Free The Plague Years (Book 1): Hell is Empty and All the Devils Are Here by Mark Rounds Page A

“They can’t cure this; the patients are violent and very dangerous and hospitals in California and Oregon are already stressed taking care of the few thousand sufferers that we know about. I know that when it gets to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, things could break down. I don’t see a way to stop the infections short of an all-out quarantine which the Department of Homeland Security is dragging their feet about. Unless things change a lot in the next couple of weeks, we will probably see those levels of infection. It could be very chaotic. It will be worse in the big cities.”
    “But Connor is just a boy …”
    “Mary,” said Dave in a soothing voice, “I joined the Marine Corps at his age. Chad was in the Air Force when he was just a year older. He can drive, he is a pretty good shot, and he has had summer jobs. He won’t be a boy much longer and we need him. I am crippled up and can’t do some of thing things I used be able to do. Chad is fit but that only leaves two of us to defend …”
    “Three,” said Heather. “I still have my Dad’s old rifle from when he hunted in upstate New York.”
    “OK three,” said Dave thankful for the change of subject. “What kind of rifle?”
    “It’s an old lever action 30-30 Winchester Model 94,” said Heather. “Dad had dreams of being a cowboy I guess. But I grew up shooting it and I am still pretty good.”
    “OK,” said Dave. “After dinner sometime, if you could bring it over, I’ll give it a once over to make sure it is sound and I’ll put 30-30 on the ammo buy list.”
    “That sounds suspiciously like a date,” said Heather with a long slow smile.
    “How about that,” said Dave with an answering smile.
    “Wait a minute!” said Mary. “What about me? I don’t shoot, but to protect the kids, I could learn.”
    “That’s my girl,” said Chad.
    “I have just the thing,” said Dave adopting a smarmy used car salesman’s voice, “for the little lady. How about a slightly used Mossberg Defender in 12 gauge. It was only fired on Sundays.”
    “Why on Sundays Mr. Salesman?” said Heather getting into the moment.
    “Missionaries.”
    “Oh David Tippet, that’s horrible,” said Heather with a smile.
    “Seriously folks, guns are scarce and I was lucky to get these two. They were in the back in a crate and the owner of the gun store, who is a friend of mine, had just rediscovered them. I figure one for Mary and one for Connor. I also got tactical slings with integral shell holders for them. I am pretty well armed so I didn’t get anything new for me but I was going to offer Fiona the use of my Browning Hi Power 9mm.”
    “Fiona is just a baby,” said Mary almost too softly to be heard.
    “You haven’t been out with that kid on the range,” said Chad trying to lighten the moment. “If this were the 1880’s, that kid would be a gun slinger. I think getting all of us some range time would be good. We need to be comfortable with the weapons in order to be safe with them because most of the time, we won’t need them and I don’t want anybody getting shot because they couldn’t find the safety.”
    “Then why buy them?” asked Mary. Her mood had been whipsawed between fear, laughter, and worry and she was confused and shaken.
    “Because I can’t guarantee that we won’t need them,” said Chad very seriously. “Look, I know how you feel about this but Dave did this with my blessing. The food, water, first aid supplies and the other stuff makes us a target if things get bad. I hope the cops keep doing their job but with this new disease, some will stay home to take care of their families. Resources will become scarce and while I love living up on this hill, we are a long way from downtown. If fuel deliveries stop, the cops may not want to come this far.”
    “I hear you there pal,” said Dave before Mary could voice an objection. “That is also why I have bought eight five gallon Jerry Cans and filled them with