Barren Fields (12 page)

“We’re supposed to pull over up there and wait,” Thomas tells the group. “They have an idea how to help those people.”

The armed guards of the convoy get out of their vehicles and form a perimeter to prevent any of the infected from getting to them. The plan doesn’t involve actively shooting at the infected though.

Senior Maldonado says something in Spanish while walking up to Keith and the others, Thomas translates:

“He said we may lose some supplies.”

They stand and watch as the dump trucks turn around and drive in reverse through the crowd of diseased people. They each work their way over the crowd several times as they mow down the new infected that walk out from behind the building as well. With the number of infected dropped from over a hundred to no more than ten visible, one of the trucks backs up to the building and the two people on top jump aboard.

Senior Maldonado says something else, pats Thomas on the shoulder, and walks back to his car.

“What did he say?”

“It is better to live this way. To help instead of leave them to die.”

*

The trucks stop several miles outside of Minatitlán where no buildings or people are around. It is time to check the vehicles and especially the dump trucks for any surprise hitchhikers besides the two they picked up earlier.

One legless and two headless corpses were found attached to the trucks in different spots. They were either tangled in a chain or crushed against the back and got stuck.

Thomas listens in and translates while the two people they rescued tell their story.

“My family ran when they came, but I don’t move well anymore. My son and his wife all left us and only my grandson, Joaquin, stayed to help. We couldn’t run, so he boosted me up to the roof where we could get away and he was bitten before he could get up there with me.”

The guns all rise at the pair as they learn the boy has a bite. The old man steps in front of the boy to plead for his life and continues speaking rapidly and pointing back at the boy.

Thomas steps out to join the old man in blocking Joaquin without translating, and asks George and Keith, “You said you had a letter about the drug and what it did to people, right?”

“Yes, but we lost the letter.”

“Did it say anything about transmission times?”

Thomas translates their English dialog for the others.

“People that got the injection became violent in five to ten minutes, and with a bite, it takes one to five.”

“What about a
fever
? Did it say anything about a fever?”

“Six hours. People are supposed to get a fever six hours after the injection.”

Thomas speaks rapidly to the group, and while no one shoots, no one lowers their weapons either.

Dr. Morales is brought up and inspects the boy. He was bitten three times, once on the shoulder, once on the arm and once on the leg.

“The boy was bitten over a day ago,” Thomas explains. “They were trapped on the roof since yesterday morning, and the boy had a bad fever and convulsions six hours after he was bitten. He almost fell off of the roof because his tremors were so bad.”

Dr. Morales says a few more things to the group, and then directly to Senior Maldonado.

“The doctor thinks the boy is immune,” Thomas translates. “They haven’t seen anyone that has stayed themselves for more than five minutes after being bitten. The two of them are going to drive in the car with the doctor so he can clean the boy’s wounds and make sure he stays alive.”

The boy and his grandfather are being guided to the main car, but the boy runs back to the dump truck and begins to call and blow kisses. His pet cat looks over the side and jumps onto the boys shoulders.

The old man says something about
el gato
loudly and puts his hands in the air before the boy walks back to them.

“He said that boy is always with the cat. He’s not sure if the boy stayed to help him or his cat in the end.”

*

The drive through the plains and the mountains were uneventful, even disturbingly calm. The disease hadn’t made its way to the remote towns they passed but word of it had. Many of the citizens were setting up defenses and preparing road blocks, but what could they really do against a walking enemy? They would have to build walls around the entire town to keep out one infected person that wants to come through. Still, they were working together to prepare for the coming storm the best way they knew how.

Chapter 10

Hellos and Goodbyes

Oregon.

Present Day.

Isaac’s entire group arrived an hour ago. I was surprised they were able to get here so quickly, but according to Mariah, Isaac’s sister, the families didn’t have much left in the way of supplies or belongings to slow their departure. They threw what they had left in their vehicles and came here immediately when they heard they had a safe place to come. It will take a few days to a week to make sure the farm is secure enough for people to live there permanently, so Isaac and his people will be staying on the ranch until then.

Stockton’s former prisoners, the Stick People, have been at the ranch over four hours now and have been getting checked out by Simone and Michael Palmer, our resident EMT.

Arthur called an emergency meeting so most of the leaders of my group are here, as well as those from Isaac’s group. Danielle Hartley is the only person from the Stick Peoples camp that is well enough to attend, so she is their designated representative.

“There are too many people for us to deal with effectively,” Arthur tells everyone at the meeting in a frustrated tone. “Everything is going to fall apart with these numbers.”

“Thank you for the boost of confidence, Arthur,” I say. “I know it’s going to be tough and confusing at first, but maybe we should leave the forecasts of doom out for a few days until we can get people more situated. Are supplies the main problem?”

“No, it isn’t the supplies. We
will
have to collect a great deal more to prepare for the winter with these numbers. There are still all the grocery stores and houses out there waiting to be scavenged so we should be good on supplies for a couple more years. At least until we can start safely growing crops and perhaps find some cattle to raise.

“I’ve crunched the numbers these last few hours and we just don’t have the facilities to take care of so many people. Sleep is one problem, Eddie. A person can only stay so long on the ground in a sleeping bag before they will demand something better.”

“We’ve already thought about bringing as many campers and RVs up here as possible, so we should be able to take care of that,” I reply trying to calm him down. “If we can manage it, we’ll start tomorrow or the next day and run scavenge teams to get supplies to build separation walls in the riding stable. That could be temporary living quarters for people as well or storage spaces for personal belongings and supplies we need to stockpile.”

“Okay,” Arthur replies. “Those trailers should help with where people can bathe, cook and use the toilet, but the trailers will hurt us with space. We were planning on taking down some of the buildings so we could turn more of your property into fields for crops next year. The goats need more room to move around right now.”

I shake my head and smile. I never wanted to be a mayor but that is technically the position I’m in.

“What’s the biggest priority right now? What should be taken care of first?” I ask of everyone.

“Bathing,” Simone says and everyone looks her way. “The people we rescued from the store are all in bad shape, and several have severe colds and coughs that could turn into pneumonia if they haven’t already. Some have diarrhea, possibly dysentery.

“Isaac, some of the people from your group aren’t in the greatest shape regarding cleanliness and health either,” she says while looking his way. “A few of them also have signs of spring colds. If we don’t get these people cleaned up, bathed, teeth brushed and in fresh clothes, then more of them will die than should. The illnesses they have will probably spread to the rest of us.”

“Our generator broke down a short while ago,” he offers in an apologetic way. “We think our fuel went bad, and since then, we didn’t have electricity for the pumps on our wells. The only treated fuel we had was in our vehicles, and we weren’t about to use that and force ourselves to escape on foot if we had to. That’s why we are a bit rank.”

“I’m not trying to embarrass you. We just need everyone to get cleaned up now that they aren’t on the run so we can once again avoid the preventable deaths.”

“Since you mentioned fuel—” Arthur begins.

“Let’s get back to the fuel later, Arthur. How many pools do we have? Didn’t we have like three or four of those two foot deep pools that we bought for temporary duck ponds?” I ask.

“We have six of them,” he says.

“Great. We have probably an hour of light left. Simone, grab whoever you need from outside, and set up a few of the pools in the riding stables. We can use those as giant group bath tubs. Maybe one for men and one for women or one for soaking and one for rinsing, however you think will work the best.”

“I don’t think any of our people will want to jump into a pool full of cold water to wash off at nightfall,” Isaac says.

“Not to mention washing in public where everyone can see you,” one of Isaac’s people offers.

“The water won’t be cold. We have extra tankless water heaters in one of the storage buildings that we can run off the generator in the stable. They should only take fifteen minutes to hook up, add to that the time it will take to fill the pools and then everyone can get a nice bath with hot water. People can even sit in them and soak while they are still filling up.”

“We can set up tarps to separate the men’s and women’s pools for a bit of privacy. We have plenty of bubble bath, soap, and shampoo so getting everyone clean shouldn’t be a problem,” Simone says and starts heading out.

“If you have any problems getting the pumps hooked up just come and get me,” Arthur calls after her.

“Sorry for cutting you off about the fuel Arthur. What did you have in mind for that?”

All I get in return is a blank stare, the same one I always have when trying to remember something Simone tells me not to forget.

“I have no idea,” he says and shrugs to a few chuckles. “Next I guess is cooking and toilets.”

“Toilets should be next. I don’t know what your people's diets were like Isaac, but I know the Stick People are going to be getting far more calories and spices than they are used too. That means more possible cases of diarrhea and vomiting. We’ll need easy access toilets for that.

“Again, I think for expediency we’re going to have to forego the niceties of private toilets and do things military outpost style. Arthur, pick someone to get a bunch of our folding chairs and cut holes in the seats. We can put buckets under them that can be pulled out and dumped periodically. We’ll have to make a burn hole we can dump the waste into for now. Use some of the sheets from the house for makeshift walls for the toilets and set them up close to where the Stick People will be sleeping tonight. I mean close enough not to cause issues with the smell but still be easy to reach by sick and weak people.”

Arthur heads out with two of Isaac’s people to show them where they can get the supplies they need, as well as grab some extra hands to help setting up latrines. I wait for him to get back because the next item is completely out of my area of expertise.

“I have no idea what to do about food for three people, let alone over a hundred. Someone give me some ideas.”

“Our problem isn’t food being available,” Arthur says. “We still have plenty of canned goods and bulk storage like rice and beans, but we don’t have enough kitchen space to cook it for so many people. Even if we use our bigger cooking pots I think people would only get a small portion or will have to wait for more to be cooked.”

“I think that is my department,” a woman from Isaac’s group offers while standing up.

“This is Gayle,” Isaac says. “She is an excellent cook and baker. If you have the supplies she can make anything taste delicious, even if it shouldn’t.”

Gayle smiles and nods. “He’s not exaggerating either, I might add. But for tonight, I think it would be best to just make a warm staple of rice with some veggies for the sickest people. I’ve seen the kitchen in your house and the bunk house, between the two I can make enough food for all of the sick people. If you have something to hold the children over, I can make them a warm meal after I finish with the first group, and everyone else I can cook for after that.”

“You can make that much food so quickly?” I ask.

“If your people didn’t keep your food stocks so organized, no, but there are plenty of helpers to move pots around and fill up plates so it shouldn’t be an issue. I have a good two hours before the first group will be out of those pools your wife is setting up, and I shouldn’t need much more than an hour to make enough for them to eat.”

“We have some canned mixed fruits that the children might like,” I offer. “But anything that we have on the ranch that you think will hold them over until they can eat is up to you. Maybe the rest of us can skip out on the warm meal today and hit cans of beef stew to make your job a bit easier.”

“I’m sure I can manage something,” she says warmly in reply. “I’ll just grab my usual helpers and maybe take your
Michael Palmer
with me too. I hear he’s the man that’s been taking care of most of your cooking at the ranch.”

“You’ll find Michael on the roof of the house, doing watch with his wife,” Arthur tells her. “Just grab any two people from outside that look like they are too comfortable and have them take over the watch for Michael and Jennifer, and he can help you with things.”

Things are going smoothly, and I get an idea that might help us out in another department.

“Erde, you’re a chemist, right? Do you know how to distil alcohol?” I ask.

Erde looks at me oddly with that question, and a few others just smile.

“I think with the world having ended you will find more than enough alcohol of all varieties to satisfy your needs,” he says and follows with a smile.

“I agree, but I need to know if you can distil?”

“Yes.”

“Great! Isaac, you think your generator died because of bad fuel, right? What about distilling the gasoline? There is enough fuel sitting underground around this country to last us all of our lives, but it will go bad, drawing in water and other contaminants. Can you distil bad gasoline into a cleaner usable form?”

Erde nods. “I will need the right equipment and have to do it away from any buildings we wouldn’t want to lose, as there is a danger to doing it, but it can be done. First however, I would insist upon getting a medical laboratory set up so I can do the more pressing work of attempting to culture basic toxoplasmosis to immunize people.”

I nod, conceding the importance of what he wants to do. “So we’ve got the food, bathing and toilets settled for today, at least. Possibilities for gas are there but space and future crops are an issue.”

“We can’t eat canned goods forever,” Jessica Dixon adds. “And with so many extra people we won’t be able to raise enough chickens, rabbits, and goats to keep everyone regularly fed here. Like Arthur said, there won’t be enough space to grow grass and plants for them to eat when the place is filled up with vehicles and trailers.”

Jessica has assumed charge of the animal care on the ranch, along with her sister, Ashley.

“I thought they were going to be put on our farm?” Brain Carpenter asks.

The Carpenter farm next to my property is where we are already growing most of the crops we have set for this year.

“We were going to have plenty of potatoes, corn, peas, and onions for canning in the fall to make it through the winter, but with so many extra people, we won’t. The rest of the farm will have to be planted now, if it isn’t too late. With Isaac’s group moving there, we won’t have room to raise animals as well, and we can’t let them run around eating the crops we try growing for ourselves.”

“It’s a bit late in the season but not too late,” a man from Isaac’s group offers. “With so many extra hands we could till up the property here at the ranch to grow some things and still leave some room for people to live. Especially if we move those shipping container towers.”

“That’s Steven,” Isaac says introducing the man to everyone. “Steven was a farmer before the disease arrived.”

“I appreciate the suggestion, but the land isn’t ready yet.”

Steven starts to protest about the condition of the land when I raise my hand up to stop him.

“It looks good on the surface, Steven, but too much blood was spilled here this past winter for us to want anything growing on it right now.”

By now word has spread among Isaac’s people about the numbers of infected we dealt with when the ranch was overrun. Steven nods his understanding and stops pressing his point. I know after they arrived several groups of people wandered to the back of the property to look at the piles of charred bones beyond the fence line. I overheard several comments by his people unable to imagine dealing with the numbers we faced during the attack. I lived through it and still have a hard time dealing with what it was like.

“Now that we are talking about space,” says Danielle, the chosen spokesperson from the Stick People. “Isaac’s group is moving to the farm next to the ranch and some of my people were wondering where we will end up?”

I shrug and shake my head because it’s something I really haven’t thought about.  

“Everyone will get a choice, I imagine. Once your people are healthier, they’re going to have to decide whether they want to stay at the ranch or move to the farm.