Colonel Spivey ordered the tanks plowing the road to speed up to their quickest speed so the convoy could get past the dead town as fast as possible. Erin screamed when she saw the exit sign that had the biohazard symbol painted on it and the hand painted sign next to it saying, “PLAGUE.” She asked Jon, “Plague? Is it possible?”
“I don’t know what’s possible or not. I now understand why they taped our windows and told us no outside air. I see we’re also speeding up, I don’t know how long a germ can live without a living host. That sign looks old. We should be fine.”
“How will we know?”
“If no one becomes sick, we’ll know.”
“That’s horrible…”
“I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”
Jon looked into the rear view mirror he’d positioned so he could keep an eye on Trinity and Frank, they were whispering to each other. He didn’t know how he felt about a strange boy holding his daughter’s hand, laughing and whispering together. Erin touched his right arm, she whispered, “Let them be.”
“But…”
“No but. Leave them alone.”
“But…”
“She’s smart. It’s time for her to have a boyfriend and Frank seems like a nice boy.”
The Suburban bounced after hitting something in the road. It had the lowest ground clearance of any of the vehicles in the convoy. Erin asked, “What was that?”
“Have no idea, with all the snow on the road I can’t see the surface. One thing’s for sure, we didn’t run over an animal unless it was a frozen one.”
Erin laughed. “Had to be a large one based on the bump. Think we’re going to be okay? I hear a funny sound.”
“I think that’s the exhaust, we must have knocked loose an exhaust clamp. Nothing serious.”
“Good because there’s no place to stop around here.”
The convoy passed the last of the warning signs and Colonel Spivey sighed with relief. He prayed the sealed windows and time since someone had last been in the town meant whatever the germs were, were now gone. He didn’t know what he’d have done if his people started coming down ill after everything else going on.
In the Coats’ SUV, Erin twisted around and looked over her shoulder. “Jon, it’s really cute the two little ones we took on fell asleep in each other’s arm. They look so cute.” The convoy stopped for a few minutes while the tank plows pushed some stalled cars off the road. The Coats’ SUV sat in line with the rest of the vehicles and idled like the rest of the other vehicles. Jon noticed his daughters and Frank were leaning against each other and had fallen asleep. Erin yawned and Jon said he felt tired too.
When the convoy started moving again Jon’s vision was blurred. He had difficulty keeping his eyes open. He blinked his eyes and tried to focus on the road ahead, but everything was blurred and he couldn’t see any details. His eye lids felt like they weighed a couple of pounds each. He couldn’t take a deep breath. Jon thought he’d only blinked, but when he forced his eyes open, he realized to late he was headed towards a large snowbank. Before he knew it, the front of the SUV was buried in the deep snow. He didn’t feel the LAV behind him sideswipe his SUV pushing it deeper into the snow. Jon’s head fell onto the steering wheel, it was a very good thing they were moving slowly so the airbags didn’t deploy. Jon had no memory of the accident.
He had fallen asleep and didn’t know what was going on until he felt a cold blast of air wash over him. The cold air woke him like a bucket of cold water had been thrown on him. He shook his head. He saw an Army medic leaning over him. Jon shook his head, he felt hungover and he had a hard time remembering where he was and why there was a soldier looking at him. He asked, “What happened? Where is everyone? Where am I? Where’s Erin, my wife?”
The soldier appeared to nod in slow motion, “They’re in the first aid trailer. They have carbon monoxide poisoning as do you. When you ran over a rock or some kind of debris, you cracked an exhaust pipe. The exhaust has been flowing into the SUV for a while. All of you almost died. Your wife and daughters are on oxygen. Frank woke when you hit the snowbank. He got out of the SUV and flagged down one of the vehicles to get help, he saved your lives. The vehicle that sideswiped you didn’t even know it, the conditions at the time were a perfect white out. When he couldn’t wake anyone, he climbed out through the window to find help. One of the LAVs stopped and checked on you. When they couldn’t wake you, they came to get me. If Frank hadn’t risked his own life, you all would have died.”
“What about the two young ones that were put in our SUV?”
“They’re having a tougher time. They are younger, had a hard life, and weren’t as strong as the four of you. They were in a weakened state before the carbon monoxide got to them. We really don’t know when or if they will come around. I wish we had a hospital, but as you know, we have only what we’re carrying with us.”
“When can I see my family?”
“As soon as you’re stable which shouldn’t be too long.”
“Is the Suburban totaled?”
“Yup, the Colonel
