FBR chapter 5 scene 2

Foreign Body Reaction
Alan McNeill
Chapter 5 Scene 2.

Ben sat close to the campfire on an upended five gallon bucket that Darlene had brought. The tents were up and Ben was aware of the quick glances that Mark and Darlene where sharing, then looking at him.

Their campsite was close to the intersection on the hill above the truck. Darlene had pulled her Subaru around the truck close to where they were. Mark had been curious as to why they didn't return to his previous camp or to the lookout tower, but he said nothing. Perhaps he is hoping Jacob would change his mind, thought Mark. He said nothing, waiting for Ben to work out the next steps for their little band. Darlene was busy collecting more wood for the fire, and digging out some foil packs of Mountain House freeze dried food.

The twilight showed clouds starting to form from the northwest, it would be back to drizzle tomorrow. Ben scuffed ground with his foot.

Mark squatted next to Ben while Darlene was busy at the hatchback of the Subaru.

“Worried about Jacob?”

Ben glanced at him and then back at the small fire. “Worried about us.”

“Hell, we're fine Ben. Everything we need is in these mountains.”

“What do you think will happen now Mark?” asked Ben innocently.

“I guess up here we're going to meet a few hunters. People can't do much else down there, business closed, schools, so I guess people will hunker down and make do until this flu thing gets under control. But hell Ben, why are you asking me. You've been doing nothing but think about this since you started getting better.”

“I ask because each of us as a sense of 'normal' and return to normal in our heads. I have to know what you think will be normal, what you feel we're up against.”

Mark was quiet for moment, idly tracing designs in the dirt near the fire. He shifted.

“I think lots of things might happen but you can't plan for something real big like this. You have to ride it out, take care of yourself and your friends, what's that thing you say, that Russian thing, oh yea, take care of your close people. Is that what has you sitting here, kicking the dirt; that you couldn't help Jacob and Emily?”

“Hell Mark, I can't help anyone including myself right now. I have listened and I've read for years about how societies break down, but you know what? It's like an big pile of sticks and then you drop a boulder down in the middle of the pile and watch the sticks fly. Every possible outcome is logical when you look back at the boulder and the sticks, but that's looking backwards. I can't know what will happen to the sticks as the rock drops. There are too many variations, too many things all dependent on one another. Hell maybe there is some variation where Jacob, or really Emily is right and I'm just an idiot.

“I don't know what the fuck is going to happen, but I don't think that town is a good place to be. Too many feds.” he said.

Darlene had brought over a pot and had stood behind Ben listening.

“Honey,” she said, her voice a bit rough from the cigarettes, “You don't got to figure out where all those broken little twigs will land, you only got to see where the next one will land.” With that, Darlene drug over a bucket, sat splay legged on it and smoothed her dress between her legs.

Ben laughed a bit. “That's exactly right, we have to guess one stick ahead and we'll be fine.”

“So what's first twig?” asked Mark.”

“I guess the flu will spread from place that has an a airport, every town and city with a major road. If it is like other influenzas it will take about 2 months to reach most of the world. The 1918 flu took two years to reach everywhere. With planes and cops and feds moving around, helicopters and important people being ferried to hospitals, it will be much faster.”

“Shit we had the Hong Kong flu years ago and I don't remember anyone dying. Maybe this one will be like that," she said.

"This one's not like that. It's a modified Bird flu, that has been mixed up with another flu and this one likes people. It is worse than the 1918 flu, I mean how deadly it is."

"Well how many people died in that one?"

"The reporting fell apart, the world didn't have the communications we have, but most people figure fifty million people died," Ben said.

"You think this one is worse?"

"Much worse. In that one twenty percent of the people who caught it died or less. This one, this bird flu, it's more like three fourths of the people die, at least so far."

"Yea but what next for us, I mean I know you can't know, but what do you think?” asked Darlene.

“Fuck I don't know. Everything is going to be slammed right now; Is being slammed, right now. Commerce is going to die, trucks won't be able to keep up with the demand for food, Walmarts will get some supplies but people will get sick if they go to get it. Town mayors and managers will close the schools. Fuck! Everything is dependent on moving everything by road and rail and air, constantly. None of that is going to be easy. People are going to get hungry and sick. People are going to be mad that no one can help them, and they are going to look for someone to blame.

“People are going to think that the government should do something, they'll demand it, and the governments only response will be to use force to segregate the sick from the healthy. Oh, yea, and to extract important people from everywhere. Which will guarantee a uniform spread of the flu.”

“Jesus honey. Are you sure, I'm mean that's what could happen, but it ain't happenin' yet.”

“Darlene it is exactly what has to happen, and it is happening right now. What do you think that soldier was doing stopping you. It is like a river coming out of the mountains going to the sea, to the lowest point. We have a flu that is deadly, at least sixty percent of the people will die who get it, and almost everyone will be exposed this year. You tell me, start with this simple thing, how many will die, in numbers?”

Darlene recoiled from Ben's harsh attack. “Christ, that's just one thing that could happen Ben, the government has had four years to prepare for this, they must have something planned besides letting people just die?”

“No, they don't. For over six years they have been trying to figure out how you make a vaccine for a flu that doesn't even exist yet. They have somethings that might lower how many people get infected, but that is not enough of it, and it may not be effective against this at all.”

“He's a gloomy shit, isn't he Mark. How far down that rabbit hole do you live?”

Mark looked up at Darlene and just stared. He looked at Ben, then back to Darlene. She had stood and her face was red. Mark spoke quietly. “Darlene sit the fuck down and shut up. You're acting like those fucking sheep in town.”

Darlene's mouth worked, open and then closed. She sat.

Mark continued. “Ben ain't often wrong in what he has talked to me about, and he don't say it lightly. Seems to me we've got a big decision here in front of this fire. You can trust the government to do their job, solve this problem and believe that all will be normal in a couple of weeks, and go back to town. But the question I got for you Darlene, how often you think you have every had the government help you? What about your work with the eco folks? You of all people, what about your son?”

The color drained from Darlene's face and she looked at Mark stunned. “Don't you mention my son, don't you say one fucking word about my son.”

“Darlene,” interrupted Ben. Darlene!” She broke her lock with Mark's face and Ben could see tears glistening on her cheeks. The light was gone now, and the tracks of the tears glistened in the reflected light from the fire. The small pot that Darlene had put on the three stone fire boiled merrily, unconcerned over the exchange between the three people.

“I tell you what I told Jacob. There are eight billion people in the world right now in 2011. The depression has been grinding on since late 2007. People are out of work, and energy costs are rising. The democracy we live in, the capitalist state we live in is crumbling. You know it, you see it every day around you.

“Now the bird flu is going to have a vaccine. It will be nearly 100 percent effective. The distribution of that vaccine will absolutely be controlled by the various world governments, and corporations. They will prioritize. The vaccine can possibly be developed and rushed into production in six months. SIX MONTHS Darlene.

“Do you know how many people will have died in six months?” Darlene had turned away. Slowly she breathed and turned back towards Ben.

“How many?”

“Half of everyone you gets it or more will die. Despite the best and worst efforts of the governments involved, in six months more than half of the people in the world will have been exposed.

“Darlene that is four billion people. More importantly to us, right now, to you Darlene, half of everyone in Eugene, Medford, Grants Pass, Salem, Portland, Bend, Gold Beach, Coos Bay will be dead.”

“But don't you think with antibiotics . . .” she trailed off.

“Its a virus. Antibiotics don't work on viruses.”

“What are people going to do, what are we going to do?”

Mark shifted and looked up at Darlene. “They are going to get sick and die or get better. But Ben that's not the real problem is it?”

Ben shook his head no. “No, Mark, it is what the people will do to each other, to us and to themselves during the next six months that is our problem. That Darlene is the first branch that will break. People will panic when the bodies start to stack up. This isn't 1918. We aren't those people of a hundred years ago. They had strong religious faith, a strong patriotic sense, they trusted their local government at least, and loved their country for the most part. Do you think that is who we are now?”

Darlene shook her head. “No, we're not any sort of melting pot anymore, and you're right Mark, the government is not about helping any of us, but rather all about controlling us. Oh my god, what do we do? Fuck, there's nothing to do is there?

“Your telling us that two of us around this fire or one, will be dead in six months? she asked.

Ben was quiet for a moment. I can't tell you Darlene. This is the first step, and what we do right now has a lot of impact on our own survival.”

“What do you mean?” asked Mark. “Don't we just try to survive.”

“Yes absolutely, we try to survive. But you must see the cost of that, right?”

“What cost,” asked Darlene.

“Our survival is dependent on not being exposed, and you can bet there are others thinking the same thing, right now. Towns will wall off, cities and roads will be barred as people make their local governments take action. Just like a city under siege in medieval times, we are limited by food, water, time, and our own psychology.”

“Please, what do we do tomorrow, what about our friends and loved ones? What do we do right now?” asked Darlene.

“That about three minutes?” asked Mark, reaching in to pick out one of the Mountain house entrees.

Ben and Darlene stopped, looked at Mark, and for a moment the tension was broken.

After they were done eating, Ben said. “We have to stay in the wilderness for the next six months. We can't risk contact with others, we basically will turn ninety degrees from the world and disappear.”

“Can we tell our friends?” asked Darlene.

“I've suggest you do so, tonight. I don't think they're going to listen. But yes, use your phone right here tonight an call them all. I'll give you a gps coordinate that they can meet us at tomorrow. But here's the thing Darlene, when you talk to them, ask first if there is flu in their town. If so, you can't let them come, they may already be infected.”

“Jesus Christ.” said Darlene in a low moan. “You got this all planned out don't you?”

“Only this first step. You think I'm down the rabbit hole, you have no idea, no idea how deep this hole will get. Right now, we are like a Roadrunner cartoon, and we're Wiley Coyote, and we just ran off the cliff. We're looking down but we haven't started to fall yet, but fall we will.”

Mark got up and disappeared into the night. Darlene watched him go. “You're enjoying this a little, right?

Ben shook his head sadly. If you pointed out he obvious, did the math, simple one two three stuff and came to a horrible conclusion, people call you a chicken little, or insane. If the shit inevitably comes to pass, then well, he must be a crazy fuck who enjoyed being right at the expense of society. Ben knew he was neither.”

“I'll call right now, but why not have them come here?”

“Make all the calls you're going to make, and then we're going to through your phone away. Why not here? Because maybe they're already infected. We'll have to be careful.

“Jesus.”

“Have them bring camping gear, guns, medical, oh, just talk to Mark, he'll know what we need for six months.”

Darlene looked at him, stood and wandered off to look for Mark, stopping at her car to pick up her phone first. Ben called her back and gave her a slip of paper with the GPS coordinates for them to meet the following day.

Ben began cleaning up. He knew he had lied about the first twig that was breaking. He was torn. They needed to move right away into the off road areas. Darlene had mentioned that with the cops tied up, and everything in an uproar, some people, not the nice people, saw an opportunities. The social fabric was going to fray now and Ben didn't want to be anywhere near that.

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