Memorial Day weekend was the turning point. After a month filled with optimism- a stock market regaining momentum, positive early signs from vaccine trials, and many of the hardest hit countries starting to reopen- a cruel twist of fate stunned the world. The early signs had been building for weeks; reports of a "second wave" in China, news accounts of children- previously thought to be largely immune- suffering from catastrophic system failure, and chatter in online medical communities about rapidly changing symptoms, incubation periods, infection and mortality rates. It was gradually becoming clear that a mutated strain of the virus, far more infectious and lethal than the first, had emerged. And the ramifications for humanity were dire.
I had been monitoring the virus closely even as the world had decided the threat was eroding. I was conscious of mankind's inability to conceive of truly catastrophic, unprecedented disasters until it was too late, and also of politicians' incentives to put a positive spin on things- to keep the voters happy and consumers spending. Indeed I had been preparing for the possibility of such a crisis for years, buying 10,000 acres of secluded mountain property a few hours away and stocking it with the supplies needed to survive for years, while spending a few weeks each year training myself on survival skills, the kind that "civilized" humanity had largely forgotten over the last century. I also had direct experience leading me to recognize the danger of this virus- my ex-wife recently died after being infected while visiting her sick father in a nursing home, and I counted many other friends, family and colleagues among those stricken.
After my wife's death I isolated my two children in our house, while monitoring events and making final preparations for our evacuation. In the evenings while the kids slept I logged into my ex-wife's social media account, which had become a somber memorial to the millions that were falling to the virus, moments frozen in time of their last "normal" moments before the illness took them. I chose not to apply the new "Covid-Deceased" profile tag that the social media platform had rolled out weeks before to allow users to know who among their networks was still living, but was taken aback at the growing number of friends and family member pages with the tag showing, usually with a loving message from a family member.
The day before I planned to pack the kids up and evacuate, I saw a message pop up from one of my ex's close friends, Lindsay. "You there?"
I thought for a moment, before responding with a simple "yes."
Her reply came almost immediately. "Brad's dead. Caught it in NY working. I don't know what to do. It's just me and the kids."
I wasn't sure how to respond. Lindsay had three children of similar ages as mine, and I knew they had been self-isolating with similar diligence, while her husband Brad went to NY where he could better manage his business through the crisis. Lindsay and Brad were extremely wealthy; Brad had made tens of millions in finance, first working for larger banks, and then starting a series of investment businesses that he sold for large payoffs. I knew that while Lindsay was from modest means, she had long since acclimated to a lifestyle of the super-rich. I didn't know if she would be had what it took to survive.
After a couple minutes came another message from Lindsay: "You have a safe place in the mountains, right? Can I please come with you? I'm desperate, and don't know who else to call. I'll do anything if you'll help." After another minute, wondering how much my ex had shared with Lindsay and who else might know, a simple plea: "Please."
I thought of her kids, playing with my own just a month earlier, and wasn't sure what to do. Finally, I slowly began typing out my response: "Okay. Be ready at 10am. Pack light- no more than two large roller bags. We have clothes and essential supplies- recommend prioritizing sentimental items, and anything kids are attached to that would ease their transition."
A minute later came the reply: "Thank you! I don't know how I can repay you. Please tell me if I can pay for anything."
I smiled and shook my head. Of course she thought throwing money at us would keep her status secure. She hadn't yet realized that her millions were soon to be worthless. I would need to help her adjust to the new normal, and her role in it. She would repay me soon enough, though not in the way she was thinking.
___
The next morning the kids and I pulled into her gated driveway at 9:55am, and Lindsay and the kids were waiting at the door. When she saw me, she glanced quickly at the car and then gave me a quizzical look: "Where is Ellen? Is she at your house?"
I responded, sensitive to her children by her side: "No time for detail. She's gone- caught it visiting her sick dad weeks ago."
She looked uncertain about this development- surely she had imagined enjoying her "girls night" bottles of wine in the mountains with my ex-wife, with minimal change to her lifestyle. This news had definitely thrown a wrench in that.
"Okay, well we're going, so are you in or out? I understand if you want to ride it out here." I said, half-turning toward the car.
She grabbed my arm desperately: "No wait, we're in. I'm sorry; just surprised about Ellen."
I picked up her two large suitcases and threw them into my trailer, as Lindsay got in the front seat and her three children joined my own in the back two rows of the SUV, where I had stocked snacks and ipads with movies for the trek ahead. I looked at Lindsay, who had a shell-shocked look on her face: "Ready?"
She nodded silently, and I pulled away to begin our trip to the mountains. It was a quiet drive, with the kids focused on their ipad movies and Lindsay staring out the window, lost in thought. I had plenty of time to think about the unexpected situation I was now in. I knew Lindsay socially and liked her, but our relationship was superficial and I would have never imagined the two of us alone together, and with five kids to care for.
I shook my head at the additional burden I had assumed, and glanced over at Lindsay. She was still looking away out the window, leaving me free to examine her more closely. As always, she was well put-together: her blonde hair in the familiar medium bob cut, fingernails and toenails meticulously manicured, and understated makeup. Her legs were crossed, tanned and toned in her short, tight-fitting shorts- I thought about all the thousands of dollars of Soul Cycle and personal training she had to thank for those lovely legs, and the firm ass that now found itself in my passenger seat. Her full breasts stretched the fabric of her workout top, large in proportion to her petite frame. I looked back to the road and thought to myself that I could see why Brad chose her out of all the attractive women he could have dated in NY as a young millionaire on the rise.
___
The compound had been my side project for the better part of the last ten years, accelerating when my ex and I split a few years ago. Over that time I had accumulated 15 square miles of pristine mountain land, restoring several older cabins that dotted the property and building a large main house near the top of a hill toward the back of the property. It was designed to operate off the grid- solar powered and highly-efficient, with multiple fresh water springs on the property and wells set up to tap ample underground reservoirs if needed. In recent years I had cleared a few acres for a small farm, and earlier this spring paid day laborers to plant crops for the year, which were well-grown by this point. The main house's basement contained pallets of supplies of every kind imaginable- food, clothing, medical and household supplies, a stocked gun safe for protection from intruders, and underneath the adjacent barn a pre-fabricated bunker was installed in case of a very different kind of emergency. Over time I had worked to obscure the entrance to the property and make the perimeter less welcoming to hikers or others that should come alone with a network of natural barriers- thick brush, stone formations, and other cleverly designed obstacles- steering outsiders along the edges of the property and away from the inner sanctum. A small country road along the front edge of the property was the only link to civilization; the nearest building was 20 miles away through rugged mountain terrain on three sides, and neighboring the property on the rear was the 200,000 acre Great Smoky Mountain National Park, unpopulated and closed to the public since the start of the pandemic.
Upon arriving later that afternoon I steered the SUV off the road and into and unmarked entrance, driving through a row of bushes into a small, secluded clearing behind. I briefly stopped and exited the car to repair the entrance, brushing leaves over the tire marks and replacing the bushes hiding the pathway. Then we proceeded up a barely marked, winding pathway that rounded a mountain near the front of the property and made our way into a flatter upper valley where the main house was situated.
After fifteen minutes of skillful driving through the brush, the car emerged into a clearing and the house came into view at the top of the hill at the far end of the meadow. I pulled up outside the barn and locked the doors as everyone was reaching for the door handles to jump out.
"Why can't we get out?" one of the kids said.
"Ground rules," I replied in a serious tone indicating that I was in command, and expected everyone's complete attention. "We just left a non-sterile environment, and we need to follow a safety protocol to ensure we don't bring the virus in with us."
Everyone nodded and I proceeded. "First, nothing except for us leaves this vehicle. It will be quarantined and off-limits for two weeks, and then we can unpack our belongings."