He didn’t know what the substance was. It smelled good, but was it safe to eat?
Finally, Meredith returned, she looked exhausted.
“How is he?” John asked.
“He seems to be doing better. The fever broke.”
“That’s good.”
“His father is not doing well,” Meredith said.
“And Ana?”
“Sick, but holding up a front for her family.”
“Like most mothers.”
Meredith sat down on the floor next to John and faced the small fire. “Food?”
“Yes, someone brought us food and a beverage. But I’m not sure if it is safe to eat.” John showed her the substance. It looked like a stew. The eating utensil was a spoon carved out of wood, as was the plate.
Another voice entered the room. A male. “Of course it is.”
Shocked at the intrusion, and especially by someone that spoke a version of English he knew, John started to get up.
“I’m sorry. I though you heard me knocking,” he said.
“There’s no door. Knocking on what?” John asked.
“The arch.” The man stepped closer. “I’m Matthew.” He held his hand down to John.
The light from the fire illuminated his hand and John saw that it was severely burned. As Matthew stepped more into the light, his face became clear. Half of it was severely burned. He was in his fifties, maybe slightly older. It was hard to tell.
“May I?” Matthew asked, shaking hands with Meredith and gesturing to the floor.
Meredith nodded. “Please.”
Matthew sat down. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived. I was out looking for certain plants that can help Bada. But he seems better. Thank you so much.”
John asked. “So you live in this community?”
“I do. I’m one of the very few elders remaining from the war years.”
“I’m glad you’re here now,” Meredith said. “Do they understand you? Do you understand them?”
“In a way I do. They understand everything that is said to them,” Matthew said. “All of these people, adults mostly, are offspring of people that survived the bombs. The chemicals, radiation, caused severe mutations, as you can see. They understand, but when then try to speak, it comes out jarred. They understand each other though.”
Meredith said. “Sort of like a variation of Apraxia.”
“Yeah,” Matthew nodded. “One of the other elders said the same thing. The kids though, second and third generation, they speak perfectly, or close to it. It’s our hope they can pass the language on. The mutation affected the first generation physically and verbally. Intellectually, they’re a pretty smart breed. Unlike the Night Stalkers. But they’re a couple hundred miles out and we watch out for them. Every once and a while one makes their way here. You need to watch out for them. They are violent.”
John chuckled. “Yes, well, we learned that the hard way.”
“I’m sorry,” Matthew said. “I can imagine how that must have played about your willingness to help here. But these are good people. They are.”
Meredith smiled gently. “I am learning that.”
“And that food is good. Trust me. Eat,” Matthew said. “I came to talk to you. Hoping to answer any questions and hoping you’ll answer mine.”
John lifted his plate. “We can try.”
“Did you know the man that died?” Matthew asked.
“No.” John replied.
“Just odd. We haven’t seen folks like you since before the war. Never in the lives of these people. Are you government?” Mathew asked. “The guy that died. Never gave us his name. He was searching for his family. Muttering something about how many years that he was… and this is gonna sound crazy… he said he was frozen. Does that make sense to you?”
“It’s not crazy,” Meredith explained. “We didn’t know him. But John and I were also part of a stasis program that had us frozen for a long time. We knew nothing. We didn’t even know why we were picked. They told us nothing. We woke to this.”
Matthew nodded. “Science fiction stuff. I used to read stuff like that. If you weren’t so different, I’d be inclined to think it was made up. But you two arrived in a NASA buggy. I thought you were in space for decades.”
“Close enough,” John said. “Did that man arrive sick?”
“Yes, sick, fevered, muttering incoherently,” Matthew said. “Now, half the people here are sick. And I don’t know what you brought, or even if you have enough to help everyone, but you helped my grandson, and I am very grateful.”
“Your grandson?” Meredith asked with shock.
“Yes, Bada is my grandson. Great kid. Ana is my daughter.”
“Well, I will do all that I can,” Meredith said. “I’m not a doctor. But I’ll stay as long as you need help. But tell me Matthew, is this the virus?”
“What virus are you talking about?” Matthew asked.
“The one that’s been dormant for ten years. The one that wiped out a good portion of the population.”
Matthew smiled as if he didn’t understand and shook his head. “No, see there was a virus. I remember, I was in college. Something about it was deliberately released. Then the war came, the nuclear weapons exploded. That was it?”
John asked. “Have you lived in this area for thirty years?”
Matthew whistled. “Wow, that’s a long time. But yeah, once we emerged from the ashes and started to rebuild a pocket of civilization, why leave? No one was left. No virus wiped out the world. It was bombs.”
“Why do you say that?” Meredith asked.
“Well, surely, if there was a country, some sort of help would have come, right? Not like they just crossed us off the map and forgot about us. Not like it was just this section right?” Matthew said.
John looked at Meredith. A section of the country had been forgotten, abandoned, dubbed a nuclear wasteland and left to die off. But they didn’t.
“What?” Matthew looked at both of them.
“My new friend,” John tapped Matthew’s hand. “Seems not only do you have a lot to share with us, it seems that we… even with time lapse and missed history, have quite a bit to tell you.”
NORA’S ENTRY
I learned a lot on our brief road trip. Not only did I have a high tolerance to most forms of alcohol, I had a cast iron stomach as well. Of course, not a single bit of that food slipped down my throat. I did feel queasy, admittedly, but a part of me thought that was probably more mental.
Jason, however, if he was suffering mentally, then he knew how to manifest. Poor guy spent the entire night running to the bathroom. He was a hot mess. Sweaty and pale. I refrained from telling him, ‘I told you so’ about eating the food we used as poker chips. He swore he didn’t, but I know something slipped into his stomach to make him that ill.
I offered for us to stay another day so he could rest, but he refused, he wanted to get back to his house before we headed to Champaign. The sun was barely up and we were on our way. We were back at his house within hours and Jason fell fast asleep on the sleeping roll.
Who was he kidding? He was still sick.
I didn’t understand the need to go back to his house. Did he have some sort of long-term survival plan he wanted to set in motion after we met the others? He wasn’t saying. With him sleeping I was even having to wait for that bath he promised me as well.
Things were different with me and Jason. They were less awkward. He was always pleasant, nice and optimistic, along with righteous. Although ‘righteous’ probably wasn’t the best word. I wondered if the fact he told me he was a preacher gave me preconceived notions.