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

gasoline and treated it with STA-BIL to keep it from going bad. I will be buying more as I find them. The new rule is now to keep your cars full of gas. I am serious; don’t let them get below three quarters of a tank. Make a joke out of it, say you are stopping to buy a lottery ticket or you need to pee or something but fuel will become precious if and when they do put in a real quarantine.
    “The timing of this get-together is actually good as we have a strategic decision to make before I buy too much more.”
    “What’s that?” said Chad feeding Dave the straight line he was fishing for.
    “Whether we should stay here or run.”
    “Is it going to be that bad?” asked Mary.
    “I don’t know,” said Dave. “Chad? What can you tell us?”
    “Really guys, the news reports are the straight stuff. The Government is soft pedaling things but the spread rate and zero survival expectations are right on. Besides, where would we run to? My folks are both gone. My brother Bob lives in Moscow, Idaho, not far from here, but he is a bit of a recluse. He teaches at the U, but after a bad divorce, lives in a small apartment. I don’t know that he would be much help. I was going to invite him here if things got greasy. I know Mary was raised by foster parents after her folks died, and while they still make nice, they aren’t really family. What about the rest of you?”
    “Well,” said Dave, “My extended family is very religious. They kind of freaked out when I enlisted in the Marine Corps. I still get cards from them but, you know.”
    “Mary knows my story,” said Heather. “I have parents who live back east and they can’t imagine why I live in this ‘waste land.’ My kids are my only real family.” 
    “No place to run to then,” said Chad. “OK, barring some catastrophe, we stay.”
    “Dave, Chad,” said Mary with a shaky voice, “I know you are doing what you think is best. Intellectually, I can even agree with it, but damn it, these are our kids and I dreamed of good colleges for them and long, happy, boring lives. I don’t want them to live out their lives in some B grade apocalyptic movie with no end!”
    “None of us do,” said Heather soothingly. “But we have to play the cards we are dealt. Doing this makes sure that they will last through the bad times, if they happen. I fervently hope that in two months’ time, they come up with a vaccine and we all have a good laugh, but if it goes south, these things will ensure that perhaps our grandkids will live that long, happy, boring life you were talking about and that is something to hope for.
    “Now I need to bring up something. You all know I live in a condo near Ginger’s school. It is convenient as all get out to have her walk to school but, let me be blunt, if it gets as bad as Chad and Dave say it might, I can’t live there anymore. There are lots of migrants who come through visiting family. They are by and large wonderful people, but I read between the lines of the news reports. I have child support from ‘what’s his name’ and my salary from Bookwalter’s, but I don’t have much put away. I can’t move anywhere close unless ….”
    “Heather, you can always come and live here like you did when you first left him,” said Mary.
    “I have a three bedroom two bath house and all I use is the master bedroom, kitchen and the den,” said Dave. “You are welcome to use as much of the rest of the place as you want. I promise this isn’t a come on, but place is kind of lonely there all by myself.”
    “Dave, you are a sweet man,” Said Heather. “I accept.”
    “And I think we all need another drink,” said Mary as she led the procession back to her patio.

Chapter 4
     
    May 8 th , Monday, 2:31am PDT
    Macklin was slouching against a car that he had bought that day for just five hundred dollars in the parking lot of Walmart. Even then, he thought the previous owner got the better end of the deal. He was waiting for a guy named