The China Pandemic Read Online Free Page A

There was a clang and a yelp, but he still felt the dog pulling on his pants. He swung again and finally heard silence. He scrambled to his feet.
    The boy just stared at the dead animal. The growling had stopped, but the boy’s bawling did not. By then, the kid was nearly hysterical. Graham dropped the shovel and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Shhh, be quiet or more will come,” he told him in a harsh tone.
    Again, the kid tried to quiet down. Graham could only see anguish on his small face. He left him there and quickly filled in his father’s grave, mounding the dirt deeply and looking all around him as he did.
    He tossed the dogs’ bodies in a wheelbarrow, and then went back and knelt down by his father’s grave. Though Graham had never been a religious man, he hoped now that all of his loved ones were in a better place. His heart ached with suppressed grief. He smoothed the mounded dirt with his rough hands to level it out.
    “It’s so hard to say goodbye, Dad. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you,” he choked out to the grave. Then he remembered what his father would expect of him. He stood, grabbed his rifle, and led the sobbing boy inside the house.
    With the boy’s mother to bury still, and dusk quickly falling, Graham knew he had to hurry. The boy immediately ran to the body. Graham could tell her burial was going to be a battle.
    He used a rag to wipe mud from the rifle quickly and reloaded it. “We have to bury her now,” Graham said when he was done.
    “No!” the boy cried.
    “We can’t leave her there. It’s getting dark and we have to do it now,” Graham said gruffly, and walked over to the couch. The boy put his arms over her, guarding. He pulled him back by the shoulders and said, “Look, kid, we have to do this right now. You can either help or stand back. Don’t make me lock you in a room. The least you can do for your mother right now is to be strong and come help me.”
    Graham pulled the red floral quilt down from the back of the couch and began wrapping her up, just as he’d done with the others. At first, the boy just stood there sobbing and then began patting her wrapped legs. As Graham started to cover the rest of her, he noticed a medallion necklace. He took it off her body as the boy watched and then reached for him. He pulled back, clearly untrusting until he realized what Graham was trying to do. He let Graham put the chain over his head. The medallion landed with a thump against his narrow, bony chest.
    “She has a book in her pocket there,” the boy said, pointing to her gray jacket. They were the first words he’d spoken other than, “No.”
    Graham felt in her coat and found a small leather bound journal.
    “Is this for you?” Graham asked the boy, who just raised his shoulders, not knowing the answer.
    “Well, you hold on to it for now,” Graham instructed.
    He continued to wrap her up until he got to her face.
    “Go ahead and say goodbye,” he told the kid.
    The boy sniffled, and then kissed her on the cheek. He hugged her one last time and stroked her long silky hair.
    Graham looked outside and realized the night was coming quickly. He pulled the boy back gently from his mother. “Okay, it’s time. We need to get her buried now.”
    The boy watched as Graham covered her face with the quilt then he cried again, “No, no, no!” He tried to pull the covers back and Graham had to pull him away, restraining him.
    He knew this was heartbreaking for the boy, but he didn’t have a choice. “Look, we have to bury her now or we’ll have more trouble with the dogs. Do you want that?” he said, looking at the boy’s tear-streaked face. “Your mother wants you to be safe and stay alive. We can’t do that if there are dogs attacking us.”
    The boy looked miserable and confused and just shook his head again.
    “All right then, let’s get this done before dark,” Graham said. He slung the rifle over his shoulder.
    He picked up her light frame and