The Emerald Virus (25 page)

    
Elliot watched the rear view mirror until they made the first turn. He had not
seen anyone come out of the saloon. He thought they had done okay and it looked
like they were going to be home free. He stayed behind Noah back to the ranch,
and never saw another vehicle.

    
As Noah got out of his rig he was smiling and said, “Man, I’ve never been so
scared. I don’t know about you but that was my first gun battle, and I’m now
hoping it’s my last.”

    
“I’d like to say it was my first also, but Uncle Sam got hold of me when I was
young and claimed first rights on that score. But it has been a lot of years,
and I agree I can do without any more of that nonsense.”

    
Alec and Kelly Randall came out of the house as they finished the conversation
and Alec said, “What nonsense are you talking about, did you have trouble in
town?”

    
Elliot said, “Just a little bit with some drunken cowboys, but it’s over now so
there isn’t anything to worry about. It did get our adrenaline rushing though.”

    
Kelly asked, “Noah is everything alright with the RV? Are you comfortable with
it? Do you need anything else at all?”

    
“I think I have everything. They put a hitch on it and I’m going to put my
horse trailer on the back so I can take Palouse with me. We’ll stop along the
way for feed.”

    
Alec said, “I’m glad to hear you’re taking your horse with you. I have a favor
to ask you, but first tell me what size horse trailer you are going to use.”

    
“I only have one, and it’s a single, I figured I’d make do with that.”

    
“I’d like to ask you to take Dutch as well. We’ve raised him from a colt I’d
like to think that he’ll be with someone I know and trust. I’ve got a
twenty-four foot horse trailer that will hold two horses easily and there will
be enough room left over for all the feed and hay you’ll need for the first
winter. All we have to do is get it from the barn. If that’s asking too much
just say so, I sure don’t want to burden you.”

    
“Alec, you know I love that horse and I’d love to take him. Palouse will be a
great teacher for him and I’m comfortable with both horses. Pulling the extra
weight shouldn’t be a problem for the RV; it’s got a large diesel engine that
can handle about anything. My only problem will be the snow this first winter.
They did include snow chains for the thing though, so I’ll be okay.”

    
“Great, I’m glad that’s settled. Kelly started fixing lunch for us, now that
your back she’ll finish.”

    
Kelly responded, “It will only take a few minutes, I’ll call you when it’s
ready.”

    
As Kelly walked back into the ranch house Alec said, “Okay, what really
happened in town? When you talked about the drunken cowboys you both looked
like you’ve been caught with your hands in the cookie jar.”

    
Elliot grimaced and said, “I didn’t want to trouble Ms. Randall, but we had
serious trouble with a group that wanted to commandeer Noah’s RV I ended up
shooting two of them and Noah and I shot up a saloon on our way out of town.
There are probably some others killed or wounded as well. The townspeople that
gave us the RV agreed with what we did so there won’t be any trouble from them,
but if the rest of those cowboys know who we are they could cause some trouble
for us. I don’t know how they could know that though. Noah, what do you think?”

    
“I agree with you. The only way they could know is through the registration
form they asked me to fill out so they could go on the web and register the RV.
But the trouble started before I could fill out the form; in fact it’s still in
the RV.”

    
Alec said, “That sounds good to me. I think I’ll set out my Winchester and my
shotgun just in case, and I’d appreciate it if the two of you would stay armed
for the next couple of days, but it sounds to me like it’s over. I appreciate
your having the sense to keep this from Kelly. She has enough to worry about
without adding a possible gunfight to the list. I’ll let her know that the guns
are because you heard there were some hooligans running around the county
shooting things up at random. That isn’t far from the truth at that.”

    
With that the three men went to join Kelly for lunch.

Thursday:
The High Rockies & Baltimore, Maryland

    
It was now Thursday and Jack Sweeney had just finished talking with Jane
Silverton. She was distraught beyond control. In the last twenty-four hours she
had lost both of her parents and both of her children.

    
Jack had tried to console her without the least bit of success. He had
previously planned a route for her to take with a location he thought would be
suitable for the winter. But when he asked her when she was going to leave she
told him she couldn’t go, that she was going to stay with her kids.

    
Jack couldn’t think of a more gruesome idea, but he didn’t know what to do. He
told her he would call her back in a couple of hours and made her promise she
would answer the phone when he called. She promised, but Jack was concerned
that she just didn’t care enough to follow through.

    
Just then Irene entered his office and said, “Jack, I was just talking to Ron
and he said that everyone in the Presidential bunker is now symptomatic. It’s
all happened in the last twenty-four hours.”

    
“Oh hell, that means the seals have actually failed. Has he heard from any of
the other military bunkers?”

    
“He said that at least two of them are showing symptoms. He also contacted the
CDC bunker, but everyone there is fine, at least to this point.”

    
“Okay, thanks Irene. I’ll go find Ron, we’ll have to get everyone together in
the cafeteria and talk through this. Let our folks know we’re going to meet and
I’ll see you down there.”

    
“That’s exactly what Ron just asked me. He’s sending his staff to the cafeteria
now. He asked that you wait here for him so the two of you could talk first.
I’ll get our staff moving and I’ll see you in the cafeteria.”

    
While he was waiting for Ron, Jack thought about the fact that these seals were
also bound to fail. Residents of the nearest towns had been showing symptoms
for five days now so he knew the virus was in the area, and probably already in
the bunker. He was surprised that he felt almost ambiguous about it. He always
knew he would refuse to spend his remaining days locked in the bunker and
consequently the thought of the virus being nearby didn’t have much effect on
him. That feeling was only strengthened by the phone call he had received from
A.J.’s daughter, who informed Jack that A.J. had died this morning.

    
Jack was saddened but not surprised by the news. He had talked to A.J. almost
daily and he knew the end was near. Almost everyone he had known had died or
was near death and Jack was almost numb from thinking about the tragedy that
was occurring. All of Europe had been ravaged by now, all of Asia and India
were gone, North and South America were in the final throes of the virus, and
Australia, which would be last as things turned out, was in the last week of
the virus.  

    
Jack had to be honest and admit that he had a distinct feeling of fear, but he
knew this was due to the unknown nature of death. Whether it happened now or a
year from now he thought he would feel the same way. One way or another he was
going to die from this virus and it just didn’t matter to him if it was next
week or a year from now. The extra year living in a bunker did nothing to
excite him. In fact by now he was convinced that being a survivor wasn’t a
benefit at all. It would require a hard life and a hard death of those who were
chosen.

    
He knew some of the folks in the bunker, especially the younger ones, were
hoping they could last until the CDC came up with a vaccine, but Jack knew
there would be no vaccine. Folks had a better chance of winning a lottery. The
scientists in the CDC bunker were working with restricted resources and there
was only a small group of scientists to begin with.

    
Ron walked into the office with a serious look on his face and said, “I’m not sure
how everyone is going to take this, so let’s talk about the options that are
available. I think there are really only two, the first is to have our staffs stay
here and the second is to let them go wherever they want to go, and give them
what help we can. I don’t know about your mission, but mine is over. All world
leaders are either dead or dying and in a matter of days last minute
retribution won’t even be an option.”

    
“My mission is also at an end. I think we’ve done all we can for the survivors.
The rest is now up to them. The sad part is that we’ve extended the life of our
staffs by a matter of weeks, but now they have no living family to join for the
end.”

    
“I know. But there isn’t anything we can do about that. My folks knew they were
going to die alone when they volunteered for this mission, and so did yours. It
didn’t work out as well as they had probably hoped, but we made no promises
either. If you agree on those being the only two options let’s go tell them
they’re free to leave.”

    
As Ron and Jack walked into the cafeteria the buzz of conversation ended
abruptly. Ron looked at the group and said, “Jack and I have discussed this and
we agree on the options. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the seals on most of the
country’s bunkers have failed and almost everyone is now symptomatic. I’m sure
ours have also failed by now and we will start showing symptoms in the very
near term. The only reason we haven’t shown symptoms by now is due to the
remote location of this bunker.

    
“I know this hasn’t worked out as we planned, but there isn’t anything we can
do about that. We’ve decided that you’re free to go, or to stay, as you see
fit. The advantage of staying is that we don’t yet know for sure the seals here
will fail, or if they do, when they will fail, so staying in this bunker may
prolong your life. We won’t open the bunker to the outside world until we are
sure the seals have failed.

    
“However, there is a way to leave the bunker without exposing residents to the
virus. One area that isn’t on the maps we provided you is a garage on level
one. That area includes Humvees, and other vehicles that you are welcome to
use. The problem is that we need to know your decision up front, and the
decision is irrevocable if you want to take a vehicle. Everyone who wants to
leave will be assigned a vehicle. If there aren’t enough vehicles we’ll plan on
pooling the vehicles based on destination. We’ll assign vehicles by random
selection. You may get a Humvee, or it may be a deuce and a half, or something
else. Getting fuel on the way to where ever you go will be your problem, but
you’ll leave here with a full tank of gas.

    
“Once everyone who decides to leave is in the assigned vehicle, the rest of the
group will close the blast door between the garage area and the rest of the
bunker.

When
the blast doors are resealed I’ll open the outside doors and you will be able
to drive out. You can see the road out of here from the side of the hill. All
you have to do is drive carefully downhill to the county road. All vehicles
have good maps inside.

    
“However, those blast doors can’t be reopened without exposing the rest of the
bunker to the outside environment. But, you’ll be able to walk out anytime you
want to. There is a pressurized entrance and exit on level one that will let
someone walk out without letting the virus in. You could walk out that way, and
then hike around the hill to the back and get a vehicle out of the garage area
and drive away. If there are any vehicles left of course.

    
“Jack, do you have anything to add?”

    
“Only that I want to ensure my team that our mission is complete. If you want
to take advantage of Ron’s offer please feel free to do so. If you stay, there
is still advisory work that can be done, but I think the critical pieces are
all complete at this point.

    
“Anyone who wants to leave should be ready to go after breakfast in the
morning. We’ll provide food and water for your backpacks, and everyone who
departs should take a sidearm with them. If you want to take an assault rifle
with ammunition you’re welcome to. My team is available to anyone who wants advice
on what to expect out there, but it’s going to be as bad as you can imagine.

    
“The world as we know it is dead and the few people still alive are capable of
anything. There will be plenty of food, water and gas for you, but you’ll have
to find it yourself. Stay out of the cities and towns, the death and disease
will be overwhelming, and many of them are on fire by now. Get to your
destination quickly, and stay there.”

    
Jack and Ron stayed and talked with their teams for the next couple of hours.
Everyone had questions about the pros and cons of staying or going. This was a
tough decision and he wanted to make sure everyone had the benefit of talking
through this. In the end it looked like only a handful of people saw any
advantage to leaving the bunker. There was simply nowhere to go that would be better
than staying. No one was interested in seeing the death and destruction that
marked the end of the world as they knew it.

    
Most of those who chose to leave were the young members who simply thought they
would like to drive to the west coast and live on the beaches for the last
couple of weeks, even if this was late November.

    
Irene asked Jack about joining this group and he told her she should do so. He
could not, but he would like it if she did something for herself now. She said
she had never been to the Pacific and she thought she would like to see the
ocean. The group that had made this choice was split evenly between men and
women so she felt she would fit in okay. Two others of Jack’s team decided to
join this group and the rest decided to stay in the bunker.

    
Later in Jack’s office Ron asked, “It looks like most of the group have made up
their minds by now. How about you, have you thought about leaving?”

    
“Actually I have. I’ve told you about Harry Silverton, the scientist working in
Edinburgh who first brought the virus to my attention; his wife is in
Baltimore. She was visiting her parents when the virus broke out and when Harry
asked me to take care of her I promised I would. I’ve done what I can from
here, but I don’t think it’s enough. As it turns out, Jane is a survivor. I’ve
talked to her a couple of times today and she told me her parents and both of
her kids have died in the past twenty-four hours.  She is taking it so poorly
I’m not sure she can take care of herself any longer. I’m thinking about
driving to Baltimore just to make sure she gets set up in a survivor RV and
goes to her initial destination.”

    
Ron said, “That sounds like a good thing to do. Better than sitting around here
waiting to die. If you want to do that I’ll give you one of the chemical
warfare vehicles for the trip, there are a couple of them in the garage.

    
“They don’t make much sense in terms of the chemical seals, since we know they
won’t keep the virus out, but they have some other advantages. The biggest
advantage is that they have a large enough fuel tank to get from here to the
east coast with only one stop for refueling. Secondly, they have a small
refrigerator and microwave built in, and more importantly, they have a chemical
toilet. That means you could make the run from here to the east coast with one stop
if the roads are clear.”

    
Jack said, “Thanks Ron, I appreciate that, and I’ll take you up on that. But
with only me driving I’ll have to make a couple of stops just to sleep.”

    
“I forgot to mention, they also have two drop down cots built in. They were
built to be self-sustaining for a crew of two.”

    
“Great, I won’t have to sleep on the floor, but I’ll still have to stop to
sleep.”

    
“Not if there are at least two people doing the driving. You and I can drive
and sleep in shifts. We should be able to make Baltimore in twenty-four hours
of hard driving.”

    
“What do you mean by us? Are you really planning on making the trip?”

    
Ron smiled and said, “I am. I’ve talked to my deputy who has no intention of
leaving the bunker. My family has a vacation home on Chesapeake Bay that is
sitting there empty now. That gives me a choice that others don’t have. I’d
rather die there than here in this bunker. So what do you say, shall we give it
a try?”

    
Jack felt relieved. He knew he was going to try to get to Jane but he didn’t
know how until now. This made the trip sound much simpler than he had hoped. He
said, “That sounds perfect if you don’t mind dropping me in Baltimore. I’ll
print out some maps before we go.”

    
“Great, we’ll leave in the morning. It won’t hurt to print the maps as a
backup, but the truck will have a navigation system we can use. Almost all of
the drive will be on I-70, and as long as it’s clear and no one’s blown a
bridge up we should have no trouble. By the way, I did the math earlier from
here to the Bay and if I subtract the distance to Baltimore we’ll have about a
1900 mile drive together. We’ll have to average eighty miles an hour to make
that in twenty-four hours. Top speed on this truck is eighty-five. At that
speed we might have to stop twice for gas.”

    
At nine o’clock the next morning the entire team was assembled in the cafeteria.
Of the original members fourteen were leaving the bunker. Twelve were going as
a group to the west coast. No one wanted to go home and face the devastation
caused by the virus. Jack and Ron were the only two heading east.