Reset (Book 2): Salvation (15 page)

“I didn’t say that.” Nora defended. “I just been listening to you steadily for weeks so you have little impact on me.”

“Wow.” Jason widened his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’d feel better if you’d shuck some corn.”

Marilee sung out an, ‘Oh’, as if she were trying to empathize. “Is someone a little sour?”

“No,” Nora said. “Yes. I mean, I have no problem doing my share while we’re here and even if we return….”

“When?”

“I don’t know.”

“No.” Marilee waved out her hand. “I mean when you return. You can’t leave us for good. We like you.”

“Thanks.”

“And we can get you other stuff to do. Do you hunt?”

“No.”

“Make clothes?”

Nora laughed. “No.”

“Well, what did you do before they stuck you in a block of ice?”

Jason nodded. “Go on, tell her.”

“I was a comedian.”

“A what?”

“Someone who tells jokes and makes people laugh.”

“And they paid you for that?” Marilee asked.

“Yes.”

“Well.” Marilee cleared her throat. “I’m confused. Did you do funny things?”

“Yes and told jokes.”

“Well, heck we can use some laughs around here. Please don’t take this the wrong way,” Marilee said. “But you don’t strike me as a person who makes people laugh. Maybe if I heard one of your jokes.”

Nora thought for a moment. “Okay. Where did the virus start?”

“Oh. Oh, that’s a change of subject,” Marilee said. “I thought you were …”

“No. Listen,” Nora repeated. “Where did the virus start?” she paused. “Germany.”

“Hmm. That makes sense. They say it started overseas,” Marilee said.

“No. It’s a joke. Virus started in … Germany. Germ …” She stared at Marilee who looked lost. “Forget it.”

“Maybe if you tried it on …” Marilee stopped when Jason burst into laughter. “Well, someone thought it was funny.”

“Oh, no, not the joke,” Jason said. “Your reaction was awesome.”

Tilting her head bashfully, Marilee wave out her hand. “Thanks.” Her head immediately sprung up when a single air horn blasted a short honk.

“What the hell?” Jason asked.

Before he could get an answer, Marilee reached deep into the un-shucked corn bin and withdrew a rifle. Everyone scurried about, extinguishing the fire pits, grabbing weapons, and racing into the buildings. Unlike the meek person she presented, Marilee, while backing up, confidently pointed her rifle at the church.

“No time to get you weapons from armory,” she spoke quickly. “Get into the church and wait until the two blasts of the horn for clear.”

Nora murmured out a, “What?”

“Go.”

Jason took her arm and led her quickly to the church. As they entered the doors, the street went from being active to a ghost town. It was a well rehearsed routine the people of Rantoul had probably done many times.

“They have enemies?” Jason locked the door.

“They left that information out,” Nora said.

“We’ve only been here two days. But to arm up like that. They’re afraid of something.”

“What’s out there? We roamed and saw nothing,” Nora said.

“Yeah but you know and I know there are other towns they trade with. Scarce doesn’t mean empty.”

“A couple blasts of the horn and it’s safe, what happens if it’s not?”

Jason closed his lips tight and shook his head in an ‘I haven’t a clue’ manner.

The wait inside the church was short lived, the double blast of the air horn rang out, followed by a male voice yelling. “Hey Preacher. Two of your friends are pulling up in one of them future buggies.”

Nora brightly smiled and looked at Jason. “Two people.”

“Has to be Amy and Malcolm.” Jason unlocked the door. “Let’s go.”

The decision to leave Hunter a couple miles behind was a mutual one. Both John and Meredith were worried that his appearance could cause alarm. Then again, what if the entire town of Rantoul were like the Burkians. Also, Hunter was an asset and they liked him. They didn’t want to take a chance he could be hurt.

At first they thought there was a grand welcoming committee. They could see the people walk out into the street. Then they drew closer and saw they were holding weapons.

“This is odd,” John said. “I say stop now.”

Meredith did so about four blocks from the line of people. “Now what?”

“Wait. If Jason and Nora are in trouble, we’ll know and we back up and get Hunter. Plus, we don’t know if we’re contagious.”

“Jason and Nora are with them. They look healthy.”

“They could have just got here. Let’s wait here.”

“Understood.” Meredith hands gripping the wheel, stared outward.

Nora leaned into Jason. “That’s Meredith and John. Where’s Grant?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they left him behind.”

Marilee asked. “Where were they coming from?”

“East,” answered Nora. “New York.”

Doug, a Rantoul resident, heard this. “Bad things out east. Hope the friend didn’t meet up with an accident.”

Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. I hope not. What are they waiting for?”

“Why don’t you guys go and find out,” Doug suggested.

Thinking it was a good idea, Nora led, she started walking first and Jason caught up. Two blocks from them, John and Meredith stepped from their buggy. Another block, the four of them walked toward each other.

As soon as Nora saw them, she got a sickening feeling in her stomach. John’s face was blue from bruising. Meredith’s as well, plus she had abrasions. “Oh my God, Jason, what happened to them?”

“I don’t know. But I am guessing we can figure out now what happened to Grant.”

Like visiting a friend in the hospital, no matter what John and Meredith looked like, Jason and Nora placed on a smile.

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“Grant met with a horrible death,” John said after embracing both Jason and Nora. “The east is a bit different than let’s say Ohio. Once we hit there, it was pretty empty.”

Jason nodded. “We didn’t run into a soul until we got near here. They tell us there are other communities.” He took a step back and pointed to the townspeople waiting a few blocks down the road in a line. “They’re dying to meet you.”

John cleared his throat. “That may be an understatement.”

“What?” Jason asked with a confused chuckle.

John shook his head.

“Why don’t you come meet them,” Nora said. “They are really nice people. You can’t be that shy.”

Meredith asked. “How long have you two been here?”

“A couple days,” Nora replied.

Meredith looked at John. “A couple days. They’re all healthy enough to bear arms. So … Nora and Jason are not.”

Jason asked. “We are not, what?”

John didn’t answer, instead spoke to Meredith. “But it doesn’t mean we’re not.”

“We’re not,” Meredith stated.

Again, Jason asked, “we’re not, you’re not … what?”

John shook his head. “We are. I believe it.”

“It was Grant, he was,” Meredith said.

Nora shifted her eyes. “Grant was what? And we aren’t? What are you two …?”

“I’ll give you that. But we don’t know if we are,” said John.

“We’re not. They aren’t.”

Nora whistled. “Hey. Stop. What are you two talking about?”

Meredith explained. “We found another Genesis lab.”

Eyes wide, Jason sounded excited. “That’s great.”

“No,” Meredith said. “They all didn’t make it and one of them was sick. Or got sick with the virus. We have reason to believe that we could be carriers. But I say we aren’t because that virus shows symptoms in twenty-four hours. None of these people are sick.”

John continued, but again, directed his comments to Meredith. “The DC person yes, he brought the virus and infected the Wreckers. But what about Rusty?”

“His son said he found the sick Wrecker and then he got sick. That Wrecker was a bad one, one of the ones that probably killed Grant. Grant infected him.”

“All right. Ok!” Jason shouted. “Enough. What is a Wrecker?”

John and Meredith looked at each other.

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“Yeah,” Jason cleared this throat looking at Hunter. “Okay.” To him, it wasn’t an understatement when he conveyed to Marilee that John and Meredith had found someone that may not be welcome in Rantoul. Jason wasn’t so sure the big, visually different man would be warmly welcomed at first. Rantoul was pretty sheltered.

Jason should have been prepared. After asking what a Wrecker was, John responded, ‘Ever seen The Goonies?’ And especially after finding out they left Hunter a half a mile outside of Rantoul sitting on a duffel bag waiting.

Meredith scolded John on his Goonies comment. But in a sense, John was right, it was a good way to warn Jason of Hunter’s appearance.

Nora seemed more amazed than frightened, or taken aback. “He’s different. Seems nice though.”

“Very sweet,” Meredith said.

Hunter was spellbound by Nora for some reason. He stared at her, then reached out and lifted her arm. “Uh …” He grunted. “It will break with ease.”

Nora smiled. “Oh my God, he is insinuating I’m thin. No one has called me thin since seventh grade. Thank you, Hunter.”

He touched her hair then cheek. “Soft.”

Meredith quickly commented. “She’s young, that will change.”

“My,” John walked up behind Meredith. “Has someone been bit with the jealousy bug? Perhaps our Hunter is really the Wrecker equivalent of Casanova.”

Hunter spun to John. “No Wrecker.”

“Whoops. Sorry.” John lifted his hand.

Jason asked. “Why do they call them Wreckers?”

“They …” John pointed to Hunter. “Do not call themselves Wreckers. The other population of survivors do. Because the ones we ran into … wreck. They wreck, rape and kill. Hunter’s people do not.”

“No Wrecker,” Hunter repeated.

“You know,” Jason said. “If you all just give me a few minutes to go talk to the folks in Rantoul, I am positive they’d be very interested in meeting Hunter.”

John shook his head. “I can’t with a clear conscience do that. I’m not sure I’m not a carrier.”

Meredith stepped forward. “I’m sure you’re not.”

“It’s a big area,” Nora explained. “You don’t need to go around anyone. You can stay in the church with us.”

“Church?” John asked snidely. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? But before we go in there, or even close, you need to let them know of my uncertainty.”

“Absolutely,” Jason said. “Nora and I will be right back.”

They asked to borrow the buggy to make the short jaunt back to Rantoul easier and faster. Nora and Jason were pretty excited about sharing the town of Rantoul with them and they left enthusiastically.

John watched until they were out of sight.

“You surprise me,” Meredith spoke softly, standing next to him. “You just never struck me as the type of person who would care so much about strangers.”

“It’s not care. It’s selfish. Thirty years in deep freeze, whether it is a blink of an eye or not, can do something to you. We were saved to ensure the continuity of mankind,” John said. “So you can say I just want to make sure that I am not the reason we
don’t
ensure the continuity.”

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  That night John made his jokes and comments about the home Jason and Nora recently made at the church. He called the bedroom very ‘Ricky and Lucy’ like with the twin beds.

The people of Rantoul were friendly, they fed them and even got Hunter to consume grain alcohol. Their all too ready protector was out like a light on the first pew of the church.

Meredith settled comfortably on a couch and John read a book. It had been a while since he got to sit down and read, and he was enjoying the secular story by the light of the lantern.

He understood the comfortableness that Jason and Nora instantly found.

It was all too evident that very quickly Jason had made claim to the town of Rantoul and wanted to stay there more than anything. In the new world John wanted to enjoy the charms of an established town. But he knew that would never be possible. It wasn’t their world anymore, or their time. John and the others, no matter how much they wanted to deny it, were different. They didn’t belong and had no place in this new society. Just like they disappeared from the face of the earth thirty years early, John had a gut feeling, for the sake of everyone, more than likely, they’d have to disappear again.

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