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  Jackie's Chance

  The Retreat #1

  (Post-Apocalyptic Older Woman/Younger Man)

  Holly Ardent

  Text copyright © 2018, Holly Ardent

  All Rights Reserved

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  Holly Ardent's Amazon Author Page

  Andrew woke up slowly, like normal. It was a good twenty minutes until he finally dragged his phone over to him. Once he scanned his texts he was wishing he'd woken up faster.

  Shit, Bill isn't one to overreact, but I'd better check the news to verify, he thought.

  He was in his small one bedroom apartment so he went out to the kitchen, started his coffee brewing, then turned on his laptop.

  While the computer booted he mused about the possibility that Bill was right while replying to the text to confirm that he'd received Bill's alert.

  A pandemic, he thought, a world-wide virus with high fatality rates, I don't know how well we're prepared for a pandemic. I knew they'd spotted the bird flu in a few third world countries recently, but it isn't supposed to spread among humans that easily. I wonder if it mutated so it could? That would really suck. The mortality rate on some versions of it is almost sixty percent. If Bill's right, then we all need to get to the bug out location as soon as possible. We'll need to stay isolated while the bird flu runs its course.

  His computer chimed, letting him know it was ready to go. He knew better, there were background processes that would slow anything he tried to do for a few more minutes. So he went over and poured himself a cup of the fresh brewed coffee. As he took his first few sips, blowing on the scalding hot liquid to cool it first, he made his way back over to the computer and sat down.

  Putting his coffee on the coaster, he went to his bookmarks sections. He knew he'd saved a site that was good for checking on epidemics or pandemics, but he wasn't sure which site it was. Several minutes later he clicked on the link for CIDRAP.

  That's right, it was CIDRAP, the Center for Disease and Public Policy. They record all the outbreaks of infectious diseases.

  He clicked on Avian Influenza, then Recent News. The page that loaded showed hundreds of hits for news on the bird flu for yesterday. Disconcertingly enough, there was nothing showing for today.

  He clicked through to yesterday's news. Several of the articles were gone, giving errors when he clicked their links, but the ones he could get to load were frightening.

  Several confirmed cases in the USA, all the people reporting symptoms having recently traveled. It's spreading like wildfire in the third world countries. I thought this shit wasn't supposed to be that contagious?

  As he continued to skim, he discovered one article that mentioned that the transmission rate for this variety was astronomically higher than normal. It claimed that H1N5 had mutated and was now spreading through airborne transmission.

  Which means anytime someone already infected coughs or sneezes they're liable to be killing anyone within five feet of them, he thought. Enough already, I think Bill's decision is confirmed.

  He quickly poured the remainder of his coffee into a thermos, grabbed his bug out bag, and was headed out the door when his phone buzzed with a text.

  'Andy, I haven't been able to get a hold of Scott. Can you check on him if you aren't on your way already? -Bill'

  He quickly thumbed his reply.

  'Will do, on my way out the door now.'

  Andy headed down to the parking lot and hopped into his older model pickup. He'd purchased it for several reasons, the primary one being that it predated the computers that were in all the current vehicles. The secondary reason meshed well with that; he knew how to work on engines, at least the older ones that weren't all tied into computers, so he'd chosen an older truck that he could work on.

  He slung his bug out bag behind his seat and started the engine. It was only a five minute drive to where Scott still lived with his mother and he assumed that was why Bill had tasked him with checking on the out-of-contact group member.

  Scott had been out of town but was supposed to be back by last night. He might just be crashed out due to the stress of travel, but Andy was worried that he might not have made it back for one reason or another.

  He pulled into Scott's driveway and hurried to the door. It opened quickly after he rang the bell, but it wasn't Scott standing there, it was his mother Jackie.

  “Andrew, I'm sorry, Scott isn't here. His connecting flight was delayed and then I got a strange text message from him early this morning.”

  “He's not here? He didn't make it home last night?”

  She shook her head.

  “Shit!” Andy cursed.

  Jackie stared at him.

  “What's come over you?” she asked. “You don't normally speak like that.”

  “You said he sent a strange text message? Can I see it?”

  “Andrew, what's going on?”

  Andy sighed heavily.

  “You know we all got together on a project a few years back; Bill, Scott, me, and Ted?”

  She nodded.

  “Well, that project was to take the property Bill's grandfather left him and turn it into a retreat.”

  “One of those places for weekend get-togethers?” she asked. “I thought you were doing something more serious than that.”

  “No, not that kind of retreat. As in a place to go if things got bad in the rest of the world.”

  “One of those survivalist things?” she asked, indignantly. “Scott was involved in something like that?”

  He thought quickly and remembered the perfect analogy.

  “No. Let me ask you a couple of questions that might clarify things. Do you have car insurance? House insurance? Life insurance?”

  She nodded.

  “Of course I do.”

  “Think of this as disaster insurance. Not to pay you in case of a disaster, but to save you in case of one. Now, can I see his text message? You said it was odd, but we've got some code phrases we use. That might be why it seems odd.”

  She sniffed.

  “Boys,” she said, shaking her head. “Well come on in and let me get my phone.”

  Andy stepped into the house, feeling like he was wasting time. But he really wanted to know what had happened to Scott. When Jackie returned with the phone, she fiddled with it for a moment, then handed it to Andy.

  'Mom- Stuck at airport. Quarantine and lockdown. Ask B,A,T if you can take my place. Fire. Red. Replacement.'

  “See, it sounds like he said they were locking down the airport, quarantining it,” Jackie said. “But that can't be right, there's nothing on the news about it. Then he got really strange. Do you see what I mean?”

  “That's exactly what he was saying. There's a pandemic going on, but it's not being released to the media, or they've been instructed not to mention it to avoid a panic. The last part makes perfect sense to me though. B,A,T means Bill, Andy, and Ted. He wants us to take you to the retreat since he can't get there. Two of the last three words are some of our codes. Fire means emergency, Red means it's life-threatening, Replacement though, I have to think he's referring back to asking us to let you take his place.”

  Jackie was shaking her head.

  “I don't believe that, they don't cover up things like that. It would endanger people's lives.”

  Has she never seen a mob that panics? I agree, they're endangering more lives this way, but I'm sure they'd cover it up if they could.

  “How about if I can verify it independently?” he asked. “There's a disease tracking website you can check on your own computer. Even if the media isn't covering the story, this site isn't really media, it's science-based.”

  She shook her head again.

  “I'll look, but I think you're being paranoid.”

  She sat down at the computer.

  “Search for CIDRAP then click on the link taking you there,” he said.

  She typed then clicked. Then started clicking around.

  “Well, it looks like it might be a real site. Where's this proof you were talking about?”

  “Click on Avian Influenza, then recent news.”

  She clicked twice, then her eyes widened.

  “There's all sorts of reports about it from yesterday, but nothing today,” she said.

  “Click on some of the reports, pull them up. Some give an error link, I think those have been removed to try to keep the public from panicking, but some of them were still good when I checked earlier.”

  She clicked several links before she got one to actually open properly. He saw her eyes moving rapidly as she skimmed the article. Then she closed it and turned to him.

  “Wait, that can't be right,” she said. “That article was claiming transmission rates as high as the normal flu.”

  She turned back to the computer and clicked the link again. This time, she got a 404 error where she'd previously gotten an article. She turned to Andy, doubt showing on her face now.

  “Why didn't I get the article back? It should've opened right back up.”

  “I don't know. But do you understand why I think there's a problem?”

  “Maybe, but I still think you're paranoid.”

  “Try calling Scott. See what he says.”

  “I tried earlier, it went straight to voice mail.”

  “It won't hurt to try again, right?”

  She sighed.

  “Fine, I'll try to call him.”

  She picked up her phone and hit the speed dial. A moment later a confused look crossed h
er face.

  “What?” she said, “that can't be right. I should be the only one who can do that.”

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I got a message. It said 'this phone has been blocked from network use' but that's the message you get on a phone after it's been reported lost or stolen. Since the account's in my name, I should be the only one who could've done that.”

  He was about to say something, but saw the look on her face and just waited. Letting her work her way through things.

  “Unless you're telling the truth,” she said, “and the government is trying to keep something quiet. I bet they could force the phone companies to restrict access.”

  He nodded.

  “It's just a series of coincidences, but it's too many to ignore,” she said. “Plus, that text really didn't seem like Scott, unless he was panicked. He always got terse when he was afraid.”

  “So, will you come with me then? Although I've got to run this past Bill first. We all worked on the place, but the house is his.”

  “Yes, if it's nothing you can bring me back here tomorrow. But if there's anything to all this, then better safe than sorry. I'll need a little time. There's a lot of things I want to bring.”

  Andy sighed impatiently.

  “Alright, I'll work on getting in touch with Bill.”

  An hour later and Andy had been waiting for forty-minutes after he'd gotten in touch with Bill and explained the situation to him. He'd tried to call first but discovered that his calls weren't going through anywhere, but texts still worked.

  Jackie came out with two suitcases and a large bag slung over her shoulder.

  “That's it? It took an hour for that?” he asked.

  “I had to dig through the shed for the things in here,” she said, nodding at her slung bag.

  “Just what was worth that extra time?”

  “Well, I figured if we're stuck there for a long time, as in months, then we'd want more food. So I brought all my smaller gardening tools and the seeds I'd saved for this year.”

  “Wait, gardening stuff? You know how to garden?”

  “Who do you think Scott learned from?” she asked.

  Andy hadn't thought it through. He knew Scott had been in charge of the gardens at the retreat, but he'd never even considered where Scott had learned his skills.

  “Please forget I said anything then. But we can get going now?”

  She nodded and he led her out to his truck. She raised an eyebrow at its condition.

  “Yeah, it looks like a beater from the outside, but the engine runs as smooth as can be,” Andy said. “And it really isn't in as bad a condition as it looks. Think of it as camouflage.”

  “You really are paranoid, but maybe that wasn't a bad thing this time.”

  He started the truck up and began driving towards the retreat. He knew he could make it there on a quarter tank if he had to, but he'd just filled up a couple of days ago and only done a little driving since then so he wasn't worried about that.

  Around them on the streets, things looked normal.

  And I hope it stays that way. I'd much rather have Jackie think I'm a paranoid fool than have the pandemic hit here, he thought.

  To pass the time he started talking to her, he was still stinging from her judgment of his truck so he started there.

  “Actually the truck is structurally fine. I did the repairs myself but did them under the rusty and beaten parts. That way no-one would even consider stealing it. Plus, it's old enough that it doesn't have computers in it.”

  “Why would that matter?” she asked.

  “Well, a pandemic isn't what we were mostly worried about, although we did some preparations for that as well. We were more worried about a financial crash, or maybe an EMP or CME like the Carrington Event...”

  By the time they reached the retreat Jackie had been taught just how fragile the modern world really was. Her phone was still working, so every time he told her something she didn't want to believe, she looked it up and found out that he was right. The last few miles of the drive were in silence as she digested just what it was that her son, along with his three friends, had been worried about.

  * * *

  “Here's another one,” Bill called out.

  He was watching the television, flipping from news show to news show. Evidently whatever media blackout had been put in place was slipping, because so far they'd caught three segments regarding the infectious disease that was now known to be present in at least seven locations in the USA.

  “If there are seven confirmed cases, then those areas are probably in incubation mode,” Bill said.

  Jackie shot a questioning look at Andy.

  “He means that a lot of people are infected, but not showing symptoms yet. They're still contagious most likely, but just don't know that they're sick yet.”

  “Oh,” she said, her face falling. “And they weren't going to report on this? Even if they'd just put it on the news this morning, a lot of people could've stayed home and not caught it.”

  “Not so much,” Bill said. “Most people don't have enough food in their house to stay home for forty-eight hours without running out.”

  “I don't believe that,” Jackie said.

  Bill threw his hands up into the air.

  “You talk to her Andy, she listens to you.”

  “No, she verifies what I tell her. Jackie, is your smart phone still working? Search for FEMA food storage recommendations, but then you'll have to think it through. If the average American had two weeks worth of food, would FEMA have put out those recommendations?”

  She was scanning her phone now.

  “That's just stupid,” she said. “But not even two day's worth, I can't believe it.”

  “The statistics I saw said the average was three days worth of food in the average American household at any given time,” Andy said. “It kind of makes sense. How many people do you know that cook all the time as opposed to going out or ordering take-out?”

  “Oh, well, I'll admit there's something there, especially with those FEMA recommendations, but forty-eight hours sounds way too low.”

  “Suffice it to say that with a bird flu outbreak? Sometimes the incubation period is three or four days. So they'd have to go out for something if they didn't have much food in the house, right?” Andy said. “The serious strains of bird flu, of which H1N5 is one and probably the one we're dealing with, have an incubation period of two to eight days.”

  “Oh,” she said. “And even if forty-eight hours isn't right, I'm pretty sure most people don't have enough food for eight days their house.”

  “Yeah, some will, some have even more than that, but the law of averages says that on the other end there are people who go out for every meal, and there are a lot of those people too.”

  “Shit!” Bill said. “Here we go, there's a breaking news bulletin coming on.”

  Andy and Jackie turned their attention to the television again. The bulletin claimed that there was, indeed, a version of bird flu that had been verified in the United States, but that it was under control and no-one was to panic. When it was done Bill switched off the TV in disgust.

  “I can't believe that. They're going to get people killed left and right with those lies.”

  He looked expectantly at Jackie, who remained silent for a few moments.

  “If you're looking at me to contradict you, it's not going to happen,” she said. “With everything Andy has told me, I know you're right. Assuming, of course, that it is that H1N5 strain. I looked it all up as he told me because I couldn't believe it. But I saw, or at least I think I did, someone pull an article off a web page that talked about it. Why would they do that if they weren't covering something up?”

  Bill looked deflated, almost as though he'd hoped Jackie would talk him out of what he'd been saying.

  “I'm going to bed,” he said. “I'll see what's going on in the morning. Ted's going to get here in a day or two, but he's taking precautions. Minimal physical contact, nitrile gloves, and a medical grade NH95 mask anytime he goes out. So he should be okay. We'll just have him get rid of that protective gear before we let him in the house. He's bringing those chickens he's been raising, so we'll have fresh eggs a couple of days after he gets here.”

  “Good night Bill,” Andy said.