It wasn’t something big, but it was enough to set up a jitter of worry in Malcolm’s gut. He spent hours trying to convince himself he was taking the tiny conversation out of context.
“And if it’s viable?” Maggie asked Norris.
“Orders to terminate,” Norris said.
“Just checking.”
They spoke in a whisper and admittedly, Malcolm didn’t catch what they were talking about. It could have been about road savages as the other soldier called them.
He listened to a nice history lesson from Lt. Gary Greg, the historian. Hearing about things that happened to successfully aid in building the wall that took ten years to construct. He told about the workers and how they were misled into believing they were automatically included. The most interesting part of the story was the great virus that occurred in year seven of building the wall when, fifty percent of those who worked on it, died within days.
“It was horrendous,” he said. “To replace all those workers was insane.”
“I bet,” Malcolm murmured.
It sounded sort of inhumane, but in a way it was the only humane way to save a portion of the country.
Malcolm didn’t speak to Maggie about the exchange he heard, he just kept playing it in his head and coming up with other reasons for it, other than what his gut was telling him. The search for the cure, in Malcolm’s mind went deeper than what they were saying.
Maggie was engrossed with a hand held contraption. He thought it was a phone at first, but he hadn’t seen her speak into it. It was about the size of an original iPhone, but as thin as credit card. Her finger swiped so it didn’t look like she was sending a text.
“Hey, Dad,” Trey slid next to Malcolm. He had been in the back of the van.
“How was your nap?”
“Fine. Bored. What are you doing?”
“What is that thing she has?” Malcolm asked.
“Aldervice.”
“A what?”
“Aldervice, it’s like a phone. I mean really close to it.”
“Can you text on it?”
“Yeah …” Trey leaned forward and reached into his back pocket, pulling out one. “Thirty percent of people in Salvation have one now. I have one because I make deliveries there...”
Malcolm took the device. It was light and surprisingly flexible. He touched the surface and it did look like a phone. “So she’s swiping through something?”
“Probably notes. Pictures. Who knows?”
“Games.”
“Nah, there’s no games. Very little entertainment in Salvation.”
“I have to tell you,” Malcolm said, “Salvation sounds boring.”
“It has its downfalls, but it has perks.”
“So technology didn’t really die.”
“It evolved to meet the need,” Trey explained. “All computers are like tablets now. No internet, but you can send things to one another. And call … but you don’t need a phone number.”
“How is that possible?”
“Works on user ID. Way, way, way back before my time, they had these things called operators.”
“I know what they are.”
“People used to call the operator and she would connect them,” Trey took back the device and showed him the call button. “Say you lived in Salvation. I could press this and ask the operator to connect me to say Mal and then typically a double or triple digit.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“Not really, it helps them keep track of communication and what is being said. Hence why I don’t live there.”
“That’s crazy. It also works through the satellites that are still up there when you’re out of Salvation. It was first used by the military until everyone who was going to get one had theirs.”
“So you can get calls?”
“Yes, it can also be used as a frequency.” With a swipe of his thumb, he exposed another screen that looked like a radio microphone. “Problem with this, there are only four channels and an all call. Anyone can hear you if they are monitoring that channel. Sometimes I’ll just leave a channel on at home and listen. It doesn’t ring for that, you’ll just hear the person speaking.” Trey paused. “You okay? I mean, seems kind of trivial for you to be so focused on.”
“Yeah, I’m good. It’s just this whole search mission…” Malcolm lowered his voice. “I don’t have any proof or any reason, but now suddenly something feels … off.”
‘Yep. I know what you mean.” Trey said.
No argument. No trying to tell his father he was nuts, or convince him otherwise, Trey without hesitation agreed and that worried Malcolm even more.
“They existed for sixty-five million years,” John told Meredith. “I’m pretty certain, thirty years is a drop in a bucket.”
Meredith argued and told John he was nuts, but she saw the reasoning behind it. Hunter repeatedly said, “see the world.”
Like any young person, Hunter longed to see what was beyond his boundaries. Matthew was envious when they stopped by to tell him. Hunter was so gung ho he gathered what little personal items he had, along with weapons, and got in the back of the buggy. Coming in just shy of sounding like a child and saying. “Can we leave?”
They brought Matthew one of the vehicles from the DC lab. So he and the others could venture out.
Matthew was grateful and invited John and Meredith back, he also told them that since Hunter regularly sought after Night Stalkers, that there was no better sense of protection.
Meredith realized they’d certainly get to know Hunter a lot better. He was curious and funny in his own right. Like a six year old, every mile they journeyed was accompanied by Hunter pointing and saying things, reading signs.
It surprised them both how much he comprehended and the fact that he could read.
“Pa … turnpike,” Hunter said.
“Pennsylvania turnpike,” Meredith explained. “This is the state of Pennsylvania. All territories were named, just like they named the towns.”
“Breeze … wood. Funny names.”
John replied, “I am sure they had reasons for naming places. I mean, you can call one area where you live Big tree, or Crater village.”
“John,” Meredith laughed.
Hunter’s marked curiosity also told them, while he read, his reading materials were limited as well as his knowledge of history.
That was when John came up with an idea.
“We don’t plan to go by there.”
“We can,” John said. “So what, it will add a few hours to our journey. We’ll still get to Champaign tomorrow.”
“What if it’s not there?”
“It’s not directly in the city, it’s not near a river, so little moisture damage. It has to be.”
“I went to school in that city,” Meredith said. “It would be interesting to go there.”
“See.” John gave her a tap to her arm.
Hunter reached up and grabbed his hand.
“Oh, look he’s protective of you. It’s fine,” John told him. “It’s a way we communicate. Passive aggressive flirtatious touching.”
“Flirtatious?” Meredith asked.
John just shrugged.
“Flirt …” Hunter struggled with the word.
Meredith explained. “Flirtatious. Meaning John likes me and he’s finding any excuse to touch me.”
“No touch in hostile way.” Hunter said to John. “Bad way to show like.”
“I’ll remember that bit of advice Dr. Phil,” John replied.
“Hunter.”
“And I am sure Hunter the Romeo has a better way to show like.”
“Hunter the Romeo?” Hunter asked. “Has John given me a title?”
“Yes,” John answered.
“Hunter likes. Hunter the Romeo.”
“Swell,” John commented. Meredith laughed. It was an interesting journey and they set the next destination as Pittsburgh.
It didn’t take long for Hunter the Romeo to become Hunter ‘What the fuck kind of battle did I get myself into’ Romeo.
It was a priceless, video moment and John was upset he didn’t have a camera when Hunter came face to face with the skeletal remains of the T Rex at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
He walked in still amazed by the place, stopped, and as if he believed John and Meredith didn’t see, suddenly Hunter, after a shocked grunt, drew his sword and took a fighting and protective stance.
“I was right,” John said. “He has no clue about history.” Gently John reached out and lowered Hunter’s sword. “Welcome to the beginning of time my friend. He can’t hurt you, he is dead.”
Hunter gently tapped the leg of the dinosaur with his sword.
“I guess he didn’t read the do not touch bones, sign. Well ...” John reached out and cleared the dust. “No one can.”
The museum was remarkably well preserved and in good shape unlike the area just outside. The dust was thick, and some of the artifacts had been ruined by exposure to the elements. But many things were protected. They debated on whether or not to break some of the cases that had been grown over with moss and mold.
Meredith suggested they didn’t. They wouldn’t be the last generation of humans to walk into that building. She believed that.
For those in the future, the items in the cases were a history book.
There were some signs of looting in the museum, not much. A rush for expensive art wasn’t probably forefront on people’s minds when facing an apocalypse.
Outside, the streets were mere parking lots. Buildings were cordoned off, apartments were marked with a FEMA X marking, and the area known for its hospitals and teaching schools had signs everywhere telling the infected where to check in.
Store-fronts on the main road were busted, there was so much concrete and cars that pretty much only grass, weeds, and small trees had broken through.
From what John and Meredith were able to learn, it took decades for the virus to really make cities into ghost towns. Some, like Nashville and Cleveland had been cleared or shut down early on. But Pittsburgh seemed to have survive for a good bit of time.
From its growth, Meredith guessed it was a little over ten years since the city had been completely abandoned or died out...
Probably about the time most people went to Salvation, or found smaller rural areas to live.
Hunter had a pretty good understanding of what he was being told. Other than the dinosaurs, the biggest shocker and surprise seemed to come when Meredith explained the world and showed him a picture of earth. His face filled with shock and wonder.
Meredith tried to put herself in his mindset, thinking that life was only a strip a hundred miles long only to find out there was more.
It had to be natural for him to believe there was more. He was young. Barely older than twenty. Meredith and John were the chance he was waiting for. A chance to venture out. And venture out he would.
They would see as much of the museum as they could and hit the road again, camping for the night outside of the city.
The next day would bring them closer to Champaign. The meeting time and day was still awhile away and John and Meredith wondered if they’d be first to arrive. They also wondered how the others would react to Hunter. He certainly was a sign how much the world had changed.
To Meredith and John, despite their horrendous experience with the Wreckers, Hunter not only was a sign of the changed world, but he was a good thing all the way around.
<><><><>
It was a pretty easy route to San Diego. Most of the major roads were passable. Norris informed him that they were maintained military roads. Not that crews regularly went out, but the flow of military traffic kept the most travelled roadways from being too overgrown.
Clark, the historian told of the great virus and how for the longest time California was spared large numbers of death.
“They actually thought of making California Salvation,” Clark said. “But they opted against that when the death toll started to rise.”
“How did they build the wall so easily?” Malcolm asked. “I mean, I know it took ten years, but still.”
“The Mexican border wall that was erected right before the virus,” Clark replied. “They used a lot of that. Tore it down in pieces.”
That made sense to Malcolm.
During the trip he finally heard Maggie speak into the device that was like a phone. She talked about how they were close to the destination, which was located outside a naval base.
That told Malcolm it was all part of a government project, and that the government made the same provisions for Genesis Lab One as they did for the others.
The biggest hurdle of the journey came when they arrived at the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. The two mile long bridge had a barricade a quarter of a mile from the end.
And it wasn’t an easy barricade to move, or go around. Concrete and trucks blocked the way and the opening was narrow. A small car, or even the solar buggy would fit through. Not the van.
“We’re gonna have to walk from here,” Norris announced. “Stick together. No one wanders off. Understand?”
Malcolm and the others agreed. They took minimum supplies as they disembarked the van.
Clark said. “A last stand.”
“What do you mean?” Malcolm asked.
“Many places that could isolate themselves such as this, made a last stand. Quarantined the world from their towns or areas. But the virus, kept hitting, kept coming back and all the diligence in the world couldn’t save them.”
Although Malcolm wasn’t a fan of the smug man who was evidently in his twenties when the world fell apart, he was a vat of information that Malcolm needed.
He kept close to his son, as they ventured across the bridge and onto Coronado Island. Malcolm could smell the ocean. He enjoyed hearing Trey talk about how the smell brought back memories of their family vacation to Myrtle Beach. Their conversation flowed until their arrival on the actual island.
The best course would be to cut through the golf course, but water had eroded a lot of the shore property and that was worrisome for the crew.
The ocean air and lack of human interference had caused the growth on Coronado to make it more of a tropical island state, instead of a dry semi desert. Buildings were buried beneath lush beautiful trees and grass.
The roundabout way was a two mile walk and eventually they located Red Building 19 just off of Guadalcanal. It looked like an office building in the middle of an overgrown parking lot with a small warehouse building not far from it. The Naval Exchange was right up the street.
The building had no markings, or indication that it was a Genesis Lab cover and Maggie displayed her first show of dismay when they walked into the building.
“This can’t be right,” she said. “Where is the lab? It can’t be underground. We’re on an island. And it certainly didn’t extinguish like your lab,” she said to Malcolm. “This building is intact.”
Norris suggested, “Why don’t we all pair off and spread out. We search this building. Armed and ready for anything, though.”
Armed and ready? Malcolm wondered. For what? If they did run into the recently defrosted lab rats, they wouldn’t a danger, they would be scared and confused.
Malcolm and Trey searched together. Even though Maggie fought to go with them, Clark convinced her that she should join him.
The building was covered and Malcolm had another idea.
The warehouse building.
He informed Norris that he and Trey were going to check out that building. Part of the plan involved transportation post release, and Malcolm was willing to bet that was where they’d find the transportation.
Norris gave his approval.
It was more of a private search between father and son and less likelihood that their every word was being monitored.
“Why the warehouse?” Trey asked.
“Like I told Norris, transportation. They provide it. There has to be enough for one hundred people so it has to be big enough.”
“Maybe your group was lucky.”
“Nah, they would do it for them all.” Malcolm said as he and Trey walked across the lot to the plain white aluminum building. It was completely corroded on the side near the water. “If they woke, they may have found their transportation and at least one of the vehicles will be gone.”
“What if they don’t know about transportation?”
“Then if they’re up, they’re either walking around Coronado, or in the building.” But Malcolm knew the later wasn’t the case when he arrived at the garage door of the building.
It was partially open.
“Someone’s been in here,” Malcolm said.
“You can’t assume that because it’s open.”
“Yeah I can.” Malcolm walked to the door. “It was broken open and the weeds were cleared.” He reached down for the handle. “Help me?”
“Sure.” Trey grabbed hold of the door.
They lifted it together. Nearly three quarters of the way up, the interior of the garage was exposed, Maggie called in the distance.
“Malcolm, leave that,” she shouted. “We found the lab pretty easily.”
Malcolm looked at Trey then into the garage. It was very reminiscent of when Malcolm woke up. The buggies, the tool box, down to the fact that a man wearing the genesis clothing, sat center of it all, just like Malcolm did, trying to put things together.
He looked up, shocked, perhaps even frightened. Without a doubt he was confused
Malcolm held his finger to his lips in a ‘be quiet’ gesture. He then whispered, “Stay out of sight. I’ll be back.” Before closing the garage door.
<><><><>