Chapter 20: Future Plans

"OK, as you all know, I've been debating how to approach this newest crisis, and I've already had you running missions concerning it," David explained to those gathered around as he strode from one end of the richly decorated though cobweb covered room, nervously flexing his hands as he spoke. Everyone listening was eager to hear what he had planned, as they knew how anxious David was about it, as well as knowing how much it would likely impact each of them personally. "As you can tell from the people who have already shown up today looking for help, this is going to impact us, even more so once people have time to spread the word and make their way to us."

David was speaking only to his core group of loyal followers, thinking he'd let them spread the word to the new people, but he wanted those closest to him to know what lay ahead of them, as what he was about to lay out would impact each of them, but some much more than others. Although he'd allowed the newcomers and their prisoners more latitude as their attitudes seem to have changed substantially, he hadn't wanted to tell anyone else what he was planning. Once he'd reawakened after collapsing the previous day, he'd seemed very intent as he began sending different people on various jobs. He seemed committed and confident, but he wouldn't tell anyone what he was up to.

"The problem, for any of you who haven't been paying attention lately, is that everyone is now looking at saving themselves. They know that there's no way to reach us if they suddenly get sick, so everyone and their friends are planning to join us, hoping to remain close enough so they'll be nearby if anything happens. Despite having prepared adequate food supplies and shelter to survive whatever comes, we don't have enough for everyone trying to move in. What's more, for everyone that undertakes this journey—often on foot or bicycles—they won't have the time to prepare for the coming winter, which everyone will have to work hard to survive, if it's anyway near as bad as I expect.

"But beyond that, even if we could put everyone up, there is no way we could possibly take care of dozens, hundreds or potentially thousands of sick people. So we need to head off each of these problems before they reach a crisis level. Instead of waiting for everyone to come to us, we've got to encourage everyone to stay where they are, hopefully gathering together and consolidating their resources."

"Easier said than done," Greg pointed out a little skeptically as he absently tried, once again, to rub away an old bloodstain on his shirt. "We've already been trying to encourage that, but no one seems inclined to trust anyone else."

"That's because we've been relying on the wrong motivation. Instead of telling people they have to trust each other, we need to capitalize on their fear of dying, much as Taylor did."

Everyone abruptly sat back, surprised by David's last statement. They had trouble reconciling David adopting Taylor Peterson's approaches since it seemed to run so counter to his nature.

"I know what you're thinking," he told them calmly, "but while most people won't trust others to not infect them, they will group together if it ensures they can survive getting sick. Just as they'll travel cross country to reach us, they'll travel to a central location if it means they'll be safe from dying, and more so if their loved ones will be safe as well."

"But you can't travel everywhere and reach everyone on your own," Alice argued.

"And even if you could," Monique added, "you couldn't hope to treat everyone you encounter because you'd never get very far."

"No, Alice," David responded, directing the answer directly to his own daughter, "you and I can't travel everywhere. As the only universal plasma donors to survive the treatment, our blood is too valuable. Since our plasma can help everyone, we need to stay in a central location so we can supply whoever needs more." David paused, a wicked smile growing on his lips as he reviewed each of them, especially those he'd treated. "However, the others, with their various blood types, will set out for different cities. They can donate blood plasma on their own, assuming they can find the medical supplies. Tom already assures me he can hook them up to run off a car's cigarette lighter as long as the car remains stationary. We'll give them as much of our universal plasma and a cross sampling of the other blood types as we can.

"We'll also preannounce each location we're heading for, telling them to begin preparing for us by gathering the survivors together. We'll announce that we can't treat everyone, but we can allow them to treat themselves. The priority will be to treat any type 'AB' individuals, whether they're sick or not. That way that location can take over treating people on their own, without needing our support, though we'll maintain them as trading partners. The same goes for any blood types we currently don't have on hand. They can also treat anyone else who's sick, or potentially anyone of their own blood type they can, assuming they have enough to continue."

"Who is this 'we' you speak of, Kimosabe?" Betty asked good-naturedly.

"I think that's clear enough. You, Mattie, Monique and Natalie can cover the four points of the compass."

"What if they encounter someone like those fake cops?" Melissa asked, clearly concerned with sending out defenseless women into dangerous territories on their own.

"Assuming they've heard of what we're doing, like those people did, they'll be too interested in what we can do for the community to risk stopping us. If they try to injure us, or even slow us down, they run the risk of having nowhere to turn if they or their friends get sick. Even if they don't know about us, we can convince them by showing them our medical supplies. They'll soon realize they can't treat themselves, and if they try to force us to treat them, we could easily simply let them die. There's no incentive for them to hurt us."

"I'm not so sure of that," Ayana replied. "Desperate greedy people might try any number of different things."

"That's true," David answered, turning to address her, knowing that this was a central component of his plan, "but it's a very peculiar case. First, we won't list blood type on any of the IV bags. Thus no one will be able to steal them and administer it to themselves without risking a violent reaction to the wrong blood type. What's more, even if they try to imprison the girls to force them to treat them, once they get sick, there's very little they could do, and if they have friends willing to threaten them as well, those friends wouldn't dare stick around during the treatment. But I think it's essential that they do this alone, because I want to ensure that this is seen as being as nonthreatening as possible. By having young girls doing the treatments instead of having an avenging force swooping down forcing the treatment on cautious people, I think we can get more acceptance by the general public. It's true that they'll be facing dangers, but I think it's an acceptable risk, given that any other approach wouldn't be as accepted as I hope this one will."

"You know, that could actually work," Greg replied, grinning at the possibilities as he sat, rubbing his jaw in consideration.

"You're right," Tom agreed. "We could expand our base of plasma supplies, potentially establishing a trade between cities, creating a whole new medical corps of people traveling between smaller towns treating people."

"How can we keep the plasma fresh while we travel?" Betty asked. "I mean, it'll take us between several days to a few weeks to reach each destination."

"That's what I've been having everyone doing. Jennifer, Tom, Franklin and Regina have been picking up supplies. They've searched all the nearby automotive and camping supply stores. We now have several car based refrigerators, as well as a handful of minivans, complete with refrigerators and power for us to add freezers. We could add medical crosses to make it clear what we represent, so we don't attract attacks."

"What about the rest of us?" Allison asked.

"And what happens when they run out of plasma, or can't make any more?" Ayana asked.

"The 'rest of you' can ferry supplies back and forth, as well as trading foodstuffs: seeds, eggs, farm animals and other supplies. At each stop you'll have to do an education effort, telling people what they need to know, how to prepare for the future, how to power their equipment and access the left over gas. Whichever people can't hear our broadcasts we can speak to directly. We'll clearly miss a lot of folk, but hopefully the word will spread after we've moved on, and the locals can take over the treatments.

"As for when people run out of plasma, that job falls to you, Ayana. Your job is to ferry our type 'AB' plasma to the different cities. That means you'll be on the road a LOT, as you run back and forth. The four girls will establish relationships and train the local community, and you'll keep them supplied with whatever they need to keep going."

"But we can't purposely infect everyone?" Natalie responded, perfectly aware just how difficult the procedure is.

"No, we'll just do enough to give each community a core group, much like we have. If we cover a couple type 'AB's, or at least the more common blood types, then we won't have to infect anyone else. The local community can treat whoever gets sick after that, dealing with it as a treatment protocol."

"I guess that's reasonable," she responded, contemplating how it would work in practice.

"The demand for spare food from the farm, functioning electronics, spare seeds and animals can keep the rest of you working full time trading with the these communities once we've set them up. But best of all, this will free the rest of us up to continue what we're trying to accomplish. Tom can work on his research, possibly adding other scientists. Heather and Peter can continue farming, Regina and Franklin can continue raising animals, and the other communities can continue our search for other animals to help rebuild the genetic diversity we'll need to survive on into the future."

"You know, this is a really exciting idea," Debbie said. "It'll give each of us something vital to do and something we can specialize in. It'll keep us moving, and best of all, it'll give everyone a reason to pull together, something they've been resisting so far."

"Actually, Debbie, I expect you to work setting up educational efforts in each community. I think you'll get more cooperation than one of us outsiders trying to tell the locals what to do. If they see kids, telling other kids what they need to learn, the adults will be less likely to resist."

"That makes sense," Adam replied. "And while we're at it, we can train to become teachers ourselves, as well as helping teach a new generation of scientists, engineers and doctors."

"And don't forget trying to coordinate the raising of animals," Franklin reminded them. "We're especially concerned with horses, pigs and any animals that you think can become farm stock, no matter how small, including trading animals to diversify the breeding stock."

"Speaking of which, you need to emphasize to everyone that while we'll give them breeding stock, they're to be used for creating a basis for future generations. What's more, they have to promise to release half the animals they raise into the wild."

"Half?" Franklin asked, shocked at the number.

"Yes, while we need enough to survive, we need wild animals to propagate if any given community gets into trouble, or say a war breaks out eventually. By turning them loose, they'll not only serve as future food sources, hopefully they'll feed any omnivores or carnivores that are still alive. It'll make life for the next several years more difficult, but it's the best long term solution I can think of. We can't hope to create a functioning ecosystem if we turn every existing animal into a caged food source."

"Again, your insight amazes me," Tom replied. "I'm surprised that didn't occur to the rest of us."

"Still, it'll make the recovery effort difficult," Franklin argued, "especially if we're supposed to start shipping off any spare animals right off the bat. That leaves no spares in case the others get sick, there's an outbreak of something, or heaven forbid, we run out of food and are unable to grow food next year because the weather turns too severe."

"On a more positive note, we already have several spare rabbits, and we should have more chicks available soon," Regina informed them. "Plus the other animals are busy trying to help. Aristotle seems to be working overtime." That produced a few laughs around the room.

"Hopefully, if our message has been getting out, several communities will already have started, much like Jeff and Jessica have done," David added.

"Shit, we've got a lot of work ahead of us," Tom said, speaking for everyone in the room. "I've got to prepare equipment, start drawing and freezing plasma. The others have to start stocking up and making plans."

"Then I suggest everyone split up and get busy. I want to start getting the message out as soon as possible, so the communities we'll be visiting have a chance to get their acts together," David said, excusing everyone and finishing the discussion.

"We've got interesting news," Regina announced during that evening's broadcast. "As many of you may have heard, and for those of you who haven't, we have a successful but extremely difficult treatment for ALL the plagues. It's not a guarantee and the fatality rate still remains high, but it promises to allow those who become sick to actually survive, while prolonging their illnesses. The end result is that, once they've undergone this treatment, they'll be permanently immune to each of the Great Death plagues.

However, now that that news has leaked out, we're becoming overwhelmed with people trying to reach us, knowing it will be difficult to do so once someone becomes sick. Since we don't have the facilities for a lot of people, and since hosting that many people will prevent our other work, we've made other arrangements.

We're going to be traveling across the country. There are only four of us at the moment, David and Alice will remain behind since they're currently our only source of universal type 'AB-' plasma, the only universally accepted blood type. We'll be traveling to the largest cities we can find, so the local communities need to prepare. We'll travel with plasma ready for treatment. We'll attempt to treat anyone who needs it when we arrive, but we're looking for type 'AB' individuals. Since that blood type is so valuable, we're asking them to volunteer to undergo the treatment first so they can donate plasma for future treatments as they're needed. That will assure that everyone will be covered and we can all stop living in fear of each other.

We've had enough experience with this that we know how to prevent accidental transmission and minimize deaths during the procedure. We'll help each community learn to prepare for the approaching severe winter, set up animal recovery centers, create smaller manageable farms and help them function and create trading arrangements with other established communities.

This is very important, so don't brush it off. This coming winter is going to be harsh, and without advance planning, many of us won't survive it. And even if we do, the Great Death will continue to hang over us for a long time. These diseases will not die out on their own as it lurks around every corner. By banding together, we'll assure our future and guarantee that anyone who gets sick stands a decent chance of recovering.

We'll supply a list of cities and supply timeframes when we'll hit each location. However, before we arrive we need people to lay the groundwork by gathering people together and collecting necessary supplies. By doing this, you're laying the framework, not only of your own survival, but that of the future of humanity."

The crew was warily returning home again. Once the excitement of the various crises was past everyone's fatigue began wearing on them. There was still a lot for them to accomplish, and David had established an aggressive timetable to completing them, but still, they could hardly keep their yawns suppressed on the way home.

David, as usual, took the lead in his Suburban. The SUV was better at handling the rough roads and he could figure out the best passages for the slower moving or harder to maneuver vehicles following them. They'd just cleared one such series of obstacles and he and Mattie were just edging past it when they ran across a whole new obstacle before them.

"Whoa, what the hell is that?" Mattie asked, leaning forward to peer out the still damaged and dirty windshield.

David slowed down, slowly edging forward as he too peered at it before finally stopping. "It looks like a damn pig, just standing there in the middle of the street," David said, stating the obvious. There, right in the center of the expressway, with abandoned vehicles on either side, aging carcasses lying scattered about, stood a large hog, just glancing at them as if curious what they were doing there. "You'd better tell the others we're stopping for a bit."

"What the heck is it doing here?" Mattie asked, after she alerted the others.

"I've got no idea. As far as I know, there weren't any pig farms around here, but then I could easily be mistaken about that. But generally they put pig farms far from residential areas because of the smell and contamination risks."

"It doesn't seem to be scared or nervous," Mattie observed.

"See what you can find in the food container. See if there's anything a hungry pig may like."

"What the fig do pigs like?" Mattie asked, never having encountered that many beside Jacob before.

"They eat just about anything. Fruit would be best, but we don't have any left. How about a sandwich," David suggested.

"Sorry, but we ran out of bread several days ago. I've got some packaged cookies, though. Luckily those things last forever."

"That should work. See if it'll take it."

She grabbed some food and they both got out, slowly advancing so they wouldn't scare the docile but potentially dangerous creature away.

David approached it, moving cautiously, holding the food before him and calling to it as one would a slow child. It simply watched him, equally as confused by the strange encounter.

Stopping a short distance from it, David knelt and continued to call, breaking the cookie in two and placing half on the ground in front of him. Growing more confident, though it never appeared nervous, the large animal finally approached and sniffed the food. David had no clue what it had been eating up until then. While it was big, it wasn't fat, so it was obvious it hadn't been eating a lot, so he supposed it had been doing like so many things now, living off grass and berries, having supposedly learned to avoid the many dead things that meant infection and death. Given this option, it gladly ate the cookie, then came nosing forward looking for more.

Standing, David began backing up, enticing the animal forward even as he did. It advanced, eating pieces of cookie that David would drop for it as he kept roughly the same distance as they both moved steadily backwards.

"Greg, open the back of the trailer," David said, speaking softly and touching his earpiece with his free hand. "I think we've got a hitchhiker. And don't bother asking what it's doing here, as we have no clue either."

David kept moving backward and after he'd given it a series of small pieces, Mattie handed him more, allowing him to continue. Once he finally managed to finagle it into the back of the horse trailer, which didn't have many other animals in it at the moment, the others rushed up, curious about the strange sight.

"Wow, this is great," Alice said. "We've been searching for a mate for Jacob for a long time. This will change things quite a bit. If we can restore the pig population, we can go a long way towards feeding people in the future."