“We all did. But that’s not the case,” Henry said. “People are trying to reestablish their own lives now. They are emerging. Survivors. People are hungry, they’re desperate.”
“You been talking to Rose?” Tom asked. “’Cause she says the same thing.”
“Haven’t spoken to her. But, if you could get everyone together, that would be a good thing. Meet tonight?”
Tom nodded. “Josh Hayward is part of the council, I sent him out for a run. I’ll tell him when he gets back.” Tom glanced down at his watch and stared.
“What’s wrong?”
Tom shook his head. “Nothing. They’re just late. Probably fine.”
“I’m sure they are.”
“Tom, come to Diggins Drug store. Now!”
Rose had called for him. Not by a phone or radio; she had actually called. She shouted loudly, at the top of her lungs, like a mother calling her kids in for supper.
“Tom Roberts! Come to Diggins now!”
Tom slammed his hand to the counter. “Now what in the world is up with that woman? I swear she lost her mind with the flu.”
“She doesn’t sound like she’s in trouble.”
“No, she does not.” Tom cringed at the call again. “Will you excuse me?”
Henry swiped his hand over his mouth to hide his smirk. “Of course.”
Tom walked around the counter and outside. Rose continued to call steadily. Diggins was only a block down the street and her voice grew louder the closer he drew to the store.
“I hear ya!” Tom shouted. “Stop calling my name for crying out loud.” Tom stopped before the store, and looked left and right. “Where are you?”
“Up here.” Rose waved from the rooftop.
“What in the hell woman? Are you stuck up there?”
“Tom Roberts, you think I’d be stuck up and here and scream for you to help me?”
Tom was about to respond, but felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Lars standing there. “Where’d you come from?”
Lars pointed to the store. “I was in there finishing off the shelves for inventory. Why is she on the roof screaming your name?”
“I don’t know. If you were in there, why didn’t you see what she wanted?”
“Would you?”
“Good point.” Tom aimed his voice upwards. “What do you need, Rose?”
“Come up here, please. Thank you.”
After an exhale, Tom looked to Lars. “Join me?”
“Why not?”
Diggins was the tallest building in Lodi. Apartments perched above the drugstore, and the only way to the roof was to walk the four flights of stairs. When Tom and Lars reached the top, Rose was looking out, facing the town.
Tom took a second to catch his breath. “Okay, Rose, this better be good.”
“Oh my God,” Lars whispered.
Tom turned to him. “Oh my God… what?” He saw that Lars was staring outward. Before he could see what it was that caught Lars’ attention, Rose stepped to him.
“That’s what I called you for,” she said. “When I was out at the cemetery, I smelled the smoke but couldn’t see it. I figured it may be a fireplace or something, then I came up here. At first, I still couldn’t see it, and then it started. And in the few minutes it took for you guys to get here, it went from a wisp to that.” She pointed. “Fuck me, right?”
Tom was about to question the need for her use of obscenities, even though swearing was a natural part of Rose’s vocabulary, but he wanted to sputter the same exact words when she sidestepped and he saw.
In the distance, thick black smoke billowed into the sky. So much that it started to create its own cloud formation.
Rose handed Lars the binoculars. “Like I said, a few minutes ago, it was a thin trickle. Now look at it.”
Binoculars in hand, Lars moved closer to the roof’s edge. “How the hell can something be on fire?”
“Whatever it is, it’s big. Big enough for us to see.” Tom reached for the binoculars. “Looks like it’s burning near Wadsworth.”
“No, Tom,” Rose said solemnly. “That fire is Wadsworth burning.”
Journal Entry 4
On my thirteenth birthday, my brother Dustin gave me a copy of The Best of WrestleMania. Not that I didn’t have it. I did. But one night when we were playing around, we broke it. My mom said she wouldn’t get me another. Man.
But my brother did and we watched that for three days straight. We always vowed we’d be a wrestling duo, the ultimate tag team.
That ain’t happening now. I doubt wrestling would even come back. Even though I think it’s important.
I remember, right after the flu started. Things were still semi normal in the world, the news wasn’t on all the time. But I knew that it was pretty bad when they cancelled Monday night wrestling. They never cancel wrestling. But they did and it never came back.
I wonder if any of the wrestlers got sick. They probably did.
Me and Dustin talked about that. I guess it was a pretty shallow thing to talk about when the world was dying. I guess this whole entry is pretty shallow.
But I wanted to talk about wrestling. I miss it. I miss my whole old life.
5. Desperate
When Jonah Briggs was eight years old, he positioned himself on the limb of a tree and deliberately jumped onto the back of the neighborhood bully to stop him from beating up another child. From that moment on, Briggs knew he wanted to be a hero.
A big and brawny guy, quiet most of the time, he joined the United States Army before he even graduated high school. He spent the summer before his senior year in basic training. But that was what he wanted.
There was never a doubt in his mind. He served his country well and with everything he had. Unfortunately, after seventeen years of service, he was dishonorably discharged for inhumane interrogations of prisoners of war.
Briggs felt he was a pawn, had been set up; after all, he was only doing what he was told to do.
But he found other means of protecting his country. Without missing a beat he was hired by a private security company and worked a lot of overseas security details. Within three years of being part of that security company, Briggs acquired Commanding Officer status of Defend USA, a nonprofit, private militia and survival group, the largest in the state of New York.
Briggs joined the company early, when it was still in its infancy. Once he was in the private security sector he recruited a lot of his fellow workers. All of which, at one time, had served their country in an official capacity.
Defend USA grew rapidly. Its motto of defending America from any and all threats, whether manmade or natural, and standing with her to rebuild and protect against invasion or civil unrest, was relentlessly repeated when the flu began.
In fact, Briggs sent out emails to its members and families stating that he had a friend in the government that told him the flu would and could be man’s extinction level event. Briggs knew of the Alaska outbreak before anyone else and he knew when it crossed the border of being contained. He encouraged Defend USA members and their families to stockpile, to prepare.
When the western states began shutting down, he encouraged them to isolate themselves and move to defend America’s grounds. He sent invites to come to the New York Base. While there was only sufficient housing for a thousand, there was enough acreage to accommodate everyone. People came, and then as time moved on, people flocked there.
Briggs worked with a neighboring community and the mayor there. He also set up communications with other militia units and a post-pandemic plan, should power be extinguished.