A Post Apocalyptic Virus Story (Book 1): Surviving The Virus Read online

  Surviving The Virus

  A Novela

  Matt Gregory

  Copyright © 2020 by Matt Gregory

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  1. Normal Life

  2. Virus Comes to America

  3. Virus Comes to Oregon

  4. Oregon Shutdown

  5. Goodbye Mom

  6. Things Get Tough

  7. Hitting the Road

  8. The Kids

  9. Preppers

  10. Florence

  11. Eugene

  Epilogue

  LA Rescue Mission Sneak Peak

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to my good friends Keith S. Harris and Teddy, for their valuable insights that helped develop the storyline. Without their help, the story would have died at the keyboard.

  A big thank you to my wife, Dasha, who supported me and read early drafts.

  Lastly, I must thank The Virus itself for giving me the time to write.

  1

  Normal Life

  January 24, 2020

  Coos Bay, Oregon

  “The Chinese authorities are quarantining the city of Jiaxing, where the outbreak of THE VIRUS began.” CNN News

  Bill Speasl, a barrel-chested man with a wild brown beard, packed his chainsaw from his four-wheeler through the old-growth forest that covered most of his four acres. He sucked in a lung full of fresh Pacific Northwest air. The majority of his life was spent either in the woods or fishing. Like many of his days off, he found himself in the forest looking for a tree to cut down for no other reason than pleasure.

  He came to a younger Douglas Fir tree that was about two feet in diameter and 30 feet tall. He rested his chainsaw on the ground. He surveyed the area, deciding the best direction to fell the tree and his escape route. He planned to fell the tree to the east. To the west was his neighbor’s fence.

  Bill wore steel-toed boots, Carhartt pants, and a green dominated flannel thick enough to be a blanket. Once he had his plan, he grabbed the chainsaw and pulled the cord.

  The motor roared to life. The cutting chain of the saw burst to life, ready for something to cut.

  Bill made a notch face-cut to steer which direction the tree falls, with a back-cut higher up, to set it on it’s way. Although this time, a substantial unseen knot, changed it’s intended path. It happens. This is but one more reason lumberjack is among the deadliest professions.

  The tree fell west instead of east.

  Bill had time to escape and dove out of the way of the falling tree. On the ground, he looked back to see the tree smash into the eight-foot-tall, wood fence. A six-foot section of the fence was destroyed.

  Bill took a deep breath; he knew that he had trouble on his hands. He could feel his blood pressure rise.

  He didn’t know his neighbor, Theodore Keith, very well. Bill had bumped into Theodore a few times in town over the years, but most of what he knew of Theodore came from his daughter, Katie, who is the same age as Theodore’s son Gavin.

  Bill always felt resentment toward Theodore and his education, money, and 50-acre estate with a massive, modern compound. Bill sighed as he packed the saw back to the four-wheeler, expecting that a rich guy like Theodore would make a big deal about the fence.

  THE INVENTOR

  On the 50 acre parcel next to Bill’s property, Theodore Keith, one of America’s most esteemed and reclusive inventors, was at work in his 2,000 square foot laboratory. The sterile laboratory offered Theodore the opportunity to have a clean area to work on various projects without outside contamination. The lab was a smaller part of his massive 6,000 square foot detached workshop.

  Inside the lab, Theodore looked through a high powered microscope. He was working on storing information in DNA. Other people and labs were working on it, but in the information age, the breakthrough of storing data in DNA was almost to the breaking point, and Theodore wanted to be at the finish line. The workshop was clean, organized, and had an array of machines used for different scientific and mechanical tasks. Theodore wore coveralls, a mask, and gloves to help not contaminate the project, but he didn’t need a full hazmat suit for the task.

  He looked up from the microscope and looked at the computer monitor showing what was under the scope.

  An alert blared. Theodore looked at his Apple watch, and his security system texted him of a security breach on the eastern fence and gave the GPS location.

  Agitated, Theodore began to close down his experiment for the day. Once everything was stored correctly, and all machines were powered down, Theodore left the lab and entered the airlock, which separated his lab from the rest of his giant workshop.

  In the airlock, Theodore removed the coveralls, gloves, and mask. He was tall and lean with a thick head of brown hair. He was 52 but could pass for 42. Now in his casual attire of jeans, runnings shoes, and a polo shirt, Theodore was ready to inspect the property breach. Theodore was one of those guys that girls want and men want to be. Reared in a predominately Jewish enclave in the Highland Park suburb of Chicago, his upbringing primed him for the double Master’s degrees he got in Business Management and Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. Those early years paved the way for his career as an inventor.

  Outside of the airlock, the rest of the workshop had an array of different tools to work with metal, glass, plastic, and wood. Also, there were two vehicles—a Solar SUV prototype and an older Cessna plane. With many parts salvaged from a local wrecking yard, Theodore built the world’s first SOLAR powered SUV. It looked like a typical SUV besides the flexible solar panels wrapped around it.

  Theodore got into the SUV and drove down to the fence and saw that the Douglas Fir tree smashed his fence. Theodore knew that it fell from his neighbor Bill’s property. He had rarely seen Bill around and heard second-hand info about Bill from Gavin, but he neither liked or disliked Bill. Theodore looked at most people through the prism of whether the person could help him grow or learn. If not, Theodore didn’t give much attention to the person. Distractions. Theodore doesn’t like them, and the task of visiting Bill about the fence was seen as precious time away from his work.

  THE CONFRONTATION

  The Solar SUV pulled up next to a brown shack built in the ‘50s that had a wrap-around porch. Next to it was an old Ford pick up truck that was red, blue, and Bondo. Bill talked about painting it for a years.

  Theodore had never been to Bill’s house and paused at the sight of a huge mixed breed mastiff. The dog looked mean and had a few scars on its face. With caution, Theodore got out of the SUV and headed toward the front door, and the dog growled at him.

  Gladys, Bill’s mother, who had silver hair and was in her early 70’s, came out of the front door to the porch. She yelled, “Thumper, get over here.”

  The dog paused. Neither advancing or retreating to Gladys.

  “Can I help you?” Gladys said.

  Theodore kept an eye on Thumper and said, “Yes, I was wondering if Bill is here.”

  “He’s out back in the outhouse.”

  Theodore scanned the property and saw a little wooden building that looked like an outhouse. At that moment, the door flung open. Out came Bill, shirt off revealing the hairiest chest Theodore had ever seen. Bill walked up wearing a Make America Great Again hat. He whis
tled and Thumper ran over to him as Gladys went back inside.

  With Thumper by his side, Bill walked toward Theodore.

  “I guess you are here about the tree,” Bill said.

  “Yes, I came to inquire about the repair of my fence. I’m assuming that you fell a tree, and something happened, and it fell the wrong way.”

  “Yeah, that’s what happened. A damn knot in the tree.”

  Theodore, a tall man who was stronger than average, was intimidated by Bill, even though he would never admit it.

  “Well, Bill, we need to get that fixed,” Theodore said as he glanced at Thumper. “What happened to his face?”

  “Oh, Thumper? I found him in that scrapyard on Shinglehouse when he was a puppy. If you think he looks bad, you should see the guy who did that to him.”

  Theodore didn’t want a mental image of Bill smashing some guys face in.

  “Wow, well, I’m glad I’m not that guy. So, about my fence. Unlike your property, mine has many valuable items I need to protect, so I need my fence operational for security purposes.”

  “A tree fell, it ain’t my fault. You can’t always control them things. I got plenty to steal here too. I got lots of guns. Why don’t you fix it? Heck, you are the one swimming in money over there.”

  “I understand that, but I didn’t cut the tree. The tree didn’t fall of natural causes, so that means that it is your fault.”

  “Textbook liberal, always trying to get someone else to pay for it.”

  “Why does everyone twist things around and make it about politics? This is about my fence and doing the right thing.”

  For the first time, Bill noticed the Solar SUV. He nodded toward it.

  “What the heck is that thing?”

  “Oh, that is the future of vehicles, my friend. It doesn’t need gas, hydrogen, or electricity to run.”

  “Looks like something my ex-wife would drive.”

  “She’s a smart woman.”

  Bill walked closer to the SUV.

  “So, what do you have this thing wrapped in solar panels?” Bill asked.

  “Yes, flexible solar panels. So are you going to take care of the fence?”

  “Geeze, if you aren’t going to drop it, Teddy, yes, I will fix your fence. Since you are a scientist, you’ve probably heard of that virus going around China, what do you think? I think it is just the liberal media trying to scare us.”

  “Yes, I imagine you would, Bill. I’m an engineer, not a scientist, but I guess that falls on deaf ears. Well, on some levels, it is not scary, but on other levels, it could be bad. They are saying that it can be passed from a host that isn’t showing any symptoms. China jumped on it early, and we will see how well those travel restrictions and quarantines worked.”

  “Well, they are just making a big deal about nothing. Heck, the flu has killed more people than that thing. Also, it probably ain’t coming here.”

  “Oh, it will come to the US. It is probably already here. Too much air travel to contain something like this.”

  “Well, I imagine people like you believe that sort of thing,” Bill said with a smirk.

  Eager to get back to his workshop, Theodore opened the driver’s door.

  “Well, I’ll appreciate it if you get that fence fixed sooner than later. Have a good day.”

  And like that, the SUV was gone.

  2

  Virus Comes to America

  February 29, 2020

  Coos Bay, Oregon

  “The first U.S. reported death from THE VIRUS came today in Seattle, Washington.” New York Times

  Bill had chopped up the fallen tree and removed it. Only the broken fence remained. Bill drove up on his four-wheeler, which pulled a small trailer behind it. Thumper ran along the four-wheeler. The trailer carried four by fours and two by fours for the fence. Also on the trailer was a post hole digger and a few bags of concrete mix.

  He started by removing all of the broken pieces of the fence and tearing the fence down anywhere it was weak so that the remaining fence was strong. Thumper roamed around the forest. As Bill grabbed a roll of orange string for leveling, he heard a sound. It was quiet, but something was driving on the grass in Theodore’s yard.

  Bill, who was wearing a Glock pistol in a holster on his hip, kept his right hand above the gun. Then he saw Theodore’s SUV drive up, and Theodore popped out. Thumper began to growl at Theodore.

  “Easy there buddy,” Theodore said to Thumper. “I see you are finally, after a month, going to repair the fence.”

  Bill didn’t say anything, he just grunted, and Thumper kept growling.

  “Can you get the dog to back off?” Theodore asked.

  “Thumper, go play,” Bill ordered. “I’m fixing the damn fix. I don’t know what you want from me. Should I bow down and kiss your shoes because you are a fancy college boy. I went to school too.”

  “Oh yeah. Where did you go to school?”

  “After high school, I went up to Oregon State in Corvallis.”

  Theodore’s face scrunched in surprise. He couldn’t imagine Bill in a classroom setting, but crazier things have happened.

  “I’m impressed. What did you study?”

  “What did I study? Girls man. We would go up on the weekends, get hammered, and chase tail. I bet you didn’t get any tail in college.”

  “Wait, how did this get turned around to college and members of the opposite sex. I’m sure you had fun in Corvallis, but I’ve had my fair share of ladies in college. Not to brag, but most of them were either cheerleaders or volleyball players.”

  “Ain’t that cute. How about you take your George Jetson car and head back up to your house and let me be. All I can do today is set the posts. The concrete won’t set until tomorrow. Your precious little fence should be done tomorrow.”

  “I will hold you to that. Did you hear that the first person in the United States died from The Virus?”

  “Yeah, I heard that. You want to know what it is all about?”

  Theodore smiled.

  “Yes, please enlighten me, Bill.”

  “It is the damn Democrats. They are trying to use this to get Trump out of office. I’m telling you right now; it ain’t going to work.”

  “Bill, that has nothing to do with it. This thing started in China, and now it is spreading all across the world like wildfire. It is 10-15 times worse than the flu, and it can affect people of all ages.”

  “Maybe that is true, and maybe it ain’t, but I don’t see what everyone is getting their panties in a bunch over. I heard only 3,000 people died over there. What the big deal?”

  Theodore glanced at his watch.

  “Well, I would love to get into the nuances of the virus, but I have to get back up to work. Please finish my fence.”

  3

  Virus Comes to Oregon

  March 3, 2020

  Coos Bay, Oregon

  “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has confirmed Oregon’s first case of THE VIRUS.” The Oregonian

  With Thumper by his side, Bill put the finishing touches on the fence. As he finished the fence, he would no longer have access to his yard, so he made sure that his four-wheeler was on Theodore’s property.

  As Bill smashed the last nails in, the Solar SUV snuck up on Bill. Theodore popped out, looking rather chipper.

  “Perfect. Now that you finally got the fence done, I can re-wire the broken section of my alarm system, and it will be back online.”

  Bill glanced over.

  “Are you talking to someone on speakerphone, Teddy?”

  “No, why?”

  “I thought you were talking to someone who cares.”

  “I’m excited that I will be able to add that extra layer of protection to my property. I hate even telling you that I have valuable items, but I know you aren’t as dumb as you look.”

  Bill’s face went red. Thumper growled.

  “You are pushing my damn buttons right now, Teddy. I’ve played along. I cut a tree down, and no one
can control a tree. It falls and does damage, and I bend over backward, and fix it. Every step of the way, you are pissing and moaning and treating me like I’m a five-year-old. If I had half a mind, I would beat you to a bloody pulp.”

  Theodore wasn’t a weak man, but he was never a fighter. If he sat down and thought about it, he would remember that he had never been in a real fight. Not even back in grade school. His dad always told him to fight with his mind, not his fists.

  Bill, on the other hand, was told by his dad, “Son, if you come home with a black eye, I better hear the other kid has two black eyes. Got it, boy.”

  The distance between the two men closed with every step Bill took. Only a few inches away and with a face that looked like a lobster, Bill launched into a tirade.

  “Okay, you want to do this Theodore. I’m sick of this. Let’s settle this right here—man to man. Come on. Hit me.”

  Bill stuck out his jaw.

  “Come on. Right here, right now,” Bill said.

  Theodore could hear the heavy breaths flowing through Bill’s nostrils, and his vast intellect thought of all the scenarios for diffusing the situation. He had pushed Bill too hard the last few days. Perhaps Bill was beginning to worry about the virus. An idea struck Theodore. He almost threw up thinking about it, but he had no choice.

  “Want to take the Solar SUV for a spin?” Theodore asked.

  As if a flip switched in Bill, every muscle in his face relaxed.