Rise of the Prepper: A Story of the Coming Collapse (3 page)

              On the drive back from town, he’d been trying to contact someone—anyone—with his two-way radio and his phone but both were useless. He couldn’t get a hold of the local station in Boone nor any of the stations in any of the other towns around. He couldn’t get someone from the Training Center either because his phone didn’t have any service.

              Seth rubbed his face, thinking. Getting an idea, he went out back and headed to the small shed he built to house his generator. He fired up the generator and went back inside the cabin. There was a ladder near the back of the cabin that led to a small upstairs loft where he had his radio equipment set up.

              He turned on the radio transmitter and tuned into the 20-meter band used during emergencies. All he could hear was static. “Tsk.”

              “Hey, is anyone there? This is KB4VXP. I repeat, this is KB4VXP—over.” He said into the radio. No answer. He tried a second time. After his second attempt, a distinct voice broke through the static.

              “H—…lo? Hello? Is someone there?” A woman’s voice called from the other line.

             
Finally,
thought Seth. “Hey. This is KB4VXP. What’s your situation?”

              “Oh! Thank God! I finally reached someone. Please,” The voice said, clearly distressed. “Please help us. My son and I are the only ones left here and—”

              “Whoa, wait. Slow down.” Seth said. “What happened? Who’s with you? Who are you?”

              “Sorry. I—I just…” The woman tried to compose herself. “My name is Jamie Ewen and I live in Ukiah in California. I’m with my son and we’re the only ones left alive here.”

              “What do you mean you’re the only ones alive there? What happened?”

              “Everyone died here. They said it was because of some virus called Superpox-99. Please help us. My son is really terrified and I don’t know what to do.” Jamie cried. “I’ve been trying to reach someone all this time but I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.”

              “Okay, okay. Calm down.” Seth said. “Here’s what I need you to do. Can you drive?”

              “Yes.”

              “Okay. I need you to check your TV if it still works. Check if there’s any news for an evacuation in your area. If there isn’t any, I need you to pack everything you can. Some clothes, medicines, the works. Get your son and drive out of town and find a police station, hospital or shelter where you can ask for help. You got that?”

              “Y-Yes, I got it.”

              “Good. Don’t waste any more time. Get going. Check the radio when you can.”

              “T-Thank you so much.”

              “You’re welcome.”

              Seth dropped the line and continued searching for other signals. What Jaime said played back in his mind. Some virus killed a whole town of people? What the hell was going on? There was nothing about it on the news or the internet.

              A couple of minutes passed before Seth got hold of another line.

              “This is WA4RTF. Anyone there?” A man’s voice said.

              “Hey. This is KB4VXP. My name’s Seth. What’s your situation?” Seth said.

              “Hey, Seth. Name’s Robert. I’m from Gloucester County. Where are you at?”

              “I’m stuck out here in my cabin in the mountains. I went to my favorite coffee shop this morning in Boone only to find out that it had become a ghost town.”

              “Damn. Sorry, you didn’t get your coffee.”

              Seth chuckled. “Nah, I’m fine. How’s your situation over there in Gloucester?”

              “Pretty bad.” Robert sighed on the other line. “The virus had spread around here too. A lot of people are dead.”

              “
Shit
. What the hell is this virus? A woman I just got in contact with a while ago said the same thing. Said that everyone in her town’s dead except her and her son because of it.”

              “Yeah. Superpox-99. It’s a really powerful virus. Highly contagious and it’s airborne so it spreads easily.”

              “Is it a new virus or something? How can it be cured?”

              “We can’t. Not yet anyway. It’s a completely unknown virus. The CDC is still working on a cure for it. Best we can do for now is to get some antiviral drugs to treat its symptoms.”

              Seth kicked his chair in frustration. There was a dangerous virus spreading around killing people and there was no
fucking
cure for it. “What the hell is the government doing? Shit. I live in the mountains. I didn’t know anything about this.” Seth combed his fingers roughly through his hair in agitation.

              “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It came like lightning. No one was prepared for it.”

              “I just… When I went to work earlier this week, everything was fine. Nobody seemed like they were sick.”

              “The symptoms are really mild. A person infected would think they just had the typical flu.”

              Now that Seth thought about it, there were indeed quite a few people who were absent at work. He just chalked it up to the weather changing, making people sick. He didn’t think they were infected by a killer virus.

              “Anyway, the government couldn’t keep a tight leash on things. They let prisoners in minimum security out to keep them from getting infected. The guys in maximum security, however, escaped and now it’s very dangerous to go outside.”

              Seth sighed heavily. “Thanks, Robert. Hey, if it’s all right with you, let’s talk some more next time. You seem to know a lot about the current situation and this Superpox-99.”

              “Sure. I need someone to team up with anyway. Most of the people here are dead. I need to get away and go somewhere safe.”

              “Right. I’ll get in touch with you again two days.”

              “Copy that.”

              Seth dropped the line and turned off the radio. He sat in his chair and rubbed his palms over his face, dragging them up to his scalp to comb through his hair. He looked at the setting sun as he organized what he learned.

              This Superpox-99 was a complete mystery. Nobody knows how it got out and started spreading or where it came from. The only thing known about it was that it’s deadly, fast-acting and airborne. It had probably spread throughout the entire country already.

              He thought about his family. He was worried about the safety of his mother and sister who were currently living in Upstate New York. At least the government let the prisoners out. His father might still have a shot at survival. At least, he wouldn’t have died in a prison surrounded by bars.

              Seth felt anxious and worried for his family and he wanted badly to find them and keep them safe but he also had a responsibility to check what’s left of the Marshal Service. The Marshals needed men like him now more than ever.

              His mind made up, Seth got up from his chair and climbed back down the ladder. The next morning, he got all his guns, ammo, and other weapons out, put them in a bag and loaded them onto the truck. He packed some necessities and a few clothes and locked the cabin.

              Seth took one last look at the cabin as he drove away. An image of him together with his family when he was younger flashed in his mind.
Ah, those were the good days.
 

Chapter Six: Prison Break

              Amelia Dale stared at the ceiling of her cell. The light was on in the hallway but it was weak and her cell was dim. She could just barely tell apart the cracks on the wall from the cobwebs stuck to the corners of the ceiling in the darkness. She tried to close her eyes and block the agony and despair coming from her neighbors.

              It had been two days since a guard came through the prison ward. The prisoners including her hadn’t eaten or drank anything during those two long days. Her stomach grumbled painfully as if to remind her of that fact.

              She twisted to her side, facing the bars of her cell. In those two days, even the electricity had gone off, leaving only the generator running. In a few more days, even that will stop too. And then, what?
And then, I’ll die. I’ll rot here in this jail cell together with the other prisoners. Our rotting flesh will stink and worms will eat us. The end.

              After two days of starving in the darkness, Amelia had learned to not care anymore. She’d didn’t care whether she lived or died, whether there was any hope left in this godforsaken world.

              At first, she had hope. When some big shot politicians talked about letting the minimum security prisoners go to make it easier to take care of those left, she thought she finally had a chance to get out of jail. But the entire plan went to shit at Talladega real quick.

              Some small-time prisoners did get out but so did the really dangerous ones too. That’s when everything went to hell. Because they couldn’t control things anymore, the guards and everyone else bailed out. After the prison break, security at Talladega heightened. Guards patrolled the prison wards around the clock. And then suddenly, Amelia didn’t see them pass by through the bars of her cell anymore. Everything stopped. The patrols, the food, the water, the electricity. Everyone was gone and the remaining prisoners were left alone there to die.

              Amelia could feel it again. A thought was creeping in through a corner of her mind, a thought that brought with it a hope so fleeting it was like fragile glass.
I wish someone would set me free.

              She chuckled at her stupidity. Prince Charming didn’t exist. No one would set her free from this goddamn hellhole. She would die there and that’s that.

              Shaking the remorseful thoughts from her head, Amelia decided it would be better for her to get some sleep. As she closed her eyes, she heard muffled sounds in the hallway. Her eyebrows furrowed, she listened closer to the sound. Footsteps. Uneven, as if whoever was out there was dragging his feet. She could hear panting too—short pained intakes of air.

              Amelia sat up. The footsteps painstakingly got closer until they stopped right in front of her cell. Amelia recognized the man who stood before her. It was one of her students back when she taught Kenpo Karate as well her close friend, William Rainn.

              Since they were in different parts of the prison ward, Amelia seldom saw William but she’d heard some stuff about him. She heard how he used the skills he’d learned from her to put unruly inmates in their place. Because of that, the guards liked him and were a bit easier on him. They gave William some special perks now and again. He was known around the prison as the guy you didn’t want to mess with.

              The William standing outside her cell did not look so tough. He was covered in blood and his eyes were swollen. His clothes were soaked through with sweat and he stank. Amelia walked over to him.

              “What happened to you?” She asked, her voice full of worry as her eyes ran over his bloodied face.

              “…No… Good…” He mumbled.

              “What?” Amelia asked. She noticed he was fumbling with something. It was a large ring of keys. “How did you…?”

              William spent a few seconds looking for the right key. When he found it, he raised the key for Amelia to see. “This… is just for you. Promise me… not to let the others here out.”

              Amelia stared at the key wide-eyed. She was so stunned at seeing it that she didn’t hear what William said at first. When she got over her surprise, she turned to him. “What do you mean not let them out? Are you telling me we should leave them to die here?”

              “Promise… me.” He grunted.

              “William.” She started.

              “Only you. You, I can trust. You’re a… good person. The others here are… not.”

              “William!” Amelia said but William was no longer listening to her. He opened the door to her cell.

              “Let’s go.” He said.

              Amelia stepped out of the cell. The ward buzzed with noise. It seemed that the other prisoners had started to notice what was happening. She heard a voice from somewhere down the hallway pleading to be let out. The prisoner in the cell beside hers begged, “Please don’t let us die here.”

              Amelia’s heart was torn. She wanted to help them and William could tell. Before she could do something stupid like taking the ring of keys from him and opening the other cells, he grabbed her arm and bodily dragged her towards the exit using what little strength he had left.

              Amelia resisted. “We can’t leave them here.” She said.

              “I know you want to help them—” William said.

              “They’re gonna die here if we don’t help them.”

              “—but you know as well as I do that they can’t get out of here. They’re too dangerous.”

              Amelia didn’t know what to say to that. She was being stubborn, she knew. She knew better than anyone how dangerous it would be to let the prisoners in her ward out and yet she wanted to.

William saw his former teacher struggling with her moral dilemma. He sighed. “If it’s any consolation to you, I let all the non-aggressive prisoners from the lower ward out yesterday.”

              Amelia looked at him and William couldn’t read her expression. She only nodded at him and wordlessly headed for the exit ignoring the screams and cries behind her. William followed her out.

              Amelia and William ran out of the prison and passed through the courtyard. Amelia looked over at William who was badly worn out. He was practically leaving a trail of blood behind him.

“How are you feeling?” She asked.

William grinned. “Never better.” At Amelia’s frown, he stopped smiling. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

Amelia refrained from telling him the fact that he’s not fine and that he’s probably slowly dying from blood loss as they spoke. She knew that it wasn’t the time to be worrying about anything however. They needed to get out of there first. The rest will come later.