Day 2

I wake up on the couch in my duplex to the sounds of sirens and infomercials. Visions of the riots from the news mixed with vague and terrifying dreams spring me to life and I run into my bedroom and reach under the bed to grab the small bat that I bought when my first son was born. I don't like guns, but felt I needed something for protection.

I go to the window in my living room and look out side. The house across the street has ambulances and a fire truck pulling up. Soon the sirens cut out. This was nothing new. I was aware that the man that lived there had health problems--or so I assumed. I sigh at my over dramatics and place the bat on the back of the couch. I slouch back down and close my eyes. I am tired and want to sleep. Tomorrow is Monday and I will have to go to work, despite any outbreaks, pandemics or anything else that may be going on. Despite the fact that my family is not here with me.

Standing up, I automatically start stripping off my clothes and walk into the bathroom. My eyes are slightly red, I notice, when looking in the mirror, and for a couple seconds I worry that I'm infected. Impossible. I had planned on taking a long shower and just let the hot water relax me, but mid rinse I have a minor breakdown and begin to cry. The images from China were horrifying. People dead and others fighting, killing. Killing something that they were not letting us know. Scared of massive riots everywhere else. And there would be.

I need to get to Oregon.

I get out of the shower and get dressed, walking to where my phone lay from the night before on the couch. Two missed calls.

I call Dawn and she answers quickly. "Turn on the news!" I turn on the TV and there is no need to change the channel as the message is on every channel. While the news anchors talk about the outbreak, a message scrolls across the bottom of the screen.

--tbreak of the infection has made its way to southern Texas. Five reported cases of the disease have been documented. Avoid any that seem to have signs of infection as they are known to be highly dangerous. This is not a test . . . There has been an outbreak of the . . . I stop reading.

"I am coming to get you. Stay there. Do not let anyone in, and make sure my Grandpa has his guns inside."

The anchors in the background continue and I listen the same time my wife does.

"There are more and more cases popping up through out the globe. The disease, transmitted through saliva and blood is spreading quickly. There are five . . . no seventeen cases so far in the southern US. Spread by the attacks of those infected we urge the public to stay in doors. Military personnel are being deployed currently and should have the situation under control soon. Please stay calm. There is no reason to panic."

I can see the worry . . . the panic on their faces as they read the teleprompter. They're still not telling us everything.

"What is it?" She says.

"I don't know. But don't let anyone in. No one! Try to get as much supplies in the house as you can. Have you seen the riots?"

"Yeah, last night."

"I think that will happen again. Here."

* * *

Dawn and I talk throughout the night. I am worried, and she is too. I tell her that I will leave the following day and should be there after about fifteen hours of driving, if traffic cooperated. Finally, after she falls asleep while talking, I hang up and go to work preparing for the drive. I grab any and all supplies I can think of: blankets, lots of clothing and food, the bat I had placed on the back of the couch and most of our camping gear and seventy-two hour kit. I also, in a fit of anxiety as to the condition humanity was to end, fill a box with books I felt were important or ones I liked. Some of these are:

The Origin of Species
The Bible
Lord of the Rings
Slaughterhouse-Five
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
The Speed of Light
Einstein's Relativity
Poems by Keats
Hyperion
Anathem
All the Harry Potter books


There are more, but those are some I feel need to come. I load all of the supplies and provisions into the Mini Van parked in the driveway, clearing out the back from strollers and other important day to day things and go inside to sleep for several hours before leaving. It is already light outside but I need rest if I was going to make it on the long drive.