World Order by Mark Goodwin

Author:Mark Goodwin [Goodwin, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-03T16:00:00+00:00

“Meanwhile,” said Lindsey. “Neither the doctor nor Lillian Lopez are wearing face masks.”

“Which tells us that the vaccine is effective against the new mutated strains,” said Rev.

“I suspect they’ve known the virus would mutate.” Emilio put his arm around Nicole. “And they knew the vaccine would prevent anything it could morph into.”

Stephanie sat on the couch between Josh and Rev. “The vaccine was probably engineered in the same lab as the virus.”

Josh looked at the group. “No more hunting.”

“But we need wild game to supplement our food stores,” said Micah.

Josh shook his head. “No. We knew wild game would only be available for a limited time. It’s already getting scarce. Other hunters in the park are depleting the animal populations. We’re having to travel farther and farther to bring home less and less meat. In addition to the virus, every time we go out, we risk being spotted by other hunters and drawing attention to the compound. It’s been good while it lasted, but now it’s too dangerous.”

“Can we still take squirrels if we see them on the property?” Micah asked.

“No. If they’re telling us about the virus being in the animal population now, that means they’ve probably known about it for weeks. The park could already be contaminated.” Josh didn’t want to frighten anyone, but he needed to instill a healthy dose of respect into Micah and Lindsey.

“They’ve been killing and cleaning game every day.” Stephanie looked at her son and his close friend. “Do you think they might already be at risk?”

Josh knew it was a possibility. “I don’t think it’s something to get worked up about just yet.”

“What about the chickens and rabbits?” asked Nicole.

“We’ll have to get rid of them,” said Josh.

“Get rid of them?” said Rev, “We invested a lot of resources into those animals.”

“And we have to cut our losses,” said Josh. “We can’t risk an outbreak over a handful of animals. We have supplies. We can get by without them.”

Emilio frowned. “It’s going to be that much tighter. Especially with no other sources for protein.”

“I know, but it’s too big of a hazard,” Josh replied.

“Might I suggest a middle way?” said Stephanie.

“Middle way?” asked Josh.

“What if we released all the rabbits except a buck and two does? We can keep them separated so they don’t breed. And, we could feed them without coming into contact with the animals. We can use sticks to put the fodder into the hutches. The chickens, also. We don’t have to go into the coop to give them their food.”

“But it’s a waste of resources to feed animals that aren’t producing anything,” he answered. “Even worse, they’re a health risk.”

“A minimal risk, especially if we’re not coming into contact with them,” said Stephanie. “The CDC could release a statement tomorrow saying the only two species of animals not susceptible to the virus are chickens and rabbits.”

“Highly unlikely.” Josh crossed his arms.

She countered, “But not impossible.”

“For what it’s worth,” said Rev. “She has a point.”

Micah added, “If we can feed the animals with sticks, we could also collect the eggs with sticks.

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