Influenza: Viral Virulence (11 page)

Instead of retracing his path back to the apartment, he turned and made his way toward campus. Thankful that he had walked to his classes on many occasions, he knew the way, even in the dead of night. He continued to move slowly, silently, and with as much caution as he could. He tried to melt into the darkness and remain unobserved. The pack was heavy on his back, but the contents were well worth the additional weight. The antibiotics might, as well, be worth their weight in gold. He hoped he’d never have to use them himself and that instead, he could distribute them to people in need.

Like large, looming monoliths in the night, the university’s buildings rose in the distance. Standing tall and ominous, the once brightly lit buildings full of students now contained only empty darkness. They reminded him of oversized tombstones. Michael hugged the shadows along the pristinely manicured hedges running around the old brick structures.

The campus was very quiet and still. The wind rustled through the tree leaves as Michael continued on his way to the base of the library building. The days of studying for his Applied Therapeutics test seemed like such a long time ago. It was a different world back then, and now these new, dark days enveloped the land.

He saw flashes from his left before he heard anything. Rows of student dormitory buildings lined the left side of the campus across a dark field. The flashes came from the second building on his left. One of the darkened windows on the first floor lit up three times in rapid succession, followed by the report of pistol fire.

At the first flash of gunfire, Michael sprang into action and ran to the nearest tree. It was a thick, sturdy oak tree. Pressing his body tightly against the tree trunk, he tried his best to melt into the tree. The rough bark dug into his back as he peered around it. He looked back toward the dark dormitory. There were no further flashes of light or sound. All was quiet and dark again. But those black, soulless windows stared down at him like openings to graves. Anyone could be behind those openings, just waiting for him to break cover. He knew he would eventually have to move on. He couldn’t stay hidden behind the tree forever.

As his body remained flattened against the tree, part of him wanted to draw his shotgun and go help whoever remained in the student dormitory. Someone could still be alive, and others could need help. Part of him said there was nothing he could do. Maybe there was no one left alive, and only bad people were hiding there, waiting for him. Or maybe there was an overwhelming number of desperate people with guns that would be more than happy to relieve him of his provisions…and his life. Then, it dawned on him that maybe someone was actually shooting at
him
from one of the rooms and had just missed him.

And then there was the fact that Lorie was trapped in the large, empty sorority house all by herself. No matter how much of him wanted to go into the student dormitories to see if he could help, the thought of risking his life and, ultimately, Lorie’s life, drove him onward. Ducking back down, Michael ran half-crouched across the college lawn toward the sorority house. Even though the university was pitch-dark, someone could easily pick out his silhouette racing across the open field. He tried to keep his body low enough to the ground to remain unobserved. Hopefully, the overgrown grass would give him a little cover.

His ears picked up a sudden noise from somewhere behind him. Instantly, he half dove, half rolled into a prone position on the ground. Holding his breath for as long as he could, he listened intently. The seconds ticked by, but he didn’t hear or see anything. It could be his imagination playing tricks on him, or it could be just a dead branch that had decided to fall at that particular moment.

Unable to hold his breath any longer, he exhaled the diminishing oxygen that he was holding in his lungs and inhaled gratefully. But what entered his nose and lungs made him gag. A putrid, coppery smell engulfed his senses and made his eyes water. It smelled worse than raw sewage. Trying to force his stomach contents back where they belonged, Michael scanned the grassy field around him with trepidation. A few yards behind him and a little to the right was a form lying in the grass; something that didn’t belong there.

It was just a little blacker than the grass around it and was the source of the nauseating stench. Michael whipped his head around when he recognized a distinctly human shape to it. Adrenaline raced through his veins as he jumped up, not caring any longer if anyone saw him or not. Thinking about nothing except needing to put distance between himself and the decaying body, he ran as fast as he could with the heavy pack bouncing against his back.

After what seemed an eternity, he finally arrived, huffing and puffing, at the sorority house and dove into the thick grass bordering the porch. Thankfully, no one had seen him, and no one seemed to be following him. Still breathing heavily from his sprint across the lawn, he chided himself for panicking. He couldn’t allow himself to succumb to basic emotions like that. In the future, it just might get him killed.

After resting below the porch for a few minutes, Michael peered up at the three-story house before him. It was massive. He had seen it many times before but had never set foot inside. He knew that it was a beautiful, white Victorian structure with handsomely painted siding, trim, and porch. But in the dark of the night, he could see neither the color nor the handcrafted details that accompanied the old house. In fact, right now it looked like one of those creepy haunted houses in horror movies.

Michael was glad that absolutely no light could be seen coming from the house. It looked completely abandoned. Lorie had listened and heeded his advice. The best defense for her was to let other people believe that the house was empty.

He took a few more minutes in his hiding place under the porch overhang, waiting and listening. Then, quietly climbing up the porch steps, Michael took a moment to marvel that these wooden steps didn’t make any sound, in contrast to his own squeaky apartment steps. At the top, instead of proceeding to the front door, he made his way around the porch to the little-used side door. He paused there and then rapped out the prearranged sequence of knocks on the wood frame.

After a few moments, the door opened a crack, and Lorie peered out. As her eyes met his, he refrained from a sudden impulse to hug and kiss her. Instead, he winked and whispered to her with a grin, “I bet you’ve never been picked up for a date like this.”

“You’d win your bet,” Lorie said softly. He could tell by the look on her face that she was extremely relieved to see him.

At that moment, Michael realized how much he had missed her. Even though they had kept in contact by phone every day, he was amazed at how happy he was to see her. “Are you ready?” he asked.

“All ready. Just like you said,” she replied. “It took you long enough to get here. It seemed like I was waiting here for weeks.”

“You
have
been waiting here for weeks.” He glanced down at her jeans. She had strapped a large carving knife to her belt within easy reach of her right hand.
Nice
, he thought to himself.

Following his gaze, she said, “A girl needs a little protection.” She looked back toward the university campus and said solemnly, “We’d better go. Things are getting really bad tonight. I’ve heard a lot of disturbing noises coming from over there.” She indicated the campus buildings. “It’s only a matter of time before someone’s curiosity about this house brings them this way.”

“Where is your stuff?”

“Here,” she said, opening the side door a little wider. She wheeled out two large rolling suitcases and strapped a large pack on her back.

Michael eyed the suitcases and smartly refrained from saying anything. He wished he had his truck now. Pulling one suitcase behind her, Lorie indicated that he could take the other one. He grabbed the handle and pulled. Wow, it was heavy! “What do you have in here?”

“You told me to just bring the necessities,” she replied. “So, I only packed one hairdryer and curling iron and left the other hairdryer behind.”

“You are joking with me, right?” he asked.

“Hey, I might be blond, but I’m not stupid,” she said, looking back at him. “If the electricity was more reliable, I might have
thought
about bringing my hairdryer. Now don’t you start messing with me. I have knives.” In the faint starlight, he saw her smile at him.

Even on rollers, the suitcases were difficult to manage, and the wheels made a loud sound as they rolled along the concrete. They were blessed that the wind had picked up, and the rustling of the tree leaves above their heads helped cover up the noise of the luggage wheels.

Both Michael and Lorie noticed a faint light coming from the direction of the campus dormitories. Squinting, they saw flames licking the window in one of the rooms. It was in the same dorm where the gunshots had come from. They mutually decided not to go the same way that Michael had come. They took the longer path bordering the street that circled the outskirts of the university. It was twice the distance, but after what both of them had seen and heard tonight, they determined it was the safest route to take.

The weight of the suitcases and the attempt to muffle the horrible rolling noise made progress very slow. They stopped multiple times to scan the way ahead for any signs of life. They also kept watching the sidewalk behind for anyone following them. When they finally arrived at the front of the university near Main Street, they stopped. Crouching behind the hedge that Michael had hidden behind earlier, Lorie was the first to see movement coming from their left.

Watching intently, Michael followed Lorie’s finger. Soon, emerging from the shadows of the night was a lone dog wandering down the deserted street. Michael let out a sigh of relief, but they both remained hidden behind the hedge as the animal passed them by. The dog must have smelled them there and glanced in their direction before continuing to trot down the street. They waited until he was almost out of sight before crossing the street and continuing on their way. They didn’t talk much, and when they did, they whispered. All the time they tried to roll the suitcases as silently as possible.

They finally made it safely back. Arriving at the squeaky steps of his apartment, Michael was happy to see that no light escaped the windows. To an unsuspecting eye, their apartment was abandoned. Trying unsuccessfully to quietly climb the creaking steps of the porch, Michael heaved the suitcases up after him. He and Lorie crossed the porch to the door, where Michael again used the prearranged “supersecret” knock. After a few minutes, Brian opened the door, looking ridiculous and holding a tennis racket in his hand like a club. It had taken him a while to remove the obstacle blocking the door and extinguish the lights.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” he said softly, grinning at them.

“Hey!” Lorie protested.

“I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about him,” Brian said, pointing at Michael.

“Good thing,” Michael said to Brian. “Have you seen the size of those knives she has?” If he didn’t know better, Michael would have thought that Brian’s tennis racket was an absurd weapon. But, having been previously hit by accident with a racket while playing matches against Scott, he knew it could easily hurt people or knock them out.

Brian ushered them in quickly and then closed and blocked the door behind them.

Seeing Michael, Sandy jumped up on him and proceeded to do a little dance around his feet.

“And who might this happy ball of fur be?” Lorie asked, reaching down to pet her.

“This is Sandy,” Michael said. “And Sandy, this is Miss Lorie.”

Chapter 13

Michael, Brian, and
Scott headed out first thing in the morning. Michael left Sandy with Lorie, who was to lock and barricade the door and not open it for anyone else. She had the nail club and knife-spear that they had fabricated the night before with duct tape and a few miscellaneous items they found around the apartment. Michael tried to leave the shotgun with her, but she insisted that they would need it more than she would. When they left, Michael felt a little tug of regret. He consoled himself with the knowledge that she was actually safer barricaded in their apartment than in her sorority house or out with them.

The chill of the night started to lift as the sun rose and warmed the air. Avoiding the downtown area and major streets, they took lesser-traveled roads that headed out of town. Seeing no one else around, they took a few shortcuts on gravel and dirt roads that would lead them more directly to their destination. It would have been safer for them to travel at night, but since they were not sure of the way, they had reluctantly decided to head out at first light.

Mostly, they walked three abreast. All was quiet except for the crunch of gravel under their shoes and the birds singing in the trees beside the roads. If not for the previous day’s events, it would have seemed like a normal, humdrum day, and they were just out for a walk with their school book bags. The only piece of evidence that would shatter this reality was the stock of Michael’s shotgun sticking up over the back of his right shoulder.

As they walked, they talked. But it wasn’t the normal, lighthearted, jovial chatting that they had always shared in the past.

“You should have left for home days ago,” Michael said to both Brian and Scott. “It would have been safer.”

“Just like the marines have a motto of leaving no one behind, us Pennsylvania boys don’t leave any of our friends in dire straits,” Brian said.

“It may have been safer, or may not have been. Who knows what’s waiting for us,” Scott replied back. “And we don’t have the supplies for an extended trip.”

Michael looked at him. “Supplies? It’s only a three- or four-hour ride.”

“A three- or four-hour ride under ‘normal’ circumstances,” Brian said. “But who knows what kind of road conditions we would run into? There are probably traffic jams in the cities and stalled cars along the freeways. They might even have roadblocks up. We don’t know how long it would take.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Michael said. He really hadn’t thought that far ahead. He was just trying to survive one day at a time. That was all his mind could handle right now. “What about gas? If the grid is out all over the state, gas stations won’t be able to pump gas.”

“We thought of that too,” Scott said. “When you were on your little trip to the pharmacy and to rescue Lorie last night, Brian and I went out to the gas station on SR 101.”

“What?” Michael said, surprised. “You went out without any protection? You could have at least waited for me to get back, and we could have all gone out together.”

Brian chimed in. “You may have a gun. But we have a two thousand pound weapon that doesn’t even need reloading. It’s called a car. If anyone had gotten in our way last night, we would have run them over before they had time to shoot us.” He continued, “We went away from town. You know the gas station on SR 101 hardly gets any traffic, even in normal times.”

“Exactly,” Scott said. “And the electricity was still on long enough that the pumps were working. Thank goodness the pumps still accepted credit cards, because the station was abandoned. If the power had been completely out like it is now, I have absolutely no idea what we would have done.”

Brian chuckled. It was the first time in days that any of them had found anything humorous. “It took us a while to fill up since the power kept going off and on, and we had to rerun the credit card each time. In normal times, I’m sure the credit-card company would have frozen our account seeing four to five charges within just an hour.”

“But these days are not normal times,” Michael said.

“Right,” Scott said. “The station itself had already been broken into, and all of the food and beer—no surprise there—had been stolen. But Brian did manage to find a few empty gas cans in the back storage room, and we filled those up as well.”

“What are you going to do once you get home?” Michael asked.

Brian was the first to reply. “Of course, we’ll check on our families and friends. See if they’re okay and if they haven’t gotten sick…” His voice faltered at that point.

Scott picked it up. “Then we’ll work on fortifying our homes and gathering supplies. That’s all we can plan on at the moment. There are so many unknown variables that it seems useless to make any long-term plans. We haven’t had the chance to talk to our families in days, so we’ll first see if everyone’s okay and then take one step at a time.”

“Yeah, I have a hard time planning beyond tomorrow also,” Michael said.

“And after this garbage is over with and things are back to normal, we’ll all come back here to finish up school, drink, and share adventure stories,” Brian said enthusiastically.

“Yes, we will,” Michael replied. He liked that Brian could see the bright side of things. His glass was always half full. Michael didn’t care whether his own glass was half full or half empty. He was just happy that he had water in his glass. But he was pretty sure things would never get back to normal. They’d be very lucky if they all survived the long journey home. Right now, he’d be happy just to survive today’s journey.

One glance from Scott told Michael that Scott felt just as unsure about the future as he did.

Michael caught the smell of a nearby honeysuckle bush. He inhaled deeply, relishing the lemony, sweet aroma. The sun was rising high in the cloudless sky. It was still midmorning, and Michael could tell it would be a warm day.

They walked in silence for a time until Brian called out a warning. “Someone up ahead.”

Sure enough, they had just followed a bend in the gravel road, and ahead in the distance was a lone figure walking the same road directly toward them.

“It’s just one person,” Scott said.

“One person can still be dangerous,” Michael warned. “Especially if he’s armed.”

“He doesn’t look very dangerous,” Brian observed.

Scott squinted in the late-morning sunlight. He shielded his eyes with his right hand. “Looks like a young kid. He has a backpack like ours. He’s too busy eating something and hasn’t even noticed us. Is he someone from our school?” Scott obviously had better eyesight than either Brian or Michael.

As they drew closer, Michael could see the kid better. Like Brian said, he didn’t appear to be a threat. The kid was walking toward them listening to recorded music, oblivious to the world around him.
Wasteful use of good batteries
, Michael thought. It seemed as if the kid was too preoccupied chewing on a jerky strip to even notice them.

The kid looked up from his food and finally noticed the trio coming toward him. Startled, he stopped so quickly that he almost tripped over his own shoes. His face went pale. Meekly, he lifted a hand in greeting and pulled the earpieces out.

“Hi,” Brian said, lifting his hand in response. “Don’t worry; we’re harmless. Where did you grab that stuff?” he asked, indicating the jerky strip.

The kid nervously pointed back the way he came. “I found them at the gas station. It’s about a mile up this road where it meets a larger paved road. State Route 107, I think.”

In the meantime, Michael and his friends kept walking toward the kid, closing the distance between them. Michael watched for sudden movements or for anything threatening. Not seeing any, he asked, “What’s your name?”

“Richard,” the kid replied.

“I’m Michael.” He pointed to Brian and Scott. “The big guy is Brian, and the little, wimpy guy is Scott.”

“Hey!” Scott protested.

“I’m kidding,” Michael said. Then he asked Richard, “You go to the university back there?” He pointed back the way they had come.

“Yeah, I’m a freshman.”

It was just as they had guessed.

“What’s your major?” Scott asked, trying to relax the kid.

“I’m not one hundred percent sure yet. I just started. I was thinking of getting a degree in science, maybe in physics.”

“About that gas station…” Brian broke in.

Richard looked back over his shoulder. “I was hungry and remembered the station. But it was pretty well cleaned out by the time I got there. I didn’t think I was going to find anything. Then I went around back and found some boxes they hadn’t brought into the store yet. I guess no one had thought to go look out back. And there was a box full of beef jerky! I dumped it all in my pack.” He pulled some jerky packages out and offered the food to them. “Here, you want some?”

“Nah,” Michael said. “We’re doing okay. We have enough food for a while. Anyway, you found it, so you get to keep it.”

“Oh, okay.” Richard smiled.

“You should be more careful, though,” Scott added. “There are a lot of hungry people around, and they may not be as nice as we are.”

Richard’s smile faded. “You’re right. I’ve seen enough bad things happen on campus that I’m not sure I want to go back.”

“Why are you going back? Why don’t you go home?” Brian asked.

“I don’t have a car,” he answered. “I’ve just holed up in my dormitory room, waiting for my parents to come pick me up. They said they’d come as soon as they got rid of their colds. They didn’t want to get me sick and all…” His voice trailed off.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, but we’d better get going,” Scott said, looking at both Brian and Michael. “We got a long hike ahead of us.” Then he added, “But remember to be more careful. Always know what’s going on around you. You almost tripped over us before you noticed we were here. And at least hide your food. Don’t give them a reason to take you out.”

“Do you want to come with us?” Brian asked suddenly.

Michael started at Brian’s unexpected invitation but remained silent.

“No,” Richard replied. “I’ve got to get back and wait for my parents. They may have come while I was away and are waiting for me right now. I knew I shouldn’t have left, but I was getting so hungry…”

“Okay,” Brian said. “Good luck…with everything.”

“Thanks,” Richard said, and then after they said good-bye, he continued walking back toward the university.

They continued on their way also. After they had traveled a certain distance and he knew Richard was out of earshot, Scott turned to Brian. “What were you thinking, inviting him to come with us?”

“Why?” Brian sounded taken aback. “He’s just a little freshman, an innocent kid.”

“We can’t help everybody,” Scott said. “We’re barely getting along by ourselves.”

“We’re actually doing okay for now,” Michael said in Brian’s defense. “But Scott is right. I already put an additional burden on us by bringing Lorie and a dog to the apartment.”

“We’re fine with that,” Scott said. “We already knew Lorie. And Sandy is a cute dog. But we can’t take care of
everybody
we run across.”

“And that means we can’t be civil?” Brian shot back. “With everything that’s happened in the past few days, are we in danger of losing our humanity?”

“I’m just saying that you can’t go around inviting everybody into our group,” Scott said.

Michael broke in. “Brian, I have to agree with Scott. We’re just trying to figure all this out. At the very least, before we make any major decisions, like adding more people to our group, we need to discuss it among ourselves and come to an agreement. Besides, although Richard seemed resourceful, he’s still just a kid. I’m surprised he’s survived this long by himself. But what he said about expecting his parents to show up at any moment—that shows that he’s…”

Suddenly and without warning, shots came from behind them. Bang! Bang!

Startled, all three of them spun around. Michael yanked the shotgun out from its resting place on his back. Looking down the dusty, gravel road they had just traveled, they saw no one. They couldn’t see around the bend in the road. It was obscured by bushes and trees.

“What the…!” Brian exclaimed.

“Quick! Down there!” Michael said, pointing at the edge of the road. Instinct told him that something very dangerous was bearing down on them, and it was going to appear from the way they had come, around the bend in the road. The ground sloped down the side of the gravel road, and there were bushes to hide behind. It wasn’t the best hiding place, but it would do.

Leading the way, Michael scrambled down the side and hid behind a large bush. Brian was right behind him, followed by Scott. All three of them hid behind the bush. Trying to peer between the branches and leaves, Michael couldn’t see the road.
Good
, he thought,
if I can’t see through, then neither can anyone see us.
He silently slid a shell into the breech of the shotgun.

He glanced over at Brian, hiding to his left, and then at Scott, who was crouched down on his right. Scott looked at Michael’s shotgun and nodded. Michael didn’t know exactly what the nod meant, but he thought Scott was getting some reassurance from the fact that they were not completely defenseless. Michael wished they had more protection. One gun wasn’t the best. But it was better than having nothing.

They waited, trying not to move or breathe. Michael strained his ears, but heard nothing. No shouts. No more shots. Nothing. He was just about to move from behind the cover of the bushes when he heard the unmistakable sound of gravel being crunched. It was a continuous sound, not the intermittent sound that footsteps would make. On the other hand, it wasn’t the loud sound he would expect a car to make. Additionally, he didn’t hear the roar of an engine.

The sound was approaching from the way they had come…the direction that Richard had just walked. It was getting louder, quickly. Michael held his breath as it came near. Whoever it was, they were just now passing by their little hiding place. Then, he heard the unmistakable clicking that only a bike chain could make. Whoever had just probably shot Richard was passing them on a bicycle.