Wish Us Luck Read online

  Jake felt Catherine shift in the seat next to him. He couldn’t imagine what she was thinking or feeling. “What about the lady in the house I found? Did you not bother checking the houses for the people who didn’t answer?” Jake was livid they might have taken the easy way out and not checked each house. Once they had an idea of what they were up against they could have safely checked and protected everyone. “Why didn’t you use infrared and check for heat signatures in the houses? There had to be more you could have done!” Jake stood up so fast his chair toppled over. He turned and paced the room, he couldn’t sit still anymore.

  “We did use infrared to check the houses. We have scientists studying a couple of the animals we were able to trap. Something happened to them, whatever infected them caused their blood to give off a heat signature even when not in or on their bodies.”

  Catherine sat up straight in her chair and looked around. Jake couldn’t blame her, he was confused by what the colonel had said. “Can you explain what you mean. This doesn’t make sense, why does this affect you finding us?”

  Jake feared he did, in fact, understand what the colonel was saying, but it was too farfetched to be plausible. “You may have seen on the animals, they were coated in blood, right? Our inspections showed almost every building, vehicle and even the trees and grass had blood on them. Some coated and some just slightly. The issue was everything that had blood on it showed as a heat signature. We lost the ability to tell what was a living breathing person or animal versus blood rubbed off from an infected creature.” The colonel sat back and let them digest his words. “Even now the blood still shows a heat signature.”

  Jake walked back to the table and sat next to Catherine again. “I can’t even imagine. It was six months before I saw the sunshine again. I admit I didn’t look around that closely for any signs. I looked for life, I saw the dirt coating everything but not the blood. I guess after that much time it would have been easy to miss.”

  “We stayed close to town, and I sent in patrols once a week to kill any animals we found and watch for survivors. I have the fence patrolled to watch for animals and people. We hoped we had found everyone in time and no one was left behind.” Colonel Jacoby shook his head. “The uncertainty though led us to keep the power and water on. I couldn’t in good conscience shut it off until we were sure there were no survivors left. Would you like to take a break and eat something now or do you want me to keep talking?”

  Catherine spoke before Jake could. “Before Jake took refuge with us, we saw the house across the street had a circle with a slash in it. Then a four in one half. The next day it said two in one half and a four in the other. What did that mean, what happened to them?”

  Jake agreed. “Please finish telling us what you know, we have waited this long.”

  “The soldiers evacuated two members of the house… Two others were attacked by the family dog and didn’t make it.” Colonel Jacoby paused a moment, Jake assumed he gave them a chance to ask more questions. “We sent in soldier’s and scientists to the farm where this started and searched everything. We found a receipt for a new type of feed the farmer had purchased. Something not available on the general market apparently. We have been searching for a connection. If the food caused it and if anyone else had bought it to feed their animals. We haven’t found anything yet.” The Colonel smiled over at Catherine. “I think today you gave us the clue we were missing.”

  Catherine gasped and bolted upright in her chair. “The store and whoever tipped him off to leave!”

  Jake darted his gaze from the Colonel to Catherine and back.

  “Exactly,” the Colonel confirmed. “We need more information on the store owner and how he was connected to the farmer.”

  Whoever supplied the farmer with the new feed must have tipped off the store owner. Jake was shocked at the potential connection, and thankful Catherine had noticed the store. Without her, they wouldn't have this avenue to explore. The soldiers may have seen an empty store but had no way to know it was a bustling business just days before the outbreak.

  “Mr. Crocker always told me about his nephew who was going to make lots of money by selling a new type of animal feed. He said I should always try to reach my goals because I never knew where life would take me.” Catherine spun around in her chair to stare. Sitting on the couch with a big plate of food was Mitch, Lucky was on the ground in front of him, licking a plate. Jake hadn’t heard them come into the room or get food.

  “Mitch, Mr. Crocker, Jerome told you his nephew was making animal food?” Catherine had never heard any of this mentioned before.

  Mitch stuffed more food in his mouth and nodded. “Uh huh, he said he was experimenting and would make them all rich.”

  Jake turned back to Colonel Jacoby. “I guess that gives you the connection.”

  The Colonel stood up with a sense of urgency. “Please excuse me. I am going to have someone look into this and locate Mr. Crocker and his nephew.”

  Twenty-Three

  Catherine stepped out of the shower in the hotel room the government so thoughtfully provided for her and Mitch to share. Jake was in the adjoining room. She wiped her hand across the mirror and stared at her reflection for a moment. She couldn’t believe it was over, they were out of the quarantine zone and were safe. The town was almost free of the infected animals, and they had a good lead on the cause.

  “Catherine, can we talk?” Through the bathroom door, she heard Jake call out.

  “Just a minute.” She hurriedly dried her hair and threw on some clothes and walked out. Mitch was asleep in one of the beds and Jake was sitting at the tiny dinette table.

  “Colonel Jacoby was just here, he wanted to update us on the situation,” Jake said.

  Catherine walked over and sat down across from him. “What did he have to say?”

  “They think it will only be another few weeks before the town is free of infected animals completely and we can go back home. Do you want to go back? I mean, if it has too many memories… I would like you and Mitch to come live with me.” Jake sighed and closed his eyes, “I am trying to ask you to stay with me, don’t leave me.”

  Catherine felt tears run down her face. She never expected to find love during a quarantine, but she wouldn’t trade Jake for anything. “We aren’t leaving you. I would like to collect our stuff, but I think the town holds too many memories. We need a fresh start with you.”

  Epilogue

  Day 183

  A lot has happened in the last month, Jake and I just finished emptying the old house, and we are on our way to our new home, the one we live in with Jake. The local news ran with the story of the quarantined town, and Mr. Crocker and his nephew, plus a few other family members were arrested. It turns out we were indeed the last living residents in town. Everyone else had made it out alive. The government gave us and the other resident’s time to clear our belongings and then closed the town down for good. No one was allowed to live there. The infected blood showed signs of being able to infect others long after it should have been dormant. They couldn’t take a chance on another outbreak. Jake and I are taking things slow and adjusting to our new reality. Mitch is loving his new school and the big backyard Jake has. Lucky is still with us, and he is very protective of Mitch. I am not sure why I am updating this journal, the story has been told. Jake teases me that this is for our grandkids one day to know how we met and married. I didn’t want to leave this book hanging, it needed an ending, and I guess I needed closure. My typical ending of Wish Us Luck is not as applicable here, but with all things in life, we could all use a bit of luck so I won’t depart from the norm.

  Wish Us Luck.

  Catherine closed the book and looked over at Jake in the driver's seat of the car. Jake was frowning as he listened to whoever was on the other side of the phone call he was on. After a moment he hung up and looked over at her. “That was Colonel Jacoby; apparently there was another buyer for the animal feed. This farmer was not given the exact same grain but s
imilar. His animals never became infected, but the cows were unable to give him milk, so he sold them to a butcher. They are afraid the meat was infected, and people are eating it.”

  Catherine sat back in her seat and closed her eyes. Yes, we all need a bit of luck. Please wish us luck.

  About the Author

  Jennifer Wedmore is a native of Florida, a wife, mom of three and now an author. Her journey in writing started with a bit of good-natured peer pressure. Growing up her goal was to be known as eccentric and she hopes that is evident in her stories. Why choose one genre when she can play in several?

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