Ever Onward (9 page)

“Do you think many will come?”, she
asked casually. Her voice was heavily accented, with a pleasant,
sing-song quality. The girl said nothing.

Josh found his own voice. “We hope so.
I’m Josh Williams. Who are you?”

The old lady bowed. The girl kept her
large dark eyes on the dogs. “I am Kay-loon Wang. This is my
granddaughter, Mai-ling.”

Doc made the rest of the introductions
and offered the old lady a seat in the open side door of the van.
She hesitated, smiled and then shuffled forward. Josh saw that she
moved stiffly. Probably arthritis. The girl stayed by her side,
silent and wide-eyed. She looked to be fourteen or fifteen. Her
hair was long and black and glistened like a raven’s
wing.

Josh hunkered down beside her and
asked it she’d like to play with the dogs. The pup Og came up and
sniffed her, causing a bright smile to light up her
face.

“Mai-Ling is mute,”, her grandmother
said. “She can neither hear nor speak. Been that way since birth.
But she can read lips.”

Josh was about to repeat his question,
but saw there was no need; Og was already licking her face. After
stocking up on food, all five of them went back to Doc’s for
supper.

Later that night Doc joined Josh on
the back porch. The old man had a bottle of brandy and two glasses.
The stars were burning brightly in the summer sky.

“Peaceful out here, isn’t it?”, Doc
said as he eased himself into a lawn chair. “My wife Martha and I
used to sit and listen to the crickets. Too noisy in town she used
to say.”

Josh nodded and accepted a half filled
glass. The amber liquid slid down his throat like rough velvet,
igniting a small, fierce fire in his stomach that made him
shudder.

“Hits the spot, don’t it?”, Doc
grinned.

Josh managed a nod.

The old man took a sip, then reached
his pipe. “I’ve been thinking again. Old coots like me do a lot of
that.”

“Keep it up,” Josh smiled. “Your sign
idea was brilliant. What’s next?”

Doc leaned forward, his eyes bright.
“What kind of blood type are you?”

Josh looked surprised.
“Why?”

Doc grinned. “Humor me.”

“RH negative. It caused a lot of
problems when my wife was pregnant with Jess. She is... was
positive.”

“And what about the boy?”

Josh stiffened. “Same as me, negative.
Why?”

Doc sat back, filled his ancient Briar
and smiled. “I’m RH negative too. Out of the five of us, we know
three of us have the same rare kind of blood. Now, I’m just a
country vet, and an old one at that, but that seems mighty strange
to me. My bet is that Mrs. Wang and her granddaughter have it too.
Come morning I intend to test them both and find out.”

“Just how rare is it?”

Doc struck a match. “Somewhere around
five or six percent of the population.”

Josh sat perfectly still, his glass
forgotten in his hand. “You think that’s it? Whatever the hell they
let loose passed us by because of our rare blood?!”

“Christ, Josh, I told you I was just a
country vet. We’d need one of those big-city Harvard boys to be
sure. But if I’m right, then we can look up the records at Crown
Point Hospital and start phoning. Most people have those
thing-a-ma-jigs that leave a message. Cell phones may not work any
longer, but the old line-phones still do --- for a while at least.
We can just call them up and see who’s still home.”

Josh suddenly stood up, his eyes wide.
“Brad Westgate! He’s my cousin. Lives over in North Conway, New
Hampshire. The two of us practically grew up together!”

“This cousin of yours have RH negative
blood?”

Josh’s smile fairly lit up the night.
“He sure as hell does! What’s more, at least one of his sons has it
as well! Kenneth, the oldest one, born twelve hours before Jessie!
One night a few years back we were hiking the Presidential Range up
near Mount Washington. Brad had a beer or so too many and told me
how worried he was about his wife having the baby because of it!”
Still smiling, Josh rushed into the house.

The next morning, June
25
^th
, four days after Sergeant David Henderson
unwittingly unleashed the worst plague in the history of mankind,
Josh Williams woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs.

He’d gone to bed late and taken a long
time to fall asleep. There had been no answer at Brad’s place. He’d
left a message on Brad’s machine, but doubts had quickly crept in.
Perhaps Doc was wrong about the RH negative blood? Perhaps it was
the blood combined with something else? Perhaps now they’d never
know.

When he made his way to the kitchen,
Mrs. Wang met him with a smile and a bow. He returned the gestures,
noticing the smell of hot bread mingled in with the bacon. Soon
Doc’s rambling kitchen was filled with eager eaters.

Mrs. Wang seemed delighted with the
way the three men wolfed down her food, and refused to let them
help her with the dishes. “Go on,” she said in her musical voice.
“You men have your work to do and I have mine. Mai-Ling can help
me.”

So much for Woman’s Lib!
Josh had a sneaking feeling that a lot of modern ideas would soon
be going by the board. As though to confirm his thought, Jessie
asked if he could have another target lesson. This time he wanted
to shoot the big gun. The refrain from an old Dylan song echoed in
his head.

‘Ya better start
swimming’,

Or you’ll sink like a
stone,

‘Cause the Times they are a
changing’!

‘Bloody right!’, he said to himself.
‘A lot of things are changing.’ Slowly, even a bit sadly, he called
his son and carried the two guns out back.

About eleven Doc suggested they go
down to the Town Square and see if their sign had worked. On the
way there he told Josh he’d tested both Mrs. Wang and her
granddaughter and that they were both RH negative.

By quarter to twelve Doc was sitting
on a park bench feeding the pigeons. Josh and Jessie were watching
from the shadows of the court house. They’d left the dogs at home
and brought their guns instead.

Twelve o’clock came and the clock
tower atop the court house tolled out the strokes. Nothing moved in
the square except the pigeons. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Josh
was just about to step out of the shadows when he saw the sun
strike something shiny on the far side of the square. Backing up,
he handed Jessie the 12 gage and took the .22. Inwardly he cursed
himself for not getting a bigger rifle. Field glasses would have
helped too.

“What’s up, Dad?”

“Someone’s watching from across the
square. Too far for the shotgun.”

Jessie looked at his father strangely,
for the first time realizing that this wasn’t just some video game
or movie. This was REAL! The flash came again, only closer this
time. Whoever was over there was moving and probably armed. Jessie
checked to see that the shotgun was loaded.

Then, on the far side of the square, a
girl appeared. Josh could see she was in her late teens, dressed in
cut-off jeans and a red halter. She flipped her long, scraggly hair
over her bare shoulders, looked back into the shadows, then moved
nervously forward.

“Who’s that?”, Jessie
asked.

Josh silenced him with a look, then
turned back to the girl. The flash of steel came again from the
shadows, only closer than before. “Cautious bugger,” Josh muttered.
“Using the girl as bait.” He thumbed off the safety of the .22,
wishing again that it was a bigger caliber and making a mental note
to visit the local sporting goods store as soon as this was
over.

“Hello there, little lady,” Doc called
out. “Come on over and help me feed the birds.”

The girl hesitated, glancing back once
again.

Doc’s pleasant voice continued. “Might
as well tell your friend back there to come on over too. There’s a
nice lady cooking fresh biscuits back at my place and you’re both
welcome to come along.”

The girl kept glancing from Doc to the
shadows, clearly waiting for instructions. They came, but they
weren’t for the girl.

“Stand up, old man, and walk over
here!”

From his own position, Josh could see
Doc cross his legs, take out his pipe and casually strike a match.
Through the bluish haze, the old man’s words were crisp and
clear.

“No sir, I don’t believe I will. I’m
quite comfortable sitting here in the sun. You both can come on
over, though.”

“What’s he doing, Dad?” Josh ignored
his son, his eyes fastened on the shadows on the far side of the
square.

“Don’t fuck with me, old man!”, the
male voice yelled.

Doc continued to puff away. “I have no
intention to, son. However, that invitation for hot biscuits still
holds. You and the little lady are welcome, but its your decision,
not mine.”

Silence, during which the girl began
to shake like a deer caught in the headlights of an onrushing
truck. Josh whispered in Jessie’s ear and the boy slipped silently
away to the right. Then the man’s voice spoke again, harsh and
cold.

“Gloria! Get your ass over there and
check him out!”

The girl jerked forward. As she neared
Doc, the voice came again. “Move to one side, bitch! You’re
blocking my shot!”

The girl moved, and so did Josh.
Stepping out so that he was still partially in the shadows, he
called out loudly.

“How’s it going, Doc? The rest of the
boys are getting a little restless back here!”

The girl froze a dozen steps from Doc,
her eyes wide with fear.

“Don’t move, old man!”, the voice
called out. The tone was higher now, scared.

Doc continued to puff away on his
pipe.

“How many guns you got over there?!”,
the voice demanded.

Doc smiled. “More than enough, son.
But why don’t you come out and we can all shake hands. The young
lady here looks a wee bit pale.”

The voice yelled back, clearly
frightened now. “If you don’t shut the fuck up you’re going to be a
wee bit dead!”

Josh joined in again, praying his ruse
would work. “Hey Doc! Bob’s got the guy in his scope. You want him
to take the shot or what?”

The girl began to whimper.

Doc’s voice now held an edge of steel
in it. “I want our bashful boy here to either walk out here real
friendly like or to get the hell out of our town!”

Josh smiled in spite of the fear
gripping his spine. “Well friend!”, he yelled. “Which one is it
going to be? Come out empty handed or take off?!”

The voice, almost a screech now,
hollered back. “Eat shit and die, all of you!”

At the same time Josh yelled his son’s
name. Jessie, hidden in the shadows two buildings away, pulled both
triggers on his grandfather’s shotgun. The double recoil staggered
him as the heavy number 4 pellets tore across the square, blowing a
three foot hole in the leaves of the old maple just to the right of
the person hidden in the ally. The large picture window on the
second floor of the dentist’s office shattered, sending jagged
shards of glass falling to the sidewalk.

Josh ran forward, yelling as he went.
“Get down, Doc!” With each step he expected to feel a bullet slam
into him. None came. Doc had pulled the terrified girl down behind
the bench and was covering her with his body when Josh flopped down
beside them. All three kept their heads lowered.

“Quick thinking for a college man,”
Doc said, a wry smile on his lined face.

“Up yours, Doc.”

The sound of the 12 gage boomed out
again. This time the window to the right of the dentist
shattered.

Jessie called out from behind them. “I
think he’s gone, Dad!”

“Stay down!”, Josh yelled.

“You ARE a good teacher!”, Doc
grinned.

Josh didn’t answer. Instead he
cautiously looked over the edge of the park bench. Nothing, except
that he was kneeling in pigeon shit.

“He called himself The Dude. I met him
two days ago. He seemed nice at first, but then he got drunk and
wanted me to...to do things.” The girl was sitting in the open door
of their van, holding a cigarette in a trembling hand. “At night
he’d put on dirty movies and --- you know ---”

Doc patted her hand. “Never mind now,
little lady. He’s long gone, and that offer about hot biscuits
still stands.”

The girl looked at him suspiciously
out of the corner of her eye. Doc smiled. “I doubt Mrs. Wang and
her granddaughter --- they’re the ones doing the baking --- care
too much for dirty movies. Can’t say I fancy them much
myself.”

A ghost of a smile flitted across her
young face. She said her name was Gloria Ambrose. Four days ago she
woke up to a dead house full of dead parents. She’d ran outside
into a dead word. After two days of wandering around she’s met ‘The
Dude’. Since then things had gone from bad to worse. Jessie,
blushing in the background, introduced himself and the others, then
began telling her about his dogs.