R. Ruggiero - Brushfire Plague

“You’re probably right. I just wish someone would cover these bodies up.”

The wheels of the truck crunched broken glass as they wove their way around obstacles in the road.

As they neared the area where Julianne lived, both men saw something that made them exhale in shock. Dranko’s came out as a low whistle.

A police car, with two officers, was driving towards them.

Neither had seen any police in over a week. Cooper let the shotgun rest on the floorboard so that he could ensure his hands remained in a casual position.

“Must be nice to live in such a high-class part of town?” Dranko quipped.

“You know what they say, the last place you’ll still find the police in bad times and the tax collector in good times is where the rich folk live.”

Dranko looked at him quizzically, “Who’s the they? I’ve never heard that before.”

“My father,” Cooper said as both men laughed.

Their faces turned serious and they looked straight ahead as the police cruiser drove past them. They could feel their eyes dressing them down. Thankfully, the car kept going.

Cooper instructed Dranko to park a half block away from Julianne’s house. He stuffed the shotgun under the seat and they locked the doors. The street was deserted, quiet. It looked like it probably had before the plague had struck. Cars were still parked neatly in driveways and along the street. Windows and doors were all intact and closed. Halfway down the street, a neatly stenciled wooden sign beseeching, “God Forgive Us!” was the only evidence that something was amiss in the world.

As they approached the home, he had Dranko remain out of sight. If Julianne was home, he figured it would be smoother that way. She lived in an ornate Victorian home. The outside walls came alive with a deep chocolate trim, silver-painted scallops, and red accents. Leaded glass windows with a chevron motif and a wraparound porch completed the idyllic view.

Cooper climbed the stairs and rang the doorbell. He waited. Then, he rapped on the door and heard the sounds reverberate throughout the home. He did so a second time before whistling for Dranko to come forward.

The two men didn’t exchange a word as Cooper backed away from the door and did his best to nonchalantly shield Dranko from any passerby’s view. Dranko immediately went to work with his lock pick tools and had the door open in less than a minute. They stepped inside. The wood floors shined, conveying warmth and security. A skinny rug ran the length of the hallway and led away from the door to a large foyer. The hallway and foyer were sparsely furnished. The furniture screamed “eco-friendly” at them; made from recycled and natural materials. Art decorated the walls, depicting the natural world in all of its splendor. Opposite the front door, an impressive painting of a white birch forest with a majestic buck commanding the scene, dominated the wall with its size and grace. Scattered on the other walls were paintings depicting sea turtles, an eagle, wildflower fields, waterfalls, and other animals. Muted light shone in through a phalanx of windows on the south wall.

“Feels like a shrine, don’t it,” Dranko whispered in awe. Cooper nodded slowly.

As previously agreed, Dranko stayed at the door, just inside, as a lookout. Cooper would do the searching. He found the den on the first floor and headed there first.

The den had two stout oak doors that opened inward. Cooper almost bumped into the door when he tried to open it and, unexpectedly, he discovered it was locked. He whistled for Dranko and indicated the locked door. As Dranko came over to work on it, Cooper replaced him at the front door post. Seconds ticked by, without event outside. Cooper saw one vehicle drive by, a large SUV loaded up with a family and what must have been all of their worldly possessions. Getting out of dodge, eh? Cooper didn’t think they’d make it very far. Their overloaded vehicle was just begging for the attention of every petty criminal out there. Candy store on wheels.

Dranko clucked his lips to get Cooper’s attention. He turned and saw that the door was open. As they passed each other once again, Dranko whispered, “Complex lock on that bad boy.” Cooper nodded, his anticipation growing. He took a deep breath before stepping into the room.

Two of the four walls were lined with nine foot tall bookcases. A quick scan revealed a myriad of books on philosophy, history, politics, environmental sciences, physics, and current events. Curiously, he saw only one shelf that contained works of fiction. With such an extensive library, he would have expected at least a few shelves dedicated to fiction. Of those, they were all of the classical variety, the likes of Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Dickens. An avid reader himself, when he had the time, he was immediately impressed with the size and scope of Julianne’s collection.

The wall opposite the door contained a large leaded glass window, half of which was a beautiful stained glass picture depicting Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. This portion rose so high, it would have prevented easy inspection of this room from the outside. The top of the window allowed bright sunlight into the room which, when combined with the colors from the stained glass, bestowed a sacred aura to the room.

However, it was the wall immediately to his left which proved the most intriguing. Half of the wall was blanketed by a large whiteboard. Writings and diagrams were festooned across it. The other half of the wall was a confused mélange of magazine and newspaper articles. Cooper was stunned by the blizzard of information before him. He blankly ambled over to the solid oak desk that dominated the middle of the room. He leaned against it so that he could digest the wall’s contents.

He quickly ascertained that the focus for the display was environmental degradation. Headlines blaring about pollution, toxins, oil spills, and acid rain were scattered about. However, the most common were articles, pictures, and headlines focused on global warming and its effects. One blazoned phrase in the middle of the whiteboard was, “Global Warming = Climate Chaos.” Right next to that clarion call, a much smaller phrase in red ink required him to take two steps forward to read it. “Worst marketing failure ever. They needed to call it based upon what it would make happen. Stupid scientists!” Cooper cocked his head when he realized that the handwriting looked like it’d been written by a man.

A map of the United States looked familiar to Cooper. That’s right, it’s the one from Al Gore’s movie that shows sea level rise. But, this one looked different; a lot different. A moment later he realized it, “Wow, there’s a lot more land underwater,” he whispered to himself in surprise. Some coastal cities had completely disappeared in this edition. And, the flooding extended much further inland than he recalled. Next to the map of America, were maps of Europe and Asia. These showed many cities there underwater, as well.

The magazine and newspaper articles were a contrasting mixture of dire scientific warnings about the coming catastrophe of global warming, news reports of failed efforts by the global community to take action to limit climate change, and analyses by economists on the economic impacts. One report from the UK declared “Global Warming Akin to Great Depression” was written by someone named Sir Nicholas Stern. Another that stood out proclaimed, “Rate of Warming Greatly Exceeding Most Aggressive Modeling.” Julianne had written notes in blue on most of the articles, circling a phrase or posing a question.

Cooper was hypnotized by the information. Ten minutes passed before he realized how long he had been doing so. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had no doubt that Dranko must be growing impatient. The hodgepodge of information revealed three broad themes: the environment’s ability to sustain life was in deep jeopardy, the threat of climate change as catastrophic, and that people weren’t doing much about either. Cooper was deeply interested in the material, but deeply upset that he found nothing that told him about the plague sweeping the country and threatening his son.