Chapter 14
They spent the next week watching the news. Some stations were for the first time broadcasting around the clock to keep the public informed on the flu epidemic-now called a pandemic. The first flu pandemic since the "Asian flu" episode in 1957-58. Before that one there had been the near catastrophic episode in 1918 which had killed twenty to fifty million worldwide.
They had watched hours of scenes of rioting around the world, governments declaring martial law to curb the rioting, cities being bombed and burned. In the US, they had watched the National Guard being moved into the larger cities, and some states were under martial law. Travel was being restricted on the highways. Hospitals were overflowing, quarantine sites were turning people away.
Merle, Daryl and Lucy were relieved they'd gotten out of the town and away to the deserted lake resort before the shit began hitting the fan in earnest. They talked every day about trying to make their way to Wyoming, and every day decided to stay a little bit longer. Travel would have been difficult at best anyway since the major highways were being monitored and patrolled and travel was being discouraged. There had even been reports of people trying to travel despite the warnings being shot or jailed. The president had not made any appearances the last few days, and he and the government leaders were rumored to be in a safe house to run the country remotely.
The bodies of the dead were being burned at unspecified disposal sites. Better to cut the risk of infecting more people, the news said. Daryl and Merle decided the majority of what was being told on tv was bullshit-there was something going on besides people dying of the flu worldwide. Anytime anyone died, they were immediately whisked off to the disposal sites. The disposal sites weren't named, or shown.
The whole situation was abysmal, horrific, but at the same time all three agreed it had come at an opportune time for them. No one was looking for Lucy. No one would try to track her down and take her and them to jail. Everyone was preoccupied with the pandemic and an escaped murderess from a small Southern town wasn't any concern to anyone at this point.
The weather was beautiful-warm but not hot, cool breezes blowing every day. Sunny, none of the usual heavy spring rains. And the nights were cool but not cold so they didn't have to bother with the fireplace or heat after all. Lucy spent the days eating and lounging by the lake while the men kept an eye on the news or hunted and fished. Her appetite was coming back, and Daryl was pleased at this. If they did decide to head out anytime in the next few weeks, Lucy would be in much better physical shape than she had been when they'd first arrived.
Midway through the second week at the lake, the news reports stopped. Some of the stations were blacked out, others seemed to show a loop of tv programs around the clock without any explanation. They had been able to get some news on the radio for a few more days, then that stopped as well. By the third week, there was nothing at all on any station-radio or tv. Sometimes they could hear loud booming coming from the south, toward Atlanta. Merle thought perhaps it was bombing-but did it mean the US was under attack, or was their own government bombing them like they'd seen in other places on the news?
Merle and Daryl talked one night about going down to Atlanta on the back roads to see just what in the hell was happening. They felt they were relatively safe staying at the lake, but they needed to know just what was going on out there in the world. They made plans to leave early the next morning. They knew what backroads and gravels to take, and they packed plenty of ammo and weapons just in case. From what they'd seen on the tv before every station went off air, it was best for them to be prepared for anything they might run across.