Chapter Three - Marshall Law
Once the President, Vice President, and the Speaker of the House all died from RTP the country started to panic, and the riots and looting seemed to start. Marshall Law was put into effect and the military stepped in to bring order over the chaos, a lot of good that did. In fact, Marshall Law brought hundreds of thousands of people to their death. But, in the end it was an eye opener for those left at the CDC still trying to work on understanding the disease, and finding a cure.
I remember the day that Marshall Law was first established. It was the general consensus that we had better start stocking up and preparing for being housebound for a long while, slowly towns across America had been establishing strict curfews and unless you were some sort of essential state employee you were asked to stay in your home. It was only a matter of time before my small town was put under the same restrictions and so I decided to fill up my car, as well as two fuel jugs I had used during many a harsh winter storm when I had to live off my portable generator.
Many stores had stopped taking debit or credit, so I went to the bank to pull out whatever I could in cash. They could only give out $500, but I decided to see if I was able to pull out money at the ATM machine, and indeed I could. So I pulled out my max limit of $450 there and then wrote out checks at Samson's Feed and Seed and Nature's Basket, our local health food store. Unlike the large chain grocery stores Nature's Basket still had plenty of water and non-perishable items on the shelves. Thankfully they also had some herbal cold medicine because I had been sick for nearly a week with a head cold and had been feeling too under the weather to venture out for even some much needed throat lozenges.
Samson's was not quite the same shopping experience, there were screaming customers wanting generators and other supplies. I still was not feeling my best, my saving grace was that my ears were still pretty blocked from my head cold and so it was far more muffled for me than poor Mr. Samson who beginning to show signs of serious agitation. The only reason I went to Samson's is because I knew that if things were to progress long term I may have to consider furthering my self-sustaining life style. I grew a lot of my own food during the spring, but I was switching over to a new hydroponics system that I had already built, but had yet to purchase the growstones needed before I could start seeding. Samson's had more than enough, and I probably purchased more than what I really needed, but I'd rather have more than I need than not enough.
After I made it home from the store I felt like I had just run a marathon, so before even putting anything away I laid down for a nap. I woke up to a whole new world.
I went online to check my e-mail and see what was going on in Facebook land, or more to the point, seeing who was still posting and who wasn't. It became a daily trend to post a status message at least once a day to see who was still able to get online. Some areas had lost power due to rioting or just the lack of workers to repair common power outages, and so we knew that not everyone would have the ability to check in. Of course if someone didn't check in for more than a day or two there became the sinking feeling that they had contracted the disease, but without confirmation I liked to just chalk it up to technical difficulties. The eternal optimist.
Everyone was sharing one of three or four news reports regarding Marshall Law and that effective immediately everyone was to remain in their homes. Anyone experiencing an emergency was to hang a long sheet out of their window, military and police personnel would be patrolling the neighborhoods as frequently as possible. Because the call centers were shut down the military and law enforcement set up internet websites where you could post a current household census (used for food distribution), emergencies, and to report deaths (for pick up and disposal). As inhumane as it sounds, there was no way with everything going on that there could be funerals, instead they were cremating the remains and holding them at the local mortuary until they could be returned to their families.
The disease was continuing to spread to all corners of the globe, and although there had been a correlation made between hearing ability and the speed in which the infected died, all of the infected continued to die regardless of the tireless efforts of the CDC. And the CDC wasn't really the CDC anymore, few original employees still remained. Scientists and doctors had joined the ranks and were coming up with half a dozen new treatments daily, but none of them seemed to stop the progression of the disease once the ringing began.
Another huge change was that neighborhoods were going to be staggering power consumption in 6-hour intervals. By the grid on the map I will have power from midnight - 6 a.m. and from noon to 6 p.m. I lived in an area where there were few natural sources for energy like wind turbines or solar power, and so my town was completely dependent on the grid. I did have a small solar outlet, it was a cute little gadget I was given last Christmas. It didn't produce very much energy for very long, but it could run a light or another small electrical device for a couple of hours. I also had the generator and two full jugs of fuel as well as a tank of gas if I had no choice but to siphon it out. Being summer there wasn't much need for heat, but I did have a pellet stove with bags of pellets left over from last winter. I have city water and not well, so I wasn't really worried about power for my water needs.
Mail was also going to be stopping within the week. The next day was the last day they would be picking up any mail, and they could not guarantee delivery. The post office was going to be distributing a packet of information about the newly instituted Marshall Law, and of all of the procedures put in place. They were also going to be distributing a small package of supplies to all of the homes. Those that filled out the census with information regarding medical needs or having infants were going to be given medicines, formula, diapers, etc.
But even in all of this reassurance and support I felt uneasy and a little scared. Little did I know at the time that I had a lot to be scared about.
