August Burning (Book 1): Outbreak (7 page)

“Jax? Is that you?” His mother’s soft
voice crackled over the phone.

“Mom! It’s me! Are you guys alright?”

“We’re ok, we’ve been watching the TV,
it looks like something terrible is happening in New York. I don’t- the roads
are totally blocked now. We can’t get out of here,” there was desperation in
her voice. “Are you alright?”

“I’m alright. We’re safe down here.
The president is a few blocks away, don’t forget that.” He attempted a laugh
that fell immediately flat.

“Your brother thinks we should try and
drive through the field behind to hotel to local roads….I don’t know Jax, I
think if things get any worse we’re going to do just that and come get you.”

“Just stay put for now, ma. Things
aren’t so bad yet here. No one really knows what’s going on.”

“Alright, you need to stay safe for
me. Do you understand me son?”

“I do. I will. My friends are all here
with me. Bennett, Liam, Troy, and Elvis. All of them.”

The voice on the other end sighed
deeply. “They are. That makes me happy. Protect each other.”

Jaxton paused, deep in swirling
thought. “Mom. Listen. If the cell service ever stops, meet me at home.”

“In Cold Spring?”

“Meet me at home. I can get there with
the others.”

“How are you ever going to get back to
Pennsylvania?”

“I’ll find a way,” Jaxton said,
suddenly much more sure of himself. His voice had steadied.

“Can I talk to Danny? Mom?”

The call had dropped. Jaxton twisted
his fist against the brick wall, feeling the grains cutting into his flesh. He
fought a rising knot in his stomach, and breathed deeply, counting the seconds
of each inhale and exhale.

As Jaxton returned he heard Bennett
speaking quickly, “My parents were able to turn around. They went back to Cold
Spring to wait this out.” He set his jaw and looked off into space dully.
“They’ll wait in Pennsylvania till this blows over. I don’t think they think
anything is really wrong.” He looked off into space.

Troy didn’t seem to notice. “Air
service to all the big eastern cities is totally frozen. Nothing in or out. My
dad thinks its some kind of military lockdown. My buddy’s heading back home to
Maryland. Taking no chances. I’m guna see what the Army needs. Elvis where are
your parents?”

Elvis shook his head. “We’re taking
the car back home tomorrow morning at 6. I’m staying with you guys tonight. I
told them that.”

“So everyone is stuck here for tonight,
and their parents have either returned home or are waiting somewhere on the
road south.”

The group murmured assent, suddenly
taking comfort for the company they shared. No one was alone in their private
trepidation. Sirens sounded in the distance. Shouting families and students
moved briskly past them, as they stood unmoving in a tight knit circle.
 

Jaxton lead them back to the apartment
he shared with Liam on the 9
^th
floor of a massive brick apartment
building. He had suggested they all try to get away from the panic sweeping the
streets. Their harried faces were stricken with exhaustion as they started
numbly at the television screen. His friends barely spoke. One by one the
graduates drifted into a restless sleep in some corner of the tiny apartment,
until the voices on the TV only spoke to Adira, who regarded it with a sinister
fixation. She chewed unconsciously on her beautifully painted nails, and stared
with red eyes.

“My mom hasn’t even called me. They’re
not even trying to get me,” she whispered, tugging at her jet-black hair.

Bennett half-opened his eyes, sensing
her emotion. “They had no chance, Adira. There was nothing they could even do.”
He spoke the words, but knew in his own mind he would be cursing them too. They
were cowards for not even attempting to make the trip. He looked at the girl
seated next to him. Her previously intoxicating confidence has crumbled, and
there were now only broken nerves. He sighed, putting his arm around her. She
immediately responded to his touch, and began crying softly, as the others
slept all around them.

 
8 hours after Outbreak. Washington, D.C

Liam awoke first, never having really
slept at all. He was sprawled out on his own bed, and fought against delirium
to open his eyes as faint light sifted through the blinds. Harley was lying on
the bed opposite, with Elvis snoring next to her. She had his arm wrapped
around her, but her eyes were red and wide open, looking straight at Liam. He
tried to smile faintly at her, wondering if the girl had slept at all. She
hardly looked comfortable. Suddenly, she rose breathlessly, extricating herself
from Elvis’s clutches without waking him. Her face contorted in exhaustion and
fear before she launched herself, wrapping Liam in a bear-hug and shuddering
audibly as she did so. Liam jerked back at first, startled, before he too found
comfort in an embrace. He had spent a few hours with the girl on the first
night they met, and he had been able to tell immediately that she was drawn to
him. There had been no intimate contact though, as Elvis was already entangled
with her. He had known within minutes he and Harley shared the same crude,
juvenile sense of humor.

He couldn’t deny it felt good to hold
her, as he stared at her brown hair spilling over their arms. Elvis shifted in
his slumber, and Liam froze, feeling guilty. Harley didn’t seem to notice. She
looked up at him with bright hazel eyes, dotted with lighter specks and seemed
to draw strength from his own gaze. Then she reached up on her toes and kissed
him hungrily, her mouth hot and soft. Liam recoiled in his own mind, but
couldn’t find it in himself to pull away. He found himself answering her before
they both broke off after a breathless minute. She kept her arms locked around
him, however, for a while longer. Liam sighed. He knew he was ensnared, and
there would be no going back.

Jaxton awoke in his own bed to the
sound of banging. He jumped out of bed in an anxious rage and ran to open the
front door of the apartment, passing Bennett and Adira sleeping on top of each
other on the couch. His neighbor stood at the door, her dull brown eyes alight
with unnatural energy. He had been connected with her once before, but it had
never panned out. Without the veil of makeup, she would never be called pretty,
but it didn’t matter. She had always been kind to those who deserved it, and
avoided the normal drama that plagued the dorms, strong in her own fashion
          
    
 
“They blew the bridges,” she explained,
her eyes staring at Jaxton’s own mouth.

He rubbed his eyes to clear his head.
“What?”

“All the bridges on both rivers
leading to Manhattan. Gone. And now people are putting cameras on little drones
and flying them into the blackout zone. It’s crazy. They’re fight-“

“Tessa, slow down. Jesus Christ, slow
down.”

Troy appeared behind Jaxton’s back,
peering out with a face like death. “What’s going on?”

Tessa threw her tiny hands up in
exasperation. “C’mon just look at your phones! Turn the TV on! Anything!” Her
slight southern drawl awoke the rest of the apartment.

Jaxton took a step forward, gripping
her on the shoulder. “Show me.”

Tessa burst in the room, her unshapely
body moving with force to the kitchen table. The others gathered around as she
drew out her own phone. “Somebody posted this an hour ago.”

The tiny screen showed amateur footage
from an airborne drone, spinning blades slightly visible at the top of the
frame. It whirled over a highway completely clogged with cars. Jaxton peered
for movement but the drone was flying too high and too fast. The camera moved
up a hair, revealing the same highway extending far into the distance, clogged
in both directions. They could see where dozens of cars had attempted to cross
the barriers and drive outbound in the opposite lane, often with disastrous
results. Finally the sluggish Hudson River came into view, with the city of
skyscrapers beyond. Adira’s jaw became slack. Where the George Washington
Bridge had been was now a smoking wreck. The center pillars still stood, but
the horizontal pieces had been blown away violently. Twisted metal stuck out of
the brown waters, singed with black from the explosion the night before.
Everyone wanted to fill the air with words, but they were too shocked to speak.

“They tried to contain it,” Adira’s
voice was harsh and husky from exhaustion.

“My god.” Adira touched Bennett on the
arm, prodding him. “They’re starting an evacuation. New York, Connecticut, and
New Jersey. Non-compliance will be akin to treason.” Bennett exclaimed,
haltingly. “My Dad just sent me this.” He stuck out his phone for the others to
see. Armed soldiers argued with screaming citizens in their pajamas on a bright
green front lawn somewhere in suburbia. The sprinklers continued to operate,
happily spraying the two parties with frigid well-water. In the background,
families in casual Sunday wear were being herded into green trucks. The father
was roughly tackled to the ground, and his hands were ziptied impatiently by a
young soldier with shaking hands. They loaded him onto the truck with harsh
faces. They could all hear the wife shouting as she was dragged, asking what
was even going on.

Bennett slammed his fist on the table.
“We want some damn answers! What the hell is going on?!”

“Bennett, please,” Adira pleaded, her
eyes red.

“I’ve been up since dawn this morning.
People are leaving. They’re getting in their cars and driving south,” Tessa
said as if under sedation. Jaxton thought her drawl became more pronounced the
slower she tried to speak.

The room erupted in chatter as
everyone tried to speak at once. Jaxton joined in, knowing a plan had to
formulated. Indecision was not acceptable in a situation like this.

“ENOUGH!” Liam’s voice boomed,
silencing them all. They all looked to him to speak, but he clearly didn’t know
what to say.

“We need supplies. We should get
supplies, in case anything happens.” Troy stared at the table as he spoke.

“Yes. Supplies and canned food. Just
in case,” Bennett agreed heartily, relived as the rest of them to have a course
of action to follow.

Jaxton felt his indecision evaporate
and spoke before finishing his thought. “Bennett. Adira. Get to the CVS right
now. Get anything you might think useful. Toiletries, over the counter
medicines…I don’t know. Go!”

Adira nodded fiercely, meeting
Jaxton’s eyes with a flicker of admiration. She clasped Bennett by the hand and
they ran out.

“Let’s spread out. I’m going to the
Rite-Aid.” Elvis said, leaving without another word. Harley looked to Liam
momentarily, who moved his head a fraction. She took off after Elvis.

“Tessa. Liam. Come with me. We’re
going to need a lot of food. The supermarket might already be swamped. We’re
stealing a cart, I don’t give a shit.”

Jaxton looked to the fiercest among
them. “Troy?”

Troy had a feisty glint in his eyes,
impressed at the quick action of the group. For a second he grinned manically.
“I’m going to get us some answers.”

Troy burst out onto the street, and
started running hard. He felt an explosion of joy rise within him as his legs
pumped furiously. He was going to run until it hurt. White spittle flew from
his mouth as he blew past other people. There was a visible tension in the air.
Groups of people walked hurriedly with their heads down, speaking in whispers
or not at all. Sirens were always blaring and Troy thought he heard several
helicopters passing overhead. The streets that ran through campus were almost
totally dead for the first time in his life, except for the occasional police cruiser.
He sprinted past people loading supplies into cars. Several, overloaded with
survivalist gear, were already starting down the road, heading south.

He took a hard right turn at the next
block, flying past the row of dilapidated town houses occupied by local
fraternities. He spotted a group of men lounging on a leather couch outside,
drinking cans of cheap beer that he knew from experience tasted like watery
piss. He hung another hard right. Troy knew he was on his own. His own parents
had died in a car accident when he was only 6, and his aunt and uncle were
living in Appalachia. They were almost 70 themselves, and he had already let
them know not to even think about coming down. His heart had swelled with
emotion hearing about how his uncle had already loaded down their 2004 Honda
Civic with supplies with the intent of heading north to reach him. But was
certain he had made the right decision. Up north, the military had moved the
media farther and farther back from the Hudson River, as they stepped up the
evacuations.

Troy eased to a quick stop in front of
the wardroom, with his lungs calmly asking for just a little more air. He was
hardly out of breath, and sprung up the steps, past the little flagpole. He
entered without knocking, and burst into the main room. The same squat, salty
sergeant he was familiar with sat behind a cheap wooden desk. Troy saw he had
interrupted a conversation. The head of the ROTC program, an active duty Army
Major, stood hunched over the desk. At Troy’s arrival he straightened
noticeably, though it did little to fill out his baggy summer dress uniform.

Troy clicked his heels together and
snapped out a quick salute, his eyes forward. The major returned it lazily.
“Who’s this?”

“Cadet Troy McAdams, sir. I had a
question for the sergeant, sir.”

Graciously, the sergeant nodded in
approval. Perhaps he wasn’t such a dick after all, Troy mused. “Troy’s one of
the toughest kids in the unit, sir. He’s going for Ranger school after he
collects his commission.”

Troy felt the major’s eyes appraising
him for a brief second, before he looked back to the sergeant. “Remember what I
told you,” he snapped. The major walked briskly out of the room, and slammed
the door as he exited.

Both men relaxed visibly. The sergeant
eyed Troy ruefully. “What are you doing here?”

“What the hell is going on?”

The seated man bristled. “Check your
tone. We’re not buddies.”

Troy leaned closer, softening his eyes
and meeting the man’s gaze without faltering. “Jim, c’mon we are buddies. You
know me. Help me out here. Give me something, anything. I haven’t heard
anything since the program was frozen last night.”

The sergeant relaxed slightly, and
then sighed deeply. “Look, Troy. You should get out of the city.” He spoke
carefully and slowly. His steely gaze never left Troy’s own.

Troy didn’t speak, but continued to
stare, willing the man for more information.
 
“Lord. Alright, look. You need to start thinking hard and
fast about moving south. You think this evacuation is going to be contained to
those three states? It’s far beyond that. They’re calling up all reserves and
the Guard. Even the battalions from the West Coast. This is no fucking joke.”

Troy whistled appreciatively, and
grinned brazenly. “A little action closer to home. About damn time. I coul-“ He
stopped midsentence as the sergeant’s hand gripped his collar in an iron vise.
He drew close enough to smell the coffee on his breath, staring at him with
furious eyes.

“Listen here you arrogant prick.
There’s some kind of infection in New York. Turns people mad, into animals. The
Army is there, right now, trying to put it down with the ruthless application
of measured violence. If they fail, we could lose the seaboard.” Troy felt
himself withering under that relentless gaze. He could see the beads of sweat
forming on the man’s forehead, and traveling down his nose.

The sergeant released him. “And if you
didn’t know that already, everyone here is about to find out within the hour
anyways. Get outta here cadet.” The sergeant plopped back into his seat, all
the fire gone. Once again, he looked exhausted and harmless.

When Troy emerged to the sounds of
spring outside, he realized his heart had been pounding inside. He took a
series of deep breaths, mulling over the words.
The ruthless application of measured violence
. He was scared.
Anyone who wasn’t, was a fool. But he also felt unconditionally alive. With a
jump, he sprinted down the block.

The girl behind the counter was
bagging her items with painful ambivalence. Her beady little eyes were fixed on
the TV monitor above the cash register, and her mouth opened and closed. “Hi!
Can we speed this up please!?” To her own disappointment, Harley’s voice rang
out shrill.

The cashier regarded Harley curiously,
as if she were an interesting antique. Then her eyes flicked back up to the
screen. She continued to move with painful sluggishness. Harley felt her lip
twitch. She could hear the voices blaring over the TV speakers- “And here we
see even a regiment of tanks heading into the blackout zone. Our sources have
confirmed there is an infection of some sort inside Manhattan.”

“HEY! BAG! A! LITTLE! QUICKER!” With
each word, Harley ripped the contents from the conveyor belt and thrust them
into her waiting shopping cart. The cashier’s face turned into a scowl, and she
called over a supervisor.

“Hey, she’s right. Lets get this
moving!” A blustering white man with quivering jowls stood behind Harley,
wagging a pudgy finger at the cashier. A murmur of annoyed assent rose from the
four other people in line. Each had a big cart stuffed with medicine, snacks,
cleaning supplies, and toiletries. The store’s stocks had already been half
empty when she and had Elvis arrived.