The Emerald Virus (52 page)

    
Shelly grabbed the gun by the top as it cleared the holster. She twisted her
grip so the gun bent his wrist backwards and he let the gun go. Shelly smiled
at his surprised look and tossed the gun under the table while she waited for
his next move.

 
   In a flash his left hand came up with a hunting knife that had been hanging
from his belt. Shelly grabbed his wrist and took one step back and to her
right, pulling him towards her and off balance. She braced her weight on her
left leg and used her right leg to sweep outward with all the force she could
muster. Both his legs were swept out from under him and Shelly dropped to her
right knee, keeping her left foot on the floor so that as he came down his arm
landed just above Shelly’s left knee, right at the elbow.

    
On the way down she had turned his arm so that the joint at the elbow was
pointing towards the floor. When he hit her leg his weight kept the upper part
of his arm going down, and Shelly slammed his wrist down as hard as she could.
Everyone in the room heard the joint break and heard the man scream.

    
Shelly hit him on the top of the head with the handle of the knife, which had
almost magically appeared in her hand. The screaming stopped as she stood up
and faced her side of the room with the knife in one hand and her pistol in the
other.

    
A couple of seconds later Danny stood up with his back to Shelley and she said,
“Hi Babe, what took you so long?”

    
“Did you see the size of my guy? And he was strong as an ox. I wish you’d pick
out smaller guys for me in the future, you know I’m just not as quick as I used
to be.” As he finished talking he reached behind himself and goosed Shelly in
the butt.

    
She squeaked and jumped forward a foot and said, “Not now honey, I’m busy.”

  
  Half the people in the room laughed and then Bob Turner yelled out, “Okay
everyone, the fun’s over. Let’s all settle down.”

   
The group realized that when Bob said enough is enough it was best to stop.
They all clearly remember how quickly he had shot Jorge.”

 Someone
in the room trying to be funny said, “Hey sweetheart, what do you think you’re
gonna do with that knife?”

    
Shelly looked down at the knife and then in one fluid motion threw it hard
between two men standing at the wall. The knife landed solidly in a picture of
a golfer standing facing the camera. It landed right between his legs, very
close to his crotch.

     
Shelly looked in the direction the question had come from and said, “I’ve got a
thought or two about how I could use it, you interested in finding out more?”

    
The room broke into hoots and laughter and Danny knew the fight was over.

    
He watched the big guy pick himself up, steady himself by leaning on the table
for a couple of seconds, and then reach down and grab his unconscious friend by
the collar and half lifted and half dragged him out of the saloon without
saying a word.

    
Both of their beers had spilled during the brief fight so Danny walked to the
bar for two fresh ones. He smiled at Bob Turner and said, “Sorry boss, I’ll ask
her to cover herself a little better in the future, apparently some of these
men thought she was fair game.”

    
Bob laughed and said, “I think you handled it okay. I doubt if anyone else will
say anything to your woman, but you might want to keep your eye on Dick, the
big guy. He won’t like what you did to him and some of these men don’t care how
they get revenge.

    
“We’ve had a couple of men simply disappear. I don’t know what happened to
them; maybe they just decided to leave, but maybe not.”

    
“Thanks, I’ll take that as good advice and keep my eyes open. By the way, when
you have a minute when we can talk quietly I’d like to discuss the park with
you. I just left there and I’d like to share some things with you.”

    
I was wondering where you’ve been. I’d be pleased to talk with you. Why don’t
you finish your beer and put your lady up somewhere and come to my RV. It’s the
one right outside the front door.”

    
Danny joined Shelly and drank a sip or two of beer. When he saw Bob Turner
leave the bar, he and Shelly walked to Danny’s RV.

    
Once inside he said, “Shelly, you were perfect. Are you alright? Did you get
hurt at all?”

    
“I’m fine, I had the easier time of it, and my guy was out of shape and really
slow. How about you?”

     
“Everything is fine with me. I know I’ve really pissed off Dick, but I did
everything I could not to hurt him badly. I didn’t want to do that just to make
a point. I noticed Shorty pulled both a gun and a knife. For the record he deserved
to have his arm broken, I’d have done the same thing. And that thing at the end
with the knife, that surprised me.”

    
She smiled and said, “Well I have to admit that there was a little luck
involved. I was aiming for the middle of the torso and threw low. I haven’t had
much time to practice lately.”

    
Danny laughed and said, “That was a nice miss, but I’m not sure I’d call
missing a target twenty feet away by four inches a miss.

    
“But, back to business, I think you should stay here while I meet with Turner
the first time, but after this you’ll be with me all of the time. I’ll be back
as quickly as I can. Remember to stay away from the windows and to be safe
maybe sit on the floor while I’m gone, just in case someone wants to shoot up
the RV.”

    
A minute later he knocked on Turner’s door and entered when he yelled. Danny
sat on the sofa and looked around. As near as he could tell the two of them
were alone.

Saturday
morning

    
Jack, Heather and Tammy had arrived home Tuesday evening and had spent three
days resting up, and planning the next trip. Jack was now convinced that
Heather would be a help rather than a hindrance.

    
She was convinced that she’d rather be on the road with Jack than at their
winter camp. She didn’t know why she didn’t mind the thought of being in
danger, but she didn’t. She also knew she would be scared to death if she had
to go through another gun fight, but she still insisted on accompanying Jack.

    
Charlotte and Jane thought they were both crazy, but they understood it was a
good crazy. They had been taking care of Tammy since she had joined their group
and both ladies knew there might be more women like Tammy in need of help.

    
They understood that Jack felt compelled to try to help anyone who might be
living in those circumstances. However, they had no understanding of why
Heather, a sixteen year old girl, wanted to be involved in something as
dangerous as this.

    
Jack didn’t either, but he thought he had a little insight into what motivated
Heather. He explained to Jane and Charlotte, “I think it started with the fact
that her parents insisted that she drive herself to get her RV, I think her
parents did her a great service by forcing her to understand that she was on
her own now and would have to learn to fend for herself.

   
“She gained a little confidence when Karl Schumann tried to run her off the
road with his RV. She reacted automatically, but she made the right moves and
that might have saved her life.

    
“She then listened to Karl Schumann tell her she was going with him and
understood what he intended to do with her. While she didn’t do anything but
watch as Jane shot him, she learned how important fast and decisive action
would be in the new world. And Jane, you showed her that you don’t have to be
big, or strong, or a man to take care of yourself.

    
“Lastly, since she has been in this group she has focused all of her energy on
preparing herself for the day when she would need to show strength of will and
physical courage. She mentally prepared herself while she was learning to shoot
and lifting weights to improve her physical abilities. All of that resulted in
a growing confidence.

    
“Everything she accomplished on our trip was a reaction to circumstances. She
didn’t have to plan anything out or work up the courage to do anything. She
just had to react. She found that her reactions were good and her instincts
were better.

    
“While she isn’t a soldier by any stretch of the imagination, she is more
confident than any sixteen year old I’ve met, and she understands she is
capable of maintaining her poise during periods of great danger. That’s a lot
to know for a young girl, and now she wants to keep learning.

    
“I don’t think this trip is going to amount to anything so I think we’ll be
safe, and I’ll still do everything I can to keep her out of harms way. But if
push comes to shove, I believe I can trust her to react in our best interest.” 

    
Jane said, “I can’t tell you I’m overly pleased with you turning that young
girl into something she’s not, but I don’t claim to know what skills we’ll need
in the future. And, you need help, and Charlotte and I are still tied to the
camp.”

    
Charlotte added, “Jack, I think you’re making the best decision you can, but
I’ve come to like that young lady and I’d like to help her finish growing up.
Both Jane and I can take care of helping her in areas in which you can’t. But
you have to bring her back safe and sound in order for us to do that.”

    
Jack smiled and said, “I know that, and I have every intention of doing just
that. I never intended to risk her life, and I’ll do all I can to not do it
again.”

    
Jane asked, “When are you leaving?”

    
“She should be here any minute now, and then as soon as we have breakfast we’ll
get on the road.”

    
“Do you know where you’re going this time?”

    
“I do. You know I’ve been perplexed by that note posted in our chat room that
says, ‘God help me’. Well I’ve traced the IP address to a building in Columbia,
Missouri. I’m going to go there and find out what’s going on. The note was
posted four days ago so I know it’s from a survivor, what I don’t know is what
kind of help the person needs.”

    
As Jack finished talking, Heather bounced in saying, “Sorry I’m late, the dryer
took forever and I wanted to take my favorite jeans with me, and of course I couldn’t
do anything with my hair this morning, and it took forever to dry.”

    
Jack looked at her long blonde hair and said, “Heather, your hair looks just
like it always does. Don’t worry about it.”

    
Heather glared at him and said, “Are all men like this or is he just totally
inept about women?”

    
Charlotte laughed and said, “Honey, the sad part is that he might actually be
one of the better ones. All we can do is feel sorry for him.”

    
The three of them laughed while Jack sat and wondered why they were laughing at
him this time.

    
After breakfast Jack looked at Heather and said, “Alright Ace, let’s mount up
and get the beast on the road.”

    
She looked bright and cheery and said, “Let’s roll boss, I’m driving.”

    
Jack moaned and Heather laughed but she got behind the steering wheel and drove
out of the camp. She said, “Okay, navigate me out of here. I’m getting better,
but navigating is still not my strong suit.

    
“I know, it’s a gender thing. Women aren’t as good with navigating as are men”.

    
“Don’t be a sexist Jack, I’ll learn to navigate.”

    
“Maybe you will, some women do just fine. But studies have shown that men
actually have better instincts for navigating than do women.”

    
“Really? Did they give any reason for that?”

    
“Not that I ever heard. My only thought is that it goes back to the early days
of history when men had to leave the home cave to go hunting. If they couldn’t
find the way back home it was disaster for both them and the women left behind.
They simply had to learn to navigate to survive. On the other hand, women never
had either the need or the opportunity. Interesting theory huh?”

    
“Makes sense to me but I guess we’ll never know will we?”

    
“We may find out. In the not too distant future we may not have electricity,
fuel for vehicles or electronics to help us. I guess the road signs will be
there for a long time. That’s a real advantage over ancient times.”

    
“Speaking of which, what direction are we going?”

    
“We’re going to go to Memphis on I-40 and from there we’ll head North on I-55
to St. Louis and then I-70 west to Columbia, Missouri, the city where the
message was posted. If we don’t run into snow we’ll be in Columbia sometime
tomorrow, probably in the early afternoon.”

    
“What do you really think is going on?”

    
“If I had to put money on it I’d say its one person who is having trouble
coping. But that’s just speculation and really isn’t worth too much. Hopefully
by late tomorrow we’ll know what the bad news is.”

    
“Are you sure it’s bad news?”

    
“Not 100% sure, but I don’t see any good coming when a survivor is living in a
city right now. And remember what I told you yesterday, we aren’t going to like
spending time in the city. We’ll park the RV outside of town and find a car to
drive to where the note was posted.”

    
“How sure are you about where the message came from?”

    
“It doesn’t make any sense to me so I don’t know. It wasn’t posted from a survivor
laptop; at least not one configured the way we asked. It was sent from a static
IP address, which is an address that doesn’t change. I used a tracker installed
on my laptop. That gave me the street address of the building where the IP
address is located. For all of that to happen, the computer must be hard wired
to the internet, not running off of a wireless connection or mobile connection
like we use.”

    
“All we can do is go and take a look and hope we can figure it out.

    
They stopped for the night an hour south of St. Louis. As usual Heather cooked
and Jack cleaned up. After dinner they watched: “The Last of the Dogmen”, a
movie set in the west Jack thought was the best sleeper of all time. As always,
Heather got ready for bed first and Jack followed suit. They went to bed early
since they planned on an early start in the morning.

    
They were on the road again by seven o’clock the next day. Again Heather
started the drive. Jack wanted to be behind the wheel when they reached
Columbia.

    
South of St. Louis they encountered their first total closure of a highway.
Jack had asked a couple of men to help him weld cast iron braces to his frame
and across the front of the RV so if he needed to push another car off the
highway he could do so with out worrying about damage to his front end.

However,
this blockage looked like it was intentionally created. There were multiple
cars and trucks blocking the highway from right to left, and multiple rows. It
looked well planned and would take him hours to clear, if he could clear it at
all.

    
Strangely enough, the frontage road was unblocked, as were the southbound lanes
of I-55.

    
Heather had stopped about 100 yards from the blockade. Jack told her to back up
slowly until they could turn around. While she was cruising slowly in reverse
Jack got out the M-16 opened the side door so he could aim in either direction.
When they reached the exit Jack asked Heather to drive up the entrance ramp,
cross to the southbound lanes and drive north on the wrong side of the
Interstate.

    
Jack closed the side door and opened the window on the passenger side of the
RV. He held the M-16 out of the window and prepared to shoot anything that
moved. He told Heather that if gunfire broke out she was to accelerate and
weave back and forth. The area all around the blockage was open, and Jack
didn’t believe for a second that someone would have a sniper posted off the
road just in case a vehicle came along. It had been weeks since anyone was
driving around, and he couldn’t think of why someone would be driving north in
these circumstances.

    
They passed the blockage without incident and Jack and Heather both breathed a sigh
of relief as Jack closed the window.

    
Heather asked, “Do you think that was set up before the end?”

    
“I think it must have been, but I do want you to look in the rearview mirror
now and again. I’ll do the same thing on this side. It’s possible a couple of
survivors set up that blockage just for the fun of it, but they weren’t
watching when we went by. We’ll stay in the southbound lanes for now and drive
like always. If we see something moving behind us I’ll tell you what the plan
is.”

    
“Okay, you have me nervous enough now so I’ll pay attention.”

    
Jack wondered if he was getting paranoid, and then reminded himself of Topper,
who had come out of nowhere to grab Heather. Jack didn’t want to be surprised
like that again.

    
The world had become such a strange place.

    
Thirty minutes later they reached St. Louis without incident and Jack had
Heather used the I-270 bypass to I-70 West. He remembered the shooting when he
attempted to drive through downtown the last time he was here.

   
 While the odds were good that whoever was doing the shooting had died long
ago, he wasn’t willing to risk it.

    
Once they turned onto I-70 Jack slid behind the wheel and Heather made lunch
for them. They were getting closer and he wanted to eat before they arrived in
the Columbia.  

    
He had mop gear for them, and Heather had practiced wearing it over the past
two days.

    
He drove completely through the city and exited I-70 west of the city on US
Highway Forty. Jack drove around until he found a convertible parked in front
of a house. He went in and found the keys on a counter just inside the kitchen.

    
He then rejoined Heather and the two of them put on their gear. Jack put the
top down, and Heather sat in the passenger’s seat looking towards the rear.
Jack knew with the limited visibility of these chemical warfare suits that was
the safest way to drive.

    
He didn’t believe they would see any movement, but again, he wanted to be sure.

    
Jack had printed out maps and memorized directions before they had left so he
drove directly to Ridgeline, went north the short distance to Blue Ridge Road,
and turned right. He drove into Albert Oakland Park, and as he told Heather he
would, he simply held down on the horn for the longest time.

    
After ten minutes of blowing the horn off and on he drove to what looked like
an administrative building and recreation facility combined. He parked in the
large lot and sounded the horn over and over. Fifteen minutes later he told
Heather they would have to use plan B.