The Emerald Virus (27 page)

    
He was amazed that she looked so different than when he saw her last. Her hair
had gone from a vibrant blond to a mouse brown, and it was straggly, her face
was lined, she was wearing no makeup, and she had lost too much weight.

    
But he almost smiled with relief now that he knew she was okay and had been
waiting for him. He also thought it was funny she was asking him if the phone
was okay, as if he would be able to look at it and tell if it was working. But
he did look at it and pushed the redial button and said, “Well part of the
problem is that this is my office number you’ve been calling, not my cell
number. I guess I never told you I was using a hard line in the bunker.” Jack
took his cell out of his pocket and pushed redial.

    
He read the number as it dialed and Jane said, “That’s my old cell number, I left
that phone in the house. I thought I was supposed to use the new one that came
with the RV so that’s what you’re holding.” And then she laughed. Not loudly
and not for long, but with a great deal of relief.

    
“Jack, I can’t believe both of us have been through this much angst because of
a darned phone screw up.” She looked at him and hugged him again and said, “I
still can’t believe you’re here. I was so worried after our last call that you
weren’t coming and there was nothing I could do but wait and see. How did you
get here so fast, you must have flown, but how could that be possible?”

    
Jack laughed and said, “Slow down. We took a military vehicle and shared the
driving. We only stopped twice on the way for fuel. Other than that we tried to
drive eighty miles an hour all the way, and mostly it worked. None of that is
important. What’s important is that you’re here, and that you’re ready to
leave. Is there anything at all you need from the house? If there is I’ll go
and get it for you.”

    
“Jack, I don’t need anything from the house but I need you to help me bury my
parents. I’ve buried the kids but I can’t carry my parents downstairs. Can you
help me?”

    
“Of course I will. I’m really proud of you for taking care of the kids by
yourself, and I don’t mind helping at all. Do you know where you want me to dig
the graves?

    
“Yes, in the backyard next to the grave for the kids. I’ve started digging but
I don’t know if the grave is big enough yet. I’ve buried the kids together and
I want to do the same thing for my parents.”

    
Two hours later Jack finished digging the grave, wrapped the bodies in plastic
shower curtains, and then in sheets. He had told Jane to stay in the RV until
he had everything ready.

    
He carried the bodies down separately and placed them in the bottom of the
grave as best he could. He then went to the RV for Jane and she came with her
bible. Jane read a couple of passages over the bodies and prayed for her
parents and her children. She cried the entire time but she persevered.

    
When she was finished with the service Jack told her that he would fill the
graves and meet her in the RV. But she insisted on helping him. When they were
done Jack asked her to show him how the shower worked in the RV so he could
clean up before they left. Fifteen minutes later he was showered, had put on a
pair of khakis and a shirt from his backpack, and said he was ready to go.    

    
Jane said, “Are you sure you want to leave so soon after you’ve been driving
for so long.?

    
“Yeah, I’m sure, I’m not going to be able to drive for long but I at least want
to get us out of the metro area and to a safe spot where we can talk.”

    
With that Jack climbed in the driver’s seat and started the RV. As he waited
for the engine to warm up he called Ron’s cell and let him know that he had
found Jane and that all was well.

    
Jane was in the passenger’s seat as they pulled through the yard and onto the
street. Jack remembered the directions back to the Interstate and knew that
once he got there he would drive to I-95 and head south. He had lived in the
Washington D.C./Baltimore area for years so navigating out of here wasn’t going
to be a problem.

    
They drove slowly through the metro area and when they were south of D.C. Jack
left the Interstate and took state roads to Shenandoah National Park. He knew
the park well and knew he would find an isolated place that he and Jane could
use as they talked through Jane’s future. Jack’s goal was to put her with a
group of survivors and to get out of there so she didn’t have to go through
another round of death because of him. He knew that the key to that problem was
being able to act as carefree as the circumstances would allow.

    
Since he felt somewhat carefree he thought acting that way should be easy. He
was amazed at how good he felt about finding Jane in a good frame of mind, and
being able to keep his promise to Harry.

    
During the drive Jane told Jack everything that had happened to her in the last
week. She talked about what Harry’s death had been like for her, about the
death of her parents the day before her children died, and then about the kids
themselves. She went to the living area and brought the photo album up front.
She showed Jack pictures and he glanced at them when he could. He knew she
needed this for herself, and it surprised him to find out that he needed it
also. During the conversation he talked about Harry for the first time, he told
her about A.J., he told her about the young people in the bunker who were going
to the coast to die and he joined her in the process of grieving for her kids. Jane
cried often and Jack cried some and they both found that they could still laugh
a little at the funny stories about loved ones they had lost. Jack had had no
idea how much he needed to talk to a friend, and as the day wore on he became
more and more pleased to have joined Jane.

    
He had loved driving through the park in the past and he found it just as
beautiful now. He found a suitable place to stop southwest of Rockfish Gap just
off the Howardsville Turnpike. His goal was to drive towards the Tennessee River
Valley where there was ample hydroelectric power, and he thought the Blue Ridge
Parkway would be a good way to go. He wasn’t planning on driving fast and he
wanted to stay off the Interstate system. His fear was the parkway might be
blocked; there weren’t too many options in the mountains. If that occurred he
would have to backtrack.

Saturday
Evening: Shenandoah State Park, Virginia

    
Jane
looked at Jack and he could tell by the look on her face that ‘the question’
was coming. She asked, “Jack, why did you leave the bunker and what’s going to
happen to you now?

    
Jack had been expecting the question and had prepared the answer. He said, “The
reason I left the bunker is because the seals in all of the bunkers are
failing. The bunkers with the Congress, the President, and the senior military
officials are all now infected with the Emerald Virus. If the others are not
yet infected they will be soon. The only seals that are holding are the ones at
CDC in Atlanta where the scientists are looking for a vaccine. If they ever do
find one the only people they’ll be able to save are themselves. It’s already
too late for the rest of the world.

    
“As for what’s going to happen now, we need to talk about that. My thought is
that we find a solid group of survivors for you to join. You spend the winter
with them in an isolated area, just as we have discussed.

    
“Once that happens I plan on leaving you with your new friends. I told you that
two of us had left the bunker and driven cross country to Baltimore. My friend
went on to a vacation house on Chesapeake Bay. Once you are settled, I’m going
to go there and spend my final days with my friend.”

    
Jack had intentionally not mentioned Ron’s gender in the hope that Jane would
think he was talking about a female friend he wanted to spend his last days
with. He didn’t remember using Ron’s name when he called him from the RV
yesterday, and even if he had he didn’t think Jane would remember.

    
Jack thought it would be easier for Jane to accept his leaving if she thought
he was going to spend his end days with a female friend. She wouldn’t try to
talk him out of that, as she might with a male friend. At least he hoped so.

    
Jane looked at him and said, “Jack please tell me the truth. Do you really have
a friend you can spend your time with?”

    
Jack was relieved that he wouldn’t have to lie and he said, “Yes Jane, I do.”

    
Jane settled back in her seat and said, “Okay, that’s good. I wouldn’t want you
to be alone at the end. Since you have a friend to go to then I agree with your
plan. I hope we find a good group of people because I never have been too good
at making new friends.

    
“I think I’m going to make us dinner if that’s alright with you. It’s starting
to get dark already and I haven’t eaten yet today. In fact I don’t remember the
last time I ate anything.”

    
“That’s great, I’m hungry also. While you’re doing that I’m going to plug in
your laptop and start doing some searching for us. I’ll also call some other
survivors. Some people are doing what we asked and are posting notes on our
chat page when they start their journeys, and I’ve been trying to call as many
as I could. I’ll post a note from you saying you’ve started but you don’t know
where you’re going yet.”

    
Jack was surprised at how many more people had now posted notes. It seems that
most were doing what his team had recommended, which was to start the trip
after their last loved one had died. Not many people had a destination in mind
other than a compass direction, but most importantly, they had started.

    
There were a handful of notes from survivors who said they were now living in
their RVs, but had not started driving yet. Jack started by calling these
people, hoping he could talk them in to moving on. Only one such person
answered the phone and he assured Jack that he was planning on starting
tomorrow. Jack promised to check on him again.

    
Two or three notes were posted by people who couldn’t write, were too
distraught to write, didn’t know English or had been drinking heavily. The
notes were incoherent.

    
Jack was impressed that few of the notes contained profanities. Some of the
notes were by embittered authors, but Jack wasn’t surprised by that. He was
more surprised by how few of those there were.

    
Jack talked briefly to Andy in New Orleans, who was headed west, to Maria in
Wichita who didn’t know where to go but was going to start by going to Oklahoma,
to Ralph from Chicago who was going to Florida, and then to Ray, who had joined
up with Susan and Jan and all three were in northern Ohio heading south.

    
Few of the survivors had firm plans, but most of them had intermediate
destinations. It seemed that most were looking for other survivors to spend the
winter with.

    
Jack posted a note from Jane, saying she was in central Virginia, heading to
Tennessee and interested in joining a group or survivors. He then turned on her
email hoping someone would respond during the evening. It was now after dark
and he hoped most drivers were parked for the evening. After his experience last
night he knew how hazardous driving on the Interstates could be.

    
Jack now realized that he couldn’t possibly keep up with the volume of notes
that had been posted, at least not by telephone. Instead, he started sending
group emails from his own address to those who had posted notes. He started
sending emails to groups ten at a time, and realized that even that was going
to prove to be impossible to keep up with.

    
Instead he went back to the chat room, logged on as Jack Sweeney, and sent a
note to the entire group telling them that while he would like to talk to each
one independently, there were just too many survivors now on the roads. He
added words of encouragement, told everyone that they were welcome to email him
if they chose to, but he that would prefer they continued to post notes in the
survivor chat room.

    
Jack was confident by now that if anyone had questions or needed help, someone
in the group would be able to provide it.

    
He told Jane that he had posted the note from her, had corresponded with as
many survivors as he could, and what conclusions he had drawn due to the
volume.

    
She asked, “How many do you think there will ultimately be?”

    
“Well, our last estimate worldwide was between sixty and seventy thousand survivors.
I’m guessing that maybe three thousand will live in the U.S., about three
hundred in Canada and another one thousand or so from Mexico. Anyone else will
be out of range in terms of anything but electronic communication. The
residents of Mexico are probably better off where they are due to the weather
and the amount of arable land in Mexico suitable for year round farming. Most
Canadians are probably going to be better off migrating to the southern U.S.”

    
Jack continued, “By the way, I thought the survivor RVs were going to be
stocked with weapons. Do you have any on board?”

    
“Yes, they showed them to me and I put them in the back closet. I never have
liked guns at all.”

    
“I understand that, but you live in a new world now, one that isn’t as safe as
our old one. I think you need to be ready to use a weapon if the need arises.
Once you get settled into a town or village with other survivors it may be
safer, but you can’t count on that now.”

    
“I know, they told me that when they showed me the weapons, but I just hate the
thought of everyone needing to carry guns. It will be like the wild west all
over again.” Jane saw the look on Jack’s face and said, “Alright, I’ll get the
guns out.”

     
Jack followed her and saw that the guns had been put in a back closet and that
the ammunition had been stored in boxes on the floor. He handed Jane the 9mm
handgun and the shotgun, took two boxes of ammunition for each and went to the
living, or middle section of the RV.

    
The 9mm came with a nylon shoulder holster and Jack showed Jane how to put it
on and adjust it. He asked, “Have you ever fired a weapon?”

    
“Yes, Harry took me to a shooting range two or three times to make sure I knew
how to shoot. He had a small pistol, a .38 caliber I think, that he put the
bullets in one at a time. “

    
“That’s called a revolver or more formally a pistol. What you have is formally
known as an auto pistol or more commonly, a semi-automatic handgun. That simply
means that the gun fires every time you pull the trigger, without having to do
anything else. Typically with a revolver you have to pull the hammer back first
and then pull the trigger. This 9mm also holds more rounds, or bullets, than
does a revolver so you don’t have to reload as often.”

    
Jane laughed and said, “Jack, that’s more information than I ever wanted to
know about guns, but thank you.”

    
Jack looked chagrined and said, “Okay, you’re right. Here let me show you how
to operate this one. This button ejects the clip, which holds the bullets. For
this model a clip holds ten bullets. When you push it back into the grip, or
handle, you have to make sure it goes all the way in. Slam it in hard and
you’ll hear the click when it seats properly. Then you pull back the top front
of the gun, this is called the slide, when you let it go it takes a bullet from
the clip and puts it in the firing chamber. At the same time it cocks the gun
so it’s ready to fire. Lastly, make sure the safety switch is in firing
position. The switch is here and when it’s set to fire you see the red color on
the switch, when it’s on safety you don’t see the red.

    
“Now, take a few minutes and load the gun by putting the clip in it. Then move
the slide back over and over until it’s empty. I’ll catch the bullets that come
out of the side of the gun so don’t worry about them.”

    
Jane did so until the slide stayed in the rearward position, and said, “Is
something wrong, the slide didn’t go forward?”

    
“No, that’s exactly what it is supposed to do. When the last bullet is fired,
or in this case ejected, the slide stays back so you can eject the empty clip
and put a full one in the gun. After you do so you push this switch down and
the slide releases forward and puts another bullet in the firing chamber. Go
ahead and take one of the full clips and load the gun again.”

    
Jane did so and jumped when the slide slammed forward. “Wow that goes fast.”

    
“Yes it does, it’s much easier and much faster to load than a revolver. Now
take these bullets from the first clip and put them back in the clip.”

    
As Jane put the last bullets in the clip she said, “These last ones are really
hard to get in.”

    
“I know, that’s a powerful spring in the clip. That’s what feeds the bullets
upward when the slide retracts. It has to be powerful to get the bullets up
fast enough. It’s always going to be tough for you to get the last couple of
bullets in the clip. If it’s too hard or if you are in a hurry to reload the
clip, you can always stop with eight bullets. It just means you will need to reload
sooner the next time. I wouldn’t worry about that though. You have three full
clips here and I can’t imagine you ever being in a firefight that would take
more ammo than that.”

    
“What’s a firefight?”

    
“That’s the name that’s used to describe a gun battle. Don’t ask”

    
“Okay, I don’t care where the name comes from.”

    
“In the morning we’ll take the gun out and shoot a little bit. Then I’ll show
you how to clean the gun and we’ll practice reloading again. After that it will
just be a matter of you getting in the habit of putting on the shoulder holster
every time you leave the RV. I’ll also show you how to shoot, load and clean
the shotgun. That’s the weapon that may do you the most good in the long run.
There is also a hunting rifle in the back, but I think we’ll save that for
later. The handgun and the shotgun are primarily self-defense weapons and I
want you to be familiar with them.”

   
“Okay, if you think I have to do that I will. But I still don’t like these
things. They scare me to death.”

    
“I know, most people who handle guns have a healthy respect or fear for them.
You don’t ever want to lose that. The basic purpose for any gun is to kill
something. They are used for other things, like sport shooting, but a gun is a
tool originally intended to kill, you can’t ever forget that.”

    
“Believe me, I won’t. Do you really think I’ll ever have to shoot one of
these?”

    
“I have no way of knowing. But I do know that if you ever do have the need,
you’re much better off being prepared. The noise and the kick from these things
scare most people the first time they shoot. Practicing makes sure that you won’t
be surprised.

     
“The other part of defending yourself is the mental part. You have to talk to
yourself about what you would do if you thought you had to shoot someone. You
have to make the decision and pull the trigger. Just like that. I believe that
any initial hesitation is harmful. If you need to shoot, pull the trigger.
There will be plenty of time to worry about it later.”

    
“Jack, how do you know so much about this stuff?”

    
“I was recruited out of college by the Government to do field work. Some of
this I learned the hard way.”