Discovery

“For how long?”

“Right now? Until further notice. We have, I think, fifteen people we flagged, over at the county jail.”

“What happens to my kids if I get put in quarantine?” asked Max growing more alarmed.

“They will have to stay with other parents until you are released. Were you cut?”

Max, all modesty pushed aside lifted his robes and revealed a scabbed over scar running the width of his abdomen.

“That qualifies.” said the doctor, “What happened?”

“I got shot, well grazed really, a week or so ago. It has healed up fast and isn't causing me any trouble right now.”

“Sorry, but you will have to go into quarantine.”

“I don't think I can do that. I have my kids to think of. I got there in time to watch my wife die of this… sickness and I won't leave them again.”

Kenny stood there, naked with his white robe bundled up and pressed into his groin watching Max talk to the doctor. The doctor took a step back from Max, “It isn't my decision, the military sent word down. I just sort people and they take it from there.”

“I won't leave my kids.”

“Guards!” yelled the doctor.

The young soldiers outside the entrance immediately leveled their rifles on the people waiting in line, telling them not to move. In the examining room Max saw the back wall pulled down behind Kenny and four soldiers leveled rifles at him.

“Yeah doc?” asked one middle aged soldier with several stripes on his sleeve.

The doctor pointed at Max, “He needs to go to quarantine.”

Kenny, twirled around and tried to hide his partial nudity from the soldiers, face growing red. Riley started barking loudly behind the other screen.

“Max? What is going on?” came Stewart's voice.

“They want to separate me from the kids.”

“Sir, you're cut, you could be contaminated, we just have to hold you for a little while until we can clear you.” said the middle aged soldier calmly.

“I won't be separated from my kids. I went through hell to get back to them once. I won't let it happen again.”

“Sir, you are not going to be separated from them forever, just a short time while we make sure you are okay.” the soldier said in a level, reasonable tone.

“Fine. Put me back on the road with them. Get me out of here. I am not going to the jail.”

The sergeant shook his head slowly, “Now we can't allow that. What if you are infected, what will your kids do then? This is for everyone's own good.”

“Excuse me but aren't we still in the land of the free? Aren't I still a citizen, able to do what I want and go where I please?”

“No.” came the doctor's curt reply, “An executive order has been issued establishing a curfew and martial law.” He pointed to the middle aged soldier, “The military is in charge of all security issues.”

“Sir, look it won't be that bad. Your kids can come and see you during the day, heck if they are cut at all they might be in there with you, right? Let the doc here do his job and we will wait for the group of you to get cleared so we know who to bring where.”

“You have the guns.” Max said pointedly.

“You don't have any idea what we have been through already, how bad things are getting.” said the soldier.

“Funny, I was going to tell you the same thing.”

“The guns are as much for your protection as ours. Please come this way.”

Max reluctantly moved forward and immediately had his hands bound loosely behind him with a plastic strap. The wall was restored to its original condition and Kenny wailed as he was cut off from Max, until finally Tom came in to stand with him.

Max was told to sit down on a long bench, which his did, no sooner had his butt hit the wood then he felt a wet spray on the back of his head.

“What the hell?” he yelled, attempting to stand up, only to be forced down by the sergeant.

“Sorry. Hey Ryan, you could have warned him first.” then to Max, “We spray each of you. If you escape there are 'shoot to kill' orders on anyone with day glow orange spots on their heads. We are not taking any chances. Remember this is not my idea, I am following the orders of the higher ups and they have good reason for doing what they are doing.”

“I think the Nazis thought that too.” Max said bitterly, “A dot on my head is just like a star of David on my jacket right?”

“Look, Max, isn't it?” Max nodded, “My name is David Rosenstein, so knock off the Nazi talk. This is nothing like the holocaust, nothing. For you to even compare what we are doing to that makes me sick. This is a public health crisis and we have to be able to control the sickness. We've had some trouble already with infected people getting out, turning into one of those things and spreading the disease. You are marked now, if you escape you will be killed, end of story. On a personal level I don't want that to happen to you. No one is going to beat you, no one is going to throw you into an oven and turn on the gas. You got that? This is for the public safety, and for yours.”

In the end Stewart, Tom, Amelia, Erin and Cory were on the bench with Max and all he could do was sit and watch as his kids were led away crying.

Chapter 19

The entire section of the bridge was falling, Bill had enough time to realize that as the concrete gave away underneath his feet. Ruben's face showed a look of surprised concern as he reached lower for Bill's hand, then he was jerked backwards our of reach by a soldier behind him.

John? Bill thought with shock. The kid in the new uniform looked like his son, but he couldn't be. Scrambling around on the loose gravel Bill felt like he was trying to run up the down escalator at a shopping mall. Gravel started pelting the river so far below him, ringing off of the lawn tractor and creating a steady series of geysers in the slow moving water next to the bank. Lurching sideways Bill tried to clasp onto the only thing that didn't seem to be falling down, the thick metal guardrail along the side of the bridge. The problem was he couldn't get his footing under him to make a decent jump for it, bit by bit he was being sucked into the hole. The gravel was streaming past a bar of exposed metal that had been used in the concrete for support, the concrete was wearing away from it like a soil eroding away in a rainstorm. The metal bar was not yet gone…if only he could get reach it with his foot and use it to lever himself up. Bill fell into the stream of gravel and was lucky to get his hand on the bar instead.

The support acted like a metal vine; bending sideways under his weight and swinging him downwards in an arc that pushed him more towards the river's center than the shore. It also put him twenty or so feet closer to the river's surface. I won't get a better chance than this. Bill thought as he let go and flung himself towards deeper water.

Ruben was pulled back along the train bridge as the span nearest the far shore collapsed into the river, taking Bill with it.

“Goddamn it! I almost had him!” Ruben bawled out at the young man in a clean uniform who had pulled him back. “Oh, shit. Sorry.” The kid who had pulled him back was John, the boy had stumbled into their camp fifteen minutes after Bill left, he was tired, wet and muddy. If Ruben didn't know the boy was alive he would have sworn he was one of the walking dead, right now the young man's face was a pale, ashen color and he seemed to be having trouble moving. Slowly John sank to his knees on the still swaying bridge. The boy hadn't made it to the