by Cooper, DJ
They enjoyed some coffee and carried on with some idle chat about how things were going. While they waited for Matt to return they marveled at what the small group had accomplished in such a brief time. Matt approached the group and said, “To what do I owe this pleasure?” and took the seat across from them.
Ryan said, “We have news from Arthur.” Matt sat up straighter and waited for the news, as Ryan continued, “Your group has arrived at your house and they all look good. We talked with them yesterday and they said they had not had contact with any other people in at least two weeks. They told us they traveled down the power line easements and railroad tracks precisely to avoid having contact with people.”
Matt thought about their quarantine set up for them while Ryan kept talking. “Since Ebola has a two to twenty-one-day incubation period, I think maybe another seven days quarantine will be ok… as long as you trust John would be honest about the contact.
Matt replied, “John would never lie about something like that. If he says they haven’t had contact then they haven’t.”
Ryan told him that he did not want the group roving through the area alone and thought it best if they brought them down. He asked Matt if he would rather they remained in the house for the seven days and that he would keep them supplied and protected, or if he thought it was best they be brought right away.
Matt jumped up. “Let’s go get them.”
But Dez looked disturbed.
Cory asked her, “What’s wrong there, little lady?”
Matt looked at Dez as she spoke. “I think they should stay there the seven days.”
Becoming angry, Matt was almost shouting. “What do you mean? What the hell Dez?”
Dez put her hands up for him to calm down and continued. “Think about it Matt, they come here and must be quarantined for seven days.”
He nodded as she went on, “Well, how do you think Matty is going to take it, knowing you are in the yard right outside their shelter and he cannot have contact with you? Or you for that matter? Look at you all acting all anxious. What are you going to do when he is crying for you? What will you do?”
Dez looked up at him tears in her eyes. “I don’t want it to be any worse for him than it’s already been when he does come you should be able to have contact and hang out. They will be safe there and we can keep in touch with Arthur through Cory here. In the meantime, we can get prepared here. We can get places ready for them and plan a party. I just think it will be easier for everyone if we wait.”
Toni was standing nearby with tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry, Matt, but I think Dez is right. Some of my family are with them and I know I would have a tough time with it if they were here. It will be fine for them to rest up there and wait.”
Ryan nodded as well. “Listen, Matt, I thought about it, too, and I swear we will see to it. They will have everything they need and I’ll keep ten armed men there to secure the area, with everyone else on standby. At the end of the seven days we will bring them here ourselves.”
Matt sat down with a heavy heart. Deep inside he knew they were right but this was his family.
Dez approached him and said, “Listen, why don’t we get everyone together and start getting things ready for their arrival? Seven days will pass before we know it.”
Matt looked up with a slight smile, and while he was angry with her for suggesting it; he knew she was only worried about Matty and that was why she’d said it at all.
“We will have a great big old-fashioned hoedown,” he said and smiled a little bit.
With that all settled, Cory asked Dez if she knew someone named Darrel. She told him she had a friend in Cincinnati named Darrel and asked him why. He said he had some contact with a ham up that way with a message from him for her.
She asked him what it was, and he said, “The message said, Angela and I with kids, headed down to hunting cabin. Issues here are not good. Please advise if safe.”
Dez jumped up and asked if he could get a response to them. He nodded yes and told her they were waiting for one.
She responded with, “Let them know condition yellow and to proceed to location one. Instruct them that upon arrival they are to contact Arthur on the CB and wait for instructions from there. Tell them to have contact with no one and to advise of the last contact date upon arrival.” Everyone looked at her and asked about location one?
She said, “Like Matt’s family we need to be sure of their condition. We can use our house as the quarantine zone for anyone coming into the county. There are two houses and a barn that can be used to separate groups. We must take precautions to keep people in our area safe.” Pausing to see what the others thought before continuing, she asked, “Could I send some supplies for them after this first group has been moved?”
“Not to worry I think it’s a promising idea and we’ll see to it that everyone who is quarantined will have what they need.”
With everything all settled and excitement in the air they sat down to a hearty breakfast that Janice had already whipped up. They had Matt’s favorite, pancakes and hash browns, as well as fried Spam.
They all laughed as Matt blurted out. “Spam…yuck. Men need bacon!”
Dez laughed at him and pointed out, “I remember days when he would eat a whole pound of bacon… as a snack. I’d tell him you’re gonna have a heart attack. He never listened though.”
The seven days passed quickly while everyone made sure that the accommodations for their friends were taken care of. They also got everything ready for a party. They planned a big gathering with neighbors and Ryan’s militia group. Everyone was to bring covered dish meals to share.
Tawny had wine made she’d been saving and a new batch of mead. There were friends with guitars and other instruments who planned to play some music for the big hoedown, as they had started calling it.
Chapter 24
“Homecoming”
“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word; freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.”
-Winston Churchill
December 17th
The big day had finally arrived and the area was buzzing with excitement as they readied everything for their family and friends. Matt paced about continually, asking everyone if anyone had heard from Ryan yet. Dez said he was positively annoying, likening him to a kid on a trip asking, “Are we there yet?” Frowning at him, she sent him to the gate to get him out of her hair.
Static started on the CB and it was Ryan signaling their arrival. She’d sent Jeremy up to the gate to fetch Matt for her She knew he would keep them at the gate all day if she didn’t.
When Jeremy arrived with Matt at his side, Matt was visibly agitated and asked, “What do you need? They should be here soon.”
“They’re on their way and I don’t want you holding them up at the gate.” She laughed as she said it.
At first he looked at her confused and then laughed at himself. “You’re probably right.”
It was not even ten minutes later that they could hear the horn blowing from Ryan’s jeep. Matt nearly broke something tripping over a chair while he scrambled to where the vehicles would park.
Dez laughed at him again. “Slow down, dear, you won’t be any fun with a broken leg.”
As they started exiting the vehicles, Matt made a mental note of each person as they got out. There were hugs and handshakes from everyone. Matt stood waiting and watching. John got out holding out a hand to help Amy down and then reached for Kimmie. She ran straight to Matt and hugged her cousin so tight he thought he might just fall over. Kimmie then ran to Dez as Matt continued to watch the exodus from the vehicles. He saw Danny and Laurie Reed, Toni’s mother and brother, who immediately went to Toni and Jeremy. They were followed by Melinda and Brian who were friends of Jeremy’s. Dickie and his daughters followed Brian and they looked for Dez.
In the last vehicle he saw his parents climbing out and they had Matty with them. He ran over to them and in a sing
le motion scooped up Matty and hugged him. He hugged his mom and dad while still holding Matty.
Two other guys he did not know got out as well and introduced themselves to Matt. “Ray Saylor here and this ugly looking one is Roger Morris.”
Matt shook their hands and welcomed them, waving in the direction of where the others were standing. “C’mon up and meet everyone.”
The whole group was abuzz while everyone introduced themselves and had some drinks. Matty clung to his father’s leg. He was refusing to play with the other children which distressed Dez. She could see in his eyes that he’d suffered some trauma along his trip. She went over to Renee, Matt’s mom and asked her about it. She said that he’d been withdrawn for the past few weeks and that she didn’t know what had caused it exactly but said to give him time.
Dez caught sight of a look between Renee and Kimmie that made her wonder what really happened. Looking at Dez, she offered, “It was bad out there and the trip was hard on all of us. We lost a few friends along the way and saw some terrible things. I couldn’t believe people could act this way.” Renee looked away from her and shuddered.
Dez put her hand on Renee’s shoulder. “I know it’s bad and we have been extremely lucky in comparison to some.” Looking over to where Astrid and Cameron sat, she said, “Listen, we don’t need to talk about this now. It can wait.”
They sat around sharing experiences while more people from the area began to arrive for the festivities. There was the Marlin family from up the road. Cory and his family arrived along with the Douglas family who was their closest neighbor. Soon a batch of Ryan’s guys showed up bringing some real beer to the gathering. Tawny feigned insult as everyone cheered and then laughed.
The evening was festive with music and plenty of food. Matt was in his glory when the Douglas family brought a whole side of bacon.
Dez said to Charleigh. “I can hear his arteries hardening already.”
Charleigh laughed, “He’ll have a tough time eating a whole pound for a snack with Janice on the job. She’d wrestle him for it… and likely win.”
They were still laughing about it when Dez noticed Matty sitting in a chair eating nothing and not even paying attention to anything but an imaginary spot on his jeans.
She approached him and took a knee in front of him and told him she had a surprise for him. He looked up at her and nodded but did not speak. Holding his hand they walked up to the barn where she pulled out a whole jar of peanut butter.
Matty loved a good PBJ and she said she could make him one since there was not much outside that he really liked. Again, he just nodded. She whipped one up for him with his favorite grape jelly.
Matty was ten and generally a happy kind of kid, despite some of the things his parents had done. She was told by Renee that his mother would often tell him dreadful things about his dad and said he was rotten like his father.
The family told her that to hurt Matt she got a lawyer and had taken him to court for custody. Since Matt lived out of state they gave it to her.
Matty would say he hated his mother all these years and Matt would always scold him and tell him he was not allowed to hate his mother. Matt often told him that hate would make him sick and if someone was so awful as to make him feel hate, he should just ignore him instead of making himself sick. It worked when he was younger, but now at ten years old he knew who he hated and didn’t. But something perplexed Dez because although he would say he hated her he always looked down when saying so. She was not sure of what this young man had been through before she came to know him but knew for sure he did not hate his mother.
They sat on the sofa while Dez explained the solar panels that made it so they could watch some shows. Matty just nodded at her and nibbled his sandwich. Dez was worried about him. She asked if he was sad about something. He looked up at her with tears in his eyes, hopped into her lap and cried.
Dez was shocked. She hugged him and whispered to him, “It's ok little man, I got ya.” Holding him closer she whispered. “We missed you something terrible and worried about you every day. I’m so glad you are here now to help us.”
He looked up at her with tears streaming down his face. “No one loves me now, cause I’m a bad person. My mom said I was just like my dad and she hated my dad, so she must have hated me.”
Dez was shocked. “Honey, you’re not a bad person and neither is your dad. Did you see all those people outside? They all think he is great. And did he tell you that he even got shot saving everyone from the bad guys?”
Sniffling, he looked up and wiped his face. “He did?”
Dez nodded, saying, “Uh huh.”
Wiping his nose, she continued, “He’s a genuine hero and since you’re just like him you must be a hero too. You two are my heroes.”
He smiled a small smile and rubbed his snotty nose on her arm. Dez made a “yuck” face and took him to the sink to wash up. She told Matty that all the kids wanted to know about this brave boy who traveled to see them. She asked if he might want to go see Ariel and the other kids. He nodded that he wanted to go play and ran for the door. Stopping midway he turned and ran back to hug her.
Holding back tears she told him to run along and play with them. After he left the barn Dez sat down and cried. Sarah had been in the sleeping area and heard the whole thing.
Coming over to her, she said, “I wonder why any mother would tell a child such a thing.”
Dez told her it was constant in the boy’s life, saying, “I’m glad she is not here. I might have hauled her into the woods and done something awful.”
Sarah giggled a little and said she probably would have helped her, and they both laughed.
Dez was concerned at what he might have seen that made him think that way and said to Sarah, “I know that both his mom and dad have said horrible things about one another to him. But something is really wrong with this, and something happened to him. I’m not even sure how John managed to get him away from her. I seem to remember something about her being with them but she’s not here.”
Sarah said, “Maybe he will tell in time. I’m sure we’ll get all the information from John and Amy tomorrow.”
Nodding, Dez said, “Maybe.”
Dez took a minute to regain her composure then both ladies went back out to the festivities. They sat near Tawny and told her how much they hated beer and preferred her wine and mead.
They watched the makeshift band play, and everyone chatted and commented back and forth about how much this was needed.
Matt went over to John and asked him, “How was the trip?”
John got a pained look. “You got a week? I’ll tell you about it.”
He patted his friend on the shoulder. “All in good time, buddy, I’m just glad you made it.”
John furrowed his brow. “It’s really bad out there. I’m glad we made it too.” Looking down he continued, “I fear the worst of things hasn’t even begun yet, and we will face much worse before all is said and done.” John looked across the fire to Amy. Neither of them had spoken a word of the horrible things Morgan had done or of Rita’s death; both questioned why Matt never asked about them. Amy knew she had to warn Dez.
Matt just nodded and grunted agreement while he took another sip of beer.
John and Matt sat watching the festivities, mesmerized by the fire. Matt told him he wondered what the future would hold for their small group.
Sitting in silent reflection of the events leading to this moment they were all thankful that they were safe… at least for now.
The End… or is it?
Dystopia
Long Road
— Book 2 —
By: DJ Cooper
Chapter 1
“Time is short”
“If the day should ever come when we must go, if some day we are compelled to leave the scene of history, we will slam the door so hard that the universe will shake and mankind will stand back in stupefaction…”
-Joseph Goebbles
September 6th
John stood looking at the wood pile, wondering if what he had cut and split this year was going to get them through. He thought, “It is already so cold, and it is only September, New England winters can be brutal.” Grabbing an armload for the old wood stove he headed back inside. He loved a good fire in the mornings, but this early in the season troubled him.
Practicing his fire-starting skills by using his flint keychain he began to strike the sparks at the paper at the bottom of the. Humming along to the song on the radio he soon began to sing along. “I’m not the one who’s so far away, when you feel the snake bite enter your veins.”
A sound steals his attention. “Damn phone, he scolded, “just when a good song comes on.” Turning to look for the phone and “Fire won’t start and now who the hell is texting me at this hour.” Tossing a match into the stove John went to check his phone. Seeing it was a text from Matt, John checked it right away.
Reading the text, he raised his eyebrows, “Hey guy, you might want to check out the news.” Bing Bing, another text “You know me, I don’t usually worry about news, but something is up with this.” John texted back, “Hey guy checking it out now.”
Turning on the TV, John grabbed a cup of coffee and sat to tend this fire that refused to start. Absently, he was looking for the TV from time to time when he caught sight of the ticker rolling across the bottom. “Ebola virus has been confirmed at hospitals in the following six U.S. cities. New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Denver, Sacramento and Detroit… Please stay tuned for an official announcement.”
This piqued John’s interest, he decided he would watch the announcement. John rarely watched the news, except for the weather reports, because he felt like it was all propaganda. “This new titbit might prove entertaining,” he thought. He had a little time before the official announcement for this new “event” sure to raise some kind of cry for new laws or changes. With September 11th right around the corner, he expected something to draw attention away from it.