Tipping Point (37 page)

“No, but people might not even know her. Not everyone talks to their neighbours. They’re likely already terrified, though. That’s the feeling I get at any rate.” An electronic ringer went off then. It was the satellite phone. Something had happened at home.

“Hello,” Neil said into the phone. Mackenzie waited impatiently to see what was going on.

“What do you mean they want gas to keep going? Don’t they want to stay with us?” He paused to listen to Billy’s response.

“Hmm. Hang on a second.” He turned to Mac.

“Looks like they already had a place to go to, but no way to house the ferrets, so they want fuel to keep going. They only need half a tank I guess. They made it all the way there without Billy driving to meet them at least.” Mac shrugged.

“We still have fuel even if we help them. They saved us the fuel we’d have used going to get the ferrets ourselves, and that makes two less people we have to deal with. Once we’re hunkered in we won’t really need it, and eventually it’ll go bad. Might as well let them use it.”

“Makes sense. Did you hear that Billy?” She waited for him to finish and hang up before asking what she already knew the answer to.

“So, the cell phones are down I take it?”

“Looks like. Not sure about the internet, since that didn’t come up.”

“I should touch base with my radio contacts. See how they’re doing. You have a list of people you talk to, I take it?” Neil nodded, even though she could barely see his head move in the lights from the dash.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to them once you’re done. I’ll teach Kirk and Leigh how to use my base station. I’m technically supposed to be there when they use it, but it doesn’t matter now. Why don’t I walk over once we get the animals settled, and everyone is up to date? I’ll use my radio to contact everyone I know, and teach the two of them how to use it while I’m there.”

“Good idea. Then we can keep in touch without having to go there all the time. It’s one thing for them to have privacy, but I don’t want them to be completely on their own either.”

“We could also use their help if they’re willing.”

“They’ve been a big help already. I’m sure they’ll be fine with helping us out a bit more.”

“Alright. Let me know when you want to change seats. I’m happy to take over whenever you’re ready.”

Two hours later she stopped the car to let the dog water the roadside grass. Neil watered his own patch and then drove the rest of the way home once they were back in the car.

Mac almost felt like crying when she made out the tiny details that she had finally learned to recognize that marked the tree beside the gate. The sun had been up for a while, and the dog was now whimpering again in the back seat.

She felt like whimpering herself. She badly needed to pee. The last time she had gone was before they’d left for the Sault. She hadn’t wanted to drip-dry on the roadside. Neil hadn’t needed to show any such restraint, of course. She was wiggling in her seat when Neil pulled to a stop by the door.

“Can you tie up the dog in the shade with some food and water for now? We have no idea what he’ll be like around all the animals, and I really have to go to the bathroom. We’ll figure out what to do with him once everyone has had a chance to see him.” As soon as he nodded, she bolted from the car.

Cameron stood up to greet her, but Mac ran on past her to the bathroom, while shouting for her to get the ferrets out of the car. Luckily everyone had been in the open living area at the time, so she didn’t burst in on anyone using it, but at that point she was ready to pee on someone’s lap if the toilet wasn’t free. The relief nearly made her moan, but she managed to restrain herself. Neil was giving her an amused look when she came out.

“Oh, shut up. So, who knows what, about which parts, and whom?” She watched it play across his face as he ran her words back through in his head.

“Nobody knows anything, about any parts, or anyone. You weren’t in there long enough to sink the Titanic or anything, even if it might have felt like that to you. Why don’t you let Annette take a look at your hand before we get into any of it? Kelly and the kids are dealing with the new ferrets anyway. No point in running through it all more than once.”

Mac could tell Annette had questions, but she held her silence for the moment. Mac just told her she might have fight-bite so she would know how to deal with it.

“When was your last tetanus booster?”

“I’m up to date. I’ve been getting the ten-year booster on schedule. Last was at thirty-five, so I’m not due for another five years.”

“Alright. I’ll have to irrigate it and debride the tissue, but it’s best not to close it up. I’ll give you antibiotics to stave off infection, but if it actually gets infected we should try to get you to the hospital. These bite wounds can get very serious. Ordinarily I wouldn’t treat this at all, but things have already spiraled out of control out there. As a vet I’m sure I have far more experience with bites than most ER doctors, yet rarely ones that get as serious as human bites.”

“I know. If I didn’t realize how bad they were, I’d have been whining about all the fuss. I rarely consent to taking antibiotics, for that matter, but when I do I make sure I take the full course. That’ll be even more important now.

“We need to make a list of vaccines we should pilfer as soon as the power goes down here for the last time. Maybe talk to a pharmacist about it. I need to get over to a pharmacy to talk to someone about another issue anyway. Neil, do you happen to know if a pharmacist lives nearby?”

“Yeah, I think so. I pass by a mailbox that has his last name on it anyway, every time I go in to the store. Since the landline phones have their own power supply, they might still work, so if we get him a phone that doesn’t require power from an outlet, we can ask him to call us right away on one of the satellite phones if he needs someone to provide cold storage. I’m sure he’d like to preserve some of his stock if possible.”

“There won’t be much room in that medical fridge of Annette’s, but we can bring his fridges here if necessary. I doubt a regular kitchen fridge would be precise enough, though it’s better than nothing I suppose. If we have a bunch of fridges to power, we’re really going to need to get the main PV panels and battery bank set up. That can be done before the house goes up.”

“Everyone should probably get whatever booster shots are appropriate, myself included. Five years from now, when I need to give you a booster, those vaccines probably won’t be any good,” Annette stated.

“Agreed. Maybe you should make a list of your own, Annette. Like ways we should really be careful in our new circumstances, and then we can go over it all as a group. Some guidelines. We have to avoid overuse of meds for multiple reasons, but there must be things I’m not aware of, that will change now that we won’t have access to readily-available medical attention.

“I get that we’re a different species, but you’ve got the skill to go from one species to another, which is extremely valuable right now. What about dental care? Is that something you would be able to do if you had to?”

“In a very limited fashion. Animals don’t normally need fancy dental work, even when owners have all the money in the world to spend on their pets. Mostly it’s cleaning and removing bad teeth so that they can eat without pain.

“My tools for that are also limited. Mostly I have surgical supplies. If it came down to it I could, but we’d need to find equipment that’s meant for human teeth.”

“About what I figured. Still,
some
dental care is better than none. I remember reading about a man in the US who couldn’t afford antibiotics and died from an infected tooth, so it’s far more important than people know.” Annette nodded her agreement.

“That’s probably something we should have on that list you mentioned. People will really need to protect their teeth. No using them for things they’re not intended for, proper hygiene to keep their hearts healthy...all that stuff.”

By the time Annette had finished irrigating the wound on Mac’s hand, and removed the jagged tissue, Kelly, Cam, and Billy were finished getting the ferrets cleaned up and settled inside the house. Everyone sat down to watch as Annette wrapped the hand in gauze.

“So, what happened to your hand, mom? It didn’t look that serious or anything, and you usually ignore stuff like that.”

“Punched a woman in the mouth a few times. The human mouth is filthy, and her teeth broke the skin. This isn’t the time for me to be getting a nasty infection from some fucking cunt.” Cam’s mouth dropped open. She understood the significance of her mother using that word.

“Wow. Was it the woman with the ferrets?” Mac nodded, and explained the whole story to them.

“I’m sorry, Mac. I had no idea she was like that,” Kelly said.

“She lied about everything. You couldn’t have known. Anyway, what we need to do right now is make a plan. My previous plans kind of blew up. Nothing is the way it was supposed to go. People are all shifted around, and I have triple the number of furry, woolly, and feathery critters here than I originally intended. And the dog, of course.”

“You brought the dog? Cool!” That was from Billy, who seemed thrilled with the idea of having one around.

“Yeah. I couldn’t leave him there with her when she tried to gas him. He seems pretty sweet, which is surprising given the way he was obviously treated. I’ve always liked Dobermans, so now we’ve got a dog.”

“Will he eat the ferrets and chickens, do you think?” Mac looked at her daughter.

“He’s tied up right now. We’ll deal with the introductions later. All of these animals are stressed right out, I’m sure, so they need a little time to get their balance again before we push anything new on them. He seemed calm in the car, though, and didn’t bother the ones in the carriers.”

“Why don’t I try to get Kirk or Leigh to pick up the radio on their end, and have them come here? They should be part of all these plans. We can teach them to use the radio over here, and then start contacting the people we know. While I’m trying to reach them, you can check the internet. Check the phones for that, too, since the 4G network isn’t the same thing as the GSM network the phone part operates on.” Mac nodded at Neil and they both headed off to do their own thing, while Billy ran out to see their new dog.

27

S
HORING
U
P THE
D
EFENSES

The news was disappointing on Mac’s end. Her systems were all online, but it looked like major routing centres were down. She could still get to lots of sites, but it took a long time, which meant a large number of failed DNS requests. The 4G network was down. Her BlackBerry was mostly a storage device now, and a Wi-Fi enabled remote with access to her server.

Neil had gotten through to Kirk, so there would be eight for the breakfast Annette had started on. Cameron had gone out to deal with the animals, and Kelly was making coffee. Mac sat at the table, and Neil sat beside her, seemingly just as happy to let the work slide off his shoulders as she was.

“We’re doing okay, honey. In a way we’re all better off than we were
because
the plans didn’t work out the way you and I intended. I know I’m happier because I have you, but strictly from a practical standpoint we’ve got a much better chance of survival with the group we’ve got now. We’ve got muscle, brains, skill, and a willingness to work.”

“I know. I’m just really exhausted from all the changes. I’m used to a routine where I do the same things all the time, and this week has been complete chaos in comparison.

“One day I’d like to be able to just play a few hands of cards or something. Or maybe some board games, though I don’t think any of the ones we have are for eight players. Or pool. I have a table in that pile of stuff over there, and I really want a chance to be able to use it.”

“Well, the animals all have a place to be, even if things aren’t perfect yet. The kids managed to get some of the arch segments in place for the other building, so it won’t be long before we have our new home. For the moment I think we need sleep more than anything.” Mac rested her head on his shoulder.

“Maybe, but more than anything I think we need to just sit here and decompress for a while. We haven’t had any time to adjust to our terrifying new reality. People went crazy a lot faster than I anticipated, and I wouldn’t have expected Trudeau to get killed. He should have been the most protected person in this country.”

By the time the food was cooked and on the table, Kirk and Leigh were coming in the door. Billy came in with them, dog in tow. Of course, it only took the smell of food to convince him to come in. They were going to have to come up with a name for him. They only had one dog around, so there wouldn’t be any confusion or anything, but it was just disrespectful in her mind to keep thinking of him as
the dog
.

“What do you think of Gowan as a name for him?”

“As in
Strange Animal
? Scottish name for a German dog, but with the number of Celtic people around here I can see it.”

“I considered a bunch of apocalyptic-type names, like Zombie, Geddy as short for Armageddon, Prism for their song
Armageddon
, and a few more. I’ve always liked that Gowan song, though, and the name fits for me.”

“I like it. Now you’ve got the song stuck in my head, so I’ll have to listen to it later. Let’s see what everyone else thinks of the name.”

When the suggestion was put forth, everyone seemed happy with it, so Gowan officially became a part of their family and celebrated with a big plate full of eggs. Mac couldn’t help thinking it was a damn good thing dogs were omnivores and could eat basically what people ate. He hadn’t been a part of their plans, but they could make a place for him.

As soon as breakfast was done, Mac went back into the bedroom to spend some time with Pickle and Squeaker, feeling as though she hadn’t seen them all week, when that wasn’t true at all. She just needed their love and warmth to ground her for a moment. Things were getting really bad and having her boys in her arms gave her the motivation she needed to survive in the face of all that.