Dranko was silent for a moment, then upraised his hands, “OK, brother. I hear you. But, I have to warn you. I’m leaving. Tomorrow. I want you to come with me, but I can’t force you. I won’t wait any longer, either.” He turned and walked out. Cooper could hear his steady footfalls pounding the walkway all the way to the street. He listened to them fading away while rubbing his forehead with both hands in frustration.
He turned to go upstairs to change and decided he needed a shower as well.
Chapter 10
By mid-afternoon, he and Jake had completed their inventory of the house and what they had on hand. He estimated that they had enough food to last almost three months, half that if the electricity went out and the freezer failed. Just one more advantage to being frugal and buying in bulk. His first calculations were off because he figured things based upon a three person household. It pained him to erase those numbers and recalculate them based upon only two people.
His weapons included his Smith and Wesson pistol, an old revolver his father had given him, a Remington pump-action shotgun, a .22 caliber rifle, and a heavy caliber bolt action hunting rifle. He had some extra ammunition for all the weapons, except for the revolver. Given what he’d seen so far, Cooper kicked himself for not buying a military-style rifle with a higher capacity magazine that Dranko had recommended to him so many times. He had been shooting with Dranko many times using a couple of his. He’d always enjoyed shooting them, as they reminded him of his days in the Army. However, he had never bought one as some bill or another had always come up.
They had a good supply of toiletries, first aid supplies, flashlights, and over the counter medicines.
“What we’re short on,” he told Jake as they sat at the table surveying their list, “is water and more medical supplies in case one of us gets hurt.”
“Water?” asked Jake.
“Yes, water. With so many people sick, it’s possible the water supply could get interrupted. We need to store some here at the house, just in case.”
“We could fill up the bathtub?” he suggested helpfully.
“Great idea son. I also think we will buy some large garbage cans and fill those up with water too. Oh, and I just remembered something else!” he remarked in surprise.
“What’s that?”
“We need some good, solid hand tools. Most of what I have are all power tools. We need a good saw, hammer, and some other tools, if the electricity goes out. Let’s just do one trip to the hardware store. If we grab a couple more deluxe first aid kits, that would give us the additional medical supplies we need and everything else is there, too.”
Twenty minutes later, they were in the GMC pickup heading towards the hardware store on Division Street. Cooper had not wanted to bring Jake along; it had become very dangerous on the streets. But, the look of terror that lit up his face when he’d suggested leaving him behind with Lisa convinced Cooper it was too soon after his mother’s death.
Dranko had refused to answer his door when Cooper had knocked. Must still be irate with me. As a compromise, Mark Moretti was riding shotgun. Cooper did not want to venture anywhere without someone to back him up. Mark had been unarmed when he’d shown up at their house, so Cooper had given him the .38 special revolver. It only had six cartridges in the cylinder and no ammunition to reload. Cooper also knew the rounds were so old there was some question of whether they’d even fire. Mark had been shooting a few times in his life and Cooper reacquainted him quickly with the basics. Mark sat silently in the passenger seat, gazing out the window, and cradling the revolver in his lap. Cooper had a bad feeling about this trip. I’m taking Jake when I know I shouldn’t and my wingman is inexperienced and carrying an old, unsure weapon. But, he knew he hadn’t had any other options. As a compromise, he had forced Jake to ride along curled up on the floor.
The streets were less deserted than yesterday. However, he soon wished they were. What he saw were frantic people, on the verge of panic. A crashed red Pontiac Grand Am lay where it had slammed into a telephone pole. Cooper reflexively reached down to cover Jake’s eyes when he saw the young driver slumped over the steering wheel, dried blood covering his face, dead. What the hell is going on with emergency services? Are any of them functioning? Cars were driving recklessly, barely obeying the lanes and flow of traffic.
“Mark, keep a good eye out. I don’t like the looks of this.” Mark nodded.
They drove on, slowly and carefully. Further down Division, they encountered a pile-up blocking the entire left lane of traffic. A silver Honda Civic had rear-ended a black Hummer H2 and was wedge halfway underneath it, lifting the Hummer off of its back two wheels. Cooper had no doubt that whoever was in that Civic lay crushed, dead. A brown Dodge minivan had then rear-ended the Civic collapsing most of the trunk into the backseat. He didn’t see anyone in the H2 or the minivan, but several doors lay flung open, either by the passengers or those who had passed by.
Cooper slowed down to negotiate his way around the wreckage. Suddenly, a contorted, feverish face appeared in his window, grabbing a hold of his side view mirror.
“They got medicine. They got a cure. Down near the waterfront! Please take me there!”
He looked at the woman, only inches from his face, luckily shielded by the window. Her red hair was matted to her head, covered in sweat and filth. Her face glistened with tiny beads of sweat. Her mouth was a chasm of dirty, misaligned, and broken teeth. Her eyes were a faded blue but had the faraway look that always takes hold of the crazy or the delirious. Cooper didn’t have time to find out which, although he suspected the latter.
With his right hand, he flashed the pistol out of its holster and stuck it against the window, pointing right at the woman’s face and shouted through the glass, “We’re not headed that way. Get off my pickup!”
Through her mental fog, the woman slowly took in what had just happened. Suddenly, she let go of his car and stood in the middle of the road, giving him the double bird with both hands. He gunned the motor in response to quickly create some separation.
Mark was breathing hard in the passenger seat, while Jake stared ahead. “Do you think it’s true? What she said,” Mark asked.
Cooper burst out laughing. “Mark, I should put you and Dranko in a room together. You, the Optimist. Him, the Cynic. Put you two in a room and see what emerges! No, I don’t believe a word of it. She was a lunatic or she was delirious with fever.”
Jake stirred, “I know.”
“Know what?”
“What would emerge from that room.”
Cooper cocked an eyebrow, “Oh yeah, what then?”
“You would, Dad.”
Cooper and Mark laughed heartily at that.
“I hope you’re right about that one, son.”
When they pulled up next to the curb, in front of the hardware store, what they saw made their hearts sink into their stomachs.
A handful of random tools lay scattered about the lawn, with an overturned red wheelbarrow squarely blocking the walkway to the front door.
Cooper exhaled, “Oh my God!”
Larry Nevins, the owner of the store was on the ground, partially concealed by the wheelbarrow and a hydrangea bush. His foppish white hair was streaked with red, with blood covering his face, and running downward and staining his white and blue-striped Western-style long sleeved shirt. He wasn’t moving.
Cooper barked orders without thinking, “Mark, cover me. Larry is down, by the wheelbarrow. Jake, lie down on the floor and don’t get up until we tell you to.”