Under a Graveyard Sky

the end of his shift so many officers had had to use their weapons that they didn’t even take his in for the investigation. So far he’d had to shoot three “afflicted” to wound and two more to kill. They were still being ordered to “subdue and restrain” but there were more and more ten sixty-four hotels every shift. And subduing them took two officers at a minimum. Then there was the at least two hours of paperwork per ten sixty-four…

“For calls on this subject, the term ‘ten sixty-four hotel’ has been added to the callsign list,” Simmons said, getting to the main point. “The count was forty-six ten sixty-four hotels overnight.”

“Forty-six?” Patterno said. “We’ve only got forty officers! One ten sixty-four with transport and paperwork takes…”

“Which is why the Chief has authorized abbreviated paperwork,” Simmons said, holding up a pile of forms. “Just let me finish, Joe. These are ten sixty-four, suspected afflicted with neurological stage Hotel Seven virus forms. Try to get a solid ID, transport and fill out the form. No matter the eventual disposition the DA with concurrence of governor pending change in actual law has stated that nobody is going to try to try any of these people. And…the hospital is overloaded. All the hospitals are overloaded. Transport of all ten sixty-four hotels is now to 127 Curb Court, Warehouse Seven…”

“Warehouse district?” Young said, looking up finally.

“They’re maintaining them there pending some more appropriate facility…” Young said. “Just… Try to get a solid ID, secure and transport. Don’t call an ambulance unless you have a seriously injured civilian that absolutely requires ambulance transport. Ambulances are overloaded with injured and there’s a shortage of ambulance crews… There have now been confirmed locations of the attack vector device on the East Coast. FBI is saying they may have been in place for as much as a week. One was found right here in Williamsburg…”

“Oh, holy shit…” Young said, shaking his head. He had called his parents and brother. They were all staying inside and basically skipping work.

“The one bright spot is that CDC is now saying that ten sixty-fours may, again may, not be airborne infectious,” Simmons continued. “The downside is that they are infectious through the blood pathogen and the blood pathogen is extremely aggressive. If you are exposed to the blood pathogen, either due to bleeding from the subject or due to…blood spray, decontaminate immediately. We’re issuing a decon kit per car. We have them onhand thank God.”

“Don’t let them bite you,” Patterno said. “Don’t.”

“Young, that came from you first. I never got the story?”

“I was responding to a ten thirty-seven yesterday,” Young said. It seemed like ten years ago. “Family loading a sailboat. They were using a dock on one of those foreclosure properties over in Hunter Creek. Loading it for a long trip and they admitted to having a large quantity of weapons in their vehicle. The male subject knew about the upcoming announcement from the CDC. This was just a bit before noon. He stated that I should avoid the blood pathogen as well. Right after that things started to, well, degrade. It was one of the reasons for my decision to act with lethal force in the encounter that day. I swear to God I wasn’t going rogue…something something killer. It was just I was dealing with two ten sixty-fours…”

“Don’t…” Simmons said, grimacing. “It’s not up for discussion right now. I can’t comment on the shoot. On that subject, though, our rules of engagement remain unchanged. Use minimum force necessary to subdue the ten sixty-fours. Given our new understanding of the situation… The specific wording that I was given is ‘use minimum force necessary consonant with a full understanding of the threat and nature of threat to protect self and others with a high priority to ensure safe processing of the presumed H7D3 afflicted subject.’ Try to remember however these people are acting they are people. People sick with a God damned disease. This isn’t they’re fault…”

“In a lot of ways it would be easier if they were walking dead,” Patterno said, shrugging.

“Let’s try to stay away from that meme if we can,” Simmons said.

“Think I wanted to double tap some poor guy who was just sick?” Young asked, shaking his head.

“You’re not the only one, man,” Rickles pointed out.

“We’re recommending that all officers dealing with ten sixty-fours in general use rain gear for the time being until there’s a better fix,” Simmons said, nodding.

“That’s going to be hot as shit,” Young said.

“Fortunately, it looks to be a cool day,” Lieutenant Simmons said.

“For who?” Patterno replied with a snort.

* * *

“If it wasn’t for the reason, I’d be really enjoying this,” Steve said, glancing over at Stacey.

The wind was kicking up white caps on the choppy waters of the Chesapeake bay and the Hunter was heeled over at a thirty degree angle as it plowed north towards the Baltimore Canal. Steve was being careful to steer well clear of the main shipping channel to the east so they had a clear view of the shoreline to the west. So far there was no real evidence of societal breakdown. Which was boding well for his decision to make for the canal.

“I could wish for better weather,” Stacey said, pulling her windbreaker tighter. “Warmer at least.”

“This is good weather,” Steve said. The wind that had followed the cold front was cool, but it was constant and that was good. “And it’s giving us a chance to get our sea legs without it being too rough.”

“Always the optimist,” Stacey said, tightly.

“Worried,” Steve said without looking at her.

“Aren’t you?” she said, gesturing with her chin to the cabin. The girls could be heard engaged in their more or less continuous low-grade argument. “Is one of us infected already? What do we do about it?”

“Tie ourselves up,” Steve said.

“I think we’re going to have to forego that for a while, honey,” Stacey said, blushing slightly.

“Think with other bits, dear,” Steve said, smiling. “I don’t really like thinking of it in terms of ourselves. So I think what other people should do. No plague is one hundred percent effective. The black plague did, admittedly, wipe out whole families and villages. But it had a lot of help. It’s unlikely that even if we’re infected, all of us will go…to fully neurological conditions. So from now on when we’re not actively engaged in something, we’ll secure ourselves, lightly, with rope. If one of us starts to have neurological effects, the others will work to secure them until we can find an antidote or something.”

“Or something,” Stacey said, frowning.

“I have various smart women around me,” Steve said, shrugging. “We’ll figure something out. But only if we can keep from biting each other.”

“Well,” Stacey said, snuggling closer. “Maybe a little nibble.”

“I don’t know,” Steve said. “Have you been a good girl? Do you deserve a nibble?”

“I’ve been a very bad girl,” Stacey whispered in his ear. “So I definitely deserve a nibble…”

“Oh, my God,” Faith said, grimacing. She’d suddenly appeared in the hatchway to the saloon. “That is sooo gross!”

“So much for a little alone time,” Steve said, shaking his head. “What’s up?”

“What are we going to do about dinner?” Faith asked.

“You know where the food is,” Steve said.

“So we’re going to have to cook in this?” Faith said.

“We’re sure as hell not ordering pizza,” Stacey said. “Should we break into the Mountain House?”

“Better than trying to cook a regular meal when we can barely stand up,” Steve said, grinning. “Think you can figure out how to boil water?”

“In this?” Faith said. “No way! It’s storming!”

“This is not a storm,” Steve said. “Given the plan, at some point you’ll understand what the word ‘storm’ means in a forty-five foot sailboat. This isn’t even a gale.”

“I can do it,” Sophia said. “I think.”

“No,” Steve said. “Stace, take the wheel. I’m going to have to give your daughters a class on boiling water and working with boiling water in light chop conditions.”

“Try not to kill yourself or catch the boat on fire,” Stacey said.