Pandemic: The Beginning (Pandemic Book One) Read online

  When they pulled up to Brooke’s house, Matt wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find, but all was calm. No one was around. They got out and walked to the front door together.

  “I have the key,” Brooke said. She inserted the key and disengaged the lock, then twisted the doorknob. The door swung inward.

  Matt waited. It was Brooke’s house. She should go in first.

  After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped inside, then turned to them. “Come in.”

  They followed her in.

  “Where do you keep the dog food?” Matt asked. He wanted to get what they needed and get out.

  “In the pantry,” she said before leading the way.

  When Matt saw all the food they had in their pantry, he was more glad than ever that he’d asked if they could gather her food to bring back to their house.

  “Do you have any boxes we can use?” he asked Brooke.

  She looked like she was working hard to hold her emotions together. “Yeah. We have some plastic buckets in the basement.”

  Out of habit, Matt flipped the light switch at the top of the stairs to the basement. Nothing happened.

  “I’ve got it, Dad,” Dylan said, then he turned on a flashlight.

  It was going to be hard to get used to no electricity.

  Brooke led the way, showing them where the plastic buckets where as well as the small amount of food they had stored down there. A few cans of flour and rice sat on the shelves. Matt eyes widened in pleased surprise. He’d been worried about having an extra mouth to feed, but Brooke’s contribution would certainly go a long way to mitigate his concern.

  With Brooke’s permission, Matt looked around the house for other supplies they could use. He gathered blankets, vitamins and other medications, as well as some hand tools Brooke’s father kept in the garage.

  With everyone’s help, it took twenty minutes to load all of the supplies into his truck. Brooke took some time to gather her most precious personal belongings, and then they drove back to their house. Matt backed into the garage and everyone pitched in, carrying all the goods into the house.

  “Wow,” Jessica said with a smile as he set a large plastic bucket filled with food on the kitchen counter. “This will really help.”

  “I was thinking,” Matt said as he surveyed their bounty before looking at each member of the family. “We have so much and so many others are in need. What if, I don’t know, we brought some to those who need it?”

  Jessica smiled. “I think that’s a great idea.” She looked thoughtful. “Maybe that young couple from the meeting.”

  He grinned. “I was thinking the same thing.” One eyebrow arched. “I saw their address on the clipboard.”

  “What if we doorbell ditch them?” Kayla said. “Like, put it on their porch, then run away?”

  Dylan’s hand shot up. “I’m the fastest. I should do it.”

  They all laughed.

  “Okay,” Matt said. “We’ll sneak over there right before dark.”

  “Shouldn’t we go after dark?” Dylan asked.

  Matt shook his head. “I don’t want to scare them by knocking on their door too late at night.”

  “Aw,” Dylan said, his face serious. “Makes sense.”

  Brooke nodded. “This is going to be awesome.”

  As the sun was beginning to set, Matt and his family got in his truck. Each of the three kids held a small bag with a variety of canned and other non-perishable goods. In the end, they’d decided to drop off food to the homes of three families—the young couple, and two families they knew had small children who’d raised their hands that they were in need. In all reality, it wouldn’t go far, but the idea of doing what he could for his community felt right to Matt.

  It didn’t take long to drop the food on the porch, knock on the door, then dash away, and by the time they got home, they were all feeling much better about life in general.

  Chapter 22

  Matt

  Just before midnight, Matt set a charged walkie talkie by Jessica’s side of the bed, then leaned over and gave her a lingering kiss. “If you need anything, let me know.”

  “Do you have to go?” She sat up and looked at him, her forehead furrowed.

  Though some moonlight trickled in through the open blinds, it was still quite dark. Without street lamps to cast light into their room, it felt eerie. He knew she was nervous about being left on her own, but he’d committed to patrol with Derrick for the next four hours.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he sat on the edge of the bed. “Derrick’s counting on me.”

  Softly sighing, she glanced at the walkie, then met his gaze. “I know.”

  “Try to go back to sleep.”

  She chuckled at that. “Fat chance.”

  He reached out and gently stroked her cheek. “I won’t be far. Just around the neighborhood.”

  She nodded, then pulled him in for another kiss.

  “You’re making it hard to leave,” he murmured against her lips.

  Quietly laughing, she said, “Good.”

  He drew away before standing. “My shift is done at four.”

  She nodded. “Be safe, Matt. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  He turned and left the room, then went downstairs to gather what he needed, including a loaded .45 with an extra magazine. As he put the pistol in his inside-the-waistband belt holster, he felt strange. As a Concealed Carry Permit holder, he’d bought the holster long ago, but he hadn’t really used it all that much. Now though, knowing he may need his weapon to protect his neighborhood, putting his pistol in the holster felt like a whole new level of responsibility.

  Holding back a sigh, he shrugged into his jacket before putting the extra magazine into one of the pockets and the walkie talkie into the other. Then, after affixing the earloop mask over his mouth and nose, he headed out the door, locking the deadbolt behind him.

  Walking toward the rendezvous point—the corner of a nearby street—he couldn’t help but notice how abnormally quiet it was. No hum of a streetlamp or other mechanical things, no cars driving by, no porch lights to emit light across yards. A lone dog barked as Matt walked past a pitch black house. How many pets had died from starvation because their owners had died of the virus? The thought made him inexorably sad. He was glad they’d taken Cleo in. She would be an asset to their home—an extra level of defense.

  “Don’t move,” a deep voice said next to his ear as something hard pressed against his neck. Was it a gun? Was he about to be shot?

  Frozen in place, Matt thought he was going to wet himself. Volunteering to come out in the middle of the night, alone, during the early days of the apocalypse? What had he been thinking? He was no hero. He was just a man trying to protect his family.

  Then it occurred to him. His family was alone. Who was this person and were others with him? Was his family in imminent danger? He had to get back to them, had to protect them.

  Adrenaline dumped into his veins, and without thinking he spun away from his attacker. Ready to fight for his life, when Matt saw who was standing there, his mouth fell open.

  “Derrick?” He wasn’t wearing the bandana over his mouth and nose.

  Derrick scowled and shook his head. “You need to gain situational awareness, Matt. If I’d been a bad guy, you’d be dead.”

  Was that why he’d done that? To wake Matt up? To scare him? Fury, powerful and swift, slammed into Matt and it took everything in him not to come at Derrick. Then again, he had the distinct feeling that Derrick could easily take him down. Instead, he glared at him. “Did you have a gun pressed to my neck?” Maybe the guy was mentally unstable.

  Derrick smirked and held up his black-gloved hand, his middle and pointer fingers squeezed together. He’d only been pressing his fingers into Matt’s neck. Not a gun.

  Though still angry, Matt felt his fury drain away, replaced by embarrassment. He’d nearly wet himself over a finger pressed to his neck? “Not cool.”

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p; Derrick made a scoffing sound. “What’s not cool is you walking along like you’re still in your safe little neighborhood, not paying attention to anything around you. Anyone could have come up to you and…” He shook his head. “I’m not gonna go into all the ways you could have been compromised.” One side of his mouth quirked up. “I think you got the idea.”

  As annoyed as Matt was, he couldn’t fault Derrick for making a very convincing point. He reminded himself that when Derrick had told him they would partner on the patrol, Matt had been eager to learn from him. Well, that was certainly happening.

  “Yeah,” Matt said. “You made your point.”

  Derrick chuckled. “Good.” He gestured with his head in the direction Matt had been walking. “We’ll head up Rosewood Drive to start.”

  Evidently, Derrick had a plan, so Matt simply nodded and began walking beside him.

  “Look, man,” Derrick said with a sardonic laugh and talking in a quiet voice, “sorry if I scared the crap out of you.”

  Not wanting to admit that he’d almost peed himself, Matt forced a quiet laugh of his own. “I’ll get over it.”

  Derrick nodded, but his attention was on the neighborhood. “You gotta keep your head on a swivel at all times.”

  “Right.” All was silent in the neighborhood, not even the flicker of candlelight in any of the windows. Of course, it was after midnight so everyone was probably asleep. Matt’s gaze swept across all of the houses within view, many with a red X on the door. “How many bodies do you think are in these houses?”

  Derrick looked at him sharply as they walked, staring at him for several moments before going back to probing the neighborhood with his eyes. “Too many,” he finally murmured.

  “Do you think we ought to…I don’t know…do something about them? The bodies, I mean.” As Matt spoke, his eyes were in constant motion. No way was he going to let someone sneak up on him again.

  “Like what?”

  “Bury them? Burn them?”

  Derrick snorted a laugh. “You can bring it up at the next neighborhood meeting. Maybe Tony will put a committee together.”

  “That’s actually a good idea.”

  They reached a cross street. Derrick paused on the corner, slowly looking in each direction. Finally, they began crossing the street, but Derrick never stopped looking.

  If this was how Derrick operated, and if he trained the others to be as vigilant, their neighborhood would be one of the safest places around.

  Matt’s walkie talkie squawked in his pocket, then Jessica, her voice urgent, said, “Matt! Matt, are you there?”

  Chapter 23

  Matt

  Ignoring the look of surprise on Derrick’s face, Matt yanked the walkie out of his pocket and pressed the button to reply. “I’m here. What’s wrong?”

  “I heard a noise outside and when I looked out the window I saw something moving. And Cleo’s barking like crazy.”

  Matt could hear her barking. “Are the kids in the house?”

  “Yes. They’re right here with me.”

  Matt glanced at Derrick, who nodded once. “Okay. We’ll be right there.” Matt dropped the walkie into his pocket and spun around, taking off at a fast jog. They were about half a mile from his house.

  Four minutes later they approached Matt’s house. Matt was panting, but Derrick was breathing normally. Half annoyed, but also grateful to have him there, Matt stopped beside a thick tree trunk two houses away from his own, then bent over to catch his breath. “How do you want to do this?”

  “First, turn off your walkie. You don’t want to give your position away.”

  “Right.” He pressed the button and whispered, “Jess, I’m here. Are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m going to turn my walkie off for now.”

  “Okay.”

  He shut it off, then stuffed in his jacket pocket.

  Derrick gave him a long look. “If someone’s in your yard, are you prepared to shoot? Knowing the person will most likely die?”

  That gave him pause. Was he ready to be responsible for the death of another person? Then he pictured his family. Would he kill in order to protect them? Unequivocally, yes.

  “If the person presents a threat,” he said, “yes.”

  Derrick tilted his head. “How will you decide if the person presents a threat?”

  Matt had no idea. “How do you decide that kind of thing?”

  The sound of glass shattering filled the air. Both men jerked their heads in the direction of Matt’s house.

  “I think it came from the back of my house,” Matt said as his heart slammed against his ribs.

  Without another word, Derrick pulled a gun out of a holster and took off toward Matt’s house. Matt took the .45 out of his holster and raced after him.

  Moments later they stood outside the gate to Matt’s backyard. Derrick held a finger to his lips, then he gave hand signals which Matt took to mean that Derrick would go through this gate while Matt should go through the gate on the other side of the house.

  Nodding, and with his heart going a hundred miles an hour, Matt made his way across the front of his house, across the driveway, and to the gate on the other side. Drawing in a deep, lung-filling breath before slowly exhaling, he forced himself to calm down. Then he quietly, quietly, unlatched the gate before slowly pushing it inward.

  On the look-out for an intruder, he peered around the edge of the gate, his gaze shooting in all directions

  “On the ground!” he heard Derrick shout.

  Alarmed that there actually was someone in his yard, Matt hustled through the side yard and around to the back to find a man on the ground with Derrick’s knee in his back. The moon was hidden behind clouds so it was impossible to see who the man was.

  Grateful that he hadn’t had to deal with this on his own, Matt watched as Derrick expertly zip-tied the man’s wrists behind his back.

  “Who is it?” Matt asked.

  Once the man was restrained, Derrick rolled him over and shone a flashlight into his face. The man squeezed his eyes closed against the bright light.

  “I don’t know his name,” Derrick said, “but he was at the meeting today.”

  Now that he mentioned it, Matt remembered seeing the man at the back of the group of security volunteers.

  “What’s your name?” Matt asked as he squatted beside him.

  Fear shone from the man’s eyes. “Charlie. Charlie Swenson.”

  “What are you doing in my backyard, Charlie?” Matt felt a mixture of anger and confusion. He lifted his gaze to the now-broken window in his dining room, then he scowled at the man. “And why in the heck did you break my window?”

  “I…I was desperate,” Charlie began. “My family’s starving and I…I needed food.”

  “What made you think I had any?”

  “You…you didn’t raise your hand to say you needed anything. So, I figured…” He did a half-shrug.

  Still confused why he had been a target, Matt said, “So did a lot of people.”

  “I knew you’d be on patrol, so I thought I’d…” He let his words trail off.

  Realizing that Charlie had planned to break into his home when he wasn’t there and when his wife and children would be asleep and vulnerable, Matt felt an overwhelming rage descend over him. What if Jessica had caught him? Would he have hurt her? Killed her? And what about Kayla and Derrick and Brooke?

  Without thinking, he pressed his gun to Charlie’s temple. “I should shoot you right now.” His teeth were clenched as he spoke.

  “Matt,” Derrick said beside him, breaking through his rage.

  With his gun still buried in Charlie’s forehead, Matt lifted his gaze to Derrick. Derrick glanced meaningfully at the gun, then raised his eyebrows.

  Shocked to realize he’d been on the verge of killing a man in cold blood, Matt pulled the gun away from Charlie’s head.

  Charlie exhaled loudly, his breath ragged, his eyes on Derrick. “Thank you.�
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  Making a scoffing sound, Derrick shook his head. “Don’t thank me. I’m going to lock you up and let the neighborhood decide what to do with you.”

  “Is there anyone else with you?” Matt asked, his mind still racing and his heart still pounding.

  “No,” Charlie said. “It was just me.”

  Matt looked at Derrick. How could they be sure Charlie wasn’t lying? What if someone else was waiting to make a play once Matt and Derrick left?

  Derrick pressed a forearm across Charlie’s throat. “You wouldn’t lie to us, would you, Charlie?”

  Charlie mouthed the word No and shook his head, at least as much as he could with Derrick’s powerful forearm crushing his throat. Tears filled the man’s eyes.

  Derrick glanced at Matt, who nodded. He believed him.

  Derrick lifted his arm and Charlie gasped for breath.

  “I’m sorry,” Charlie said, his voice strained. “I’ll do whatever you guys decide. I know it was wrong. I was just…” His face crumpled. “My family hasn’t eaten in days. They’re…they’re starving.

  Though Matt felt sorry for him, he was also furious with the solution Charlie had chosen, which had put his family in danger. “You could’ve traded for food.”

  “I…I don’t have any skills to trade.”

  Matt shook his head.

  “Get up,” Derrick said as he roughly pulled the man to his feet.

  Matt wondered what they were supposed to do with him now. They couldn’t call 911, not without cell service—not that anyone would answer. Besides, as far as he knew, the police were no more.

  Chapter 24

  Jessica

  Stunned to see her husband pointing a gun at a man—no, he was doing more than pointing. He looked like he was going to shoot him—Jessica held her breath as she peered around the edges of the sliding glass door that led to the backyard.

  “What’s happening?” Dylan asked from behind her.