this guy tried to kill me before I stopped to take the signs off.”

  We’ll obviously you’re a survivor and we have one RV left. We just gave our other RV away but no one has spoken for this one yet. How did you find us?”

  “I saw your sign on the freeway off ramp. I gotta tell you I really appreciate you putting that sign out. Without it I never would have found you. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.”

  “That was pure luck. The person who picked up the other RV was afraid she couldn’t find us so we promised we would put up a sign on the Interstate. We were just about to leave. Why didn’t you look us up on the computer?”

  “We’ll I’m not good with computers. In fact I’ve never owned one so I have some learning to do. And my RV was totally destroyed. I was lucky to get out alive.”

  “You look pretty beat up, I’d call a Doctor for you but there aren’t any left that I know of. What we can do is take you through the RV and make sure you know where everything is.”

  An hour later Karl had driven away in his new RV. He was banged up pretty good so he spent time lying around letting himself heal. He wasn’t interested in getting back on the freeway until he was sure that the other drivers had all died. He wasn’t going to chance running into any other crazies.

  He did drive around until he found a liquor store and helped himself to a nice variety of booze. He also found a grocery store. He didn’t know who thought he was going to cook, but they were wrong. He managed to find a nice assortment of snack food and grabbed a handful of microwave meals. He was confident he could continue to find food like this until he found someone to cook for him.

  And now he had found a sweet looking young girl he thought would be perfect for his needs. He couldn’t see how she was built and he really liked big boobs, but he figured anything would be okay to start with. He might have to teach her a few things, and he smiled at the thought of how much he would enjoy doing that.

  She didn’t look old enough to drive, which was probably why she was creeping along. Well, that was fine with him. He would drive along slowly and drink his beer and dream of the evening. She had to stop somewhere and when she did he would show her what a nice guy he could be. He thought that by tomorrow morning they could ditch one of the RVs and he could spend some quality time getting to know her. After all he had all of the time in the world.

  He saw her wave the mike for the CB radio but he acted dumb. He didn’t want to talk to her until he was sure he would be the one in control.

  Karl followed the RV for what seemed like forever. She had slowed down driving through D.C. He was sure she was worried about getting on the wrong highway. That was okay with him. He didn’t want her getting lost. She seemed nervous enough as things were.

  In the early afternoon Jack called Heather. She sounded relieved when she answered the phone. He asked her how she was doing and she said, “I’m doing really well, but another RV joined me some hours ago and has been following ever since.”

  “Did you talk to the driver?”

  “No, he pulled alongside and honked the horn. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, but I didn’t want to stop. It’s a middle aged man with scratches on his face and my parents warned me about being cautious with strange men. I waved the CB radio microphone at him but he just shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t know what I was talking about. Maybe his RV doesn’t have one.”

  “That would be unusual but it could be true. I think you’re right about being cautious. Jane and I aren’t doing anything this afternoon that can’t wait until this evening. I think I’ll drive to Richmond and meet you there. I should get there a little before you do so I’ll park our RV on I-95 at the I-64 ramp. You won’t have to do anything but stay on I-95 until you see our RV in the right lane. I’ll call you after I park and see how far you are.

  “If anything untoward happens, call me and I’ll tell you what to do. Remember, if something comes up we aren’t very far from you.

  Heather thanked Jack and hung up. All of a sudden she felt relieved. She was almost with someone who would help her, and she didn’t have to worry about who was driving behind her. She thought she was probably being paranoid anyway. He would probably turn out to be a nice guy and she would feel bad about the thoughts she’d been having. The good thing was that he would never know about that part.

  It was getting later in the afternoon and Karl was starting to wonder how long he would have to wait. He didn’t mind spending the afternoon drinking beer, but he could do so in a more comfortable setting than driving at a crawl. Maybe he needed to move up and try to get her to stop.

  Karl moved up and honked, and again the girl jumped out of her skin. He had to laugh at that. He would have to make sure she had a couple of drinks tonight. She obviously needed to relax a little.

  Heather looked at Karl who was smiling and waving at her with a can of beer in his hand. He had one of those silly smiles on his face, like her father got on the rare times that he drank too much. Maybe she should worry about him. He seemed to be asking her where she was going. At least it looked like he was mouthing an exaggerated ‘where’ over and over, but very slowly.

  She looked at him again and mouthed ‘Richmond’ in the same exaggerated manner he had used. He smiled and nodded and his RV drifted back again.

  Karl smiled to himself and thought that this was really good. She was cuter than he had remembered and she had told him she was going to Richmond, which by the signs was less than an hour ahead, even at this speed. He could contain himself that long.

  Forty Five minutes later Jack called Heather and asked where she was. She told him the last sign had said she had just entered the city limits.

  Jack said, “That’s great, you’ve made really good time. You should see me shortly so I think I’ll stay on the phone until I see you. Flash your headlights when you see our RV.

  Heather smiled and said, “Thank you Mr. Sweeney. I can’t wait until I’m with you.”

  “Heather, please call me Jack, and I’m looking forward to meeting you also.”

  Shortly after that Heather flashed her headlights and Jack said, “Okay, let’s hang up and I’ll see you in a minute.”

  As he hung up Jane said, “I think I’m going to go to the bathroom first. I’ll join you outside in a minute.”

  Jack walked to the back of his RV and smiled as Heather pulled up. He thought she looked like she was twelve years old.

  Karl sat up as he realized that the girl was slowing down. He wondered where she was going to go from here, but she didn’t go anywhere, she just stopped on the road. He saw her get out of the right side door of her RV and he did the same thing. When he got to the front of her vehicle he saw she had stopped behind another RV and was talking to the other driver. He tried to hide his disappointment as he waited to introduce himself.

  Heather on the other hand was very animated. She was almost bouncing and she w
as still shaking Jack’s hand. Then she just couldn’t stand it any longer and threw herself at Jack and hugged him while she said, “I was so scared all day, I didn’t think I was going to get here. Thank you, thank you for meeting with me.”

  Jack smiled and said, “I’m glad you’re okay and that you’re here. Everything will be alright now.” Jack disengaged himself from Heather and looked at the man who had joined them. He looked a little messy and Jack realized he smelled like he had been drinking.

  Jack tried not to be judgmental, he knew everyone was coping in their own way. He still wasn’t excited about the idea of someone drinking while they were driving one of these big RVs.

  Jack offered his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Jack Sweeney.”

  “I’m Karl Schumann, nice to meetcha.”

  Jack noticed the scratches on his face and realized Karl had limped as he walked up, and said, “It looks like you had some trouble Karl. Are you alright?”

  “I’m okay. I had some trouble. A truck driver tried to kill me by running me off the road. He must have hated survivors or something.”

  Jack started to ask “How would he…..”

  Karl interrupted and said, “He knew because the people who gave me the RV had put big signs on the side of the RV saying ‘Good Luck Survivor’. They must have been idiots to do that to me. That really pissed off the truck driver.”

  Heather was staring at him openmouthed with a shocked look on her face and said, “That was you, you tried to kill me, you tried to wreck my car.”

  Jack said, “Heather, what are you talking about, how could Karl have tried to kill you?”

  “Jack, I was driving to get my RV and someone behind me started to slam into my car over and over. I pulled over on the right shoulder and slammed on the breaks and an RV passed me with a big sign on the side that said ‘Good Luck Survivor’. She now looked at Karl and said, “I couldn’t see the driver but it had to be you. You tried to kill me.”