Sealed In (3 page)

He related to Emma more than she realized; maybe she did, and that was why she’d go to the movies or shoot pool with him, because she related. They were both viewed as fools. His for intelligence, hers for behavior.

She wasn’t any crazier than he was an idiot. It was just the way people perceived them.

Then again, Emma had this thing with him. Unlike others who nodded and waited for him to stutter through his sentence, Emma finished his sentences for him, often calling him funny, witty, or insightful, and believing she knew what he meant because they had a connection. More often than not, she wasn’t just wrong, she was way off base.

Like the time he was pruning Mr. Bellow’s tree away from the lines. While he was on the ladder, he spotted Mr. Bellow’s missing cat on the neighbors back porch roof. But that wasn’t the story that Emma walked away with.

“I got .. I got a c … c … cool st st …”

“Story?” Emma said. “You have a cool story to tell? Sweet. I can use a smile, go on.”

“I was trim … trim …trimming Mr. Bellows’ tr … tr …”

“You were trimming Mr. Bellows’ tree?” She questioned and Andy nodded. “Oh, you were on a ladder weren’t you?”

Andy nodded.

“This is gonna be good, what did you see?”

“Mr. … B …”

“You saw Mr. Bellows in his window?” Emma shrieked. “Oh my God, was he naked?”

Andy tried to shake his head, but he was so used to nodding, he nodded first. The he finally shook his head, held up his hand, and tried to say he didn’t see him naked, but all he got out was, “D …”

“He was in a dress?” Emma laughed loudly. “I knew it. He is so homophobic, that’s because he’s a cross dresser. This is so good. Did he know you saw him? He did, didn’t he? What did you say?”

In his mind, Andy said, “Please let me tell the story,” but when the ‘P’ for please came out, Emma jumped on it.

“You said he was pretty. Oh, God, Andy, you are so funny. Bet he avoids you forever, that is such a funny story, and it’ll be our secret.”

Andy just smiled. It was a better story than the cat, and who cared if Emma thought Mr. Bellows was a cross dresser.

If anyone else did that to him, Andy would have been frustrated and insulted, but not Emma. He supposed it was his way of keeping her his friend.

He was making his way back up toward the diner when Emma came from the hair place. Her hair was a lot shorter, and it looked really good. He wanted to tell her that and waved as he made his way back down the ladder.
She stopped and waited for him to come down.

“Hey, Andy!”

Andy waved.

“You seen my dad? I want to avoid him.”

Andy pointed in the diner.

“
Jeez, still? It’s been hours. Thanks.”

“W … wait.” Andy held up a finger then reached out and touched her hair. “B …. Be … nice.” Then he gave a double thumbs up.

“You really think?” Emma played with the ends of her hair that came just to below her collar. “I wanted to go shorter, but she wouldn’t cut it shorter. Said I’d get shell-shocked or something. Uh, hello, the apocalypse is gonna take my mind off of that. Now it’s gonna get caught in the collar and I’ll be flipping it out. But it looks good.”

“Aw … Awesome.”

“Aw,” she reached up and patted his cheek. “You’re so sweet.”

Andy cleared his throat.

“What?” Emma asked.

“What the hell did you do to all your hair?” Stew walked up behind her. “If you’re gonna cut it short, then go short. Not bobbing along.”

Emma gasped. “That’s so wrong.”

“And so is taking that baby in the hole.”

“I did no such thing.” Emma folded her arms.

“You’re lying,” Stew said.
“I heard about it.”

“Whoever told you that is lying.”

“Your daughter told me that.”

“There you have it.” Emma held out her hand. “She’s a liar.”

Stew grimaced and then all expression fell from his face. “You gotta be shitting me.”

Andy looked and winced.

“What?” Emma asked.

Andy tried to say, “D … De …”

“There’s a deer?” Emma asked. “Where?”

Andy shook his head.

“Walk … w … “

“Walk away,” Emma nodded. “Oh, good advice. Walk away from my dad.”

Stew snapped. “What the hell is the matter with you? Quit putting words in this man’s mouth and turn around.”

Andy got the word out at the same time Emma turned and looked over her shoulder.

“Del,” Andy said.

Del’s car was parked a little down the street, and he stepped out with a wave. He was thin, his hair a little longer and blonde. He grinned a wide, perfect smile that could be seen even at a distance.

“Wow, he’s still hot,” Emma whispered.

Stew nudged her in the arm. “He is not. Please. And he’s too old for his hair to be longer than yours.”

Del picked up his pace and trotted to her. “Em.” With one arm extended, he reached out, wrapped it around her, and embraced her like an old friend.

“Hey … uh, Del.” Emma reluctantly returned the embrace.

“Wow, I saw you when I was coming down the street,” Del said. “I had to stop before I went to the house.” He turned to Stew. “Hey, Dad.”

“Um, haven’t seen ya in nearly a decade, you lost that right.” Stew said. “Stew will work.”

Del smiled as if he took it in stride. “And Andy, wow, you look good. Good to see you.” He extended his hand.

“D .. Del.”

“Still have the stutter, I see.”

Emma’s mouth dropped open. “You are such an asshole.”

Del waved out his hand. “He don’t know.”

“He does too. And I didn’t know you were coming,” Emma said.

“Wanted it to be a surprise. I got this great toy dinosaur; I got for Richie, mind if I give it to him before Christmas?” Del asked.

“He’s fifteen now,” Emma said. “I don’t know if he’ll play with it. Your granddaughter might.”

Del cocked back. “I have a granddaughter? Holy shit. I didn’t know that.”

Stew interjected. “You might if you called once a year. Are you passing through?”

“No, actually, my tour is on break until after Christmas, so I’m in town,” Del said. “Can I stay at the house, Em?”

“No, that wouldn’t be a good idea,” Emma answered.

“Why not?” Del asked.

“Because it would totally interfere with my … with my …”

Stew finished the sentence. “Not good for a relationship to have an ex-husband staying at the house.”

Del laughed. “Yeah, right, I know you, Em. Who can deal with your eccentricities?”

“As a matter of fact … Andy.” Emma backed into Andy. “We’ve been together for a while. We are quite the couple.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Del smirked.

Emma spun to Andy. “Can you just deck him? You are much bigger.”

Andy shook his head and smiled. “F … f .. it’s fine.”

Another laugh and Del backed up. “Ok, well, I’m gonna swing by the house, then go and stay with Bill. But, uh, I’ll be back tonight. We can hang out.”

“I won’t be there,” Emma said. “Andy and I go out on Fridays. Big date night.”

“Then I’ll hang with the kids and get to know my granddaughter.” Del turned, walked a few steps
, and then stopped. “Oh, before I go. Does ... uh, Richie still do sign language?”

“Yes, Del, your son is still deaf.”

“Just checking.” Another turn and Del walked to his car.

Stew grumbled. “What an asshole. And we gotta deal with him for almost a month. I’ll kill him before that.”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that,” Emma said.

“I gotta go.” Stew looked at his watch. “And you have that big date tonight, so do something with that hair.” He pointed, kissed his daughter on the cheek
and, after shaking hands with Andy, walked away.

With a humbled look, Emma faced Andy. “I’m sorry. It just slipped out that we’re dating. It’s not all that much of a lie, we do go out once in a while, right?”

Andy nodded. “Yep.”

“Do you wanna go out tonight?” Emma asked.

“De … De …” Andy tilted his head.

“A date, yes. Good.” Emma tiptoed up and kissed him on the cheek. “Bout time you asked me out officially.” She started to go then stopped. “And my hair will look better, I promise.”

Emma walked away. She didn’t see the huge smile that stayed on Andy’s face as she left him.

Edward had been in town only a few hours but already felt as if he had been there for days.
Not that he had done all that much work, but he kept thinking about it all.

While he prepared the lab to test the first sample, his team was out and about. They were to count bodies, canvas for survivors, and then collect bodies.

The location of town worked in their favor; they could hold the news of the town’s demise from the media. But for how long? Surely the people in Hartworth knew others outside. It was Christmas, and that told Edward he had two days before he had to release something about Hartworth.

Family and friends would wonder what became of their loved ones on the holiday.

He would have to provide answers.

It saddened and scared him.

The cold front that had moved in caused snow and isolation. A combination of wind mixed with the continuous Christmas music caused it to be just too scary. It very well could be a glimpse of the extinction of mankind if they didn’t discover what had wiped out Hartworth, Montana.

Everything was so gray.

A text message from his wife made him think of his children and how in two days they would scurry about the house jumping for joy over Santa’s recent visit. And then he thought of the children of Hartworth who wouldn’t get to see Christmas, whose presents were probably tucked away and hidden, while their parents anxiously awaited putting them out.

A Christmas that would never happen.

In the midst of prepping the lab to search for answers and analyze samples, his phone rang.

Edward took the call and accepted the information. Little did he know how vital that information would end up being.

The Centers for Disease Control were calling to tell him that the last phone call was placed three days earlier, and it was one call. Before that it was two whole days. One call to a small town forty miles away called Lincoln.

Edward wrote down the caller’s name and address. He would seek the person, dead or alive, and hopefully find answers. He didn’t want to send a team to Lincoln, not yet, but he would have to soon. They needed to find out if someone from Lincoln had been in Hartworth or knew of the virus.

The phone call was brief, but while he was on the phone, he heard two assistants enter in the back. He knew why they had returned.

They were bringing Edward a body. One to examine to get a sample, to start learning the virus.

After ending the call, Edward was ready to suit up again. A glass wall separated him from the lab and another window from the autopsy room. He signaled that he would be right there. One of his assistants, Harold Daily, waved his arm and indicated to Edward to lift the interoffice phone.

“What’s up, Harold?” he asked.

Harold spoke through the radio system in his suit. “We saw some weird shit out there.”

“So weird that you couldn’t wait until I came in there?” Edward asked.

“Actually yeah. Megan and I have to prep the body. While she starts, I’m gonna upload the photos I took. The body needs to warm up some.”

Edward nodded. “Upload them.” He hung up the phone, walked to the coffee pot
, poured a cup of coffee, then made his way to the computer.

He lifted the phone once more. “They uploaded?”

“Yeah,” Harold answered.

Edward clicked on the folder. The first picture was of the young man in the pickup truck holding the shotgun. “What am I looking at?”

“The first house.”

Edward clicked the picture. “Ok. What about it.”

“Empty.” Harold said. “Next house, empty. We hit about fifteen houses in the main portion of town. All empty. Population 843 and the first batches of houses were empty.”

“Did they leave? Oh, God. ..”

“Wait. Click the fire station.”

Edward stared at a picture of the building’s exterior. “What about it.”

“The sign on the door.” Harold explained. “It reads ...”

The next photo zoomed in.

“Stay out. Infected!” Harold recited. “And then we went inside.”

Edward’s stomach dropped when he looked at the first picture. Inside the fire station were hundred of bodies. People were lying on blankets and sleeping bags. It appeared they tried to set up a medical area.