The Death Trilogy (Book 1): The Death: Quarantine (4 page)

“Lori, come on!”

She pulled the shoe and the picture out from underneath the cot and took a subtle moment to look at the picture. She touched the face of her daughter; this prompted a wave of emotions.

David’s patience had run out. He barged into the tent, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her up. “Just bring your shoes with you, c’mon.”

The force of his grab caused her to drop the photo. “Hey, one minute.”

“That’s just it, Lori, we don’t have a minute. If we miss our names, you know what will happen.”

He was right, they couldn’t miss roll call or they’d end up with less enjoyable work parties, and for David, he thought it meant not getting a coveted place at Camp Sierra.

A small but vocal group of people at the camp had begun to spread negative rumors about Camp Sierra, but David thought the talk of Camp Sierra being less than desirable was silly conspiracy theories. He was a man of great education, with his two master’s degrees in American and World History. His view of the world required that if it couldn’t be proven or there wasn’t reliable evidence or data, then it wasn’t true. He disliked hearsay and, more importantly, thought conspiracies were born from those who had wild imaginations.

The sun’s rays were bright and felt good on her cool skin.

They rushed through the maze of tents till they came to the large field in the center of the encampment.

Like soldiers upon a parade field, every person who called Camp 13 their home stood in even formations.

Camp 13 was divided into four quadrants of equal number tents that surrounded the center field and a dozen camp-support buildings.

Lori and David ran down the gravel track till they reached their row. They squeezed through the ranks, bumping and apologizing to their fellow campers until they reached their place.

“Where have you been?” Eric asked.

“I’m sorry, I overslept,” Lori answered.

“Sshh,” David said.

A loud voice was echoing over the mass of people, calling names. This was Quadrant 4’s deputy coordinator of response and rescue and their quadrant manager, Carlos Vasquez, a longtime employee of FEMA.

“David Roberts!” Carlos called out.

“Here.”

“Lori Roberts!”

“Here.”

“Just here, barely this morning,” Carlos quipped.

Lori shot him a look and said, “I’m here; that’s all that matters, right?”

Carlos gave her a hard stare, checked her name, and continued to call names.

When this daily routine was over, announcements came, and for some, hopefully, a Call.

The large speakers and PA systems that were strung all around Camp 13 came to life with a crackle.

“Good morning, Camp 13, how are we doing this fine day?” the voice said.

Everyone just stared ahead.

“This is Camp Commander Brockman. Today is an exciting day. Camp Sierra is flourishing and because of its success, we have been notified that they are expanding. What does this mean for 13? It means more of you will get the opportunity now to go. So today we will have a Call, but today that Call will be larger than normal. Please be patient as we work to ensure all of us will have a home at Sierra.”

David reached over and took Lori’s hand.

She could feel his nervous excitement through his touch.

While he closed his eyes and murmured a silent prayer that their names would be called, she did the same.

Brockman called six names.

Cheers and clapping could be heard from Quadrant 2 opposite them. Those people rushed out of formation and ran to the center, where several FEMA officers escorted them to the large red tent or Big Red as it was known. Big Red was the large processing tent at the camp entrance, and you only entered it twice, upon arrival and upon departure, whenever that was. Like clockwork, within two hours of the Call a large windowless white cargo van would leave, escorted by National Guard MRAP vehicles.

David turned to Lori and said, “Well, maybe tomorrow.”

She looked at him and decided not to respond. She didn’t want to sound negative, and it really didn’t matter anymore to her. She had resolved herself that 13 was their home for a very long time.

“That is all for today, have a great day. Your quadrant managers will take it from here,” Brockman said. The loudspeakers clicked and went silent.

“Okay, Quadrant 4, the working party assignments are the same as yesterday. Let’s get to it,” Vasquez barked to the four hundred members of Quadrant 4.

As everyone broke ranks and headed to their working parties, Lori watched the six people who had been called. Their faces expressed a happiness that she believed didn’t exist for her.

David, too, was looking on with envy. He was tired of Camp 13 and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

The main loudspeaker crackled to life suddenly.

“Will Lori Roberts, Quadrant 4, please report to admin. Repeat, will Lori Roberts, Quadrant 4, report to admin.”

Lori’s eyes widened at hearing the announcement.

David looked at her, and with a bit of excitement in his voice, he said, “Maybe it’s something good.”

“I doubt it.”

“Lori Roberts, come with me,” Vasquez barked from a few feet away, his clipboard in his hand.

Lori looked back at David, blew him a kiss, turned back, and walked off with Vasquez towards the admin building.

Decatur, Illinois

The first thing Devin felt was the throbbing pain coming from the back of his head. When he realized he wasn’t dreaming, he opened his eyes and attempted to sit up but couldn’t move. He looked down and saw volumes of duct tape strapping him to the plush recliner in the living room. His aggressive movements to free himself brought attention to the pain in his right arm. He noted that his arm was bandaged and wrapped in thick white gauze. His eyes darted around the room to see if there were any clues that could tell him if his captor was still there. The deep yellow glow coming from behind him told him that the afternoon was upon him and that he’d been out for more than a few hours. After minutes of struggling, he rested and listened.

The thought then came to him that if this woman wanted him dead, she could’ve easily finished him off; plus the bandaged arm was a big telltale sign that his life, for the moment, was safe.

“Hello!” he called out.

Silence.

“Hey, hello, are you still here?”

Nothing.

He waited and listened, but no response came. Worry began to fill him as he thought that maybe she was going to torture him with a slow death by keeping him strapped to the chair. This fear made him again struggle with the tightly wrapped duct tape.

He grunted and cursed as he squirmed.

“You’re not getting out without my help,” the woman said from behind him.

He had been so loud and focused that he didn’t hear her walk in the room.

“Are you going to kill me?” he asked.

She walked around and faced him; her rifle was now slung by her side. She sat on the coffee table in front of him and joked, “No, but I thought about it.”

“Then cut me loose.”

“Um, not yet, you make me nervous.”

“You’re the one who came into my house.”

“So about that, after you hit your head, I cleaned you up and bandaged your arm. By the way, I warned you about Brando, but you had to go and point the shotgun at him.”

“I thought he was going to attack me.”

“Well, he did, and only because you pointed a gun at him.”

“What do you want?”

“Food, water and a place to rest for a bit to heal,” she answered.

It was at that moment he realized he didn’t have the respirator on. “Where’s my mask?”

“Over there,” she answered, pointing towards the kitchen. “What were you wearing that for, anyway?”

“I don’t want to get sick.”

“Sick? I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

Devin didn’t know what to make of her comment; all he wanted now was to be cut loose from the copious amounts of duct tape.

“I know and you know that you’re not the owner of this charming place. I found the owners all tucked in nicely upstairs. I don’t feel so bad now about my breaking and entering.”

“Those are family members.”

“Bullshit.”

“They are.”

“Regardless, I only need a few things, and I’ll be on my way in a day or two.”

“Take what you need and leave, but can you please cut me loose?”

“Are you going to play nice?”

“I won’t do anything, I promise.”

She paused for a moment and looked at him, then said, “Brando, come.”

The dog trotted into the room and sat looking at Devin.

“I’ll free you, but he’s my insurance policy just in case you act stupid.”

“I promise, I won’t do anything, just please don’t have him attack me again.”

“I don’t need to tell him; you have total control if that happens again,” she said, then pulled a pocketknife from her jean pocket and flipped it open with a snap. Taking the small three-inch Spyderco knife, she cut the duct tape and pulled it away from his torso, then freed his legs.

He wrestled and twisted till he was free of the tape. Needing to stretch, he stood quickly, but vertigo overcame him, forcing him back into the recliner.

“You all right?” she asked.

“Um, yeah, just dizzy,” he answered, his head now in his hands.

“Anyway, I’ve upheld my end of the bargain. I’ll go back to gathering what I need.”

“Wait, hold on a minute,” he said. With many of his initial fears placated, he wanted to know who this person was. He hadn’t seen another person in six months, and having another person to talk to was valuable to him. In the back of his mind he was worried she’d take a lot of his food, but after what had just happened, he didn’t want to fight over it.

She stopped herself and waited for his comment.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Tess.”

“I’m Devin.”

“Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, I’ll go back to work.”

“Where are you from?”

Tess ignored his last question and went to work in the kitchen, stuffing cans of food into her backpack.

He stood carefully and balanced himself. Before stepping away, he looked at Brando, who hadn’t for a second taken his eyes off of him.

“This place is a gold mine,” she said happily.

“Yeah, their pantry wasn’t lacking, that’s for sure,” Devin answered as he slowly walked past Brando and entered the kitchen.

“I’m guessing you just arrived yourself?”

“No, I’ve been here for almost six months,” he said as he pulled a small chair out from the kitchen table and sat down.

She stopped what she was doing and turned around. “You mean to tell me you’ve been here that long and there’s still this much food left?”

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

“That explains the fascination with your stupid mask.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means gas masks, et cetera are worthless against The Death, and anyone who has spent more than a minute out there would know that.”

“The Death?”

“You know the virus that has killed ninety percent of everything alive on the planet.”

“Never heard it called that.”

“Well, that’s what they call it,” she smugly answered.

“I arrived here not a week after the breakout, drove here from Indianapolis. Made it to Decatur, but a mob attacked me and took the car I had; I barely made it out alive. When I did, I found them upstairs, dead.”

Tess could see the emotion in the way he described his journey. She pulled out a chair at the small dinette table and sat down across from him. “Sorry about your family.”

“I am too. To be completely honest, they were second cousins, and I barely knew them, but seeing how they died did tear at my heart.”

“Maybe they were the smart ones. If I wasn’t so afraid of death, I’d kill myself too.”

“So, Tess, what brings you here?”

“That’s a long story, and one I’d rather not relive.”

“Can you tell me what’s going on at least, some news? Is the government getting things back on line? Any vaccines in the works?”

“I can answer those easily. It’s a total shit show out there. The government, or what’s left of it, is bunkered down around the country; some Immuners have been herded into camps; and as far as a vaccine, don’t count on it.”

“You know something, you aren’t any help. I don’t understand what you’re talking about at all.”

“So I was out in the barn scavenging around, and it looks like you’ve been living out there. Why’s that?”

Devin motioned with his eyes to the second floor.

“Because they’re dead? Why didn’t you just bury them?”

“When I first came here, the smell of rotting flesh overcame me, and I couldn’t bring myself to come back inside…”

Tess just looked at him, surprised by his inability to do what seemed so simple to her.

“What? Why are you looking at me that way?” Devin asked.

“You consider them family in some regard but couldn’t bring yourself to bury them? You couldn’t give them the respect they deserved as your family?”

“I…ah…I…”

“Never mind,” she snapped at him and stood up from the table.

“Don’t judge me.”

She turned around and said, “Yes, I will judge you. You might have survived this long, but you should know that you only did so because you’re lucky. So many people have died, the world is practically dead. The few of us that are left act like fucking animals. You had a chance to show some humanity by burying your family, and your selfish needs won out. Just once, I want to find one Immuner who has their humanity intact.”

She finished her diatribe and turned away from him. As she stuffed more canned items into her pack, he shifted through the many responses that had come to mind.

After a few awkward moments of silence had passed, he said, “I do feel bad about not burying them. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about it. I just didn’t want to get sick. I don’t know exactly why Tom killed his family and himself. I didn’t know if they had contracted the virus and he just decided that they should all go out quickly. I know it’s a bad excuse, but I didn’t want to get sick.”