The Emerald Virus (21 page)

    
Ned added, “I agree with that, but I know here in the Northwest there are a lot
of really independent folks, and some of them are going to prefer to be by
themselves, or in very small groups, so don’t be surprised if that happens.
Most of them will come into town after a year or two since living without any
other people around is really tough.”

    
Will continued, “I agree, there are some tough old cusses out there, and there
are some that aren’t quite as tough as they think they are. Most of them will
want some company after a while.”

    
Sam said, “That’ll happen as it will. The part that I have a tough time
thinking about is that there will be absolutely no formal rules or laws to
control folks.”   Will answered, “You should worry but maybe not as much as you
think you should. Remember in the days of the Wild West there were few laws and
few lawmen around to enforce them. Even with that, the reputation of the west
being wild was built on the actions of a handful of outlaws. The overwhelming
percentage of the population respected unwritten societal rules because they
knew that was best for everyone’s survival. I believe you’ll find the same
thing occurs in the future. People will understand the need to work together.

    
But you can’t lose sight of the fact that the United States and each of the
individual states will cease to exist. The congress and the courts will
disappear. The stitches that hold together the fabric of society as we know it
will no longer exist. 

    
“Your biggest problem will be in dealing with criminal deviants. You need to
think long and hard about that. If you have to deal with someone you’re
convinced is mean, or even evil, you have to do something about it. Billy the
Kid survived because ordinary citizens were afraid to deal with him. They chose
to wait for the law to deal with him, and before it did people even more people
died.

    
“In your future there won’t be any lawmen to start with. People like you are
going to have to enforce rules that are unwritten or the bullies of the world
will rule and the bad guys will get rid of the good guys. You can’t afford to
let that happen.”

    
“Dad, are you saying I should be prepared to kill someone if I think they
deserve it? I don’t know if I can do that.”

    
“It would be better if there was a group of people who got together to decide
the fate of the deviants, but you can’t count on that happening. Some people
will be afraid to take any action, and some will want to be lenient. You have
to decide what you’ll accept and what you won’t accept and then act. As a group
if you can, but alone if you must.”

    
“For example, if someone kills another person I think you should consider executing
him or her on the spot. No talking, no debating and no hesitating. Be firm and
fast and expect other people to understand what you did and why you did it.
Life has always been precious and it needs to be protected in the future.

    
“Lesser crimes will deserve lesser punishments, but you won’t have any jails or
any jailers to care for someone you lock up, so that won’t work in the near
term. Ostracism may be suitable but if you throw someone out of your town and
put them on their own you’ll have made an enemy, so you need to be careful with
that. I think the best thing to do is to make sure your group talks about what
to do as early as possible. If everyone knows what the rules are at the outset,
and what the consequences might be, your life will be easier. But until that
happens you can’t be afraid to act appropriately.”

    
“Thanks, Dad. That’s a lot to think about, but being prepared will make it
easier. I can’t imagine needing to shoot someone so I think I’ll push that one
to a back burner for a while. And like you said, almost everyone will want to
do the right thing so maybe I’ll never have to worry about it.”

    
As Will, Samantha and Ned talked throughout the afternoon Sam understood how
difficult life was about to become for her. She also realized that the
challenge was beginning to excite her. No one had ever been asked to do
anything like this. She didn’t think the challenge was as great as that faced
by the pioneers, but it would be second only to that in terms of difficulty.
She also found that the conversation during the course of the day had taken her
mind off of the horror that was to come.    

     
And, she realized it had given her men something new and exciting to think
about, and had relieved them of the pressure of their own pending deaths. She
was glad she had agreed to do this and she knew she would want to continue to
plan with the men for the remaining days, or as long as it seemed to help them
and her.

    
It was late afternoon when the ring of the phone surprised them all. Will stood
up from the kitchen table and walked into the living room to answer the phone.

    
He walked into the kitchen a few minutes later and said, “Ned, that was Mel
Withers, the guy you talked to earlier about the RV He asked if we could come
by tomorrow morning, take a look at the RV and meet a couple of people. One of
them is another survivor who just surfaced. I told him we would be there at
nine o’clock.

    
Sam looked up and said, “Dad, this is a real twist. What does he expect us to
do?”

    
“He said he didn’t expect us to do anything except meet the person. The
survivors name is Ben Mason, and he’s apparently the grandson of a store owner
in Lewiston. I don’t really know what to think at this point but I did tell Mel
we weren’t planning on joining up with anyone.”

    
“Mel knows you by reputation of course, and he knew what I was saying. He said
he agreed with me and he would help insure we went our own way if that was what
we wanted.”

    
“Wow! What a surprise this is. Okay, I’ll be happy to meet anyone but the
thought of being thrown together doesn’t work for me. I appreciate your warning
to Mel. We’ll just have to play it by ear.”

    
The next morning the three of them took Will’s pickup into Lewiston and met Mel
Withers outside of City Hall. There were four RVs parked in front of the
building and a small group of people gathered on the sidewalk.

    
Ned said, “The large man in the gray Stetson is Mel, I’ll introduce you.”

    
They walked over to the group, all but one who was showing symptoms, and Ned
introduced the three of them.

    
A gray haired man with a beard said, “I’m Wiley Mason and this here is my
grandson Ben Mason. Ben’s sixteen years old and his father and mother were
killed in a car accident eleven years ago. Ben’s father was my only son.” Wiley
smiled fondly at the young man as he continued, “Ben and I have been together
since then. We’re from here in Lewiston and I own the gun shop here in town.”

    
Will looked at Wiley and said, “I remember you now, we’ve met before. You
repaired the stock on my 30.06 years ago.”

    
Wiley said, “Yes I did and I’m pleased you remember.”

    
As Ben shook hands with the three of them he smiled and said, “I’m pleased to
meet the three of you. My grandfather had told me about the Blue Wolf Ranch and
about you Mr. Klein.”

    
Samantha liked what she saw in Ben. He was a nice looking kid with dark
straight hair and a confident look about him, at least for a sixteen year old.
He was wearing a western shirt and western boots, with blue jeans and a John
Deere baseball cap. He skin was darker than his grandfathers and he had the
weathered look of someone who spent a lot of time outdoors. He definitely wasn’t
the merchant type.

    
Sam surprised Will and Ned when she said, “I think we should spend a little
time getting to know each other, there’s a coffee shop up the street, why don’t
we sit down and talk for a while, if that’s okay with you Mr. Withers.”

    
Mel looked at Ben and Wiley who smiled and nodded and said, “I think that’s a
good idea Sam, I’ll even buy the coffee.”

   
As they drank coffee Sam learned that Ben’s mother had been the daughter of a
local rancher and a Lakota Sioux woman. That explained his complexion and to
some extent his love of the outdoors. When Ben spoke of his mother and father
he did so with obvious love. She could tell he still missed them.

    
They talked for almost an hour with Sam making sure she asked Ben questions
directly and otherwise included him in the conversation. He smiled easily a
couple of times and then remembered the circumstances and became serious. Sam
could understand the emotions he was going through. 

    
Finally Ben looked at Sam and said, “Ms. Klein I’m a little nervous about this
but I want you to know that my grandfather and I talked about this meeting till
late last night. When we realized I was a survivor we knew I’d have to be alone
through the early days and I’ve been preparing for that. I worry about being
young and without a lot of experience, but on the other hand I also know I’m a
good outdoorsman. My grandfather has taught me well, and I’m proud of both my
western and my Indian heritage, so I’ve tried to learn all I could about both
cultures.

    
“I hadn’t planned on meeting any other survivors early on, and I’d guess you
feel the same way. So I just want to say that if you want to go your own way
I’d understand that. But if you think we might both be better off if we teamed
up I’d consider that also. It’s a big decision for both of us so maybe we
should think about it and talk again in the next day or two. We don’t have to
decide today.”

    
Sam looked at Ben with a bit of amazement. She hadn’t expected this level of
forethought or maturity from a sixteen year old.

    
She responded, “Ben, I think that’s a great idea. I agree that we don’t have to
decide today, but I have to tell you my first impressions of you are good. Your
grandfather has a right to be proud of you; he’s obviously raised you well.
Let’s think about what we’re getting into overnight and I’ll meet you right
here for coffee at nine o’clock tomorrow and we’ll talk again; just the two of
us.”

   
Ben smiled at her and said, “I’d like that, I’ll be here at nine sharp.”

   
Mel said, “Well, that sounds like a great plan. For now let’s go look at the RVs.
I’ve owned one of these for years and I’ll show you how to operate everything.
You’ll each have one but they are identical. I’ll show you what our group has
spent the last week doing in terms of outfitting the vehicles.”

    
Mel took them through the RVs. Both were four wheel drives with large Caterpillar
diesel engines, which Mel told them they would need for towing, and for
mountain driving. Both had automatic transmissions although both Sam and Ben
had grown up driving manual shift vehicles.

    
The most interesting part of the tour was seeing how they were outfitted. Mel
explained that they had prepared them for western people who would want to have
horses if possible. The RVs would be on the road alone so they felt that each
one could pull two trailers without a problem. The first trailer would include
the freezer compartment Jack Sweeney’s group had recommended, but the trailer
would be twice as large. Half of it was freezer compartment and the other half
contained six fifty gallon drums of diesel fuel. Each one was linked to the
next by a flexible fuel hose, and the lead drum was connected to a small
electric pump which was to be used to refuel the RV. Mel said this probably
wasn’t needed in other regions of the country but in the northwest there could
be long distances between working gas stations.

    
Mel also explained that they had chosen diesel engines based on reports about
the number of cars driving across the country. Gasoline was being used in large
quantities whereas truckers were driving home and staying there. They thought that
diesel fuel would be easier to find.

    
The second trailer for each RV was a thirty-two foot Elite horse trailer
capable of carrying fourteen horses. Each trailer had been prepared to carry
two horses and was outfitted with enough feed to last both horses through the
first winter. Additionally, one of the stalls had been equipped with a four
wheel drive all-terrain vehicle, a snowmobile and a twenty-five gallon drum of
fuel for each. Mel explained that they had included these in case of emergency.

   
All available space in both trailers and in the RV itself had been filled with
provisions of some sort.

After
the tour Mel looked at both of them and said, “We’ve used our imaginations to
stock everything we think you’ll need. We tried not to include any luxury
items. If you can think of something we’ve missed let me know and I’ll make
sure you get it. Where ever you go you are going to be snowed into your winter
camp so we’ve provisioned you for a long winter.

    
“Everything Jack Sweeney has recommended about communication gear and computers
we’ve included. We’ve also included a variety of movies and music CDs, but we
didn’t go overboard. If you have favorites you’ll need to take them
yourselves.”

    
Sam looked at Mel and said, “Mr. Withers I’m overwhelmed by the town’s
generosity in preparing the RVs. I have no way of repaying you for this but I
assure you it will be used to help build a future, and I will remember you and
the town for this.”