A/N: To the guest who commented about cliff hangers…maybe just for you I'll go on summer hiatus…bwahaha.
And to the guest who threatened me with [gasp] marriage if I didn't update...TA DA
Reparata
Please read carefully!
Chapter 39 The Plague
Mackinaw Island
'The Colony'
He was overdue but only if he hadn't meant what he'd said to her in the heat of an argument. That there was no point in coming back. Of all the things she could have threatened him with, the one thing she said was the one thing that would strike hardest at his vulnerability.
Sleep was hard to come by and food tasted like shit so she was basically doing only those things that would enable her to survive, nothing else.
Ten days became fifteen and then twenty. She realized that dead or alive, she'd probably seen the last of Sheldon Cooper. The realization struck hard late one night and Tasha and Bernie took turns over the next week making sure she didn't do anything stupid.
She kept herself busy during the day helping out as best she could with anything that needed a strong back and a pair of willing hands. The nights were different and difficult. She drank herself to sleep but gradually quit drinking all together.
'He hates it when I drink and he has more than enough reason to hate me for what I said. I won't turn into the town whore and drunk no matter what. I'm Mrs. Sheldon Cooper and I'll always be his wife. There's no room in my life for another man. I broke so many promises to him. I promised to help him find his sister and instead I broke yet another promise, to 'forsake all others' and threatened to leave him and find someone else. No wonder he hasn't come back to me. I wouldn't come back to me either.'
Cooper Farmstead
22 Miles N/E of Galveston
He heard raised voices but couldn't focus on what was being said. His face felt like it had been dipped in acid and his shoulders ached. Someone was cooing nonsense syllables in his ear and then he felt people grab his wrists and heard them count.
"One, two, three – now!" He screamed when they ripped his arms off and then he died.
Mackinaw Island
'The Colony'
"Penny, we're going to start up a school. We've got 41 children of various ages and we need teachers. Would you – " Tasha never got to finish because Penny interrupted excitedly. This was something meaningful that she could contribute – after all, she'd been a waitress.
"Yes! I can help out with setting up a cafeteria and – "
"Penny, we want you to teach, not be a damned lunch lady. We have six 9-year olds and those would be your kids. We have books we took from schools along the way and your husband outlined an entire curriculum for each grade level – with a concentration in physics, of course! No offense, but we have to teach them basic skills first before something so…hard."
"Yes, I'll do it. I need something in my life and getting these kids educated – how better to honor his memory. Yeah, when do I start?"
'Honoring his memory'. Oh, yeah. Deep down inside she hoped he was dead rather than a prisoner somewhere or worse, or living life with someone else. It was a selfish thought and she hated herself even more for wishing he was dead. She missed him and deflected any man's attention. But she was only human and hating someone who passed away was a part of grieving.
Her 'classroom' was outside under trees in warm weather and inside a disused souvenir shop that had been cleared out and now was replete with tables from a bar and chairs from the Grand Hotel dining room when it was too cold or rainy to be outdoors.
Cooper Farmstead
22 Miles N/E of Galveston
"Wake up, Shelley, and eat your soup. We don't got no croutons but it's better than what most folks got. C'mon, wake up. You've slept enough."
His face hurt like when he was sunburned and his arms hurt too much to move. The smell of the soup made his mouth water and he strained to sit up but a hand against his chest stopped him.
"You just lay back and let me feed ya, ya big idiot. You might fly good but you got to work on your landings. Now open wide and I'll tell you all about where you are and what happened to ya. That's the boy. Wasn't that good?"
She spooned soup into his mouth and patted his lips with a linen napkin. She started to cry and handed the soup off to her brother saying, "I just can't, JR. You do it."
Sheldon lay there with his mouth open like a baby bird waiting for a worm. A man started talking and spooning soup into him, not bothering to wipe his mouth between spoonfuls.
"Yer plane's toast. If ya hadn't lost a door somewhere in yer travels you'da burned up but we were able to drag yer scrawny ass out. You got a little crispy around the edges but it's no big deal."
He shoved another spoonful into his little brother's mouth and wondered just when the hell his nerd brother found the time to learn to fly. Hell, he and those other geeks spent all their time watching SciFi movies, playing stupid video games or working in some damned lab.
"Anyhow, both yer shoulders were out of joint and ya got a couple broke fingers on your right hand and your face got a bit scorched but then you weren't good lookin' to start with."
"Who…" he managed to croak but then ran out of breath.
"It's me, Shelley, yer big brother, Georgie Junior. Can ya do us a favor and eat and then maybe 'Lissa will quit bawling every time she sees ya. Hell, she's as bad as that fella that showed up from the big passenger plane that put down in Houston fulla dead Chokers. He can't stop crying and keeps goin' on and on about livin' in some 3rd world shithole – like this is some kinda paradise or sumthin'."
He stuffed another spoonful of soup into his brother's mouth and wiped his lips gently so as not to break the blisters. He didn't know why he was here after all this time but he was glad he was.
They'd already had a couple of run-ins with some local 'war lords', mostly gang refugees from Houston, who thought they could horn in on lands worked by families for nearly 200 years. The family could use another gun.
Sheldon fell asleep soup with in his mouth and some time during the night he swallowed 'down the wrong pipe' and woke up coughing with someone pounding him on the back.
"Sheldon, you must wake up and listen to me. We are in grave danger here and we need to leave this place and seek out a sanctuary in the north. The Choker has again mutated and the death toll is terrifying. Your injuries are keeping us here. You must wake up and get strong, for the journey ahead is long and arduous."
Sheldon had been in and out of consciousness for nearly 4 days and had slipped into natural sleep just a few hours before swallowing his mouthful of soup. He opened his eyes and winced at the bright light and covered his eyes with his arm.
"Please turn off the lights. And why are you here in Galveston instead of Delhi with your family, Raj? Not that I'm not pleased to see you but we put you on a direct flight to India and yet, here you are…"
"Some of the passengers developed the new strain of the disease and by the time we could contain them, well, there was damage and then one of the pilots was stricken and the flight diverted to Houston. Several of us decided to return to California but then word filtered out about the bombs…"
"So you came here to see Missy and my mom. Thank you for thinking of them. I – I had an obligation to discharge and once fulfilled, well, here I am."
"Yes, here you are, my friend, but where have you been?" He wanted to hear the entire tale knowing it would be something to marvel at. Sheldon had changed and he wanted to know what Hell's fires he'd been through to make such changes in his friend.
"I joined up with Penny and then we picked up Leslie Winkle. I had hoped the two of them would press on to Omaha alone where they could seek asylum with her parents but Pasadena became untenable. Once we reached Omaha…"
Raj stopped him, knowing he was tiring. "Sheldon, why don't you rest some more and we shall all eat dinner together and you can tell us all about your odyssey."
"Howard and Bernadette – they're with us er…the Colonials, and both are healthy again and doing well. Howard showed his skills at engineering and saved us all. There are nearly 400 people restarting in an almost idyllic place, Raj, and I want you all to go there. It's safe…and we fought many skirmishes along the way to get there."
"We will definitely talk at dinner, my friend. Howard and Bernadette and you and Penny…"
"Yes. We got married, Raj, but I don't think it survived this trip. I had to come, Raj. I had to know what happened to Melissa and she left me because I wouldn't put it aside."
"Sheldon, don't be a fool. If she married you – "
"I'm tired. Let's talk at dinner, Raj. So, you and my sister and brother are living here together? Is it safe?"
"We'll talk at dinner. Rest, my friend."
Junior was standing out in the hallway. He'd been listening and now he had a problem. Rajesh loved his sister and she loved him and he'd long since put his prejudices aside and 'gave his blessing' but this was too much. This was their land, their home, and he didn't want to leave it to become some beach boy on an island someplace.
"You listen up, Raj. Me and Missy and Sheldon are Coopers and this is Cooper land and has been since 1830 when the first Cooper came here from Kentucky and got a land grant from the King of Spain his self. This is our home, not some damned island in the sun where people sing Kumbyah and wear hardly nothin' a-tall."
"Junior, this place is unsafe. Do you want your sister to be passed around by hoodlums and raped until she's dead? That is what they do. We need to leave, to seek asylum someplace where our children can live long and happy lives. It's not here, surely you can see that?"
He could. He just didn't want to, was all. He wasn't the smartest bulb in the chandelier but he was a man of the land and this land was theirs by right of passage through the generations of Coopers who'd come before him.
"I'm stayin' put and my brother will back my play, you wait and see. We can defend ourselves and protect what's ours. Between them gangs killin' each other over scraps of what's left and the Choker, we'll survive until - "
"There is no cavalry coming to our rescue, JR. If we stay here, the animals from the cities will overrun us and take your land and cattle and yes, Missy, and dance on your grave."
"Doubt it. They haven't stopped to bury anyone yet, Raj."
Sheldon had heard the debate between his best friend and his brother. Both were right but neither one could or would stop and listen to the other. His brother was right. This was Cooper land but they couldn't rebuild civilization from this wide spot in the road.
As usual, Raj, the ethical pacifist, had missed JR's point entirely. There were some things worth fighting and dying for. The people up on Mackinaw Island were worth fighting and dying for. All they needed was a plan of action and time to gather what they'd need to drive north and eventually contact the Colonials.
They wouldn't come empty handed like beggars. They'd bring their cattle and neighbors along too. The Colonials had to eat and these people could grow stuff on rocks.
That night after a dinner of Meemaw's canned goods and fresh beef, Sheldon recounted as much as he cared to about the days before landing on the island.
They drank coffee and ate peach cobbler and answered one another's questions before Sheldon began to tire but put the only tenable solution to his family – and yes, Raj was family now – on the table.
"This is our ancestral home and we all love it here. Our kin are buried here and once upon a time our family futures were out there in the pastures and fields but not now."
He gave his brother a stone cold look, almost sneering at his naïveté.
"This place is indefensible and JR, before you start, I've had a lot more experience at this than you have. We need to gather up all our surviving friends and neighbors, 'convoy up' and haul everything we need to sustain us now and in the future to the Straits. We take everything that's of value in the new world and burn the rest. We scorch the earth as we pass and leave nothing for the carrion feeders in our wake."
He knew it would kill JR to burn this place to the ground but it was necessary to kill off the scum. His Texas twang slipped into his tantrum almost without him sensing that something had changed.
"That's what we're gonna do and tomorrow we're gonna start. JR, you might be the oldest Cooper, but I'm the smartest and have experience you couldn't hope to match. This is the way it's going to be."
He gave them all his patented glare and then said, "There isn't a single person on the Island who even knows the words to Kumbyah, JR. And it gets 30 degrees below zero in the winter so don't think they're strollin' around in shorts and haltertops and huggin' trees and working on their tans."
His brother looked at his empty plate, not wanting to meet his brother's glare.
"JR, I'm gonna work your ass off. Raj, you're gonna get your hands dirty and Missy, you're gonna be our schedule keeper and inventory control. I want us to be safe and on the Island before the first snows."
Although he was tired, he spent hours answering their questions, salving their consciences and allaying their fears. By sunup they had a list of neighbors to contact, inventories to fill and a hundred other things to get done yesterday.