Dux Bellorum (Future History of America Book 3) (48 page)

Norris handed a few little vials to Erik.
 
"Here you go.
 
That's enough for a week."

"A
week?
" asked Erik as he took possession of the antibiotics.

"That’s what we've determined is the median time it takes the medicine to be fully effective for most simple infections."
 
He stepped out of the giant fridge and shut the door like it was a bank fault—slow and careful.

"Do I need to keep it refrigerated?"

"No—we just keep it in there to prolong the shelf-life.
 
It'll keep just fine for about a month at room temperature."

Erik slipped the vials in his pack.
 
"Thank you very much, I—I don't know what we'd have done without this."

"You'd be digging a grave."
 
Norris pushed his glasses up his wide nose.
 
"It's what usually happens when someone gets an infection these days.
 
This stuff works—but not for everyone and not all the time, mind you.
 
This isn't amoxicillin."

Erik paused with that sobering thought.
 
Even medicine wasn't a guarantee in the post-collapse world.

"So, you're some sort of security consultant, huh?" asked Norris, leading Erik toward the lab entrance.
 
"Got any pointers?"

Erik stopped at the doorway, aware he was being tested.
 
"For starters, you've got to stop keeping so much food in the lobby.
 
Anyone can see in—the windows aren't tinted."

"We ran out of space."

"If you don't cover those windows or move that stuff, you'll run out of
food
when someone breaks in and takes it all.
 
There's enough food in there to feed a few families for a long time."

Norris nodded.
 
"I've raised the same point before.
 
Anything else?"

Erik pressed forward.
 
"Secondly, you shouldn't let anyone in here—I mean
anyone
—who doesn't work here.
 
Lucy, too."

Norris arched an eyebrow.
 
"Why?
 
We know her—"

"But you didn’t know
me
.
 
What if I was armed?"

"Are you?"

Erik frowned.
 
"No.
 
But no one bothered to check—there's no security presence here at all.
 
I could have had a pistol in this backpack and taken the whole place by myself.
 
What you guys have here is more precious than all the gold and jewels in the world, Dr. Norris.
 
You've got to protect it at all costs."

The scientist flashed a grin that disappeared as fast as it came.
 
"You sound like me six months ago.
 
You know why I'm not worried?"

Erik glanced at Lucy.
 
"No."

"Because I'm one of maybe three people within a hundred miles—maybe a thousand miles—that has the knowledge, experience and equipment necessary to produce life-saving medication.
 
You think anyone's going to mess with me?
 
Next time they get a scratch who do they turn to?"
 
Norris smiled.
 
"Me."

“That’s exactly what the Pro—uh…Oscar said.”
 
He pulled his hand up and pointed his finger in the shape of a gun at the scientists’ head.
 
“And if this was a real gun, you’d work for me or you’d die.”

Norris snorted, but Erik saw the fear in his eyes.
 
“Then if you really needed me, you’d be dead too.”

“We’re all going to die,” said Erik, lowering his arm.
 
“Trust me—you don’t want to let someone who’s desperate get in here with a gun.
 
I’ve seen stuff out there…things you can’t unsee.”

Norris led him out of the lab in silence, but made a show of securing the door behind him.
 
He called out for assistance and a few dirt-stained students came running.
 
Norris told them to go and fetch some weed-cloth to cover up the front windows of the lobby and they took off at a run.

Erik sensed an opening.
 
"This place is fantastic," he said.
 
"You've really got something here.
 
How many people can the farm feed?"

Norris smiled, seemingly glad to be talking about something he could be proud of.
 
"Well over a thousand, by my calculations."

Erik looked out the window, admiring the pastoral view.
 
"The Professor was pretty damn smart to take over this place, huh?"
 
He watched Norris' reaction in the reflection.
 
The scientist controlled his face, but his voice was tight.

"Take over?
 
Please
.
 
I was standing here and watched him come up.
 
We were getting along just fine before he showed up and we'll still be here after he leaves on his trek to the promised land."

"California?" asked Erik.

"Yes. He’s always going on about some post-modern utopia nonsense out there."

Erik took note of how prickly the scientist became over the topic.
 
That bit of information if nothing else would make Ted smile.

He let his eyes roam over the green fields of vegetable crops and orchards dozens of students moved through
 
picking ripened produce.
 
He glanced toward the trees on the western horizon and the clouds that gathered there.
 
Whoa.
 
Those are pretty dark.

Lucy trotted up, carrying a canvas satchel with a red cross on the outside.
 
"Doc says she wants to see the patient, so she's going to join the next convoy."

Norris nodded.
 
"I figured as much.
 
Once again, I’ll be left here to run the place by myself.”
 
He put his hands in his lab coat.
 
“Well, from the looks of those clouds, you two better get going.
 
The convoy's likely to head out soon.
 
We've got another storm coming in."

"It was nice meeting you, Dr. Norris,” Erik said, shaking the man's hand once more.
 
“I look forward to working with you.
 
Thanks for the medicine."
 

"I've enjoyed our conversation, Mr. Larsson.
 
I look forward to more.
 
You two stay dry."
 
He turned and disappeared back inside the lab.

"Why is he so worried about us being in the rain?" asked Erik as he Lucy walked through the interior of the Ag Sciences building to the rear loading docks.
 
Erik watched as no less than a dozen bicycles pulling large handmade wooden trailers stuffed with packages of food.
 
Each trailer had been wrapped in blue tarps and bungee cords.

"It's because of pneumonia."
 
Lucy looked at Erik.
 
"We lost a lot of people to stuff like that because we were running supplies through the rain.
 
At first, we thought it was smart—no one was out in the storms.
 
If we could drive the supplies to the main campus through the rain, it would give us a little bit of protection."

Erik shook his head.
 
"Let me guess, some of your people spent too much time in the rain and got sick.
 
And when they get sick, they got sicker without modern medicine.
 
Right?"

Lucy looked at the floor.
 
"We lost more than 20 people in first month after the collapse to pneumonia—or what Doc
called
pneumonia at the time.
 
We don’t have access to x-rays anymore, so she can't be a hundred percent sure—we just keep calling it that out of habit."

"It sure makes those clouds a lot more menacing, doesn't it?" asked a female voice.

Erik turned to face a short, slender woman wearing a windbreaker and jeans.
 

"You must be our visitor, Mr. Larsson.
 
I'm Dr. Stephanie Aldrich.
 
I used to run the student health clinic here on campus."

Erik shook her bony hand and smiled.
 
"Nice to meet you Dr. Aldrich."

"Please, call me Doc—everybody else does, I can't seem to shake it so I just embrace it."

Erik nodded.
 
"Then call me Erik, Doc."

"Ready when you are, Doc!" called out one of the male students attending the bicycles.

"See?"
 
Aldrich nodded and glanced at the clipboard in her hand.
 
She peeled back some paper and made a note of the time.
 
"Okay, people, let's mount up."
 
She turned to Lucy and Erik.
 
"You two coming with us?"

Lucy nodded.
 
"Our bikes are out front.
 
We'll meet you out on the main road."

"Fair enough.”
 
Aldrich turned back to the group.
 
“Let's get moving everyone, I don’t like the look of those clouds."

On the way north, Lucy explained to Erik the work schedules.
 
"Nobody really gets bored with any one particular job.
 
See, there's a rotating schedule."

Erik listened attentively and found it easier to keep up on the trip north, despite the fact he was tired and more than a little hungry.
 
The threat posed by the storm clouds to the west—growing closer by the minute—propelled him forward.
 
From his time in Florida, Erik had a healthy respect for the rain, but never a fear. He glanced at the clouds, menacingly close now and wondered how cold the rain would be.

"When we bring a load of supplies north,” Lucy continued, “we take back whatever we need to—including extra workers.
 
They ride back in the empty trailers."

"That makes sense," Erik said as they coasted over a foot bridge.

"Then, people who were ready at the farm to take the next load of supplies north rotate out to work on the gathering teams in the fields while someone else takes their place."

"Sounds pretty efficient."

"Yeah, that's the Professor!
 
He's pretty great sometimes."

“Sometimes?”

Lucy shot him a dark look, blushed, and didn’t speak for the rest of the trip.

Erik clenched his jaw as the wind slapped his face.
Yeah, he's a great guy all right.

They made it back to town just as the first peal of thunder echoed in the distance.
 
Aldrich slowed the convoy a few blocks south of the library.
 
"Okay, you folks know what to do.
 
Get your stuff unloaded and get inside.
 
I think the storm is about on us," she said, directing the rest of the group to shelter.

Lucy glanced around as the convoy peeled off.
 
“Where is everyone?” she asked as they coasted by deserted streets.

“You’re right, it sure looks quiet,” added Aldrich.

“I don’t like this,” said Erik.
 
“It feels even more deserted than before.”
 

Aldrich nevertheless waited until the main body of the convoy had disappeared down side streets before she turned back to Erik and Lucy.
 
"Okay, Lucy, lead the way to this patient of yours.
 
Let’s get off the streets."

Back at the visitor's center, Lucy, Aldrich, and Erik barely had time to dismount their bikes before the first raindrops fell.
 
They opened the rear door and pulled their bikes inside for safekeeping.
 
They were immediately met by Ted and Roger and provided bottles of water.

"It's a good thing you’re back," Ted said.
 
The edge in his voice felt like a slap in the face to Erik.
 
"We got trouble."

"What's up?" he asked warily, his hand automatically searching for the rifle that should've been hanging from his shoulder.
 

"It seems some of the
athletes
are massing just north of Main Street.
 
The Professor thinks they're planning on making a move.
 
My guess is before sundown—they'll use the storm for cover. He put the main campus on lockdown."

“Oh no…” breathed Lucy.

Aldrich took a hard look at Ted.
 
"Are you the patient's father?"

Ted nodded.
 
"Yes ma'am.
 
Ted Jensen, Sarasota County Sheriff's Department.
 
My 12-year-old daughter Lindsay is upstairs with Brin, Erik's wife.
 
She's the one who's hurt."

“Lindsay, not Brin,” Lucy was quick to add with a quick glance at Erik.
 
She tucked the hair behind her ear.

"Fine then," Aldrich said as she headed toward the stairs.
 
"I'll go check on her."
 
She glanced at Lucy.
 
"Lindsay, not Brin."

Lucy blushed but followed the physician up the stairs.

"How did we find out?" Erik asked when Aldrich and Lucy left the room.

Roger spoke up from the table.
 
"Your friend and I spotted them when we were dropping our weapons off at the armory.
 
I never thought of it as an armory before,” he said to himself.
 
“I still think of it as part of the history department.
 
But, ‘armory’ is starting to grow on me…"

Ted ignored Roger.
 
"There's lots of movement on the other side of Main Street.
 
I got up on the roof of the armory," he said with a look for Roger, "and spotted lots of movement near some fancy building to the north."