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Newsletter
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- 04/25/2025
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
The Last Boys in Clinton - 9. Reunions and Other Plans
“It’s good to see you too, George. Looks like you’ve made a bunch of new friends.”
“Yeah. Nearly everyone here is nice. Well, everyone that is still here, anyway.”
“I’m sorry you had trouble with that girl, but you seem to have gotten past that well.”
“Yeah. Now that hopefully, this time, we’ll never see her again.”
George would find out later how wrong he was.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I think our viewers have seen enough of this happy reunion. You’ll be able to continue after I disconnect. I’m Vincent Valencia, and this has been a special report from KDNL News; bringing you the stories you want to see. Goodnight, America.”
“When did you know you were going to be on TV, dad?”
“This afternoon, after I woke up, I had an urgent message from Vincent to call him. He’d been in contact with you and wanted to know if I would like to surprise you. I thought it was a good idea.”
“I’m glad he found you. After you didn’t answer the phone, I just knew the disaster reached Tennessee.”
“It did, just not this far west. I heard the phone ring once. It was right after my accident. I couldn’t reach it, then I passed out. I spoke to Vincent shortly after I woke.”
"Are you going to be OK?"
"I'll be fine. A nasty bump on the head and a couple broken bones. I'll recover completely. I'm just so glad you were able to find more people."
"After Marie-Louise, I just knew we'd have to find someone nice. Everyone here has been great."
"That's good. Well, my nurse is here with my next dose of painkillers. I'll be loopy in a minute. I'll talk to you tomorrow, George. There are things we'll need to talk about without an audience."
Until then, George had forgotten everyone had gathered in a banquet room to watch the interviews. "Yeah, OK. Goodnight, dad."
"Goodnight, George."
They disconnected the call, "Sorry you all had to hear that."
Nobody was bothered by it. It was then that he noticed Lionel was no longer there, "Anyone see where Lionel went?"
Benjamin answered, "He got real upset when your father was added to the call and took off."
Larry helped, "I couldn't catch everything he said, but I heard him say 'our room.' I guess he went back to the room we’re all sleeping in."
"Thanks, Larry. Um, Ryan? I guess he took the key. Can you make another one for me?"
"Of course."
George followed Ryan to the front desk, got another key to room 105, and went back to their room. He walked in to find Lionel lying on one of the beds, crying.
"What's the matter, Lionel?"
"You got your father back. I don't know what's going to happen to me."
"I told you we'll stay together. I'm going to ask my dad tomorrow when I talk to him again if you and Larry can come live with us too."
"What if he says no?"
"He makes lots of money and lives in a big house. He'll say yes. And if he doesn't at first, I'll threaten to hold my breath until I turn blue."
"Hehe. I think you'd look funny blue."
"So, everything will be OK. I promise."
"OK. Thanks George... George?"
"Yes?"
"Is it OK if I say I love you?"
"Sure, it is. I've come to love you too."
"Larry too?"
"Getting there, you and I have been together longer. Only a couple days longer, but we haven't even known each other for a week. Two days is a pretty big chunk of a week."
"I guess. I definitely like him already, too."
"Me too. Hey, remember how SHE said we could be the three musketeers?"
"Yeah. I wasn't sure how we could be a candy bar, but I wasn't about to ask her any questions she might get mad about."
"She probably would have called you stupid. Well, she meant three guys from an old book, that were some kind of heroes. They were also called 'the three inseparables.' That's what we're all going to be. Let's go see if number three wants to go swimming."
"There's a lot more people here now, George. Can we still swim naked?"
"Sure. As long as we don't care if they see us. If it bothers them, they don't need to look."
"Cool."
Larry couldn't swim yet, but that didn't prevent the boys from splashing around in the low end with the newest musketeer.
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"Is the chopper all set to go?"
"Yes, General Chen."
"Your contact in Seoul all set up for us?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I'll meet you at the car outside the hospital. I should only be a few minutes behind you. Be ready to leave as soon as I arrive."
"Yes, sir. I still wish I knew what you were going to do, sir."
"It's better you don't know ahead of time, Lieutenant Li. Why do you think I asked you to have your contact get us new papers?"
"Understood, sir. I won't ask again."
"You won't have to. You'll find out soon enough."
General Chen and his Lieutenant successfully made their escape from Beijing. Many others weren't so lucky.
Two days after Chen and Li left China, the news broke that there was a theft from a lab in Wuhan. The Chinese government wasn't very forthcoming, but an insider said six beakers of a more virulent and potent strain of Coronavirus were found to be missing a week earlier. Nobody shared that they were the only sources of the new strain that existed.
One empty beaker was found in a restroom in the Beijing People's Government building. That was after reports of many deaths occurring in the building, including President Zhao. Two more beakers were found on the nearby streets. The last three were missing initially, but three pockets of infected people were found on a nearly direct route from north of Beijing to Pyongyang, North Korea. Thorough searches were made, and it was believed two broken beakers were found near the center of two of those three sites.
After Lieutenant Li left the Beijing People's Government building, General Chen put on his enhanced KN95 mask, walked into that restroom, and spilled one beaker on the floor, leaving it on the counter by the sinks. Leaving the building and heading away from his rendezvous point at Beijing Hospital, he spilled two more beakers on street corners. Then he met Lieutenant Li outside the hospital and headed to Dingling Airport (1), where Li's pilot friend was waiting. After taking off, General Chen dropped the rest of the beakers out of the chopper at three points between the Changping District, where the airport was, and Qinhuangdao, a city on the coast of the Bohai Sea. Over the open water, they turned south for a while, then east, toward Seoul. He never recognized the irony of what he was doing, killing innocents, when he couldn't stomach using prisoners as Guinea Pigs.
The remaining government officials in Beijing were furious that the North Koreans would steal the virus and release it in China. The North Koreans adamantly professed innocence. That didn't matter to the Chinese officials. Within days, missiles flew over North Korea. The body count in North Korea was massive. The Chinese had no concern for the number of North Koreans killed in the attacks. North Korea didn't rest on their laurels. Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Guangzhou felt the fury of North Korean missiles. Five of the largest cities in China were nearly obliterated by the time the missiles stopped flying. Nearly four hundred square miles (1000 sq km) in and around Pyongyang were leveled. The virus died along with the human casualties.
What was left of the United States government tried to broker a cease fire. While they were eventually successful, it was more due to the fact the North Koreans had run out of armaments to use against the Chinese. Thousands of refugees stormed across the DMZ into South Korea. Those without military associations were let into South Korea. Anyone with military associations was given a choice. Return to North Korea or continue into South Korea and be shot. Only a few tested South Korea's mettle.
******************************************
Back on the home front, the cleanup of the Eastern seaboard was in full speed ahead mode. Many of the unemployed were paid handsomely to travel across the Appalachians and help dispose of the millions of dead bodies. The 0.4 percent unaffected was significantly generous. Slightly less than 0.1 percent lived. Roughly only 150 thousand of the 150 million residents in that area of the country remained.
People were flown in from every remaining populated state to aid in the cleanup. New Representatives and Senators were elected. Sacramento would remain as the temporary capitol, but the Capitol at Topeka, Kansas was used as the main hub for the evacuation and cleanup efforts.
On a less grand scale, the population at the Best Western Hotel continued to grow. Once the CDC declared the area as all clear, Best Western transferred personnel to that hotel, which was nearing capacity only two days after the KDNL broadcast. Ryan was very happy to hand over the reins to those more qualified and essentially disappear into the background. Corporate wasn't very pleased about three minors being alone in one room. Mathias O'Neill volunteered to move in with them and the boys agreed.
The day after the broadcast, George Dunlop, Sr. called his son, as promised.
"Hi dad. How are you doing?"
"A lot better today. The headaches aren't as bad. How are you holding up?"
"Good. No school, two little brothers to play with all the time, spending time in the pool. It's like a vacation."
George purposely used the term 'little brothers' to see how his dad would react.
"Yeah, that's one thing I wanted to talk to you about. I spoke to your stepmother, Vanessa, about your situation. I had to promise to hire a nanny, but we'd like you to come live with us, along with your 'little brothers.' There will be some legal hoops to jump through, but I'm hearing there are close to thirty-four thousand children who have been orphaned, so if we can help two of them, we'd feel we're doing our part in recovering from this disaster."
"Really? I was thinking I'd have to beg you to take them in too."
"Well, your friend Ryan called this morning and told me how close you'd all gotten. I made the deal with Vanessa shortly after that."
"Hang on, I have to tell them."
"Tell us what?"
"My dad and stepmother are going to let you guys come live with us."
Lionel and Lorenzo squealed in delight, yelling into the phone, "Thank you, Mr. Dunlop!"
"Tell them I said they're welcome, George."
He did. George continued to talk to his father for a while. They agreed the boys would stay at the hotel until George, Sr. got out of the hospital, which was expected to be another week. Mathias only ended up needing to supervise them for two days before Mr. Dunlop appeared, due to the east being re-opened, as it were.
On Friday, May 31st, George, Vanessa, and Vanessa's eleven-year-old daughter Leah arrived. They had flown from Knoxville to Pittsburgh that day, drove to the hotel, and met the boys that afternoon. People had already started moving on, mostly to relative's houses, so the connecting rooms, 107 and 109 were vacant. Mathias remained in 105, and the guys all stayed in 107 until Sunday. Vanessa and Leah slept in 109.
Sunday morning, there was a line of people waiting to say goodbye to George, Lionel, and Lorenzo. A few of the initial group had left, but most of them were there. Nia Barclay had left with David Roberts, whom she had accompanied to pick up the food truck. Henry Green had left to go live with his daughter in Cincinnati temporarily. But the rest were there. George made Emma McDonald promise to come visit them. She was planning on moving close to her son in Huntsville, Alabama and would only be a little over three hours away.
It was not uncommon for the hotel to have a news channel on in the lobby and a few other areas. Just after the newly extended Dunlop family left, there was a news report related to the cleanup.
"In a story related to the cleanup, a young woman was found whose car had apparently left the road near Atkins, Virginia. Investigators believe she likely fell asleep at the wheel of a 2024 Chevy Camaro and drove partway into the Middle Fork Holston River. The investigation is still ongoing, but it has been reported that the car the victim was driving was registered to a Chevrolet dealership in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The woman was identified as Marie-Louise Small, from Clinton, New Jersey. She remains in critical condition. No further information has been provided at this time, but authorities request that anyone with any knowledge of this person, contact the Virginia State Police."
Ryan felt obligated to call VSP and tell them about Marie-Louise. They were very appreciative for the information and were able to find an aunt and uncle in coincidentally, a suburb of Knoxville, Tennessee. Ryan shared that bit of information with George once he found out. Marie-Louise was heading to her aunt's house when she drove into the river.
The Dunlops allowed Marie-Louise and her aunt and uncle to visit the boys once. Marie-Louise apologized for being such a bitch. The four never became friends, but George and Lionel accepted her apology.
The End
Another Lee R. Wilson story comes to an end. I hope you all enjoyed this mini-trip into a partial apocalypse. My attempt to branch out into yet another genre. Next up will be another episode pulled from the files of Detective Genaro Saggio. I'm expecting there will be a book two here, following the mini three musketeers to Knoxville. Hence no epilogue as usual.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.