Chapter 1

In Texas:

"Hey, Willie, do you have everything you need?" Mr. Estes asked me.

"Well, I have all of the food and supplies I need, anyway," I told him with a laugh.

He smiled and said, "I am not sending you a girl, no matter how much you beg."

I laughed and got into the old ranch truck. I said "Load up" out the truck window and Bob, the ranch's cow dog, and Cass, my Brittany, jumped into the bed.

I was starting my summer job. I would be going off to the University of Georgia next fall. I had graduated from community college near my home in East Texas, and was working for the Rocking E Ranch as a satellite herdsman. That meant I was working a herd that was located on a pasture that was many miles back in the boondocks.

I was going to be camping out for the entire summer. I had a big tent and a screened room to cook in if the bugs got too bad. I was to receive a shipment of supplies in the middle of July to tide me over until September when I was to come back in to go to school. The truck had a two way radio in case of emergencies, but it pulled a pretty good bit of power. I only planned to use it if I needed to, other than my weekly check-ins.

I had two horses in the trailer, and grain to augment their feed as well as dog food. Mr. Estes had told me that I could augment my food with game if I wanted to. It was not hunting season, but I wasn't worried about the game warden where I would be.

I had a .22 rifle, a 30-30 rifle and a .38 pistol with me, just in case.

I drove for about four hours, getting farther away from everything every minute. I got where I was going and unloaded everything I needed and set up my camp. The horses and dogs were really glad to get here, even if here was really nowhere.

I saddled up and checked on the cattle. I found one that was limping a little, but other than that everything was okay. I made a note to keep an eye on the limper.

I had worked on ranches from time to time through my high school years, and knew what was expected of me.

One thing for sure, I would have plenty of time to think about things, and practice my harmonica playing.

After the first week, the horses, dogs and I were on a first name basis, and I had settled in for a long quiet summer. Other than checking the fence every week, and watching the cattle, I had a good bit of time to myself. I bathed in the creek, and go used to using a latrine. I was not keeping up my shaving for the dogs so I had a scraggly beard in a month. I just figured everyone that saw me would think I was on the way to a Z Z Top concert. One thing I did do was keep my clothes washed; I hated the smell of sour sweat.

In Ohio:

"Dr. Edwards, how are you doing with that sample," my assistant, Jimbo, asked.

"Fine, Jimbo. I don't like fooling with these contagious samples, though."

"I know what you mean. I know our safety procedures are good, but what about unforeseen equipment breakdowns or any other weird shit that might happen."

I was working on a sample of West Nile Virus. The University where I worked was conducting tests of a usable antiviral medicine, among other things.

One of the dangers of working with viruses was forced mutations due to stress on their environment through the medicines. I was particularly careful with the procedures in my lab, my staff was also.

The first week in June, I had gone home and felt everything was under control. I was in the middle of a wait for medicine efficacy testing.

I got a call Sunday afternoon. A military jet had crashed and wiped the roof off my building. My lab was on the top floor, and was open to the air.

I told the fire dispatcher that I had been working with West Nile Virus. They should be careful working around the building, but I didn't think that we were in danger from my laboratory since West Nile was already in the ecosystem.

I couldn't have been more incorrect.

Report to CDC from Dr. Edwards:

The mutated virus from my lab was already spreading through the ecosystem via birds, mosquitoes, equines and person to person contact.

The three week incubation period allowed the disease to spread throughout the globe before it became apparent that we were in serious trouble. Birds started falling out of the sky at alarming rates throughout the world. People started getting "the flu" and expiring quickly and incurably. Horses were also dying at fairly great numbers. Nobody noticed, but the mosquitoes were dying also.

By the first of August, the world's population had dropped to approximately 40 percent of its pre-epidemic number. Third world countries were decimated, because of their poor mosquito control, and high bird populations. Drier climates were not hit nearly as hard, but still suffered severe population loss.

By September first, the world had lost 94 percent of its population of people, 80 percent of its population of birds and 60 percent of its population of equines. We don't have any idea what percentages of mosquitoes died out.

In any case, the affected species got far enough apart that the epidemic died out.

In Texas:

When Eddie came out with my July supplies, he told me that there was a really bad flu epidemic gong on world wide, and the news said it was like the swine flu in 1918.

My radio quit working around the first of August, but I really wasn't too worried about it. I was fine and the cattle were doing well. The limper even got alright.

I had supplemented my larder with several rabbits, and few squirrels, but I mostly worked. I kept the fence in good shape, and kept a close eye on the cattle.

It came time for me to head back to go to school. I loaded my things up and hitched up the trailer. I loaded the horses up, started the truck and called the dogs.

I had been alone enough this simmer and I was ready to talk to someone who could talk back.

I thought it was a bit unusual that the truck radio wasn't picking anything up, but I figured it just had electrical problems since the two-way had quit also.

After I had driven far enough to have been on the pavement for about 40 minutes, I began to notice that I hadn't seen a single car. I knew there were not many people who lived here, but I should have seen a car by now. I could still see cows in the pastures as I rode on down the road, so I just figured it was an unusual day.

I stopped at the first store I came to. There was not a soul in sight. The place had a bad smell. The electricity had obviously gone off and the food in the coolers had spoiled. I looked around some more, and found the remains of a woman (I think it was a woman from the dress she was wearing) in the residence upstairs from the store. She was a mess. I thought about the flu epidemic and didn't touch her.

I noticed some ammunition as I was leaving and decided to pick up some extra, the owner obviously wouldn't need it. I got a couple of boxes each of 30-30, and .38 ammunition and two bricks of .22 ammunition.

I stuffed the .30-30 full and put it on the seat beside me. I put the .38 in a holster on my right hip.

I headed on to the main ranch. I didn't see another car on the highway. I was starting to freak out now. When I got to the ranch, there was not a soul there. I saw one of the ranch dogs and called him over. He was in terrible shape. I got out some dog food and put it down for him. He ate it quickly, and went to get a drink from the pond. Bob and Cass were lo0oking around the place and started barking. I found what they were barking at. It was a bobcat, and a big one. He was eating the remains of a horse and did not want to leave it. I called the dogs off and left the cat alone. I went into the main house. Nobody was here alive or dead. I looked around. I turned a light on, out of habit and the lights came on. I looked around, and found that Mr. Estes had a small windmill that produced electricity, so the freezer and refrigerator were still running. Most everything in the 'fridge was bad though.

I let the horses out of the trailer and gave them some food. I put some dog feed down where it was usually put. Bob, Cass and the other dog, I didn't know his name, came and ate some.

The telephones were not working, so I quickly unhitched the trailer and fueled up the truck and left out for my house in town. I took Bob, Cass and Joe, as I had taken up calling him, along with me.

I drove the 20 miles into town in pretty quick time, considering the old truck was not in the best health.

I still saw nobody. I saw several dogs running around. They didn't seem any more aggressive than I would expect in a normal situation. They did look thin, though.

I got to my house and found just what I had expected. The refrigerator smelled and nobody was home.

I looked around. I found a letter from my mother addressed to me. It said that she prayed I would live to find the letter. Dad had died from the plague, and she was afraid that she would not last much longer. She said she and Dad loved me, and that I should try to find my sister at Midland.

Dad said I should take his truck and make sure I always protected myself since he was sure that there would be no law anymore. He also said that I should go to the sheriff's office and National Guard armory to make sure I had supplies, armor, guns and ammunition.

There were a few more lovey-doveys and a tearful goodbye.

I was shaken up. My mother and father were dead, and probably my sister, too.

I cried for a while, and then got busy doing what my dad and mom said.

I loaded up everything from the ranch truck into dad's crew cab. It was a one ton long bed. I turned the key and it cranked right up. The tank was full of fuel, so I knew I had around 600 miles of range if I needed it.

I went back into the house, and packed up some more of my clothes, and shoes. I also got my dad's shotgun. It was an Ithaca model 37 Deer Slayer. I got all the shells dad had also.

My next stop was the Sheriff's station. Of course, no one was there, alive or dead. I found a large safe. It was locked. I looked around a bit and found the combination under the desk blotter. The safe had the tactical weapons the Sheriff's SWAT people used, I assumed.

There were five M-16 rifles, two Remington 700 sniper rifles, and three MP-5 Navy Submachine guns, as well as 15 Sig 226 pistols. There were also three sets of breech armor (the hard kind) and 12 sets of III-A (softer armor), which I assumed was not as good as the harder stuff. I knew all this because it was written down on an inventory sheet. There were also many hundreds of rounds of ammunition for each type of weapon.

There were also holsters, magazine pouches, and other items for the weapons. I looked at all the guns and figured I could use them in a pinch. I left my .38 and all its ammunition in the safe. I got all the rifles and carbines and six of the pistols and 20 extra magazines for each type of gun. I also loaded up three cases of ammunition for the rifles and 5 cases of 9mm for the MP-5's and Sigs. I also got 2 cases of buckshot. I got two sets of hard armor and 3 sets of soft armor. I put on a set of soft armor and put my outer shirt back on over it.

The next stop was the armory. I went inside and found many MRE's and other supplies that would be useful, such as water purification tablets and camp cooking equipment.

I loaded up the supplies, and looked around for anything else that I could use. (This armor was really hot.) I found some clothing and boots. I got some of each, and 3 helmets. I also found a large safe. I looked around some more and found the combination on the bottom of a drawer in the outer room. They had many weapons here, but none any better than the sheriff had, except for hand grenades. I got a case of fragmentary grenades. I also got a few manuals about care of weapons and how to use hand grenades, and field medicine.

That kicked in an idea. I got a couple of corpsman's bags. The truck was pretty full now, so I locked everything back up and went back to the ranch. At least there was electricity there.

I went back out to the ranch. I saw some more dogs on the way back, but they caused no problems, this time.

I got back and unloaded the truck into the house. I cleaned out the refrigerator, and looked to see what was in the freezer. I got a package of steaks out to thaw and went and fed the horses and dogs. I started the tractor and pushed the horse carcass farther away from the barn.

I brushed the horses and checked their feet. They were in good shape.

I thought, 'I need to open the cross fence gates so the cows can move as they need to.'

I worked on cleaning up the area around the barn and house until dark. I went into the house and took a warm shower. I was trying to conserve the electricity if it would do any good to do so.

I felt much better after the shower, I cooked supper. The eyes on the stove worked, but the oven didn't. "This power system must only put out 110 volts," I said to myself.

The supper was good, steak and green beans out of a can.

I called the dogs up and gave them a pat on the head. I called Cass inside the house. I gave her the bone from my steak. She ate it on the floor by the front door. She was smart and remembered that she wasn't allowed on the carpet.

I turned on the radio and searched the AM and FM bands for any traffic. None was to be found. I decided to look for radio traffic every day for 30 minutes.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror before I went to bed and decided I had better cut my hair and trim my beard so I didn't look like too much of a booger when I happened to meet someone.

I got one of Mrs. Estes' pairs of scissors and trimmed my hair and beard. Now that I had ruined my Z Z Top image I looked somewhat more presentable.

I slept in the main bedroom. 'I guess this ranch is mine, now.' I thought.

I had some more steak and green beans for breakfast this morning. I brushed my teeth and went outside. The dogs were happy to see me. I gave them some food, and gave the horses a small ration and turned them out to graze. Mrs. Estes' garden was still producing some tomatoes and squash, so I picked what it gave me and picked the beans and peas that had dried on the vine. I also picked some pears from the tree there. The fruit was very good and sweet.

I worked around the ranch for a few more days and got things in pretty good shape, I thought.

I checked the pantry, and found that I was low on several items, such as sugar, salt and flour. I knew there was a wholesale grocery company in the next town over, so I decided to make a trip to pick up some items that I might need, and also to search for other survivors.

I called the dogs up and got my armor on and left for the next town over. Smithfield was a small town as towns went, but there was a wholesale grocery company there. I had made a list of what I thought I needed. I had decided to look around and see if I had forgotten anything also.

I pulled up to the loading dock and opened a roll up door after having to find a walk in door to break into. The daylight flooding into the warehouse made it much easier to find things, than using flashlight power only. There was a propane powered forklift that started when I turned the key. The headlights allowed me to find things more easily. I hauled a pallet of flour out to the truck and loaded a couple of hundred pounds into the truck. I took the rest back inside. I did the same with salt, sugar, soap, shampoo, C and D size flashlight batteries, spices, canned fruit and vegetables. I had a truck full, and decided to look for survivors.