Omega Pathogen: Despair (26 page)

George dragged out the heavy box and opened it. There it was. Sitting right on top of the toolbox was exactly what he needed. He knew he would know when he saw it. George picked up the long and thick Phillips head screwdriver.

He practiced with it. He made overhanded thrusting motions several times and then practiced under-handed. He swapped hands and did it again and again. He swapped hands again and practiced some more. A tear streamed down his cheek and he smiled. He would save the world. He would be the savior of what remained of mankind. He was chosen.

Marlene yawned and stretched her arms overhead as she arched her back in the chair.

“Go get some sleep,” Linda whispered to prevent from waking the rest of those sleeping in the house.

Marlene stood up. “Thanks, Linda. I’ll see you in a few hours,” Marlene said and smiled. After a final stretch of her neck from side to side, Marlene left for her room. It actually wasn’t much of a room. It was an area separated from the children’s room by some plywood. It was just big enough for her single bed.

Linda sat down and took Marlene's place at the desk.

“The other one just went to bed. We still have to wait,” George responded to his voices.

“
Do it now. Don’t wait. Now. Go. Now!” his voices demanded.

“No! We have to wait. I’m still in charge here,” George said. He removed his finger from between the blinds and resumed pacing the floor. As he paced he, he practiced. He thrust the screwdriver at the air.

He paced. Peered out the blinds and paced. George continued practicing with the screwdriver for over an hour as he waited for the right time. He kept pacing and looking through the blinds at the Yates’ home as he explained his plans to the voices. They offered him guidance.

Arzu opened her eyes. She hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep. It was freezing inside the small camper trailer and she’d forgotten to turn on the space heater. She cursed to herself and got out of bed. The chill hit her with more force as she removed the blanket and made the short distance to the heater.

Arzu bent down and adjusted the position of the heater before switching it on. As she stood and turned to walk back to the warm bed with Berk and Kayra, she caught a glimpse of Marlene’s desk in the dimly lit interior of the house. She was seeing things. What she thought she saw couldn’t be real. Her fatigue and the poor light inside the home and shadows and angles played tricks on her eyes.

Chapter 31

They had been concerned that the MRAP couldn’t fit into a bay at a Wal-Mart garage, but the concern was for naught. When they had rounded the building, they saw that Sam Cooper’s group had modified the bays. Two of the three bays had been made wider and taller to accommodate a dump truck and a couple other large trucks. The large trucks were outside the garage when they arrived. Apparently they had made room for the MRAP.

Kathy was impressed by the work they had done customizing a dump truck. It had been fitted with steel panels to protect the cab. The steel bed of the truck had holes cut in the sides for gun ports and a roof added for protection from the elements and to keep infected from possibly jumping down into the bed.

Kathy had avoided several bodies that lay on the asphalt around the store. She followed the hand signals from two people on the roof of the building that directed her to the middle bay that had begun to open. As soon as the MRAP cleared the open gate, it started closing behind them.

Kathy, Chris, and Jeremy thought they had all the tools they would probably need for the task, and were offered the use of the other group’s if they found they lacked something. Three of the group’s men offered to assist in the repairs and Kathy accepted the help.

“Jeremy, keep your radio and weapon on you. Keep a watch on things,” Jim quietly said as he tried to inconspicuously look around.

“Got it," Jeremy said. He moved away where he could watch over his aunt and brother. Jeremy sat on an overturned five-gallon bucket and tried to look like he wasn’t suspiciously eyeing the people from Cooper’s group.

“Can I show you around our place, Jim,” Sam asked.

Since Jim would be little to no help to his sister and sons as they worked on the MRAP, he accepted the invitation and walked with Sam Cooper to take a tour of the store they had converted to their home. Both men shared parts of their experiences since the infection began as they toured the large building.

The feeling seemed nearly mutual in both of the groups. The Matthews and Coopers; they wanted to trust each other but just couldn’t do it completely yet. The expressions on the faces that Jim saw were those of suspicion but courtesy. Mixed in with some of the people’s looks and glances was also that they were pleased. Many seemed pleasantly surprised that they were seeing other survivors. Like at the Yates’ compound, Cooper’s group had some radio contact with other groups but had not met many in person.

“Y’all are welcome to spend the night if you like. We’ve got the room,” Sam said.

“Thank you, but if they can get the vehicle running we’ll be on our way tonight,” Jim said.

“Understandable. It seems like it’s gonna be pretty cold, you shouldn’t have as many of the diseased out there. Well, least not the fast ones,” Sam said.

Sam introduced Jim to others as they walked through the store. He told Jim that they currently had fourteen survivors in their group. Like the survivors at the Yates’ compound, Cooper and his group had started with more but had lost many.

As they walked Jim noticed a bulletin board hung on a wall with numerous pictures and drawings of people.

Sam noticed Jim take an interest and said, “A lot of us put pictures of family and friends we’ve lost, and those that we’ll probably never know what happened. Pam, one of our members, is a very good artist. She did the portrait sketches you see. Those folks we didn’t have pictures of.”

Jim nodded in reply as he looked at the pictures. In those faces of strangers he could see friends and family he too had lost. After the brief pause the men continued walking.

Sam seemed relaxed as he took Jim all throughout the store to show what they’d done. He talked of ongoing projects and future plans their group had. Jim got some good ideas from the work Sam and his group were doing. Jim wanted to get back to his sons and sister and then back to the Yates’ compound as soon as possible, but he hid his impatience as best he could during the tour.

On their way back to the garage, Sam invited Jim and his family to join his group for dinner.

“If we – I should say – if my boys and sister get done in time, we just might take you up on the dinner. Thanks,” Jim said.

They had wound their way back to the store’s automotive and garage area.

Sam excused himself as the men reached the garage.

As Jim approached the MRAP, he was about to ask how things were going, but he guessed from Kathy’s cursing that things were not going well. Kathy and Chris explained the issues they were having as they continued to work.

Their diagnosis was not only that the fuel filter was an issue, but also the quality of fuel they had in the tank, and there was likely debris in fuel lines. As they spoke, Jim noticed the temperature had dropped quite a bit since they’d arrived about an hour ago. The garage’s bay doors were closed, but the remodeling that had been done to fit larger vehicles had left some gaps in the concrete blocks above the doors.

The sun had set. Without the sunlight that had entered the garage through the skylight above them, more lights had been turned on around the MRAP so those working on the vehicle could see. Jim told them about the dinner invitation from Sam. Kathy, Chris, and Jeremy liked the idea and Jim felt they could use a break.

“Lock the rifles in the MRAP but keep your pistols,” Jim said.

After dinner, Jim went back to the garage and stayed with the Kathy and his sons. He was no mechanic but if one of them told him to turn a wrench or hold a light on something, he could do that. After several hours of work they were satisfied they had made the repairs.

Jim went to find Sam and thank him while Kathy, Chris, and Jeremy cleaned up and put away tools. While on the way, Sam had already been on his way to see Jim.

“They said you got her fixed,” Sam said and held up a walkie-talkie.

Jim thanked Sam and his group for the help.

The men headed back to the garage. They both offered to try and be of assistance to the other if needed.

Jim stopped walking and talking in mid-conversation in front of the bulletin board. Jim stared at the photos and leaned closer to one of the sketches in particular. He pointed to one of the sketches.

“I think I know this guy,” Jim said.

Sam moved closer and looked at the one that had drawn Jim’s attention.

“Unfortunate situation there, Jim. He’s no longer with us,” Sam said.

Jim looked with a confused expression at Sam. “I know he’s not. He lives with us back at the Yates’ place,” Jim said. His finger still pointed at the paper.

Sam cleared his throat. “Jim, we abandoned him at Camp Blanding. The man was schizophrenic. He became dangerous,” Sam replied. His facial expression was as confused as Jim’s.

Jim turned toward Sam, his mouth open, and his facial expression had fear added to it. “We found him hiding in a tower. He worked for the CDC. He’s a laboratory technician,” Jim said.

“No, Jim. He’s delusional. We thought he was just acting weird because . . . well, who could blame anyone for taking all this shit so hard. It can mess with anyone’s head. He tried to kill some of our folks,” Sam said. He went on to tell Jim that they had still felt pity for George even after his attempt to harm the people. Sam explained that they decided not to kill him but elected to abandon him. A team from Sam’s group had taken George along when they had gone to Camp Blanding in search of ammunition and supplies.

“We lost some people up there from attacks by the diseased. They were all over that place. Before we left we convinced him to climb the tower and be a look out. We left him there to die,” Sam said. 

Jim pushed pass Sam and sprinted to the garage. The door just missed Jeremy when he burst through it. Jim saw Kathy in the driver seat looking at gauges as she tapped her foot on the accelerator.

“Call them on the Ham!” Jim said as he approached the passenger side door.

“Chris. Jeremy. Load up now!” Jim said as he yanked open the door and climbed in.

While Jim gave a brief explanation to his sister and sons, Sam had some of his group start clearing out the exit of the garage of nearby infected and open the bay door.

Chapter 32

George felt he had waited long enough. Besides, he couldn’t take the damned voices any more. They grew louder and louder, urging him to act and heaving insults at him because he hadn’t begun his duty. He had to do it now. The fate of the world depended on his actions.

George walked out of the RV and quietly closed the door behind him. He didn’t notice the freezing temperature as he crossed the soggy over-grown grass and mud puddles to the kitchen door of the house. He held the screwdriver in his left hand behind his back.

George looked around and could vaguely make out the parking lights of the pickup truck all the way at the opposite end of the farm. The truck couldn’t be further away unless it was outside the walls of the compound.
Perfect
.

George reached the kitchen door and looked inside. He waited. He moved the screwdriver from hand to hand a few times before concealing it behind his back again. George calmly opened the door. Linda turned left toward him and gave a smile. George's expressionless face quickly changed into a toothy smile and he walked inside.

Linda pointed in the direction of the children’s room and put her finger to her lips. George’s smile remained as he nodded and mimicked Linda. He pointed to his stomach and made motions of shoveling food into his mouth and then pointed to the kitchen. Linda smiled again and gave a thumbs-up before she turned her attention back to the video monitors.

He felt he should eat something. His work might take a while and he was hungry. He would need the energy. George gathered some canned meat, sliced it and made a sandwich with Arzu’s homemade bread. He had never had bread this good. It was best when it just came out of the oven, but it was always delicious. He thought of how much would miss her bread.

George stood at the sink and finished the sandwich. He washed it down with some water. George placed the cup on the counter and wiped breadcrumbs into the sink before he replaced the towel on the holder. George walked from the kitchen and closed the distance separating him from Linda’s back.

Linda sat in the chair with the headphones covering both ears. She paused and listened for any communications as she adjusted the frequency dial of the Ham. After checking several, Linda turned the dial back to the frequency that the MRAP would use to contact them. She kept an eye on the monitors, watching each one for a few seconds for signs of intrusion and then on to the next.

Through the part in the kitchen door curtains George could still see the pickup truck Royce used on his patrol. Royce was still far away. George grew within about six inches of Linda.
How could she not notice me? I am the one chosen to do this. I am like a wraith,
He thought.