Trinity shook her head and pulled away from Frank, “You would have killed my parents? You’re an animal. I can’t believe I thought I liked you. We should have left you.”
Ron in the third row quietly said, “You weren’t there when they raped my little sister. You weren’t there when they took food from us,. You weren’t there when they killed some of our parents and left us to die. I agree with Frank. You didn’t suffer like we did. You didn’t have to fight every hour to survive and wake up and check your fingers and toes or check on your brothers and sisters to see if they survived the night. You sat in a warm vehicle and had a choice when to leave. Our choice was taken away from us.”
The SUV was quiet because Jon and Erin knew the two boys were right and they hadn’t considered how bad it really was outside. Even before they left, they had their house, some heat from their fireplace, plenty of blankets, and food. They didn’t have to go outside. In fact, they only went outside to leave because the government told them leave now or stay. They realized they couldn’t wait this storm out, so they left. They knew others had remained behind. They wondered if they were still alive or how they were surviving since the government said they were turning off all utilities and removing all means of support. Canada in all aspects ceased to exist or would until the glaciers melted, if they ever did.
The Coats drove slowly behind an MRAP which drove behind a Bradley fighting vehicle and so on. The entire convoy slowly traveled south towards Binghamton when the convoy came to a sudden stop. Erin asked, “Where are we and why are we stopping?”
“According to the sign, we’re two miles from a small town named Barker. I don’t know anything about it. The road sign also says we’re only 15 miles from Binghamton and the military’s FOB. I guess we sit here until someone comes by to tell us what’s going on, I wish the radios worked.” Just then they heard a squawk from the two-way radio, “…static…stopping…static…if you can hear me, this is Colonel…static…warning…bio-warning sign. Static…team…plague…couple of….don’t…vehicle…”
Erin looked shocked, “What did he mean bio-warning and plague? After everything we’ve been through are we going to catch something and die out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Ariden said, “Mom, I have to go to the bathroom, where is the rest stop?”
Jon laughed, “Honey, there isn’t any rest stop. The army gave us some things to use in case we had to pee.” Jon pointed to the tan bag in Erin’s foot well, “Honey, it’s in there.”
She reached in and found a male and female camping urinal. She laughed, her face blushed, she handed over her seat to her youngest the small plastic urinal. Ariden asked, “What is this?”
“Honey, you pee into it…”
“In here? In front of everyone? NO, you have to find me a rest stop. I really have to go.”
“Honey, I’m sorry but you can’t go outside. It’s too cold and there’s no buildings close by. Plus there might be some sort of virus out there which is why we stopped. If you have to go, you’ll have to use this.”
Frank smiled, “I’ll close my eyes, if you promise to close yours when I have to go. Deal?”
“That’s gross, but okay. I need everyone to close their eyes. I can’t go in front of people.”
Jon and Erin laughed. Erin smiled, “Okay, on the count of three, we’re all going to close our eyes. Ron, make sure your sister closes her eyes too, okay?”
“Yes, Mrs. Coats we both understand.”
Ariden asked, “After I go, what am I supposed to do with it?”
“Be very careful and hand it to me. I’ll pour it outside by cracking the window just a bit, when I do, everyone needs to cover up because the very cold wind will blow in.”
Jon whispered, “I hope this works because sooner or later we’re all going to have to go.”
Erin nodded, “I’m not worried about the urinals. I’m worried about if someone has to poop.”
“Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that. I wonder what we do? Look into the bag and the box they gave us.”
“Honey, there’s a bedpan in here and a roll of TP.”
“Oh, no, that’s not going to work.” Whispered Jon.
“Now you’re sounding like Ariden.”
“I hope we reach their FOB soon.”
“Me too.”
During the two hours they sat on the freeway, everyone in the SUV had to use the urinals. Every time the window was cracked to pour it out, the temperature in the SUV dropped and everyone shivered until the heater could warm them back up.
@@@@@
Colonel Spivey shook his head as he listened to his scouts. Two of them were crammed into the command vehicle, an MRAP which had been converted into a mobile command truck. It pulled a trailer which contained the Colonel’s mobile office which had a desk, conference table for five, and the useless communications systems. The Colonel stared at First Lieutenant Barker, “What the hell do you mean we can’t go forward? As far as I know this is the ONLY road that we can use.”
“Sir, there are black flags on the exit signs leading to the small town and there is a large bio-hazard warning sign half a mile ahead.”
“Okay, what did you find?”
“We used our CBN (Chemical Biological and Nuclear) vehicle to take us into the city. It’s completely dead. We didn’t find a soul alive. We did, however, find bodies which are preserved due to the cold. All look like they died suffering and choked to death. We didn’t have a doctor,
