It had been twenty-six days since the bear attacked him, he
had agreed to quarantine his self until the danger to others had passed, but
the time was dragging by, you can only exercise, read, and plan so
much. Sandra had been studying all possible treatments, and they had
agreed to six weeks of isolation. Damn, she thought, since Michael had
taken a leadership role, the communities were coming together, with food and
shelter for everyone. They needed him to survive this; everyone needed him to
survive this. She had gathered everything she could find that might help
him, natural antiviral plants, poppy plants, pain medicines from the military
supplies and she kept a tranq gun in her belt.
Late in the night, burning with fever, Michael awoke feeling
the bear stirring on top of him, he tried to move, he felt hot and weak the
bear was moving, standing looking down on him, the bear roared, and Michael
roared back at him, trading blow after blow with the bear. Then he felt a
burning warm sensation in his thigh and darkness enfolded him. Sandra
standing at the door, tears streamed down her cheeks as she lowered the tranq
gun. With the help of others, they lifted him onto his bed, Sandra checked
his vitals and started an IV. His fever was raging; she had enough drugs to
keep him sedated for days but his immune system would have to do the heavy
lifting. Two days later his fever broke, and Sandra started reducing his
drugs. The dreams came like visions after his fever broke, seeing massive
movements of people and animals, battles, and rain always rain and cold.
Finally on the fifth day he awoke, hungry and weak. Sandra brought him soups
and bread, and nursed him back to health, she had never left his side, she had
only napped for the whole five days, she too was exhausted. Her suit now
detected no viral pathogens, so she released him from his cell. In their room, she joined him in
bed. Sharing the warmth of their bodies, Sandra cried in his arms, the
tears streamed down her cheeks wetting his chest, Michael just sighed, lifted
her chin and kissed her lips, he understood the depth of her love, and wished
he could stay in her arms forever.
A few days later Michael started preparing for his trip to
visit the other Bunkers. Sandra and he had many heated discussions about who
would go. He had written down the coordinates for the Air Base he needed to visit
and decided to fly. The site he was looking for was about two hundred
miles west and he wanted to travel alone. Sandra insisted on her coming along
and bringing a few troops as well. Her logic was they could not afford to
pin the success of humanity on one man.
Finally, they settled on a plan, using one of the wagons,
they loaded a flyer onto it. They would use the drone to scout ahead, like they
had done in the past. Helen's squad would accompany them; they would first stop
at the Colony by the river and deliver Michael's warning of the impending crisis.
After three days they reached the River Colony. Mathew was the first to
greet them, glad you could make it, but I wish we had had more warning. I was
very surprised when my portable com came on yesterday, Matthew
said. Michael apologized and asked that he and Jhon gather their people so
they could be informed.
In front of Mathew's
cabin Michael addressed the colony and relayed GOD's message. He told them of
the lost communication satellites, of his new mission to warn the other
Bunkers, the impending flood, and the following cold. After the meeting,
they moved inside for dinner. They ate mostly in silence, the mood was down,
they did not want to return to Heaven and give up their new homes.