A Pox Upon Us

A Pox Upon Us

Ron Foster

Dixie, Alabama, USA 

© 2013
by Ron Foster

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13:
978-1483982854
ISBN-10: 1483982858

Printed in the
United States of America.

Acknowledgements

Silver Fire Rocket stoves and Todd Albi

SteriPen

Heliatos Solar

SUNRNR

STOVETEC

Taylor Brand Knives

PurfiCup

1

Bug it in?  Bug it out?

The phone rang
loudly and Dennis hesitantly picked it up thinking to himself
“Well I know this is going to be bad news, but just how bad?
As he fumbled with the receiver.

“Hey! There you are Dennis! I am so glad I finally got through to you. The telephone lines have been crazy for days! “The familiar voice of his friend Suzy declared into his telephone handset.

“It sure is great to hear from you my friend! Been missing hearing your voice. Are you ok? No problems?” Dennis queried while nodding at the rooms occupants this was the call he had been expecting. Suzy only lived about 50 miles from him but right now it could have been 500 miles as short as gas was getting.

“I am doing fine I guess. I am just very worried as you might well expect. I can’t decide on whether or not I want to go hangout at the daughter’s house till this blows over, or come down to visit you and discuss SHTF plans. You got much company around?”  Suzy asked wondering what house guests or otherwise might be listening to the call or might be taking up temporary residence at Dennis’s Prepper shack for safety and sustenance.

“I got my Mom and as well as my good friend Charlene staying with me at the moment. Charlene brought down a bunch of her stash of preps for me to store and safeguard while she decides between staying here or maybe thinking possibly she is going to end up staying with her family one county over. You’re welcome to come on though and I will be glad to have you come and stay a short while or a long while. Are you maybe thinking about bugging in with me or is this just a social visit?” Dennis said hesitantly knowing his close lady friend Suzy had grandkids as well as extended family in her area and was probably pretty torn up as to what to do for herself or others in this situation. On the one hand she could help out with the kids babysitting etc as good grandmothers usually do but there were many options on the table. There were also a lot of cautions and survivability issues involved.

Bugging out to her son in law and daughters house was one option. She would have to get out of her own neighborhood anyway she had decided one way or another anyway as the desirability of the neighbors company had gone way done over the years. That meant moving what preps she had managed to collect over the years on a fixed income to the house of a son in-law who had been dubious about prepping for anything and was pretty much unprepared for even a power outage.

She and Dennis were pretty close friends that had thought and planned hypothetically in depth about several possible ends of the world scenarios together and they had both arrived at the conclusion that at their age having each others company and help when the SHTF was something both had strongly considered desirable.

“I just don’t know what to do Dennis. I have a full tank of gas for the van; thank the lord so I can make the trip back and forth a few times if the roads stay open…” Suzy said speculatively while putting on a brave front and wanting to be with her dear friend but just stricken heartbroken at the thought of leaving her daughter and grandkids.

“I can’t tell you much on making that hard decision Suzy. I heard Atlanta got hit with a terrorist smallpox release also and they are police backed emergency powers act restricting traffic into and out of the city at the moment. The CDC will be setting up various and sundry monitoring and observation points here and there as they try to contain the virus by clusters. You can still pretty much move around as much as you want at the moment, but you know there is no telling what the local police or sheriffs might get in their sometimes high handed minds. The roads all will be getting more and more dangerous to travel upon at a great many levels and even if you just needed help with a flat tire I doubt that many folks would stop to help anyone because of fear of contagion pr crazy folks. If you come to my place, you had maybe better pack for not going home again any time soon because the winds of change are coming faster than we can guess. Sort of what you call I.N.C.H. survival (I am Never Coming Home) mentality is what you might need to be thinking about when packing or traveling. “Dennis concluded cautiously before adding that we may not even see government enforced quarantine and travel restrictions this far south. Southerners tend to have enough sense to do it for themselves as need be and are kind of hard to be corralled if they don’t wish to be should someone tell them any different. Besides the threat was in the bigger cities up north, resources as well as perceived threats might not stretch down this far.

“Do you think it’s safe for me to travel the highways down your way at the moment Dennis?” Suzy said willing to take the risk to see Dennis if not for one last time but also to maybe stay for the duration.

“It’s about as safe now as it will ever be to travel about. I can only see things going downhill from here on and then it goes into the ditch from here on out as society unravels. Take the highway and if need be get off and hit the back roads like we talked about for safety in the past, but if your coming, you had better come on now and be sure to pack the last roll of toilet paper on the spindle in the bathroom” Dennis said not to sure he was giving the best advice, but telling her to close down her house.

“Well I told my daughter and Son in law to come over today and pickup what preps I couldn’t fit in the van for my big move. They should be here at my house in about a half hour and then I can head out your way. Nobody’s been sick around here at the moment, in the family that is, but like you said some of the friends and neighbors are imagining or actually experiencing some ills or sicknesses” Suzy said thinking back on some of Dennis’s more high brow emergency manager academic teachings on what to expect out of people from this type of disaster scenario.

One thing Dennis had brought up for this discussion many times is to be aware that not all physiological manifestations indicate exposure or are symptoms or indicators of a biological attack. Many stress-induced physical symptoms that mimic the effects of exposure are seen in first responders and the public as a whole.

Of particular importance is a phenomenon studied called “multiple unexplained physical symptoms” (MUPS) that has been noted after disasters, criminal assault, and warfare. In addition to MUPS, there may also be emergent and maladaptive reactions involving groups of people (i.e., collective psychosocial reactions) in the aftermath of terrorism and large-scale public health emergency events, such as mass sociogenic illness (sometimes also called mass psychogenic illness or mass hysteria). Such illness is characterized by the acute and rapid spread of medically unexplained physical symptoms including dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, and/or palpitations. These symptoms occur throughout a group of individuals, often through direct line of sight, in the absence of any substantiated toxic or microbiological exposure. The symptoms are associated with psychosocial stress, health-related anxiety and depression, all of which increase healthcare utilization. (Locke 2004)

Bioterrorism threats fall into three categories: (1) bacterial (anthrax, plague, food borne pathogens); (2) viral (smallpox), and (3) toxins (botulinum toxin, Staph enterotoxin B, ricin, and Tricothecene mycotoxins.

Basically you can arrange the symptoms like this:

Severe flu-like illness indicating the release of inhalational anthrax, pneumonic plague, smallpox or other diseases

• Flaccid muscle paralysis indicating that a neurotoxin, such as botulism toxin, may have been released

• Bleeding disorders indicating the use of a viral hemorrhagic fever agent

• Rash indicating the release of smallpox

• Apparent food-borne illnesses possibly indicating an intentional release on a food source or vendor

Cholera Vomiting, headache, cramping, clear diarrhea

Tularemia (AKA rabbit fever) Pneumonia and other symptoms 3 to 5 days; symptoms appear suddenly and powerfully
(Fiedelholtz, 2003)

Risk Mitigation

Adequate stockpiles of broad spectrum antibiotics

Vaccinations

MOP suits

Decontamination

The suits and masks are very hot and heat exhaustion must be guarded against.

Dennis answered her reservations
rather carefully” I am not worried much about your bringing smallpox to my house at this stage of this mega disaster and please remind you to remind your family not to be freaking out about a little sniffle etc. from the kids. The power outage from that allegedly Korean and Iranian EMP attack will have been causing enough havoc already. That also means don’t stop for anyone darling to give a stranger a ride if your heading down the highway this way. People are already desperate enough, and you all keep yourselves a good eye on the neighbors when you’re loading your son in-laws truck with your leftover preps and food stuffs. You know them son of bitches in your neighborhood are going to be all over your house like a bait car in LA when they think you have moved out. Thing is get out and stay out of that neighborhood. I would rather have you staying with me but I understand if you want to stay with family. Just think it through as best you can.” Dennis told Suzy worriedly and tried not to look at the stares from his Mom and Charlene listening into his conversation.

“I have thought it through Dennis, I think I could certainly help you more there than I can them here and I have already done what I can for them for now providing the extra preps.” Suzy said tearfully regretting such a decision had to even be thought about.

“Well come on then Darling! Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead! We will figure this thing out as we go, but be sure you’re not going to have any second thoughts or looking back on the way. I will get you reunited with them one day soon, I just can’t say exactly when or how at the moment. You be damn careful little lady and try picking me up on the CB radio when you get close enough. I will have “my ears on” and be waiting anxiously so try to call me when you leave if the phone lines let you.” Dennis said rubbing his head a bit dejectedly about how he was going to take in and care for one more member to his ever increasing brood.

“Damn it, it was more about community responsibility and helping friends out now than worrying about stretching his personal supplies!” He mentally admonished himself.