Ruins
By the time they had reached Monticello, Nathan and Lara discovered the ugly fate that wildfires had spread through the region, ripping a swath of destruction for miles. They stopped on the road in front of what was left of the diner, got out and stared transfixed at what had become of the world they knew.
As Nathan surveyed the scene, he concluded that the gas drum behind the diner had exploded and leveled everything around it only adding to the fire ravaged countryside stretched out all around them. A nasty pungent haze hung in the air and Nathan doubted anything of his mother's home could have survived.
A few abandoned vehicles now sat like burned out heaps and the stark, black skeletons of charred trees, some still glowing with red embers embedded inside the incinerated trunks smoldered, sending thin trails of smoke into the afternoon sky.
"Let's get out to Mesa Verde. I'll drive."
"Mesa Verde?" Lara echoed.
"Yeah. I guess I failed to mention that. I'll explain on the way."
Nathan got behind the wheel and they drove off toward Cortez.
They reached interstate 491 and Nathan sped along only slowing down as he neared the entrance to the Geological Center and then because a familiar car was sitting at the entrance. Nathan slammed on the brakes and pulled in rolling down his window and throwing the Tahoe in park.
He jumped out greeting the man behind the wheel who also got out. They grabbed each other in a hand shake both smiling like school boys.
"Ed Brody! You made it through!"
"I did Nate! I bunked down in the basement of the center. I was heading to Cortez when I heard the news and came straight here. Everyone was gone and I didn't want to chance a hotel. I tried calling you a dozen times to let you know but of course I never reached you. Where have you been?"
"I couldn't begin to tell you Ed. Go park your car and come with us. Its safe where were going."
The man nodded and Nathan followed him back to the parking lot explaining to Lara that he was the lead professor who often worked with Nate at the college. He was the founder of the Geological Center, and someone Nate trusted. The man parked his car, got several items from his trunk and jumped in the back seat. Nathan introduced Lara and they headed out.
Outside of Cortez however, reality hit them head on. Right outside the city where 160 and E. Main street split it was impassable. A jam of abandoned vehicles had clogged the intersection and surrounding space leaving it plugged for any further possible way through. Denny Park lake to the right and the cemetery to the left. Nathan pulled off the road and parked behind a restaurant.
"Well, we'll have to walk from here. Think you can do it Lara?"
She nodded.
"Okay. There isn't much daylight left but that will be better for us. We'll stick to the road until it becomes San Juan Skyway and then we move inland. We'll follow the road from a distance. We should make it by morning or just before if we can."
Nathan and Ed filled two backpacks with water and gave one to Lara with the few snacks they had, a medical kit and extra clothing. The men took the AR's and Lara grabbed a duffel with as much ammo as she could carry. She made sure she grabbed the briefcase too. They all drank a bottle of water before starting out. As they walked Nathan explained how he and Len had pre-prepped the ranger station at the park for just such a day, though he admitted so much time had gone by since they started their organization at times, he had figured the end hadn't justified the means. To say he had been mentally prepared was old news until it happened.
Lara and Ed both told Nathan they were thankful for his insight or paranoia, which ever he wanted to call it. Nathan laughed but they kept up vigil as they walked.
As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness enshrouded the land they marched in silence, each consumed with their own thoughts. The terrain began to evolve, and the trek became difficult, slowing them down and taking a toll.
Finally, hearing Ed's labored breaths Nathan decided they would stop for a time and head out again later. They sat in the darkness drinking water and eating jerky.
The temperature dropped and the land began to cool off from the scorching heat of the Colorado desert. The three of them forged on through the night, hoping for respite when they finally reached their destination.
They reached Ruins Road at dawn.
Bedraggled and tired as hell. Nathan knew they now had a five-mile hike to the interior of the park, and he suggested they rest first. Lara took the opportunity to find a restroom. She walked on down the driveway to a set of buildings not far from the entrance, looking around and quietly went inside the information center. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she spotted the restrooms sign and went to take care of her needs and hopefully wash up a bit.
When she was finished, she came out and nosed around, looking for anything that she thought they might be able to use. She found a few candy bars and several sodas in a small fridge and took them. The sugar would help their energy. At the back wall a huge window behind the payment counter drew her attention and she stepped back there, admiring the austere skyline against the barren desert mountain ranges in the distance, and then her eye lit on something much closer in the idyllic setting. Jeeps. Two of them. She took her small finds and ran outside, with a certain feeling the keys would be in them and she was right.
Nathan and Ed were just about to go looking for her when they heard the distinct sound of an engine roar up. They looked at each other quizzically and stepped up to a jog when from around the corner of the information center came the object they had heard, and Lara was behind the wheel.
"I'll be a son-of-a-bitch!" Ed whispered.
Lara pulled up and smiled. "How about we ride the next five miles guys!"
Nathan was elated. "What the hell, Halburg! Let's go," he gave her a high five and she jumped to the other seat to let him drive. They pulled up, she and Ed loaded their things and Nathan turned it around and they headed up the park road.
Within twenty minutes they were well into their route, winding slowly through the North Rim and though Nathan chatted lightheartedly he was anxious to get there. In the distance he could see traces of smoke on the horizon. He brushed off the anxiety as the road snaked up and down and twisted and turned, he wished he could cut straight through but that was as impossible as walking. He realized it might have taken them a whole day to walk, and he was thankful they were spared the burden.
Ed took an immediate liking to Lara, and she wasted no time filling him in on MCHVc and describing her and Nathan's terrifying trip into Moab and back, explaining the details and what she hoped to learn from the contents of the briefcase she had managed to obtain.
Ed, completely fascinated by what he was hearing gave her serious attention, enthralled by her understanding of the situation. He had been isolated from any information the whole time, as he bugged out in the basement of the research center, living on cold ramen noodle soup, chips and crackers from the snack machine and sodas, after the electricity failed. Lara informed him of that as well.
"Frankly, I don't even know what to say," he admitted, shaking his head. "I never imagined something so vile could make its way here, in this day and age."
"You know, Ed, Lara and I were at the research center right before the grid went down. I don't even remember seeing your car there."
"It was there."
"I do remember seeing that car, Nathan. It was up against the Oleanders opposite in the front entrance. We just drove straight to the back. There was so much going on, and all I could think about was getting in and out as quick as we could."
Nathan nodded. None of that really mattered now. "Look, we've made it to Chapin Mesa Rd. The rest of the way is a straight shot."
When they got almost to the intersection of Loop Dr. they pulled to a stop. A single wooden sawhorse in the middle of the road with an ominous message nailed to it blocked the road. The humid early morning moisture was dank and heavy with smoke. It hung in the air like fog, just above the ground but did not hide the ruins of the burned-out building further ahead.
Fear gripped Nathan's insides and twisted like a dagger fully thrust. He laid on the horn and did not stop until from out of the stale yellow haze Len appeared like some ghostly apparition.
Nathan prayed it was all some kind of a joke, a ruse, to keep unwanted people away. Some insane plot concocted by Len to keep out the crazies as he was so oft to say.
He was dressed in one of the white plastic chemical suits that they had bought years ago and hidden here in their preps. Under his arm he carried extra masks and suits. Nathan stepped out of the jeep and Len stopped, waving him back, shaking his head slowly back and forth. Nathan got back in and waited as Len lay the items down and backed up.
Nathan's heart broke. He knew then it was real, and an animal cry erupted from his gut and split the waking sounds of morning into silence.
He, Lara and Ed climbed out, but Len waved them back with one hand pointing at Nathan with the other. He looked at Lara and his expression jolted her. Hard, unrelenting, tortured. She choked on a sob, bending over in physical grief. Ed put his arm around her and pressed her to his chest. Nathan set his jaw and walked away. He put on the white suit and mask and then Len walked up to him and they embraced.
"I'm sorry my brother." It was a simple muffled apology. "I could not protect them. There was no warning. No symptoms."
Nathan nodded. "Mother?"
Len shook his head. "Sherri."
Nathan looked to the sky, swallowing a curse.
Len interrupted his blind pain. "Nate,"
"I know Len. Save your small talk. Did anybody survive?" he bit out. "Oh god-dammit Len, are you the only one left?"
"Well, that's the thing. That is the thing that troubles me the most. C-mon with me." Len looked back at Lara, "I'll be back!" he yelled over to them, then to Nathan, "I want to get them an extra suit and mask, but I'm going to take you up where I have us set up. Who's the extra guy?"
"It's Ed. Ed Brody. A colleague of mine," he answered absently.
Nathan walked up the road with Len, past the burned-out ranger's bunkhouse and up the hill to the restaurant, where he and Len stood on the veranda and Len told Nathan what had happened. He pointed in the window. "There are your survivors Nate."
Nathan walked over and looked in the window.
When Deag saw his brother, he ran over to the window. "We lost Mark and Sherri Nate. We lost Bretta," he shouted through the glass.
"I know Deag," he nodded. "What about you are you okay?"
"Yeah. I am."
Len tactfully excused himself. He'd had enough of sorrow. "I'm gonna take another suit down to Lara and that fellow, Nate. I'll be back in a second"
Nate looked at Len with something akin to defeat. "Alright."
When he had gone Nate turned his attention back to Deag. "What happened Deag? How?"
"Sherri was bitten and they kept it secret. Neala woke me in the night. She wanted to use the restroom, so I got up, grabbed a flashlight and headed to the living room. That's when I saw Bretta. She had part of her face ripped off," he turned his gaze away blinking back the tears. "I ran back with Neala, but there was nothing anyone could do Nate, it was just too late." he trailed off gritting his teeth to stop his quivering lips. "I was so freaked out. I didn't even protect my kids Nate. I woke up Verbena and sent her to find Len. After that everything went crazy. Mark and Sherri, Bretta. I just didn't know how to stop it. I couldn't stop it," he wailed beating his chest.
"Calm down brother. You don't know how thankful I am to have you still here. How are the kids?" he asked.
"I don't know, Nate. We all quarantined ourselves together here. Len said it was a good idea. He said there is still too much they don't know. He thought maybe Sherri could spread the virus from her bite. But Rois keeps telling me they won't get sick. When I ask him how he knows that, he just shrugs."
"That's just a strange thing for him to say," Nate said to Deag with a frown.
"I guess. I sure the hell don't know."
Then Nathan was running. Running down the stone steps, running back down the road, running like a crazy man. He ran up to Lara and grabbed her arm. "Come on!" he yelled.
"What is it!" Len yelled at their retreating backs.
He didn't bother to answer saying to Lara instead, "We gotta get that briefcase!"
Lara didn't bother for an explanation.
Len and Ed waited and when Nate and Lara returned the four of them ran all the way back. Len unlocked the door and they went in. Nathan hugged Deag and told him to get he and Lara in to talk to the kids.
Deag looked stricken with confusion but took them straight into where the kids were.
Buck, Hollis, Verbena and a slow-moving Haven followed them to find out what was going on. Everyone was in the white protective suits, except for Rois and Neala. Len had converted the small garden room into a makeshift safe unit, where Deag could stay with his children but everyone else would be protected from the deadly effects of this mystery virus, he hoped. It made no sense to Len. The kids were the only ones who had been in the quarantine center back in Moab. He couldn't tell if it was Sherri's bite, or the kids were carriers of the disease.
They had all been together for over two weeks now. He could not figure out how they had been exposed, and yet here were Deaglan's children smack dab in the middle of a full-on virus meltdown and they were seemingly unaffected. Perhaps the virus was on the down turn, Len speculated inwardly. With those thoughts he went to find Donelle. He wanted her to tell him again what had happened last night.