Hot Zone (11 page)

“I’m really sorry to hear about your dad. He is a nice guy.” I wondered for a moment if the present tense was appropriate. I suppose a dad is a dad is a dad, even if he went wacko and became dangerous. I took a deep breath, “Fred, there are a couple of other people who have decided to come and stay at my parents’ house across the lake. If you would like to come, you’re welcome. There would be other people there to help you with Jacob and your grandmother. And I think we should be pulling together while this continues.” I gave a self-depreciating shrug. “If Dad were here he’d be doing this, I’m sure, but until he returns I guess it’s my job.”

“I don’t get it,” Fred said. “I mean, I have what I need here, I suppose. Surely the quarantine won’t last.”

“I’m sure it won’t. And I’m sure you’ve been too busy with your two charges, but some of the people who got sick are still out there, and still violent. Do you remember Kitten?” Fred shook his head. “Everyone called her Kitten, but her real name was Abigail Smith?” He still didn’t recognize the name. “Well, she was killed yesterday. Someone came into her house and shot her and her parents, who she was staying with. It’s not the first time either. Tina was telling me that a man was running naked down the street last night throwing rocks at the windows.

Fred frowned. “How would I be safer at your house?”

I shrugged. “Mom and Dad have a security system, and, well, I suppose there’s safety in numbers.”

Fred nodded. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” He smiled suddenly. “It’s so odd. I remember you as just a little thing with great big eyes and legs like sticks, always following us around. Now here you are coming to my rescue. You certainly have grown up, Madeline.”

“Only Dick calls me Madeline, and only because I hated it. Call me Madde.”

“How is Dick?” I couldn’t tell from his voice exactly, but he didn’t seem like he really cared how Dick was but was just asking to be nice. Or maybe that’s what I just wanted to think.

“Oh, Dick is the same,” I said with a careless shrug.

“I’m surprised he isn’t here,” Fred said, watching me.

“I’m not,” I said rather flatly, and he nodded.

“If you’re sure about the invitation, then I’ll come,” he said. I made as if to rise, but he reached out and took my hand. “Thank you, Madde.”

My heart, that troublesome thing, soared a little at his touch. I struggled not to show it. “No problem.” I grinned suddenly. “It’s going to be quite the household.”

I went home after that. I wanted to tell Phil and Meri in person that I’d invited four groups of people to come and stay here. I didn’t think they’d all come, but it looked like Tina and Fred would, at least. I was a little nervous about it, since it seemed like such an irrational thing to do, and lately, being irrational caused people to watch you very closely.

I shouldn’t have worried. Phil and Meri were wonderful when I informed them. Phil nodded in her new serene way and told me she could see that I needed to do this. I didn’t really A) believe her or B) think I needed to do it, but I didn’t protest. It was hard to argue when Phil simply smiled her Mona Lisa grin that made me feel like a silly child. It didn’t matter. The important thing was that I had gathered up some people. Now all I had to do was figure out why I thought that was important. Because actually, I didn’t have a clue why I was doing this. Maybe this was my chance to go bonkers with a wide audience to witness it.

Chapter 7: House Party

As Jacob vomited up some milk on me, I wondered what the hell I thought I was doing. Fred had arrived a couple of days ago, and we were taking turns watching Jacob when Fred was busy with Granny (as she insisted we all call her. Personally, the only person I connected the word “granny” with was that old woman on the
Beverly Hillbillies
). I took the cloth diaper that we used as a barf cloth (my word for it), and wiped ineffectually at my rather sodden shoulder. In spite of his unending spit ups, I sort of liked little Jacob. I didn’t think much of kids, but Jakey was a nice little bundle to snuggle. Somehow it didn’t fit with my image of myself as a kid hater, so I snuck in time with Jakey when no one was looking, rolling my eyes and acting like it was an inconvenience if anyone noticed. Mostly, I didn’t think anyone was watching that closely.

I sighed over my damp, sour smelling shoulder and surreptitiously kissed Jakey’s little downy head. Pewter (aka Tina) came in and pointed at me. “Nice look, Lambchop,” she said dryly, pointing at my wet shoulder. “Sort of Mom-chic.”

I wondered if she’d seen the kiss. Probably not or she would have mentioned it. “Hey Pewt,” I said easily. “What’s up?”

She grinned and sat easily on the couch, moving a pile of clean barf-cloths to the side. “Serious shit now, Lambchop,” she said, and I wondered again what had made us drift apart. I was really enjoying our renewed friendship. “I wanted to say thanks for inviting me to stay here. I think it was an damned good idea.” She pursed her lips, which always reminded me of a kiss waiting to happen. “In fact, it is such a good idea that it gave me an idea that I want to run by you. I think we should have a town meeting.”

I tried not to gape at her. I had thought of exactly the same thing the night before when I was drifting off to sleep. People had been calling us and rumors were circulating, and I felt like we needed to get together and all pull in the same direction. I hadn’t thought of it again since then, but the idea came flying back now. “That is a great idea.” I said with real appreciation. “We’ll need to think about how to get the word out, and what we want to accomplish while we’re there.”

Meri had overheard, and in between playing nanny to Sarah Richardson’s sister Mary, she helped organize the meeting agenda. We weren’t anything close to familiar with
Robert’s Rules of Order
, and didn’t intend to start learning it now. We just wrote down some ideas on a piece of paper, and as far as making sure we got some bodies at the meeting—we decided to bring some food, and Granny came up with the bright idea of a keg of beer. If that didn’t pull in the survivors of the bombs in Catfish, well, nothing would.

Granny was adamant that she be allowed to help plan the meeting, and we pretended to write down her suggestions, not wanting to go to the trouble of disagreeing with her. Actually, we didn’t plan to discuss the swastika, those terrible pointed things on the top of the hats (I assume she meant German helmets?) and last but not least, trying to find out where that poor Anne Frank was hiding, so we could help her.
Sure, we’ll get right on that one, Granny.

Oddly enough, Granny was the one who finally got Sarah Richardson’s little sister to talk. Mary was a nice little girl but wouldn’t say boo to a goose. She would do as we wanted, so I knew she understood us, but she wouldn’t talk. Mary was often seen in the vicinity of Phil, who seemed equally interested in her in her fey sort of way. They seemed to communicate without speaking, and really, who was I to say that they didn’t? As time went on I was finding my mind forced open wider and wider. In any case, they would usually be near each other, and she mostly watched over her. Granny had been sitting next to Mary and gabbing along about something nonsensical when Mary had asked her how old she was. Granny had answered firmly that she was sure she was at least one hundred and fifty, and Mary had giggled. Go Granny.

* * *

Three other friends had turned up in the last few days, and the house was getting rather active. Today someone came who was a friend of a friend, and I started to feel like I was having a party that was getting out of control. I let him in, since at least Meri had met him, but really wanted to yell at him, “What do you think this is, a Holiday Inn?” Now that we had fourteen people including children milling around, it was starting to get that hotel feeling. I was including Tucker in that count and insisted that a room be kept just for him. Well, I tried to insist. It’s not my fault that people moved in anyway.

Tucker hadn’t returned, and I was getting worried about him. We couldn’t reach his cell phone. Meri was getting worried as well although she hadn’t said anything. No word from Mom and Dad either. I was starting to think maybe they were dead. I retained hope that Tucker was still alive.

After we had written up the loose agenda for the meeting (minus the suggestions from Granny), Fred and I went out to find a working copier. We found the Copyshop was dark and closed, but the big window was broken and the sleety rain we had received the night before had ruined some of the copiers. We eventually found one that worked, and I felt absurdly guilty for “stealing” our copies, not to mention wandering around an area that was private property. It was happening more and more, however, as any fool could see. Pretty much, if someone wanted something, he or she took it. This included goods and money. There were very few stores that hadn’t been broken into, and while I could understand smashing in a window to get medicine, I couldn’t imagine smashing in the window to get to the pawnshop or the greeting card store. Phil had referred to the break in of the card store as a “greeting card emergency.” When we’d looked at her, enjoying the spark of old Phil, she shrugged and added, “Not that anyone is going to find that special card saying,
deepest condolences on the end of life as you know it
.” She had a point there.

Regardless, we printed out a hundred copies and put them up around town, not thinking that they would be noticed much. We also got on the phone, and this is where I think we really reached people. Something had happened to the land lines, and some in town worked and some didn’t, but cell phones worked, and we used them to call whoever we knew was still alive and kicking in town and encouraged them to call anyone they knew as well. The meeting was in three days—it seemed like we could have given more notice, but we were still all so sure that this was going to pass any day now, and in would come the Feds and the disaster funds, and we would go back to life as it used to be. Minus all the dead, that was.

By the time of the meeting, we had several more agenda items to add. One was roving gangs. Perhaps they had been routed from the Twin Cities with the restoration of order, or they were just people who were angry and had no one but their neighbors to take it out on, or maybe when society breaks down, some people just go bad. No matter the reason, there were gangs. We in Catfish hadn’t been hit yet, but a nearby town had one of these gangs come in and just take what they wanted, whether it had been water, food, other supplies or women. Yes, although Gloria Steinem would deny it, women’s lib was close to dead in the Hot Zone.

It wasn’t the attitudes—most people retained the values they’d had before the attack, but the reality was that women were vulnerable in a way men mostly weren’t. And apparently some of the men in these gangs felt that now that they could they would go ahead and take what they wanted, or who they wanted.

Also, the house was even more of a Holiday Inn. We had five more people come to stay with us, and thankfully Meri took over the job of organizing everyone so that jobs were done and the house didn’t fall apart around us. We even had twenty-four hour sentries now. And the scariest part? They were armed. Heavily armed.

We’d finally heard from Tucker. He had obtained some supplies he thought might come in handy, but that was it for the good news. He’d gone as far as he could—all the way to the cabin, but there was no sign of my parents. He’d also been looking for his brother, but hadn’t found any trace of him either. He did report that he had seen some of the fortifications that the U.S. (oh golly, were we still part of the U.S? Didn’t seem like it) had put up to keep us quarantined. Mostly they had put razor wire along a line that some bunch of yahoos in Washington had decided was the safe line. This wire worked pretty well out in the open, I guess, but where there were forests, it was less useful. We had heard some of this on the news, but one thing that had surprised us all was that some people were crossing the wire to get into the Hot Zone. Apparently some less savory folks had decided that opportunities for riches were here in our hot little zone. I simply let my mouth hang open in shock as I heard this. I couldn’t believe that after witnessing people trying to kill themselves and others that I would be shocked at how awful some people could be, but I was.

So Tucker was on his way home now, and would hopefully arrive in time for the meeting, which was tonight. I was completely nervous, but Phil of the Fey kept telling me that I had the right light to make this work. The fact that I had no idea what she meant didn’t stop it from settling me, somehow. And I did still believe this was the right thing to do, I just didn’t want to be the one to have to do it. I think a part of me had believed that I would only have to set things in motion and someone else, someone more of a natural leader than I was, would come and take over. That hadn’t happened although Fred had been a huge help, and I was afraid my crush on him was back on.

I waited as long as I could, but Tucker still hadn’t arrived when I drove with several other carloads of people to the meeting site—the high school auditorium. I was surprised to see that there were already some people there, and they greeted me with respect and a little awe. I felt sick. Didn’t these people know that not long ago I was scraping by working at a sandwich shop? I wasn’t anyone, and felt like I was playacting some weird dream or fantasy. Still, we set up and since we still had power (it did go out from time to time, the news said it was a grid problem) we hooked up the microphone set. My secret hope was that we’d only get twenty people or so, and we could just do this without amplification.

Finally it was time to start. I actually felt so sick and dizzy from nerves that I had to put my head between my knees. I was shaking so bad that I didn’t think I was going to be able to even walk out there. Then suddenly Fred had come back where I was and made everyone else leave. I was staring at him, only a little curious, my brain too frozen to notice much. He came up to me slowly and gave me his sexy grin. My eyes widened as he said softly, “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but then again, crazy is in these days.” He laughed and pulled my hands until I stood in front of him. He stepped closer and I thought for sure he was going to kiss me. I appreciated the effort at distraction, but really! Was this the time or place for that? He didn’t kiss me though. He simply put his hands on either side of my face and tipped up my head so I was looking at him. Then he … this sounds impossible, but I swear it’s true … He erased my nervousness.