“You say the treatment needs to be given in a few days. What happens if the surrender doesn’t come for a while?”
“The virus will spread and it will keep on spreading.”
“You’ll help that along.”
“I will. General,” she huffed out, “my job was to devise a plan to get, maintain, and keep the United States of America and make it the Unified Territory of China. I am doing so. My plan will succeed.”
“With biological warfare.”
Fen shrugged. “Whatever it takes to break the country. Remember, bombs and firepower destroy not only living creatures but things that we need. Disease destroys our biggest threat and something we don’t need.”
“There is no honor in winning a war this way.”
“Yes, but, all that will be forgotten in the face of victory.”
“Who will forget? You? I will not. I must do what I can to help those with this sickness.”
“General,” she said. “I must remind you that you took an oath. Should you go against this, this is wartime, you will be tried for treason and executed.”
General Liu listened to her threat, then, filled with anger and shame, turned and walked away.
Hanlen, WV
“Cal.” Louise said his name so softly, almost a whisper, her eyes still closed. “Cal,” she called for him, swatting away the cloth as he wiped down her head.
“What?” he replied compassionately. “What is it?”
“Stop. You don’t need to do that.”
“Yes, I do.”
She whispered his name once more and then she fell back to sleep.
That was the way she had been, waking, passing out, talking, then quiet. Cal believed she was close to maybe turning that bend of a recovery but thought perhaps Dr. Dan believed otherwise.
Moments earlier he had come over to check on Louise. He did so quietly, said nothing and walked away.
He didn’t change her empty IV bag or give her the medication for pain.
Cal supposed the doctor had a lot on his mind. It had gotten hectic. Twelve people had died the day before in that gym, and Cal helped carry those bodies out. Each day someone passed away or someone got better enough to leave or stand and help. It cleared some space in the gym. Cal took advantage of that. He confiscated a corner and moved Louise there, grabbing a of couple blankets and making a wall of privacy.
He couldn’t move her far, she needed the constant medical treatment, but he wanted to give her some dignity.
“Hey,” Jake said softly as he parted the blanket curtain and stepped into the sectioned area. “I’m back if you want to take a break.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Cal stood with a stretch of his arms. “I want to do my rounds.”
Jake nodded and claimed the chair next to Louise.
“She wake up at all?” Jake asked.
“A little here and there. She bitched at me.”
“That’s a good sign.”
“It is. How as it out there?” Cal asked.
“We went south and east, of course, got some supplies, didn’t go too far.”
“Did you see anymore of… of them?”
“The enemy soldiers?” Jake shook his head. “No. Still can’t figure out why there were in that piss-ant town. Parkersburg is not a big metropolis.”
“On their way to Washington, maybe?” Cal guessed.
“Washington’s gone, so I can’t figure out why they were there. But I haven’t seen any more and this was the third time I went out in two days.”
“I saw some new faces working out there this morning. Did you meet them?” Cal asked.
“Yeah, but I heard they were here from the beginning. Locals. They’re the ones that brought all these people here. But… since they aren’t finding any more to bring in and with no reports of the new thing.”
“What new thing?”
“Guys on the truck were talking about some new bug that’s spreading through the camps and towns. They’re saying that’s why we haven’t gotten any of the Chinese doctors because they’re busy out west.”
“You’re kidding me? Nuclear weapons, an invasion, and now this?” Cal shook his head. “What’s the rest of the world like?”
“You know as much as I do.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m going to go talk to Dr. Dan before my rounds. He was pretty quiet the last time he came in here. Louise is overdue to change her IV and medication. I’ll be back.” Cal drew back the blanket and stepped out.
He spotted the doctor across the gym standing at a table, his hands moving about the air and head going back and forth scanning the table as if searching. Cal felt bad for him. He knew he was busy, he was the only doctor and he looked worn out, tired. He also looked about twenty years older than his age of thirty-five.
Cal cleared his throat when he approached him. “Excuse me, Dr. Dan.”
Dan turned around. “Oh, hey there, Cal.” He turned away again and looked at the items on the table.
“Everything alright?” Cal asked. “Can I help you find something?”
“No. No, thanks. I’m trying to assess what we have and it’s not much.”
“Jake said they got some stuff.”
“They did. Not enough. Our best bet is Charleston, but you and I know that town is probably sieged. There’s a few more volunteer fire stations and emergency garages, we may find some medicine but we need IVs, probably have to make them ourselves.”
“Let me know, I’ll help.”
“I know you will. Thank you.”
“Speaking of help… you checked on Louise. You didn’t change her bag. Give her the meds. I didn’t wanna just grab one, but I can if you’re busy. I can change it.”
Dan didn’t reply.
“Dan?”
Heavily, he sighed and turned around. “Cal, supplies are low.”
“You said that.”
“They’re also a commodity. Louise… she isn’t good, Cal. She… she isn’t going to get anymore medication.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
“If you don’t give her the meds, she will die.”
“She probably will die anyhow. She isn’t good. She didn’t respond to the Prussian Blue. We’ll give her saline to keep her hydrated, but that’s it. I can’t justify using the medication on her, I can’t.”
“So, we give up.”
“I have to give up. If you want to try to take her up to Parkersburg or maybe Charleston. Our illustrious invaders have hospitals set up there.”
“You think it’s worth a shot?”
“You can try. But you have to be careful. There are new cases of that virus going around. There might be up there.”
Cal nodded. He saw a woman and two men moving around the gym. They were the workers he noticed the day before. “Since you have help, I think I’ll talk to Jake about going there.”
“You do that, but Cal…” Dan called out stopping Cal as he started to walk away. “I know this is painful and hard. But if… if she survives it will be a long recovery and even then, she faces long-term debilitating effects. Allowing her to pass peacefully may be the humane thing to do.”
Cal didn’t reply, he only made eye contact with Dan and then walked back to the section where Louise rested.
“What’s going on?” Jake asked.
Cal whispered, “He isn’t giving her any more meds. He says he can’t justify it.”
Jake nodded. “There are several others they stopped giving meds to as well.”
“It’s not fair,” Cal said. “How can they do that?”
“Don’t take this wrong,” Jake said, “but put yourself in the other position. Say Louise had a good shot of getting better but needed more medication. Medication that was going to people who were going to die anyhow.”
“We don’t know that Louise is going to be one of those people.”