Reset (Book 2): Salvation (7 page)

I learned a lot on our brief road trip. Not only did I have a high tolerance to most forms of alcohol, I had a cast iron stomach as well. Of course, not a single bit of that food slipped down my throat. I did feel queasy, admittedly, but a part of me thought that was probably more mental.

Jason, however, if he was suffering mentally, then he knew how to manifest. Poor guy spent the entire night running to the bathroom. He was a hot mess. Sweaty and pale. I refrained from telling him, ‘I told you so’ about eating the food we used as poker chips. He swore he didn’t, but I know something slipped into his stomach to make him that ill.

I offered for us to stay another day so he could rest, but he refused, he wanted to get back to his house before we headed to Champaign. The sun was barely up and we were on our way. We were back at his house within hours and Jason fell fast asleep on the sleeping roll.

Who was he kidding? He was still sick.

I didn’t understand the need to go back to his house. Did he have some sort of long-term survival plan he wanted to set in motion after we met the others? He wasn’t saying. With him sleeping I was even having to wait for that bath he promised me as well.

Things were different with me and Jason. They were less awkward. He was always pleasant, nice and optimistic, along with righteous. Although ‘righteous’ probably wasn’t the best word. I wondered if the fact he told me he was a preacher gave me preconceived notions.

Things had loosened up between us. Hearing a sample sermon helped. It told me that the Jason I thought was being pious had nothing on Jason the preacher.

But something else transpired in Jason, something else he wasn’t telling me. When at Malcolm’s business, I interrupted something he was saying. He had started to say he didn’t even know who he was anymore and I accidently cut him off. I tried to bring it up again, but he dismissed me and merely said, he’d tell me another time.

It could be he was dealing with the loss of his family differently than I was. That he was able to accept the reality of it, when I couldn’t. And it hit him like a ton of bricks.

He drank a lot. Something clicked and Jason started drinking. Not that I didn’t, but I didn’t keep drinking. Alcohol was a sipping treat for me. It appeared that to Jason it was a pain medication.

I tried, I really tried to talk to him about it and he just spoke over my concerns.

Maybe I was making too much out of it. After all, everyone we knew and loved was gone. Hidden behind some wall in a place called Salvation or dead. It was a lot to handle. And we were handling it differently.

But I needed to know him, how he felt, dealt with things, it was vital. If he and I never ran into the others again, there was a good chance it would just be him and I searching out Salvation.

From what we saw it was an empty world.

He was a good man, I was lucky to have him as my traveling partner and my friend.

It would be a lonely existence without him. I wasn’t giving up on Jason. And I prayed it was just my imagination that he would so easily give up on himself.

“I will. Soon. One day,” Jason said. His voice was hoarse, head rested back in the passenger seat, as he sported sunglasses and a baseball cap that said Army of Jesus. One of the many items he found in a box on the third floor of his home. Jason had found a lot of things up there. Items he didn’t share with Nora, he only packed them away.

“Just that after you got that stuff from the attic, you drank.”

“I needed a drink.”

“You drank a lot.” Nora said.

“It was hard to handle seeing items I just saw two weeks ago, packed up and covered in dust.”

“You’re not gonna like check out on me, are you?” Nora asked.

“What do you mean, check out?”

“Check out.”

“Die?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t plan on it.”

“So you’re not thinking about killing yourself.”

“What!” Jason blasted and sprang up. “Nora, no. No. I’m just dealing with everything. There’s a lot of me and who I was before all this, before … preaching that is haunting me.”

“What did you do?”

“Nora …”

“You killed someone?” she guessed.

“No.”

“Rape, assault, fraud ….”

“Nora. No. One day I’ll share who I was. But there’s a lot on my mind. Like this. This reality we woke to.” He rested back again. “I wonder if this is real.”

“What do you mean?”

“What if this isn’t reality. What if this is hell and my purgatory for all I did.”

“What did I do?” Nora asked. “I lived a good life.”

“It’s not your hell, it would be mine.”

“Oh my God. Are you saying being stuck with me is hell?”

Jason groaned. “Stop. Were you like this with your husband?”

“Yes.”

“And how long were you married.”

“You’re not talking very preacher like right now.”

“I’m not a preacher anymore.”

“Yeah, well,” Nora said. “How can you divorce God? You married him.”

“No, I wasn’t a priest.”

“Still, Once a preacher always a preacher.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Jason said. “Just like once you’re funny doesn’t mean you’re always funny.”

Nora gasped. “Is that a dig toward my jokes? I’ll have you know it’s not easy coming up with jokes.”

“I believe it.”

“It feels tense. How about another joke?”

“How about not,” Jason said. “I’m still not over your Priest, Rabbi and Monk in the rapture joke.”

“It was good.”

“No, it was disturbing.”

“That’s the preacher in you being offended. This one is not offensive.”

“Fine.” Jason sat up. “Go on.”

“Why doesn’t anyone go to night clubs in a zombie apocalypse?”

Jason lowered his sunglasses. “Hating to ask … why?”

“Because the places are dead.”

Another groan and Jason stared forward.

“Get it? Zombies? Dead …”

“I get it.”

“I thought …”

“Nora stop.” Jason said.

“That’s rude. I was …”

“No, seriously, just stop. Stop the buggy.”

After a moment of wondering why and thinking he was sick again, Nora did. She stopped.

“Look.” Jason pointed ahead. “What is that?” He stepped out of the buggy.

Nora focused on where he pointed, also stepped out.

Not far from them was a small fenced in area. In the center of it was a white, plain, modular home. Small and quaint. All over the fence were warning signs.
Quarantine
.
Keep out
. And
Danger contaminated area
. The signs themselves were old as was the rusted fence. While the area around the house was mainly dirt and dead grass, weeds grew up around the weather worn fence.

“This is weird. I mean really weird.” He took a few more steps and touched a sign. “Biological warning, Must be our virus. The signs coated.”

“Protects it from the weather,” Nora said. “What’s that date?”

“Ten years after our stasis. Wanna go check it out?”

“It’s says contaminated. Do you think it’s safe?”

“It’s been decades, I’d say yeah. I mean look at Chernobyl.”

“Really? You’re bringing that up again.”

“It’s my only reference point.” Jason defended. “You up for checking it out? Gate’s right there.”

“Think the buggy is safe there?” Nora asked, pointing back.

“Nora please. We haven’t seen a soul,” Jason said assuredly. “We’re definitely not seeing anyone around here.”

“Hold it right there!” the worn female voice called out.

They were two feet into the area, when they not only heard the voice, but the distinctive sound of someone pumping a shotgun.

Jason didn’t know whether to be fearful or overjoyed that there was someone else.

Nora replied, hands in the air. “We didn’t mean to trespass.”

“Are you brash or just illiterate?” She asked.

“Ma’am,” Jason said. “Please. We’re just …”

“Answer the question,” she said.

“What question?” Jason asked.

“Are you brash or illiterate?”

“I thought you were insulting us.”

“Good lord,” she said and emerged from the house, holding a shotgun. “It was a question. Can you read? Cause if you can and you didn’t come here to start trouble, then why the hell are you here when the signs clearly says danger.”

Jason looked at the woman who could have been his mother. Middle aged, but rough and rugged. “I thought … we thought it would be safe.”

“If you’re not in Salvation. You must not be immune. So you can’t be here.”

Nora said. “We’re immune. We lived in a different place.”

“Uh, huh.” She nodded still holding the shotgun. “You aliens?” She pointed her gun toward the buggy in the distance.

Jason laughed. “Please, do we look like aliens?”

“Don’t laugh boy. I’m asking a serious question. You could be aliens. Took DNA from the dead, and the form of a dead person.

“We’re not aliens,” Jason reiterated. “We’re human.”

“If you aren’t from Salvation, you’re awfully well kept for being out here.”

“We’re from somewhere else,” Jason said.

“Please,” Nora said. “We mean no harm. You’re the first person we have seen at all in a long time.”

“How is that?” the woman asked. “If you come from another place, you’re all cleaned up, and you aren’t aliens, and not from Salvation, how come you haven’t seen anyone?”

Nora asked. “Because the place we came from was an experimental lab that had us in a deep freeze for decades, we woke up to a dead world.”

“Okay now that makes sense.” She lowered her weapon.

Jason leaned to Nora and said sarcastically. “That makes sense?”

“Hey,” the woman snapped. “Yeah, makes more sense than aliens taking the form of a long dead preacher.”

“I’m ... I’m sorry,” Jason said. “Long dead preacher?”

She shook her head as if she were irritated and refused to even acknowledge Jason asked her about the preacher. “You sure you’re immune?” She asked.

“That’s what they told us,” Nora replied.

She shouldered her shotgun and extended her hand. “Then come on in. My name is Grace.”

“Champaign,” Grace said as she poured a cup of tea for Nora and Jason. “About twelve miles from here. You’re close.” She joined them at the little kitchen table. “Nice place to visit, I wouldn’t want to live there.”

“Why?” Nora asked. “I mean why corner yourself here.”

“Because I don’t want to infect them.” Grace said the statement more as a question.

“Wait. Wait.” Jason held up his hand. “There are people there.”

“Isn’t that why you’re going?”

Nora shook her head. “No we just picked it on a map as a central meeting place for our group. We split up to look for our families.”

“Well you lucked out picking Champaign. They’re good folks. They drop off supplies to me every two weeks. They’ve done well. Tea leaves are from them.”

Nora smiled. “Other people. That’s great. We haven’t seen a soul.”

“Well, you’re trekking in the first wave area. Most died or left. I call it nomad land.”

Nora laughed.

“Why is that funny?” Grace asked.

“Well, I just had been trying to come up with jokes and one of them was what do you call a happy survivor walking in the wasteland. A nomad.”

There was a silent pause, the Grace slammed her hand on the table and roared with laughter as if it were the funniest thing. “That’s good. That’s funny. You almost made me pee myself.”

Jason curled the corner of his lip. “It’s not funny.”

“Yes, it is,” Grace argued. “I haven’t heard a joke in decades. That was funny. Got anymore?”

“As a matter of fact …”

“Wait.” Jason stopped Nora. “Before she starts telling her jokes. You said you’re infected.”

“I am.”

“You don’t look sick.”

“I’m not right now. But had you been here four weeks ago …” Grace whistled. “I was down and out. Kept thinking, ‘Yep, this is the bout that kills me’, but it didn’t.”

“And it’s the virus that wiped out everyone?” Nora asked.

“Same one. The one that was deliberately released.” Grace nodded. “I went to one of those aid places, they put me in a red tent. Meaning I was gonna die. I was bleeding from my eyes. Glands so swollen I was choking. But I didn’t die. That was the worst bout. The last one was a dozy. They said I didn’t get immunities from catching it. That I could also be a carrier. Sure enough, I got it the next year and beat it. After the third time, I was set up here. And for about ten years maybe more, they came, they took blood, they said I was gonna be the secret to beating it. They even said my application was rejected to Salvation, but my husband could go. He didn’t want to.” She shrugged.

“So you know where it is?” Jason asked.

“No. Not at all. My husband thought it’s in Iowa. He was pretty certain it was. He said the folks that came here mentioned it or something. Then when Salvation was done, they just stopped coming. No more Salvation, no news of it.”

“That’s sad,” Nora said, reaching over and grabbing her hand. “It has to be terrible for you.”

“It wasn’t at first, I had my husband and the doctors came. But when they stopped it got bad. My husband started a little farm, I keep at it. We had to. Supplies started dwindling. Luckily, Bruce from Champaign knew we were here. He helped. Then after my husband passed, Bruce came out about once a week. Sits outside my fence and we chat. They keep me going. They keep me alive.”

Jason asked. ‘Ever think of going there if you’re not sick.”

“Nope. I had no problem being locked up here. It was my duty. If I could stop one person from getting sick, I was doing my part. I’d rather never take that chance of leaving. Don’t want a repeat of history.”

It was when Jason passed on a polite smile, that Grace snapped her finger and pointed.

“Goodness,” she said. “You look like … hold on.” She stood up and walked into the other room. She came back with a stack of CDs. “Not quite as polished as him. He had nicer skin.” She unloaded the CD’s on the table. “Preacher Rudolph. I loved him. Poor man was killed decades ago. Good singer. Good looking.”

Nora laughed. “Nicer skin.”

“It’s called make up and air brushing,” Jason quipped.

“Oh, no,” Grace said. “Don’t go disrespecting my preacher. He was my link to a good Christian life and my wild fantasy.”

Nora coughed to cover a laugh.

“Don’t you think he looks like him?” Grace showed Nora the CD.

“A little,” Nora replied.

“You think you look like him?” Grace asked Jason.

“I am him.”

Grace stared for a second. “Um, yeah. Sure.” She gathered up the CDs. “Okay, let me put these back and we’ll chat a little more before you head to Champaign. If you don’t mind visiting.”

“No, not at all,” Nora said.

“And you can tell me more of those jokes.” Grace walked out.

After she was gone, Jason looked at Nora. “It’s not funny.”

“Yeah it is. I’ll tell her it’s you.”

“No. She’s been alone for decades, with me being her fantasy, I’d rather not.”

Nora laughed. “That was funny.”

“What was?” Grace asked as she returned.

“He told a joke,” Nora pointed. “About a Priest, Rabbi and a Monk in the Rapture.”

“Oh, let me get more tea. I want to hear this one.”