Authors: Jacqueline Druga
“And them wanting to move some of the people here. Just a few. Some elderly,” Cade said.
“Do you think Lev’s theory is right about the insects and mice carrying it?”
“Yeah, I do. If you get to talk to Bobby, ask him.”
“Bobby,” I sighed out. “I have tried to call him. No answer.”
“He’ll be in touch.”
“You have to be impressed that for a non medical guy, Lev is thinking pretty smart.”
“He is smart. The guy knows like four or five languages. And he was at some outbreaks so he has some knowledge.” Cade finished his food and set the plate down. “I’m curious though. What happened with you two? There was a lot of tension. Did you date?”
“Me and Lev? No.” I shook my head.
“You don’t need to tell me.”
“It’s fine. We were inseparable best friends. He came to America when he was ten. Didn’t speak a lick of English. Not a word. My father made me go to Big Bear and play with him or he came here to the cabin. Back then, we weren’t just camp neighbors, we lived four streets apart. When you’re ten, when you’re playing games, the language barrier breaks down. He started leaning though. He was awkward, always. A really big kid.”
“He’s big now.”
“No, I mean, big. Overweight. The kids were mean, they used to make fun of him for his weight and his name. When we were in our early teens they switched the words to the Elton John song. His full name is Levon. So they used to sing,
His name is Levon and he’ll be a fat ass
. Mean shit.”
“I’m gonna bet you defended him.”
“Oh tooth and nail,” I said. “He was my buddy. We went to our first dance together and he could dance, too.” I smiled. “I kept reminding him that the real words to the song were,
He Shall be Levon, He shall be a good man
.”
“So what happened?”
“Puberty passed. He lost weight, got really good looking.”
“He stopped hanging out with you, huh?” Cade asked.
“No. He got mad because everyone wanted to be his friend. And he started getting mad at me because he was so cute, all the popular girls wanted to be my friend because I was friends with Lev. He hated that because he said I wasn’t that shallow.”
“Kind of seems like a lame reason for a falling out.”
“That isn’t it. He kept telling me the girls were trouble. I didn’t listen. I just wanted them as friends. One night, he told on me.” I lifted my beer and stared at it. “It was a Friday night. We were drinking. We drank a lot on weekends when I was a teen, me and the girls. Lev didn’t drink back then. He hated that I drank. Well …. One Friday. I was hammered. Lev wouldn’t let me drive. He wouldn’t let me leave. Kept blocking me. Finally, Jan, one of my friends, took the keys and said she’d drive. We got in the car and took off.”
“You wrecked,” Cade said.
“Oh, you heard that one. Huh. Yep. Jan was worse than me, only I was so drunk, I didn’t know. I bitched for five minutes about Lev, passed out in the car, and woke up when we hit a tree. I was in the backseat, my dad’s new car was totaled. Luckily, we didn’t kill anyone or ourselves. But because I was seventeen, and wanted these cool girls to like me. I said I was driving so they wouldn’t get in trouble. That lasted about thirty seconds. Lev told the truth that I wasn’t driving. Not only was I not permitted to hang out with them, they wanted nothing to do with me. No one in school wanted anything to do with a snitch. My remaining time in school was a nightmare. Katie went to Juvie over that.”
“So, when Lev hit Paul and saved you, it wasn’t the first time he saved your life,” Cade stated.
“Nope. But I blamed him for my downfall. For everything I didn’t do. When really, it was me.”
“Maybe you should tell him.”
“Nah.” I took a drink of my beer. “It’s a little late for that.”
“It’s never too late. Ever.” He clinked his glass against my bottle. “Remember that.” As he brought the glass to his lips, he paused. “What have we here?”
“What?” I asked.
He pointed at the fence then stood. “Go get your dad.”
“What’s going on?”
It was dark and hard to see, but as I focused I saw a figure approaching the fence. They moved slowly. I went into the cabin, my father was on the couch with the girls.
“What’s up, Niles?”
“Dad, can you … can you come outside?”
“Sure.” He set down the book and stood. He walked to where I stood in the doorway. “What’s going on?”
With a whispering voice I said, “Someone is coming to the gate.”
He nodded in a calm manner, told everyone he’d be right back, walked from the living room to the hall. Within a few seconds he returned with a flashlight and a rifle.
“Dad, really?”
“You never know.” At the door he told Lisa, “I’ll be back. Can you finish the story?”
He pulled the door closed behind him as we stepped on the porch. “What the hell is Cade doing?”
Cade was nearly at the fence, he stopped a few feet from it and we hurried up to him.
“Jesus.” My father said and sniffed outward.
I imagine it was the smell he referred to, because I caught a whiff of it too.
The stranger, a man gripped the fence. He appeared to try to climb but his legs kept slipping.
“Can I have that flashlight?” Cade said.
My father handed it to him.
Cade shone the light on the man.
I cocked back at the site of him. His face was pale, almost grey. The veins were like road maps on his face. He had dried blood on his mouth and chin and I swore by the way his mouth opened and closed, he was trying to talk. He watched us while he kept gripping the fence.
“Obviously, he’s infected,” my father said. “How far gone is he?”
“Well, look at his legs,” Cade lowered the beam to his legs. For a thin man his shins were thick, black and swollen and it looked as if the flesh was oozing off. “That was from blood pooling there. That’s all I need to tell me his heart isn’t beating. Looks like we got our first.”
“First?” I asked.
“First of what I’m gonna guess is many coming from the highway,” Cade said. “Go get the radio and get a hold of Big Bear. If they made it here, they’ll make it there. And they don’t have a fence like this.”
I nodded and just as I turned around to go back to the cabin, I heard the distance sound of two gunshots. Two quick shots that echoed to us. They made me stop in my tracks. There wasn’t any more gunfire and I continued on in my task to inform Big Bear of infected highway stragglers. Somehow, though, those two shots told me, they already knew.
When we first arrived, the sound of gunshots were minimal. Two from Big Bear, two from us. A minimalist competition. But with each day, the amount of shots increased.
My father didn’t waste a single shot on our fence man. The first infected straggler that made his way up our driveway, seemed to remind my father why he added the barbed wire and why we needed the spikes. Just because first fence man didn’t climb the fence, didn’t mean another wouldn’t.
Despite the decaying face my father swore he recognized him. Which led to a conversation on whether or not the brain also retained bits of memories along with the ability to move.
They didn’t come in droves, just one or two at a time. There was no fear of them. No reason to fear one or two together.
However, Big Bear was an eruption of trouble waiting to happen. The steady increase in infected baffled Lev and Barry Boswick. No matter what they did, the numbers increased. The camp of two hundred and thirty seven, used to have more healthy than ill, that number had switched and done so fast. Yet, our little camp was fine and healthy. Even Katie, who was bit, conquered the first two milestones. It wasn’t airborne but something was making it spread. We had bugs and mice as well, but we didn’t have that problem.
Despite the brilliancy behind his theory, nature was fast dispelling it.
Big Bear camp was fading.
Seven people turned within minutes of each other the day before. It was the first true batch of infected.
Lev and his father learned to layer clothing, they encouraged others to do the same, but it didn’t work. They lost two workers. Big Bear was a fast failing camp, sinking. My father tried to convince them to leave, but they couldn’t. Both Lev and his father believed it was their duty to wait it out with those who sought salvation in their campsite. A sanctuary that failed them and they couldn’t figure out why.
The idea of euthanasia was short lived. There were eight vials in that small box, each with four lethal doses. Cade had gone through seven bottles and swore he wouldn’t touch that last bottle. That was for us. Just in case.
The suggestion of possibly going for more was dismissed, obviously the infected were coming from somewhere and we didn’t need infected following us.
The new method of euthanasia was waiting until they turned. While Cade was pretty good about predicting who would turn, it wasn’t fool proof.
After a few days of silence, I finally got a hold of Bobby. He was busy in an aid station outside of Alexandria, Virginia. The CDC collapsed and he found himself helping out local doctors. He was getting closer to home, he said.
When speaking about Big Bear and the infection rate, Bobby informed me that they still had no evidence that insects or rodents were carrying it. Even though he felt it a viable explanation.
He said something that I didn’t realize would inadvertently stick with me. “Maybe, and it defies science, maybe there isn’t a reason other than there are those who will get sick and those who will not. And it will go that way until done.”
At that second I didn’t accept that.
With a population as small as Big Bear, something was causing it to move through the population. It was actually a higher than normal infection rate.
Of course, I told him about pool man.
He verbally balked at the notion that pool house man was dead.
“It isn’t even remotely possible,” he said, “that the heartbeat isn’t there. The fact that the brain is functioning means they are still alive in one way or another.”
I called bullshit. Even though he was a doctor, he was blind.
He didn’t see what I saw and in some sort of sick and twisted experiment, I went with Lev every day to document pool man’s progress, or rather digression.
Pool man had allegedly died or turned three days before I met him, so he was on his fourth day of being … dead. On day five, Lev had to switch to a waist restraint, because pool man lost his hands.
He was still going strong on day six as well. On day seven, Lev felt compelled to show me his legs.
The blood that settled in his lower limbs, the same thing I had seen on fence man, caused the breakdown of his shins and ankles. Pool man’s feet were bent to the side, he seemed to walk and move on his outer ankle bones, and the skin peeled and rolled downward like baggy socks.
“See, Nila, Seven days he is less of a threat,” Lev said. “He can barely move well. Tomorrow I will not be surprised if the feet are off.”
“Would he have lost his hands if it wasn’t for the restraints?”
“Probably not. But as long as he stands, he’ll lose those legs. There’s no blood flow, it’s rotten tissue, the more he uses those limbs, the more they’ll pop off.”
“Until eventually he’s just a head snapping at people.”
Lev shook his head. “I don’t know. We have to believe he is a representation of what we face. When he is finally no harm, we know our wait time.”
“That’s not taking into account how many people an infected, will infect. That resets the waiting clock.”
“We have to assume, right now or shortly, the bulk of those who will catch the virus without a bite are getting sick,” Lev said.
“So we can’t even start the waiting clock yet. Because most of them haven’t turned.”
“In theory. Right now we’re still hearing from camps here and there. Once they stop, I think the wait clock should start.”
“How will we know?” I asked.
“We venture out. There are enough fueled vehicles here. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
I was interested in how long it would take pool man to succumb and what would occur. Would he, like I thought, be a snapping head, or would he die?
Pool man took my mind off of things. It had been four days since Paul died, and a dying world kept me focused on healing. Keeping my daughters safe and alive was my goal. I could only do that by knowing what I had to deal with and getting stronger about it.
I was no good to them if I was too fearful to protect them.
Whether Bobby believed they were actually dead or not, I had to believe it. It was the only way to keep going and the only way I could convince myself that I could kill one if I had to.
It was getting close to retreat day. Even though Lev denied it, I felt it.
The day before he dropped off a father and his eight year old son. They had fled to the campsite to a cabin on the ground they often rented. Bill and Bill junior had one of the outer properties that was a good distance from the main camp. Bill senior, an accountant and weekend outdoor enthusiast, wouldn’t let his son near anyone.
Smart move.
When Lev suggested that maybe they come with us, Bill jumped on that. He wanted out of what he called, “Death Camp’.
It didn’t surprise me that the father son duo came; it surprised me that my father permitted it without argument. I would never have believed it. But I guess Boswick rubbed off on him, he boasted that it was the right thing to do.
My father, the sudden humanitarian. I questioned him and he simply said, he had just realized how large our fenced in property actually was.
I could have told him that. Hell, the sheer number of spiked posts we needed to reinforce the fence a hundred percent, was evidence of that. We were far from having enough.
With the extra hands, we’d get it done faster.
My daily routine was simple. Get up, wash, have coffee, mark the calendar, watch the girls do their daily art, and work on spikes.
Eventually, I’d have to teach the girls. I was pretty certain school wasn’t going back in session. Not for a long time.
Addy had drawn another flower. I realized what she was doing. She was making one for every day we were there. While Katie had a sadistic edge to her drawings, Addy drew beauty. I had just commented on the newest art on the mural when Katie called out, “Lev’s here.”
That then commenced part two of said daily routine. No sooner did I hear the sound of Lev’s truck, it was always followed by Cade coming in the cabin to grab his things. Helping out at Big Bear was his break from working like a dog for my father.
I truly believed we’d thank my father one day for the reinforced design of the fence.
“I believe it’s my day,” Lisa said with excitement. As horrid of an experience it was to take care of the sick, it was a break in the mundane day of the cabin. In fact, other than going to Big Bear, the only other excitement we had was when a straggler showed up.
Lisa removed her fresh biscuits from the wood stove, placed them on the table and tossed her oven mitts. She really didn’t do much with the sick. Basically, she took over the radio monitoring.
I told the girls that I would be back and I headed out to see Lev.
He didn’t arrive alone. Hitched to the back of his pickup truck was a decades old pop up camper. I knew when I saw it, who he brought with him.
“Set that by the well house,” my father called out to Lev. “Give them some privacy.”
Lev nodded and got back in the truck. When he pulled away that was when I saw Edi and Manny Reis. They were a senior couple, married sixty years and for as long as I could remember, they parked that pop up camper in the far back lot of Big Bear on the first of May, and stayed until the last day of August.
Every year without fail.
Like Bill and his son, they were pretty removed from the rest of the community, which made sense to me as to why Lev brought them.
Still, the couple who were very self sufficient looked saddened to be there and a little lost. They wore near matching tan shorts and button down shirts as they both held bags as big as they were.
I approached them. “Welcome.”
Edi grabbed my hands. “Thank you for having us. We do not want to be a burden. We have food and will …”
“No.” I interrupted her. “No bother at all. I’m glad you’re here. Mr. Reis…” I stepped to him and embraced him. “Welcome.”
““We’ll be quiet,” he said. “And we promise. Once this thing runs its course, we’ll be gone.”
“Again,” I said. “Not a problem. We’re glad to have you.”
Lev pulled back around with the truck and stepped out. “The camper is out back. You’re near the facilities. Earl can help you if you need it. Or Cade.” He nodded at Cade.
“Absolutely,” Cade said. “Whatever you need. As soon as I get back.”
“So why don’t you go on back.” Lev said. “It’s just around the cabin.”
Holding his bag, Manny placed a hand on his wife’s back, gave us a nod then walked toward the back.
Lev turned to Cade. “You don’t go today. Not anymore.”
“What?” Cade laughed. “It’s a joke. Why?”
“Because things are bad,” Lev said. “It’s a potentially explosive situation and I don’t want you in the community house anymore.”
“If it’s bad, all the more reason for me to go.”
Lev shook his head. “All the more reason for you not. We’re dealing with a virus. One that brings medical emergencies. Right now, in this crisis, you are our most valuable asset. I can’t take a chance of anything happening to you. I can’t. Not with children who may need you.”
“Lev, what are you going to do? These people need care.” Cade argued.
“They are beyond care. We … we’re sealing the community house.”
“What!” Cade blasted.
“You’re letting them die?” I stated. “What about the ones that are in early stages?”
“They aren’t in the community house,” Lev said. “They are in their own campers or cabins. We are going to seal the community house and just wait on the others.”
“This is absurd,” Cade said.
I turned to him. “It makes sense. I don’t want to chance you getting sick or hurt. Lev has a point.”
“Fine. Fine. I’ll go help the senior citizens and then … whittle some wood.” It could be said Cade was pouting, when he stormed off.
I understood his frustration, his skill set was medical not woodwork. He wanted to be useful. We all did.
Lisa, who had been standing there said, “I guess this means, I stay back.”
“If you want,” Lev told her. “But the radio room is safe if you want to monitor.”
“Wonderful, I’ll go tell Earl.”
“Can you tell Dad I’m going too and to keep an eye on the girls?” I asked.
Lisa agreed and went off to find my father.
“Why are you coming?” Lev asked.
“I won’t go near the community house. Just ….”
“The pool house?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I’m curious. I need to know.”
“Fine. But stay by me and we’ll go only after we load the truck with some supplies.”
“Deal.” I headed toward the truck and stopped before opening the door. “You all right?”
Lev walked up to me and placed his hand on the door jam. “No. They keep getting sick. I don’t know why. I keep thinking how we have so many people. Does it spread easily with lots of people? It’s not airborne or I’d have it. It’s driving me nuts. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong, but it keeps spreading.”