The Shanxi Virus: An epidemic survival story Read online

  Friday, June 12th

  Chapter 11

  Mike waved his hand around to help dissipate the cloud of smoke hanging in the air, as if he were in a pool hall and not a car. The old brown sedan's air conditioning was broken, and Mike had his window rolled down to vent the cigarette smoke coming from Aaron's side of the car. The old man had chain smoked several cigarettes during the ride, and the interior of the car smelled like a well used ash tray. He couldn't wait to get to his cabin and get out of the car. Once there, he would be back among his own element again, and could begin to think about the best plan of action to isolate himself from the epidemic virus.

  He knew that the safety he felt at the cabin was illusory. The Shanxi virus moved at the same speed as it's human hosts. So that meant it could travel at five hundred miles an hour by jet, sixty-five miles an hour in a car, and six miles an hour by foot. The cabin would provide little protection in its current state. An infected person could drive right up to his front door and contaminate the entire area. For all he knew, he and Aaron could have already been infected at the hospital. They would just have to wait and see.

  "The entrance to the neighborhood is just up ahead, you'll want to slow down. It's a blind corner. That's where the wreck happened," Mike said.

  Aaron slowed the car and turned into the development. Mike's eyes were on the side of the road, where pieces of his truck still lay among canned goods, knocked loose by the accident. There was no sign of his guns or ammo. The police had likely confiscated those.

  As they drove in front of the lone display home near the entrance, Aaron slowed the car and looked at it with some confusion. "You live here? Is that the only house?"

  "No, that's a display home. There are only seven or eight homes in the neighborhood, all of them in the back end of the development. When the recession hit, the rest of the lots never sold. Just keep going until you hit a gravel road, my house is not far past that," Mike said.

  Further up the road, Ted stepped out of his driveway into the street, hailing them. Mike groaned. "Keep going. He could be infected. Drive around him, or run him over if you have to."

  "What?" Aaron balked. "I'm not going to run him over. He doesn't look sick to me."

  Mike rolled his eyes as Ted moved in the middle of the street and Aaron slowed the car to a halt. Ted came around to the driver’s side door, and Aaron rolled down his window.

  Ted leaned his head into the open window, scrunching his nose up. "Hey Mike! What are you wearing on your face? What's all that stuff for?

  "Protective equipment Ted. The Shanxi virus... You might have heard about it on the news. Killing millions of people," Mike snapped.

  "Oh, right. Well, I'm glad to see you're all right buddy. I thought you were a goner for sure. We've called the hospital a couple of times this week to check on you but nobody calls us back." Ted grinned broadly, "I don't know if anybody told you, but I was the one that heard the crash and called the cops, so, I kind of like saved your life man."

  "Thanks a lot Ted. You're a real hero," Mike said, wincing inwardly.

  "So who is this guy?"

  Mike grimaced as he watched Ted lean on the car. The idiot had no idea where Aaron and Mike had been, or if they'd been exposed to the virus, yet he just plopped his hands down onto the vehicle like it was no big deal. "This is Aaron. I met him in the hospital in St. Louis."

  Ted stuck his hand out, and Aaron held up his latex glove covered hand, keeping it out of Ted's reach, shaking his head from side to side.

  "You don't want to shake my hand," Aaron said.

  Mike had a hard time accepting that someone this idiotic had managed to stay alive during an epidemic outbreak. The only answer was that the neighborhood was tiny and far removed from the city. He had to figure out a way to make sure that they stayed isolated. An idea occurred to him.

  "Ted, listen. I need a favor from you. Can you help me out?"

  Ted's face lit up, eager as ever. "Sure man, whatever you need."

  "Hop in and I'll tell you on the way," Mike said.

  Ted climbed into the back seat, and Aaron pulled away.

  As they drove through the neighborhood, Mike noticed that something was off immediately. After a moment, he realized what it was. The streets were clean. There were no piles of garbage stacked up at the curb as there were in the city, and no bodies either. That meant that either everyone here was already dead or not generating any more trash, or someone had made the neighbors properly dispose of their trash.

  "We've got a problem Ted. All of us. Everyone in this neighborhood whether they realize it or not. This neighborhood has been left untouched, by whatever stroke of luck or divine intervention. St. Louis was hard hit. I couldn't believe how bad it was. You wouldn't believe me if I--"

  "Yeah, the flu is a real b--"

  Mike choked back his annoyance at being interrupted and kept going. "The problem Ted, is that neither you nor any of the neighbors know how to protect yourselves from it. When you saw Aaron and I pull up, you saw that we had face shields, respirators, and gloves on. You also hadn't seen me in two weeks so you had no idea where I'd been the whole time, but you came right up to the car and put your hands on it, and almost shook Aaron's hand. We were in the middle of the hot zone. The hospital was full of infected patients. I don't know if we've been exposed or not, but that is exactly the kind of ignorance that kills people."

  "Ah, shit," Ted said, his head hung sheepishly. "I didn't think about that. Robin is going to be pissed. She told me to watch what I touch."

  "Robin? Who's that?"

  "Mrs. Greene. She lives down the street. She went around to everybody's house last week and told them to stay home from work. She also makes us burn our garbage, and told us about washing our hands and staying away from other people. She's got a whole list of rules for us to follow."

  "She's the reason you all stayed alive this long," Mike said. At least somebody has their thinking cap on, he thought. "Don't touch your hands to your face. You can decontaminate when we get to my house, Aaron and I need to wash up too. After we get cleaned up I've got an important job for you. One that could save all our asses."

  "Sure thing. Whatever you need," Ted said.

  Mike made a mental note. He'd have to talk to this Robin Greene.

  Aaron pulled the car to a stop in front of the cabin.

  "You guys stay here. Don't touch anything. I'll be right back," Mike said. He got out of the car and went to the shed behind the cabin and dug through the over packed shed until he found everything he would need to decontaminate the three of them. Two five gallon homer buckets, a scrub brush, washcloth, a bottle of dish soap, and a large bottle of bleach. He dumped all of the items in the bucket and brought them over to the edge of the driveway, well away from the house, and returned with a garden hose, and unrolled it, dropping it by the homer buckets.

  He made another trip to the shed and brought back a gas can, an empty five-gallon metal paint bucket, and a book of matches.

  Mike stripped off protective gear and all of his clothes, then dropped them into the bucket. Next, he motioned for Aaron and Ted to get out of the car. "Go on guys, get your clothes off. Now is not the time to be shy. Your life could be on the line."

  Aaron and Ted exchanged a questioning look, but then followed his lead.

  Once he had all of their clothes in the bucket, Mike doused the can with gasoline and brought it out into a clearing in the trees, lit the match and tossed it into the bucket from a safe distance. With a whoosh, the gas soaked clothes ignited, sending a plume of smoke into the air.

  Mike went to his makeshift decontamination station and poured soap into the first bucket, and bleach into the second, then filled them both with water. He let the bucket of bleach sit for a while, and then thoroughly scrubbed his body from head to toe with the soft bristled brush and soapy water, then rinsed off with the garden hose and motioned Ted and Aaron over.

  "All right, you two are next. Make sure you get every square inch. There'
s plenty of soap in that bottle, don't be stingy with it. After you've scrubbed and rinsed off, wipe yourself down with this bleach water. Drop your car keys, lighters, and anything else you want to keep into the bucket of bleach water and let it soak."

  Mike used a rag soaked with the harsh smelling bleach water to wipe his entire body down, then stepped out from under the shade of the trees and into the sunlight clearing to dry. Once he was dry, Mike went inside his house and grabbed a large bottle of alcohol based hand sanitizer off the kitchen counter, scrubbed his hands and the door knob he'd just touched, and then went back outside. He applied the stuff from head to his toes, being careful not to get it into his eyes, nose, or mouth. As his hand passed over his bruised left ribcage, the alcohol found it's way into little nicks and cuts from the accident, stinging mercilessly.

  Feeling confident that he'd done everything he could to decontaminate his body, he went inside and grabbed towels and clean clothes for everybody. The shirt and pants would be several sizes too large for Aaron, but at least he knew they were free of the virus. Lastly, he grabbed a box of latex gloves out of the hall closet.

  "Here are some towels and clothes. Aaron, the belt is for you. Make sure you use enough of that hand sanitizer and let it air dry before you towel off. It's alcohol based so it should kill the virus. I hope."

  After he was dressed, Mike went in the house and grabbed the loaded Glock 9mm out of the gun safe in his room, took a hip holster from the closet and strapped on the firearm. If there was ever a time for open carry, it was now. Feeling more comfortable now that he was armed, he went to the shed and took his chainsaw out in the shed and topped it off with gas, then brought the saw out in front of the cabin where Ted and Aaron were waiting.

  Lacing up their boots, Ted and Aaron would have made for a comical sight if the situation were different. The clothes were several sizes too small for Ted. He was squeezed into the outfit like an overstuffed sausage, and the shirt was too short, leaving six inches of his stomach exposed. Aaron seemed to disappear into his outfit. The arms and legs were rolled up several times over, but still hung loosely from his frame.

  Mike filled a bucket with a strong mixture of bleach and water. He found a new washcloth and an empty spray bottle in the shed and handed it all to Aaron.

  "Aaron, grab that bucket of bleach water and come with me. Ted, you stay put, I'll be right back for you."

  He led Aaron over to the car, put on two pairs of latex gloves, one over the other, and then removed the cartons of cigarettes from the back seat of the car, being extremely careful not to touch any part of the car's interior. "Spray and wipe these down with bleach water and let them sit in the sun to dry before you smoke any of them. Just take the packs of cigarettes out and toss the cardboard carton in the burn bucket. After that, I want you to use that spray bottle and spray every inch of this car from front to back. Outside only. Lock up all the doors from the outside, and then don't go inside of the car again. Not for anything. Got it?"

  Aaron nodded his head and went to work.

  "Ted, grab that chainsaw and come with me," Mike said. He picked up the gas can and walked down the gravel road towards the entrance to the neighborhood. "Have you ever used a chainsaw before?"

  "No, why?"

  "I'm sure you're a quick learner," Mike said. He held up his cast, "I can't use it myself."

  "What do you want me to do with it?"

  "You're going to cut down a few trees for me. We're going to seal off the entrance to the neighborhood. Robin did a good thing by telling everyone to isolate themselves and stay home. Burning the trash is a good start too, but there's a better way to stop people from coming and going than just asking them politely."

  "What do you mean?"

  "We're going to drop a few big trees across the road to make sure nobody can drive a car in, and then we'll post a watch on the entrance to watch for foot traffic," Mike said.

  "But how do we get out of the neighborhood?"

  "We don't. At least, there won't be a quick way out, but that is the tradeoff we're going to make. The risk of infection is too high. If you'd seen how bad things were in St. Louis, you'd realize how lucky you've been."

  "Can't we leave a car out by the highway just in case?"

  Mike considered it for a moment, but decided against it. "No. It sounds like a good idea, but the temptation to leave the neighborhood will be too great for some people. Whatever it is we that we don't already have we'll be able to make do with without. We have to seal ourselves off from the outside world until this thing blows over."

  Friday, June 12th

  Chapter 12

  Jen Pruitt backed her car out of the driveway and turned onto the development's main road, bound for the pharmacy. She had a short list of things she wanted to get in addition to her prescription in her pocket. She had thought about putting together a longer list and stocking up on what she would need to last her until her parents were able to come home, but was worried that the pharmacy would close before she got there. She also felt more than a little guilty at taking such a big risk and leaving the neighborhood. She'd given Robin her assurance that she had no plans on going anywhere. She wondered if the woman would be pissed if she found out.

  She reached up to turn the radio on, but reconsidered and left it off. The last thing she needed right now was more bad news. Maybe after she was home from the pharmacy she would check the news and try to call her parents again. She didn't think she could stomach anything else going wrong today.

  Before she could reach the highway, a commotion up ahead forced her to stop the car. Another car had stopped in the middle of the road, impeded by an apparent roadblock. In front of the car two large trees lay crossways in the road, blocking the way forward. A small group of people stood near the trees, shouting at each other. She'd seen some of them before, and recognized them as her parent's neighbors.

  Jen turned the car off and got out, then approached the group. A chainsaw was still noisily at work a short distance down the road, it's motor revving as it sawed through the trunk of a large tree next to the road. A sharp cracking sound grabbed her attention, and the man with the chainsaw ran away from the falling tree, coming in her direction. It was a large hairy man. The one who had been with Lance at the scene of the accident near the development's entrance. She seemed to remember her father had called him Ted.

  The tree fell and hit the concrete with a great boom, falling ten feet away from the other trees already across the road. Ted shut the chainsaw off and walked towards the group of people arguing in the middle of the road.

  Rich Preston was there, which Jen thought was weird. She had thought her father said he was living in his flat in the city. She couldn't remember seeing Eva or Lance at the poolside recently, so she decided that maybe he had abandoned his flat in the city and come home, fearful of staying in the city during an epidemic. His wife Eva was with him.

  The gun toting weirdo that lived in the cabin at the end of the road was there, but she couldn't remember his name. He was a strange man that she only saw on his morning run. He never spoke to anyone in the neighborhood that she knew of. Rich pointed his finger in his face, shouting. Jen noticed the gun strapped to the man's waist, and a shiver went down her spine, wondering if he would be tempted to use it with Rich in his face in such a threatening manner. The man didn't seem perturbed by Rich though, and when Ted came forward and pushed Rich back, the man only shook his head sadly in reply.

  Jen spotted Robin Greene walking down the road towards the argument, and she walked up to meet her. "Robin! What's going on? What is this all about? I was about to go to the pharmacy really quick--"

  "You what? I thought we talked about staying put," Robin said shortly.

  "I just needed to run out really quick and get--"

  "It doesn't matter now." Robin stormed past Jen, directly towards the arguing men. "I don't know what's going on here, but I'm about to find out."

  Jen followed close behind her. As she drew near the
group, the weird man from the end of the road turned his back on, apparently done with the argument, and Rich spun him around by his arm. Fire lit in the man's eyes, and for a moment she thought he would strike Rich. It was then that she noticed the cast on the man's left hand. Rich had likely just caused him a lot of pain. The man's other hand was on the pistol now, and he stepped back from Rich a few steps, his eyes had gone cold.

  "You can't just put trees in the road and keep us here!" Rich roared. "What gives you the right?"

  Eva stood right behind her husband, her tone equally venomous. "Who do you people think you are? Do you even live in this neighborhood?"

  "My name is Mike. Mike Dunham. I've met some of you before," he said, turning to the rest of the crowd. "I live in the house at the end of--"

  "I knew it! You don't even live in our neighborhood!" Eva shouted. "Why don't you go back to your little shit-hole cabin in the woods and cut your own trees down?"

  "Hear me out," Mike said. "This is for your own good. We need to isolate the neighborhood from the outside world. You people have been lucky that somebody with the Shanxi virus hasn't waltzed in here yet, and with Ted's help, I just made sure they never will."

  "So how are we supposed to leave? Idiot!" Eva yelled.

  "You're not going to leave. That's the whole point."

  An ear-piercing whistle made Jen flinch, and the entire group turned to the source of the sound. Robin walked into the middle of the group, standing directly between Mike and Rich. Her eyebrows furrowed behind a plastic face shield, she pushed the two men apart with gloved hands.

  "Listen up!" Robin said with authority. "You people have broken the most important rule we agreed to. This is stupidity! None of you have your protective equipment on. You've just been in contact with people from the outside. Rich, you literally laid your hands on another person with no PPE on. What if these guys are infected? You've put yourself and everyone else here at risk. Back away from each other now. Keep several feet between yourselves." She pointed a finger at Rich. "You. What is this all about?"