They all turned as Arthur walked over rather stiffly to the table. “Damn, Dad. Why don’t you get in bed?” Joseph told him.
Sitting down slowly, “It’s nighttime. Why aren’t you upstairs making me some grandkids?” Arthur countered and Sarah rolled her eyes, letting her head drop to the table.
“Dad…” Joseph started and just gave up as the others snickered.
“How are the dogs?” Arthur asked Yvonne.
Looking at Arthur, “Better than you and Jason, I think,” Yvonne answered. “I lost count of the stitches and Adam has a small hairline fracture to his front left leg, but it doesn’t need casting. Just let him rest along with the others. I’d recommend at least a few weeks.”
Very slowly, Arthur leaned back in the chair. “I don’t have a problem with that,” he confessed.
Because Arthur was his dad, Joseph caught very clearly what Arthur had just said. “Where’s Momma?” he asked.
“Went to find a cigarette,” Arthur answered, and Sarah yanked her head off the table.
“Momma doesn’t smoke, Pops,” she told him bluntly.
Looking Sarah in the eyes, “Are you sure?” Arthur asked.
“Dad, Mom hasn’t smoked… shit, I can’t even remember how long ago,” Joseph said to keep Sarah from unloading.
“You should remember,” Arthur chuckled. “You’d just jumped off the barn with that big beach umbrella.”
With his cheeks going red, “Oh, forgot about that,” Joseph admitted.
Leaning over the table, Chad cleared his throat. “Arthur, Joseph showed us the video. You and Jason are lucky to be alive.”
“Oh, I’ll agree to that,” Arthur said with no shame. “I should’ve had Joseph sweep the area with the UAV before we took off, but in my defense, we’ve never seen or even heard of a pack of dogs that fucking big.”
“It was multiple packs,” Yvonne said. “They had all converged on that herd of cattle at the same time.”
Somewhat happy to hear that it had been a bunch of packs that’d come together, “Can you even guess why they attacked? Yvonne, we were over a mile away on a ridge and a dozen or so near us started howling. We shot them and the doggie Woodstock charged,” Arthur finished.
“Arthur, I’m seeing behavior in animals I’ve never heard of or even read about,” Yvonne told him. “I took a tip from you and started setting out trail cameras, but I’m using them to watch animals. I’ve seen mountain lions … well, they’re called pumas around here, but they’re moving together. I’m not talking about a mom and cubs. I’m talking about males and females in small packs. They’re normally solitary animals and they don’t do that.”
Giving a nod, “There’s a lot of shit out there now. Mainly dogs that’ll hunt and kill them,” Arthur offered.
“That’s a good theory,” Yvonne agreed. “Arthur, I’ve read the report you gave to Chad and the others. Well, I’ve read what you’d put together about the animals and things. Don’t be mad, but I think you’re wrong.”
With a shrug, “I went low on my numbers,” Arthur told her.
“I know, and that’s only one part where I think you’re wrong. The main thing is your timeline. Your theory on their population numbers is correct but low. You have animals taking years and decades before they become apex predators to humans.”
Trying to remember what he’d written, “It takes time to breed, Yvonne. I’m certain I’m close on the timeline,” he finally said.
“Arthur, there have been studies that show when a ready food supply was abundant, mammals can respond much faster than you’ve predicted. You have large cats taking a decade and black bears, like, six years before they have a large population,” Yvonne told him and Arthur nodded. “Arthur, large cats already have a thriving population. Next year, we’ll see another explosion. I don’t know what text you were using, but in times of plenty, feline and ursus mothers don’t raise their young over years.”
Seeing Joseph cock his head, “Ursus Americanus, American black bear,” Yvonne replied and Joseph nodded.
Turning back to Arthur, “Arthur, we’ve seen one-year-old cubs leaving their mothers already, and they aren’t making any attempt to hibernate. This far south that’s not uncommon but with this cold weather, they should at the very least slow down and they aren’t. Normally at one year, black bear cubs weigh around a hundred pounds. I haven’t even gotten pictures of one that small yet. One I know was a year old I had Tim kill it because I wanted to see just how big he was, and that one-year-old cub was two hundred and eighty-eight pounds. Before you say that’s a fluke, it wasn’t. That one was on the smaller end of the scale,” she told him.
Not liking what he was hearing, Arthur nearly got up and went to bed. “How far do you think my numbers are off?”
“Rats, I think you’re thirty percent too low, but I do think your timeline on them is correct and they’ll be under a billion here within two years,” Yvonne said then continued. “Mice, I think you’re low by fifty percent, but their numbers will decrease in line with the rats. Bears, you are way low, like, fifty percent.”
“Hey,” Arthur said with a wince as he moved too fast. “There weren’t even half a million, so I feel good on those numbers.”
“In the states, yes, but Canada had just as many, and I hate to tell you, without humans interfering, many will migrate south because there’s much more food here. You also didn’t take into account sows breeding more than once every three years. This is just guessing on my part, but I think sixty percent will breed every two years, with the rest breeding every year.”
Feeling sick, “For how long?” Arthur asked.
Shrugging, “On that, I can’t even guess because I feel your numbers and theory on herbivores is very sound. America is mostly lush grassland. Just using the basic rule of thumb, for every one cow and calf, two acres will maintain them for a year. Deer and other herbivores don’t need that much. Only because of humans could they get to numbers as large as they did and without humans to control them, they’ll only get bigger. With herbivores’ populations getting bigger, that means the carnivores will respond in kind. This summer we’ll see huge herds of animals and the predators right along with them. To be honest, I think we won’t see a balance in our lifetime, unless there’s a huge drought for several years.”
Letting his head tilt back as he sighed, “Dogs,” was all Arthur said.
“Your theory on dogs I think is correct, but on the low side. Next summer, there will be nearly a billion here. Dogs are opportunistic and will eat a wide variety of animals. They can kill rats, raccoons, sheep, goats, pigs, deer, cattle, and just about anything else that walks, so they can exploit the entire range, but I think that’ll be their staying point for several years. Then they’ll decline to around half a billion as other predators start preying on them.”
“You think I left anything out or overlooked something?”
Taking a sip of coffee, “Yes,” Yvonne answered, putting her cup down. “You left a lot out, but the main ones I’m thinking of are wolves and brown bears.”
Jerking his head up to look at Yvonne, “There weren’t that many of either of those to become a threat that fast,” Arthur countered.
Holding up a hand, “Think about the environment, Arthur, not numbers. Before the virus, the wolf population was estimated at around twenty thousand. Without humans and with such an abundant source of food, I can guarantee you that number has tripled at the very least. There won’t be the eighty percent mortality in the wild. I say this because wolves are very smart. Not even the smartest breed of dog can compare to the intelligence of the average wolf. I assure you, there are wolf packs around here even now,” Yvonne told him and saw Arthur scoff. “Arthur, big cats weren’t the only animals that had sanctuaries. Not to mention the zoos just opened the cages letting the animals go. I know of one wolf sanctuary in Tennessee that had several packs. In Arizona, I worked at a grizzly sanctuary that housed over thirty bears, and those aren’t the only ones.”
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“With all the dogs, don’t you think the wolves will breed out?” Joseph asked.
Yvonne shook her head, “No,” she answered. “Oh, there will be some crossbreeding but remember, wolves live in packs and only the dominant alpha pair mate. Normally, they kill other pups in the pack and any they come across, but in times of plenty like now, the beta pair will also breed. But what I think we’ll see is a shit ton of packs being formed with four wolves. In time, when a female wolf in heat that’s wandering around crosses paths with a dog they’ll breed, but that’ll be the extent of it.”
“You honestly think there are sixty thousand wolves already? They don’t even breed until winter,” Arthur said.
Tilting her head in compliment, “Very good, but not in times of plenty. The pups that were born last year only had to survive a few months before the virus hit and then there was plenty of food. Even going low with an eighty percent survival rate, you’d come up with a population of fifty thousand. In two years, there will be over a million wolves ranging all across America,” Yvonne stated.
“Grizzlies don’t have large litters,” Sarah said, shocking Arthur and Joseph. “I watched the Nature Channel.”
“True, and they normally aren’t sexually mature for five years, but I think that’ll drop down to three years. And like black bears, I don’t think the cubs will stay around for three years. The only thing that kept grizzlies in check was man, and by the time a grizzly is three, only another grizzly can kill it.”
“I think I would rather have zombies to deal with than Mother Nature,” Arthur moaned. “Anything else you find in the report that didn’t make sense?” he asked and saw a look of panic on Yvonne’s face. “Relax, Yvonne. I put that together to give us an idea of what’s coming. Shit, I’m all for finding out now that I was wrong. Finding out in three years that we should’ve been expecting grizzlies after a few people or some of our animals die would be too late.”
Cutting her eyes at her husband, “Asshole,” Yvonne whispered, and Tim busted out with a huge grin.
“I told her you wouldn’t be mad and would love to know other people’s opinions, just to make plans,” Tim said, and Arthur held up a bandaged thumb.
“Well,” Yvonne said. “I think you put the number of people dying from animals this year and next way too low. I’m sure rats alone killed over a million before now. Not by taking down people, but I’m sure many were. I think most people got bit multiple times by rats and died from an infection. Then like what happened tonight, dogs do have food and ample prey to hunt but when they revert to feral, they’re unpredictable and will kill even if they have food.”
“Since we’re talking about it, what do you think about large land animals that were in zoos like elephants and hippos?” Arthur asked.
“They’ll survive, but elephants and hippos won’t reach large populations for many years,” Yvonne said. “Hippos shouldn’t survive much further north than the top of Louisiana, but I think they’ll learn to adapt. Elephants, I think, will wander wherever the hell they want to.”
Very happy he’d gotten that right, Arthur just let his mind wander until Yvonne cleared her throat to get his attention. “One more thing. You were right on alligators, but you are way low on your numbers. With man gone they can spread out, and that means the population is going to explode. This will be the last year people can just jump in a lake or river without worrying about getting attacked.”
Seeing only Arthur wasn’t shocked, “There were over two million in Louisiana alone and they breed in the spring, which was when this hit. Without mankind keeping them in check, remember they can spread out, and older alligators kill more young than anything. If momma goes to where there aren’t any alligators, most of her young will survive and one female can lay fifty eggs. Using a fifty percent survival rate with only those alligators in Louisiana breeding, and if the females only laid twenty-five eggs, alligators just added fifteen million to their numbers this year alone.”
“Yeah, I went too low on my numbers, but what did you think about my range theory?” Arthur asked.
“I think you’re very correct. We’ll see alligators around us within two years, if not sooner,” Yvonne stated with certainty. “In college, I helped trap several alligators in Tennessee.”
“Native Americans lived with wild animals. We should do okay,” Sarah stated.
Looking at Sarah and shaking her head, “Native Americans didn’t live with the numbers and diversity we’re going to be dealing with,” Yvonne told her. “Mankind altered nature. It’s what dominant species do if they want to survive. But because we altered the land and environment, raising huge herds of animals for food, and clearing vast areas to farm, we’ve done something nature could’ve never done on such a large scale, altered the abundance of available food.”
“We need to keep lots of bullets,” Chad said with a nod, then turned to Arthur. “How many kid gangs have you found?”
“Seven, and Joseph spotted another eight for me to check out,” Arthur answered, and it seemed to shock Chad. “Hey, after we tracked one with a UAV to a camp, that’s what we started looking for; camps in the middle of nowhere. They live way back off the grid, but one thing they all have so far is solar panels.”
“Shit,” Chad scoffed. “You’d be hard-pressed to find one house in five around here that didn’t already have solar panels after the last government mandate.”
“True, but so far the kids are collecting them in large arrays. I’m talking about 60kw arrays,” Arthur replied. “I was going to scout that one camp, but we were heading for another to attempt first contact and to get information. The camp we were going to make contact with is freaking awesome.”
“Awesome?” Tim asked.
“They have a hundred-kilowatt solar array and a dozen wind turbines. Granted, the turbines are small, around three kilowatts, but it shows they diversified,” Arthur answered.
“Since you’re down for a few days, want us to check on some?” Chad offered.
Just staring at Chad for a few seconds, Arthur finally nodded. “If you’re up for it, but we don’t want them to know we were there. We need pictures and estimates of size.”
“I think we can evade kids,” Chad smirked.
Arthur didn’t even grin. “They aren’t kids anymore and if you underestimate them, we’ll be going to war with them,” Arthur said. “I haven’t found a group yet that hasn’t laid traps around their camp. I mean some very complex traps that would make the Goonies proud. They’re complex, dependable, and most are deadly.”
The smirk fell off Chad’s face as he nodded slowly. “We’ll take care and that was stupid on my part to underestimate them.”
“Don’t feel bad because I did the same thing before scouting the first one we’d found. Nearly got impaled by a harpoon,” Arthur told him. “One thing I can say, I haven’t found one group yet that moves outside their perimeter at night.”
“Shit, I don’t like moving around outside our fence at night,” Tim mumbled.
“Dad,” Joseph cut in. “You know Mom will kick your ass if you don’t take downtime, and if you push, Jason will also.”
“I will, son,” Arthur promised.
Motioning to Chad, “If you let them scout, Mom will want to scout,” Joseph stated.
“Son, if your mom ‘asks’, then I’ll tell her to knock herself out. But I won’t ask or tell her. In case you haven’t noticed, when Wendy asks, or more appropriately, volunteers to do something, she never gets ambitious or overloads her ass. If I ask her or tell her, she’ll make changes in the plan when there isn’t a need. She’ll do more than she has to or should, or not do something because she thinks it’s unnecessary. And before you ask, I would make damn sure Samantha goes with her if your mom asked. She’s scouted for weeks at a time inside the Heavenly Disciples compound and stayed hidden. If I’d asked your mom to do that, she would’ve killed people just to prove she could. Son, your mom can scout, when she ‘wants to’. The only thing I a
sk of everyone, don’t try to breach and scout the interior unless you know you can. And I shouldn’t have to say it, but I am, let me make contact first.”
Slapping the table, Chad busted out laughing. “We don’t have a problem with that. Three days ago we were ransacking the trailers of a bunch of parked semi-trucks and a group came up on motorcycles. They took one look at three of us wearing caravan hats, and I shit you not, they squealed rubber getting the hell away from us!”
Really wishing Chad would’ve told him about that sooner Arthur let it slide, having never taken his eyes off Joseph. “Son,” he said softly. “No matter who goes on these scouting missions, from now on, you’re in charge of them.”
Joseph’s eyes got wide and his mouth fell open and before he could speak, Arthur started to explain. “The group going will give you a location, and using your drones you’ll scout the area first, making sure nothing like what Jason and I ran into today is in the area. If there’s a large pack of dogs, herd of cattle or pigs, shit, if you see fucking anything you don’t like around the target, you will stop the mission.”
Understanding now what his dad was saying, Joseph, relaxed and gave a nod. “Yes, sir,” he replied. “Dad, how big of a pack do you think you and Jason could kill? What I’m getting at is, how big should the threat be for me to scrub the mission?”
Thinking for several minutes before answering, “If that pack had only been two hundred strong, which is the biggest we’ve ever seen, Jason and I would’ve wiped them out. And to be honest, I would’ve continued to scout that group and then headed south to the next one,” Arthur replied. “I was averaging hitting forty to fifty dogs a minute at two hundred yards, and Jason was hitting more. The closer they got, the more we were hitting. At fifty yards I think we were each killing about a hundred a minute, with me barely doing that and again, Jason getting well over that. I’m not ashamed to say that fucker shoots better than me. But I will say, I’m going to work on that very hard, and I’m adding more training on the gun ranges. Everyone will learn how to reload magazines under fire, under stress, and while moving.”
Viral Misery | Book 3 | Revelations Page 28