The Great Wreck (11 page)
“Dumb
assess,” Tony said, “Can’t they see that the whole western hemisphere is
falling apart? You’d think they’d learn from what’s going on here, but then
again we watched it happening in South America and said can’t happen here
right? So I guess we’re all just a bunch of fucking deniers.”
We
watched the news off and on for that first day as riots in New York and New
Jersey spread across New England. I got a good look at what the media was
calling “rioters.” They didn’t look like rioters to me, they looked like people
who had been through a meat grinder. I thought about what Greer had said when
her and Tony had gotten to mine and Nicky’s apartment about them being dead.
The
riots were spreading across Los Angeles and Albuquerque as well. State
authorities implemented a state of emergency and put a curfew in effect. I
wondered if the infected cared and stopped running around tearing shit up at
9:00 PM and went home. I didn’t think so. Later, some burned out looking guy
form the CDC actually said on camera that there may be a link between the
Caribbean flu and the riots. Within the hour he was fired with the CDC and the
federal government denying any connection. We ate, took showers, drank caffeine
carrier of choice, then would return to the television until, late in the day
it was clear nothing new was going to be said. One by one, we went up to our
rooms until I was the only one watching the TV. Finally, I switched off the
thing and joined Nicky in bed.
It
scared me witless to sit there alone and watch the…rioters…run around in great
masses and vast hordes that filled the streets of Albuquerque or Los Angeles or
Phoenix. I would imagine they were streaming up the mountainside towards the
cabin, clambering over the fence and pounding on the door downstairs. After a
while, I just had to turn it off and crawl into bed with Nicky like a
frightened child.
The next
day we repeated our quickly forming ritual of breakfast, attempted phone calls,
and then television. More riots, more cases of the infection spreading, more
chaos. A horse named Stew was found at its owners front door after having been
missing for nearly three months. A fucking uplifting story amidst the sheer
horror of the pandemic. At noon I turned the damn thing off and tried to call
home again and got nothing. I looked at the handset as though it had personally
betrayed me and said, “Tony, you want to head down to the parking area and
bring up some of our stuff?”
“Sure,”
he replied as he sat on the couch and tied on his boots, “But we won’t have to
hike this time.”
“Why is
that Columbus? Your uncle got a helicopter stashed around here someplace too?”
“Nope,
but he does have a pair of ATVs. The trail is wide enough for us to drive them
down, load up these little fancy wagons they pull, and get all our gear back up
here before lunch.”
I pulled
on my boots and followed Tony down into the basement and out behind the cabin.
Tony’s uncle had a huge three car garage built there and inside was every type
of off road vehicle you could imagine; mountain bikes, snowmobiles, ATVs, go
carts, motorcycles, you name it. I expected to see a fucking soap box derby car
stashed in there somewhere.
“We
could take the motorcycles,” I said.
“I think
we should stick with the ATVs. Look,” Tony replied pointing at the thick
electrical cables hooked to each set of matte black and green, four wheel drive
ATVs, “Battery powered. They’ll get us there and back with plenty of charge to
spare and we can save the gas for the motorcycles. The trail is wide enough for
the ATVs and I won’t have to worry about you dumping yourself on your head on
the two wheelers.”
“Hey! I
can ride a bike.”
Tony
looked at me silently for a second then said, “Do I really need to remind you
of White Sands?”
“I tell
you a fucking dog ran in front of me,” I said. Tony just looked at me silently
until I shook my head meekly then started unplugging the ATV.
“Good
then. Let’s get the trailers hooked up. We should be able to load everything
into them and not have to make a trip back.”
“I want
to leave some stuff for the old folks, just in case,” I said as I rolled the
mammoth ATV out of the garage and hooked the small trailer up to it.
Tony
rolled his out and did the same then tossed me a helmet. He mounted his bike,
put his helmet up and flipped his starter switch on. The machine sat their
quietly and I said, “Is the battery dead?”
Tony
just smiled and let off the clutch and his machine rolled forward without so
much as a whisper, “These things are very quiet,” he said as I strapped my
helmet and turned my starter. I slowly let off the clutch and rolled smoothly
forward.
“Wow,
you aren’t kidding,” I said as I rolled after him and out onto the dirt road.
We quickly made the trail and headed towards the parking area. The trail was
just wide enough for the ATV but it was still a rough ride. I marveled though
at how quite the machine was. Without the noise if the engine, all I could hear
was the sound of the wheels rolling over the rocks and dirt of the trail. Tony
had taken the lead and set a nice leisurely pace. My speedometer told me we
were going about ten miles an hour. That meant we’d be at the truck in just
thirty minutes.
We
quickly passed from the canyon edge into the trees. The forest seemed
completely devoid of life. Over the crunch of dirt and the gently hum of the
ATV, I could not even hear birds chirping or crowing in the trees. It was like
all the animals had moved on and Tony and I were completely alone.
“Tony,
shouldn’t there be some animal moving around? These things aren’t noisy enough
to scare away everything are they?”
“Too
many people up here, I think. Every campground on the mountain is probably
overflowing with folks fleeing Grants, Gallup, and Albuquerque.”
I
thought about the guy and his family with his bit little girl and the
overturned trailer. I wondered how many people fled the cities and brought
their infected loved ones with them hoping they’d beat the infection and ride
out the storm up in the mountains. I shuddered at the thought of infected
wandering around the forest here and was glad that the cabin was many miles not
only off the paved road, but off the service road was well. I still kept
looking between the trees of the forest that surrounded the trail ever
expecting to see some blood stained figure lurking off in the distance.
I was
glad when, a half an hour later, we arrived at the parking area. A few more
cars and a couple of trucks had arrived sometime after we had left but the
parking area was completely devoid of people. Even the old folk’s camp was
empty.
We
pulled up to the back of the truck and stopped cold. On the back of the
Bronco’s rear window was a smeared, bloody handprint, “What the fuck is this?”
I said looking back at Tony. Tony had been walking around the other vehicles
checking inside for anyone. He came back over to the Bronco and looked at the
handprint.
“I don’t
know. Someone cut their hand maybe? Then lean against the truck?” he replied
looking around, “Where do you think the old people went?”
“I don’t
know. For a walk maybe?” I said looking at the handprint, “Fuckers could have
at least wiped it off for fuck’s sake.” I looked over at the old folk’s camp
site, “They left everything open. Tents, cooking gear, packs. You’d think
they’d at least zip up their stuff before heading out for a walk.
“Yeah,
well, they seemed pretty easy going. Let’s get our gear and get out of here.”
Tony nodded and we popped open the tailgate and loaded our stuff into the small
ATV trailers. I dropped a few cases of water and canned goods at the front of
the old people’s tent in case they came back, then locked up the Bronco and got
back on my ATV.
We
headed back onto the trial and were back at the cabin in no time. We unloaded
the supplied into the basement, then drove the ATVs back into the garage. While
I was plugging mine in Tony said, “We shouldn’t tell the others about what we
saw. They’d just freak out.”
“I’m
freaked out. If I bled all over someone’s car, I’d at least wipe it off,” I
said hanging up my helmet, “I hope the old folks are OK. I don’t know how they
can sleep out in the open like that.”
“Trusting
types. Not a care in the world and no fear of others unlike us paranoid city
types,” Tony said as he hung up his helmet and walked out the door of the
garage. I quickly followed him back into the cabin making sure the main gate,
the garage, and the basement doors were all locked up tight. I looked out into
the quiet and empty forest trying to peer deep into the trees and spot anything
moving fighting the urge not to just freak out and run away blindly screaming.
I shook my head and followed Tony inside.
We found
all the girls sitting in front of the television watching the latest new
broadcast. I plopped down on the huge sofa next to Nicky and put my arm around
her. She smiled at me but I could see dark circles under her eyes telling me
that she hadn’t slept last night. She scrunched up underneath my arm and put
her head on my chest as we watched the newsperson, who looked little better
than Nicky give us the latest updates.
“Previously
unaffected states across the nation began calling up their local National Guard
units,” the talking head said, “As cases of the Caribbean Flu were reported in
Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and Nevada. Unconfirmed reports of the infection have
been reported in Pennsylvania and Virginia. In other news today,
reports of military units being withdrawn
from overseas are firmly denied by the Pentagon. However, this footage shows
military units that affiliate reporters have confirmed had been previously
stationed in Germany. Other videos have shown similar scenes across the eastern
United States of large transport ships unloading military units from Iraq,
Afghanistan, South Korea, Guam, and other longtime bastions of U.S. military
presence overseas that appear to be coming home. Is the United States
withdrawing its military from overseas to handle the epidemic here at home? The
White House has confirmed that some military units have been rotated home but
only as part of their normal duty rotation.”
“They’d
kept it pretty much in check,” Tony whispered. I looked over at him and saw
that he was crying. Let me tell you, there is nothing more frightening than
seeing a man cry, “Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, some cities back
east. To us, the world has fallen apart, but the for the rest of the country,
life was going on. But it’s gotten out. I’m surprised they were able to keep it
contained as long as they did. It’ll go fast now.”
Greer,
Dreysi, and Nicky were openly crying now as well, “Hey, hey. It’s OK. Don’t
listen to Tony. He’s just a pessimistic asshole. The government will get it
under control and then we’ll be back home in no time,” I said giving Tony the
stink eye. He didn’t care he just stared at the TV as Greer went to the kitchen
and tried to get a hold of her family on the phone.
Dreysi
turned away and went upstairs to her bed room and closed the door and Nicky
followed her. I just sat on the couch staring at the TV and feeling helpless
and depressed, “Might want to tone down the gloom and doom, Tony. It’s just
going to freak the girls out.”
“Man,
they can join me because I’m totally freaked out already.” Watching the news
coverage as things unwound, I couldn’t disagree with him.
*
*
*
Tony was
right though; things unraveled fast after that. Cases of what the media had
called the Caribbean Flu were now identified across the country. Federal
representatives officially declare it a pandemic. Good for them.
Nicky
and Dreysi were able to get a hold of their parents. Nicky’s folks somehow made
it back to Albuquerque and were holed up at their house with Nicky’s little
sister. I’m glad for Nicky. I can see the relief on her face and she’s sleeping
at night but I wonder how long her folks can hold out before Albuquerque
collapsed entirely.
Greer
still can’t get a hold of her folks but Tony was able to reach his parents. For
the first time since I’ve known Tony and his family, they didn’t argue. His Dad
say they can’t make it to the cabin. The roads are clogged with people and are
impassable so they’re just going to stay in their house and hope for the best.
Tony’s openly weeping now telling his parents how much he loves them and that
when he can, we’d come and get them.
I
can’t stand seeing Tony cry like that so I go outside to give him some privacy.
I never was able to get a hold of my parents.
A week
later the last of the commercial flights are cancelled. Screening stations like
the ones set up in southwestern states are set up at all across the US at the
state borders and Ports of Entry. Hospitals are being overwhelmed with people
complaining of flu like symptoms. Health officials are now turning people away
from overcrowded hospitals, stadiums, high school auditoriums, and airport
hangers that had been converted into field hospitals.
A major
riot explodes across the Los Angeles basin. No one seems to know what the riots
are about and any media that gets close enough to film the riots on the ground
are never heard from again. Helicopters show the throngs of people running
through the streets attacking anyone that is standing still but from the air,
you can’t hear them and none of them seem to be carrying signs or banners.
Greer
says that they are not protests or riots, they’re masses of dead and that the
dead aren’t interested in carrying signs or banners. They are only interested
in eating the living.
“Jesus,
Greer! What
the fuck is wrong with you?”
I said sitting at the kitchen table and looking around to see if Dreysi or
Nicky had heard her, “What the fuck makes you think they’re dead?”
“I saw
them. During one of the ‘riots,’” Greer said simply.
“We’ve
all seen them, Greer. It’s just people going nuts and taking advantage of the
situation. It happens every time the police get overwhelmed.”
“It’s
not like that,” she replied as pulled a chair up to the table. She sat down
across from me and stared into her coffee for a few minutes before speaking
again, “I saw one up close.”
“One of
the riots? Jeez when did this happen?”
“Not the
riots, exactly. One of the rioters. I was coming out of that Mexican store over
in downtown? You know, the one where the guy dresses up like a bull and grabs
all the girls’ asses when he thinks no one is looking?”
“Oh
yeah, I know that store.”
“Yeah,
well, I’m standing outside waiting for a cab and I see this bum standing near a
bunch of shopping carts. He’s facing away from me watching these three little
kids playing with a cart. You know, stupid stuff pushing each other around in
it. Just being kids.
“So I
think, oh boy, here we go again thinking he’s going to turn around and ask me
for a handout. But he doesn’t. He just stands there swaying back and forth,
watching those kids. I begin to consider calling someone, maybe a store
employee. I’m beginning to think this guys a pervert and is looking to grab one
of those kids,” she said as her face contorted and tears began rolling down her
cheeks, “The kids are taking turns in the shopping cart and the oldest, a
little girl, maybe ten or so, pushes the cart down the sidewalk and backs
towards the bum coming within a few feet of him. My wind is way up, you know,
and then I take a close look at his cloths; his pants are filthy and covered
with this black gunk, one of his shoes are missing and I can see his foot or
what used to be his foot because most of the skin in gone and what is still
there has a few bits of bone sticking out of it. His shirt’s shredded and is
covered with red and black smears. I can see part of his backbone sticking out
and can see all the way through a gaping hole in his back. I swear, I can see
the light coming out through the hole there. Then the breeze shifted and I
could
smell
him. I could smell him,
Casey and he was dead. No question in my mind.
“So the
girl finally notices he’s there too as she turned and looks at him and screams.
Then
he
screams and lunges at her
grabbing her by the front of her shirt. She tries to jump back but he gets his
other hand on her shoulder and pulls her close to him, like he’s going to hug
her. Then he bit into her throat. Right there, right in the middle of the
sidewalk. I saw the bright jet of blood spray across the air as he bit her
again. The second bite tore out a huge chunk of her throat and she stopped
screaming but that was OK because I
started
screaming. People came running out of the store, their cars, everywhere and
rushed the guy trying to pry him off of the girl. But he was so fast and strong
that he had eaten most of her throat and neck before they could get to him. And
when a few guys finally reached him, he laid into them as well biting fingers
and arms anything that came close to him. And the blood. I didn’t think anyone
so small could hold so much blood. It was everywhere. It looked like someone
had sprayed down the entire sidewalk with red paint.
“They
were able to get the girl out of his grasp but she was dead, Casey. I mean
completely and totally dead. The front of her throat was gone! I don’t mean
that he took a few bites out of it, I mean that it was completely gone. I could
see the holes that lead to her stomach, I could see what was left of a few
veins and arteries, I could see her neck bones. She was dead.
“They
laid her body on the sidewalk and started beating on the guy. Finally, someone
clubbed him in the head and he stopped moving.
I was still frozen to the ground. It felt like every muscle had locked
up. The guys all got up off of the bum covered in blood and gore. I could see
that all of them had been bit. I could see the bum’s skull had been crushed in.
I could hear sirens in the distance but I still couldn’t move.
“Then
the little girl, the one with no throat? She stood up.
Stood the fuck up
! She looked around, spotted one of the bystanders
and screamed. I’d never heard a scream like that. Pure rage? Insanity? I don’t
know but she leaped onto this old lady and began biting her tearing huge chunks
of flesh from her arms. That did it for me. Seeing the girl eating the old lady
finally broke my paralysis and I ran. All the way back to Tony’s apartment.”
“Jesus,
Greer. Why didn’t you tell someone? Tell Tony?”
“No one
would have believed me. It wasn’t in the news later that night or in the paper
the next day. No one even noticed. The first riot had just broken out in Las
Lunas and one girl’s death didn’t merit any attention. So I just kept it to
myself. But when the riots stated breaking out in Albuquerque, I watched the
new coverage, saw the people who were ‘rioting’ and knew they were just like
the bum at the market. Except he probably wasn’t a bum. Just some guy who had
been infected,” she said as she got up with her cup, dumped out her cold
coffee, and headed upstairs.
I
thought about what Greer said, about what I had seen in Grants and wondered if
she was right. That night, National Guard units across the US were federalized
and the news was reporting regular military units were being deployed around
the country. Health officials were telling people that there was nothing
hospital or doctors could do for victims of the flu, so just stay home and
drink plenty of fluids. Yep, drink plenty of fluids and stay home. That was
what all their science and years of education told them was the best possible
course of action for the current crisis. It sounded a lot like if your
infected, kiss your ass goodbye but at least do the rest of us a favor and lock
yourself up inside you home. They called it “self-quarantine.”
Two
weeks later, riots were sweeping almost all major cities and were now breaking
out in the suburbs and ex-urbs as well. Like Greer, I didn’t think they were
riots anymore. I thought they were hordes of dead. Masses of infected biting
and eating non-infected people, spreading the virus. I didn’t know if they were
really dead or not, but it didn’t matter much either way. The disease was
spreading faster and faster across the country.
Federal
authorities declared a nationwide state of emergency and began enforcing a
strict curfew. People on the street after 9:00 PM were subject to arrest and/or
lethal force. As we watched, the National Guard units applied lethal force
quickly and often. Interstate travel was restricted to critical commercial
traffic, emergency crews, law enforcement, government, or military travel.
Non-critical commercial sectors were now required to close up until the
pandemic and rioting were gotten under control.
Regular
military units were spotted and clearly identified in Los Angeles and New York
but the Pentagon continued to deny the deployment of regular active duty
military personnel on US soil and decries fear mongering in the media. What the
fuck? Why deny it at all? The shit had hit the fan all across the nation and I
didn’t think anyone gave a crap that the Army was being deployed in American
cities. The people, those not infected at least, were probably relived to see
them. The infected? The dead? I don’t think they cared about the violation of
the U.S. Constitution.
A month
after we had arrived at the cabin all interstate and local travel is banned for
all non-military traffic. All non-essential workers are now required to stay
home. Only critical infrastructure workers (electrical, medical, water),
military, and police are allowed (and required) to report to work. Brownouts
begin rolling across major metropolitan areas as rioters keep critical workers
from reporting to their jobs. Food riots break out as people attempt to stock
up on supplies. Rioters and looters are shot on site. Citizens are ordered to
stay indoors or risk a lethal response from police and military units.
The
brownouts didn’t affect us much. The solar farms and the generators kicked in
whenever brownouts hit and would continue to do so as the blackouts hit the
cabin. The first official reports came out that rioters are actually people
infected with the Caribbean Flu, now known to not be an actual flu virus but
something else that is transmitted by the bite of the infected. The CDC
eggheads were overjoyed to report that the virus was not airborne.
Whoopee.
We can all breathe a sigh of relief.
Rioters
swarmed the streets of every single major metropolitan area. Reports of widespread
cannibalism appeared to be true. All the authorities can say is stay indoors
with your doors and windows shut and locked and to not try to flee the cities.
Anyone who hasn’t gotten out by now is stuck.
Five
weeks after we had arrived at the cabin, all the newscasts go offline and only
the emergency broadcast signal is on. Over and over, twenty four hours a day,
the TV blares, “This is not a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is
an actual emergency. Authorities advise citizens to stay indoors at all cost
with doors and windows locked until further notice. This is not a test of the
Emergency Broadcast System. This is an actual emergency. Authorities advise
citizens to stay indoors at all cost with doors and windows locked until
further notice.”
Read:
We’re all fucked.
We kept
the television off for the most part after that, switching it on once a day or
so to see if anything had changed, if anyone was broadcasting something other
than the Emergency Broadcast Signal, if anyone was out there other than us.
Four days later even the EBS was gone and there was only static on the
television.
We
didn’t know it at the time, of course, but six weeks after we had arrived at
the cabin, all power was lost in Los Angles, New York, and other major
metropolitan areas. Some cities and rural areas struggled to keep the lights on
as the pandemic overwhelms the local government’s ability to keep order but
soon enough, they too lost the battle and the lights went out for good along
with the remaining phone lines. A few days after that we lost electricity from
the main line as well leaving us with only solar power and the generator. We
kept the generator off to save fuel while the solar powered batteries kept the
refrigerator and freezers powered.