On top of that, the number of military infected by the virus had left the lines to prevent travel even thinner.
“What do you think we should do?” she asked the Secretary of State.
“I’ve been talk it over with General Ashford and we agree, based on your approval, that we should redefine the goal. Forty-six states have known cases. The four remaining states are safe for the moment. With the number of deaths within our military mounting, we are suggesting we redeploy our troops to protect those states.”
“You mean allow travel between infected states?” she asked.
“The feeling is that we need to make sure this spreads no further. Right now those that believe they do not have Ebola may try to flee to states with no reported cases. If even one gets in that should happen to have it, then we lose another state in a short period of time.”
“I don’t know Roy. Think about that for a moment. What if you had no symptoms and felt perfectly healthy. As more and more contract the disease in Washington would you consider going to a place you knew was safe?”
Roy sat back and rubbed his forehead. Actually he had been considering sending his family to New Mexico, one of the uninfected states. Now he was being asked if he would be willing to abide by his own suggestion.
“I see your point,” he finally said, “But think of the strain it would put on those states? Their infrastructure would be overwhelmed in a short time. States are having to be self-sufficient as it is. New Mexico for example has little in the way of farming. A huge influx of people would deplete their supplies in short order. Then what? We would have the same things happening in Albuquerque as are going on in Los Angeles. The fighting would be over food this time,” he replied.
“Roy we are in one hell of a pickle. It’s damned if we do and damned if we don’t. The only thing I do know is that we have to do something. Sitting on our hands isn’t going to do us one bit of good.”
“I understand and feel your pain. I honestly believe keeping those four states free from infection should be our major concern right now.”
“Can the troops really do that? Keep everyone in or out of the states?”
“Short of building a fifteen foot wall around each of the states, it is our best option.”
“Just to make sure I totally understand you, we would pull all our troops from the infected states, all forty-six of them and utilize them to sequester the remaining four states. Is that correct?” she asked.
“Yes. That is the suggestion at this time but like all things, we may be forced to change tactics as the situation warrants,” Roy warned.
“Yes, I fully understand that Roy. Then I assume if one of the protected states suddenly has an outbreak, the troops will be moved to bolster the protection of the other states?”
“That’s our thinking right at the moment,” he replied.
“Boy. I don’t like it much but I see the necessity. What you are saying makes sense. Alright Roy. Tell the General that I approve of the plan. Please let me know the minute the status of any of the state’s changes. I feel bad because it will look like we have more or less abandoned the infected states. It's like we have pronounced a death sentence on them.”
“War is hell Madam President. Make no mistake about it, we are at war.”
“Yes we are,” was all she could say.
CHAPTER THIRTY
After Bud dropped him off at the landing, Ed started the long walk to his house. He knew it was just a little over five miles to the ferry landing from his place.
When he was younger he used to run from his house to the ferry and back as part of his routine. How he was walking along dragging his beat-up suitcase. He had always scoffed at the fancy ones with wheels but right now he was wishing he had one.
The first couple of miles had been okay but the further he walked, the heavier the suitcase seemed to become. You know, he said to himself, there was a time when I could have run home with this in my arms and not even be winded. Then he laughed. That time was long past.
By the third mile he had to stop and rest. That’s when he decided he was going about this the wrong way. The road he was on was seldom traveled. He decided to just lay the suitcase on its side and cover it with some brush. Once he got home he could come back and get it in their other car.
Having to leave the good family car in Kentucky was a pain but Bud had assured him that it would be okay and he could come back and get it when all of this all blew over.
He looked over his handywork and then started on down the road. It seemed to take longer than he remembered but as the sun started to rise, he could just make out his house. It wasn’t more than a half mile down the road now.
Night gave up its hold on day and the sun started to creep over the horizon. He was tired but was not about to stop at this point. Finally he reached the neat white fence that ran along the front of the property. His wife would certainly be surprised he thought as he started to slip his key in the door.
The door swung open before he could unlock it. That was totally unexpected. Meg had always double checked to make sure the doors were locked when he wasn’t home. He shoved the door open and knew immediately something was terribly wrong. It was the smell that hit him first. It was so pungent that it almost took his breath away.
Even through his mask he could hardly breathe. He took a tentative step into the house and turned on the lights. Everything seemed to be just like when he left. He checked the kitchen. The dishes were sitting in the drain board and everything was neat and clean except for one plate with a half-eaten sandwich.
He slowly climbed the stairs. He didn’t have to go into the bedroom to know that something terrible had happened. He looked in and saw Meg and his two girls lying under the covers. Maggots were crawling around on their faces and flies were everywhere. There was nothing he could do. Somehow the virus had gotten to them.
He slowly walked back downstairs, out to the garage and closed the garage door. He rolled down all the windows in the car and started it up. He laid his head back, turned on the radio to one of his favorite stations and went to join his family.
“Mark I would like you to meet my good friend, Buck Martin,” Randal said.
Buck was a raw boned, leather faced man who looked to be between thirty and a hundred depending on how the light hit him. He stuck out a large calloused hand and almost crushed Mark's. He wasn’t trying, it was just that he didn’t even know his own strength.
“Nice to meet you Mark. Randy here has been telling me nothing but good things about you,” he said with sort of a Texas draw.
“Heard good things about you too Mr. Martin,” Mark replied, trying not to rub his hand. He was a doctor, not a damned roughneck.
“Now as I understand the problem, you got something at the bottom of a very deep hole in the ground and you want to send someone down to take a look.”
“Essentially that is what we have in mind.”
“By deep hole, Randy here tells me it is over 26,000 feet. That seems a tad far. How did it get there?” he asked scratching his chin.
“Well sir, we don’t know. It just is,” Mark said.
“Hummm,” Bush said pulling on his bottom lip.
Something seemed to be bothering him but he wasn’t ready to share it yet.
“The first thing I would like to do is see this for myself. From what Randy tells me, it’s inside a coal mine and something happened that swallowed up this drilling machine.”
“That’s our understanding as well. Unfortunately no one from the mining company is still alive to tell us more.”