A New World 10 - Storm (26 page)

“I’m with you so far. That’s why we are working on ways to push them east,” I comment.

Frank holds up a hand, and continues. “As I mentioned before, I tagged a few of the packs to look at their patterns. So far, they don’t have any that I can identify. When they leave their lairs, their direction seems random. Perhaps they smell prey in a certain direction, I don’t know. The packs, both medium and small, seem to return to the same lairs at the approach of dawn. Here’s the interesting thing, though. When they return, they are bringing things back.”

Frank turns the laptop around so that we can all see the monitor. He presses play and a short series of videos begin playing.

“There, you see,” he says, pausing the video and pointing to a pack. “All of them appear to be carrying something.”

He fast-forwards to show the same group exit. “When they leave the next evening, they do so empty-handed.”

“What are they bringing back?” Greg asks.

“I have no idea. If I were to hazard a guess, they are storing whatever they are bringing in,” Frank responds.

He rewinds the video and freezes on an image of the night runners just outside of a building. Pressing a key, the picture zooms in. As we’re looking at an IR video, it’s hard to tell exactly what they have, but the figures on the screen are definitely carrying something. And each appears to be a different shape. The objects don’t give off much of a heat signature so it’s hard to tell exactly what they are.

“Could it be that they are gathering food, like from the hunt?” Lynn asks.

“That’s a possibility, but if that were true, we should be seeing residual heat signatures,” Frank replies.

“Okay, we’ve found them eating food from stores and such. Could it be that? Could they somehow be sensing the colder weather approaching and storing food? I know it sounds outlandish, but other animals do it,” I say.

“That’s what I was thinking and is the most likely answer. However, I think we’re missing the point here. The thing that worries me, and this is possibly the most important fact: They are
all
doing it. At least the ones I’ve been watching. I’ll enlarge the scope of my observations, but I’m pretty sure we’ll see the same thing.” Frank states.

“Well, like Jack said, other animals conduct this kind of activity, so why wouldn’t they? And, if it’s instinctual, it just makes sense that they’d all be doing it?” Greg comments.

“I may just be paranoid, but they’re also running around out in the rain and cold, barefoot for the most part, and in tattered clothing. All I’m saying is, if storing food was instinctual, then so would finding something warm and dry.”

“And you are seeing this across the board?”

“With every pack that I’ve tagged and watched. They are all doing this.”

“Let’s assume that Frank is right for a moment; that they aren’t acting on instinct. It’s obvious they are carrying something. That indicates a level of coordination that’s mind-boggling. If a half-million night runners, spread across miles of territory, are all doing the same thing, and it’s not something that is coming naturally, that doesn’t bode well. As a matter of fact, it scares the hell out of me,” I state.

“And let’s not forget the intelligence factor that would have to go into such an enterprise,” Greg comments.

“Is there any way we can get clearer images?” Lynn asks.

“It’s at night, but I’ll ask Harold. I’m sure we can rustle up more detailed images, if not video. I haven’t really seen a need for it before now. I only wanted to track movements,” Frank says.

“Okay, let’s see if we can observe what they are carrying. You haven’t found any larger groups than what we’ve seen?” I ask.

“No, you’ve been up there. The place is overrun by small and medium-sized packs,” Frank answers.

“I don’t know why, but the large one we spotted some time ago keeps tickling my mind. It worries me that we haven’t located it, or come across any sign of them since,” I say.

“They could have been an anomaly. I haven’t observed anything like that north of us, or anywhere else for that matter, ” Frank responds.

“That doesn’t make me any more comfortable,” I reply.

“Me either. There just hasn’t been any sign of a pack that large since we took down the ones at the hospital. It could be that they dispersed,” Franks comments.

“Watch for them. I just get an uneasy feeling, that’s all.”

“I’ll expand my search and continue to monitor,” Frank says.

“Okay, with all of that fun news, let’s talk about the thing I’ve been putting off for a few days. I’d like to bring up the possibility of us relocating to the bunker,” I say.

“What is there to discuss? I say we do it,” Greg comments.

“In light of what we’re seeing up north, and the potential, I’m afraid I have to agree with Greg,” Frank says.

I look around, wondering if I’m the only one who is having a problem with this. Yes, I had resolved a lot of my conflict about leaving, but still, I feel like I’m about to give up my child. However, perhaps it’s time we found a safer location. This place served its purpose well, but the constant stress caused by our night runner neighbors will eventually wear us all down. And the bunker is rather perfect and can accommodate all of us…and more.

Lynn is looking at me curiously. “Okay, let’s move along the lines that we’ll be moving. Let’s see what we’re looking at,” I say.

“I guess that would depend. Are we thinking of carting our supplies from here: The vehicles, food, ammo? Or would we just pick up and leave, gathering supplies there?” Bannerman asks.

“I think it would be a shame to leave everything here. I say we load what we can and transport it. The passes are still clear so that wouldn’t be a problem,” Frank answers. “But that’s just me.”

“We brought in quite a few extra containers, so we should have enough, I would think,” Bannerman says. “Frank and I have been looking closely at this for the past few days. The conditions there aren’t much different than here. There are Fort Carson and Petersen AFB where we could get fuel, vehicles, weapons, and ammo, much like we use Fort Lewis and McChord here. In some ways, it would basically be a restart, but many of the pieces are already in place. There are some areas where it’s give and take. For instance, the fields surrounding the bunker are prime for agriculture, but without the hunting and fishing opportunities that are afforded here, meaning we’d have to range farther for game. We’d never be able to match Puget Sound’s ample fishing, but we’d have grain in plenty.

“Let’s see, we’ll need to transport the horses and livestock as I have no idea what could be found there. It will be chillier in the winter, so we’ll need to account for that. With the cold coming on, stables and barns will have to be erected in short order. I’m sure that the corridor along the interstates that run through Denver have DCs along them. It would just be a matter of locating them and hope they haven’t already been scavenged. All in all, with everything considered, things balance out. We shouldn’t have any difficulties establishing long-term supplies.”

Bannerman nods to Frank and I can tell they rehearsed this to a degree.

“First of all, you missed that the facility will house us all, as is,” Frank says.

“That I did,” Bannerman replies.

I’m surprised that Bannerman didn’t lead off and end with that. He’s been pressing for better conditions since we began bringing people in. As a matter of fact, I’m astonished that wasn’t his only reasoning. Maybe it is and all of the other was just fluff.

“Like Bannerman mentioned, we have the base at Fort Carson to draw from, so we’re not lost with regards to ammo and armament availability. Although it took us some time and resources, we can begin setting up another wall construction if we so desire, provided the materials are available. The bunker is far away from any formerly populated areas, so the threat from night runners is decreased,” Frank begins.

I raise a hand to halt him momentarily. “You realize Denver is actually closer to the bunker than Seattle is to us.”

“Yes, but the difference is the direction of urban buildup. The urban areas radiating out from Seattle are directed straight at us. With Denver, the buildup heads north and south, not in the bunker’s direction at all,” Frank replies.

“And, with the bases, we’d have to clear out the areas that we’d want to use all over again,” I state.

“True, but the bases up north are becoming increasingly dangerous to venture into. It kind of amounts to the same thing.”

“Okay, sorry, continue,” I say.

“Well, that’s really about it. We’d have some work ahead of us, but we have that now. There’s electrical, housing, water, and food in place. Basically, it seems to me, well, us,” Frank says, including Bannerman, “that it’s a safe place; especially with hundreds of thousands of night runners poised on our current doorstep.”

“All right, so, let’s talk about the logistics of the move. Like Frank mentioned, I’d like to bring what we can with us. It’s better to have than have not,” I comment.

“We’ll have to organize convoys of trucks, and they’ll have to be protected in the event they run into marauders. That will take away a large percentage of our teams, which will leave us a little short-handed here. I know that will make it more difficult, but I don’t see a way around that. If we are going to move, we’ll have to do it soon. We could supplement that with C-130 runs,” Bannerman says.

“How long do you see this taking?” Lynn asks.

Frank and Bannerman look at each other.

“I don’t think we could transport everything in one run. That would take more vehicles and personnel than we have. I figure it will take two runs at least. Seeing it would be a large convoy, I’m guessing each way to be about a three-day trip. Three days to get there, one day to unload, and three days to return. That means a week for each run.”

“So, all told, we’re looking at two weeks, even using the 130?” Lynn says.

“Plus one day to load up here, but that about sums it up,” Bannerman responds.

“Frank, regarding the night runners, do we have that kind of time? You said they don’t look like they’re moving, but that could change in a heartbeat,” I ask.

“I don’t know. Nothing indicates that they’re moving, or ready to do so, but we really don’t know for sure. I’m sure that taking out the bridges bought us some time. I think we still need to concentrate on pushing them east, just in case.”

“So, basically, we’re talking about using delaying tactics at this point. Hitting the southern and western areas to push them east and keep them away from us until we can complete the move,” I comment.

“Sounds like you’re convinced, Jack,” Greg states.

“Maybe. The sheer amount of night runners and the stress they create, whether they move or not, pretty much outweighs a lot of other considerations. I hate the very idea of abandoning our sanctuary, one that we built, but I don’t see that we have much of a choice. However, that’s not up to me. It’s up to us,” I say.

The vote is unanimous to go ahead with the move. Apparently, I
was
the only one having problems. I think that means it’s time to retire. I really get the feeling that they talked about this while I was gone. Greg was with me, but his desire to go was a given. However, I’m left with a distinct impression, although there was important information that needed to be shared, that the discussion about the move was staged for my benefit, and they had already reached their conclusions.

“Okay, let’s notify the others in camp and start preparing. We need to delay anything the night runners might have in store to disrupt us. We’ll continue the burns when possible and use the Spooky on a day and night campaign, focusing on the southern and western areas in order to deny them any lairs near us. If they do decide to move while we’re in the midst of all this, I agree with Frank that we need to do whatever we can to make them move east.

“We’ll gather the trucks and load them up. Like mentioned previously, we’ll use the 130 to ferry people and some supplies. Bannerman, I think you should be one of the first at the bunker to oversee operations there once the first convoy is ready. Frank, I’ll need you here to help coordinate and to keep an eye on our friends to the north. We’ll need some warning if our efforts to push them east fail and they begin to move south. I think we should ferry over as many people as possible, leaving only a skeleton crew here. We’ll need to establish folks there to set up operations and help unload the supplies. Oh, and Jan stays here,” I say.

Lynn gives me another curious look. “Why?”

“Because, if we can swing it, we need to get up to the university to get her the equipment she needs,” I answer. “She’ll have to go with us in order to point out the right gear. If I were to get the equipment myself, she’d end up with a scale, a Bunsen burner, and a couple of glass beakers. I’d probably grab a microwave, thinking it looked important. I’m not sure any of those would help much.”

Lynn and the others nod.

“Bannerman, we’ll also need a runway carved out. We can use fuel bladders in the interim, but we’ll eventually need to set up a fuel farm and ammo bunkers,” I continue.

“I think we need to send more teams for security. We can send the five new teams over, giving us eight teams there. Montore and his company can provide escort for the convoys. That will still leave us with five teams on location. It will be thin, but it should be enough, being as we won’t be going anywhere,” Lynn says.