The Flu 2: Healing (22 page)

Tom’s mood worsened by the hour. At least he knew his grandsons were safe, but they hadn’t called, and Tom wanted to speak to them. Before he settled for dinner or called Nelson to see if he could do a search party for Rose, Tom stopped at the video store, Baby Doe perched on his hip.

“Hey, afternoon, Mr. Roberts, how’s it going?” Joey asked.

“It’s going,” Tom answered. “How are things here?”

“Weird.”

“How so?”

“Well, aside from it being busy, the phone keeps ringing.”

“The phones are ringing?” Tom asked. “Are you answering it?”

“Dude, of course. But that’s not what’s weird. I keep getting a wrong number.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Some guy keeps calling here, saying his name is Doctor Kitty. You know, like little kiddy or kitty cat, and he keeps on asking for our virologist. Something like that. I told him it was the wrong number, we only had movies. But he called back. He thinks I’m falling for his joke.” Joey shook his head. “Kitty.”

Tom took a second, trying to remain calm, keeping in mind all the boy had been through. “Joey, did it dawn on you, in a post-pandemic world, maybe folks wouldn’t be playing prank calls?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

Joey shrugged.

Tom grabbed the phone and turned the base. He clicked through the list of numbers that had called into the store. “Three times? Was he the last one that called?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tom handed Baby Doe to Joey, grabbed a rental slip and wrote down the number. “Watch him.” Tom walked toward the door. “Don’t drop him. Be nice. I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

Tom paused at the door, looked down at the paper. “Wrong number,” he grumbled with a shake of his head and walked out.

* * *

Erie, PA

“I can’t!” Lola cried, shaking her head.

“You have to,” Rose insisted.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Listen to me.” Rose grabbed her wrist. “If you don’t, then you’re going to have to deal with my dead body in here. I have to stop this bleeding and block this lung.”

“It’s going to hurt you.”

“It will, but it will feel better after, I promise.” Rose stared her in the eyes. “Please, Lola.”

“Okay,” Lola said reluctantly.

Rose had taken the draw strings from several canvas sacks. She found a small sack, folded it to make a binding wrap, and had it partially on her abdomen, with two drawstrings wedged within her fingers. After Lola agreed to help, Rose gripped one end of the binding.

The plan was simple. Push, wrap and tie. However, Rose couldn’t do it alone.

“No matter what,” Rose told her, “I’ll try not to scream. When I inhale, you push that bone in place as best as you can. Try to get it back into the injury.”

Lola shuddered.

“Baby, I know this is tough. I need your help, okay?”

Lola sniffled and nodded.

“Ready?” When she got the agreement, Rose inhaled.

She groaned and cried as Lola pushed the rib back into place. She was too gentle and Rose urged her to be forceful.

The pain was tremendous and Rose didn’t need to see when the bone made it back in. When Lola succeeded, she held it in place, then brought the binding over, still keeping her hand hard and with pressure to the fractured area.

“Hold it. Hold it,” Rose instructed and brought the first drawstring over. She tied it. “See if you can make the binding tighter.

Lola did and Rose secured the second drawstring.

She had done the same to her leg, but that wasn’t broken, just badly bruised. Once her ribs were bound, Rose exhaled fully. “That actually feels better.”

Lola wiped her hand under her nose. “You sure?”

“Positive. I can actually …” Rose took small breath, “… inhale without that dagger feeling.” She extended her hand to Lola. “Help me stand.”

“Maybe you should rest.”

“No. I need to stand. Get my blood circulating. I don’t want a blood clot.” She wiggled her fingers.

Lola grabbed her hand and pulled.

It took some struggling but with a grunt, Rose managed to get to her feet. At first she was half bent and then slowly she stood upright, holding on to her side. “Thank you.”

A new noise caught their attention. A slow, loud, clapping.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

Rose looked over her shoulder.

A man stood there. He wore jeans and a sweatshirt. He was impeccably clean, and his gray hair was buzzed so close to the scalp, in the right light he would have looked bald.

“You are impressively resilient,” he said.

“That’s Ace,” Lola whispered.

“Ace?” Rose looked at Lola then to the man. “This is him? He doesn’t look all that tough. I would have run away from him in a heartbeat. How’d you get stuck here?”

Ace laughed. “You’re feisty and she didn’t run away because where would she go?” He lifted his hands. “She has nothing. We feed her. She, unlike you, doesn’t have resources.”

“I don’t have resources,” Rose said.

“Yeah, you do. And obviously, you’re resourceful.” He pointed to her makeshift bandages.

“I don’t have a choice now do I?” Rose asked. “Obviously, you don’t want me dead or you would have done it. And if you keep me around longer, waiting on killing me, I might as well have my strength up. I won’t go down alone.”

“I believe that.” He folded his arms.

“What’s your game here?” Rose asked. “I’m obviously some sort of prisoner.”

“You are. You inured one of my men and killed another.”

“Your men are bastards,” Rose spat. “They threatened me and the other ones out there burning towns, well, if they represent your little group here, then you’re all bastards. So, I’m, a prisoner. Sentence me, kill me or let me go.”

“Can’t do any of that. And I can’t kill you just yet.”

“Why is that?”

“People are commodities.”

Rose coughed and laughed. “That’s a fake compassionate response.”

He smirked. “You think I’m being a humanitarian about people being commodities? No. Right now, people are bargaining chips. For things I need. After I get them, they’ll be useful for work and will need what I have.”

“Get your head out of your ass. Hitler tried it once, you saw how it worked out for him.”

Ace laughed. “Yeah, well, he gained a lot in the process, now didn’t he? He just made mistakes.”

“I have nothing of value and I’m an old lady that no one wants to barter or bargain for.”

“I wager differently,” he said. “Where are you from?”

“Nowhere. Everywhere. I was just roaming the country.”

“I call that bull. You’re in good condition, other than the accident. Not starving, not dirty. Your bike was in good repair and you had limited supplies. You’re local. Cleveland …maybe a pocket of civilization that we missed, or the golden town of hope. Lodi.”

“Lodi?” Rose scoffed. “Last I heard, Lodi went under.”

“Last I heard from the president, Lodi was spared pretty good from the major losses and they stockpiled heavily. I was wondering where everything from the warehouses went. When we got there, maybe a quarter was left.”

“I don’t know about the warehouses. I don’t know about Lodi.”

“We’ll see,” Ace said arrogantly. “I was hoping you’d talk. But I see, you’re not ready. When you are, let me know. I’ll get you some water and fresh bandages so your wounds don’t get infected. Have a good evening ladies.”

Rose held back the waves of pain and fought tooth and nail not to show how hurt she actually was, but when he left, she folded. Lola helped her to sit. It hurt with every step she took, every word she spoke.

She wondered what his purpose was for stopping in. To see if she was dead? Ready to talk? Did he actually think he would get information from her? He probably didn’t realize he gave her more information than she had given him. Or had he done that on purpose? Maybe a way to scare her, make her concerned for her town. If that indeed was his intent, despite what she showed or conveyed, Rose was scared. She was scared to death for Lodi.

* * *

Las Vegas, NV

They were all getting worse, and after getting the diagnosis from Lars regarding their ‘coughing’ patients, Lexi realized why. She wasn’t treating them correctly. And in actuality, there wasn’t an effective treatment for SARS at all. Antiviral medications in studies were somewhat effective, but the defense was time, oxygen and fluids in conjunction with any medication that Lexi could give. But she was limited; there was very little of anything remaining.

Those who were infected wasn’t what worried her, it was the fact they were dealing with something as contagious as their flu. Though not as deadly, it spread just as easily. She was certain more cases would pop up over the course of the next several days, and that didn’t include those who passed through Vegas. How many of those took the virus with them?

There were no other cases of smallpox, but another illness appeared in the suburbs of Vegas. Matt’s team discovered that not long after.

Things had quickly become a mess in Vegas.

Matt conveyed his gratefulness to her because had Lexi not shown up they would not have known what they were dealing with.

Lexi still didn’t know how it was occurring. How all of a sudden, these severe illnesses were appearing. Had civilization and technology really kept them at bay?

Her visit with Slot Machine Charlie was depressing. He was the worst. He barely moved. The oxygen flowed into him but Lexi was certain he had gone into respiratory failure.

They retried a respirator from the hospital, actually several, but it may have been a little too late.

A rush of nerves caused her not to sleep the night before and she had been going all day long. She was beat and took a break. Bottle of water in hand, heart heavy, Lexi walked outside. It was hot, but it felt good.

“Someone said they saw you come out,” Bill said as he walked up to her where she sat on a bus stop bench. “Can I join you?”

“Please.”

“What’s wrong?”

She sipped her water and didn’t answer him.

“Okay, that was a bad question.”

“Oh, Bill.” She leaned over and rested her head on his arm. “What the hell is going on? Haven’t we seen enough death and suffering? This is going to get bad. People aren’t the only things that spread this.”

“I know. But we’re gonna face this and fight it, just like we did with the flu.”

“What if we get sick?” she asked. “What if everyone gets sick?”

“Lex, this isn’t like you to be talking like this. You’re tough, strong and smart. You’ll figure out what to do.”

She pulled away and hung her head. “I’m just so tired of death.”

“We all are, but this doesn’t mean these people are dying. They’re just sick. Sick with a couple of odd diseases. But still sick.”

“And now the new cases.”

“You heard Matt, they aren’t using the city’s water purification system. Could be that.”

“With our luck it’s cholera or hemorrhagic fever.”

“How the heck are we getting this soup pot of sicknesses?” Bill asked. “Look at all these birds, I’d say they found a general store and are flying the germs in here.”

Lexi’s head sprang up. “Oh my God.”

“What?”

She stood. “When is our telephone call?”

Bill looked at his watch. “Fifteen minutes. Why?”

She reached down and grabbed his hand. “Come on.”

“Where we going?”

“To find a map,” she said. “I think I know what this is.”

* * *

Lodi, OH

Henry watched Lars while he was on the phone, as did Kurt and Tom. Lars didn’t say much, he wrote down more than he spoke. He ended the call simply and said, “We have a telephone meeting in a few minutes. Hang tight. I’ll call you back.”

Lars hung up.

Henry said, “I take it the video store boy was wrong and it wasn’t a wrong number.”

“Not at all,” Lars replied “Seems their commander remembered your store number, Tom, and he gave it to Dr. Kiddi.”

“It’s easy,” Tom said. “That’s why I picked it.”

Kurt asked, “So what’s going on? Something is up.”

“On the positive front,” Lars said, “Mick couldn’t get by Erie either. Seems he met up with some men from the UAA.”

“Tell me he is with the boys,” Tom said hopefully.

“He’s with the boys.”

“Hot dog.” Tom smiled.

“But not so fast, that wasn’t the point of the call,” Lars said. “They have three cases of what this doctor believes to be hemorrhagic fever.”