Get Busy Living Part 5

[mnn2300]

Well this story was a long time coming. I finished Get Busy Living Book 4 almost 4 years ago.
I had this 3/4 written for most of those 4 years but I just had no idea how to bring it to the finish.

It is finished now (finally), with a rough editing. I will give it a better editing and post the whole thing fairly quickly.

For those not familiar with the first 4 parts, here are the links. All deal with a global pandemic called E2 - a hemorrhagic fever type flu. Books 1, 4 and now 5 are inter related with characters appearing in each. While they do stand alone, I would recommend reading them in order for the best story. Parts 2 and 3 are short stories set in the same pandemic.


Link to Book 1 Marks story www.pawfiction.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=finished&action=display&thread=364
Link to Book 2 (short story)www.pawfiction.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=finished&action=display&thread=366
Link to Book 3 (short story)www.pawfiction.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=stories&action=display&thread=389
Link to Book 4 Quinns Story www.pawfiction.proboards.com/thread/405/busy-living-quinns-story-book

First a warning, for those that don't like religion mixed in with their stories, this has some. The main character is a Mormon (LDS) missionary when it begins. Its not meant to be preachy, I'm not pushing any religion with his character, but his character does act like an LDS missionary would in this situation. A global pandemic would leave a vast cross section of people alive and this one struck me as an interesting concept. Most of the religious explanation happens int he 1st half of the first chapter, in setting it up. Don't worry, there are plenty of other characters also.
I hope you enjoy it.

And now Book 5

Get Busy Living Book 5 : Elder Thomas

It was a Tuesday; transfers day. Elder Thomas was a Mormon missionary. Young, unmarried, adults from 18-25, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (abbreviated LDS and nicknamed Mormon, after the Book of Mormon, one of the scriptures they used in addition to the Bible) had the opportunity, or duty if you listened to some of their parents, to serve an 18 month to two year mission preaching the Gospel to anyone who would listen. There were over 60,000 LDS missionaries serving all over the world. Each geographic area was under the direction of a Mission President, an older member and his wife who gave three years of their life to service to God and their Church.


Elder Thomas had been serving in the Frisco Texas area and was being transferred to Richardson Texas about 20 miles away. The young missionaries would usually stay in one area for 3-6 months and then get moved to another area in the mission and today was Elder Thomas’ day to be transferred. His new companion (as they always were assigned in pairs) Elder Kafiki, whose parents had come to America from Samoa when he was a baby, had been assigned to the Richardson area for 2 months already and in fact this was his 5th area, he had already been on his mission for 22 months and would be going home in 2 months, so Elder Thomas was guaranteed a new companion in 2 months. The practice being that you only transfer one companion at a time so there is continuity in the area. Each missionary companionship was assigned to an LDS Church Congregation or Ward as they are called.


In Richardson they had their own apartment which Elder Thomas was glad of; in some Wards they lived in a member’s house. Elder Thomas had lived in both situations and greatly preferred having an apartment, not that they were there much, but it gave them a place where they could be themselves after a long day of finding people to teach, teaching lessons to people, working with members of the Ward and all the things that went along with serving a mission.


The zone leaders (Senior missionaries) had picked Elder Thomas up in Frisco while dropping off his replacement and now pulled up to the apartment in Richardson where the current Elders were waiting, one of them with his suitcase as he was being transferred out as Elder Thomas was coming in. They all stopped to talk for a few minutes and then the Zone Leaders left with the outgoing Elder, and Elders Kafiki and Thomas walked from the parking lot to the stairs leading up to their 2nd floor apartment. As they reached their door, the door across from them opened and a young woman walked out.

“Oh, got a newbie, huh?” the woman said.
“Yes, Elder Larson was transferred out, this is Elder Thomas.”
“Amazing that all you guys first name is ‘Elder’.” she said joking, “I’m Becca Gonzales.”

Elder Thomas was staring, Becca was a young woman, probably mid-twenties, of Hispanic heritage but had no accent, taller than many women, he guessed about 5'6" or 5'7", dark complexion, dark eyes, and long black hair, dressed in a very skimpy outfit. Elder Thomas was thinking some very un-missionary like thoughts, Elder Kafiki nudged him.

“Hello” he said.
Becca just chuckled and said “I have to get to work.” and headed down the stairs. Elder Thomas just stared as she went down the stairs, he noticed a tattoo on her lower back that disappeared into her already low riding shorts and briefly wondered how far down it went.

“Put your eyeballs back in Elder or you’ll need to have a talk with the Mission President about your impure thoughts.” Elder Kafiki said laughing.

“What's the deal with her?” Elder Thomas said.
“She's a waitress at a bar a couple miles from here and that’s her uniform, short shorts and baby tee-shirt ….well you saw it.” He replied. "and yes, she's been given a Book of Mormon which she took and said she's read parts of, and she's also been invited to Church which she keeps declining, and no she doesn’t want to hear more about the Gospel.

"Maybe she's just waiting for the right Missionary to ask." Elder Thomas said.
"Dream on Elder, she's way out of your league." Elder Kafiki replied pushing his new companion into the apartment.

They usually ate dinner at a member’s house which helped out the missionary’s budget and hopefully gave the family a spiritual boost as they shared a spiritual message after the meal, usually a scripture or part of a talk from one of the Churches leaders followed by a short testimony of what it meant to them. Tonight they had dinner set up with the Layfield's. Brother and Sister Layfield were in their 40's with 3 teens at home and a 4th, their oldest boy, on a mission in England.

During dinner, the conversation turned to E2 and how it was spreading in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Sister Layfield had tears in her eyes when they talked about their oldest son being in England on his mission.
Elder Thomas had just been reading in the Doctrine and Covenants which was also considered LDS Scripture something he felt would be a good spiritual message for the Layfield's since they were worried about their son so when it was time to give the Spiritual message, he opened his scriptures and read to them about what the Lord said about an early missionary about to go on a long and arduous mission "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and you shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come." (Doctrine &Covenants 68: 6)
"So that is what your son and us for that matter, are doing; bearing record of Jesus Christ. The Lord has promised to protect him and He will protect your son also." Elder Thomas told them.
"Thank you Elder, we needed to hear that tonight." Mr. Layfield said.
"Can we have a prayer before we go?" Elder Kafiki asked.
"Certainly Elder, would you say it?" Mr. Layfield asked.
They closed in a prayer asking for the Lords help through this difficult time and left a blessing on their home and all within it. They had 2 teaching appointments set up for later so they left the Layfield's. At both appointments after giving the lesson, the talk turned to the flu that had been named E2 that was killing so many people in Europe, Africa and Asia.

"It's on everyone's mind." Elder Thomas said later in the apartment as they got ready to turn in for the night.
"Well with the sheer numbers of people sick and dying are quite large, luckily it's all overseas." Elder Kafiki replied.
"I wonder what would happen if it broke out over here too?" he asked.
"As you told the Layfield’s earlier: be of good cheer Elder, the Lord is with us." Elder Kafiki said.
"Good night Elder"
"Good night"


* * *


Becca got off her 4 to midnight shift, things were slow at the bar/restaurant she worked at. People were worried about E2, the flu that was running wild overseas. Even though no cases had been reported in this country, people were hesitant to gather in public places just in case. Even the regulars were quieter than normal and watching the TV’s in the bar more than usual to see if there was any news on E2 breaking out in the U.S.


Tony, the bars owner, said that if E2 hit in the U.S. he would be closing and he and his family would be heading out to his uncles place, his uncle owned a farm in rural East Texas. Becca didn’t know if Tony was kidding or not, Tony had a habit of talking big but never following through, but if Tony did close, things would get bad quickly. Becca figured she had enough money to last about 2 months if she really tightened things up. She tried to save money but it seemed that something always came up. Her car had died 2 months ago, luckily an ex-boyfriend had taught her to ride a motorcycle and she bought a used Kawasaki off of Craig’s List. She got a good deal on it but it was still an expense she hadn’t planned on. It also was a pain when she shopped as all she could buy at a time is what would fit in a backpack, luckily there was a 24 hour grocery store just a couple blocks from her apartment, speaking of which, she needed to stop and get a few things on her way home. She should have thought of bringing a pair of jeans with her as there was a creepy night stock-man that ogled her all the time in her work uniform. The short shorts and baby tee were to bring attention at the bar while she was working, not when she was outside of work. The creep at the grocery store made her feel like she needed to take a shower when she got home. Hopefully he wouldn’t be working tonight.


She laughed thinking of the new Mormon ‘Elder’ that afternoon, the new ones always did that when they first saw her in her work uniform, at least they weren’t creeps like that grocery store stocker was.

‘Elder’, heck they were younger than she was, nice guys but a bit naive, she couldn’t imagine believing in anything strongly enough to give up two years of her life to push it. Still that new one was kind of cute in a ‘fresh off the farm’ kind of way. Every time there was a new Elder they usually tried to get her to come to Church, she just wasn’t religious though, she had been raised Catholic but when she moved out of her parents house she stopped going to Mass totally and it was some time before that, that she had made her last confession, right about the time she and Jimmy Thompson made it in the backseat of his Ford. She laughed thinking back to that. A girl’s first time should be memorable, but it was also Jimmy’s first time – it was all over in about 30 seconds and she wondered what the big deal was supposed to be, it was just messy and left her unsatisfied. It was a while later before she found out what sex was supposed to be like.
‘Wow, what got me thinking along those lines?’ She thought to herself.


She parked her bike in the front of the grocery store by the door, being it was just after midnight there were not very many people shopping. Walking in she saw that her wish that the creep wouldn’t be working tonight hadn’t come true, he was stocking the main aisle, no way to avoid him. He noticed her and said Hi as she walked by, she mumbled hi and walked past, feeling his eyes follow her. As she turned the corner she breathed a sigh of relief that she was past him. She grabbed what she needed and after about 10 minutes of shopping went up to the checkout counter. She put the groceries into her backpack and walked out. “Oh Shit” she thought to herself. The creep was outside now stocking the soda machines that lined the outside of the building.

“Good Night” he said as she walked out to her bike. She mumbled something kind of like ‘g-night’ and got on her bike, quickly pulling away. She did like riding this time of night, the usual heavy traffic was gone, the daytime heat was mainly gone. Daytimes in the summer in this part of Texas were usually over 100, but the nights usually cooled down to the 80’s. Dressed lightly as she was, and riding her motorcycle it was pretty nice temperature wise. As she parked in the parking lot of her apartment she put the creep out of her mind and carried the groceries upstairs.

* * *

The man Becca called the Creep or Mister Creepo, real name Duane Filmore got off at 7AM. He was happy to have seen the hottie again last night, he didn’t know her name but since she wore just a skimpy outfit usually he figured she was looking for something and that’s why he called her ‘the hottie’ he saw tonight that she even rode a wicked bike, boy, that would fuel his fantasies for the next few days. Maybe he should change what he called her to ‘biker chick’, or maybe ‘hot biker chick’. Duane didn’t have a car; he walked home to the 2 bedroom apartment where he lived with his Grandmother. After 6 months of his working the 11 PM to 7AM shift Granny finally got it through her head that he needed to sleep during the day and stopped bothering him to do something. He mainly stayed in his room leaving it only to get food and use the bathroom. He had his own TV and computer in there and spent most of his time there.

The sidewalk to his apartment wound past the apartments parking lot and there it was; the bike the girl rode last night. She lived in the apartment complex – no way! She was hot and had fueled his fantasies more than once already and certainly would again today. His grandmother was always trying to get him to find a girlfriend, but he had lots of girlfriends, in his imagination at least; imagination, his right hand and a couple of tissues were easier than finding and getting an actual girlfriend, but boy would he like to have just one night with that hottie. He’d have to figure out where in the apartment complex she lived and watch for her. Maybe even see her at the pool, if she wore what she did while shopping he could only imagine what she’d wear to the pool. Imagining that got him excited, he was glad he had his work apron to hold in front of him so his granny wouldn’t see he was aroused.

[pbbrown0]

So glad to see more of your writing, Mnn2000. I've missed your gifts. It's also kinda fun that the story is set in familiar stomping grounds.

[mnn2300]

Chapter 2

The next night the Elders didn’t have any appointments set up after their dinner appointment so they lingered at the Weston’s home when they finished dinner with the family. The President was scheduled to talk to the nation that night and when 7 PM came, the family and the missionaries went into the living room where the TV was on. As they sat down the President came on.

“My fellow Americans, as you know there is a crisis in Europe, Africa and Asia, so far we have been blessed in North and South America with no cases of the E2 flu, in an effort to keep it that way, we are closing the borders effective at midnight tonight………………”

The President went on for 10 minutes and then did not take any questions. The talking heads went on for another 45 minutes analyzing what the President said and speculating on what would happen if cases of E2 did appear in this country.


Becca had Wednesday and Thursday off, the President’s speech the previous night was a bit scary and today the morning shows were reporting price increases on gas and groceries and people were getting worried. Becca decided she really needed to stock up on a few more things just in case. She counted her tip money left from the beginning of the week and decided she could afford to use some of it for some extra groceries. She grabbed her backpack and helmet and opened the door to her apartment just in time to see the Elders going into their apartment across the hall.
“Hey guys, you’re home early.” Becca said being friendly.
“Yeah, got a conference call in a few minutes, rumor has it we might be sent home until the E2 scare is over.” Elder Kafiki said.
“That’s probably not a bad idea if we do get an outbreak here, it would be nice to be near family.” Becca replied.
“Do you have family near?” Elder Thomas asked.
“No, my parents died when I was young and I was raised by my Aunt, sadly she passed away last year.” Becca replied.
“Oh, sorry to hear that….” Elder Thomas started.
“Guys, I really need to get going, but let me know what they decide, ok?” Becca said.
“Sure, we’ll see you later.” Elder Kafiki said as she went down the stairs.

Inside the apartment Elder Kafiki told his companion, “You should have been faster, you could have told her that families could be together forever.”
“Yeah, I started to, maybe later.” Elder Thomas replied.
Elder Kafiki started coughing.
“E2?” Elder Thomas said jokingly
“No just another bike ride up that hill in the dry Texas heat.” Elder Kafiki said.

* * *

“Gotcha you hot biker chick” Duane said to himself as he looked out his bedroom window. “Building C, middle stairs, second floor, right side. But who were those two dorks in white shirts talking to her?” He lay back down on his bed naked, fantasizing about what he would like to do to her, tissues close by.

* * *

“Well that’s it Elder, we’re scheduled to fly home Saturday.”Elder Kafiki said.
“Since you only have two months left on your mission, they’ll probably release you.” Elder Thomas replied.
“Yeah, I’ll….” A coughing spell interrupted him.
“OK, Elder, you don’t have the Texas heat or the hill as an excuse this time, are you ok?.” Elder Thomas asked.
“Actually, I’m not feeling too good, maybe I’ll lay down for a while.” Elder Kafiki said.

* * *

“Duane! Duane! Come out here.” Duane’s grandmother yelled.
“What!?” he yelled.
He heard nothing for a few minutes, then heard something heavy hit the floor. Throwing on some shorts and a T-Shirt he opened his bedroom door and looked out.
“Granny, Granny!” he said seeing her laying on the floor near her rocking chair. He quickly went over to her, her breath was labored and she had a cut on her head from falling. He grabbed the phone and dialed 911.

* * *
Becca grabbed the items she needed in the grocery store and quickly headed home, she heard quite a few people with a dry cough, maybe she was just more sensitive to it with the E2 scare going on but she wasn’t taking any chances.

She was climbing the stairs of the apartment when she heard the siren and saw the ambulance pull up to one of the buildings on the other side of the parking lot. The door to the Elders apartment opened and the new guy, Elder Thomas walked out to see what the siren was about.

“Hi Elder, looks like someone’s sick.” Becca said.
“I hope it’s not E2” he said.
“So what did you guys find out, are you staying or going?” she asked.
“We’re going, it’s going to take some time to get all the missionaries out, they’ll pick us up first thing Saturday morning and we’re scheduled to fly out Saturday afternoon.” Elder Thomas told her.

“I’ll miss you guys, you’ve all been good neighbors.” Becca said.
“Can I ask you a question?” he said.
“Only if you let me put my groceries away while you’re asking.” She told him.

He was breaking the mission rules about a missionary not being alone with a member of the opposite sex but figured this was important and he would stand in the open doorway. Besides, Elder Kafiki was not feeling well and lying down in their apartment. He stood in her doorway. “Elder Kafiki has told me that you’ve read parts of the Book of Mormon, and heard some of the missionary discussions but have never gone anywhere with it, may I ask why?”
“I’m just not the religious type.” She replied.
“What exactly does that mean? He asked.
“God and me don’t really talk a lot, in fact he’s never talked to me. You guys all ask us to pray about what you are teaching and I have, I’ve prayed and asked whether it’s true or not but I’ve never got a reply. So either Gods not answering or…….. there is no God” She told him.

“That sounds like my Dads story.” Elder Thomas said.
“What do you mean?” Becca asked.
“My parents were not always LDS, in fact my parents didn’t convert until after I was born. My Mom was ready to join almost a year before my Dad was. My Dad always wanted to know if it was true or not, but never got an answer, until a missionary asked him what he would do if it was true. In other words he needed to change his prayers from an intellectual curiosity to one of a willingness to do God’s will. He changed his prayer from ‘Is it true?’ to ‘I’ll do what you want me to do, just let me know.’ He got his answer a week or two later.” He told her.

“Thank you Elder that gives me something to think about.” Becca said.
“You’re welcome, if there is anything we can do before we leave.” He told her.
“Well there is one thing, I know you are all ordained Elders before you come out and that’s why you’re all called Elders, but what’s your first name?” she asked.
He smiled, “My first name is Jeff, Jeff Thomas.” He told her.
How about Elder Kafiki’s first name? she asked.
“Its Tia, Tia Kafiki.
“Thanks Jeff” she said.
“I’d better get back into my own apartment.” He said. “Think about what I said though.”
“I will, I really will.” She replied, closing the door behind him.

* * *

A while later Elder Kafiki got up.
“How’re you doing?” Elder Thomas asked him.
“Much better, we should probably get ready for our dinner appointment?” Elder Kafiki said.
“You sure you want to go and spread your germs around? We could cancel.” Elder Thomas said.
“Really, I feel fine, not sure what the deal was, but I’m much better now.” Elder Kafiki said, grabbing his backpack and opening the door.

* * *

“It’s confirmed, your Grandmother has E2.” Dr Sorenson told Duane.
“What? There are no cases in America, that’s what the President said just last night.” Duane protested.
“24 hours changes a lot, she’s not the first case we have had at this hospital since last night.” The doctor told him.
“How’s that possible?” Duane asked.
“The world is too small now, a few hours by jet and you can be halfway around the world, disease spreads quickly and easily, the quarantine should have started weeks ago if we hoped to prevent it from spreading here. The problem is that a person is contagious long before symptoms appear.” Dr. Sorenson replied.
“What now?” Duane asked.
“Your Grandmother is in isolation, getting the best care possible, but as you probably know, there is no cure. It’s up to her now, whether her body can fight it off.” Dr Sorenson said. “Since you live with her, we need to do a blood test on you too.”
“What?” Duane asked confused at how this could be happening.

[mnn2300]

Chapter 2 continued (it was too long for one post)


Elder Thomas stayed out in the living room while Elder Kafiki was resting. Kafiki had gone into another coughing spell while they were out at dinner and obviously looked ill, rather than letting them bike home, the member that they were having dinner with threw their bikes in the back of his pickup and drove them home. Elder Kafiki went straight to bed, Elder Thomas called the one appointment they had for later that evening and postponed it. He checked on Elder Kafiki a couple times but he was sleeping. Elder Kafiki obviously needed some rest to get over whatever it was.

The next morning he went in to check on Elder Kafiki and saw he was soaked with sweat and his breathing was labored, now what should he do? Call 911? Call the Mission President? He decided to try to wake his companion and see if he wanted/needed to go to the hospital.

“Elder……..Elder Kafiki……Tia! Wake up!” he said. All he got was a couple mumbles. He tried shaking him gently, but that didn’t wake him up either, that solved it for him, he dialed 911. There was a wait before anyone answered, normally response time was very quick, but apparently the emergency system was getting bogged down. The person on the other end of the line told Jeff that it would be at least 30 minutes before an ambulance would get there and suggested it would be faster to drive themselves. Elder Thomas replied that they didn’t have a car. It was actually closer to 45 minutes before the ambulance pulled up, Elder Thomas had moved back and forth between the bedroom where Elder Kafiki was and the stairwell to watch for the ambulance. Hearing the noise brought a number of people out of their apartments to see what was happening including Becca.

“Jeff, what’s going on?” she asked using Elder Thomas’s first name.
“It Elder Kafiki, he’s sick; coughing, fever, not responding to me trying to wake him up.” Elder Thomas said. They were rolling Elder Kafiki out by then. “I have to go……” Elder Thomas said.
“Yeah, go with them, wait how will you get home?” she asked.
Elder Thomas just shrugged his shoulders.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital” turning to one of the paramedics she asked “Which hospital are you taking him to?”
“Richardson Medical Center” he told her as they carried the gurney down the stairs to the ambulance.
“I’ll meet you there.” Becca hollered as they got into the ambulance.

It was a quick drive to the hospital, coming in via ambulance got you put into an exam room right away, however the exam rooms were all full with a number of beds in the hallway, which is where Elder Kafiki was placed. Elder Thomas noted that the waiting room was full. They had Elder Kafiki hooked up to a couple of portable monitors and a technician was drawing blood while Elder Thomas was filling the attendants in on all the pertinent information, when Becca arrived she saw they already had an IV in Elder Kafiki and he was hooked up to blood pressure and oxygen sensors. She was a bit surprised to see that all the hospital personal were all wearing masks, gloves and some kind of gown over their normal hospital clothing.

“He may be contagious, you may want to wait outside.” One of the nurses told the two.
“If he’s contagious we’ve already been exposed.” Becca told the nurse. From the nurses look she didn’t approve but she didn’t say anything else.

They stood in the hallway where Elder Kafiki’s bed was while the hospital ran the blood tests from the vials of blood that had taken when they first arrived. Becca and Jeff talked, no more was it “Elder Thomas” it was Jeff. While they were waiting Becca learned that Jeff was from California near the Sonoma Valley, and that Tia, Elder Kafiki, was from Salt Lake City, which she learned from Jeff had a large population of peoples from the Pacific islands. She also learned that Jeff had 2 older brothers, both married; one living in San Francisco and one in Seattle.

Becca told Jeff that her parents had died in a car accident when she was 12 and that she was raised by an Aunt after that, her Aunt had died about a year ago of cancer. They talked of many things while they were waiting and found that even though they were from different backgrounds they had a lot in common.

It was about an hour later that one of the ER doctors told them that Elder Kafiki had E2.
“I didn’t think that was in the U.S. yet.” Becca questioned.
“It is, we’ve had a number of cases in the last 2 days, luckily it’s easy to diagnose with a simple blood test, unluckily, there is no treatment other than to let nature run its course. There is really nothing else you can do for him and as of right now he is in quarantine. Also people are contagious before symptoms appear. We’ll be taking your friend up to a room in a couple minutes. And you two will give us a blood sample to see if you’re infected” The doctor answered. A hospital employee took them to another room that had hastily been designated as blood test and lab room to test all the people that had brought in people diagnosed with E2. There were already 20 people in the room, their blood taken and then they waited. It only took about a half hour for the results to come through but in that time another 20 or so people were ushered into the room, during that time a few of the people before them left and a few were taken deeper into the hospital, presumably having their tests come back positive. Both Jeff and Rebecca’s results were negative. They were both warned to watch for symptoms and then were told they could leave.

“Let’s get out of here.” Becca told Jeff. They walked out to the parking lot and Becca handed Jeff a spare helmet. “Ever been on a motorcycle before?” she asked.
Jeff shook his head no.

“OK, sit on the back and hold onto my waist, just sit up straight and don’t lean around too much.” She told him. He got on the back of the bike and she started it up. At first he just sat there, she turned and said “You need to hold on to my waist, don’t worry, I don’t bite.” She said. As she let out the clutch and they started to move she smiled and added “too much.”

When they got back to the apartment complex, Elder Thomas opened the door to the Elders apartment and Becca followed him in.
“I have to make a couple phone calls.” He told her. He knew he was breaking the mission rules by being alone with her in the apartment but he really didn’t want to be alone now. He tried calling the mission office but all he got was a busy signal, they were probably still trying to line up all the flights for this weekend to get the missionaries home. He wondered if that was still going to be the case now that E2 had spread.


While Elder Thomas was trying to call the mission office, Becca looked around the apartment, it was the mirror image of hers in layout but it was very Spartan; one old couch, a small kitchen table and 2 chairs, a small book case with nothing but Church books on it, a bulletin board near the door with a weekly appointment schedule and a painting of Jesus on it. No TV, radio or computer, a bit surprising to her but when she thought about it, it made sense that during their mission they were to be focused on just one thing.

Elder Thomas finally got voice mail at the Mission Presidents number, he explained what happened with Elder Kafiki and then hung up.
“You got through?” Becca asked.
“Just to voicemail, now I wait to hear from them.” Jeff replied. What Elder Thomas didn’t know was that both the Mission President and his wife were on their way to a hospital, both with symptoms of E2.

[kaijafon]

Here's to hoping creepy guy was positive! but then again... it'd be a better story if not! lol!

thanks!

[mnn2300]

Jul 4, 2017 8:24:52 GMT -6 kaijafon said:

Here's to hoping creepy guy was positive! but then again... it'd be a better story if not! lol!

thanks!

bwahhahahaha

You'll find out soon.

[mnn2300]

Chapter 3

Watching the TV, Jeff and Rebecca heard an off camera voice said "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States" as the camera showed the President standing at a podium, the usual press background noise was missing.

“My fellow Americans. I come to you today with a heavy heart, subdued by the monumental challenge we face with this, the greatest crises the world has ever faced. The spread of the deadly E2 virus throughout the globe is devastating the human population but with your help we can yet beat this challenge. Since my last broadcast to you, E2 has indeed spread to this great nation."

"In order to stop the transmission of this deadly virus, as of 6PM local time I am instituting a curfew and martial law for the duration. Please get to and stay in your homes. If you have not been infected you will be safe there, if you have been infected, if you start feeling sick, call your local emergency services and follow their directions. Emergency workers: nurses, doctors, police and fire departments, FEMA workers, are called to report to their emergency stations, we have also called up all active military units to assist local police to enforce the quarantine. Your local emergency broadcast system will have pertinent details for your area. With your cooperation, your obedience to this quarantine and Gods help, we can yet beat this virus and survive as a nation. Good luck and may God bless this great nation.”
He then left the podium without taking any questions.

With that the President walked out of the room, the camera’s still rolling at the now empty podium for a few seconds until the talking heads took over.

“There goes your flight home tomorrow.” Becca said.
“Great, now what do I do? Since Elder Kafiki is in the hospital they were supposed to pick me up tomorrow morning and take me back to the mission office, but I can’t even get a hold of anyone there now.” Elder Thomas said trailing off at a loss of what to do.

“If you’re stuck here how are you set for groceries?” Becca asked.
“We’ve got maybe 3 days worth of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.” He replied.
“Let’s see if we can get to the grocery store before they close, empty your backpack and lets go.” She said.
Less than 5 minutes later they were at the grocery store, apparently they were not the only ones with that idea as the parking lot was filling up fast.

“We’re kind of limited in what we can carry on the bike, lets grab a cart and hurry, I’m getting bad vibes about all the cars hitting the parking lot here, it could turn into a mob real quick.”

This was the quickest trip Elder Thomas ever had for grocery shopping, they skipped the convenience foods and bought things like fresh veggies and fruit, rice, beans, some canned items and hamburger and sausage. People were filling the store, banging their carts into each other, there were already lines at the checkout counters, they got into the line nearest the main door and watched people pushing and shoving to get in, just as they finished putting their groceries on the conveyer the store ran out of carts which almost started a riot over the last couple of carts. They started putting the groceries directly into their back packs as they were checked out, someone grabbed their now empty cart without saying anything and rushed off.


Luckily their Debit cards were still working, they paid for their groceries and still had 2 bags worth of groceries left over after their backpacks were filled.
“You’ll have to carry those, double bag them so they won’t break.” Becca said to Jeff.

“This is getting ugly fast.” He said to her as they were heading out the door, people were grabbing onto carts from the lot even before people finished unloading them, this started some heated verbal exchanges. They got on her bike, Jeff holding onto the two groceries bags and trying to avoid Becca’s backpack while still holding on. This was going to be an interesting ride home; luckily they only had a couple blocks to go. Before they could get out of the lot they saw a fight start over a cart, they heard sirens, as they were pulling out of the lot two police cars pulled in lights and sirens going, Becca had to do some fancy maneuvering to avoid running into one as it was pulling in fast and making a wide turn that came into her lane a ways.

“That was a lot of fun, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it out in one piece.” Becca said when they got off the bike back at the apartment complex.
“Sure turned into a madhouse quickly.” He replied.
They had not been too picky over whose groceries were bagged in which backpack, so back at Beccas apartment they started sorting.
“You know, the kinds of food we bought are not really conducive to single servings, if you wanted, we could share the cooking and the meals, at least lunch and dinner.” Becca said.
“Yeah, sounds great, we can both take turns cooking, I’m actually a pretty good cook when I have the time, and if we’re stuck in our apartments I’ll have the time.” Jeff replied.

- - -

Elder Thomas kept trying to reach the Mission office, but the voicemail was full and no one was answering, what he didn’t know was that both the Mission President and his wife were in the hospital. He finally called his parents in California his Mother answered the phone:
“Mom” he said.
“Jeff is that you?”
“Yeah, it is. How are things going?”
“You’re ok? You’re not sick are you?”
“No, but my companion is in the hospital, he has E2, don’t worry, myself and the neighbor across the hall that helped us were both tested and we don’t have it, the neighbor gave me a ride home from the hospital.” Jeff said not mentioning the neighbor was a very attractive female.”
“That’s terrible about your companion, what did your Mission President say?” his Mom asked.

“I’ve been trying to call them since Elder Kafiki was taken to the hospital but I can’t reach him or anyone at the mission office and now they’ve put the quarantine in to effect so I can’t go anywhere.” He replied.
“Have you talked to the Bishop in the area?”
“ I tried calling him but got no answer, and its really kind of late now since the quarantine is in effect and they said they would arrest anyone caught out.” he said looking at the clock and seeing it was now after 6PM quarantine time that had been announced. “How is everyone there?”

“So far everyone is ok, Your brother Ben and his family were coming down from Seattle today, but they’re not here yet, hopefully soon, it’s still just after 4PM here in California so we have a couple of hours to go before the curfew. Craig and his wife are staying in San Francisco. Your Dad and I are fine, of course we haven’t been away from home in over a week.” Jeff’s mother replied. “Do you have enough food on hand?” she asked him.
“Yeah we have a few weeks worth of food here.” He replied.
“If things really get bad, you hightail it home, any way you can.” His mother said.
“Yeah, I will.” He promised her.
“Well your brother and his family just pulled in so I’ll get off the phone for now, you call me every day, ok?” his mother said.
“I will, bye Mom – I love you.” Jeff said
“I love you too, talk to you tomorrow.” She said and hung up.

[pbbrown0]

Excellent chapter Mnn2300, as is normal for your work. Sooooo glad you are sharing your talents with us again. Thank you.

[mnn2300]

Chapter 4


Like most apartments in the South the apartment doors led directly outside rather than into an interior hallway. Second and higher floors to an outside landing that serviced multiple apartments with stairs leading out to the parking lot. Jeff’s and Rebecca’s 2nd floor apartment doors were across from each other on a landing. The stairs were about 10 feet away from their door’s, they didn’t have much of a view, just the stairs and parking lot on one side and past the other set of apartments on this landing was a view of the fence between the complex and a housing neighborhood on the other side. They spent some time out there when they got too bored inside the two apartments. Technically they were probably breaking the curfew by doing that, but they were not the only ones, in the beginning they saw a number of people in other buildings doing the same thing. They could also see a few back yards of the neighboring houses and at first they would see children outside playing, later that stopped, presumably the children were kept inside, maybe sick or possibly even dead, they had seen a number of body bags at the curb that were picked up daily, they couldn’t help but think of a garbage pickup when they saw the truck go through the apartment complex or the neighborhood behind them.

It did give them some fresh air and a view of something besides the walls of their apartments. Every now and then they would see a police car driving through the complex, occasionally stopping and dropping off body bags to people who had called for them and once a day the truck coming through to pick up the bodies. As the days went by the number of living people they saw dropped and the number of body bags grew.


They occasionally heard sirens from further out, it was amazing how loud they were when there were no other traffic noises drowning them out, strange to see no jet trails in the sky and to hear birds and other wildlife noises in the city. One night late in the third week of the quarantine they saw flames from a house in the neighborhood nearby, no fire truck responded, the house burned down, luckily the fire did not spread.

* * *

Duane had been stuck in his apartment for two weeks now, ever since he got the word from the hospital that his grandmother had not made it and his blood test came out OK, and since the president instituted the curfew. Granny had some food on hand, but not anything good and what she did have was running out. An idea had been growing in his head, he had seen a number of body bags being picked up the last couple of weeks, including from the apartments on his floor, he decided he would break into one or more of the apartments and see what they had that he could use, food mainly but who knows, maybe some money or other valuables.

He waited until dark and then took a hammer and a long screwdriver and snuck over to the apartment across the landing from his, all the apartments had a window right by the door and if he could get that open he could reach in and unlock the door. He put the screwdriver between the window and the bottom window sill and used the hammer to pound it in, once in all the way he used the screwdriver as a pry bar, it worked, he was in.

Looking around the apartment he found a bunch of food and a case of beer, he carried them over to his apartment, he was debating calling it a night, he now had enough food for a few more days, but decided he might as well hit the other two apartments on his landing before someone else did. The second apartment was as easy as the first, and his score was better, not only did he find a cupboard full of food there were 3 bottles of whiskey under the sink, which he gathered and brought back to his place.

He was feeling pretty good about his luck when he popped the window and unlocked the door on the third apartment, this time however as he walked into the kitchen there was an obviously dead and already starting to decay old woman, he had figured both the old woman and old man who lived here had been taken out in body bags, apparently only the old man had. Duane’s stomach unloaded itself of its contents adding to the already rank smell of the apartment, when he finished heaving he ran out of the apartment slamming the door shut. He grabbed one of the bottles of whiskey and with his stomach now empty it didn’t take him long to get drunk.

The next day Duane woke up late, with a slight hangover, he took a few drinks out of the bottle he had opened last night. The thought of the dead body made him drink faster and before noon he had finished the rest of the bottle and was feeling pretty good, he wandered outside to the landing and was looking around when he saw the hottie on her landing, being a bit drunk it gave him courage he was normally lacking along with really poor judgment, he decided she was no doubt as horny as he was and it was time for him to go over there and do something about it. He decided that he might need to persuade her, so he grabbed one of the big chef’s knife from the kitchen.

Jeff was in his apartment when he heard a scream, he opened the door and saw the door was open to Becca’s apartment and some guy was struggling with her. He charged the guy and grabbed him by the arm and tossed him out of Becca’s apartment, Jeff felt something warm on his arm and looked down and saw blood flowing down his arm, the guy continued trying to stab Jeff with the knife he was carrying, Jeff was able to grab the guys arm and force him to drop the knife, the guy continued his attack. Jeff lowered his head and charged the guy and the guy went flying down the stairs, Jeff almost went with him but was able to grab the railing and stop at the last moment. Becca was running toward the creep with a frying pan in her hand when she saw Jeff had already pushed him down the stairs, she ran to Jeff putting her arms around him as they both looked at the guy laying at the bottom of the stairs, his head and neck at an angle that left no possibility of his survival.

“I thought it was you at the door but when I opened it he forced his way in.” Becca exclaimed through the tears.
“Are you OK?” Jeff asked her.
“I think so, he grabbed me by the neck and tried to……….” Becca gasped.
“You’re ok now, Becca, your safe.” Jeff said holding her closely, he lightly kissed her on the forehead, she tilted her head and they kissed, lightly at first, then harder, they heard sirens getting closer and broke the kiss.

“You’re bleeding!” Becca exclaimed. “Let me see.”
“It’s just a big scratch; help me get something on it to stop the bleeding.” Jeff said.

Not having any first aid supplies that would work for a slice this large, Jeff grabbed a tie from the hooks inside his apartment and Becca tied it over the cut. A police car pulled up just then and two officers jumped out.
“Keep your hands where I can see them.” one said as he knelt down to check for a pulse on the guy at the bottom of the stairs, the officer noted that the guy reeked of alcohol, while the other covered Becca and Jeff from the other side of the squad car.

The officer got each of their stories separately and they both matched and sounded reasonable to him. The dead guy, the officer found out, had worked at the grocery store but that was all Becca could tell them other than that the times she had seen him he seemed real creepy. About that time the paramedics arrived and checked Jeff’s knife cut, they determined it did not need stitches so they bandaged it properly and then they checked out Becca, who, other than a ripped blouse and a hand shaped red mark where she had been grabbed by the neck was just shaken up a bit. While the officer finished up, the paramedics placed the body in a body bag and took it with them when they left. The officers, convinced that the two had been the victims in this started to take their leave.

“How bad is it out there?” Becca asked.
“Officially?” Officer Dietrich, by his nametag asked.
“I’d prefer reality as opposed to an official statement” Becca said.
“Unofficially, its real bad, E2 is very good at what it does.” Dietrich replied.
“How many people who catch it recover?” Jeff asked.
“Less than one percent.” Dietrich answered honestly.
“Oh my gosh!” the girl exclaimed. “How many people are dead?”
“I don’t know exact numbers but from the number of body bags we have seen, I would guess the population is down by at least 50% maybe more” the officer said, Becca gasped, Jeff put his arm around her.
“Best thing to do is to stay indoors, avoid other people, eventually this will die out and then we’ll have to put everything back together again.” The other officer or perhaps Army guy as he was in Army fatigues added and motioned for his partner that they should leave.


Later in Beccas apartment she told Jeff “I don’t want to be alone here, I want you to move in with me.”
“OK, I can sleep on the couch.” He replied.
“You don’t have to you know.” She told him moving up close to him.
“Ummm, yes I have to.” He said moving away.
“Why, don’t you like me?” she asked.
“It’s not that, I like you…a lot, I may even be falling in love with you these last few weeks, but sleeping with you, without being married to you goes against my life’s training. We’re taught that sex is a wonderful thing but that it’s meant for a husband and wife who are married, to each other. It’s not that I don’t have feelings for you, I do, very much so, but I just can’t. I’ll stay here, on the couch, but that’s all I can do for now.” Jeff told her.
“Wow” Becca said. “You really do try to live what you believe; you realize that most guys would have jumped at that offer? It’s funny, because you could have me if you wanted, but I am glad you really are living your beliefs instead of saying one thing and doing the opposite. I may not understand it, but I do respect it.” She said kissing him on his cheek.

[9idrr]

Jul 4, 2017 8:24:52 GMT -6 kaijafon said:

Here's to hoping creepy guy was positive! but then again... it'd be a better story if not! lol!

thanks!

Don't wanna break up the story line, but kaijafon, if you respond to this one, that'll give me the honor of prefacin' your one thousandth post.

[kaijafon]

Jul 6, 2017 17:32:49 GMT -6 9idrr said:

Jul 4, 2017 8:24:52 GMT -6 kaijafon said:

Here's to hoping creepy guy was positive! but then again... it'd be a better story if not! lol!

thanks!

Don't wanna break up the story line, but kaijafon, if you respond to this one, that'll give me the honor of prefacin' your one thousandth post.

1000???wooohoo!

[9idrr]

Okay, back to discussin' the story. It's good, it has me hooked and it seems to be goin' fine for bein' just the first 1%. I'm guessin that we only have another 47 chapters to go, right?
Thanks for what we've gotten to read so far.

[mnn2300]

Chapter 5

A week later, with the power having been out for a few days now and now today when they turned the water on they just got a few drips from the faucet. They had been seeing less official presence, more evidence of dead bodies as time went by, they had heard gun fire during the night and had woken up to someone twisting the door knob.

“We can’t stay here anymore, it’s not safe and besides were running low on food and water.” Becca said.
“I agree, there’s obviously no one on guard anymore, I think we should head out and try to get to my parents place.” Jeff told her.
“California? That’s a long way to go.” She replied.
“I really need to check on my family, since the power went out the other day I have not been able to contact them, besides its a farm, out of the way in its own valley, pretty self sufficient, there’s really no better place I can think of in this situation.” He told her.
“Yeah it sounds ideal, but how are we going to travel 1500-1700 miles? She asked.
“Good question, I’m not even sure what roads to take between here and there and with the internet down…….” Jeff trailed off
“Other than when Mr. Creepo attacked we really haven’t seen anyone in a week or so.” she said.
“Yeah but we have heard gunfire, so there are still people around, people I’d rather avoid, we will need a vehicle of some kind, your bike won’t be enough.” Jeff said.
“I have an idea about that.” Becca replied. “Pack what you want to bring with you, and we’ll take my bike to where we can pick up better transportation.

After a half hour of practice Jeff felt comfortable driving the 3 wheeled Can-Am motorcycle, it was more stable than a regular 2 wheeled bike, yet got good gas mileage and was very maneuverable, not knowing what the roads were like they thought it would be a good way to go. Besides it had built in storage wells and was comfortable. Becca had looked at them when she was buying her bike until she saw that they cost as much as many cars.

They packed up and headed out. First stop was going to be a Cabelas just a few miles up the highway, where they wanted to pick up a couple of guns and some ammo. Both were experienced with guns although neither currently had one. Becca had been in this store before and with a couple of flashlights they entered the store that someone had obviously already broken into. Jeff hoped they were long gone. They quickly made their way to the far left corner of the store where Rebecca knew the guns were. It appeared in the light of the flashlight that they were not the first ones there, three of the cases had been smashed, but there also was plenty of guns and ammo left. They each took two Ruger 9mm with 6 boxes of ammo, they also picked up two rifles; Remington 700 ADL with scopes that took the .300 Ultra Mag of which they also took 6 boxes. They added in carrying cases, ammo boxes, a couple of cleaning kits, all in all they spent about 40 minutes in the store, at one point they thought they heard someone else in the store and they turned off their flashlights and crouched silently in the dark for a few minutes, not hearing anything else they loaded the pistols one at a time and then slowly made their way closer to the front of the store where they grabbed a couple of sleeping bags and some freeze dried food. Down the center aisle there were a few racks of polo style shirts, Jeff stopped and grabbed a few in his size telling Rebecca “These white shirts are fine as a missionary, but its time for a more comfortable type of shirt”. They carried these out of the store, putting the items into the CanAm’s storage wells or in the case of the rifles strapping them down, the pistols were in a holster they had gotten in the store that each of them wore just in case. Jeff was still a bit cautious while driving the CanAm but eventually they got up to about 65 mph and kept it there, cutting over to Interstate 35 on a county road they crossed the Texas Oklahoma border about noon. Jeff was thinking how clear the roads were, they might even be able to switch over to a car or SUV at some point, they had chosen the CanAm’s figuring that they would have to go around traffic jams and also for the gas mileage, but it appeared their worries were misplaced.

10 or 12 miles inside the Oklahoma border they started seeing billboards for a Beef Jerky place ahead a few miles, Rebecca slowed down and pointed at the sign, Jeff nodded his head in agreement and a few miles later they took the exit the sign had indicated and make a curve down onto the road, there were the usual gas stations and fast food places that there are off many interstate exits and then up on the left was the building with the Beef Jerky sign over it. They pulled into the parking lot, noting there was both a squad car and an SUV in the lot, they got off the Can Ams when they heard a man say “Hi, how’s the arm?”
Rebecca and Jeff were startled by the man who was standing in the doorway, he was wearing Army Camo, it took a couple seconds but Jeff recognized him as the soldier that responded when Mr Creepo attacked them.

“It's doing ok, thanks” Then turning to Rebecca Jeff said “It's the soldier from when Mr. Creepo attacked you.”
“Oh, Hi” she said.
“I’m Quinn” the man said holding out his hand.
“I’m Jeff and this is Becca” he said, shaking hands with Quinn.
“And who’s that?” Becca asked seeing the little boy in the doorway and waving at him.
“That’s Ben, we just buried his Mother, she pulled off the highway and died while trying to take Ben to his Grandparents. I pulled in to get some chow and found him.” Quinn said.
“Poor little guy.” She said walking up to the door and introducing herself to Ben.

“So where do his grandparents live?” Jeff asked.
“No clue, and he doesn’t know either, I was just about to go through her car to try to find out.
"Need some help?" Jeff asked.
"No, I assume you two stopped to get something to eat, why don't you go ahead and maybe keep an eye on Ben for a bit while I dig through her SUV."


Jeff went inside with Becca and Ben while Quinn searched the car. They grabbed a number of one pound jars of jerky, putting them in a couple of bags they got from behind the counter. More interested in getting some Beef Jerky for their long trip to California than in eating, they both sat down on the floor with Ben who was busy playing with some toy cars and trucks.


A few minutes later Quinn came in and told them he had found the address.
"Where is it?" Becca asked.
"Eastland, Kansas, although I have no clue where that is yet." Quinn said.

"I'll get our map book." Becca said, standing up and going out to the cycle.
"Where are you two headed?" Quinn asked Jeff while Rebecca was getting the mapbook.
"Northern California, near Napa Valley." Jeff replied.
"You do realize California is west and not north?" Quinn said just as Becca walked in.
"We know, we want to avoid the desert and take the northern route: I-35 to Kansas City then I-29 to Omaha then I-80 west to California, it'll also take us through Salt Lake City, I have an Uncle and Aunt that live there that I want to check on." Jeff answered while Becca came back in with a Rand McNally map book.


OK, let's see, Eastland, Kansas……… here it is, about 30 miles off of Interstate 35 about 50 miles south of Kansas City." Rebecca said after studying the map for a few minutes.
"Well you two are traveling the same way as I am up to Kansas City, how would you feel about changing vehicles and driving with Ben?" Quinn asked.
“We haven’t come down with E2 yet but whether we’re immune or what ……well I’m not sure I want to drive a car that someone who died from E2 drove just before she died.” Jeff said.
“We can disinfect it, I saw some bleach in the Jerky shop” Rebecca replied, “Besides we were both exposed to E2 by Tia.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Jeff replied.


30 minutes later, after wiping the interior of the SUV with a bleach solution from the restaurant. Becca and Jeff had transferred their belongings to the Chevy Suburban that Ben's mother had been driving. They left the CanAms in the parking lot with the keys, they wouldn’t need them and maybe someone else would find them and need them. They filled both vehicles with gas before they got back on the interstate; Quinn also gave them a handset police radio out of the trunk of the police car he was driving so they could communicate. The Suburban had a DVD player in the backseat and a number of videos for Ben to keep him occupied.

“So are you ok travelling with Quinn?” Becca asked Jeff.
“Yeah, it’ll only be for a day or two at most and if we do run into trouble, it’ll be nice to have the Army with us.” Jeff replied.
“How about….” She asked, motioning toward Ben who was engrossed in the movie playing on the screen in the back seat.
“Yeah, he’s a cute little guy, I get the opinion that Quinn was glad we came along, not sure he’s the fatherly type.” Jeff replied.
“Are you the fatherly type Jeff?” Becca asked.
“Yeah, I had planned on getting off my mission and married first, but yes, I do want kids.” He told her.
“I want a big family.” She said “I was an only child and I always wanted brothers and sisters, but with my parents dying while I was young it was probably better this way.”
“How many kids do you want?” Jeff asked.
“I had always said three or four but now that may change to more now with E2 wiping everyone out.” Becca answered.
“Go forth, multiply and replenish the Earth?” Jeff said smiling and reaching over to hold her hand.
“Well, maybe not all by myself.” She said smiling and putting her hand in his.


They drove another 4 hours, the sun would be going down in another hour or so when Quinn pulled into a Roadside Inn on the south side of Wichita, Kansas. Jeff and Becca with Ben pulled in next to him.
“Figured we would stop for the night, I don’t want to be driving in the dark.” Quinn said.
“Sounds good.” Becca said stretching backwards, getting the kinks out of her back, her shirt pulling up quite a ways. Quinn wondered what Becca and Jeff’s relationship was, she was a very good looking woman.

“So, let’s get a couple rooms and get something to eat.” Quinn said. He walked up to the automatic doors and realized just before he looked foolish that they were not automatic when the power was off, he caught his mistake at the last second, and pulled the doors apart, they all walked in, Becca found a restroom just off the lobby for Ben who ‘had to go potty right away’. Quinn and Jeff tried to figure out how to get a room key, they saw the stack of keycards on the front desk but the scanner to encode them was hooked up to a computer which was not going to be working any time soon.

“Well there are 4 couches in the lobby and 4 of us…..” Becca said when she and Ben came back. She walked into the room behind the counter and found a storeroom with spare items for the guests, including extra pillows and blankets. They made a meal out of what they had brought after seeing the food in the attached restaurant was mainly spoiled and sat around talking until after the sun went down. Ben was sleeping shortly after sunset and having had a long day behind them the three adults were not that far behind.

The next morning Ben woke up about sunrise, which meant that everyone else was up early also and they were on the road by 8AM. The roads had been very clear, with just the occasional vehicle off on the side, so when Quinn’s brake lights came on Jeff hit his brakes also and checked to make sure the two-way radio was on.

“Turn around and go back to the last exit.” Quinn said through the radio.
“What’s up?” Jeff’s reply came through.
“Something wrong here, there hasn’t been any wrecks all the way from Dallas to here and now there’s a wreck blocking the road right at the bridge – something is going on and I want to see what. Lets pull back to the previous exit and then sneak up the frontage road as far as we can without being seen, you stay behind me and then stay with the cars while I reconnoiter.” Quinn said.

[kaijafon]

AMBUSH!!!

thanks so much for the moar!

[mnn2300]

Chapter 6

The two vehicles did a U turn on the interstate and drove back the way they came. About 4 miles back was an exit ramp they turned up, then drove to the frontage road going back north and went up it a couple of miles, they were still out of site of the bridge when Quinn pulled over to the side, Jeff pulled up behind them.
“Are you going to go up there?” Rebecca asked.
“I could go with you and help.” Jeff said.
“No, no offense but I’ve been trained for this kind of thing.” Quinn said.

They heard two shots ring out. A nerve racking 20 minutes later, Quinn’s voice came through the radio calling them to drive up. A few minutes later they drove up the frontage road to a motor home, Quinn was standing outside with two little girls. Bella was 7 and had been taken from her house after her parents got sick, Lakeisha was 5 and her Daddy got sick while they were driving.
“Where were you driving to?” Rebecca asked Lakeisha.
“Our cabin.” Lakeisha answered.
“Is there anyone there now?” Rebecca questioned.
Lakeisha shook her head no.

"What happened?" Becca asked
"Lets just say 2 bad guys won't be making it home." Quinn replied.

“You two make sure they’re ok, I’m going to check out the cars down below and then go back for the squad car, keep your guns handy, in fact I want one of you on lookout at the door while the other helps the kids.” Quinn said.
“Yes Sir” Jeff said with a salute.
“Funny, but straighten your hand out if you’re going to salute, you look like you’re shading your eyes” Quinn said then turned and trotted down to the interstate.


Rebecca went inside with the two girls, Ben stood on the steps, not sure if he should follow Rebecca or stay with Jeff, he ended up going inside the motor home with Rebecca and the girls. Jeff stood guard outside the door. Rebecca was trying to find out more information from the girls.

Jeff stood with his back to the motor home, keeping lookout, suddenly he felt something around his ankles pulling them backwards, he fell flat on his face, not being able to get his hands out quick enough, he felt intense pain and must have blacked out for a few seconds. Rebecca hearing the commotion from the back of the motor home where the children were came forward in time to see a strange man coming into the motor home toward her, she tried pulling the pistol from the holster at her side but was just getting it out when the man her hit in the head with the butt of his rifle, then everything went black for her.

The children screamed. “Sit down and shut up!” the man yelled at the kids pointing the rifle at them.
“Now stay there and stay quiet” He yelled turning back to the door where he saw Jeff now getting off the pavement.

Jeff, nose bloody, knee’s scraped, was trying to get up, the man was right behind him and reached to Jeff’s side and pulled the pistol out of Jeff’s holster and put it in his belt.
“Where’s your partner?” the guy asked.
“There is no one else.” Jeff replied
The man put the rifle barrel up to Jeff’s face and said “I asked you where the other guy is.”
“He went to check out the roadblock and then to get his car.” Jeff replied.
“Smart man, you may stay alive a while longer.” The man told him.

“What did you do with Rebecca and the kids?” Jeff asked angrily. “If you’ve hurt them…..”
“What are you going to do about it sonny?” the man asked snidely.
Just then they saw Quinn pulling up in the squad car.
“Stand up there sonny, act just like everything is fine, or you and your buddy there and the woman and kids will die. Of course the woman won’t die quite as fast as the rest of you will.” He told Jeff.


Jeff saw Quinn stop the squad car about 25 feet away and get out, he had his carbine in his hand as he turned to walk to the motor home, he paused, hopefully Jeff thought from observing Jeff’s ripped pants and skinned knee’s.
“Hold it right there or the boy dies!” he heard a male voice from inside the motor home say. “Drop the gun and get your arms above your head.”


Jeff saw the indecision on Quinn’s face and very slightly nodded his head and counted backwards from 3 silently so Quinn could see his lips but the man behind him wouldn’t hear anything, and at ‘one’ suddenly dropped to the ground, giving Quinn a clear shot at the guy who was holding a gun to Jeff’s head, Quinn didn’t hesitate and suddenly the guy’s head exploded as the bullet from Quinn’s Carbine hit him dead center in his head. The guy dropped, the children screamed, Quinn yelled “Anyone else?”
“No" Jeff said getting to his feet and jumping into the motor home to check on Becca.

She had been on the receiving end of a blow to the head from a rifle handle and was out cold on the floor, she was still breathing but was also bleeding from where the butt of the gun got her.
“He apparently snuck under the motor home and grabbed my ankles and jerked, I was down on the ground before I knew what was happening, I must have blacked out for a minute, Becca got knocked out, it all happened so fast..” Jeff said as he was holding Becca in his arms.
Jeff was trying to wake Rebecca up, Quinn checked the children and then asked Jeff is he was OK.

“Yeah, I’ll be ok, what about Becca?” Jeff replied.
“Well, when she wakes up she’s going to have a heck of a headache and probably a black eye too. In normal times I’d get her to the hospital to make sure there was no damage. Get me two of those large bandages and the tube of anti-microbial ointment for Becca” Quinn said. After putting some ointment on the cut he used the two large bandages. “Ok, nothing to do until she wakes up. Now let’s take a look at you.”

“I’ll be ok.” Jeff replied.
“In the old days if you got an infection you could go to the doctors or the hospital and get fixed up, that’s not the case now, so let’s take a look and that’s not a request.” Quinn said.
“Ok, OK.” Jeff said. “My knees are scraped where I hit the pavement and I think my nose is broken from the fall.”

“Grab the hydrogen peroxide out of the first aid kit and clean up your knees, we’ll bandage them if necessary. As far as your nose, you’re not going to like it and we’ll send the kids out to the SUV before I set it for you. Unless you want a crooked nose and some nasal issues the rest of your life. Don’t worry; I’ve had some experience with this.” Quinn told him.

After Jeff got his knees cleaned up he took the 3 kids out to the SUV, Ben knowing how to work the DVD player started a DVD and the children settled down. Jeff had issues with people using the TV as a babysitter but in this case it worked out very well. When he got back to the motor home, Becca was sitting up, holding her head, she had obviously been sick and her eyes were not focusing at all.
“Becca, are you ok?” Jeff said.
“No, uh I hurt.” She replied slowly
“Just sit there and relax” Jeff told her.
“I think she’s got a concussion.” Quinn said.
“Great, what do we do?” Jeff asked.

“We’ll we do what they advise against and that’s moving the victim. I want to get her lying down in the back of the SUV, we’ll transfer all the stuff that’s there now to the backseat of the squad car. Modern practices say sleep is ok, but to wake them every 15 - 20 minutes or so and get them to respond. We’re about 15 miles from the turn off for Bens Grandparents. I want to get there and see if anyone is alive, if not I’ll get rid of any bodies and we can hole up there for a while if it’s safe. If not we’ll find a hotel like we did last night and take it from there.”

“I’ll get everything out of the back of the SUV.” Jeff said. 10 minutes later he had everything moved from the SUV to the squad car except for the kids who were interested in what was going on, but also in the DVD that was playing.
“I got everything out of the back except for a couple of pillows and blankets we took from the hotel last night.” Jeff told Quinn.

“First let’s take care of your nose and then we’ll get Becca out to the truck.” Quinn said.
“Ummm” Jeff started.
“That wasn’t a request. I won’t lie, this is going to hurt like hell when I do it but it’ll immediately feel a whole lot better, it may bleed a bit so grab some paper towels.” Quinn waited til Jeff had the paper towels and then grabbed Jeff’s nose between his index and middle finger lightly.
“Hold your head stiff for me, at the count of 3 I’m going to pull your nose straight. Ready?” he asked Jeff.
“I guess” Jeff replied.
“1…2 ” and he pulled Jeff’s nose straight out and let the cartilage and bone snap back into its correct position.
“Arrrrrgh!” Jeff yelled as it happened. “What happened to 3?”
“You would have just tensed up.” Quinn told him. “Feel better?”
“Umm, yeah, actually it does.” Jeff said.
“Not even bleeding.” Quinn added.


“OK, let’s get her on her feet, if we can.” Quinn said, moving to the far side of Becca.
“Becca, we’re going to stand you up and get you out to the SUV, think you can stand?” Quinn asked.
“Yeah” she mumbled. They helped her past the dead guy and out of the motor home, Quinn standing outside and pretty much lifting her down the step to the ground, one on each side they maneuvered her into the back of the Suburban. Luckily it had the third row which folded down, they were able to get her lying down at an angle.

A short while later they pulled into a house in the country, long driveway leading up to an old but well-kept 2 story house. Quinn got out and walked up to the SUV, he told everyone to stay put while he checked it out. Ben recognized the house as Grandpa and Grandma’s and wanted to get out, but Quinn asked him to wait and let him check it out first.

[kaijafon]

Thank you!!!

[mnn2300]

Chapter 7

Jeff watched as Quinn walked up to the door, suddenly a shotgun pointed out at Quinn. Jeff started to move forward to hear what was going on, but before he got far Quinn was hollering for Ben to come out. Ben ran up to the porch yelling “Grandma!”, the older woman who had been holding the shotgun, set it against the door frame and scooped Ben up in her arms. Jeff saw Quinn and the woman talk some more and the Quinn called for everyone to come in. Ben called for the two girls to follow him and took them to a swing set in the side yard,
Ben’s Grandmother Betty followed Quinn out to the back of the SUV, which Jeff already had opened.
“Becca, Rebecca, wake up.” Jeff said, Rebecca only groaned her eye lids fluttering.
“Definitely a concussion, hopefully nothing worse, get her in on the couch.” Betty said.
“You know what to do?” Jeff asked.
“I was a nurse for almost 40 years, I’d like to get x-rays and a CT Scan but that’s not going to happen the way things are now, let’s get her in on the couch.” Betty replied.
Quinn and Jeff lifted her out of the SUV, but she was not standing up, finally Quinn picked her up and carried her. Betty turned and told Jeff to bring the pillows and the blanket and just caught the frown Jeff flashed when Quinn picked Becca up.

- - -

“Rebecca, Rebecca, wake up dear.” Betty said. Becca’s eyes opened but they were still not focusing too well.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” Betty asked, holding 2 fingers up about 10 inches from Becca’s face.
“Huh? Oh, four, no three, no…….” and faded out again.
Betty moved away to the two men and said “If it’s just a concussion she should get better in a couple of days and be back to normal in a week or two.”

“And if it’s worse?” Jeff asked.
“Brain damage, or if her brain is swelling she could even die. I’m a nurse not a doctor and I’ve got no equipment here to check for a brain injury and no way to treat one if that’s what it is.” Betty replied.

“In the Bible, in the Book of James it says ‘Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord’ I am an elder in the Church, if you don’t mind……..” Jeff said pulling out his key chain and unscrewing a small vial of consecrated oil.
“Go right ahead.” Betty said, having seen religious people do this before at the hospital she had worked at.

Jeff was concentrating on Rebecca but noted that Quinn shook his head and walk out of the house.
Jeff gently placed a drop of oil on Rebecca’s forehead, there were two parts to the blessing and usually two people did it, but Jeff adjusted it since he was the only ordained elder present. Placing his hands gently on her head he said “Rebecca Gonzales, in the name of Jesus Christ I anoint you with this oil that has been consecrated for the healing of the sick and afflicted and now I pronounce a blessing on you. Rebecca, the Lord loves you and still has much work for you to do on this side of the veil; we bless you with a speedy and full recovery if it be God’s will, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen”
“Amen” Becca mumbled.

“Is she Mormon too?” Betty asked.
“No, but she lived across the hallway from us missionaries for a while so she’s kind of used to us.” Jeff asked.
“You’re a missionary?” Betty asked him.
“Yes Ma’am or at least I was out on my mission when this happened, are you familiar with the LDS?” Jeff asked.
“Yeah, we had a few of them volunteer at the hospital for a couple years while I was there and we were familiar with the Bishops who came to visit their people who were sick.” Betty replied.

“I take it Quinn’s not a believer.” Betty said.
“Doesn’t look like it, we just met him yesterday afternoon and we’re traveling together until we hit Kansas City, Rebecca and I are headed out to my families place in California, they were still alive and well a couple weeks into it, then the power went out and….” He trailed off.

“Where is Quinn headed to?” she asked.
“Minnesota, to check on his grandparents.” Jeff replied.
“Well, I recommend you all stay here until Rebecca is ready to travel again. This old house has plenty of bedrooms and it’s been pretty empty the last few weeks.” Betty said.
“Well now that you have Ben back that’ll change a bit.” Jeff replied.
“I do love little Ben but he can’t stay here, I have cancer and while it’s in remission right now, it’ll be back sooner or later, I probably won’t live long enough to get him old enough to survive on his own, and that wouldn’t be fair to him, no, assuming Rebecca gets better it would be better to have him go with you two.” Betty told him.

“I’m sorry Betty.” Jeff said.
“No, don’t be sorry, I buried my husband a couple weeks back, I look forward to seeing him again when I’m gone.” She told him.
“I understand” he said nodding his head. “Look Betty, you’re welcome to come with us, you could help us with Ben and the other two kids and not have to worry about leaving him alone, or being alone yourself.”

“Hmm that’s an idea I’ll have to think about. Well it’s been a while since I had such a house full, I suppose I better get lunch ready” Betty said.
“Can I help you?” Jeff asked.
“No, just sit with her a while, every half hour or so wake her up and try to get her to focus, to count fingers and wiggle her toes.” She told him turning to go to the kitchen.

Jeff sat on the floor, his arm near hers on the couch, 10 or 15 minutes after Betty left to fix lunch he felt her hand on top of his. He looked up “Becca? Are you ok?”
“Not quite ready to go out dancing.” She replied. “My head really hurts”
“You took quite a hit.” Jeff said. “Do you remember what happened?”
“I was helping the girls, then…. It’s all blank, are the girls ok?” she asked.
“Yeah, everyone is fine and the bad guys are dead.” Jeff said.
“So many dead already, what happened?” she asked.

“I was standing outside the door of the Winnebago and suddenly I felt something pull on my ankles from under the motor home, next thing I know I was on the ground and he was past me and inside with you, then you’re down and he’s holding a gun on me making me give him my clip and stand there like nothing happened so he could get a bead on Quinn, backfired though, I dropped to the ground and Quinn took him out. We got you here to Bens Grandmothers house.” Jeff informed her.
“Yeah, I’ve been fading in and out.” She said.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” he asked her.
“Eleven.” She replied, smiling.
“I’m serious.” He said.
“Two, you’re holding up two” she said.
“Can you wiggle your toes?” he asked. He saw her toes moving under the blanket.

“Thank you.” She said.
“For what?” he asked not sure what she was referring to.
“I was awake when you gave me that blessing.” She said.
“I thought you might have been, you’re welcome.” He replied.

“I’m tired now.” she said, turning a bit, she brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it and then was asleep. Jeff didn’t move as she held his hand while she slept.
“She come around yet?” Betty asked him a while later, he told her what happened.

“Good, she’s not out of the woods yet, but that’s a real good sign.” Betty said.
About 30 minutes later Betty called to Quinn that lunch was ready
“Come on, let’s eat. You go get the kids. I put a bucket of water and some towels on the porch, you and Jeff clean them up a bit before you get them to the table.” She continued.
Five minutes later everyone was at the table, before Betty would let anyone dig into the hot dogs, beans and potato chips she asked Jeff to bless the food which he did.
“I was worried that the food would spoil, I ran out of gas for the generator sometime during the night, so the freezers been out for about 8 or 9 hours now, stuff will stay frozen for a while but maybe you two can get some gas and some groceries from town after we eat.” Betty said.
“We’d be happy to Ma’am, in fact I can siphon some out of the vehicles before we go to get the generator up and running right away.” Quinn said.
“Please, you can call me Betty.” She told him.
“I’ve been in the army since I was 18 Ma’am, it’s hard to call anyone anything other than Sir or Ma’am, but I’ll try, Betty.” Quinn said.


“Jeff tells me you have family in Minnesota?” Betty asked.
“I hope so Ma’am….er Betty. About 50 miles north of St Paul, I talked to my Grandfather just before this thing came down, but that was it, the Army kept me busy and then I got sick, not E2, well, now I don’t know that, I may have had a light case of it, I wonder if that’s possible?” Quinn said.
“The people at the hospital where we took my companion said that some do recover.” Jeff said.

“So what are your plans Quinn?” she asked.
“Well I was thinking about that while I was out watching the kids. We were going to split up at Kansas City anyway, so maybe I could make sure y’all have everything you need and that Rebecca is out of the woods and then I would take off.” He said
“No Sergeant Quinn, you can’t leave” Ben whined.
“Hey buddy, we found your Grandma, now I have to go find mine, that’s fair right?” he told Ben.
“I don’t want you to leave.” Ben said.
“I know buddy, but you want me to find my family don’t you?” Quinn asked the young boy.
He nodded his head rather sheepishly.

“What about us?” Bella asked.
“You all will have a home, maybe Ben and his Grandma can come with all of us out to California, we’re not going to leave you two alone, we’re a family now.” Jeff said reassuring the little girls.

“Nobody’s leaving anyone” Rebecca said from the doorway. Quinn and Jeff both jumped up to help her.
“I’m ok.” She said, leaning against the door jam.
“How are you feeling dear?” Betty asked.
“I have a real bad headache and I really need someone to tell me where a bathroom is.” She replied.
“Its back here, one of you guys help her walk to it.” Betty said. “I put a couple of buckets for flushing, although the tank should be full right now. Check before you flush dear, make sure there's no blood.”


Both Jeff and Quinn stood up to help but Jeff was closer and put an arm around her and helped her to the bathroom.
“I’ll get the generator going.” Quinn said, heading out the door.
A few minutes later and the toilet flushed another minute and Becca opened the door.
"You may want to fill the tank." She told Jeff.

"All clear, no blood." She told Betty.
"That’s good, means there probably was no internal injury. Don't worry about filling the tank, Quinn went out to siphon some gas for the generator, once that’s going, the pump will work and we'll have running water again. By the way Rebecca, you probably didn't hear when you came in, but I was a nurse for almost 40 years." Betty told her.
"I do appreciate your help.” Rebecca told her.

"How are you feeling?" Betty asked.
"I'm better than I was, still have a headache and I'm still tired, but I'm not seeing double like I was a while ago." She told her. “I feel kind of fuzzy though, having a hard time concentrating.
"That’s ok, you probably have a concussion, which means you need some rest, time is the only thing that will heal that, your brain got knocked around in your skull and now it needs time to recover. Usually it takes a couple of weeks, I don't think you should travel until then, sorry but you're stuck here for a while." Betty said, then asked "Are you hungry?"

"No, no offense but I am not hungry at all, kind of nauseous in fact." Becca replied.
"That’s ok, that’s normal too, when you're hungry we'll get you something to eat. I've asked Quinn and Jeff to go into town to pick up some food and some fuel for the generator this afternoon, hopefully there is some left." Betty said.
"I think I need to lay down." Rebecca said holding her head.
"Certainly dear, you can use the couch again for now or we can take you upstairs to a bedroom."
"The couch is good enough for now." Becca told her.
"Ok, I should get the bedrooms ready, it's been quite a while since I've had a house full, everything is probably dusty." Betty said.
"I could help you." Rebecca started saying.

"No, you can't, not for the next few days, maybe longer, you are not lifting a finger, we have two strong men and 3 children full of energy to do all the work. You will spend all the time you need healing" Betty said. "I have been all alone here for weeks and its nice having things to do, to tell you the truth I was getting bored out of my mind."

Right about then they heard a small engine start up, Quinn had gotten the generator going. The fridge and freezer kicked to life, they heard the pump running and a fan and a lamp turned on in the living room.
"That should fix the power for a couple hours, I was thinking of maybe picking up another generator too, that would give us some extra power." Quinn said as he came back into the house.
"Well if you do that, pick up a few more extension cords and some box fans, the upstairs bedrooms get pretty warm in the afternoon sun." Betty said.
"OK, what kind of food do you want us to pick up?" Quinn asked.
"Well that’s going to depend on whether the food in the stores freezer is still frozen or not, I'm assuming most of the refrigerated stuff is a loss because of the power being out………." Betty started.
A few minutes later the two men had an idea of the kinds of food that Betty wanted and after getting directions into town, they left.

[pbbrown0]

Excellent story, mnn2300. Waiting patiently for More.

[kaijafon]

Thank you! very interesting story!

[gipsy]

Thanks for the update

[mnn2300]

Going out of town for a funeral for a couple days, more story this weekend.

[9idrr]

Jul 12, 2017 6:54:24 GMT -6 mnn2300 said:

Going out of town for a funeral for a couple days, more story this weekend.

Not the kind of trip one wants to take. We'll be here.

[mnn2300]

Jul 12, 2017 6:54:24 GMT -6 mnn2300 said:

Going out of town for a funeral for a couple days, more story this weekend.

Sorry ended up spending a few more days there than I thought we would, more story tomorrow night at the latest.

[freebirde]

Confession time: I went back and reread the first part of Quinn's story. I like it again from Jeff and Becca's viewpoint.

[mnn2300]

Jul 20, 2017 16:39:57 GMT -6 freebirde said:

Confession time: I went back and reread the first part of Quinn's story. I like it again from Jeff and Becca's viewpoint.

Thats OK, I did too.