Chapter 3 #2
Tamsyn was relieved when life settled down a bit.
She and the three remaining ranch hands made progress on the never ending list of work to be done around the place and even if she’d had to reschedule the cattle drive a few weeks while she searched for a fourth person, she felt calm about it.
She posted the help wanted ad and moved on, although she was sorry for Drake and his absence left a mark on the whole team.
Four days later she got an unexpected ping from her com and found an emergency notice from the Ranch Council, proposing a meeting in an hour.
Curious what could be so serious as to require the group to meet off schedule, she told Rasty she’d be unavailable at one o’clock, fortified herself with a mug of synthcaff and settled into her office chair at the appointed time.
A few holos flickered into view but no Merdith, who Tamsyn hadn’t heard back from, and the government official Hollis didn’t appear. Perry appeared to be in charge of the meeting. He glanced at the other holos and frowned. “Guess this is all we got coming today.”
“It was short notice,” Tamsyn said. “Aren’t we going to wait for Hollis?”
Perry snorted. “Hells no. We’re having this chat without him. Too much government control going on right now. All right, anyone heard from any of our missing members?”
One rancher volunteered she’d spoken with Samuels the day before and he was going to be family wedding. There was no accounting for any of the others and Perry’s expression became grimmer. He leaned into the holo cam. “How many of you have this new flu at your place?”
Tamsyn reluctantly raised one hand, not sure where this was going.
To her surprise, more than half of the others also responded affirmatively.
She’d thought this was a much more limited outbreak but the people raising their hands were scattered all over the western and northern ranges and some of them lived on extremely isolated ranches.
“How many dead?” Perry asked, pointing at Tamsyn. “You can start the tally.”
“Well, I don’t know exactly,” she said. “One of my hands came down with it and a couple of local people but the government flew them all out. I haven’t been able to get any updates or status, not even from the local doctor.”
Tamsyn saw nods around the ‘table’ and heard murmurs of agreement.
“So you don’t know what happens when they die, do you?” Perry’s tone was challenging. “That’s how the damn government wants it. Trying to prevent a full scale panic. Wake up, people, we’re in big trouble here.”
Faber, a grizzled elder rancher whose sons actually ran the spread now, said, “My kids have been watching the holos on social media when they can. They told me—”
There was a harsh buzzing sound and the broadcast cut off, the holos winking out in a shower of sparks.
Tamsyn blinked and hit the refresh button but nothing happened.
She made another attempt and then picked up her handheld and tried to com Perry but the call wouldn’t go through.
She sat and waited for five or ten minutes, mulling over the whole strange conversation.
On a whim she searched on her handheld for holos concerning the flu but all she could find were official government sites with messages meant to be calming and reminding people to bring themselves or anyone with flu symptoms to the nearest medical facility as soon as possible.
She found one holo that jerked and dissolved and reconstituted, as if made under adverse conditions.
Whoever had created it was obviously running, breathing hard and she heard harsh screams and growls in the background.
“They’re chasing me,” the unseen runner’s voice said. “They’re fast, faster than I expected—”
And the holo cut off much as the council meeting had ended, leaving her staring at nothing but a black square.
“Well obviously a poorly made fake,” she said, closing her handheld. “Time to get real work done.”
But as she headed for the door, eager to tackle her next item on the to do list, she couldn’t shake the lingering unease.
That evening they sat down to dinner together as usual, the meal cooked today by Piers, but Clemt’s chair was empty.
“Where’s Clemt?” she asked Rasty.
He finished pushing a biscuit through the thick gravy, took a bite, chewed with a blissful expression and said, “Haven’t seen him since he rode out this morning on a zip cart to recharge the bad connectors on the far forty fencing.
Shoulda been back in the late afternoon but I figured he was taking it a bit easy.
Sometimes he ain’t the most…devoted worker when no one’s there to supervise.
” He nudged a snickering Piers in the ribs. “He in the bunkhouse?”
“Nah, haven’t seen him. The all terrain zip cart is still gone too.”
Tamsyn had heard enough. “If he isn’t home by the time we finish dinner, we’re going to search for him. He could have had an accident out there all by himself.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Rasty loaded his plate with more of the pot roast and passed her the potatoes.
She hated to ask but the question was burning inside her. “Was he feeling okay? Did he mention anything about being sick?”
To her relief the foreman shook his head in a quick negative but she could tell Piers was hiding something. She fixed him with her ‘I’m the boss’ stare. “What do you know?”
The ranch hand was clearly embarrassed, red staining his cheeks. “He—he did mention the uh love bites that teacher gave him on their date were bothering him a bit. Took some EZ pain relief tabs before he rode out. I didn’t think much of it.”
“His date was four days ago, son,” Rasty said in disbelief.
“All I know is he was favoring his shoulder where she bit him.”
They ate the rest of dinner in a rush and saved the dessert for later.
Rasty and Tamsyn each took one of the all terrain zips and headed out along the route Clemt should have taken to reach his assigned jobsite.
About three quarters of the way to the far forty pasture, Tamsyn saw the ranch hand’s zip skewed across the trail as if he’d braked suddenly and his body was sprawled on the ground beside it.
She and Rasty sped closer and the foreman got off his vehicle and approached the fallen Clemt. Remembering the scene with Drake, Tamsyn pulled her stunner. “Is he dead?” she asked in a voice which shook, afraid of finding out what people were talking about when a victim of the flu died.
“Naw, just unconscious.” The foreman turned to her and raised his eyebrows at the sight of her drawn weapon. “Hey now, no need for that. He’s already out. His skin is hotter than hell.”
Holstering the stunner, Tamsyn left her zip and joined him, kneeling in the dirt next to the stricken man.
She laid her palm on his forehead and recoiled.
“Must be running a high fever, like Drake did.” Tamsyn hesitated but pulled at the neckline of Clemt’s sweat soaked tee shirt to reveal the telltale hideous black and red streaks running over his shoulder from their starting point at a purple, swollen bite mark.
“We’ve got to get him into town right away. ”
Working together she and the foreman got Clemt loaded onto the cargo platform of Rasty’s zip and then they roared back to the ranch house at full throttle.
Tamsyn called ahead to Piers to get the truck ready and prepare blankets to wrap Clemt in.
She ran into the house to get her purse while the men cocooned the unconscious flu victim and then she took her place at the controls of the groundtruck while Rasty climbed in next to Clemt, who was twitching and muttering.
“Bring back his zip in the morning,” she told Piers, who was staying behind to keep an eye on things at the ranch. “I hope we’ll be home by then but who knows. It took all night to get Drake settled.”
Speed limits had no meaning for Tamsyn as she drove into town.
The truck was high performance and she pushed it but slowed somewhat when she hit the city limits.
Thumping from the back caught her attention and she checked the rear vidscreen to see Rasty fighting with Clemt, who’d gotten unwrapped somehow.
She braked so hard the two men were catapulted out of the truck bed.
Cursing, she fumbled for her stunner and shoved her door open, running to where they were still fighting.
Clemt went limp as she arrived in time to see Rasty deliver a roundhouse punch to the man’s jaw.
She shot Clemt with the stunner anyway, terrified by the unnatural way he’d been acting.
Rasty was shaking his open hand in the air, bleeding at the knuckles. “Damn, not as young as I used to be.”
“Are you hurt? Did he bite you?” she demanded.
“He woke up while we were driving in and said he couldn’t breathe all wrapped up so tight.
Like an idiot I loosened the blankets and next thing I know he attacks me.
Said a bunch of crazy stuff, didn’t make any sense, out of his head with the fever.
Tried to bite me but my vest stopped him. Got a few scratches though.”
“Everyone I know of got the flu from a bite,” she said with relief. “So we’ll get those scratches cleaned up at the hospital and you’ll be fine.”
“Help me get him back into the truck,” Rasty said. “And maybe don’t mention the scratches at the hospital. I don’t want them keeping me there for observation or nothing. This flu has the townies scared from what I hear.”
They rewrapped the blanket cocoon tightly around Clemt and heaved him into the back of the truck again.
Tamsyn drove the rest of the way with her nerves on edge, fearing the sick man would wake again.
She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with keeping silent about Rasty’s scratches and decided to at least mention them to the doctor in passing.
But when she arrived at the hospital, she forgot all about the minor issue.
The entrance was ringed by a convoy of military vehicles and the parking lot was brightly lit, while armed soldiers patrolled the line of people waiting to drive in. One rapped on her window and she hit the button to lower it.
“Reason for coming here tonight?” he snapped, shining a light in her face.
“My—my friend is sick,” she stammered, blinking hard.
Another man went to the rear of the truck and shone light into Rasty’s eyes. “This one’s okay, sarge,” he called out. “Got one rolled up in blankets who ain’t though. Caught a flare in the eyes.”
“Pull up over there, ma’am,” the soldier next to Tamsyn directed tensely, pointing to an area nearby where a truck with a big red cross was parked. A squad of soldiers in decontam suits was waiting.
“What—why? My friend needs to see a doctor,” she protested.
“We’ve got that under control,” the man said smoothly. “Here to help out the local medical establishment. If you could move the truck, ma’am, you’re holding up the line.”
She wasn’t happy about it but she steered the truck into the designated space and killed the engine.
About to get out of the driver’s seat, she was startled again as a soldier took up a post so close to the door she couldn’t.
The way he was watching her, with cold eyes and weapon obviously ready for action, she stiffened, put her hands on the controls and sat quietly.
On the rear vidscreen she saw the soldiers in the suits lift Clemt from the truck, still wrapped in his cocoon and one of the group gave him an inject in the neck, after which he went limp again.
Rasty climbed into the passenger seat, slamming the door. “Fuck, this is messed up. They told me to get in here with you and keep my hands where the soldiers can see them.”
The soldier outside her door moved closer and tapped the window with the tip of his blaster. She lowered the panel. “Drive on through, ma’am and go home. We’ll take care of your friend.”
“Wait, I need to know where he’ll be, how I can check on him—”
“No information available at this time, ma’am.
Check in the online government database at the central flu website later.
The code is—” He rattled off a series of numbers so fast she wasn’t sure she got it all but before she could ask for clarification, someone banged on the rear of the truck and yelled, “Move it!”
She looked at Rasty, who shrugged. “They’re not giving us any choice here, boss. Best do as he says.”
Reluctantly Tamsyn initiated the engine and drove slowly through a series of blinking lights which led her out of the parking lot and to the main road.
Letting the AI take over, she stared at the rear vidscreens and caught a glimpse of Clemt being lifted into the military truck.
She knew it was him from the colorful blankets.
Furious at how the scene had played out, she had to admit there was nothing else she could have done, especially not once she was inside the military cordon. “I hope he’ll be all right.”
The line of vehicles waiting to enter the hospital grounds was long and growing by the minute as she retraced her route to get out of town. “How can so many people be so sick?” she said out loud. “Did you get the code he spouted off for access to the government website?”
“Sure did.” Rasty sounded the way she felt, a little dazed and uncertain they’d done the right thing.
“Maybe Drake’s status will be listed there too.
” He stayed silent for a few minutes while she navigated the town’s streets and finally emerged into the open territory beyond.
“Maybe they weren’t all sick like Clemt is.
Maybe they’re coming in to have some symptom or other checked, scared-like.
Not many cars or trucks were being diverted like we were.
I’m glad old Doc Ortenbe has got some help. He ain’t getting any younger.”
She tried to find the positives in the situation the way Rasty was choosing to deal with it but her mood stayed dark as she drove. “I think we all stay out of town as much as we can till this damn flu burns itself out. We don’t need anyone else getting sick.”
“Sounds good, boss lady. I’ll tell Piers when we get to the ranch.”