Darwin's Children Part 18

THE POCONOS, PENNSYLVANIA.

Eleven in the morning, the dashboard display said. Mitch looked left on the two-lane asphalt road and saw, about a hundred feet ahead, the red plastic strip hanging on a big old pine. He slowed and rolled down the window.

The signpost was still standing, though it had been knocked askew. The wooden plaque read: MACKENZIE.

George and Iris and Kelly Mitch got out, unlocked the pipe, and pushed it back through its iron hoop. He took the plaque down from the signpost and stashed it in the back of the Jeep.

The cabin was made of whole stripped logs just beginning to gray with exposure. It sat on the sh.o.r.e of a private half-acre lake, alone in the pines. The air was scented by pine needles and dry dirt. Mitch could smell the moisture from the lake, the greenness of shallows filled with reeds. Sunlight slanted down through the trees onto the Jeep, illuminating Kaye in the backseat.

Mitch walked up onto the porch, his heavy shoes clomping on the wood. He unlocked the door, deactivated the burglar alarm with the six-number code, then returned to the Jeep.

Kaye was already halfway up the walk from the driveway, carrying Stella.

"Get a bag of Ringer's and set up an IV," she said. "A lamp hook, flowerpot hook, anything. I'll spread some blankets." She carried Stella into the cabin. The air inside was cool and sweetly stuffy.

Mitch spread a sleeping bag on the floor behind a big leather couch and took down an empty hanging pot, then slung the bag of Ringer's solution, inserted the long, clear plastic tube into the bag, opened the b.u.t.terfly clamp, let the clear fluid push through the tube and drip from the needle. Kaye lay Stella on the bag, tapped her arm to bring up a vein, poked in the needle, strapped it to the girl's arm with medical tape.

Stella could barely move.

"She should be in a hospital," Kaye said, kneeling beside her daughter.

Mitch looked down on them both, hands opening and closing helplessly. "In a better world," he said.

"There is no G.o.dd.a.m.ned better world," Kaye said. "Never has been, never will be. There's just 'suffer the little children.' "

"That's not what that means," Mitch said.

"Screw it, then," Kaye said. "I hope I know what the h.e.l.l I'm doing."

"Her head hurts," Mitch said.

"She has aseptic meningitis. I'm going to bring the swelling down with prednisone, treat those mouth sores with famicyclovir."

They had found the famicyclovir, medical tape, and other supplies in a small drugstore near the pet hospital. Kaye had also managed to score a box of disposable syringes. Her excuses had worn thin at the last. She had told the pharmacist, perched in his little elevated booth in the back of the store, that she was using the needles for a cloth dyeing project.

That would not have gone over well in the big city.

She prepared to give Stella an injection.

"I'm not even sure about the dose," she murmured.

Mitch was half convinced he could walk out the door, drive off, and Kaye would never notice he was gone. He looked at his hands, smooth from lack of digging. How had this happened? He knew, he remembered, but none of it seemed real. Even the shadow of grief-was that what he had felt in the Jeep?-even that seemed unimportant.

Mitch could feel his soul winking down to nothing.

The drip of lactated Ringer's slid down the long plastic tube.

"I'll watch her," he said.

"Get some sleep," Kaye said. She slipped the used syringe needle into its plastic cap for disposal.

"You first," he said.

"Get some sleep, d.a.m.n it," Kaye said, and her glance up at him was like the slap of a flat, dull knife.

45.

OHIO.

"It begins," Augustine said. "I've dreaded this day for years."

Standing in the number two tower, surrounded by stacked boxes, dusty old desks, and outdated desktop computers, Augustine and d.i.c.ken-and Augustine's ever-vigilant agent-watched the Ohio National Guard troops set up their perimeter and cut off the school's entrance. Their view encompa.s.sed the main road, the water tower to the west, a barren gravel field broken by lozenges of bare concrete, a line of scrub oaks beyond that, and a state highway slicing through low gra.s.sy hills.

DeWitt climbed up the last flight of steps and leaned against the wall, out of breath. DeWitt nodded. "Governor's office called . . . the director's line. The governor is jumping ahead . . . of the feds and declaring," she sucked in her breath with a small whoop, "a stage five public health emergency. We're under complete quarantine. n.o.body in or out . . . Not even you, Dr. Augustine." She nailed him with a glare. "Main gate reports twenty more . . . National Guard trucks . . . moving in. They're surrounding the school."

Augustine turned to the Secret Service agent, who tapped his earpiece and made a wry face. "We're in for the duration," the agent affirmed.

"What about the supplies?" DeWitt asked.

"They can drop them off at the entrance and we can send someone to pick them up, no contact," d.i.c.ken said. "But they have to get here first."

Augustine seemed less hopeful. "Not difficult to isolate us," he said dryly. "It's a prison to start with. As for supplies-they'll have to go through state lines, state inspection. The state can intercept them and hold them. The governor will try to protect his votes, act ignorant, and shift our supplies to the big cities, the rich neighborhoods, the most visible and well-funded hospitals with the loudest administrators. Stockpile against a potential plague."

"Leave us with nothing? I can't believe they'll be that stupid," DeWitt said. "They'll have a revolt."

"By whom? The parents?" d.i.c.ken asked. "They'll hunker down and hope for the best. Dr. Augustine made sure of that years ago."

Augustine looked through the tower window and did not take d.i.c.ken's bait. "All it takes to get elected in twenty-first-century America is a mob of frightened sheep and a wolf with a nice smile," he said softly. "We have plenty of sheep. Ms. DeWitt, could I speak with Christopher in private, please? But stay close."

DeWitt looked between them, not knowing what to think, and then left, closing the door behind her.

"It's worse than any of them can imagine," Augustine said, his voice low. "I think the starting pistol has been fired."

"You mentioned that in the car. What in h.e.l.l does it mean?"

"If we're lucky, the president can put a stop to it . . . But I do not know Ellington. He's kept his distance ever since he was elected. I do not know what he will do."

"Put a stop to what?"

"If the situation gets any worse, I believe the governor will call Washington and ask for permission to clean up the schools. Sterilize the premises. He may ask for sanction to kill the children."

d.i.c.ken stood up. "You have got to be s.h.i.tting me."

Augustine shook his head and looked him steadily in the eye. "State autonomous self-protection, as specified under Presidential Decision Directive 298, Emergency Action Gray Book. It's called the Military and Biological Security Protocol, Part Four. It was enacted seven years ago during a secret session of the Senate oversight committee. It gives discretion to state authorities on the scene to use all necessary force, under well-defined emergency conditions."

"Why was I never told?"

"Because you chose to stay a soldier. The contents of the directive are confidential. At any rate, I opposed the rule as extreme, but there were a lot of scared senators in the room. They were shown pictures of Mrs. Rhine's family, incidents of Shiver in Mexico. They saw pictures of you, Christopher. The statute was signed by the president, and has never been revoked."

"Is there any chance they'll listen to reason?"

"Slim to none. But we have to try. The race is on. You have work to do, and so do I." He raised his voice. "Ms. DeWitt?"

DeWitt opened the door. As requested, she had not gone far; Augustine wondered if she had heard anything.

"I want to talk to Toby Smith."

"Why?" DeWitt asked, as if the thought of Augustine seeing the boy again disgusted her.

"We're going to need their help," he said.

"They're hardly trained for this sort of thing," d.i.c.ken said, following Augustine down the concrete stairs. His voice echoed from the hard gray walls.

"You'd be surprised," Augustine said. "We need answers by tomorrow. Is that possible?"

"I don't know." d.i.c.ken was amazed at the transformation. This was the old Mark Augustine, jerked back to life like some sort of political zombie. His skin was regaining color, his eyes were hard, and the perpetual grimace of determination had returned.

"If we don't have answers by then, they could move in and kill us all."

d.i.c.ken, Augustine, Middleton, DeWitt, Kelson, and Toby Smith gathered in Trask's office.

Toby stood before Augustine with a paper cup of water in one hand. Behind him stood Dr. Kelson and the two remaining school police officers. The officers wore surgical masks. The doctor did not seem to care very much whether he was protected.

"Toby, we're short staffed," Augustine said.

"Yeah," Toby said.

"And we have a lot of sick people to take care of. All of them your friends."

Toby looked around the office. The square, metal-framed windows let in the bright afternoon sun and a whiff of warm air that smelled of the miles of dry gra.s.s beyond the compound.

"How many students are healthy enough to help us do some work around here?"

"A few," Toby said. "We're all tired. Pretty koobered."

"Koobered?"

"A word," Toby said, squinting at d.i.c.ken, then looking around the room at the others.

"They have a lot of words," DeWitt said. "Most are special to this school."

"We think," Kelson added, and scratched his arm through the sleeve, then looked around to see if anyone had caught him doing this. "I'm fine," he said to d.i.c.ken. "Dry skin."

"What does 'koobered' mean?" Augustine asked Toby.

"Not important," Toby said.

"Okay. But we're going to spend a lot of time together, if that's all right with you. I'd like to learn these words, if you're willing to teach me."

Toby shrugged.

"Can you put some teams together and pick up some basic nursing skills from the doctors, from Ms. Middleton and the teachers?"

"I guess," Toby said.

"Some of them are already doing that in the gym and in the infirmary," Middleton said. "Helping keep kids comfortable, deliver water."

Augustine smiled. He had pulled himself together, straightened his rumpled shirt and pants, washed his face in Trask's executive bathroom sink. "Thanks, Yolanda. I'm speaking with Toby now, and I want him to tell me what's what. Toby?"

"I'm not the best at doing that kind of stuff. Not even the best who's still up and standing around."

"Who is?"

"Four or five of us, maybe. Six, if you count Natasha."

"Are you fever-scenting, Toby?" Middleton asked. "Do I have to strap on my sachet again?"

"I'm just seeing if I can, Ms. Middleton," Toby said.

Augustine recognized the chocolate-like scent. Toby was nervous. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Toby, but we all need to think clearly."

"Sorry."

"I'd like for you to represent me and Mr. d.i.c.ken and all the school staff, okay? And ask the right kids-the right individuals-to put together teams for more training. Ms. Middleton will help us train, and Dr. Kelson. Toby, can these teams become clouded?"

Toby smiled, one pupil growing larger, the other shrinking. The gold flecks in both irises seemed to move.

"Probably," Toby said. "But I think you mean we should cloud cloud. Join up."

"Of course. Sorry. Can you help us learn who's going to get better and who isn't?"

"Yes," Toby said, very serious now, and both irises large.

Augustine turned to d.i.c.ken. "I think that's where we should begin. We're not going to get any help from outside, no deliveries, nothing. We're cut off. As far as the children are concerned, we need to focus our efforts and our supplies on those for whom we can do the most good with what we have. The children are better equipped to determine that than we are. Is this clear, Toby?"

Toby nodded slowly.

"I don't like giving children such decisions," Middleton said, eyes thinning. "They are very loyal to each other."