Omega Pathogen: Despair (24 page)

Arzu watched the children, especially Berk and Kayra as they played outside as she helped make dinner.
Will a day come when I won’t have to worry about the ones I love surviving through the day
? She thought.

Arzu turned her head from watching the children play on her left to resume cutting the vegetables. As she turned her head back to the right she caught a glimpse of George inside the RV.

Arzu watched for a moment as he passed the window, pacing back and forth inside. She felt a little guilty, like she had intruded, violated his privacy as he coped with the stresses of the condition they all found themselves.
Who can blame him? Everyone is stressed
, she thought and went back to her work.

Royce, Linda and Arzu heard Marlene gasp from the kitchen. The three hurried into the living room by her side. Marlene wished whomever she had spoken with a safe trip.

“Marlene, what is it?” Linda asked.

Marlene removed the headphones and lowered her head.

“Well?” Arzu asked with an impatient and irritated tone to her voice for the delayed response to the question.

“Kathy, Jim, and Chris and Jeremy are all okay. The group in Spring Hill are all dead,” Marlene said.

“What happened?” Arzu asked.

“They didn’t say. Here, Jim wants to talk to you,” Marlene said. She handed the headphones to Arzu and got up from the chair.

Arzu spoke briefly with Jim and then passed the headphones to Linda. Linda kept her conversation with Chris and Jeremy short as well and signed off.

Arzu, Linda and the others stood silently for several long seconds. Arzu walked back into the kitchen, Royce and Linda followed and resumed making dinner.

Chris and Jeremy had told them on the radio that they hoped to be back not too long after dark. No one knew actual numbers of infected that had been encountered on the attempted rescue in the MRAP. But those at the Yates’ home knew, from hints during conversations overheard between the MRAP and the hotel, that Jim and Kathy and Chris and Jeremy faced many. And they were far from safety.

Brent and Chelsea had finished a circuit of the farm and began to work on installing more cameras. The exterior system was all set up and these were for the interior of the compound as an added security measure. Brent planned on setting up a camera facing the inside of the Hesco barriers of each wall and at the gate. In the event anything were to possibly climb over anywhere and be missed by one of the cameras that faced outside the compound, they should be able to pick up the breach and respond.

The added security would make the lives of the residents easier; one person could observe everything from the monitors he’d already set up for the exterior. If a threat were present the other residents would be notified and then react.   

“Do you see now? They don’t trust you! They’re putting up more cameras to watch you!” The voices warned him.

George peeked through the window and watched Brent and Chelsea working outside.

Why else would they put the cameras up
? George thought.

“I told you,” a voice said. “I told you,” another said. “I told you!” a third said.

“We told you! We told you!” Legions screamed at George.

“You work for the government. You know you have to protect the world from those things! Soon everyone here will be one of them and then it will be too late to act! It will be too late!” the voices said.

“Where are they from?” George asked those only he could hear.

“Demons. You idiot! They’re demons from another world! You sit on your hands while they take over our planet and consume all life
.
You are a worthless piece of shit!” The voices berated and insulted him.

George quickly left the window when he thought Brent had seen him. He rummaged through the medications and found some haloperidol, another medicine he’d heard of somewhere. He drew up ten milligrams in a syringe. His hands shook as he lowered his pants and injected the medication into his thigh.

How can I save the world from the alien demons
? George thought as he lay on the bed in the fetal position. He covered his ears and lay there rocking. He rambled incoherently.

George sprang to a seated position as the clap of thunder shook the RV. Lightning flashed outside the windows and his mind registered the sound of rain hitting the roof. He stood and wiped drool from his cheek as he looked out the window. It was nearly dark outside.

George checked his watch and the analog hands showed 5:57. He wasn’t sure if it was morning or evening. He wasn’t sure how long he had slept.

“You’ll sleep through your death and the death of the world if you keep taking the drugs. You're an imbecile! Don’t take their poison!” the multitude of voices repeated over and over again.

I have to stay alert
, he thought.

“That’s right! Don’t take any more of their poison, you idiot!” the voices said.

George felt the pangs of hunger and searched for something to eat in the RV. As he looked for food he noticed the battery-powered digital clock on the nightstand near the bed he just got out of, 6:00 PM.
Okay. It’s nighttime
, he thought. He stared unblinking at the clock, waiting for it to turn to 6:01 PM before he resumed his search for something to eat.

George found a packet of freeze-dried eggs. He read the directions several times before he comprehended their meaning. He used a flashlight and magnifying glass to look for signs of tampering on the packet. Any sign of a needle puncture. It could have been poisoned and left for him to find. Once satisfied, George retrieved a bottle of water he would need to boil and add to the contents of the packet to reconstitute the meal.

He checked the ingredients on the label and then conducted the same arduous task of checking that the bottle was sealed. He squeezed it to check for leaks from punctures and then used the flashlight and magnifying glass again. George carefully removed the bottle cap as he listened and felt for the plastic seal as it cracked and broke free.

The rain had brought an early end to the children’s outdoor playtime. The kids ate a little earlier than normal, and then colored and drew pictures after dinner. Soon that lost its hold on their attention. As the others washed dishes, Arzu had the kids circle around her and she read them a couple of
Dr. Seuss
books. As the clean up finished in the kitchen, Jen and Linda helped to make sure teeth were brushed and the children readied for bed.

With a little while longer before their actual bedtime, a video was selected and the kids gathered around the TV. They watched the video for probably the hundredth time, but they still had outbursts of the giggles at the same scenes in the movie.
They seem so resilient. But what will the horrors of this new world do to their minds as they grow older
? Arzu thought.

Linda had given Marlene a break. Marlene limped slightly as she made her way down the hallway and then to the right, where her room and another larger room for the children were. An hour or two nap and Marlene would be right back at her post.

Royce went outside to do his shift on security watch.

Arzu made some tea for herself, Linda and Jen. The hot tea grew cold as they discussed the seemingly never-ending plans for improvements around the compound and made small talk.

Arzu and Linda’s tension was obvious as they impatiently waited for word from Jim and the others. They tried to call the MRAP but received no reply. They hoped that it was just the storm front that interfered with the communications again. 

Chapter 29

“
Yankee Charlie
, this is
Raptor
. Do you copy? Over,” Jeremy called over the Ham radio.

The residents had taken to calling the Ham radio base station at the Yates’ farm turned compound
Yankee Charlie
.

Chris and Jeremy had picked the designation of
Raptor
for the MRAP.

“It’s probably this damn storm, son. We’ll try back later,” Jim said.

Chris had taken a turn driving the MRAP as Kathy tried to rest. The rain came down in thick sheets that high winds blew diagonally across their path. Debris flew into the vehicle and tumbled across the road. With having to avoid the objects that suddenly appeared in their path and the torrential rain, visibility was dramatically reduced and slowed their speed to a crawl.

Jim stood between the driver and the passenger seats. Jeremy was sitting in the front passenger seat. They provided extra sets of eyes on the road to try and help Chris.

Chris was continually forced to slow down and then pick up speed again, but overall the speed kept declining.

Jim looked out the windshield as he weighed their options. “Let’s go ahead and stop under the next overpass we come to. We’ll see if we can wait until it clears out,” Jim said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Chris replied.

About four miles later, Chris spotted an overpass and began to slow the vehicle even more. “Here we are,” he said as he pulled to the right and came to a stop under it.

“Fuel?” Jim asked.

“Half a tank,” Chris replied and shut off the headlights.

The black curtains were pulled down over the windows and they prepared for dinner. None of the MREs or the freeze-dried foods seemed appetizing, so they elected for some canned meat and crackers for a meal instead.

Kathy had been drifting in and out of sleep. Although her brother and nephews had tried to be quiet, their movements and whispers kept her from a good sleep. She gave up her attempt and decided she’d join them for dinner.

“Still no radio?” Kathy asked as she sat up and rubbed her tired eyes.

“Nope. The storm,” Jeremy answered and pointed up toward the ceiling of the MRAP.

As they ate they decided to wait until morning before they resumed the drive to the farm. The storm could break before then but they were all exhausted. They would transfer fuel from their extra tank in the morning and then siphon more on the way.

They tried later, but their attempts to reach the compound were still unsuccessful. So after they ate, the weapons were cleaned and the engine shut off as they settled in for the night. The entire time the rain fell and the wind howled. The gusts were so forceful that they sometimes caused the MRAP to rock slightly.

They lay in the dimmed interior. Their only light was a green Cyalume light stick. Each of them fought away visions of things they had seen or done since the infection had destroyed all normalcy. The world they had lived in before had not been without some tribulation, but now it seemed to offer little other than despair.

Around 4:00 AM the wind and rain began to dissipate. Soon after the storm had slackened, they began to wake in the back of the MRAP. Once pillows and sleeping bags were stored, Jim made coffee while Kathy tried to contact the Yates’ compound. The calls still went unanswered. Concern crept into their minds.

“We’ll check our antenna. Maybe the storm knocked it off. Or maybe the base antenna is down,” Jim said. He tried to ease their minds as well as his own.

They transferred fuel from the spare to the main tank. Kathy checked and found the antenna still mounted to the roof. She saw no obvious problems in the cable. Their radio seemed fine.

They cleaned out the trash from the morning and the previous day before they resumed their drive north on U.S. 19. Further radio calls as they traveled went unanswered. They had to make a couple of stops before they had siphoned enough diesel to nearly fill the MRAP’s tanks, then continued their trek north.

Kathy brought the vehicle to an abrupt halt as they exited Citrus into Levy County. “Shit!” Kathy yelled. Her frustration caused her to grip the wheel so hard her knuckles were white. She stared with an expression of defeat at the bridge ahead.

What remained of the bridge — the same one they had used the day before to traverse the Cross Florida Barge Canal that linked with the Withlacoochee River. The storm winds from the night before had caused a large ship to break free of its moorings, and it had collided with the support structures of the bridge. The result of the collision was about a twenty-foot gap in both lanes. The bridge was impassible.

Chris looked over the map as his dad, aunt, and brother looked at the hole in the bridge. He pointed to a section of road on the map. “Here,” Chris said. “We have to cut back a few miles and turn east, then we take this road north again. Then we can cross the river at the bridge in Dunnellon,” he said as he traced the roads with his finger.

With it being the closest option, the choice was already made. Kathy leaned over, studied the map for a few seconds, and then turned the MRAP around.

“We don’t see that many people out scavenging like we used to,” Jeremy said. He sat looking out the window as they drove through another area with sparse homes and businesses. No one responded to Jeremy’s statement. He knew as well as they did he was merely pointing out the obvious. They all had noticed but just hadn’t said it aloud.

Only the infected were seen. Some were alone. Most of the time they were in groups of two or more. They seemed to gravitate to each other. Even though the infected that had not yet died often seemed to become irritated and aggressive with each other, they still were found mostly grouped together.