Strengthen What Remains (Book 2): A Time to Endure Read Online Free PDF Page A

themselves.
    Caden
walked back along the highway. Remembering the ceremony later in the day, he
tried not to get mud on his shoes and uniform as he started down the bank.
    The
three met near the bottom.
    The
young girl’s eyes seemed fixed on the military issue holster and pistol on
Caden’s hip. The boy followed his sister’s gaze, but quickly locked on Caden’s
eyes.
    “My
family told me about your help earlier in the week before and during the
battle. That you told them about the soldiers that were shot…”
    Zach
looked off to the side.
    “…and
led them back to where it happened.”
    “Yeah,
it was right over there. It feels strange being here now, so near the spot, but
we have to eat and this is a good location for the traps.”
    Caden
looked at Zach, but the boy averted his eyes. “You’re brave,” he gestured
toward the fish traps, “and more resourceful than most.”
    Zach
shook his head, but said nothing as his gaze slumped to the ground.
    He
sensed that Zach wanted to say more, but the boy remained silent staring at the
earth. “Anyway, thank you for your help.” He climbed the bank to his car and
drove toward town.
    His
first stop that morning was the sheriff’s office. As Caden walked in, Hoover sat
on the edge of his desk staring at pages held in his hand. At the edge of his
vision, Caden detected movement and turned. Dr. Scott looked up from a
collection of papers on a table before her.
    Caden
wasn’t sure how long she had been a doctor in the community but, from his
perspective, she had always been there, always been a doctor and always had
gray hair. However, it was unusual to see the law-abiding doctor in the
sheriff’s office so, he asked, “What brings you here?”
    “Pestilence—unfortunately.”
    “What?”
    The
doctor sighed and leaned back in her chair. “There’s a new strain of influenza with
a high mortality rate spreading in FEMA camps around what is left of L.A. and
San Diego.”
    “Southern
California is a long way off.” Caden shrugged.
    “Yes,
but flu has a habit of spreading.”
    “Is
there a shot for this type?”
    She
shrugged. “This strain is so new we don’t know how effective the current
vaccine will be.” Her eyes drifted to the floor. “I should have tried to get
more flu serum, but there are so many meds we need, so many shortages.”
    “As
I remember flu hits the young and old really hard.” Caden recalled the last
time he’d seen Hoover’s mother in the hospital. He wanted to ask how she was
doing, but this didn’t seem like the time.
    “The
very old, those with serious medical conditions, the particularly vulnerable,
most of them are already dead.”
    Caden
glanced at the sheriff. Nope,
not a good time to ask about your mother. “What do you think we
should do?”
    “That
was what we were discussing,” Hoover said. “We can’t block off the town again.
Some food and medicine is coming in and the mayor and county commissioners are
trying to get the economy up and running again.”
    Scott
nodded. “Dr. Winfield went to the Longview camp yesterday….”
    “Who?”
Caden asked.
    “Winfield
from the camp that was just outside of town on the North Road. He agreed to
stay on at our hospital and has been a great help. Anyway he told me that there
are over a quarter of a million people in and around the site. They’re doing
their best, but it’s a breeding ground for infection. Dysentery and typhoid are
constant dangers.”
    Even
the best of the camps Caden had seen were to be avoided. In every camp the
mixture of decay, body odor and human waste hung heavy in the air like some
toxic cologne of the Devil. Disease was always a worry. Caden shuddered
involuntarily.
    “We
have checkpoints on the roads coming into town,” Caden said. “What if we train
the men to look for symptoms? If they show signs they don’t get in.”
    “They
could still be carriers without showing signs.” The doctor shrugged. “But,
without an effective vaccine for