Chapter 6: Distractions

"Today we have some more information on the animal front: as expected, cattle, deer and the majority of pigs are officially history, as are corn and potatoes. Other species were impacted, but they seem to have survived to an extent. We're sure there were a lot of mass extinctions, like insects, carnivores, frogs, mice, rats as well as other vermin. It'll be years before we have any kind of official list.

If anyone is so inclined, we desperately need people to take over existing farms before they fall into disarray. We're trying to rescue the surviving animals at many sites in the immediate area, but we can only reach so many. If you can save the animals, seeds, take cuttings or rescue existing produce, you could easily trade it for whatever you need in the future. But with the breakdown of the nationwide distribution system, we'll have to produce everything locally, and having dependable crops is essential.

If you decide to undertake this task, we've got a collection of animals and seeds we'd be glad to share with anyone, with the understanding that we can only share a small amount of what we have. It's better for these resources to be distributed as broadly as possible. If you want to take over a farm, make sure it's uninhabited first, then you'll have to remove any bodies. You probably shouldn't worry about electricity or water supplies, though. The immediate concern is harvesting the current crops, and preparing for smaller plantings and harvests in the future. There's no way you can manage hundreds of acres of crops, and even if you could, there simply aren't enough people remaining to purchase them.

Since we're expecting a significant cooling this winter, most plantings should be moved indoors, so you'll need to either find, take possession of, or build your own greenhouses, as well as passages between your homes and those structures. Don't assume you'll be able to freely wander around your properties during the winter.

If you have access to a supply of gas and diesel, you can use the existing farm machinery, but don't assume you can use them for long. Untreated gas will only last so long, and the gas treatment products will run out before long, so you'll need to figure out how to farm by hand. We'd suggest the old fashioned methods, either find a draft animal—which is going to be tough—or you'll have to use family to muscle through it.

If you wish to communicate with us, we'll be glad to transmit your information to a wider audience. You can reach us with a working ham radio. Though these will be hard to find, there are many that work on battery power, and we're assuming there are still plenty of those for the moment. You might try a local ham radio club, older repair or pawn shops. We monitor the radio regularly, but we don't do it by any existing schedule. But if we hear anyone, we'll respond. Right now our main responsibility is in getting you the information you'll need to survive the next couple of years.

We also know that people are still concerned about the Great Death. We're happy to report that we've located a medical researcher who can continue to research it, and we potentially have a treatment protocol, although we'll have to see whether it's successful or not. If you don't have a properly staffed lab, we'd recommend you NOT try such research on your own. It can clearly be dangerous, and it would be easy to compromise any research you do yourself without sufficient controls over the experiments. As always, we'll relay whatever we discover on the subject.

That said, if anyone out there is thinking that we're ripe for stealing resources from, just be advised you'll be stealing information that others need to survive, and if you launch an attack, our medical facilities will probably compromise anything you can make off with. Frankly, there's enough left unclaimed that you really don't need to steal from anyone else. As we keep saying, trade is your best bet. There's no way any one group can possibly do everything they'll need to survive, so letting each group specialize on a specific task is the best bet for our combined survival.

David hurried through the farm after everyone else left, picking up just what he could safely carry without trouble. He'd found another trailer, which he partially loaded, but it would slow him too much to take it with him. He'd either have to pick it up on his way back, or they'd have to come back for it. He also got the bodies out of the farm house: the farmer, his wife, son, two dogs and three cats. It took a long time doing it alone, but he didn't waste time. He simply wrapped them in sheets and dragged them along the floor and down the stairs. It wasn't pretty, but he wasn't trying to impress anyone. As he'd suspected, there was some gas in a spare tractor, so he could bury them easily enough, though getting them to the burial site was harder than the entire burial process. But once that task was done he was anxious to accomplish a few other tasks before he stopped for the night.

He'd be both safer and more comfortable staying put for the night, especially since he'd already removed the dead bodies. If he stopped somewhere else for the night, he'd either have to repeat the process or sleep in his car. But grabbing the bare essentials, he climbed into his SUV and headed into town. The farm was located only a few miles from the town where Ma's hospital stood, and as such they had a fairly built up downtown region, thus he hoped he'd be able to find some useful supplies, and maybe even some survivors. Whether or not they'd want to be found he had no clue, but he'd see how it went. Just to be sure, though, he put on the body armor they'd taken from the National Guard armory.

Driving through town, he checked out the stores he passed, trying to take note of anything that might prove useful in the future. He'd have to look for a phone book, they were relatively useless relics nowadays, at least before that fateful meteor shower. Now it seemed like a virtual treasure map.

He'd been here several times in the past so he had a vague idea where a lot of things were, but he'd never really paid much attention, so he really didn't trust his memory. Recalling one place, he ended up driving around a four block area multiple times trying different streets, attempting to find the one shop he remembered. Finding it, he simply parked in the middle of the street before getting out.

He'd been hoping to find an electronics store like a Best Buy, but instead he settled for an AT&T store. They wouldn't have the range of products, but they had what he was looking for, and he didn't particularly care about what network they were connected to since there were no existing networks anymore.

Studying possibly accesses, he ended up simply smashing the glass door. It would have set off the alarm, but the electricity had been off for a long time by then. Going through the displays, he picked up several mobile phones of different makes. The exact features weren't important to him, as he planned to use them as gifts for anyone he met. He'd leave recorded messages and whatever they could load on them, then leave them for people to find already fully charged. It wouldn't be worth much, as most people couldn't recharge them, but at least they could get their message across more easily and more personally than they could with a simple note. The music, though not essential, was simply a nice way of saying 'thanks for listening'.

He also grabbed a couple of laptops they had on display with much the same thought, as well as car chargers for all the equipment. Even with as many resources as they'd collected, he knew the most valuable trade product he had right now was gasoline, of which he had several containers in the back of his car. While animals, food and information were nice, having the ability to get somewhere, as well as being able to charge up electrical devices, was seemingly invaluable to people deprived of the conveniences of modern technology.

When done he scrounged up some packaging material and papered over the broken window with cardboard, leaving a short note to anyone following him without the benefit of phone messages. Those would take time to record and load.

Continuing on, he pulled into a nearby gas station, once again filling up the tank with his portable gas pump. While they hadn't met anyone needing it yet, it still stood as a useful trading item and he didn't want to risk running short.

Though the place was locked up tight, he broke in and tossed out all the expired material, dumping them in the large dumpster in the back, leaving another note on the door telling people about the radio broadcasts.

Next up was a trip downtown, where he stopped off at the municipal library. Parking near the entrance, he was surprised to find it open. Expecting to find bodies inside, he prepared his gloves and returned to the truck for another plastic sheet. After this long, they'd realized the plastic sheets they used were a limited supply, so they'd come up with a bleach spray they used to wash them down with after they finished with them. It was diluted just enough to not dissolve the material, but hopefully strong enough to kill whatever pathogens remained on the plastic.

Entering the library, he stood in the entranceway glancing around, trying to get the layout of the place. He started to head to the librarians' offices when a shot rang out.

David immediately dropped and rolled to the nearby checkout counter. Bracing himself against the wood counter, he sat up, pulling out his own pistol, readying it. Damn, he knew he should have called Alice before entering. Now no one knew where he was, so if anything happened to him, he'd be out of luck.

Grabbing a book off the counter above him, he tossed it into the air and another shot rang out, although it never hit the book, which fell noisily on the tile floor. That was both good and bad. Obviously the person firing wasn't very experienced in either shooting or combat situations, but on the other hand, they were prepared to shoot at anything at all without taking the time to consider what it was.

"Look, I don't know what you want, but you can't lay claim to a library," David called out, hoping to initiate a dialogue. "Somehow I don't quite trust your qualification to judge who deserves access to the accumulated wisdom of mankind."

"Fuck you," someone hissed from the racks of books off to the side. "This is my home and you're not welcome here. Take your filthy disease and get the hell out of here."

"Look, as I said, I don't mean to invade your space, but you're hoarding a common resource a lot of people are going to want access to. While I appreciate your wanting access to reading material, you can't claim exclusive domain over them. If you want, just leave and give me about twenty minutes and I'll leave, not exposing you or anything else to—"

He didn't get any farther when another shot rang out.

"Look buddy. You can waste all the bullets you want, but I'm not leaving, and it's stupid to risk your life over access to a couple of books."

There was no response so he continued. "Just tell me what you're interested in and I won't take those, but I need information on a variety of topics."

"I don't care what you need," the guy answered. "I want to be left alone. Find your own place."

"Ah, but I'm not interested in living here. I'm simply here for the books. I've got gloves and a face mask, so I won't infect anything, but if you insist on fighting, I'll take you on and one of us will end up dead. Do you really want that when all I need is a half an hour to an hour of time?"

"I don't trust you. How do I know you aren't infected?"

"Frankly, you don't. But as I said, I've got no interest in kissing you. All I want is access to some information."

When the man didn't respond for several moments, David decided to try a more personal approach.

"I'm curious, how did you end up taking up residence in a public library?"

The man was silent for a short time, then responded. Proving that despite his wanting to be left alone, he was still desperate to communicate with others.

"I used to live in an apartment building. First several people got sick, and then more and more started dying. I left and looked for other places to live, but I wouldn't enter anyplace with dead bodies, or where infected people might have touched things. I finally picked this because, well frankly, there's not much to do anymore besides reading."

"So you're only interested in fiction then?" David guessed, inviting him to respond. When he didn't David took the next conversational step himself. "I'm interested in the science section, as well as textbooks and material on farming, weaving and milling grains."

Again it was silent for several moments before there was a response.

"You actually have a need for that, other than just idle curiosity? I mean, do you have enough people to teach, or are you just dreaming you're going to start some hidden sect with lots of women and children?"

"No, I actually have three other people with me. We're trying to preserve as much as we can, so we're trying to identify what's survived and how to maintain it. You'd do better if you quit hiding here and started preparing for what's coming next."

"And what's that?" the other man responded after a short delay. David wasn't sure, but he suspected the man might be trying to circle around him, so he shifted to the other side of the checkout counter where he thought he'd be better protected, since it wrapped around, providing limited protection on three sides.

"In case you haven't noticed, the burning meteors left enough dirt in the atmosphere to block out much of the sun. That's already dropped the temperature, and it's going to get worse come winter. If you're not prepared, you're liable to freeze come winter, and even if you don't, you could very well starve if you haven't stockpiled food."

"I've got food," the other guy answered.

"That's sensible, but it's not enough. Canned and packaged food will only last so long, and once it's gone you'll need something that will last for the next twenty years. What's more, you can't hunt animals because you don't know what's infected, and if you find something that isn't, you're only killing future breeding stock."

"You sure seem to think you have all the answers," rang out a sneering response, his voice coming from a different direction this time.

"I don't have the answers, but I'm trying to find as many as I can. I don't know if you have access to a radio, but we're broadcasting a couple times each day, trying to tell people what they need to know."

David had been hoping he'd respond, showing he'd already listened to their broadcast. When he didn't, it made David think the other man was afraid of revealing his position, possibly preparing for an attack. Each response had been a little closer, so he wasn't far off now. David pulled two items from his flak jacket, a flash grenade and a smoke bomb. He hated to get violent, but he wasn't about to wait around for this guy to try to kill him either.

"You know, my friends will be back to check on me in a little while, and if I'm not here they're likely to lay siege to this place. If you're not anxious to communicate, they could easily just wait for you to exit. So it's either get killed by me, or get killed by my friends. Don't make it come down to that."

When the man still didn't respond, David turned, crouching down facing the counter in front of him so he'd be prepared to react quickly.

"Don't try it," David warned. "If you do, you'll end up dead, and I've got no desire to kill anyone. Like I said, I only want access to a few books."

"Ha, I've got nothing to lose," the man yelled, giving his location away, which was only a short distance away. It looked like he'd circled around on his earlier position, hoping to be able to get a clean shot at David. "My friends and family are all dead, I've got no job and nothing to look forward to. All I want is to be left alone, and instead you come barging in, trying to kill me with your fuckin' infection."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm immune. I've already suffered though each of the plagues, and survived. I'm no longer contagious, which you'd know if you'd been listening to our broadcasts. While I don't expect you to believe me, trying to kill me would mean killing one of the only people looking for a way out. That's even stupider than trying to get yourself shot or not preparing for the future. You've got to stop thinking about what you've lost and consider what's best for everyone's survival. The continued survival of humanity as a species is more important than either one of us."

"I don't care about no one else!" he shouted, showing David's attempt to placate him were getting nowhere. Instead his frustration was getting the better of him. But at least he was still talking instead of trying to attack, which David was thankful for. There was at least hope for eventually reaching him. David really wasn't worried about the threat that this man presented. After all, he was a lousy shot, and he appeared too high strung to keep to his initial scheme. Besides, David had the benefit of both better weapons and body armor. Instead David was trying to prevent having to kill him. The poor guy had given up on life, and David didn't want to be the one forced to put him out of his misery.

"Look, as bad as things are, it isn't impossible. But don't take my word for it. Take your time. Consider what I'm saying. Listen to our broadcasts and see what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. If in a couple of weeks' time you decide it isn't worth it, then you've lost nothing and you're free to do whatever you want. But don't risk getting killed because you're depressed now. Depression is normal after what we've been through."

"What? Now you're going to write me a prescription for some Prozac?"

"Actually, we've stocked up on medicines we considered essential, but I didn't think to bring them with me. Personally, I'd recommend you try breaking into a pharmacy if you can find one that hasn't already been ripped to shreds. Things aren't hopeless, but they are much more serious than you're giving them credit for."

"If I let you do what you want, what do I get for it?" the man asked after several more tension filled minutes, during which David was preparing for an attack. He had to shift his position because he was starting to get cramps in his legs from his awkward position. But this was a good turn of events. Instead of attacking, which is what the man had been intent on doing, he was now willing to bargain. That was an avenue David was ready for.

"That depends. I don't have much with me at the moment, and probably nothing you can use immediately. However, probably the most useful thing I have is access to gasoline. That way you can use a car and either start collecting supplies, like we are, or try your luck in a different location. It would give you more options, not to mention it would give you temporary access to electricity. If nothing else you could use it to turn on the radio a couple times a day and listen to all the information we have for how you can survive. At worst, you can simply trade it for something you need more. After all, it's a very limited commodity right now."

Again, the man remained silent, but David wasn't as concerned anymore. It meant he was considering his offer rather than debating an attack. Of course, he may just decide to try to kill him and take whatever David had. But if he did, he picked the wrong man, as David was sure he was better prepared for combat than this lone man was.

"How much gas?" the man finally asked.

"I don't have any containers to spare, so I'll give you five gallons in the vehicle of your choice. I don't know when I'll return this way, but if I do I'll try to look you up to trade you some more. If you aren't here any longer, just leave a note where I can find you."

"Yeah, so any Tom Dick or Harry can hunt me down?"

"I'll tell you what. Leave your address in a copy of Time magazine behind the counter here. No one else will ever bother looking for it there, so you'll be protected. What's more, you don't have to worry about our attacking since you'll pick the location where we'll meet."

Again, the man was silent for several minutes as he contemplated the offer. He seemed to be actively debating his alternatives.

"Five gallons is all you can spare?"

"I don't have any larger containers, and I'm not going to give the containers away as they're too valuable to waste," David said, even though he had more gas than that, but he wanted to save some in case he ran into anyone else. "But I'll tell you what. When I return, I'll bring a fully loaded smart phone you can use to play games, listen to music and make notes with. You can always recharge it with your car and a recharger I'll supply. You won't even need to reveal where you're living. I'll just leave it here in the library when I pass through."

The man considered it again, but when he responded his voice sounded excited for a change. The idea he could listen to music meaning more to him than the chance to get away or prepare for the future.

"You've got yourself a deal. All I ask is that you don't take everything."

"I was already assuming that. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if other people eventually stop by for some information of their own. You can always trade access to your books for whatever they have to trade with. But just remember to trade carefully, if you make the price too high, they may decide to take what they want by force," David informed him, reminding him that was what he'd been planning himself.