Clearing his throat and getting everyone to turn back to him, “Wendy put an outline of what they faced in your binder, so if any in your group thinks about it, you can tell ‘em it’s hell out there,” Arthur stated.
“Do you think we’ll ever be able to travel without fear?” Jill asked.
Turning to Jason, “Um,” Arthur mumbled as he thought out timelines. “Maybe in a decade?” he offered and Jason agreed with a nod. “Radio is going, but others are finding out bad shit can track down a radio broadcast. That’s why I want landlines tying all of us together. Like Chad’s group, we have radio towers miles away we use to transmit on and for Joseph to fly his UAVs.”
“Real UAVs?” Chad asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Joseph sang out. “Using a cell tower twenty miles south of us, it’s on the tallest peak in the area and I can send drones out a hundred plus miles.”
Raising his hand, “So, you’ve checked on Dean at the estates?” Albert asked.
“They left the estates two months ago,” Arthur chuckled. “They moved to Heber Springs and are using the hydro station at the dam for power.”
“They got the power station working?” Chad asked.
Giving Chad a confused expression, “Why would they have to work on it?” Arthur asked. “The power was just turned off. Now, they did have to cut lines out of town so the station wouldn’t burn out when it tried to repower everything after they turned the power on.”
It was clear Chad was confused. “Chad, the government turned the power off to limit movement. Harsh, yes, but with millions dying an hour, they had to do something to limit the spread. Do I agree? To a point, but I wasn’t asked. But if I had been asked, I would’ve agreed. Yes, food stocks were hurt, but that doesn’t mean shit if you can’t stop people from spreading Rudolph.”
With a halfhearted shrug, “I never knew, but it makes sense,” Chad admitted. Very aware of who Dean was because others at the ranch had told him, “You think we need to hit Dean?”
“He stays where he’s at, I’ll let him be,” Arthur grinned and Wendy gave a sigh of relief. “I sent word back telling Dean what I claim. Well, we claim for our area.”
“Um, what do we claim for our area?” Chad asked.
Tapping the computer, the map came back up but was zoomed out. A highlighted box overlaid on the map covered a huge section of North Arkansas. “From I-40 to the south, I-49 to the west, the Missouri line to the north and to the east, a line from Mountain Home to Conway,” Arthur replied. “I figure that’ll give us room to grow.”
“There’s no way in hell we can patrol an area that motherfuckin’ big!” Chad shouted.
“True,” Arthur nodded. “But that just gives gangs an area to avoid, and lots of room for Date Night.”
“Any guess as to how many survivors are in our area?” Albert asked.
“Around ten thousand, plus or minus a thousand,” Jason answered. “That doesn’t include us.”
“Arthur,” Chad called out. “Are you done with the animal part of the briefing? I ask because we saw a pride of lions right before the snow.”
Watching Chad dig through his notebooks and papers, “A pride, a real fucking pride of lions?” Arthur mumbled.
Pulling out 8x10 glossy photos from a stack of papers Chad nodded, handing the photos to Arthur. “They were just lying in a field sunning, west of Dennard. Isaac and I spotted them. We had an AR-10 but I just didn’t feel comfortable even attempting a shot. Lions seem much bigger when there aren’t bars or a fence between you and them,” Chad said. “Yvonne did some work at the cat sanctuary and is certain that’s where the pride came from. She said the two tigers that went after you came from there also.”
“She’s seen them?” Jason asked.
Shaking his head, “Said she didn’t need to,” Chad answered. “The white one is Tink and the orange one is Stripes. They never leave each other, and that’s why Yvonne said she didn’t need to see them. Yvonne also said there are three ligers, a male and two females, and you should avoid them or shoot them on sight. The sanctuary rescued them years ago, but they’re very hostile. In the ligers’ defense, they were abused from birth. They attacked several handlers at the sanctuary.”
Holding the photos but not looking at them, “Ligers,” Arthur mumbled in shock. It was a cross between a male lion and female tiger and the largest of all known felines.
“Yeah, Yvonne showed us pictures. The male is over eleven feet long and eight hundred pounds,” Isaac stated with a shiver. “I’m not shooting at that fucker with anything less than a fifty cal.”
“Yvonne did say she was surprised Tink and Stripes attacked because they were very friendly at the sanctuary, even with their cubs. The staff would let visitors pet the cubs and the moms were right there,” Chad said.
“Fuck,” Arthur groaned finally looking down at the photos. “Motherfucker,” he gasped and everyone saw Arthur flip through the photos stopping at one and moving a finger over the picture, counting. Jumping to his feet, Jason rounded the table.
“Oh, come on!” Jason shouted looking at the picture.
“Two males and ten females,” Chad replied and saw Arthur’s finger still counting. “Fifty-seven cubs,” Chad offered.
Shoving the photos in Jason’s chest, “This is bullshit!” Arthur shouted, spinning around and started pacing.
“Yeah, for some reason, big cats scare me a thousand times more than dogs,” Chad admitted.
“Where the hell was this sanctuary?” Jill asked.
“Just outside of Roland,” Chad answered, and Jill just stared at him. “Twenty miles northwest of Little Rock,” he offered, and Jill nodded.
“How many cats did they have?” she asked.
“Over four hundred,” Isaac answered. “The sanctuary was six hundred acres. Hell, the cats there had more room than those you see in zoos. Mainly lions, tigers, and panthers but they also had jaguars, leopards, snow leopards, cougars, and cheetahs. The real bummer is, over half were female and none were sterilized. Yvonne is certain there are over a thousand cubs now, and that’s just from the sanctuary. Yvonne took care of privately-owned big cats. Just going from memory, Yvonne could name another hundred-plus cats in Eastern Arkansas and Western Tennessee and Mississippi.”
“Why couldn’t people just raise hamsters?!” Arthur cried out, throwing up his hands.
Still looking at the photos, “Arthur,” Jason said. “I’m surprised you didn’t raise big cats because the government put so many restrictions on them.”
“Fuck that!” Arthur shouted. “I don’t like pets that see me as a fucking snack!”
“Well, I’m sure you know, but the zoo in Little Rock turned their animals loose,” Chad stated.
Nodding, “Yeah, I heard that on the radio in May,” Arthur replied. “Someone reported elephants near Lonoke at the end of summer.”
“So Yvonne specialized in exotic pets?” Jill asked.
“No,” Chad answered. “She had a practice and took care of regular animals, but there aren’t that many veterinarians that’ll treat exotic pets because exotic pets aren’t really pets. Yvonne refers to them as wild animals that live with humans. She really loves animals.”
“She better not bitch when I kill the next kitty cat that comes after me,” Arthur announced.
Laughing, “Oh, she doesn’t love animals that much,” Chad replied. “She’s the one who told everyone to carry shotguns. Her words were, ‘It shoots a really big projectile that can stop the charge of a really big animal’.”
Cutting his eyes to Wendy, “Um, you do know there are other exotic pets around, right?” Chad threw out.
Nodding, “Yes, LL found several private sanctuaries that housed monkeys. Well, apes, chimps, gorillas, and orangutans,” Arthur acknowledged.
“No,” Chad replied, keeping his eyes on Wendy. Feeling Chad look at her, Wendy turned in her chair to face him. “I mean reptiles.”
“I know people kept snakes, Chad,” Wendy said.
&n
bsp; Cringing, “Well, yeah, but I’m talking about the private collection a man had near Searcy. He had over two thousand venomous snakes. He sold venom to pharmaceutical companies to make antivenin,” Chad told her, then lowered his voice to a mumble before he continued. “He had over a hundred king cobras alone. Yvonne said there wasn’t a venomous snake on the planet he didn’t own.”
Levitating from her chair, “We’re burning the fucking place down!” Wendy screamed.
“It’s empty,” Isaac informed her. “No sooner than we could move around without our suits, Chad and I loaded up to do just that, but all the cages were empty. We did kill two king cobras and a black mamba that were lying in the front yard.”
“Arthur, figure out a way to kill all the snakes,” Wendy panted out.
“Babe,” Arthur sighed. “I’m sorry, but they’re out now and it’s up to nature if they survive.”
Squaring off with Arthur, “Motherfucker! You see a damn cobra, you’d better shoot that bitch! I don’t care if the fucking snake is minding his own business reading a book and drinking a cup of coffee! You kill that cocksucker and any of his friends!” Wendy screamed.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Arthur scoffed. “The only reason I’m not hunting big cats is because we need them to hunt dogs. I thought it would take longer but in two years cats around here will actually be able to start working on keeping the dogs in check. But any kitty cat that looks at me wrong gets a lead injection.”
He waited as Wendy took deep breaths to calm down. “Every animal from around the globe is roaming free in America now, hun,” Arthur told her. “We’ll deal with them. Hell, you know Teddy from church kept twelve pythons, four boas, and two anacondas. Not to mention he was one of the few people to have Komodo dragons.”
Giving a gasp, “Oh, tell me you killed them,” Wendy panted.
“Nope, the cages were empty and so were all of Teddy’s bird cages. I don’t know if they’re alive but their cages were empty. I went to get his pugs, but they were gone,” Arthur told her.
“Fucking snakes probably ate the dogs,” Wendy mumbled with a pale face.
Seeing Wendy was pale, “How fucking big were these snakes?” Jill asked.
“The smallest fucker was nine-foot,” Arthur huffed. “Those damn anacondas were so fucking big, they looked fake. They aren’t from here and in the wild, I hope they just fucking die off, but I’m not going to hold my breath,” Arthur admitted. “One thing nature is good at is survival.”
Tossing the photos on the table, “How many Komodo dragons did this fucker have?” Jason asked.
“Don’t know. Ten years ago was the last time Joseph and I went to Teddy’s house when his last kid was born. I’m sure you understand why Wendy didn’t go,” Arthur stated. “Then there were two dozen. Teddy raised them like the snakes. Since the Komodo was listed as endangered, he could only sell them to zoos or other licensed handlers. Teddy inherited his collection from his dad, so he was grandfathered in.”
Heading back to his seat, “Well, the dragons should die off without someone providing a heated shelter for the winter,” Jason said dropping in his seat.
“Jason, you realize this is Arkansas, right?” Arthur asked. “Caves are every-fucking-where. All they have to do is find one. I can take you to a cave right now that’ll be fucking packed with rattlesnakes. And the thing is, there are thermal springs around here. Those fucking Komodo dragons have just as much of a chance for survival as anything. Shit, everyone said alligators couldn’t survive in Missouri but low and behold, they caught some near Jasper. Nature doesn’t give a shit what mankind says.”
Scanning the faces of shock across the dining hall, Arthur nodded. “Now all of you understand, we’re going to be fighting nature just as much, if not more than humans. To live in harmony with nature, you have to fight. That’s what nature is, a constant battle to survive. Kill or be killed. There’s no ‘harmony in holding hands’.”
“I fucking hate mother nature,” Wendy growled. “She can take her snakes and shove those fuckers up her nasty twat!”
“On that note,” Arthur grinned. “For the reason I wanted to talk to everyone; the groups of kids we have running around.”
“Um, I don’t want to sound like an asshole, but we can’t really refer to them as kids,” Chad cautioned. “After you pointed it out, we’ve found a few sites that were taken down by kids and they were bloody, damn near evil.”
“Oh, I’m not saying we go easy, I refer to them as kids because of their age. They’re growing up in nature, and like we just pointed out, nature’s a bitch and a harsh mother. But the kids are surviving the only way they know how,” Arthur replied. “Unlike adult gangs, they don’t hit everything and I haven’t found evidence of rape from the kid attack sites. I’m sure it’s occurred, but I haven’t found evidence. Shit, at that house near Hunt, two of those women were fine,” Arthur stated and many in the room gave a startle, cutting their eyes to Wendy expecting her to blow up.
“What?!” Arthur cried out. “Wendy was the one who said that redhead was so fine she would’ve slept with the bitch.”
“I swear, I thought her tits were fake,” Wendy huffed.
“Any tit that needs two hands to hold, it’s too fucking big,” Arthur chimed in then became serious. “They didn’t even try to rape. The kids just cut their throats, took supplies and some of the kids, and left. They do kill kids, but only those I think they perceive as a problem or could become a problem. Like older teens and young kids who won’t stop crying after their new caregiver has been murdered.”
“Have you located any?” Chad asked.
Shaking his head, “Nope, and that tells me they know how to hide,” Arthur emphasized. “I’ve gotten pictures of groups of kids on the game cameras since I started putting them out. I just didn’t associate them as gangs. I categorized them more as packs.”
After Arthur tapped his computer, both screens started slideshows. In every picture was a kid or a group of kids. “If you look at the time and date stamp on the photos, you’ll see the longer this goes on, the more kids group together,” Arthur told them. “By midsummer when ants and rats took over towns, I noticed I wasn’t getting as many pictures of kids. To be honest, I thought they were dying off but Jason pointed out that in the photos I’d captured kids on, the cameras were set up on roads, paved roads, leading into towns or inside of towns. So we started repositioning some cameras,” Arthur paused tapping the computer.
The screen on the left stopped the slideshow and changed to display a map. “As you can see from the screen on the right, I’m still getting pictures but nowhere near what I was getting. Like I told Albert earlier, there should be nearly ten thousand survivors in the ‘Caravan Domain’. Nearly seventy percent of those should be under the age of fifteen but,” he paused to look at the group. “Not as many kids were killed as adults. Well, murdered. So again, the survivor curve skewed more toward the younger survivors. Kids started grouping together faster than adults and like I said earlier, they can hide.”
Tapping the keyboard, everyone saw the right screen change to a photo of four kids on bikes in single file. “They move across the countryside, dirt roads, pipelines, and we even have pictures of kids using stream banks to move around,” Arthur told them and many were impressed. “They learned to stay off the beaten path,” he pointed out. “Now, look at these four. Notice each one is carrying a bow and arrows? Each one has a rifle and pistol. Two are armed with Ruger 10/22s and one is armed with an AR, and the last is carrying a lever action rifle. Yes, I’ll say it out loud. Those little fuckers are crazy as hell to be riding bikes with masses of dogs running around at the time of that photo.”
The next picture of the four was them closer to the camera. “I caught them on a camera using a small trail next to a creek north of Hector,” Arthur continued as the map screen showed the area. Then the picture changed to show a lone kid on an electric standup scooter in the lead and a line of four golf carts loaded wi
th kids. When the image changed again, the kid in the lead wasn’t in the picture and the carts were much closer.
“Look at the carts, they’ve surrounded them in chicken wire,” Arthur pointed out. “Those carts can outrun most dogs but that’s what the wire’s for, in case they’re jumped by dogs. Notice all the carts except the first are loaded with kids. The one in the lead has an empty spot. Now, it’s speculation on my part, but I think that’s for the kid who’s leading. We have some of those electric scooters like the scout was using and they can only go thirty miles per hour, so he can’t outrun dogs if they’re close.”
He paused, looking around. “What does just that picture alone tell everyone?” Arthur asked.
“That group of kids there has power set up to recharge,” Chad answered clearly impressed. “You think they’ve lost some to dogs?”
Shrugging, “My honest answer for the group those kids in the picture belong to is no,” Arthur replied. “I think they watched, talked to other kids, knew dogs were becoming a problem and took steps.”
Grabbing the mouse, Arthur used it to navigate his laptop and both screens changed pictures. The pictures were displayed in multiple rows and soon, many could tell the screen on the right was the same brown-haired boy, who looked around twelve or so, taken from different cameras. Then the first picture enlarged for a second, then returned to the row as the next image expanded. There were different kids with the original kid in each photo. Some pictures were at night and others during the day. Then the screen on the left started doing the same thing, but these were pictures of a young, teenaged girl with black hair.
“Over the last two months I’ve had people here go through pictures tracking certain kids and holy shit, that was an undertaking. At any one time, we have four hundred game cameras out and average a thousand photos a week of people moving about. It wasn’t until last month when we realized some of the kids were driving cars, so we had to adjust cameras higher to get images of those driving. So far, we’ve identified six different groups and still have kids, hundreds at least, unaccounted for.”
Viral Misery | Book 3 | Revelations Page 20