The China Pandemic (18 page)

“Made it as easy as he could,” he muttered underneath his breath. Graham felt an obligation to honor the man’s wishes. At least now, it didn’t feel like he was stealing the man’s belongings.

He wheeled the collection over to the body and righted the ladder. He opened the tarp under the body and grabbed the hacksaw. As best he could, he positioned the wheelbarrow beneath the hanging man and cut the rope, and the corpse fell into the sturdy wheelbarrow in a heap. The stench of rotting flesh became overpowering and Graham rushed to the back door to let in some fresh air. He vomited again and tried to take some of the unspoiled damp air into his lungs. He bent over, heard a meowing, and saw a thin and dirty white cat with blue eyes staring at him.

Graham decided it must have belonged to the family. He scratched it behind the ears, but it continued to meow at him, clearly hungry. He left the garage door open to air out and walked over to the stairs leading to the back porch to open the slider. The cat followed him and ran inside the house.

“Awww…” Marcy said and stopped taking cans out of the pantry to come over to the cat.

“We can’t keep it, so don’t even ask,” Graham said.

“Sheriff would eat it,” said Bang.

“Maybe not,” Marcy interjected.

“Look, see if there’s any cat food around. It must have been the owner’s. Feed it and let it back out. It’s a miracle it’s survived this long anyhow,” he said, then whispered to Tala. “I have to bury someone out back. Keep the kids from looking if you can.”

“Sure, no problem. Can we start loading up the truck while you’re busy?” she asked.

“No, just start putting it by the front door. I want to make sure the coast is clear,” he said.

Before he could go back to the garage to finish his task, Macy spoke up and said, “Check it out, Graham, I found a calendar.” She displayed it with a wave like Vanna White’s on
Wheel of Fortune
. He smiled and returned to his grim business.

He had his gun slung around his back as usual and as he wheeled the corpse out to where the open grave waited, he looked into the hole. Other than rainwater and a few fallen leaves, it was clear. He really didn’t have time to make it a more noble procedure, but didn’t think the guy expected it anyway. It wasn’t difficult. He tipped the corpse, tarp and all, into the grave and began shoveling the mound of dirt over the man.

Afterward, he was sweaty, so he rubbed his shirtsleeve across his face. Somehow, the smell still lingered. He wondered when this would come to an end, this staring at graves.

He put the shovel back into the wheelbarrow and walked it back into the garage. He went inside, washed his grave-covered hands, and saw the water turn gray and then clear again.

As Graham went back into the garage, he noticed a small white Kenmore deep freezer next to the door to the kitchen and was surprised he’d missed it since he’d walked right by it when he first came in.

Bang, with big eyes, came out to the garage and wrinkled his nose at the smell, but all he said was, “There’re lots of guns on the bed upstairs, with bullets too.”

Graham smiled at him and nodded. “That’s great. Good find, buddy.” He shoved his exhaustion back. “I’ll take a look at them, but there’s a freezer here I need to get loaded into the new truck. Tell Macy to come give me a hand,” he said.

Tala came out to the garage to help Graham instead. The smell caught her off guard and her eyes started to water even though Graham left the backdoor open.

They pulled the spoiled meat from inside the freezer. Even though, the power was currently on, it must have gone off for a time because the once frozen food looked like it had thawed and refrozen. Ice cream spilled onto the bottom and mixed with crystallized blood. They began dumping the cargo into one of the empty trashcans in the garage. Once the freezer was empty, Graham pulled the loaded trashcan outside and farther away from the house into the trees. They cleaned out the bottom with shop rags and then Tala used bleach and hot water from the laundry room sink to fill a bucket. She wiped the inside down to sanitize it.

“This will be great for the cougar we have in the fridge,” she said and Graham began to laugh.

“Did you ever think you’d use that phrase?” he said and they both laughed again.

They opened the garage door manually and manhandled the freezer, pushing and pulling it into the truck bed of the Chevy, then went back to shut and lock the garage doors.

Apparently, the now dead homeowners had been avid shoppers of Costco, as were many who lived this far from a major metropolis. There were several cases of canned green beans and corn along with peaches, pears and canned chili. They also found unopened twenty-five pound bags of flour, sugar and cornmeal to keep them baking through the winter months, at least.

Upstairs, it seemed the homeowner had thought ahead. He’d neatly laid out his two pistols and three hunting rifles onto the beige striped bedspread, along with boxes of ammunition. Besides the guns, the walk in closet held winter wear for both Tala and Graham. They left the pretty dresses and high heels, but took all that Tala and the girls could use, as well as all the men’s clothing and winter boots. In all, it was a great find, but it cast a sour glow on their mission. They spoke openly downstairs but upstairs they could only formulate whispers.

In one of the children’s rooms, they found little girl’s clothes, though too small for the twins, in a room painted a soft pink hue, but took the hairbrush sitting on the dresser. None of them wanted to disturb the stuffed animals displayed atop the white canopy bed even though the blankets and pillows would have suited their needs.

In the boy’s blue room, they found several jackets, jeans and shirts as well as snow boots that both the twins and Bang could wear if he rolled up the sleeves. There was a skateboard leaning against the wall, and a baseball bat and glove in the corner, but just as they had with the girl’s room, they left those things as something of a memorial.

Tala and the girls also gathered all the razors, soap, shampoo and feminine hygiene products they could find. These last items were in great need and Tala realized she would now have to help prepare the girls for a more organic way of dealing with their menses.

“It’s too bad this place is too close into town or we could just move here,” Tala said.

“Yeah, but it is just not defendable, being so much in the open. At least with the cabin, we’d have some warning if someone tried to get to us.”

“We could hear them coming up the long drive,” Macy said. “Our tires crunched on the gravel. I bet footsteps would, too.”

“That’s good thinking, Macy,” Tala said, looking as impressed by the girl’s statement as Graham felt. “Because really that’s what it’s going to take for us all to survive here now. Thinking ahead and being cautious,” she continued.

“Let’s hurry up now,” Graham said. “Just take what we have and we’ll come back another time to get more if we need it. It looks like it’s going to rain, so let’s spread a tarp over the truck bed,” he said and went into the smelly garage, which still made him wince from the powerful odor, in search of another sturdy tarp.

Not only did he find one, he also discovered several tools he knew he’d need someday. He picked up the hacksaw he used earlier, as well as an axe, a sledgehammer and a box of nails. Several bungee cords lay in a tangle on the work bench so he took those too. He bypassed all the electrical tools but noticed a small metal fishing boat hanging on the wall.
That’ll have to wait till later
, he thought, and hoped the locked doors would protect it until he could come back.

He loaded the tools and fixed the tarp over the bed of the truck and then went back into the house and let the cat out. He locked all the doors and took the house keys with him, claiming this one from the others he knew must be around.

By the time, they were finished loading, a slight drizzle grew to a steadier rain. Graham drove the Chevy with Bang as passenger, and Tala drove the Scout with the girls.

When they pulled up to the cabin, Graham let Tala drive in first so as not to scare Ennis with an unfamiliar vehicle. On their approach, Ennis waited with Sheriff and his rifle beside him sitting on the porch chair.

Smoke rose from the chimney and Graham thought it looked like a scene from a distant past, with an old man and a dog on the front porch of a cabin in the woods.

Ennis said as Graham stepped out, “Got a new truck, I see.”

“Yep, everything okay here?” Graham asked him.

“Mostly,” Ennis said real slowly, which caused Graham to raise his eyebrows.

“It can wait till later,” Ennis said.

Graham knew this wasn’t good news or Ennis would have spilled it right there.

They unloaded both vehicles and Graham set up the freezer in the bunkroom, by the only other outlet in the cabin besides the one in the kitchen. He ran an extension cord under Tala’s bunk to plug it in.

His grandfather had run power to the cabin back in the fifties when Graham’s dad was a boy, so the kitchen had power outlets for the refrigerator. In the past few years, his father had retrofitted the cabin with solar panels to augment the electricity and top up a large bank of storage batteries kept in a shed out back. Graham hoped the load of both appliances wouldn’t drain the reserve batteries too quickly. He still planned to drag the larger freezer outside during freezing weather.

Tala said that the inside of the freezer was cooling nicely, so she shut the lid to let it get down to a freezing temperature before they transferred the cougar meat.

With that settled, they filled every nook and cranny with the bounty they’d brought. The extra clothing was parceled out to those they most suited, and stored under the occupant’s bed. The extra coats went into a small hall closet and the boots were lined up by the front door, largest to smallest.

These things really didn’t belong to any individual—rather they went by need and that is how things would continue to be from this time forward, with the exception of a few personal mementos.

Graham could see the family photos he’d taken from the apartment for the twins nailed up between their beds. Bang kept his diary under his pillow. He’d seen the boy open it, looking intently at his mother’s reflection, touching her face with the pad of his small index finger. He wore his mother’s medallion around his neck at all times.

Graham kept the photos from his father’s house in a tote under his bed. He hadn’t looked at them yet. He just couldn’t bear to, even though he wasn’t sure why.

Tala had a locket at the end of a leather cord around her neck with a picture of her husband on one end and her father on the other. As far as he knew, Ennis didn’t have any talisman from his past other than the pocketknife, and a handy tool it turned out to be.

Graham could hear and smell venison strips being skillet fried in the kitchen by Tala. The twins talked and clanked dishes as they set the table while Sheriff and Bang enjoyed a scuffle over a lost sock.

Anyone who looked in on this scene would believe this was a normal family drama played out daily in normal times. These were not normal times, though, and they’d fallen into this routine much too easily. It worried Graham. However, he didn’t know exactly why it nagged at him, why his subconscious warned him of hidden dangers.

We’re becoming too complacent. It’s a trap we must not fall into because there is nothing normal about our situation.

“Mr. Graham,” Ennis called him from the front door.

“Mr. Ennis?” Graham said back.

“Get out here. I need to talk to you,” Ennis said, getting impatient with the younger man.

Ennis’s tone was more serious than Graham first anticipated and he knew something grim was about to be discussed.

He stepped through the doorway and leaned his rifle against the jamb, then stretched his arms reaching for the blue sky above, glad the rain had ceased. Ennis sat in the old rocker he’d found in the house and had dragged outside so he could keep an eye on the world, for what it was worth now.

“Close the door,” Ennis said.

Graham complied.

In addition to the chair, an old bench for taking off dirty boots leaned against the cabin wall. Graham planted his tired carcass upon it and leaned back.

“Something happened out by the lake while you were gone,” Ennis said.

“What?” Graham said.

“There’s trouble across the lake,” Ennis said.

“What do you mean?”

“Saw two no-gooders earlier,” Ennis said.

Graham sat straighter, automatically checked the position of his gun. “Where’d you come across them?”

“At the lake. They went by in a canoe. Saw me, too, and waved like they were sayin’, ‘we know you’re there’,” Ennis said.

Graham leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Well, did you wave back?”

“No! I ain’t no fool, you know!” Ennis glared at Graham.

Graham held up his hands. “I know, Ennis, I know. But tell me more. Those these two guys in a canoe paddled by and waved, to you, right?” asked Graham.

“Yep,” Ennis said.

“But you didn’t wave back… because?”

“Because I figure they did it as a kind of warning. They mean trouble. I’m sure of it,” Ennis said. “Like sayin’ ‘Hey, we know you’re there and we’ll be back’.”

“Could you tell where they were going?” Graham asked.

“They was coming from this side and going to the other, about midway in the lake, was when I saw ’em.”

“Could have shot you from that distance?”

“Yeah, they could’ve,” Ennis said.

“But they just waved?” Graham asked a second time because it didn’t make sense to him.

“I already tol’ you that,” Ennis said, sounding more than a little annoyed. “After you been a cop for as long as I have, you learn to read folks. These guys, they’s up to no good,” Ennis tried to explain better.

“I know, Ennis, I’m just trying to figure it out,” Graham said. “You think we’re going to see more of them, then?”

“We got things they would want, ya know? We got food, cars, fuel and women, too,” Ennis said, looking more worried about the women than anything else.

The thought made Graham run his hands down his tired face. He scratched at his beard and said thoughtfully, “Inside earlier, I listened to the rest making a commotion getting dinner ready. It sounds like a real family in there. It worries me. We’ve adjusted but maybe not in the right way.”

“I know. We got a mom and dad with three kids, a pops and the dog, too, and none of us is related but them twins.” Ennis quirked a faintly amused smile, then added, “It could get us all killed, being too relaxed, in these times, you know.”

Graham nodded. “That’s what I’ve been thinking. We need to start keeping watch. It’s probably good training for these kids anyway, to keep them a little on edge and more vigilant,”

“If it was me,” Ennis said, “I would put an adult with one of them kids on watch in rotation night and day. One at each entrance to this place, by the lake trail and hidden down by the drive.”

Graham agreed. “It gets damn cold at night now. We should build a deer stand, hidden at each site to be safer from roaming predators, and come up with some warning calls.”

“We have any radios?” Ennis asked.

“No, and the last time I checked my cell phone, there was no signal so the towers must all be down now,” Graham said, then met Ennis’s gaze.

“Something else happened when we were out. I didn’t tell the rest but when we stopped at the campground building, the door had been kicked in. There were bloody handprints like someone was dragged out of there. There was a dead body, too, but I don’t think it had been there very long,” Graham said.

Ennis raised his shaggy white eyebrows at Graham. “That don’t sound too good. Hope these two things aren’t related.”

“No, it doesn’t sound good at all. As we drove away, there were several more homes in succession that also had their doors kicked in the same way.”

“Sure hope it ain’t them guys I saw.” Ennis’s brows drew together in a frown.

“Well, in any case, we are not alone here, that’s for sure,” Graham said. “So we need to take more precautions and stop treating this like a damn family vacation or we’ll get ourselves killed in our sleep.”

“Those children in there need a chance to grow up. We have to make it so they can,” Ennis said, and Graham was glad they agreed on the important things.

Bang opened the door and told the two men dinner was ready. They exchanged glances. “I’ll keep watch,” Ennis said. “You put in a hard day’s work, scavengin’ and unloadin’.”

Graham nodded. “I’ll eat quickly and relay the news to these guys and then come relieve you.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ennis said, and pulled up his rifle from nearby and laid it across his knees.

After seeing the cougar, Graham pitied anyone crossing Ennis’s barrel end.

~ ~ ~

Graham walked in and unconsciously stomped his boots off even though he’d not gotten them dirty. He smelled the aroma of chicken fried venison strips, instant mashed potatoes with gravy and canned green beans with biscuits. His stomach complained for him to hurry the hell up to the table.

Macy passed him the biscuits and even though they didn’t have butter they were good to dredge through the white pan gravy Tala had made. He’d begun to devour one and reached for another when Macy asked, “Where’s Ennis?”

“He’s keeping watch. I’ll eat now and then he’ll come in after,” Graham said, “So let’s save him a plate and several of the biscuits too. He’ll like them. They’re really good.”

“Tala made them even though she didn’t have a recipe,” Macy said.

“Thank you, Graham. Glad you like them. They’re not hard to make, Macy. I’ll show you how to do it,” Tala said, then turned back to Graham. “So we’re keeping watch now?” Tala asked.

“Yes.” He’d let the amazing food distract him from what he needed to do. Pulling himself up short, he went on. “Ennis saw two people cross the lake in a canoe and we don’t know if they are good or bad. Not only that, we saw several doors kicked in today. We need to be more vigilant. We have food, cars and fuel that other people might want to take from us by force so we really need to start being more careful around here and that means each of us is going to start keeping watch, night and day.”

They all stopped eating and stared at him with worried expressions.

“This is the way things are now. Two people will keep watch. One young with one adult. We are going to build stands at the front and lake entrances. Understand?” he asked.

“All night, too?” Bang asked.

“Yes, even at night. Those who do the night watch will sleep during the day,” Graham said.

Marcy bit her bottom lip. “What if we see something?”

“Ennis and I are trying to come up with some kind of alert system. We don’t have cell phone use anymore and so far we haven’t come across any radios,” Graham said.

“There were some in the kitchen above the fridge,” Macy said.

“There were? Why didn’t you say so?” Graham asked.

“I didn’t know we needed them,” she said.

“These days those are a necessity. We’ll go back for them tomorrow,” he said, and finished eating his hearty dinner so that he could switch off with Ennis before his food got too cold.

Graham rose from the table and grabbed another biscuit. “You,” he pointed to Tala, “must make these every day now,” he said, joking with a full mouth, and taking another for the road along with his rifle, and headed back to the porch.

Tala’s pleased laughter followed him. “Happy to provide some enjoyment.”

“You’re relieved, Ennis,” Graham said, opening the door.

The old man rose the way that old men rise, slowly with soreness in their aged bones and muscles. Graham noticed the chill in the air and knew Ennis couldn’t handle the colder temperatures and it wasn’t even snowing yet.

He knew he’d have to take on the brunt of the night watches, but the daytime would soon get unbearable for him too. He wished Bang were a bit older, then reminded himself he needed to stop thinking of the girls as useless when it came to outside work. Macy could be just as tough and she’d proven to be a really good shot.

He settled down into the rocker and listened to the quiet around him. He could hear faint conversations at the dinner table within as a contrast to the outside. The deciduous trees amongst the evergreens were turning shades of yellow, orange and brilliant reds. The wild grasses, having expended its chlorophyll for the season, now turned dry and brittle underfoot, paving the way for winter’s arrival. Soon the snow would cover this hidden oasis, or so Graham hoped.

Tomorrow, he would take Macy with him back to the supply house and retrieve the radios. With them, he hoped they’d be able to practice vigilance.

That night, Graham and Macy took their first watch after Ennis and Bang took a shorter four hour watch because he just didn’t think either could handle more than that. He positioned the girl behind the bushes, bundled her up in two coats. If she heard or saw anything alarming, she would sneak around to the cabin and alert the others. Graham positioned himself likewise and climbed up a scrawny tree to get a better view, and found watching to be boring and mundane at best but at least it gave him time to think.

He saw Macy slap hands with Marcy and drag her sorry, tired butt up to the cabin door. Graham knew he wasn’t the only one exhausted. Ennis and Bang were still asleep snoring softly as Graham and Macy made their way to their own beds, pulling the covers over their heads because the dawn was beginning to show already through their windows.