The Death Trilogy (Book 1): The Death: Quarantine (17 page)

“That’s not going to happen just yet. The pregnancy alone will take some of your attention away from the project. We can deal with that. Having your family here is another added layer of distraction.”

“I’m pregnant. It’s not just my baby, it’s also David’s! If I can’t have my family here, I’ll go back to them. Send me back!”

Horton paused, thought, and then answered, “I’ll see what we can do about having your family come. Just be patient with me.”

“I thought you were in charge?”

“I am, but I still have to think politically. Every decision I make has consequences. Let me work on it. Now can we discuss the child’s life?”

Lori settled down and asked in a softer tone, “What can you do to save my baby’s life?”

Horton looked down, exhaled and said, “We’ve been working on a cure…”

“A vaccine?”

“You can call it a vaccine, a cure, whatever, we call it R-59. So far it seems to be working, but it’s only in trials. We don’t know if there will be chronic problems or side effects later.”

“Does it work?”

“Simply put, yes. Not one person we’ve given it to has died from the virus.”

“How do we do it?”

“We’ve done it on unborn babies before, and there can be some risks, as we have to do it while the child is in the womb. We can’t give the baby the shot later, too much risk. If the child somehow contracts the virus after birth, there’s no saving them unless they’re immune. R-59 doesn’t work after you’ve contracted the virus; it has to be administered before contact with the virus.”

Lori didn’t have to think; she knew what needed to be done. “How soon can you do it?”

“Not till the baby is in the third trimester, so there’s time. And by then, we will have had that much more time on our trials.”

Lori reached out and took Horton’s hand; her joy at being pregnant began to hit her emotionally. Losing Madeleine had been a devastating blow to her, but this child could give her another chance, and she was thankful.

Horton gripped her hand tightly and said, “You’ll be fine. I’ll make sure you and your baby will be taken care of.”

April 8, 2021

Jenks Residence, Reed, Illinois

The funeral for Mary was a somber event. Daryl had wanted Hudson to attend so he’d have closure, but his son wouldn’t leave his room, and when he was forced, he’d scream and hit. So without Hudson, Daryl presided over Mary’s funeral with Devin and Tess in attendance. Brianna stayed with Hudson and comforted him.

Daryl kept his eulogy pithy not because he was a man of few words but because it was already tough enough for him to speak about her without breaking down into tears.

Devin had offered to help Daryl dig the grave but was rebuffed. So with guilt and sorrow, Devin watched him sweat, curse and grunt with each shovelful of dirt he took from the ground. Inch by inch, foot by foot he went till he reached the desired depth of six feet.

Even when Devin insisted on helping him carry her draped body out to the gravesite, he refused. For whatever personal reason, Daryl needed to do this all by himself. Devin wondered if this was therapeutic for him, that he needed to go through this exercise as a way to deal with the loss.

Devin wanted desperately to help and understand him. He hadn’t known him that long, but he felt a strange kinship with Daryl. He assumed much of it came from them jointly experiencing a harrowing situation together, but something else was there. The two couldn’t be more polar opposite as he had found out during his short stay so far. They had discussed their past lives just the other night, and even though it was considered taboo, politics and religion came up. They both laughed off the divisions that would have one time separated them. Daryl was conservative and religious while he was liberal and secular. How strange it was that he would have dismissed Daryl before The Death, even gone as far as to refer to him in negative terms just because of his political views. For all the pain and suffering The Death had given the world, it had also brought some people together and created odd bedfellows.

After Daryl had tossed on the last shovel load of dirt and smoothed out the soil, he gathered the tools he had used and rushed off to his sanctuary in the barn without saying a word to anyone.

“What should we do?” Devin asked Tess, who was sitting next to him on the back deck.

“Nothing, let him be,” she answered as she touched her side.

“How are you holding up?”

“Better, I’ll be fine.”

“Good.”

“I didn’t get a chance before, but I want to thank you.”

Devin craned his head towards her and smiled. He liked hearing those words, especially from her, someone who he looked up to and respected. Similar to how he felt about Daryl in such a small amount of time, he had a great fondness and connection to Tess. He marveled at how little people needed to grow attached to someone in the post-Death world.

“We’ve never talked about this, but before all of this, where did you stand politically?” Devin asked.

She looked at him, smirked, and looked away.

“What was that look?” he asked.

“Is that a serious question?”

“Yeah, it is. I’m trying to know who you are.”

“Does that shit really matter anymore?”

“It does in a way. It lets me know some of who you are and your core beliefs if you tell me that you’re left or right.”

“It tells you nothing. I refused then and I refuse now to place myself in a box and label myself.”

“Oh, so you’re one of those types,” Devin quipped.

“Types? I don’t know what that means, but I could care less about politics. I hated it before, and now it just seems silly.”

“Types in that you think you’re above it all. It’s kind of a righteous point of view.”

“Where is this mood or attitude coming from today?”

“I’d like to get to know you better. If I’m going to be traveling with you all the way to North Carolina and beyond, I’d like to know just a bit more about my companion.”

“You know something, I don’t know if I want someone like you as my companion.”

“Whoa, wait a minute, serious?”

“No, I’m joking, but on a serious note. I don’t care one bit about politics.”

“Let’s play a game. How about I guess?” Devin queried.

“Now we’re playing games?”

“Oh, come on, don’t be so serious all the time.”

She shot him a look, then reluctantly gave in. “Go ahead, but we should be doing more productive things, like preparing for those thugs to come back.”

“This won’t take that long, I promise.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’m going to say you’re a conservative, Christian, and a wave-the-flag patriotic type, but weren’t active in voting, but had no problem voicing your conservative beliefs when confronted with a more liberal view.”

She raised her eyebrows and looked at him. “Oh my God, you’re amazing…NOT!”

“I’m wrong? Where?”

“You’re just wrong, period.”

“Tell me how, it makes sense.”

“I’ll tell you how, but I want you to explain how you came to your conclusions.”

“First, you’re from the Dakotas; most people there are conservative. You’re engaged to a Marine, equals conservative. You know how to use guns, equals conservative, which means you are a second amendment person, which equals conservative and flag-waving person.”

“Let me see how wrong you can be. First, I’m not conservative in the true meaning of it. I’m more libertarian. I don’t like people telling me who I am and what to do, so I’m not a big believer in someone liberal like you telling me how to live my life because YOU think it’s the way it should be. I also don’t want someone on the right telling me that either. I have always and still do want to be left alone to live my life. I’m engaged to a Marine because he’s a good man, and I don’t judge someone for what they do, I judge them for who they are. As far as guns go, I don’t love them or hate them. I respect them and understand they’re a tool, a valuable one now, wouldn’t you say? Am I glad that we had a second amendment before? Yes, because if people like you had their way, we wouldn’t have been able to defend ourselves in this world. The government that the left promised would be there to protect us really hasn’t been, so in the end, and, my friend, this is the end, we have to take care of ourselves. So does that help you any in discovering who I am?”

Devin was flabbergasted. He wanted to debate her on some of the things she said, specifically the more pointed jabs at him, but now it was impossible to win that argument because things weren’t theoretical, they were real. So to avoid the conversational minefield, he just kept quiet.

“Nothing from the peanut gallery?” Tess teased him.

“Let me go and see how the kids are doing,” he said, standing up.

“And stop calling Brianna a kid, she doesn’t like it much. I think after yesterday she earned the title of adult.”

Devin felt humbled by her response. He sheepishly walked inside and approached the stairs.

Laughter was bouncing off the walls and hall upstairs, giving the depressed mood in the house a lift it needed.

Not wanting to disturb them, because the laughter told him all he needed to know, he walked to the front screen door and looked out.

They had spent the greater part of last night cleaning up, moving the dead bodies and stashing the Humvee. The front was almost back to normal, but the one thing that was the great reminder of the fierce fight that had occurred not twenty-four hours ago was the large bloodstain on the deck.

He stared at it, and odd emotions and thoughts ran through him. He had spent some quality time with Mary, and now she was gone, the stain in the wood was some of her, but it wasn’t who she really was. That part of her was gone the minute her heart stopped beating. Before it all he never had faith in a higher being. If he had any faith, it was in science, and his devoutness to secularism went as far as being something as close to a religion as one could get without having one. Now, though, his feelings were conflicted after seeing so much death. He cursed what God there might be for allowing such a thing to happen, but then found himself wanting there to be one. As close as he had come to losing his life over the past months, it made him think he didn’t want it to end. The thought of a life after gave him comfort and strength. He didn’t want to think that Mary, this lovely woman, mother and wife, was just snuffed out, but was living somewhere else on another plane of existence. These conflicting views frustrated him because it agitated his old core belief that someone who is a devoted believer in God is such and such. Similar to how he presumed who Tess was, he thought that if he began to believe, he would suddenly become another person, a person whom he use to judge harshly, a person that must believe in x,y, and z. The questions and thoughts kept banging around in his head like atoms in a molecule, but nothing was coalescing into a linear thought.

There was such uncertainty in this world that Tess was right in a way, thinking in old political ways and holding belief systems from a time now extinct was, in her words, ‘silly’. Since The Death had begun, he had taken stock of his old values and tossed out the ones that hadn’t worked for him and had shifted in how he viewed all people. Did asking her questions give him some insight into who she was? Maybe, but he now knew that people were greater than the simple box or labels given. People were dynamic and had an innate ability to adapt, like he had. Right there he pledged to himself to be a different man, one that didn’t look to the past for answers but one who lived in the now and looked to the future with promise and optimism. He hadn’t yet found faith in God, but he would have faith in those around him and in humankind finding a way to survive the horrors of this world. He would keep one foot grounded but another planted with hope that one day they’d create a better place to call home.

Denver International Airport

Lori stood in front of the mirror with her shirt off, rubbing her stomach and speaking out loud, “Momma’s going to take care of you. You hear me in there? Oh, I wish I knew what sex you were so I could give you a name.”

This morning she hadn’t gone to the cafeteria for her breakfast, and it appeared she wouldn’t have to for lunch either. Horton had instructed staff to deliver food directly to her room. She thought it was nice, but she wouldn’t keep doing that. It was as if he thought being pregnant meant she was handicapped or ill. For now, she’d accept his gesture, but soon she’d be venturing back out again. One thing that having her food delivered did was give her more time to focus on the plans for the capital building.

She chuckled when she thought about her life before and how she use to think it was a roller coaster. Never would she have imagined any of this happening, only in the darkest corners of some sinister person’s mind could they have concocted a world such as the one she was now living in. From the moment she had first heard about The Death on television, to its rampant and deadly spread, to her losing Madeleine, to Camp 13, to here working for the government, and now this, a new baby on the way. If there was a roller coaster ride, her life over the past six months was the most intense ride she’d ever been on. 

She couldn't stop touching her belly. She was one of those women who actually enjoyed being pregnant. She found that about half the mothers she knew loved the pregnancy phase. The ones who didn’t had good reason, their pregnancies were difficult and had complications. She never held judgment on any mother, having a baby altered your body and your emotional state. She warned David twice that she could never be held accountable for her behavior while pregnant because she was nothing more than a skin bag of hormones. She took pregnancy in stride with Eric and Madeleine, and even though certain times were uncomfortable, she loved the experience. After losing Madeleine, she had thought about having another, but the idea seemed absurd. Having a child at her age added a layer of complications, then add The Death lurking around every corner, and it struck fear in her to have a baby only to have it die horribly.

When Horton mentioned they could save the baby, she was all-in. Going to the DIA had given her and her family a new chance, but now it would give them another member of the family.