The Plague Years (Book 1): Hell is Empty and All the Devils Are Here (18 page)

“It would,” said General Buckley, “in a peace time environment General Whitely, but as of today, we are in a state of emergency. Dust off your war plans and start. If we wait a month to plan this as we would a peacetime exercise, most of the people outside the gate will be infected and we will have signed the death warrant for tens of thousands of people which I will not do. The PIO makes the announcement tomorrow. We need to have accommodations and begin training by the next day. I suspect there will be a trickle at first so we will have some time to refine the system but Captain Strickland says that infection rate will double in seven days. That will mean downtown will be off limits and the suburbs will have infection rates close to fifty percent. Civilian control will only be in select areas if at all. If we aren’t full up by then, those folks will die. Those of you with dependents, call home, tell them that you will be busy for the foreseeable future. If any of them have skills we can use, get them where they can do the most good.

“This is going to get much worse before it gets better. My aide is passing around a set of directives that will form the basis for administration of public order.”

_______________________________________________________

Martial Law is Hereby Decreed by the Direction of the President of the United States.

The following directives are issued by the staff of Lieutenant General Daniel M. Buckley, Commander I Corps, and are to be enforced by any and all law enforcement bodies.

1. Effective immediately, no one may treat plague infected individuals in their homes or outside of official medical facilities. The danger of infection and escape are just too great.
   
2. All National Guard, Reserve and Inactive Reserve Personnel are to report to your duty stations. If that is not possible, report to the nearest federal facility.
   
3. Any past veteran wishing to reenlist should report to the nearest federal facility. 
   
4. A strict curfew in in effect beginning at sunset and continuing until dawn except for emergency vehicles. All offenders will be arrested.
   
5. Looters will be shot on sight.
   
6. The government is hereby authorized to take any and all abandoned property for its own use.
   
7. Any material, supplies, fuel, or other necessities can be appropriated as needed by federal forces. All owners will receive a receipt and will be compensated in due course.
   
8. All food, medical supplies, fuel, and any other materiel determined to be strategic will be managed by the government.
   

Specific instructions for each of these directives will follow.

_______________________________________________________
 

May 20
th
, Wednesday, 4:52 pm PDT.

General Buckley’s meeting lasted until almost noon. Then working groups split off and the phones began ringing all over the base.

Chad, Dr. Riley and Dr. Grieb were kept very busy for most of the day. Chad and Dr. Riley worked with General Buckley’s G-2 officer trying to rough out possible scenarios for the spread of infection and possible reactions from the civilians in and around Tacoma.

Dr. Grieb spent a great deal of time with Colonel Hill, the Hospital Commander at Madigan working out protocols for dealing with infected individuals who were found after they had been inducted and also on infection control. It was a long day for all of them.

After their last set of meeting, Chad, Dr. Riley and Dr. Grieb were ushered to a conference room. The world seemed to monetarily have forgotten them as military organization which surrounded them roared into action.

“I guess they are sending us home today after all,” said Chad. “I thought we would be stuck in staff meetings until midnight.”

“Well, I can answer part of that,” said Dr. Grieb with a sheepish smile. “You guys are headed home but I am staying. The plane that is taking you home will bring back my ex-wife and kids. I suspect they figure they can get access to you guys as needed but they really pressed hard to get me to stay.”

“Your ex?” said Chad incredulously. “I thought you two didn’t even like being in the same town?”

“It’s about my boys,” said Terry. “They are pretty young and wouldn’t go anywhere without their mom. I think I have the best chance of getting them through what’s coming up here at Fort Lewis. Who knows, maybe the change will do me and the ex some good that way, but I am surprised they didn’t talk to you.”

“They did,” said Chad. “Colonel Antonopoulos spoke to me about it last night.”

“I was also invited to stay,” said Dr. Riley, “but I have extended family in Tri-Cities area.”

“Well, I wish you well Terry,” said Chad shaking his hand. “I suspect it may be a while before we see each other again.”

Before things could get maudlin, Colonel Antonopoulos came into the room.

“Gentlemen,” said Andy. “General Buckley has asked me to convey his thanks for your work. Our staff now has the sense of urgency and the information they need to get cracking. I frankly don’t know if we can do all that the General has in mind but I agree that we have to try.

“We would like to come up with a way to thank you. We really can’t offer you anything in the way of supplies or weapons. They will be quite dear in the next few weeks. What we can offer you are official orders and identification cards. Paperwork, I realize, but important in some circles at least for a while. They state that you are working under the direct orders of the Military Governor of the State of Washington. It will carry some weight with police and such. It will also give you cover to refuse Macklin if he pushes things. It also means that the gates here at Fort Lewis will always open for you. I am sorry it can’t be more.

“Now I have a bit to do here so Captain Whipke is waiting outside. He will escort Dr. Strickland and Dr. Riley to the plane. Then he will get Dr. Grieb set up. We are converting the TLQ to long term living quarters and you will have a unit.

“Godspeed gentlemen! It will likely be some time before our paths cross again.”

May 20
th
, Wednesday, 11:03 pm PDT.

“You’ve been a busy guy,” said Chris as Chad got into his highway patrol cruiser. Things were getting worse and getting a ride from the airport from Mary or David this late at night would have been a problem given everything that had happened.

“Yeah, thanks for the ride by the way,” said Chad as he buckled the seat belt.

“De nada, besides, I needed to talk to you for a bit,” said Chris as he pulled out of the fire lane in front of the terminal. Normally, the airport police would have been talking to Chris for even waiting ten minutes in that lane but the airport was all but closed and there was no traffic. The rent-a-cops that normally pulled this duty were not at work, trying to take of their families.

“I ran those plate numbers off of the picture your friend Tippet sent me.”

“Well, who owns the car?”

“I shouldn’t tell you about this but I am going to need a favor here. They vehicle is out of a Federal Government motor pool. It’s checked out to Homeland Security.”

“It wouldn’t be to Special Agent Macklin would it?”

“Yeah, not a surprise is it? Well anyway, I am still on quarantine duty, but a friend of mine called me. He was going to go have a chat with Macklin but his boss called him off. Said there was some sort of high level investigation and he was to back off. He apparently has some pull in the other Washington. We can’t touch him. I asked my boss hypothetically what would happen if I questioned him unofficially. He said hypothetically, I would be out of the WSP and arrested before the interview was complete. Like I said, this guy has some serious bad juju.”

“Ok, I appreciate the effort, now you mentioned another favor?”

“Yeah, well remember Deputy Hoskins?”

“The one who was bitten a couple of weeks ago, and who we interviewed, and who, if memory serves, has a huge crush on you?”

“I don’t know about the crush but she has become pretty special to me. Anyway, she has started showing symptoms, just like the stuff you sent me via e-mail. She’s got it. So what is the prognosis? Will it ….”  There was a catch in Chris’s voice and he faltered.

“I am not going to sugar coat this,” said Chad. “The survival rated for this disease is next to zero. I am not supposed to talk about this, but there have been just a few remissions. There was one at Ft. Lewis and after I found that out, I got on-line and twisted some tails, it turns out that there have been a handful of cases. The survival rate is still less than one in a thousand. I wish I had better news for you.”

“No, it’s better to know,” said Chris slowly. “Is there anything I can do? Does anything help?”

“I just have a few anecdotal reports you understand, but all the cases of remission have a couple of common threads. The first is a high calorie intake, like ten thousand calories a day plus for three or four days. All of the remissions had someone or several someones who kept them well fed. Secondly, they have to have someone they care about around and talking to them when they are lucid. They have all also had something to live for, like caring for a family member, religion, or, in the case we heard about at Fort Lewis, a pretty well developed sense of loyalty and camaraderie inside his unit. Finally, they have to have pretty darned good restraints so they don’t injure themselves.”

“OK, all of that is mainly in place, still pretty slim though?”

“I just heard about this yesterday. That’s all I know. I will give you more as I get it. I owe you one too you know, for backing me up with that little shooting thing. One last thing though and you need to watch out for this one. As soon as the word gets out that they are in remission, they vanish.”

“What?”

“I don’t know much more, mostly they find a way out of their restraints or in one documented case; someone was seen helping them escape. That is really all I know.”

“Should we be fortunate enough for this to happen, I’ll be there.”

May 21
st
, Thursday, 5:15am PDT.

Macklin had slept fitfully in his hotel room and now he was wide awake. His attempt to get at Strickland through his family had failed miserably. The thugs that he had hired thought it was a set up and he had barely gotten away with his life. There no way he would be able to find anyone to do his dirty work once this got out.

While he was wallowing in self-pity, his disposable phone rang. He wanted to just hide from it but he knew it would be worse if he didn’t answer.

“Macklin,” he said as he sat up in bed.

“It seems your usefulness there is over,” said the disembodied voice on the other end of the phone. “Not only have you been unsuccessful in stopping an unprotected research scientist, your last adventure has people in high places asking rather pointed questions about you. It’s time you came in.”

“What do you mean?” said Macklin shakily.

“What I mean is that you should use whatever limited skills you have to get out of that God forsaken place and get back to DC. You can still be of some use to us there. Remember to take care of that checklist we gave you before you were sent on that mission you failed to complete or don’t bother returning. Do it all before Tuesday, because if you don’t, you will definitely be stuck there permanently.”

“What …” said Macklin confusedly, but the phone was already dead.

May 21
st
, Thursday, 11:19 am.

After a short night, Chad and his son Connor were helping Heather get moved out of her condo. They were leaving most of the furniture, save things like the kids beds but they were taking all of Heather’s camping gear, her two kayaks, clothes and personal memorabilia. They were also taking all of the kid’s belongings. The divorce was only a few months old and they were shaken enough as it was. Heather and Mary were in the house trying to sort and box up everything. Chad and Connor were struggling with pieces of Ginger’s canopy bed. The rest of the kids were home with Dave Tippet as his bum hip was troubling him and they were all worried about plague sufferers.

“Hey Chad!” said a tall man that Chad barely recognized as Heather’s ex. He was clearly infected, with open sores and what had become the badge of the infected, telltale bite marks over much of his exposed skin.

“Paul, stand back” said Chad as he reached for his .45 in the shoulder rig, “Heather is not here. Why don’t you just back away nice and easy.”

Chad used to get along with Paul when he and Heather were married. The fact that he had dumped Heather for a younger woman had soured their relationship, but he still didn’t want to shoot someone he used to call a friend.

“Where are my wife and kids?” said Paul obviously not hearing. “Amanda, she left me. I got nowhere else to go.”

“Heather and the kids are gone Paul,” said Chad as he backed away slowly. His pistol was in his hand but down by his side. Connor had come around the other side of the truck. He hadn’t been carrying a weapon but had picked up Heather’s son Jason’s aluminum baseball bat.

“Hey Connor, easy with that bat,” said Paul as he turned to face Connor.