Jacqueline Druga - Reset

He was pulled with such of force, his chin and arms ground against the pavement. He could feel the skin scraping from him.

How far did they pull him? It seemed like a mile, but it wasn’t, Meredith was still in his peripheral vision. John was maybe twenty feet away from her when the three of them stood above him.

When they grabbed him and flipped him over, John’s head collided hard with the ground.

Immediately everything faded, his vision blurred and filled with specks of light until John’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out.

DAY FOUR AR

There were a lot of things in the medical bag that Malcolm found useful. Problem was, he should have used them earlier. When he woke in the morning, an hour later than he wanted to, his arm was swollen, and it was beet red. He opened the bag found the ibuprofen and took not just one, but downed a handful and washed them back with a pint of bourbon. He took the antibiotic ointment and lathered the wound then rewrapped it. After that he took some antibiotics. Malcolm held on with weakened confidence that it wasn’t that bad, his life depended on it.

He wanted to rest. He was tired. His head pounded like he never experienced, he knew he was still fevered because felt cold. Shivering constantly, everything was a blur, and he just couldn’t focus clearly on anything. His mind, though not as sharp as he wanted it to be, wallowed in how badly he felt. But more than that, more than being sick, getting home was on Malcolm’s mind. And he would do it. Even if it was the last thing he ever did. He would get home or die trying to get there.

A natural well fed the water fountain in the center of the gated community’s park. It no longer flowed upwards, in fact, the pool of the fountain was thick and filled with algae and swarming life forms that resembled snakes. The water fountain pump did work. It took Nora about thirty minutes of work to get enough water to fill one third of a bucket. She boiled it and ran it through the purifier bottle, saving a little to wash dishes.

It had been a while since she ate off a dish, nearly ten days since her awakening. She fixed a meal for her and Jason, opened a bottle of wine she found in the house, and they ate a simple meal on the patio. Nora placed some of the items she found in the house on the table.

“You did a nice job,” Nora sat back, referring to the small section Jason cleared in the yard.

“I loved this yard. It’s just so weird, not long ago I was swimming in the pool. Sitting here like this, the world… was normal. It’s shell shock.”

“I hear you.”

“So.” He placed down his glass. “Aside from finely aged wine, what do you have?”

“I found a blast from the past.”

“Nora, everything is a blast from the past.”

“True.” She set a plastic CD case on the table. “How’s that?”

Jason laughed. He lifted the CD. His picture was on the front with three other young men. They all wore the same clothing, and they were young. Possibly teenagers. “Okay, you win. Blast from the past. It was a Christian Boy Band.”

“How’d that work out for you?”

“Ever hear of Trinity?”

“Nope.”

“Then that answers your question,” Jason said.

“So you sing well.”

“I like to think so,” Jason said. “I won a Dove.”

“That’s awesome.”

“And you’re stalling. What else did you find?”

“Some things that didn’t make sense,” Nora picked through her pile. “This certification states that they were inoculated against the virus on November 12.”

Jason folded his hands and nodded.

“Here’s what I don’t get. We have Harrison saying he flipped the reset switch in December. We have the PX shut down in November. Base itself, a little later. Nashville, completely, one hundred percent closed down, and it looks like a jungle. Here not so much. And that picture. The baby is like a year? It’s Easter. They had baskets. The reset button was hit months before that. Yet, they’re all dressed up and happy.”

“I have a theory.”

“Oh, I’ll call you Meredith,” Nora joked.

Jason smiled and lifted a finger as he stood. He came back with a foil pack and opened it.

“What are you doing?”

He dumped the small tan square on the table. “Let’s say this is Nashville.” He pulled his glass closer. “This is Louisville. That plate… Cleveland.” He raised his fist. “Nashville infected.” He slammed down his hand and pieces went everywhere.

“I’m lost.”

“The virus spread out from Nashville. It bled from there. Some places sooner, some places later. Some not at all.”

“Maybe we just need to find where the crumbs didn’t go.”

“This isn’t scientific. This is a visual aid to accompany my theory.”

“What if I’m right?” Nora asked. “What if the virus crumbs never hit somewhere. What if we are just in a dead zone?”

“Then we’ll know when we leave. Which, by the way, thank you. Thank you for staying an extra day or two.”

Nora sipped her wine and shook her head. “I have a strong feeling my family isn’t there.”

“You should have faith, Nora.”

“I do. But… that still doesn’t mean they are there. A lot of time has passed. More than we realize.”

“How do you figure?”

“Well, the baby’s picture, the one on the hall table. She looks to be about three. So that’s at least three years. I was the breadwinner in my family. My husband wouldn’t be able to afford that house. He moved.”

“We should still check.”

“We will.” Nora said. “Now back to the crumbs…”

“No. You’re stalling. What else do you have?”

“We were talking about the crumbs.”

“The virus talk and theories can wait. What did you find?”

“They were living here long after the grid went down,” Nora said. “Ashes in the fireplace. The partial woodpile, they used it to heat. There were homemade oil lanterns all over the place. And I got the bucket from the laundry room, that’s why I asked about the well. It was one of many.”

Jason nodded. “What else? I know you found the marriage license.”

“I did. His name was Eugene Robert Roy.”

Jason squinted his face, pursed his lips and started to shake his head. “Why does that name… oh man. Robbie Roy. He was the head producer out of Memphis for my music.”

“How did you not recognize him?”

“I never met him face to face. Melissa was the one who handled that end.”

Nora bit her lip.

“What?”

“Well… they were married on December 20.”

“What year?”

Nora’s reply was only a glance.

“Wait. Wait. The same year they told her I died?” Jason’s voice cracked. “How is that possible? How did she meet him, decide she was in love and get married so fast after she heard of my death. When did she mourn me? Unless…”

Nora nodded. “Keep going. You’ll get there.”

“No. No way. Not Melissa. She was a good Christian woman.”

Nora held up three fingers.

“What’s that?”

“Three months. Three months from death to I do. Just sayin’.”

Jason groaned. “This is still fresh for me. It’s only been two weeks since I saw them.”

“A barren world puts mental processing on fast forward. Maybe not the emotions so much. Wanna talk about it?”

“No.” Jason stood.

“Where are you going? You’re not gonna waste any more food are you?’

“No, I’m getting our map. I want to talk about the virus theories again.”

He slipped away from the patio and into the house.

There were other items Nora found, but she would save them for another day, another evening when they needed things to talk about. For the moment, she gathered the crumbs to make room for the map. Even if it wasn’t ‘scientific’, Jason’s smash and spread virus demonstration made sense, and Nora was curious to look at the map as a whole.