Tent City (20 page)

It is so far away it’s hard to tell what it is, but it’s definitely moving. It’s a grayish/brownish blur that seems to be moving closer to us.

It’s still so far away, so I stand to get a better look. Whatever it is, it is darting between the trees so it’s hard to see what it might be.

I turn my backpack around and rummage around until I find the binoculars.

It takes me a while to get the object in focus and when I do, I’m shocked. It’s some kind of wolf, or coyote, just outside of Tent City. I thought they were nocturnal animals.

What is it doing so close to camp? Don’t they fear people? My pulse is at full speed and I run in to tell Kit we need to get back to my cabin.

“Kit,” I begin, as I poke my head into the cabin, “we gotta go. There’s an animal!”

“So?” She looks slightly annoyed that I am interfering and I sneak a glance at Beth. She looks pale and sweaty. Something feels wrong here.

“You can come back. Please, just get out here now!”
 

 I take Brody by the hand and decide to take a detour to Callie’s to see if Bentley’s there. Thankfully, he is.

I’m certain all of the color has drained from my face because as soon as he sees me he rushes over. I’ve got Brody’s wrist in a death grip and he’s starting to whine.

“Sit down,” Bentley instructs.

“No, I can’t. There’s something out there. It’s right outside the cabins by Wes’s tent. It’s some kind of animal. Out in the daylight, very close to camp!” I’m trying to steady my voice for Brody’s sake, but I can hear the pitch rising.

“Stay here with Callie. We’ll go check it out.” He’s moving stuff around under his bed and I see him pull out a rifle.

“No, I have to go back to medical. I told Kit I’d meet her there.”

“Fine. I’ll take you there myself.”

He instructs Callie to stay inside and he rushes me to Kit. As we exit their cabin, he cocks the rifle and immediately starts shouting for people to get indoors. He tells them not to panic, but they are anyway. They are stumbling over each other in an attempt to get inside safely.

We wait for what seems like hours. The last little bit of light in the day is fading and just as I’m about to go out and find out what’s going on, I hear arguing not far from my cabin. Of course, it’s Jack and Bentley.

“We have a real problem here!” Jack is shouting at Bentley.

“It’s just a couple of strays,” Bentley shouts back.
“We’ll take care of them. We already got one. And we got that coon. Besides, you don’t know if that’s what it is anyways. Can we take this inside?” He’s lowered his voice from shouting to talking between clenched teeth.

“You’re going to freak everyone out,” Bentley adds as he looks around. “Never mind. We can talk about this later. Let’s go Wes.”

Bentley and Wes meet up with Grant and they each carry rifles as they march off into the woods.  I can see the dead carcass of one of the coyote things they shot. It’s lying motionless on the ground with its tongue sticking out to the side.

Kit clutches Grant in a desperate embrace before they go and whispers in his ear. They leave each other with a kiss. That relationship is certainly moving along. She shouts at me to get Brody and meet her inside Beth’s cabin. Jack follows.

Outside I can hear pandemonium. Wes and Bentley are shouting at the curious kids to get back indoors, which doesn’t do much to soothe those who live in tents. If a wild animal wanted to get in, it wouldn’t take much.

Those who have cabins are taking in others, but they fill up fast. People are respectful of the medical cabin, as Beth is lying sick in the bed.

Jack is already at her side examining her. He’s going through the same protocol he did with Brody. Even if I watch him do this a thousand times, I will still be in awe at his apparent expertise. He’s talking quietly with her and she seems to be lucid and answering his questions.

She is telling him that it feels like she has the flu. She says she had it once before and it only took a few days to get well.

I get a cool damp cloth and place it on her forehead. After he finishes his examination, he asks us all for some privacy.

Brody scoops up his toys and we walk over to our cabin. Of course, it’s packed full and Kit and I can’t hear each other over the ruckus. I tell Brody to play in the cabin and Kit and I go out to the front porch.

We hear gunshots firing every few minutes. Either they are bagging a lot of animals or they’re very poor shots.

“So what’s going on anyway?” I ask, more out of curiosity than fear. The idea of possessed animals is new to me and it feels more like a dream.

“I don’t know, but I really wish they would get back soon,” Kit says, as she bites her nails. They are down to the nubs and I’m not sure she even has any nail left to bite.

“You really care about him, don’t you?”

“Who, Grant?” she asks, as her eyes dart around the forest.

“Yeah, Grant, who else?” I smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

“I care about all of them. Why are you acting like this is no big deal?” She’s irritated now. She must really be on edge. She is usually so carefree. Clearly, this has her spooked.

Just then, Jack leaves the medical cabin and hurries over to ours.

“Is she going to be okay?” I ask.

“No. She’s not,” he says, with almost no expression on his face. It seems like he has aged 10 years in 10 minutes.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kit asks, as she is still searching the woods and flinching every time a gunshot goes off.

“I think those animals out there are rabid,” he says.

“What does that mean?” she asks. I am out of this conversation and only a bystander. All of this is surreal to me. How could this be happening? Ever since we got here, it has been one thing after another.

“It happens from time to time, although some of the crazies could look at it like more plague nonsense. I can picture it now, people already talking God’s wrath, as if the locusts weren’t enough.”

“But this isn’t happening everywhere, is it?” Kit asks, as she starts to pace. She has rearranged her blond ponytail about 50 times and she is shaking loose hairs off her hands. I wonder how long until she has pulled it all out.

“Maybe not yet. We’ll have to see.”

“What’s going to happen to her?” I finally butt in, asking about Beth.

For the first time today, I see real emotion across Jack’s face. It’s either anger or frustration, maybe both.

“She needs to go to a hospital. There’s no possible way for me to treat her here, and it’s probably too late anyway,” he says as he sits down on the step.

“Treatment needed to begin before symptoms started,” he continues. “There’s only one documented case of survival in a person infected with rabies after symptom onset, and that treatment was done in a hospital with more drugs and equipment than we’ve got here.”

“So why aren’t we taking her?” I ask. If time is running out, I can’t figure out why we’re still here standing around talking about it.

“That’s what I wanted to convince her. When I asked you to leave, I pretty much told her it was a death sentence if she stayed here. She’s pretty adamant about staying. She doesn’t want to die in the hospital and honestly, I think she doesn’t want to risk exposing Tent City. For being so young, she really is brave,” he says, as he looks back at Beth’s cabin.

“We have to convince her, Jack! There must be something we can do.” I feel my emotions rising as I think about how desperate I was to save Brody. She has to be someone’s Brody.

“There’s nothing I can do if she doesn’t want to go. We have to respect her wishes. Leave it be!” He stalks off back to the cabin where Beth is resting.

The day goes on in a state of constant vigilance. Grant, Wes and Bentley come back from time to time, dragging in dead animals. Some have white foam around their mouth, some don’t.

From what I can tell, it’s a pack of coyotes. They bring them to Jack who looks them over and confirms that it’s probably rabies. He says it’s the only thing that could explain their behavior.

There is no big campfire that night. Almost everyone in the camp is uneasy and most of them seek cover in their tents. I tuck Brody safely into bed in the cabin and I’m grateful that he seems oblivious to it all. Things have quieted down. There are only few of us still up, settling in beside a small fire, rifles loaded and near.

There’s still a lot of tension between Jack and Bentley, but they seem to have put it aside for the time being. I guess in times of danger, even the most bitter of enemies will learn to live with each other.

“We need to have posts for tonight. Two guards at a time, two hour shifts,” Bentley begins.

“Agreed,” says Jack.

“How many total?” Wes asks smiling. Clearly, he has enjoyed the new hunting activities.

“Twelve,” Jacks says, “but we can’t be sure that they were all infected.”

“Don’t forget about that raccoon,” Grant pipes in. He shoots a worried look at Kit and asks her again if she wants to turn in for the night. He’s offering to walk her to our cabin so she can get some rest, but she is unwilling to leave his side.

“Well, I think everyone needs to lighten up,” Callie begins, “who’s hungry?” This perks everyone up and we find chairs to sit around the fire.

Wes and Bentley take turns walking the perimeter, looking for stray animals. Jack makes one more check on Beth and we settle in by the campfire while Callie serves up leftovers. Most of us turn away the meat, no doubt wondering if it’s infected, but eat greedily when given the bread with jam.

“So do you think it could be?” Bentley asks Jack. We’re all listening carefully. I busy myself trying to pretend I’m not eavesdropping.

“No. It’s just a fluke. It’s not the first time rabies has shown up. Besides, it’s not even in the list of plagues.”

At the word, “plagues”, Jack quiets himself and looks around nervously.

“Sure it is. Don’t you remember? Number four—plague of flies or wild animals,” Bentley says.

“These aren’t
wild
animals, they’re rabid. Besides, number four is flies.”

“Well, it could be. Remember? Flies,
or
wild animals. I can’t even believe I’m saying it myself, but it’s a little weird.”

“Even if it were, it would be number four. Haven’t even had the red river, so there’s not much to talk about.”

“Who says it has to be in order?” Bentley asks.

“What are you two talking about?” Callie asks.

“Nothing.  Just drop it Bentley.” Jack obviously doesn’t want to talk about it, and although I’m as curious as the rest of them, I hope they do drop it. I fear if they don’t, Jack will just stomp off, eager for an excuse to leave.

“You have to admit, Jackie, it does have that feel to it. That was a whole lotta animals. And we’re not even done yet. I bet by tomorrow, we find 20 more. They’re acting really strange. They weren’t even hard to kill. They should scatter when they see humans. It’s in all their natural instincts. It’s almost as if they just walked up to us and dared us to shoot them. No fear at all,” Bentley says. I shiver at the idea.

“Because that’s how rabies works,” Jack answers. “There’s no magic in that.”

They go on and on like this for a while, and I’ve stopped listening. All I can hear in my mind is Bentley calling Jack, Jackie. Sure, he could be taunting him with a silly nickname, but it sounds personal. It’s got the feel of it being said a thousand times before. It’s familiar. They’re familiar…with each other.