Chapter 43
“Will you please tell all them retards not to haul it out and water the trees all over the place?!” I sniped at a medic group I caught crossing the Decker land as they surveyed water sources.
“Excuse me?”
“Do I really need to explain it to you?” I asked as I pointed to a tree just off one of the Ridge’s common trails where the grass was badly yellowed.
It actually took the female of the bunch to put two and two together. “They aren’t supposed to be pissing any place but in the latrines.”
I gave a sarcastic chuckle. “Trust me, peeing on the trees isn’t all they are doing.”
The woman said, “Gross. That’s disgusting.”
“Yeah it is,” I agreed. “So somebody please tell them to stop doing it. At the rate y’all are going you are going to foul the streams and kill the trees.”
The Combat Medic that seemed to be in charge said, “How do you know it is personnel doing this?”
“Well, since there are only two other people up here on the Ridge, and one of them is me, it kinda puts the odds against us being the ones to be pooping and peeing all over the place in this quantity.”
“Our people are using the latrines.”
“Suuuure they are.” I looked at the guy that was humping their equipment around for them and he reddened up real hard and fast. He couldn’t even pull off the innocent look.
The Head Medic or whatever he was called saw his expression and made an irritated face before telling me, “It will be addressed.”
“Thank you kindly.” Then the female medic started coughing.
“You okay?” I asked out of habit.
“Allergies,” she said after nearly strangling. She pulled out a box and then cussed as it was apparently empty. “Sir, I need to req another box of cough drops.”
“Sorry Reynolds, none to be had.”
She groaned.
One of the other guys there said, “Drink some hot sauce.”
She made a face but I said, “He has a point but you don’t have to drink it straight. Save your packets of tabasco, honey, and lemon juice that come in your meal kits.”
“Why? You willing to trade for some cough medicine?”
“Don’t have any and Mitch would ground me for two lifetimes, and I’d be old and gray before I saw another human. He ain’t going to be happy about me talking to y’all. The only thing that might save my butt is you being female.” I snorted. “Take a packet of tabasco, a packet of honey, and half packet of the lemon juice and mix it together and take about a teaspoon at a time when you need it. And, before you decide I’m also about to try and convince you to lick a frog’s butt in the light of a full moon, it’s the lemon juice that cuts the crap on your throat irritating it, the capsicum in the tabasco is the medicinal, and the honey has a buttload of antioxidants and is an antiseptic and antifungal as well as soothes the irritation. And if you don’t believe me use your college edumacation to look it up when you get back to civilization.”
I turned to leave and the guy in charge says, “Wait. Repeat that.”
“Which part?” giving him my best dumb hick look.
He looked at me and said, “I got a kid sister your age that’s also a Venturer.”
Despite my surprise I tried to hide my grin as he was looking at my sweat-stained scout shirt with my Summit Rank clearly showing that I had on under my overalls that day. I nodded and repeated the recipe for the cough syrup.
“You’re the kid that grossed Malinowski out about eating kudzu,” he said.
“Probably guilty but I can’t say for sure. Your people get grossed out pretty easy.”
He snorted. “We’ve got a lot of greenbean city kids that’s for sure. That’s the primary reason we are out surveying for health risks.”
“Start with if it is water and its wet don’t drink it unless it has been treated. If it is a fruit, plant, or root, don’t touch it or eat it unless one of y’all says it is okay. And if it is an animal, reptile, or insect, assume it bites or stings. Because they can wind up dead or wishing they were dead by messing with any of the above. And if it is a mushroom or other fungus treat it like it is a poisonous maneater and stay away.”
“You have mushrooms in your basket,” one of them said, pointing out the obvious.
“Yeah. So? I’ve spent my entire life being trained by someone that knew what they were doing.”
“And where is this paragon of wisdom?” someone else asked.
It wasn’t funny anymore. “She … ran out of medicine. Nice to meet you. Goodbye.”
“Hey, take it easy kid,” the head medic said. “No one meant anything bad by it. A lot of us have lost people.” He sighed. “Unfortunately it … desensitizes a person and your mouth gets away from you.”
Not wanting to make things worse I immediately said, “Fine. Apology or whatever accepted. I still need to get back.”
“I’ll send you will a hall pass if you’ll answer a few questions.”
Cautiously I said, “Depends on if I can help.”
He nodded. Basically it was some geography questions, asking about “some story he’d heard about a pig farm in the area,” and if there were any particularly poison plants he needed to warn people off of.
“Okay, here’s some down and dirty. They’re still better off not eating anything until someone else confirms it isn’t poisonous.” He nodded. “And for gosh sake don’t believe that old saw that if animals eat it then people can. That’s a lie that have sickened and killed a lot of folks. For instance, birds will eat holly berries all day long and twice on Sunday … but they make humans sick as a dog. Get me?”
When all the medics nodded, I said, “Okay, a few that should be easy to spot. Poison ivy and poison oak I hope you know. Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel are for sure things you want to keep your hands off of. They’re pretty when in bloom but each and every part, from the stem to the flowers, is toxic to humans and for the love of mike don’t burn them cause the smoke the fire gives off is just as poisonous. Same for foxglove. Like I said, pretty but deadly poisonous in all its parts. Poke is another one people do the stupid with. There’s a way to make very new growth edible but I wouldn’t even bother telling them that. Mostly just say it is easy to spot due to the bright pink color of the stem. The small berries start green and slowly turn into a blackish-purple; however, only a few of those berries are enough to kill a little kid and they don’t do much for full-sized folks either. Only other one I can think to warn them of is Nettle if they are going off trail. The plants look soft and fuzzy, but the formic acid, serotonin and histamine found in the fuzzy hairs cause a stinging sensation in whichever area of the body that has been touched. The itching and burning pain only lasts a couple of hours but make no mistake, it won’t be pleasant. That should get you started.”
“Get us started?” Reynolds asked incredulously.
“Yeah. This isn’t a city or town. Mother Nature still rules. So does King Karma. Humans are still top of the pointy food pyramid but you won’t stay on top if you can’t stop from doing the stupid.” Deciding to take a chance I asked, “Can I ask you something?”
“Depends on if I can help,” he said, mocking me a bit like he would have his kid sister. Made me want to stick my tongue out at him and prove how immature I could be if pushed too hard.
“What’s up with all the changes? Planes going east and west instead of north and south. All the military personnel going this way and that. All the surveying being done like you might be here longer than just a weekend or two. I will admit it is … freaking me out a little. Mitch says that I should just mind my p’s and q’s and I’m more than willing but … easier to do that if I know if I should be doing something in particular.”
The man looked at me then nodded. “You really don’t get any information out here do you.”
“You mean radio and tv and that sort of thing? No. And we don’t have internet either. No newspapers. No mail. Nothing. It is like being deaf. All we’ve been able to do is guess.”
“Well it is in the news in the Safe Zones so I’m not breaking regs to tell you. And I’m one of those that feel that keeping civilians completely in the dark is a good way to create problems.” He was silent for a moment then I started getting more information than I had expected.
“The enemy hasn’t been able to take any of the East Coast. Not because that Coast is stronger, it is simply further away from the enemy’s current bases and supply lines. Nor have they been able to take Texas though the battles are pretty constant around the original national border. The Mexican government has fallen and now Mexican rebels fight with us more than against us. That’s given us an advantage along the West Coast where the same thing is happening. The enemy only for sure holds LA, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. Bad enough but even that’s changing. San Diego? Hard to say after the military was forced to pull out … but we’ve left them nothing but salted earth. But you want to know why we are doing what we are doing right here.”
“Yes please,” I said proving I had manners.
“The enemy is building up along the incursion borders again. Last time they were allowed to get away with it for reasons unknown to us in the field. That isn’t happening this time. We figure they are trying to prepare for another push. We cannot let them overrun this region. If they do there is a danger of reaching the higher density population zones. If they take the interior of the country, or possibly split the country in two … do I need to spell it out?”
“No Sir,” I said trying to keep a blank face.
“So, you keep playing young and too stupid … but don’t act it. Command says we are to stay away from civilians … particularly minor civilians. So stay a minor for as long as you can. Understand?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Do you understand when I say Third World health issues?”
“Put it in context please.”
“As in there are areas that, due to where the enemy comes from and their poor hygiene practices, certain communicable illnesses that had been eradicated in this country are returning. Similar to what happened when we’d have years of very large migrant surges. Only this is worse because healthcare is being rationed due to shortages and communities are losing herd immunities. The worst problems we are experiencing at the moment are meningitis, whooping cough, measles, polio, and TB. We’ve had outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever in the Deep South. Diarrheal diseases are some of the hardest to stop once they get started and would be some of the easiest to prevent if people would just follow some basic hygiene rules. Rotavirus, E. Coli, cryptosporidium and giardia, norovirus, and shigella are the biggies. We’ve also has several cholera outbreaks in some of the POW containment areas that have then spread out into surrounding communities. Thus far we’ve kept the epidemics in check because we’ve been able to blanket the areas with medication. However we can’t continue to do that because medicine production is at an all-time low. Soap and water would go a long way to help but soap is a rationed item, water is also rationed in some urban areas, and the fuel to bring the water to boiling temperatures is also in short supply. Europe is refusing to allow us to import anything because they are worried about drawing the enemy’s attention and because our manufacturing capabilities are dedicated to war time needs we can’t export what they need or want. It is a Catch-22. There have also been outbreaks of West Nile, Zika, and Dengue fever since mosquito control is falling way down the list of what can be addressed. And to top that all off I just got a flyer to expect this year’s Covid and Flu seasons to be some of the worst on record. So, if you know any more of those proven homemade remedies, write them down. If you are willing to share, I’ll see what I can do.” He hiked his eyebrow up and I nodded. A deal had been struck.
“Will you please tell all them retards not to haul it out and water the trees all over the place?!” I sniped at a medic group I caught crossing the Decker land as they surveyed water sources.
“Excuse me?”
“Do I really need to explain it to you?” I asked as I pointed to a tree just off one of the Ridge’s common trails where the grass was badly yellowed.
It actually took the female of the bunch to put two and two together. “They aren’t supposed to be pissing any place but in the latrines.”
I gave a sarcastic chuckle. “Trust me, peeing on the trees isn’t all they are doing.”
The woman said, “Gross. That’s disgusting.”
“Yeah it is,” I agreed. “So somebody please tell them to stop doing it. At the rate y’all are going you are going to foul the streams and kill the trees.”
The Combat Medic that seemed to be in charge said, “How do you know it is personnel doing this?”
“Well, since there are only two other people up here on the Ridge, and one of them is me, it kinda puts the odds against us being the ones to be pooping and peeing all over the place in this quantity.”
“Our people are using the latrines.”
“Suuuure they are.” I looked at the guy that was humping their equipment around for them and he reddened up real hard and fast. He couldn’t even pull off the innocent look.
The Head Medic or whatever he was called saw his expression and made an irritated face before telling me, “It will be addressed.”
“Thank you kindly.” Then the female medic started coughing.
“You okay?” I asked out of habit.
“Allergies,” she said after nearly strangling. She pulled out a box and then cussed as it was apparently empty. “Sir, I need to req another box of cough drops.”
“Sorry Reynolds, none to be had.”
She groaned.
One of the other guys there said, “Drink some hot sauce.”
She made a face but I said, “He has a point but you don’t have to drink it straight. Save your packets of tabasco, honey, and lemon juice that come in your meal kits.”
“Why? You willing to trade for some cough medicine?”
“Don’t have any and Mitch would ground me for two lifetimes, and I’d be old and gray before I saw another human. He ain’t going to be happy about me talking to y’all. The only thing that might save my butt is you being female.” I snorted. “Take a packet of tabasco, a packet of honey, and half packet of the lemon juice and mix it together and take about a teaspoon at a time when you need it. And, before you decide I’m also about to try and convince you to lick a frog’s butt in the light of a full moon, it’s the lemon juice that cuts the crap on your throat irritating it, the capsicum in the tabasco is the medicinal, and the honey has a buttload of antioxidants and is an antiseptic and antifungal as well as soothes the irritation. And if you don’t believe me use your college edumacation to look it up when you get back to civilization.”
I turned to leave and the guy in charge says, “Wait. Repeat that.”
“Which part?” giving him my best dumb hick look.
He looked at me and said, “I got a kid sister your age that’s also a Venturer.”
Despite my surprise I tried to hide my grin as he was looking at my sweat-stained scout shirt with my Summit Rank clearly showing that I had on under my overalls that day. I nodded and repeated the recipe for the cough syrup.
“You’re the kid that grossed Malinowski out about eating kudzu,” he said.
“Probably guilty but I can’t say for sure. Your people get grossed out pretty easy.”
He snorted. “We’ve got a lot of greenbean city kids that’s for sure. That’s the primary reason we are out surveying for health risks.”
“Start with if it is water and its wet don’t drink it unless it has been treated. If it is a fruit, plant, or root, don’t touch it or eat it unless one of y’all says it is okay. And if it is an animal, reptile, or insect, assume it bites or stings. Because they can wind up dead or wishing they were dead by messing with any of the above. And if it is a mushroom or other fungus treat it like it is a poisonous maneater and stay away.”
“You have mushrooms in your basket,” one of them said, pointing out the obvious.
“Yeah. So? I’ve spent my entire life being trained by someone that knew what they were doing.”
“And where is this paragon of wisdom?” someone else asked.
It wasn’t funny anymore. “She … ran out of medicine. Nice to meet you. Goodbye.”
“Hey, take it easy kid,” the head medic said. “No one meant anything bad by it. A lot of us have lost people.” He sighed. “Unfortunately it … desensitizes a person and your mouth gets away from you.”
Not wanting to make things worse I immediately said, “Fine. Apology or whatever accepted. I still need to get back.”
“I’ll send you will a hall pass if you’ll answer a few questions.”
Cautiously I said, “Depends on if I can help.”
He nodded. Basically it was some geography questions, asking about “some story he’d heard about a pig farm in the area,” and if there were any particularly poison plants he needed to warn people off of.
“Okay, here’s some down and dirty. They’re still better off not eating anything until someone else confirms it isn’t poisonous.” He nodded. “And for gosh sake don’t believe that old saw that if animals eat it then people can. That’s a lie that have sickened and killed a lot of folks. For instance, birds will eat holly berries all day long and twice on Sunday … but they make humans sick as a dog. Get me?”
When all the medics nodded, I said, “Okay, a few that should be easy to spot. Poison ivy and poison oak I hope you know. Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel are for sure things you want to keep your hands off of. They’re pretty when in bloom but each and every part, from the stem to the flowers, is toxic to humans and for the love of mike don’t burn them cause the smoke the fire gives off is just as poisonous. Same for foxglove. Like I said, pretty but deadly poisonous in all its parts. Poke is another one people do the stupid with. There’s a way to make very new growth edible but I wouldn’t even bother telling them that. Mostly just say it is easy to spot due to the bright pink color of the stem. The small berries start green and slowly turn into a blackish-purple; however, only a few of those berries are enough to kill a little kid and they don’t do much for full-sized folks either. Only other one I can think to warn them of is Nettle if they are going off trail. The plants look soft and fuzzy, but the formic acid, serotonin and histamine found in the fuzzy hairs cause a stinging sensation in whichever area of the body that has been touched. The itching and burning pain only lasts a couple of hours but make no mistake, it won’t be pleasant. That should get you started.”
“Get us started?” Reynolds asked incredulously.
“Yeah. This isn’t a city or town. Mother Nature still rules. So does King Karma. Humans are still top of the pointy food pyramid but you won’t stay on top if you can’t stop from doing the stupid.” Deciding to take a chance I asked, “Can I ask you something?”
“Depends on if I can help,” he said, mocking me a bit like he would have his kid sister. Made me want to stick my tongue out at him and prove how immature I could be if pushed too hard.
“What’s up with all the changes? Planes going east and west instead of north and south. All the military personnel going this way and that. All the surveying being done like you might be here longer than just a weekend or two. I will admit it is … freaking me out a little. Mitch says that I should just mind my p’s and q’s and I’m more than willing but … easier to do that if I know if I should be doing something in particular.”
The man looked at me then nodded. “You really don’t get any information out here do you.”
“You mean radio and tv and that sort of thing? No. And we don’t have internet either. No newspapers. No mail. Nothing. It is like being deaf. All we’ve been able to do is guess.”
“Well it is in the news in the Safe Zones so I’m not breaking regs to tell you. And I’m one of those that feel that keeping civilians completely in the dark is a good way to create problems.” He was silent for a moment then I started getting more information than I had expected.
“The enemy hasn’t been able to take any of the East Coast. Not because that Coast is stronger, it is simply further away from the enemy’s current bases and supply lines. Nor have they been able to take Texas though the battles are pretty constant around the original national border. The Mexican government has fallen and now Mexican rebels fight with us more than against us. That’s given us an advantage along the West Coast where the same thing is happening. The enemy only for sure holds LA, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. Bad enough but even that’s changing. San Diego? Hard to say after the military was forced to pull out … but we’ve left them nothing but salted earth. But you want to know why we are doing what we are doing right here.”
“Yes please,” I said proving I had manners.
“The enemy is building up along the incursion borders again. Last time they were allowed to get away with it for reasons unknown to us in the field. That isn’t happening this time. We figure they are trying to prepare for another push. We cannot let them overrun this region. If they do there is a danger of reaching the higher density population zones. If they take the interior of the country, or possibly split the country in two … do I need to spell it out?”
“No Sir,” I said trying to keep a blank face.
“So, you keep playing young and too stupid … but don’t act it. Command says we are to stay away from civilians … particularly minor civilians. So stay a minor for as long as you can. Understand?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Do you understand when I say Third World health issues?”
“Put it in context please.”
“As in there are areas that, due to where the enemy comes from and their poor hygiene practices, certain communicable illnesses that had been eradicated in this country are returning. Similar to what happened when we’d have years of very large migrant surges. Only this is worse because healthcare is being rationed due to shortages and communities are losing herd immunities. The worst problems we are experiencing at the moment are meningitis, whooping cough, measles, polio, and TB. We’ve had outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever in the Deep South. Diarrheal diseases are some of the hardest to stop once they get started and would be some of the easiest to prevent if people would just follow some basic hygiene rules. Rotavirus, E. Coli, cryptosporidium and giardia, norovirus, and shigella are the biggies. We’ve also has several cholera outbreaks in some of the POW containment areas that have then spread out into surrounding communities. Thus far we’ve kept the epidemics in check because we’ve been able to blanket the areas with medication. However we can’t continue to do that because medicine production is at an all-time low. Soap and water would go a long way to help but soap is a rationed item, water is also rationed in some urban areas, and the fuel to bring the water to boiling temperatures is also in short supply. Europe is refusing to allow us to import anything because they are worried about drawing the enemy’s attention and because our manufacturing capabilities are dedicated to war time needs we can’t export what they need or want. It is a Catch-22. There have also been outbreaks of West Nile, Zika, and Dengue fever since mosquito control is falling way down the list of what can be addressed. And to top that all off I just got a flyer to expect this year’s Covid and Flu seasons to be some of the worst on record. So, if you know any more of those proven homemade remedies, write them down. If you are willing to share, I’ll see what I can do.” He hiked his eyebrow up and I nodded. A deal had been struck.