He had been there the longest, outliving Bigby and Thomas and while nowhere near death, he was ready to retire.
Hence, the reason we all gathered in the big conference room.
Martin was on his last day, he was retiring. I don’t think he expected a party, not on a Friday, when it was the norm to close shop early. Probably what Martin thought when he returned from a meeting.
I pitched in and awaited the ‘late lunch, see ya, good luck’ event.
The plan was for Martin’s secretary to rush for him when he stepped from the elevator.
She did that.
She was to inform him he had an important meeting with a client in the meeting room. Obviously, she did that since he made his way to us.
Magdalene backed up, repeated her ‘hush’ and waited like a giggling school girl.
The door opened and we all shouted “Surprise!” as the light came on.
Martin did look surprised and somewhat embarrassed when we sang “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”
He was a good sport, waving it off with a shy, “You shouldn’t have.” Then the party commenced.
After it calmed down some, people segregated into smaller groups. I sought some time with Martin and gave him my gift a bottle of scotch aged twenty years. Surprising me, he opened it and offered me a glass. I would have thought something that treasurable would be saved for a special occasion. I guess the party meant a lot to him.
“Oh, I shouldn’t,” I said.
“Come on, Calvin, I know you take the train.” He showed me the glass.
It was a hefty helping, and I took it. After my first sip, I thought, My God, this is good.
“More?” Martin asked.
“I’m still working. So…” I set down my drink. “When do you leave for your Jules Verne?”
I asked about the ‘Jules Verne’ because that was the name Martin had given his retirement trip. It was in reference to Around the World in Eighty Days. He was going to see the world, literally, every country he could. In all the years he had worked and owned the company, the furthest away he had travelled was Atlantic City.
“Nope. Cancelled that. Margaret and I are going to Montana.”
“Oh, wow, that uh sounds nice.” I grabbed my glass. “For how long?”
“Indefinitely. Forever.” He shrugged. “Four square miles, secluded land, mountain range gives natural protection to the east, a lake to the north. Very secluded. Easy to barricade. About right now…” He looked down his watch. “The trucks with the booze are arriving.”
“Booze?”
“An astronomical amount. I have no plans to leave. Not for a while. I’ll probably die there. If I leave and someone sees me, it’s over.”
“Martin,” I chuckled his name. “What on earth are you talking about? Why Montana?”
“I just told you …”
“Yeah, yeah, I heard you.”
“Calvin, don’t you watch the news?”
“Oh my God, for real? You’re worried about that?” I shook my head. “This has been going on for a year now. It’s slowing down. Okay, I can see not leaving the country, but why go into hiding?”
“Not hiding, it’s survival.”
“It’s over there.”
“No, Calvin, it’s here. It’s been here for about two months.”
I scoffed. I found that hard to believe. I really did. I followed the news. I knew what the virus was. It wasn’t a virus. It was a weapon. A new one, hard to detect and the terrorists were dropping it left and right.
It would hit an area, everyone passed out and when they woke, they were like mad dogs. Some said they rose from the dead but there wasn’t any proof of that.
“Who was best man at my wedding?” Martin asked. “I’ve bragged many times.”
“General Sterling.”
“Yes. He wasn’t a general then. Is now. He’s really big with the government. He says this thing is not a chemical weapon.”
“It is.”
“No, it spreads. It’s airborne. Chemical weapons don’t spread from person to person.”
“Okay, so it’s a biological weapon,” I said.
“That is now everywhere.”
“Is that even possible?”
Martin nodded. “Do you know what North Korea did early on and everyone called them insane?”
“That’s a pretty open ended question.”
Martin smiled. “Funny. They created bunker cities. Prepared safe zones. One bunker city per region. When the region hit a percentage infected, the healthy were given the location of the bunker city and a certain amount of days to get there. After that, the region was cleaned.”
“Why are we talking about North Korea?”
“Because we are doing the same thing.”
I scoffed. “Marty, that’s nuts. I haven’t heard—”
“Why would you?” He cut me off. “Anyhow.” He sat on the edge of the table. “I decided to make my own. My own safe place.”
“In case the world ends?”
“Calvin, this virus is bad. It’s coming in waves. Give it another month and warnings will be posted. One more month, it will be a daily battle. After then you’ll be looking for news of Bunker cities. While me… I’ll be watching a big wide-open sky.”
“You really believe that?”
“Calvin, the outbreak started in North Korea. The short destructive war between North and South. wasn’t a war, it was self-destruction for preservation.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Martin lifted his eyes and scanned the room. “I like these people, I do. You… I have known you since you clerked here at eighteen. How old are you now? Forty-five.”
I cleared my throat. “Thirty-four.”
“Jesus, we must be bad for you. Fact remains, I want you to know. I want… you and Leah to come to Montana. Come out before the baby is born. Be settled. I discussed this with Margaret we have invited a select few. We want you there. You’ll have to drive out. It’ll be a three day drive.”
“When?”
“I think if you’re diligent, you’ll know when,” Martin said. “Bob Scott and his family are coming out. We’ll all be in touch. Just be there before the baby comes. Last thing you want is to have your wife give birth in a bunker city, or worse… in the middle of hell. Which this city will be if the virus takes over.”
I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. I respected Martin and he was taking the outbreak, or whatever it was being called, very seriously. I listened to the news, I read articles, I was just as certain that it would pass. After thanking him for the offer, I told him, “We will be there if things go bad.”
I meant what I said, even if I didn’t believe it. After all, humanity was diligent, we would beat whatever it was, we always did, without a need to run to the hills, without a need to fear that my child would be born “in the middle of hell.” Because I would never allow my son’s birth to happen under those circumstances.
2
PUSH
September 2
It was hard to fathom how I could ever be irritated by the fact my wife was giving birth. I thought she was brave, yet, she folded. Okay, I get it, the pain was unbearable. Still, why didn’t her maternal instincts kick in? Protect the child, or did she lose that because she herself was close to death? Maybe she wanted to take the baby with her.
Not me. For that moment, I worried about the safety of me and the baby. I knew, if we were just quiet, if there was no noise, the dead would move on. Sure, they could sense us, smell us, but those weren’t as strong of an attractor as noise.
With every wave of contraction came another scream, until, she started to wear down. I saw it, and heard it in her voice. Her face grew paler. Instead of on her back, legs spread wide, Leah assumed a squatting positions, held tight to her legs and shook her head.