Outage (Powerless Nation #1) (18 page)

Grandpa was on his bed, looking down at the two of them. His thin hair was sweaty and plastered to his forehead and he shivered with chills. Dee looked helplessly up at him. “I don't know what to do. I can't move her.”
 

He handed her a pillow and a blanket from the bed. “Just try to make her comfortable, and then I need you to do something.”

After Dee did what she could to wrap Angela in the blanket she wanted to lie down next to her and never get up, but Grandpa had a job for her.
 

“I think I know what we've got,” he said. Dee noticed he had the big medical book open in bed next to him. “It's typhoid.”

“As in typhoid fever?” she said. “Could I have…? I'm so stupid. I must have caught it at Courtney's. She said they were sick.” Dee didn't realize it was possible to feel even more miserable. This was all her fault.

“No, no Maddie-girl, it wasn't you. It takes weeks before symptoms set in.” He went on, “If I'm right, I've got something out in the clinic to treat it.”

“Animal medicine?”

“Yes, but we give animals some of the same antibiotics we use for ourselves. If we can get some of that into everyone, we should start getting better.

“And without it?”

Grandpa was silent.
 

Dee thought about how far it was to the clinic. “I don't know if I can make it.”

“
I
know you can, Maddie.” The belief in his eyes was unwavering and she knew she had to try.

He explained what she needed to look for and then reached over and handed her his cane. “It's magic, you know.” Dee held the end with the glass ball tightly until it warmed under her hand.

The walk to the clinic was excruciatingly slow and gave Dee too much time to think. What if she couldn't find the right bottle? What if there wasn't enough? How would she get the kids to take it? How was she even going to get up the stairs? It seemed impossible.

One step at a time
, she told herself. She watched her feet and concentrated on making them take a single step. Then one more. It was working – she was inside the clinic. She made herself take some more steps to the back room. He'd said the medicine was on the storage shelves in the kennel area.

There it was. It was a big white bottle like she'd expect to see behind the counter in a pharmacy. She shook it and almost laughed to feel all of the pills rolling inside. Opening it, she took two out and swallowed them dry before making her way back. She paused in the reception area and looked at the office chair behind the desk. Would it roll across concrete? It might, but she realized if she sat down in it she'd never want to get back up. She left it, and headed back to the house on her feet.

The walk back to the house was better. She had the cure in her hands, and she was determined to get it to everyone. Leaning heavily on Grandpa's cane and resting between every step, she made it up the front stairs of the patio.

She went to Grandpa's room first and woke him up. He was confused and called her Madeleine before he woke up completely and saw what she had. “That's my girl,” he said. She helped him take two of the pills and then knelt beside Angela.

“Open the capsule and pour the powder under her tongue,” said Grandpa.

Dee paused, “What if she's allergic?”

“I guess we'll find out.”

It was quiet upstairs. Dee paused at the top of the steps to catch her breath and worry about what she'd find, but it wasn't too bad. Everyone was running a fever but they were all in their beds, most of them asleep. If they woke up she helped them take the medicine, and if they didn't she put it under their tongues. She found Sammy in bed with Mason. His little cheeks were flushed but he sat up and took the medicine when she showed him what to do.

Hyrum was awake and asked about his mom.

“I'm afraid she's come down with it too,” Dee said, handing him his dose.

“You need help then,” he said, and tried to sit up.
 

Dee put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Maybe tomorrow. Just rest for now, I've got this.”

He settled back down into bed and she was sure he was asleep before she left the room. In her own room, she sat on the bed and marveled at how good it felt to stop standing. Then she got into bed and fell asleep without another thought.

The antibiotics made a big difference for everyone but Angela. While the others were slowly improving, Angela's fever and delirium continued. It was difficult to get her to take the medicine, and impossible to get her to eat or drink more than just a few sips of water. Grandpa said they had to be patient and let it run its course because it was worse in some people than others. Dee saw from the haunted look in the eyes of her children that this was no comfort at all.

By now they'd moved her into Grandpa's bed and he was sleeping on the couch. They took turns sitting with her and keeping cool cloths on her forehead and neck. Tylenol worked to bring her fever down slightly, but it didn't control it, and Dee worried that she was cooking from the inside out. While she kept watch, Hyrum came into the room and knelt on the other side of the bed near Angela's head.

She saw that his hands shook and she didn't know whether it was from lingering weakness or fear for his mom. “I'm going to say a blessing over her to ask God to heal her.”

Dee stood up. “I'll give you some time alone.” She went into the next room and added a silent prayer on Angela's behalf. She was a mother to all of them and Dee couldn't imagine life without her.
 

Angela's fever broke later that night. Grandpa said that the sickness had run its course and the antibiotics had finally kicked in. Dee watched as the Searle children crowded around their mother, laughing and crying and trying to hug her. Hyrum leaned over and kissed Angela's forehead. She smiled weakly up at him and put a hand on his cheek. “You remind me so much of your dad,” she said before falling into a deep and restful sleep.

That night Dee had a hard time falling asleep – she couldn’t stop thinking about Courtney. She knew it was too late for her now and that that was what the woman had wanted, but it didn’t make Dee feel any better. When she finally did doze off she had a nightmare.
 

In the dream, it was pitch black and she didn't know where she was. Maybe somewhere in the farmhouse. Then she heard a sound that chilled her – the squeak of the front door on its hinges. Dee barely breathed. She told herself it was probably Mason or Hyrum coming in from checking on the cattle, but she knew the cows were grazing out in the pasture, and that the boys were sleeping in the house.

Beams of several flashlights arced across the ceiling and Dee held her breath. It was the home invaders, she was sure. A wave of fury built up in her chest as she heard them walk into the kitchen and begin opening cupboard doors. She longed to leap off the couch and confront them, punching and kicking and tearing them to pieces but her dream self couldn't move.

Tears of frustration formed in her eyes. They were being robbed and there was nothing she could do about it. She listened closely. Had they found the trapdoor to the cellar? She couldn't tell. But she heard chickens squawking and Grandpa's truck engine roar to life. They would be left with nothing.

“Is that it?” a voice whispered.

“For now. We'll come back for the rest when they're gone.”

Even in her dream Dee knew what the voice meant when it said 'when they're gone.'
 

When they were dead.

She woke up in a cold sweat. The thieves were coming.

CHAPTER TWENTY

G
RANDPA
, D
EE
, H
YRUM
AND
Mason sat around the table in the sunny kitchen. They were in varying stages of recovery and all looked the worse for wear.

“What I don't understand is how they know which homes to target,” said Hyrum. “I'm not sure we have enough information to form a pattern.”

“Courtney said it happened to her, and Morty reported the same thing was happening to other families,” Dee pointed out.

“Sammy said they broke into our house too,” added Mason. “Not sure if my mom was sick at the time though.”

“Let's just say for a minute that they do know,” said Dee. “How is that even possible? They can't keep tabs on that many people.”

“What if they know who to watch ahead of time?” said Grandpa thoughtfully.

“Like guessing which families will get sick based on where they live, or if their neighbors are sick?”

“No, I mean what if they are infecting them on purpose?”
 

Everyone fell silent. The idea was horrifying.

“That's terrorism,” Hyrum said.

Grandpa nodded, “The incubation period of typhoid is two weeks, and then if you don't have the right medicine it can last four weeks or longer. That would give them a big window of opportunity.”

Dee asked, “Wouldn't it be risky for them, going into contaminated houses?”

“Not if they're careful,” said Grandpa. “Typhoid doesn't spread through the air. It has to be in the food or the water.”

“But our water is clean, and none of us were sick or exposed. That doesn't make any sense. How did we get it?” said Mason. He got up and began to pace.

“Did you read about Typhoid Mary in history class?” asked Grandpa. The name sounded familiar and Dee tried to remember.

“Sure, I read a book about her,” said Mason, and then he stopped dead in his tracks and turned to them, “She was a typhoid carrier, but she wasn't sick. She was a cook, and wherever she worked people got sick and died. They finally had to lock her up because she was such a threat.”

“Morty,” said Hyrum, and everyone fell quiet, thinking of the jolly mail carrier.

“Do you think he knows?” asked Dee finally.

“That's the question now, isn't it?” said Grandpa. “He's been our mailman for as long as I can remember. I wouldn't have thought it of him, but you saw how wasted he looked. You never know what people will do if they get hungry enough.”

“We've got to stop him,” said Hyrum. “Whether he knows it or not, he's killing people.”

“And if they don't die from typhoid, they die from starvation after the thieves clean them out,” Mason added grimly.

Dee counted back, trying to remember how long it had been since Morty stopped by. “It's been a little over three weeks. If there's going to break in here it'll be soon.”

“How many guns do we have?” said Mason. “I think I've got an idea.”

Grandpa didn't like the plan, which involved luring the thieves into the house to corner and capture them. He said they'd be better off just shooting at them from the house and scaring them off.

“With all respect, if we do that then they'll just go after someone more helpless than we are,” said Hyrum, who thought Mason's plan would work. “Right now we have the advantage since we know they're coming and we're not as sick as they think.”

Reluctantly, Grandpa agreed that capturing the thieves was the right thing to do. Dee was worried too, but she couldn't stop thinking about Courtney's three girls. “I don't think we have a choice,” she said finally.

Angela, Joseph and the younger children were ordered to stay upstairs with Jasper and keep out of sight while Grandpa, Hyrum, Mason, Dee and Jeremiah got things ready. They were careful to stay away from the windows. If the house was being watched it needed to appear as if they were all sick inside.

Grandpa and Mason checked the guns. They had three – Grandpa's shotgun, Mason's revolver, and the pistol he'd put in Dee's backpack on the day of the EMP. Dee didn't want anything to do with the gun, so they decided Hyrum should carry it.

The farm kitchen had three doors – one that led to the hallway and entryway, one to the dining/living room, and one to the porch. They all agreed that the invaders were most likely to come through the porch and into the kitchen to get to the food more quickly. To encourage the use of the porch entrance, they left the outer door slightly ajar as an invitation.

Dee climbed down into the cellar and draped sheets and towels over their food storage. There wasn't time to move it, but they didn't want to advertise they had it either. After she finished, Mason pulled the ladder up entirely and hid it out of sight in Grandpa's room. Leaving the trap door all the way open so it rested flush against the floor, Hyrum laid the rug carefully over the hole to disguise it, making it into a pit trap.

Mason walked everyone through the plan. “I think we should tie Jasper near the front door. That way they're almost certain to come in through the patio door instead. I'll be under the table; the tablecloth will hide me. We'll leave the door to the pantry open and they should make a beeline straight over there. At least one of them will fall into the cellar, two if we're lucky, and then all of you are going to come through the other two doors.”

“What if we come in at the wrong time?” asked Jeremiah.

“Once their guy falls in the cellar it will be chaos. You'll know when it's time. You and Hyrum will be in the living room. Doc Kerns and Dee will be in his room. Each pair has a gun. When you hear the racket, come into the kitchen and point your guns at the thieves but don't get close. Dee, you light the lamp and they'll see we've got them. There's no way out, they'll be short a guy, and they'll have three guns on them.”

“What are we going to do with them then?” asked Dee. She was starting to have some doubts now as well. What if the thieves were better armed than they were?

“They'll be trying to get their guy out of the cellar so they won't have any weapons out. That makes it a lot easier. We'll take their guns and tie them up, and then we can try and find out who's in charge of this whole thing.”

Dee knew Grandpa wasn't sold on the plan – he just wanted to take care of them and keep everyone under his roof safe. He hadn't seen what had been done to Courtney, or to Mason's mom. Dee had, and she knew they had to try to stop it.

Dee was napping on Grandpa’s bed when the sound of the doorbell woke her. “Shh,” Grandpa said. “It's almost time.” She was wide-awake in an instant as adrenaline rushed through her. The doorbell stopped and she figured Hyrum or Jeremiah had cut the wire, but Jasper still barked. Her hands were icy and she felt like she could barely breathe, but Grandpa put a steadying hand on her shoulder. Together they crept out of his room and into the hallway where they listened through the kitchen door, waiting for their cue.