Two 50 Caliber Reasons
The school was barely five miles to the southeast, and when they got there, Len had Deag pull over a good distance from the main campus.
Neither one had binoculars, so they just sat and watched the area trying to judge the situation.
They could tell that it was still staffed and Deag was all for just driving right up to the door, as if he could just waltz in and get his family out like it was a walk in the park, but Len assured him that would be impossible.
"Trust me brother, that ain't their protocol. First off, they wouldn't even let you in on account that you could be sick. No, we have to make a plan, because they are likely to just shoot first and ask questions later, if you get what I mean," Len advised. "We need to watch a little longer and try to determine who they have at this location."
Deag stared straight ahead. He knew Len was right.
The lay out of the campus was at a vantage point for them, being slightly nestled in a small valley. They could see three sides from where they were parked, but they were the back sides, with the front of the school being totally out of sight range.
Len just had no idea how the two of them had a chance of taking on the military style set up even if they could figure out who was being held here, and then they took the risk of becoming infected and sick in the likelihood that they came across diseased individuals.
"Look," Deag suddenly said. "I'm going down there. You stay here with the truck. I want to find my kids. My wife. I'll be careful, but I need to talk to someone if possible, Len, I just can't sit around here wondering."
Len knew there was no stopping Deag. He said no more to try and sway Nates little brother. Len's only family was Hollis and Verbena. The rest of their relations had never left the reservations where they had been born and raised.
Deag took the handgun Len had given him and put it on the seat. "We might need it later," he reasoned, "and they will probably take it from me anyway."
Len got out with Deag and came around to the driver's side. He handed Deag the scarf from around his neck. "Wear this at least," he cautioned.
Deag tied it around his face and Len got back in the truck behind the wheel to wait as Deag took off down the hill.
Bio-masked, armed military personnel met Deag at the gate that had been temporarily constructed to keep civilians out. It was a hurdle he hadn't counted on as he jogged down the hill and around to the front of the high school. He quickly found out that this location was being used as an Army HQ, and the guards were not in the mood to disclose any information concerning quarantine units. Deag tried explaining logically with them but they countered his questions with threats of violence if he didn't move on. The best he could manage to get from them was that detainees were only held twenty-four hours and after that they were released, so it was anybody's guess where they might be. Then he was firmly instructed to return to the safety of his own home, or face arrest.
At that point several Stonehenge military cargo trucks rolled in for a unit exchange and Deag stared in horror at the tall surplus beds stacked with the covered bodies of the dead. His hand went instinctively to the bandana covering his mouth and nose as he began to back away. The men hanging off the sides of the trucks jumped down and were let into the facility while others ran out and took their places. They were decked out in full biological coverall's and helmets. The stark reality of the situation was becoming crystal clear in his mind and he turned to run, to get as far away as possible when he heard a feminine shout behind him.
"Hey YOU!"
He looked back and saw a woman soldier at the fence. Her expression was partially hidden by her mask. "If I wanted to learn more about a subject," she yelled over the drone of military engines, "I'd go to college!"
At first Deag thought she was being exceptionally rude, and he took off running reaching the incline of the hill full on and back up to where Len waited behind the wheel. He jumped in the truck and hollered at Len to get the hell out of there.
Len shoved it in drive and peeled out turning a fishtail on the road and headed back the direction they had come. Moments later, Deag was jerking the bandana from his mouth.
"Go to the college!" he panted hoarsely. "They're at the college!"
Len floored it telling Deag to give him directions and they sped out of the area. The college, Utah State Community, was nestled on the outskirts of Moab on a dead-end street with a backdrop of colorful sandstone plateau's and weathered natural arches. It was a mountainous region, away from the public, a perfect place for a quarantine, and as they reached the campus Deag knew he would find his family here. The parking lot was crammed with civilian and government vehicles alike and Len came to a stop near the glass entrance. Deag jumped out and ran to the doors but found them locked. He beat on the door, yelling for attention when he heard a voice. Above his head to the left was an intercom speaker and he was told to state his name and produce identification. He also noticed the camera system right above that and he struggled with his wallet jerking his license out and holding it up for view by whom ever was addressing him. He knew they were watching as well.
Moments that seemed like hours went by and he was finally asked who he was looking for.
He yelled the names of his wife and kids but was met with silence. His heart beat a wild crescendo in his chest as fear that they wouldn't even be here either took him places he didn't want to go.
Eventually, a new voice interrupted his wild anxiety. A woman. She stated that her name was Dr. Claira Lottridge. Her voice was calm and somehow soothing as she informed him, he wouldn't be able to access the facility because he may have been exposed at any point of being outside but that she would come down to the front and speak with him momentarily.
"Can you just tell me if my family is here lady!" He yelled frantically.
For answer he was told to wait. As he stood there feeling like he would hyperventilate any moment, a figure dressed in white lab clothing and breathing mask emerged from the shadows of the building and came forward to stand at the glass entryway.
She looked at him for a long time before she spoke and Deag noticed immediately she was of foreign descent. She sounded European.
"Mr. O'Connor is it?" she asked.
"Yes, yes, yes." Deag answered impatiently. "Please, can you just tell me if my family is here? That's all I care about," he reiterated holding his arms out to his sides in frustration.
"Yes, I understand." Her heavy accent rolled off her tongue like honey but Deag really wasn't impressed. "You must understand sir; it is very dangerous for your family out there. You don't have protective clothing and this disease has no antidote yet, no vaccine. I am working with the CDC and world health ministry, but your family should stay here."
"Oh, hell no! Lady, Dr. whoever you are, I don't want to leave my family here! I want them with me, NOW."
She was nonplussed at his anger, in part, he knew because she was behind the glass re-enforced walls but Deag wasn't going to be put off.
"I'm giving you five minutes to bring my wife and children out here or this glass is going to be driven through," he warned ominously.
The woman held up a walkie and spoke into it. "Bring them up, please."
Deag peered into the shadows behind her as a man came forth holding Neala as Rois walked beside him. He brought them to the window and Deag fell to his knees putting his hands against the window. Neala instantly started to cry and Rois ran up placing his own tiny hands against the glass to his dad's. "Oh, dear God, buddy," he spoke against the glass. "Are you guys okay?" he asked tenderly.
Rois nodded.
Tears of relief flooded down Deag's face. "Where's mommy, Rois," he asked.
Rois shrugged. "I don't know daddy," came the muffled answer.
Deag stood up with a clenched fist, staring intently at the woman who stood resolutely on the other side of his ability to get to his family. His jaw tightened in distress and he asked from between bared teeth. "Where is my wife."
The woman looked back at the man with her and Deaglan came unglued. He flung his fist against the window in a rage. "Put my daughter down you scum and bring my kids out here and get my wife."
Len decided at that point to get out and try to help Deag reason with these people. He walked up and stood next to Deag with his hands on the two 50 caliber reasons at his side. "I suggest you get the kids out here now, and get a move on, because I'm about to shatter your little safe house here," he drawled, deadly serious. "You ain't got a right to hold people against their will, I don't care what's going on," Len threatened.
The man gently sat Deag's daughter on the floor and the woman took their hands and walked them to a side door just down from the main double doors. Len noticed that a decontamination unit had been constructed inside there and was sealed to that side door. She took the children inside it, went over and unlocked the outer door.
Rois and Neala ran out and she followed them coming up to Len and Deaglan. There wasn't the least bit of fear on her finely chiseled face.
Rois and Neala ran into their father's arms and he held them tightly, then he scooped them up and ran to the truck placing them in the back seat. Leaving the door open he came back and asked Len to go watch over them.
Then he turned and addressed the woman, Dr. Lottridge. "My wife?"
"Mr. O'Connor, I am sorry to tell you, your wife did not make it." Her professionalism was impeccable. She looked at Deaglan with just a hint of sorrow, but that emotion never reached her lips.
Deag was sure he felt the color drain from his face as she stood there so stoically. "I want her body." He said frozenly.
"No, we cannot. It must be disposed of in proper manner according to the laws. All deceased must be cremated to prevent the further spread of illness. I am sorry. And now you must go. You are putting yourself and your children at risk."
"I want proof," he argued.
"Trust me, we have kept very good record of everyone brought here. I will get something for you. Wait here please." She walked off leaving Deag standing there like a stone. He watched her access the decon unit, waited for her to come out on the other side and watched as she walked back into the shadows of the facility out of site, without knowing if she would really return.
He stood there staring at his kids in the truck, and at Len whose expression mirrored his own. Presently he saw her returning with the man that had brought his kids and she went straight to the decon and out to Deag with a large envelope which she handed over. "This should be everything you need." She said no more and simply turned and left going back in through the system as she had before.
Deag walked away with nothing left but an envelope to take the place of his wife's life, and the memories he had would be his only proof that she had ever existed. He climbed in the truck with Len and his kids. Len started the truck without a word and Deag turned around to look at Rois and Neala. "Mommy isn't coming with us, you guys," he tried sounding firm, "when we get to Grannie's house, I will tell you all about it," he ended plainly.
Six-year-old Neala simply stared in silence, hiccupping and sucking her thumb, but Rois, feeling empowered now that he was safe with his dad, attempted to console Deag as best as an eight-year-old could, telling him that they knew mommy was sick because the doctor had told them.
Len looked at Deag, who nodded, and they drove off. As they made their way back through town Deag noticed for the first time, the widespread plumes of ashy, dark gray spirals of smoke dotting the skyline beyond the horizon.
It was a cataclysmic portent, signaling of things to come, things that Deag had resisted with all his will, but now demanded he take notice.