Stillness

by Eldon Farrell

  It’s the only thing that makes any sense to him and for that reason he can’t let his father know that anything is wrong. And so instead of being in bed sleeping it off he’s on his way down the railway heading for Cody’s place to find out where he got the weed.

  He just hopes Cody is home.

  Reaching the bridge over the river he doesn’t pause a moment to consider that if a train were to come while he’s on the bridge he’d have nowhere to go—very unlike him.

  Stumbling across the bridge he continues on his way to Cobblestone Place. Around him thick bush starts to appear—he’s left the heart of the town behind. Until he reached the bridge the tracks were surrounded by run down backyards and trash strewn back alleys. Past the bridge though is where the upper classes dwell.

  Here it’s all pristine trees and immaculately kept lawns. The rail line is almost impedance upon the image of perfection.

  After about a mile Tim leaves the tracks behind and ventures off onto a well-worn path through the bush. The path he knows will bring him out behind Cobblestone Place. From there all he’ll have to do is hop the right fence and land in Cody’s backyard.

  Piece of cake—yeah right.

  The ground under his feet here sinks and squishes as he walks. The morning’s rain has left it difficult trekking especially in Tim’s condition. As he stops to rest he realizes that he’s shaking like a leaf.

  Concentrating hard he tries to stop his limbs from shaking but he can’t. They’re moving of their own agenda and it scares him to action—he moves off tired as he is he knows he must reach Cody’s.

  And he’d better be home.

  Stumbling he reaches out a steadying hand and grabs hold of a tree. As he does so the pain in his chest increases causing a sharp intake of breath.

  Gasping for air, his chest pain intensifies as he struggles to breathe and clear his head of the cobwebs that are clouding his thinking.

  His sure hypothesis of bad weed seems to be fading in his head. Could bad weed cause this? Try as he might, he can’t help thinking about Zack Palmer and Agnes Warner.

  Tears rim his reddened eyes at the thought that he might have the same infection.

  No, he tells himself, I don’t have the same symptoms. I can’t have. I was never anywhere near either one of them so I can’t have the same thing. God I never should’ve accepted that fucking weed.

  Pushing on through the bush he takes a misstep and falls down on one knee. His heart skips a beat as he realizes that he didn’t just miss a step. It’s like his head spun around in an instant throwing his balance off.

  He can’t hold the tears back as he fears that something is far worse with him than he ever could’ve imagined. I’m in the middle of a fucking forest—miles from help. I have to keep moving.

  Rising to his feet again he’s immediately struck by a piercing pain in his lungs. It doubles him over in pain but he can’t force a scream to rise up from his diaphragm.

  Darkness begins to crowd his retinas as he tries to focus on his surroundings but the pain is too intense. He falls to his knees and slowly slides forward onto his stomach.

  I’ll just lay here for a minute or so until I can get my bearings—until the pain stops. The mud is cool on his fevered face and feels so good that Tim can imagine his pain receding.

  Just for a few minutes…

  Des Moines, Iowa

  The soft whirring of the ventilator bellows holds Dr. Steven Kendrick’s attention. Standing at the foot of Matthew Brown’s intensive care bed, Dr. Kendrick flips through the boy’s chart as his breathing is done by the endotracheal tube down his throat inflating and deflating his lungs.

  It’s been quite a couple of days.

  The chart reflects the facts. Matthew Brown was brought into emergency early Sunday morning suffering from an extremely high fever and stomach aches. He was immediately put on intravenous to rehydrate and a mix of antibiotics to fight the infection inside him.

  His fever went down from the admitting temperature of 110 degrees only after several hours of treatment to stabilize at 104 degrees. Still too high but better than the 113 that he reached before they could bring it under control.

  Soon after admission his stomach aches migrated north to become chest pain. A rapidly developing cough soon followed along with hemoptysis.

  Fearing that pneumonia would develop he was put on streptomycin. Any initial thoughts of a food borne pathogen were forgotten as despite their efforts, pneumonia took hold around Monday morning.

  Rapidly his lungs failed and he’s been on the ventilator ever since.

  A bronchial wash of his lower respiratory tract was taken to determine if he was suffering from bacterial or viral pneumonia and sent to the lab yesterday.

  Holding the chart he still cannot believe the results that came back. The boy tested positive for Yersinia pestis—pneumonic plague. As far as he knew the first reported case in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

  He shudders at the sudden memory of Tom Brown running into the IC completely frightened to deliver the news that another young boy had gotten sick and in fact died.

  The fact that the two boys shared similar symptoms and were friends prompted him to request that lab tests be performed postmortem on the boy. There was definite reason to believe that Matthew’s life could depend on it.

  The results showed a similar elevated white blood cell count that’s concurrent with an immune system attempting to fight off an infection. Blood samples also returned Y. pestis specimens.

  Somehow they both came across pneumonic plague in the Midwest cornfields of Iowa. The how and why will have to wait though, as all of his attention is currently focused on saving Matthew’s life.

  Seeing that the streptomycin is uncharacteristically having little effect on his plague worries Steven though.

  Could this be a resistant strain on top of everything else?

  Making notations on the chart he orders tetracycline be added to the existing dosage of streptomycin. He debates about adding gentamicin but decides to hold that in reserve in the unlikely event that the others have no effect.

  He replaces the chart and moves off to see other patients though his mind is still focused on Matthew’s case.

  Stillness, Iowa

  “Well hello Derek,” Angela Lincoln says as she walks down the front staircase towards him. “What brings you by?”

  “Same thing as always Mrs. Lincoln. Is Cody around?”

  “I think…” She puts a finger to her lip in thought before answering “Yes I think he’s home from school. Shall I have him called?”

  “That’s okay; I’ll just go to his room.”

  Angela smiles and walks off towards the dining room as Derek Rohm bounds up the stairs propelled by long slender legs. His slight figure still has the delicate features of a child despite being in high school. Soft bangs of auburn hair cascade over his quiet eyes touching his faint cheekbones as he moves. He gets halfway up when he hears Cody call his name.

  “I’m down here Derek.”

  Turning around Derek looks through the blue tinted designer glasses that sit high on his nose asking, “Cody you ready to go?”

  “That depends,” Cody asks, “Have you heard from Tim today?”

  Derek shrugs and shakes his head, “Nope.”

  “I called his house and his dad said he went out. He’s probably on his way here.”

  “So?”

  “So we can’t go out before he gets here.”

  “Look,” Derek says putting an arm around Cody’s shoulders “We’ll meet him on his way here. We both know he only comes the one way. He’s mister predictable.”

  “I guess you’re right. Let’s go.”

  Cody grabs his coat from the hook by the door and together they leave. Outside they circle around to the backyard and hoof it across the wet grass to the fence. They easily climb it and land in the mud beyond.

  Their sneakers squish as they walk. In short time they find the well-worn path a
nd move along into the thick of the bush. Five minutes pass when they come upon a body lying face down on the muddy ground.

  “Whoa,” Derek says as he reaches a hand out to stop Cody’s progress.

  It’s unnecessary—the sight freezes Cody.

  “Check it out man.” Derek takes a cautious step forward.

  “Tim!”

  Startled Derek asks, “What?”

  Cody brushes past him and falls to his knees beside the body. “It’s Tim man!”

  “Jesus,” Derek swears as he kneels beside Tim too. Together they turn him over and find that he’s not breathing. “What the fuck happened man? He’s not breathing, we have to do something!”

  Panic-stricken Cody wipes the mud he can get off his friend’s face and asks, “Do you know CPR?”

  Derek shakes his head. “No.”

  “I don’t either but we have to try. I think we need to get tight clothes off him. Let’s take his jacket off.”

  “Fuck that man he’s not breathing!”

  “I know! Help me get his jacket off.”

  They fumble with the zipper on the jacket and finally get it unzipped. Taking the jacket off Cody throws it away and lowers Tim down on the ground to prepare him for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

  He’s about to breathe into him when Derek yells “Stop!”

  “What?”

  “We don’t have a clue what’s wrong with him.”

  “What’s your point?”

  Derek grabs him pulling him away from Tim’s prone body. “He could already be dead and what if he’s contagious?”

  “Back off!” Cody says as he moves back into position.

  “You don’t even know CPR,” Derek reasons, “Who knows how long he’s been here man.”

  Cody ignores his friend’s warnings. If there’s a chance that I can save Tim than I’ll risk it. Pinching Tim’s nose between his thumb and forefinger he takes a deep breath and leans forward. Forming a seal with his lips he blows deeply into Tim’s lungs expanding his chest.

  He repeats the action twice more not really knowing if he’s doing any good. Suddenly a block lifts from his mind and he remembers to check for a pulse. Placing two fingers on Tim’s carotid artery he listens hopefully for the beating of a heart.

  Wiping mud from his mouth Cody looks at Derek. He’s wide-eyed and teary—scared more than he’s ever been in his life. Cody slowly shakes his head as tears slide down his own cheeks. “He doesn’t have a pulse. You…you need to go get help.”

  Derek can’t take his eyes off the body of his friend. “No,” he breathes, “No he can’t be dead. That shit is fucked up man. Come on.” He crawls over closer and starts pounding on Tim’s chest. “Fucking breathe man!”

  “Derek!”

  Derek leans over Tim’s body and forms a seal around his lips breathing deeply into his lungs. “Derek stop it man. He’s dead…he’s dead.”

  Cody grabs Derek and restrains him from continuing CPR in a vain attempt to bring Tim back to life. Slowly Derek stops flailing and collapses in Cody’s arms. They both cry unashamedly over the body of their friend.

  Now there is only loss and pain. Later fear will arise over what killed Tim and what they might’ve been exposed to.

  But for now there is room only for sadness.

  Chapter 19

  Atlanta, Georgia

  “You wanted to see me Roger?”

  Looking up from the file on his desk at the sound of Lynne’s voice, Roger waves her into his office. “Yes, come in, come in. Have a seat.”

  Sitting down Lynne crosses her legs while smoothing the wrinkles from her blouse. Staring across the desk she focuses her expectant blue-green eyes on Roger as he shuffles his paperwork.

  Sliding the file across his desk to her he says, “I’ve got an assignment for you.”

  Despite herself Lynne cannot keep the surprise out her expression. Smiling Roger adds, “Your first assignment for EIS.”

  Shaking her head she stammers “I-I’m not ready yet.”

  “Yes you are.”

  “What about the exercise? I blew it.”

  “No you didn’t Lynne.” Roger points to the file, “Besides the only way to really learn this job is to do it. Classroom training and mock scenarios can only impart so much—the rest is learned out there.”

  Opening the file she reads the synopsis and looks at Roger, “I’m being sent to Iowa?”

  “They’re having an outbreak of plague.”

  “Plague?” Lynne repeats confused, “Aren’t they a little east for that?”

  Once again proud of her knowledge Roger smiles to himself saying, “We’re living in strange times I’m afraid. Strange diseases in strange locations are becoming the norm. I never would’ve thought I’d see West Nile in New York or plague east of the Rockies. But the one constant these days seems to be change.

  “At any rate, your superiors feel you can handle this assignment and I agree with them. Everything you need to know on case histories is in that file along with your EPI1. Study it on the plane ride north.

  “Your local contact is Dr. Danny Gordon, the County Health Department Director who called for our help. I have the utmost faith in you Lynne.”

  Nodding, Lynne rises from her seat and turns to leave and start packing when Roger calls to her, his tone of voice that of a teacher testing a student, “One more thing. No cases of bubonic plague have been observed yet, they’ve all been pneumonic in form.”

  “So odds are,” Lynne replies “That the actual patient zero hasn’t been found yet.”

  A paternal smile creases Roger’s lips as she passes the test. “You’re going to do just fine Lynne.”

  Stillness, Iowa

  “Can I get a coffee to go Mary?”

  Mary looks down the counter and sees a damp Jacob Castle leaning against it. Taking a quick look through the front window she sees that it has started raining again.

  “What’s the rush Jake?”

  “Just a busy day.”

  Mary grabs the coffeepot on her way towards him and slowly pours him a to go cup. “Can we talk for a minute Jake?”

  Jacob makes a show of checking his watch before sighing and taking a seat at the counter. He’s been coming here long enough to know that you don’t say no to Mary. “What’s on your mind?”

  Setting the coffeepot on the counter Mary leans in close and says, “A lot of people have been in here today—a lot of scared people. Do you know anything about what’s going on?”

  Jacob holds her gaze with his own and can see the genuine concern in her expression. This isn’t about Mary fishing for gossip—she’s really scared.

  Jacob asks, “You were friends with Agnes right?”

  Mary nods meekly prompting Jacob to offer his condolences and continue “All I really know has been printed in The Sound. We’ve got at least six dead now, two from the same symptoms with two more in Des Moines Hospital.

  “I’ve got George working on the hospital for more information and I’m just on my way over to Cobblestone Place.”

  “Cobblestone Place?”

  “It seems another potential victim has surfaced. I’m afraid I don’t have many details at the moment.”

  “Are we…” Mary lowers her voice to a whisper “Are we in danger here?”

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about it just yet Mary. Most of the doctors that George has spoken to are in agreement that the symptoms are pretty broad and don’t necessarily have to be related.”

  “Do you think they’re related?”

  “I’m not a doctor Mary.”

  “But these symptoms must seem familiar to you.” Mary regrets saying the words as soon as they’re said. The hurt expression on Jacob’s face is not what she wanted to do. “Jake, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

  “Forget it Mary,” Jacob says as he grabs his coffee “I’ve got to get going anyway.”

  “Jake I’m sorry…”

  Jacob reaches for the front door and stops.
Outside the rain has picked up and is coming down in sheets. Somewhere inside him he knows that Mary didn’t mean anything by it.

  But still it hurts.

  No matter how much he hoped that all this wouldn’t bring painful memories back to the surface somehow he knew it would. He just never imagined that Mary would be the one to dredge them up.

  Without looking back he plunges headlong into the driving rain.

  The red lights swirl in the drizzling rain bathing the scene with an eerie sanguine hue.

  Dr. Danny Gordon pulls his Nissan off to the side of Cobblestone Place and steps out into the rain. Opening his umbrella he walks towards the scene.

  He recognizes the local ambulance alongside one from Des Moines—their lights swirling silently with the cherries of the local police.

  Another potential victim has been found. He got the call from Clark Starling to come out to the woods behind Cobblestone Place where of all people the Mayor’s son Cody Lincoln found the body of Tim Smith—another child victim.

  Ducking under the police tape Danny cuts around to the backyard of the Lincoln estate and proceeds to cross the expansive space. His mind is swimming with possibilities, none of which offer him any solace.

  There is something very wrong going on in Stillness and as the County Health Department Director people are turning to him for answers that he simply doesn’t have yet.

  The fence running around the back of the yard has been cut open presumably by the police and Danny moves past it with ease.

  Now on the worn path into the woods he looks around and can no longer see the ominous flashing lights of emergency vehicles. He tries to gather his thoughts before reaching the scene. He phoned ahead to the paramedics to tell them not to remove the body until he got there.

  Tim is the seventh death in the past week and he wants to see the body with his own eyes to see if he can discern anything from it.