“Or both.”
“We should try some meds if he doesn’t get better soon. At this point, I don’t think it will hurt anything.”
“Yeah, we can give it a shot. I’ll have to see what all we have.”
He and Anna both had been scratched and even bitten by those things out there. Why didn’t they get this sick? Maybe Stewart was already getting sick, and the bite happening was just a coincidence? He didn’t like it.
“We should start thinking about food rationing,” Jared said as he grabbed a carrot from a bowl. They were some of the last fresh veggies left from his fridge. He was going to miss them, but not as much as he was going to miss ready access to meat. He wasn’t to the point where he was going to hunt up some irradiated deer just yet, but it wouldn’t be long.
“Yeah. As long as we’re down here not doing much, we won’t need to eat as much. We’ll have to consider the gardening thing too. We won’t be able to grow anything or eat any wild food. We’ll have to get rid of the top layer of dirt when we start to garden,” Bradley said.
“I didn’t think of the soil being poisoned,” Juan groaned, rubbing his face.
“We’ll have to consider everything up there poisoned…food, water, air, plants, animals…everything. At least until we know differently,” Hank said.
Jared and Bradley nodded. “Makes this whole shindig a lot harder doesn’t it,” he added.
“Yep, though I’m hoping that since it’s already been done, that the blasts and the fallout will take out a lot of those creatures,” Bradley confessed.
“I think they’ll be moving out of the cities for sure. They don’t seem content just to hang around and wait for people to cross their paths. They seek people out.”
“That’s scary,” Carlos said.
It was scary.
That night passed slowly and the day that followed was spent trying to develop a new routine. Maria, Violet, and Anna had conversations about cooking and supplies, and about their lives before. Jared watched as his mother gradually recovered from her sadness. He didn’t know what to make of it.
Until she took him aside and told him.
“Kate is still alive. I can’t believe that she’s gone. I don’t feel it, and I think I’d know if one of my babies were gone.”
Jared shook his head. He did not want to have this conversation right now. He still wanted to believe Kate was alive too. He needed to believe it, but they also needed to be prepared for the worst. The odds weren’t good.
“Ma, I want to believe that too. I wish I knew for sure, but I don’t. We’ll have to see what happens after all this. Right now, we need to concentrate on ourselves.”
She huffed and went off to the other side of the room. It couldn’t be helped.
They rotated jobs every day. Mealtimes became time markers. The LED lanterns became their daytime, and the darkness was their night. They resituated the sleeping arrangements until everyone was as comfortable as they could be.
Overhead, they heard nothing. The ceiling and walls were too thick to know what was going on outside. Eventually, outside seemed like a distant memory. Hurry up and wait was what they were doing now, and he hated it. He loved the outdoors and hated being cooped up. Each meal that passed seemed more and more tasteless. He felt caged and had taken to pacing the basement.
Anna spent her time reading and playing games with the boys, Hank, and Juan. He couldn’t sit still long enough. Bradley seemed to be having the same problem. He’d rather be fighting mutants than be stuck down here.
Stewart was no better or worse than the first day, and he knew they were all worried about him. He didn’t know why he wasn’t getting better. None of them did.
◆◆◆
“It’s only been six days,” Violet said, watching him past for the fifth time in as many minutes.
“How do you know?” he asked her, irritated at her calmness.
“I have a calendar,” she said, rocking in her chair. She was going to become one with the chair if she stayed in it much longer, he thought resentfully.
“I hate your calendar,” he teased, and she smiled.
“Man, come on. I’ve got an idea,” Bradley said and rounded up Fletch. “Anna, you too. Everyone clear out the middle of the room here. We’re going to get some exercise.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Jared asked, thinking about the extra food and water they’d need to use up.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to leave this basement weak. The weak won’t make it long out there now,” he said.
He had a point.
“Besides, we have plenty of food and water. Enough for several months, at least. We’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, but what about the water out there?” Jared mentioned.
“We’ll figure it out. I just know that I cannot sit here for another minute without losing my shit. Now, come on. Let’s wear ourselves out.”
Jared could think of much more pleasant ways of wearing himself out…but he didn’t think Anna would be amenable to that right now.
Bradley raised his eyebrow and waited.
Jared shrugged and they moved the table and the mattresses, leaving Stewart’s where it was. They picked Violet up in her chair and resettled her near the wall, which made her laugh.
“Everyone on your stomachs!” Bradley called out and Fletch groaned.
“He’s going to smoke us, man!” Fletch said. Jared had a feeling he was right.
“What’s that mean?” Anna said, lying on her stomach next to Jared.
“Wait and see,” he said with a wink.
Bradley did indeed smoke them. After they couldn’t possibly do anymore pushups, he had them roll over and do flutter kicks until they reached muscle failure. He seemed to relish causing them pain, but Jared had to admit that he did feel better.
“You’re a sadist!” Jared called out.
“I don’t like this smoking thing!” Anna called out when they were finished.
Hank laughed and dealt out a new hand of cards for him and Violet and Maria, who didn’t take part.
“You guys are stinking up the room!” Maria called over.
“You’ll get over it!” Bradley said between sets of pushups. He had knocked out over a hundred. Jared decided to compete. He wasn’t going to let Bradley show him up.
The others moved back as the men took turns pushing. There was no time limit. They were going to maximum. Jared was younger than Bradley by several years, but Bradley seemed to be more accustomed to pushups. He wasn’t giving up though, not until he collapsed.
They were both panting and straining as they reached two hundred. Jared had never done over two hundred at once before. It was going to be close. Sweat soaked his skin and ran into his eyes. His muscles trembled and burned. He was having trouble getting enough oxygen.
“Give it up man,” Bradley ground out from the rest position.
“I can do this all day,’ Jared panted back.
He was going back down to push once more when they heard a muffled thump against the basement door.
Jared stopped and looked at Bradley. This was the last thing he expected. Who or what would be out there right now?
“Everybody get over to the far wall,” Jared whispered and climbed painfully up. He regretted using up his upper body strength now. He probably couldn’t even fight off Violet, should she randomly decide to attack him.
Bradley drew his pistol and Jared pulled his rifle from his side of the mattress he and Anna used. He wanted it somewhere he could get it quickly, but out of the way of where the boys played. Juan came up behind him with the sharpened mop handle. At least it wasn’t the extension cord.
“Are you going to open it?” Anna whispered.
He held up a finger for her to wait, and he crept closer.
He walked around the cinderblock barrier wall and eyed the door. It was a thick door, and it was locked. He knew nothing could get through it, but what if someone was up there? What if it was Kate?
Could she have made it home?
He pressed his ear to the cool metal and listened. He heard his thundering heartbeat and his breathing. He waited. He was starting to relax when a thud directly on the other side of the door made him jump.
It sounded random, not rhythmic. Not like knocking. God, he wished he knew what lurked behind the door. His mind conjured up horrifying images of a thousand mutants crowding the property and waiting for them to open the door.
It would be like fish in a barrel. They would be easy prey.
It wasn’t the first time he wished he lived further away from town.
He stayed there, straining to hear more, to understand what it could possibly be. There was nothing else. It made their shelter seem a little less safe. Instead of surviving, it now felt like they were hiding.
◆◆◆
After the unknown visitor incident, everyone seemed less inclined to make noise. The darkness and artificial light made them edgy and brought them all down. He had never had issues with depression, but he was fairly sure that they were all well on their way to getting a taste of it. The boys didn’t play much anymore. They preferred to read or color quietly, and everyone slept more. Stewart lay, silently burning, on the mattress. They did what they could to make him comfortable, but he had stopped responding two days ago. Now, he just lay there. Bradley was grieving but refused to give up. He kept making the motionless man take small sips of water. It was difficult to watch. Violet stopped knitting, and mealtimes were no longer a way to break up the monotony of the day. He wasn’t even hungry anymore.
There were no more fitness contests.
He and Bradley and Fletch still kept to a loose exercise routine, but it was becoming less and less effective as time passed. He didn’t realize how much he needed fresh air and sunlight and how much he appreciated alone time.
It felt like prison must have felt, except worse because at least prisoners got to go outside.
He thought a lot about his father. His guilt ate at him. The more he looked at his mother, the guiltier he felt.
He killed his father and he failed to save his sister.
He was toxic to people apparently. He looked at Anna, who was becoming paler and quieter by the day. Maybe he was killing her too, just more slowly. They were all dying slowly.
The thought of staying away from her killed him though. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t leave her alone and unprotected, and the thought of Bradley taking his place made him want to kill. He didn’t want to think about it anymore.
It felt like they had been down here forever. Sometimes it was even hard to remember why they were here.
Chapter Four
A New Dawn
Anna
Something was wrong with Jared.
Ever since they had been down there, he had started to act more strangely than she had ever seen before. The more time passed, the more distant he was with everyone. Stewart’s illness made them all uneasy, and she wished there was something they could do to help. Bradley had taken to mixing antibiotics in his water, hoping it would help with any bacterial causes. It was the only thing they could think to do, but she didn’t have much hope of it helping. His fever raged on, but he didn’t move much anymore.
Sometimes he twitched, or she thought he did.
The darkness was oppressive, and Bradley and Jared agreed that it was probably best if they limit the use of the LED lights. They didn’t want to use up all the batteries.
It made everything worse. She had trouble reading in the lower light and it usually gave her headaches. She started to sleep more often because that was the quickest way to pass the time.
One day, or night—she didn’t know for sure which— Stewart changed.
◆◆◆
Anna bolted upright on the mattress at the cacophony in the corner. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest as she sat, frozen and terrified. There was more noise and movement in the basement than there had been the last two weeks. It was humid and stuffy and close. Maria was screaming, the boys were crying, the men were yelling and running…she got up and inched forward.
She held the light in front of her and watched the tussle of limbs in the harsh light. She covered her mouth in shock as Stewart’s face flashed on them angrily. His eyes were slit-like and feral. He growled at them and chomped his teeth in rage. He twitched relentlessly against their hold.
God, what were they going to do?
“Anna, get a chair! And tape!” Jared shouted desperately.
Not again.
She scrambled for the requested items, rummaging through the open cardboard boxes until she found what she was looking for. She grabbed a wooden chair and ran across the room, stumbling over a blanket someone had dropped and banging her knee on the concrete. She a barely felt it through the haze of adrenaline and fear.
“Here” she said and thrust the tape at Juan.
Once again, she watched Jared and Juan tape a crazy person to a chair. Bradley was stricken and moved as if he didn’t know what the heck to do. She was both sad and scared. More scared right now.
“There,” she heard Jared say.
The men backed away, breathing hard, and they all stared at Stewart. Poor Stewart.
“What about his mouth?” Juan asked.
They glanced around at each other and back to Stewart’s vicious glare. He was panting and obviously enraged. She watched in devastation as he turned his alien gaze on her and growled. His hands twitched in their duct tape restraints.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to put anything over his mouth. He might choke,” Violet said.
Anna saw Maria give her an incredulous look.
“Bradley—” Jared began.
“No! We’re not fucking killing him!” Bradley shouted, and Stewart twisted a bit in the chair and rumbled at the loud noise.
“He’s gone, man! He’s not Stewart anymore!” Juan said.
Jared looked down at the floor. Anna swallowed the lump in her throat and considered the alternatives. They could kill him, but who would do it? They could keep him here, alive…ish, and taped up. It was dangerous though. Or they could release him.
Into the wild, where he might kill others.
There were no good answers.
“For now, we leave him taped up and guarded at all times,” Jared ruled. Obviously, this is a case of his house, his rules…she didn’t think the others were going to go for it, not for long anyway.
“Alejandro! Back away!” Juan shouted as he saw Alejandro inch toward Stewart. She had a feeling that Stewart had been a favorite of his. Stewart gazed at the little boy, his eyes inherently threatening, but he didn’t snap. Not yet.
“Can’t we go upstairs now?” Carlos said from the other side of the room. “Hasn’t it been long enough?”
“Violet? How long has it been?” Bradley asked.
“Let me get my calendar out here…,” she said and rifled around in a little box near her cot. “Ah, here it is.” She counted the weeks with one gnarled, old finger. “About three weeks.”
Jared looked around then concentrated on Bradley and Fletch, who looked ill. He raised his eyebrows.
“I’ll go out,” Hank said from the table where he leaned. “I’m an old man. I don’t expect to have too many more years left. Whatever is up there isn’t much threat to me,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Hank, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jared said. “You deserve to stay just as safe and healthy as the rest of us. Your age doesn’t matter.”
Anna agreed. Hank shouldn’t have to be a guinea pig just because he had fewer years left than the rest of them.
“No, he’s right,” Violet said, surprising her. “He and I will go. We’ve had our time, and you folks have done so much for us. Let us do this for you…to make sure the young ones are safe. I can’t get around so well, but I can shoot. And Hank can work the radio.”
Jared sighed. Bradley was watching Stewart sadly.
“I’ll g
o,” Anna said. “I don’t mind. I want Violet to stay here.”
“Absolutely not, and don’t argue with me about it because you will not win. I will tape you to the other chair myself if you even try it. Don’t test me on this, Anna.” Fierceness burned in Jared’s eyes, and she realized he was dead serious.
Okay.
She saw Enid glance at her son and the others just stood, probably contemplating the dangers of fallout versus the danger of Stewart getting loose and going on a rampage.
“Can we keep Stewart? Please, Jared?” Alejandro looked up at Jared and she could see his lip trembling. It made her want to cry. Cry for Stewart, cry for Bradley, cry for Alejandro, for everyone. God, she wasn’t prepared to lose any of these people…not to radiation, or to the sickness, or anything.
“Stewart isn’t a pet,” Jared said solemnly, patting Alejandro on the head.
“Yeah, but he might get better,” he argued.
Jared smiled a thin, sad smile.
“He might,” was all he said. Maria looked like she was going to argue, but Juan squeezed her hand gently.
“All right. Hank and Violet will go topside. Look around. Drive to the highway if you think it’s safe. Don’t touch any ash or any rain that may have fallen. Take the radio and call Harry over at Rolling Hills. Don’t stay out for more than fifteen minutes, and I mean it!” Jared instructed.
Bradley pulled up a spare chair and sat in front of Stewart, just out of reach.
“Let me clear the house and make sure there isn’t…anyone…up there,” Jared said. “Fletch, you got my back?”
“Hooooah,” he replied sarcastically.
Jared rolled his eyes. Anna wanted so badly to make Jared stay here. There could be mutants up there, or dangerous levels of radiation, or anything. She sat where she was and he gave her a stern look, as if he knew she was considering following him. She didn’t want to see if he would make good on his threat.
“Go through the small garage door and take off your shoes when you come back. I don’t think we should track in any kind of particles into the house if we can help it,” Bradley added, as Jared, Fletch, Hank, and Violet prepared to go upstairs.
The Salvation Plague | Book 2 | The Mutation Page 3