The Great Death series
		Seeing Hope Among the Ashes
		Crumbly Writer All rights reserved © 2014
	Home | Love and Family | Grappling with Survival | Seeding Hope | The Catalyst | Stranded | Contact me

06: A New Day Dawns

           

“How’s Liz doing?” Mattie asked as she entered the van, closing the door behind her.

Alice halted her singing, turning to answer her friend while clutching Liz’s hand to maintain the physical connection. “She’s showing symptoms of the other plagues and is in pain, but hasn’t started losing consciousness yet. How did your meeting go?”

“Antario doesn’t have any symptoms. He insists he’s careful and Lassie gave him the all-clear. He and Sandra are out collecting supplies at different locations. How’s Thomas?”

“Thomas isn’t feeling great, but he’s holding on,” Thomas offered, smiling wanly at her. “I’m showing pox mark symptoms and I keep getting chills despite the warmth in here.”

“He’s running a fever and has symptoms of both Sinclarium and Floraosis, or GD3 and 4. He’ll start to worsen rapidly, but for now he’s still in strong spirits.”

“He’s also enjoying the stories she’s singing to Liz. I can see why this technique is so effective.” Despite his teasing tone, it was clear he thought their speaking about him in the third person was annoying. Mattie blushed at the mild rebuke, but was undeterred.

“Man, it crowded in here. I have no idea how we’ll both work in this cramped space.”

“Hell, it is what it is. I didn’t pick this location or the timetable. It was forced on me. But as always, we’ll do what we need to. You can scrape by scampering around the bed, but we’ll spend most of our time either kneeling or in the bed with them.”

“OK, I can see that. What do you want me to do?”

“As we discussed, I’ll handle Liz while you deal with Thomas. Since there’s so little room, it’ll be hard separating them and I’m afraid we’ll trip over each other. Frankly, we’d do better lying out on the grass, but it’s too late to move Liz now. This is why jumping into the middle of a crisis is so difficult, you can’t properly prepare for it. Now we’re constrained by choices we didn’t make.”

“Buck up, sailor. It’s either sink or swim,” Mattie teased as she checked Thomas’s vitals. “By the way, where did you put the defibrillator?”

“It’s out of the way: overhead at the edge of the storage area. That way we won’t trip over it, but can access it by standing on the bed.”

“Which might prove problematic if someone is thrashing about,” Mattie pointed out.

“Not much we can do about that. I selected the best option from limited choices. As always, we’ll deal with things as they arise.” Turning back to her patient, Alice resumed her soft song which calmed the shaking girl, her relief reflected in her eyes. At this stage in the game, you couldn’t ease off for long before the patients worsen.

“You know, as crowded as it is, I could treat Thomas in our vehicle while you remain here with Liz.”

“I considered that, but this is one of the few times we have the luxury of having two people working together. I think the benefits of two people monitoring the patients and relieving each other outweighs the complications of overcrowding. But I swear, this is the last time I get forced into a situation like this!”

Shrugging, Mattie turned to Thomas. “How far has she gotten in the story?”

“Well, she’s been telling it piecemeal, so I’ve heard some parts several times while others only once. She’s at the sheriff station shootings.”

“Oh, then I’d better shut up.” Mattie zipped her mouth with her fingers as a promise she’d quit interrupting. She wiped Thomas down, straightening up as Alice resumed her story. “You don’t want to miss this, it’s very emotional.”

Alice continued to sing and Liz and Thomas listened intently, despite the distractions of their shivering and increasing pain. Mattie knew the story by heart and could recite the entire thing in her sleep, but was still comforted by it. There were so many comforting and reassuring memories which always made her feel good. Since she knew it so well, she continued to work. Their two patients had to concentrate so their continuing pain wouldn’t make them miss key elements.

The song Alice sung was encouraging because it reminded them of the strength of having reliable friends. The type who’d come through in difficult times. Both Thomas and Liz were on their own for months. Liz only connected with Antario a short time ago, and it was a reluctant joining, even then.

The songs reinforced everything they remembered and idealized about the strengths of friendship, as well as emphasizing the importance of their struggle. It stressed how only by struggling long after hope was gone could they expect to continue. Hope, like pain, was passing. You’d either move beyond it or you’d die. Struggle was a constant and you struggled, not for yourself, but for everyone else who depended on you.

________________________

“Clear!”

Mattie stepped back, banging into a cabinet, raising her hands as Alice applied the charge to Liz’s chest. Liz’s body arched up, her arms flailing as she collapsed back upon the bed.

“How … long?” Thomas struggled to ask.

“Huh?” Mattie had to turn before she could reorient her thoughts. “Uh, this time or all of them?”

“Both,” he gasped through parched lips.

“Well, she stopped breathing, so I performed compressions. Alice took over and got her breathing again, but then her heart stopped. We jumped it, only to have her breathing halt. She resumed breathing, but her heart failed again. That makes two jumpstarts and three compressions now, and about six and eight all together.”

Mattie glanced back as Alice tied once again.

“Clear!” she yelled, even though no one was nearby. This time Liz’s head snapped back and she took a huge gasp and Alice knelt over her to monitor her breathing.

“How long … you continue?” Thomas pressed.

“As long as we have to, I guess,” Mattie shrugged.

“Damn right. I’m not giving up,” Alice snarled, not glancing back. Lifting her head off Liz’s chest, Alice resumed singing as she gave Liz several small sips of water. “We knew going in this was risky, and I won’t allow anyone to suggest I voluntarily let her go.”

“No one … know,” Thomas argued in a voice much too low to carry.

“She’d know,” Mattie said. “None of us will slack off if there’s a chance, but Alice is obsessive about this case.”

“She’s not responding like we’d hoped,” Alice said, curling up around Liz, encouraging her to struggle on. “She’s suffering, but she isn’t showing signs the plasma is succeeding. What’s more, she’s not sick enough to lapse into the wakeful coma everyone else falls into. That’s when the body shuts down in order to conserve its strength. Without that, she’s just exhausting her resources.”

“The semi-comatose state is evidence the treatment is working, but not in Liz’s case. In yours, you’re suffering, but from each of the different plagues. In her case, she has symptoms of the others, but she’s currently only suffering from the one. The others plagues haven’t advanced much yet. Thus the treatment hasn’t reached the same level with her it has with you.”

“Damn it!” Alice snapped, banging her elbow while working on Liz.

Thomas made a vague motion, pointing out the line of blood trickling out of Liz’s mouth. “Is that … bad sign?”

“Hard to tell,” Mattie answered with a shrug. “Chances are she just bit her lip, but she might be bleeding internally. Alice is checking her stomach to see if it’s hardening, as that’s a sign of internal bleeding.” Alice shook her head, so Mattie continued. “Widespread bleeding is a sign her organs are failing. At that point, it’s just a matter of time. The problem is; if too much damage occurs before the treatment takes effect, it’s too late once it does.”

Alice’s gentle singing filled the small enclosed vehicle as Mattie turned her attention back to Thomas. Though tempting to ignore the other patient when one is in distress, Mattie knew it was essential to closely monitor both. Although Thomas was still far from the crisis phase, problems developed on their own timetable. As she wiped Thomas down, removing the accumulated sweat and flaking skin, she noted he was once again concentrating on the words of Alice’s song.

________________________

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” Alice yelled, pumping Liz’s chest.

“Alice,” Mattie cautioned, grasping her shoulder.

“No!” Alice brushed the consoling hand away. “I’m not letting go. She worked too hard for this. We can’t stop. She can’t surrender!”

Mattie carefully shifted around the bed, trying to afford Alice a bit more room to perform her chest compressions. “I don’t think it’s up to her anymore.” Mattie gestured to her face, the multiple bleeding sores, the glassy, bloodshot eyes and blood oozing from her mouth, nose, eyes and ears. “Her organs are damaged. Keeping her alive now is just prolonging her agony. There’s no physical way to repair the damage. Even if we could transplant all her organs, the connecting tissue is probably destroyed. She’s lost the battle. She’s gone.”

“Damn it!” Alice’s face was a mask of sheer determination with tears streaming down her face as she pumped Liz’s heart even more. “There’s too much riding on this.”

“The future’s not so grim,” Mattie consoled her. “Thomas is still holding on. If we double down on him, he can carry on without her.”

Mattie’s comforting words proved meaningless when Alice’s hand slipped and broke through the skin on Liz’s abdomen. Pausing, Alice surveyed what she’d done as Liz’s body lay sprawled under her. Cocking her head, she extracted her combat army knife and slit open Liz’s flesh.

“What the hell are you doing?” Mattie demanded.

“I’m checking something,” she responded as she peeled the skin back, slicing the skin and muscle from Liz’s stomach with an experienced hand. It was clear her father taught her how to perform field dressings, but it’s disconcerting watching your friend field-dress someone you personally knew.

“Look, I was all for halting the compressions, but this—“

“Shh!” Alice insisted. “Give me a second.”

Thomas tried to sit up to see what was occurring, but Mattie thought it best he not witness Alice’s odd behavior. She pressed his shoulder down to restrain him.

“Come look at this.” Alice motioned Mattie closer. Curious, she got up, at which point Thomas struggled to sit up again, leaning on his elbow.

“What do you see?” Alice asked her friend.

“I see the bloody remains of the person you were trying to save,” Mattie responded, scrunching up her face.

“No, you were right, she’s definitely gone. The fact she’s not bleeding demonstrates that. But examine it closer. She was bleeding internally. The large amount of blackened blood demonstrates that. But the blood isn’t liquid.”

“Huh?” Mattie dipped her finger into the dark blood inside the wound, discovering it parted around her finger. She could actually push it around and dig inside of it. “What the hell?”

“Take a look at the veins,” Alice instructed as she slit and stretched Liz’s remains to prove her point. “See, the veins split. They decomposed internally. They just … shredded, causing the blood to flow freely inside her. Only, it didn’t.”

Mattie lifted her hand and examined the flecks of blood remaining on her finger. “This is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Apparently the plague is doing things inside the body we never considered. We knew that some variants caused the organs to burst and produce internal bleeding. We also knew that other variants caused discolored bleeding under the skin. Now we’re seeing what caused those responses.” Alice once more, slit open even more of Liz’s flesh to expose more of her abdomen.

“While she bled once her veins collapsed, the blood solidified, turning into a jelly. It wasn’t flowing in her veins any more, which is probably why the organs failed. They couldn’t withstand the pressure of the expanding blood with the pressure of the blood still being pumped behind it.”

“You’re right. The blood looks more like caviar in a thick sauce. There are actually dark, soft beads within it.”

Wiping her hands on her shirt, smearing Liz’s blood even further, Alice replaced her gloves before scrambling into the front to grab something from the center console. Her grief over the loss of the patient was replaced by a bubbling curiosity. Thomas continued trying to peer past the two girls. Glancing out the window, Mattie saw the makeshift camp the others set up nearby. Two solitaire tents, set apart, were lit as the occupants awoke and got their bearings, awakened by the disturbances in the van.

“What … she see?” Thomas asked.

“I’m not sure. I’m not even sure what she’s doing,” Mattie admitted. Noting his trembling as he leaned on his elbow, Mattie eased him back down. Though he kept glancing over, Thomas accepted her restraint. Such a minor effort was almost more than he had available as he continued to be lashed by constant waves of pain. He was out of breath and gasping. Mattie wiped him down, gently stroking his skin and humming the now-familiar refrain.

Mattie watched as Alice returned, bent over Liz’s body and began snapping pictures with one of their spare cell phones.

“A little grisly, isn’t it? Taking souvenir shots of people we’ve lost?”

“Huh?” Alice asked, too distracted by what she was doing to grasp Mattie’s accusation. “No, it’s nothing like that. We’ve never done an autopsy on anyone who’s died from the plagues before. We were always too worried about the threat of contamination. This is the closest we’ve ever gotten.” She proceeded to take another couple of close-up shots. “Tom needs to see what happens to plague victims. These photos will help him learn what actually occurs. Hopefully, they’ll allow us to develop better treatment options when we can’t treat them with plasma.”

“And how do you propose to get them to him? You can’t email them.”

“That’s easy,” Alice responded, going through the shots she’d already taken, smiling at the results. “We’ll leave them here. When Ayana delivers additional plasma supplies, they can give them to her and she can take them back. It’ll take longer, but he’ll be able to examine the details in a way he can’t do in person.”

“Unless your father does it,” Mattie suggested.

“That would be messy and require a separate facility. As it is, we’ll have to junk Antario’s van. I’m not sure we can clean it. But unless Dad treats Tom, he’d never be able to witness this himself.”

Alice looked up, noticing Thomas studying her and Antario and Sandra standing outside, shivering in the chilly air, their concern etched on their faces. Antario seemed stricken, but both showed their guilt for forcing an issue which not only failed, but which produced the very results Alice feared.

Putting the smartphone back, Alice grabbed a spare glove and passed it to Mattie. “I wish we had some specimen jars, but these will have to do. Collect some of the blood. We’ll leave it for Ayana to take back to Tom.” Alice then extracted a large plastic tarp they’d previously stored there.

Mattie turned to the still suffering man in her arms. “Looks like you’re on your own for a little while, Thomas. If you need us, be sure to make a ruckus. Here’s a bell you can ring. We should be able to hear it outside. I don’t mean to abandon you, but we can’t leave Liz’s body here. This shouldn’t take long.”

“Undr … under… stand,” he got out, even as a bout of shivering overtook him.

Confirming he’d be OK, Mattie stood up and helped Alice spread out the tarp on the floor. They lifted Liz’s lifeless corpse onto the tarp and wrapped it snugly, fastening it with duct tape.

“So what the hell happened?” Mattie looked up as she taped Liz’s legs together. “How does someone’s blood congeal like that?”

Alice made a face. “It wasn’t that it congealed, it changed from blood to sludge. We’ve never examined anyone internally after they died, fearing exposing the pathogens. It makes sense we wouldn’t know what’s happening if we haven’t witnessed it.

“I’m guessing that as the individual cells die, the way the cells combine changes. I don’t know the exact process, but it seems that groups of dead cells bind together rather than sliding against each other. As this occurs, the space the blood takes up expands, causing the veins, arteries and organs to rupture. All we’ve seen from the outside is massive bleeding, but we never saw what produced the bleeding. Even as the body fills with blood, it congeals into a mass. That’s probably why the bodies don’t decompose as they normally do.”

“I thought that was because of the lack of microorganisms?”

“It is, but this probably adds to the microorganisms’ death. What’s more, the blood they and other animals absorb expands the same way, destroying their bodies in the same process.”

“OK, I can see the blood turning thick, but what about those … nodules?”

“Again, I’m not sure, but there’s apparently something else going on. Either the dead cells adhere to each other, or there’s some other process occurring. But we won’t know until Tom can study it.”

“I thought the Great Death was scary enough before. This … this is just unreal.”

“Yeah, but it’s something Tom and my father should know about. Maybe they can make sense of it.”

Finished wrapping the body, they rewrapped the entire bundle in a separate but thinner plastic wrap, again sealing it with tape. Wiping her hands, Alice nodded that she was satisfied as Mattie checked Thomas once more.

Disinfecting her hands with the few wipes they had left, Alice opened the doors of the van. She and Mattie removed the bundle which had once been Liz from Antario’s van. Now she looked like a side of sanitized beef, hardly any evidence of her being human any more. They deposited her on the ground just outside. Lassie, curious, kept her distance. Even though she was a carrier herself and bore the faint plague smell, she’d learned to avoid the smell, and now was no different.

“It’s OK, as long as you don’t bother her, she’s not a contamination risk,” Alice assured Antario and Sandra. “You can mourn her, Antario, but stay back at least five feet.”

He nodded, not making a sound as a silent tear streaked down his cheek.

“You sure you’re still OK?” He nodded again, too upset to speak. “Then you’re incredibly lucky. My father and I treated and buried multiple people before I took ill myself, but we were more cautious. You apparently protected yourself, but next time, watch your exposure.”

Antario nodded to what was left of his friend. “I try, but then, I no plan for Liz to get sick either.” He paused, considering her for a moment. “Was it difficult? Her passing?”

Alice shrugged, opening her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “No more than she would have been otherwise. It’s a painful death in either case. There was nothing more we could do. We started the treatment much too late. There wasn’t time for the procedure to take effect before she’d already suffered too much damage.”

“Sorry about … forcing issue,” Antario offered, looking like he wanted to come closer and physically touch her body one last time.

“No, I’m the one who agreed to it. I knew better, but I also realized neither of you would accept letting her go so easily. But now all of our eggs are in one basket. If Thomas lives, you’re fine. But if he doesn’t, which is a real possibility, you’ve condemned multiple lives. There’s no one else who can treat either you or anyone else in the region.”

“What about the person you said would deliver new plasma supplies?” Sandra asked, rubbing her arms against the chill of the summer night.

“Ayana. She can supply the plasma, but she’s not immune so she can’t treat anyone. You’d need to travel all the way to Richmond, but you’d never make it so far if you were already infected. Frankly, their hands will be full with their own cases. We’d have to spread messages that we failed here, and that anyone here needs to move to Richmond or Baltimore. But that would be difficult. We just have to pray that Thomas makes it. We’ll then have to ensure he doesn’t come down with tetanus or cat scratch fever and dies before he can treat anyone else.”

“Again, sorry for—”

“There was nothing you could have done,” Alice countered. “I knew better. I should have stood my ground. Hopefully we’ll be OK, but for now, we need to finish treating Thomas.”

“So you’re going to move on, even if Thomas doesn’t survive?” Sandra pressed.

“No, probably not. But you’ve got to realize, if we stick around and perform another treatment, it’s cutting short our scheduled stops, meaning we’ll reach fewer cities than we planned. We’ll allow you to survive here, but it’s a tradeoff, as others won’t receive the treatment. We’re simply trading deaths here for deaths somewhere else.”

“You’re probably right then,” Sandra conceded. “It’d be better for everyone if we traveled to Richmond instead of holding you here.”

Antario motioned to the still bundle beneath her feet. “Anything we can do?”

Alice glanced down as well. “While she shouldn’t pose a risk, it’s not worth taking the chance. We need to bury her, but it’s safer leaving her here until we find a tractor to dig a grave where she won’t infect anyone else. But she’ll be fine for now.”

With that she nodded to both Antario and Sandra, turning to help Mattie unload their gear. “Sorry, but I made a bit of a mess in your van,” she said over her shoulder. “We can’t continue using it, so we’ll switch to our SUV, which is designed for this kind of thing.”

They soon carried the still conscious but moaning Thomas across to the other vehicle, and once settled, closed the door behind them. Antario and Sandra were left to grieve on their own as the two girls concentrated on saving their one, last hope.

________________________

Sandra and Antario sat against the base of the Washington Memorial, enjoying the warmth of the sun-heated marble when they detected movement in the girls’ SUV. They’d grown closer, based on their shared experiences of the past few days, though they always remained several feet apart. That was closer than they’d gotten to anyone else lately.

Sandra stood, staring intently at the vehicle for clues of what was occurring within. It had been a long wait. She and Antario had been running missions to gather supplies and reconnoiter the area, but they always returned here to await word. They’d begun observing their surroundings as Mattie and Alice had, and they’d learned a lot. There were a few unseen souls who came to observe the girls’ progress. Sandra assumed they’d not only guessed what was happening, but were as anxious about the results as she and Antario were.

Sandra’s thoughts were disturbed as the SUV door opened and Antario rose to his feet. Alice jumped to the ground, a little unsteadily, and then turned to assist a thin and pale Thomas. Neither one was quite sure they’d ever see him again. The last report they’d gotten from Mattie over a full day ago was that he was still in a coma.

Thomas seemed shaky, having to clutch both Alice and the side of the vehicle before taking a hesitant step down. But he was up and moving, and didn’t appear to be suffering. Sandra took a few steps forward.

“Is he alright?”

Alice glanced over as if surprised, though Sandra had no doubt she’d known their exact location for the past several days. The girl never let much slip by her.

Shading her eyes, she steadied Thomas as Mattie jumped down beside him. “He’s weak, but he’s fine. He’s running a fever and is still highly contagious, but he’ll continue to improve. We just wanted to get all of us some exercise. That will help more than anything else now.”

“So he’ll … survive?”

“Hopefully for a long time.” Alice turned to Thomas, punching him lightly on the shoulder. “Even if he gets hit by a bus, he’s not about to die from the Great Death.”

“Damn, I sure I condemn us all,” Antario swore.

“You and me both,” Sandra added before rushing to her bag of supplies. “We’ve got some food. I imagine you’re starving.”

Mattie stretched out her arms, looking them up and down. “Thanks, but what we really need is to wash up, which requires a weak bleach solution. Unfortunately, when you mix bleach with urine it produces a toxic gas. But by diluting the bleach we’ve discovered it disinfects without producing any lung damage.”

“Your recordings detailed how to prepare it.” Antario took a couple hesitant steps and pointed to the ground before them. “There’s a gallon container by your feet.”

“Thanks,” Mattie responded as Alice bent, picked it up and gave it a quick sniff test. She then poured some into her hands and scrubbed them before washing her skin with it. While she did, Mattie helped Thomas strip off his threadbare gown, stiff with his accumulated sweat and soiled remains. None of them were the slightest bit concerned about their nudity. Alice then proceeded to rub the bleach solution into Thomas’ skin.

“There’s an untouched bottle of hand lotion on the other side,” Sandra offered. “We knew how dry and thin-skinned he’d be.”

“Thanks, we appreciate it,” Alice yelled back, waving. Thomas attempted his own wave, but could only lift his hand a small distance. He didn’t yet possess enough strength to do so for long. “That’s the problem with a lack of planning. An enclosed van isn’t the optimal location for this kind of prolonged treatment. Even after we moved, we didn’t have time to prepare it and we were still crowded. We’re all stiff, sore and unused to walking, and we stink to high heaven.” Alice ceased yelling, so Sandra and Antario moved closer to hear, though both remained cautious about how close they approached.

“Next time, you’ll need to plan better. You should find a doctor’s office you can scrub down after each use. That’ll allow you to move around during treatments without exposing anyone waiting.”

“You didn’t—”

“Only because we didn’t take any chances and mostly remained inside,” Mattie reminded them. “We also never got the necessary hospital supplies. Once we clean up and rest, we’ll investigate the nearest hospital and salvage whatever we can find.”

“How soon ‘til he treat some’ne?” Antario asked.

Alice shot him a look. “Why, you have someone else hidden away waiting for us?”

Antario laughed, glad to do it for the first time in a long time. “No, but I ‘spect we got a few folk interested in our ‘bility to do it ourselves.” To illustrate his point, he made a sweeping motion behind them.

Alice laughed again. “I thought I detected movement. However, I never got much of a chance to look carefully. I was so tired I worried I was hallucinating.”

“They haven’t introduced themselves, but they’ve been watching for some time.” Sandra was still yelling, but this time so their observers could hear.

Having finished washing Thomas, Alice handed the bleach solution to Mattie and stood up, facing where Antario had pointed. Cupping her hands, she shouted to them. “If you’re interested, our friend survived and is now immune. He’s still weak, but he’ll recover quickly. If you want food, information or some music, come on up and we’ll give you what we can. You’re free to leave at any time.” She then turned back to the others. “Give them another hour. Their curiosity is burning a hole in their feet. They want to know how to protect themselves and you couldn’t keep them away with a barbed-wire fence now.”

Mattie had stripped completely naked and was washing her pale milky-white skin down.

“Aren’t you nervous about…?”

Mattie turned, flashing Antario and Sandra. “About what? We’re probably the first people they’ve seen in months. Right now, they’re more interested in talking to another person than in anything else. Besides, even if they still have any lust in their hearts, they’d be terrified of touching anyone.” She turned and glanced back over her shoulder. “Let them look, consider it an added inducement to join.”

“Don’t look now, but your estimate was off,” Sandra informed them, pointing over their shoulders. Twisting around, they saw a single young man approaching. Antario also pointed out a bush rustling to the side indicating someone else was tracking his progress.

Alice reached into their vehicle to grab a jacket from a closed cabinet, not worrying about wearing any more. “Let me finish up. Leave some of those supplies we gave you so he can examine them and then I’ll talk to him. You should observe so you’ll know what to do next time, but this first contact will go better if I do it.”

Sandra turned to Antario and they traded grins. They’d been afraid of the worst, and now the future was looking brighter than they’d dared dream for a long time. It would still be touch-and-go for some time, but the day was bright with hope. The hope of a new day for all of mankind!

Continued …

           

Check out smashwords.com or vincentberg.net for all of my eBooks.

---

This book is now posting every Tuesday and Thursday.

e-mail Author
Requires an email address, for anonymous feedback
use the "Contact me" button at the top of the page.

Copyright © 2014, Vincent Berg. All rights reserved.

Reposting on other sites for commercial or non-commercial purposes without specific written consent from the author is strictly prohibited.