The Fern Tender (16 page)

     Lillian bit her lip, looked to side and replied, “I have to go back to the Capitol. You stay with your Dad and I’ll be back very soon.”

     “But you just came home last night! Its not fair!” Shouted Alena.

     Distracted with her task at hand, Lillian could only manage, “I know baby, but it’s my job. I promise I’ll be safe you will see me soon.”     

     She hugged Alena tight then left for the house. Making a quick scan of her bedroom and the kitchen. Who knows what to take with you when the world ends, Lillian settled on a change of clothes and her backpack. The door slammed behind her and she jumped into her car and braced herself for what she thought might be her last trip to the Capitol.

Chapter 8

The Last Blood Moon

     This time on the drive into the Capitol, the road behaved. The driving was familiar monotony spiked with terrified moments thinking about the reset. Building a plan as she started passing through the familiar suburbs of the Capital with their massive parking lots and strip malls, she decided she must talk with the President first. Despite her intrigue about bringing Ellen back to the Colony, her priority was to provide the Capitol with the wheel’s information. Then her plan was to go to Ellen’s.

     What about Andrew? She thought. The idea of leaving Andrew behind was distracting. Feeling selfish, she still decided to go back into the cuts after stopping at Ellens. The notion of not seeing him again was too much to think about now. A solitary tear streaked down her cheek, knowing that what she felt yesterday may be the first and last time she might be truly equal with a man. Not sure what to do once she found him, she left her thoughts open ended. Lillian knew the The Book of Ferns forbade anyone without a direct bloodline to the Colony to even be there let alone live there. It was a shattering thought. “Just find him,” she thought “and I’ll work something out.”

     Picking up her phone, she made the emergency call to the President’s office. “I’m thirty minutes from the Capitol office and I have urgent news for the President.”

     “Yes ma’am. We’re sending an escort now. Can I assume you are on the Freeway?” The voice replied.

      Bewildered she asked. “Escort? Like a police escort? And yes I’m on the freeway northbound towards the Capitol.”

      Again the voice on the other end replied. “Yes ma’am a police escort. You will be taken to the CDC building. The President will be waiting for you there.”

     Caught off guard with the formality and the change of venue, a now suspicious Lillian asked, “Wait a minute. Is this some trick? Tell me your clearance code voice on the other end of the phone.”

     “Alpha888-512-FFF. We’ll see you in a few minutes Lillian.” The voice hung up the phone.

     Knowing the voice was now legit and she had indeed spoken with the President’s office she was confused. Just as she began running scenarios through her mind as to what exactly had been kicked off in The Capitol and why she was going to the Center for Disease Control building, the first wave of police swooped in from behind and darted in front of the car clearing her path through the traffic. Another wave appeared behind her and she had to floor the little car to keep up with the escort.

     She kept pace and flew past the opened front gate of the CDC. Following the police, she was lead through the parking lot, then down into another parking lot located underground. They sped past the pilings that held up the lot’s ceiling. Coming to a stop, a host of plainclothes capitol police greeted her and ushered her inside.

     With her mind still swimming from the drama of the escort, they boarded an elevator. Stopping at Basement level 3, they quickly exited and moved down the hall to what appeared to be a closet. Two of the officers opened the door then they began another journey on a cramped damp smelling elevator. Coming to rest after what felt like a lifetime, the doors flew open into a room buzzing with people and activity.  Overhead flat screen tvs were tracking something across the Capital and throughout the whole planet.

     A woman she recognized from the President’s office met her, interrupting her thoughts, “Lillian you’re here. Please come this way. He’s waiting to see you.”

     Still confused, she followed the woman into a side room. The President was there along with two other people she didn’t recognize.

     Not wasting anytime the president began, “Lillian. My apologies. You were right. It is indeed happening. Yesterday I was informed as to exactly what’s going on. My apologies to you and to the CDC. The CDC has been working in secret on fighting this thing for the past year or so. All of that time without my involvement. Better late than never to join the game though I guess. You, the CDC, and this problem now have my full attention.” He waited for her to speak.

     She looked at him. She was steaming. What an asshole she thought. Then replied with her same thought, “You’re an asshole. I’m here to tell you we now have 18 hours.”

     The president looked away. He knew he had been wrong, and his body language showed it. There was no time for concession though. He simply turned around and said, “Sarah please bring in John.”

     He moved his gaze back at Lillian and continued, “Lillian, John Murdoch heads up the nation’s Center for Disease Control. He’ll update you on what’s happening here and I’ll need you to update him on your information as well. In addition we have another person John should introduce you to as well. She has been consulting with John for the last couple of years as his team has been tracking the outbreak.”

     The President and his entourage left. While she waited, she stepped out of the room briefly to get a better idea of where she was and just exactly what was happening. The room was full of doctors and bureaucrats staring at screens and answering phone calls. At the back of the room was a map of the world. Red dots were rapidly popping up in locations across the map.

     At the opposite end of the room was another screen that didn’t make sense to her. It was showing the moon tracking across the sky. The moon had been full last night Lillian noted and also in total lunar eclipse she remembered. The phases of the moon were an important part of the the Colony community. However, she had been so overwhelmed with the wheel and the capitol she hadn’t thought much of the eclipse and she missed the assembly the Colony elders called together the day before because she was driving back from the Capitol.

     A hand lightly grabbed the back of her shoulder, “Lillian I’m John Murdoch the director here at the CDC, thanks for coming. Please come back inside.”

     The door shut behind them. John sat down and crossed his legs and continued, “How much do you know about what is happening right now?”

     As intrigued as she was, Lillian decided to stick to her duty and not go off script, “Nothing. I do have information to share with the President, which I basically just did but beyond that I’m not allowed to speak with anyone about what I know or don’t know.” 

     He replied, “OK. I see. We’ll the president has told me who you are and about the Colony. Also, he told me that you said we have 18 hours. Lillian we need you to cooperate with us fully. We are in a crisis here. Old rules and protocols don’t apply anymore.”

     Lillian interrupted, “Are you implying you think I have more info to provide about this crisis, whatever it is?”

     “Well, you are a special person obviously and seemed to provide plenty of warning to the President.” He said.

     Again interrupting, “Yes, and The President has dismissed everything I’ve ever said to him about the timing of the reset and has gone as far as mocking me.”

     “Reset? Is that what you call this? What does that mean exactly Lillian?” The director shot back.

     “Ask the president. He knows. Now why don’t you tell me what the fuck is going on?” Lillian snapped.

     “Very well.” He adjusted his chair and took a long draw from his styrofoam coffee cup. “Lillian what you are seeing is an outbreak of a serious illness, a new disease we really don’t know much about or how to stop it. People get it by drinking contaminated water. We first saw a few of these outbreaks pop up a couple of years ago and we kept the information secret in order to keep the public calm and also so we could study it and learn more. The disease is fatal, but it is a long slow process of death. It’s a subset of rabies. A horrible thing, making those who come in contact with the water aggressive and violent in their quest for more water which just makes them sicker and more aggressive.”

     “Why don’t you have it then if it’s in the water?” She asked.

     “Because we’ve stockpiled clean water for parts of the government. Your colony is safe because all of your water comes from springs within, but basically no one else is safe. The incubation period is tricky too, in some individuals it takes months for the disease to show up in others it takes hours. Its a horrible thing and we’re hoping you may know more about this?”

     Lillian looked him in the eye, “No. I’m sorry I don’t know anything about this disease. Why didn’t you tell the President?”

     Exasperated he quipped, “We did. He never paid it much attention and here we are.”

     “Well, OK I get that. He’s an idiot.” Lillian shot back.

     “Let me tell you the rest though. What we also know is that we’ve made a huge mistake with our pharmaceutical industry. We believe the amount of prescription drugs that are flushed into the water supply has been the basis for this outbreak. Particularly drugs that have to do with what the industry here calls ED or erectile dysfunction. Essentially these are blood drugs. They increase blood supply to the penis by using a string of nasty ingredients. Since they popped up in the last decade they’ve gone into the water supply via urination. The atomic particles stay in the water even during the purification process. For whatever reason, this is our mysterious part here, during the blood moon these blood supply enhancing drugs can become exponentially powerful and create the the crazed male behavior we are seeing. So, on a quarter moon, we don’t have very many outbreaks. On a full moon we have more. But now, and I have to apologize for the esoteric sounding explanation, during a blood moon or total lunar eclipse the bonding of these elements into our water supply is off the charts.

     Everyone without clean water, basically spring water, water with no pharmaceuticals in it, is susceptible. We are in our fourth blood moon now or what I understand to be called a tetrad, four blood moons over two years. We as a society and planet may not be able to survive this outbreak that’s happening as we speak.”

     Lillian sat quietly listening, “So you’re saying then then these limp men who can’t get it up are killing everyone else looking for water. And that they don’t know the same water has some kind of hard-on poison in it. And basically this is how the world ends. Sounds like the hubris of old fat white men and the end of your world as you know it.”

     He clenched his jaw, “Yes. I am hoping this is not the end of the world though. Can you guys bring in the Alchemist.”

     She cocked her head and asked, “The alchemist? Are you serious? You people believe in magic now that shit has hit the fan, huh?”

     He replied, “We believe in trying everything to save the planet. The moon part of this puzzle is clearly not a scientific thing and we have asked for help in that area.”

     The door opened and in walked Ellen. “Lillian, good to see you.”

     “Oh my God.” Lillian gasped. “What the Hell?”

   
Cracking a cheeky smile, Ellen continued “I know. I know. You can’t believe it. Its true though. I’ve been trying to help these guys. But I don’t have any good answers either. Can I please speak with Lillian in private please?”

     You have 5 minutes.” The director replied.

     The director and his entourage picked up their notes, files, empty cups, and left the two alone. Sitting together in silence for a moment, Lillian wasn’t sure what to believe or what to say.

     Finally she broke the silence, “Really, I mean these buffoons, how much are they paying you to teach them about lunar eclipses?”

     Ellen smiled, “Ha, lots. But that’s not really why I’m doing or should I say did it. Look I have more to tell you about all this, but for now we need to get the hell out of here.”

     In a serious tone Lillian remarked, “Yes, and according to Regina and the Book of the Ferns, I need you come with me back to the Colony.

     “I know. I know. Again, look. We need to get out of here. Just since last night he riots have started, fires are burning, the disease is taking hold. This place is about to come unglued. But listen, they won’t just let us leave. They think we know more than we do. When you walked in here you walked into a virtual prison. We have to get out and back to the Colony.”

     Lillian shook her head, “How Ms. Alchemist? They took the keys to my car when I got here. Not even thinking, I gave them to some guard.”

     “Just stick with me. I have a plan.” Ellen replied.

     The Director stepped back in the room followed by his pack of bureaucrats. “Sorry that wasn’t five minutes. We don’t have five minutes any more. Listen ladies, we need your information. I’ll cut to the chase, you’re not leaving until you tell us how to deal with this thing.”