Survivors (17 page)

Mary stepped outside the operating room
and talked to Jessie and Paul. Let’s get Phyllis
here. We can start our training this afternoon. We
were very lucky today. We got her the thrombolytic
drug very quickly, and it dissolved the clot. Now we
have to manage the drug dose. We can monitor her
clotting time, and if it gets too long, we’ll lower the
drip rate. If we don’t control her clotting factors,
she could have an aneurism. We’ll be walking a
tightrope for the next few days.”

I walked up to our medical staff after Mary
finished talking. “Thank you,” I said, “We’re lucky
to have all three of you. You were all cool under
pressure. I don’t think a trained medical team
could have done any better.”

Mary said, “Thank you, but we could have
done a lot better. I learned something today. We
need to have something like a golf cart with a
stretcher on the back to get the person here quickly and with less physical trauma, and we need to
have the critical equipment always warmed up and
ready to go.”

I drove the U-Haul back to the apartment
complex and was immediately met by a group of
concerned residents who wanted to know what
happened. I explained Beth had a stroke, but she
was resting now and appeared to be without longterm effects, because Mary and her support team
had known exactly what to do.

Stan was there and I explained what Mary
wanted for an emergency transport vehicle to bring
people to the emergency room. He left on his new
assignment, and I knew he would find a solution to
the problem.

I found Blaine working on the engine to the
Piper Cub. Debbie’s friend Bruce was working with
him. The spreadsheet indicated Bruce was an auto
mechanic, and it seemed like a natural fit for him
to extend his expertise to Blaine’s aircraft. As I approached the airplane, Blaine stopped explaining
the intricacies of the engine. Sorry to interrupt
Blaine, but tomorrow I’d like us to fly over to MacDill Air Force Base.”

“How many will take the trip?”
“Just the two of us, I want to establish contact with any survivors.”

“Only one problem,” he said, “The Piper
Cub’s engine is missing a little. Why don’t Bruce,
you, and I drive down to the Naples airport tomorrow morning. We’ll take my turboprop, and while
we’re gone, Bruce can go about collecting all of the
parts we’re going to need to service the engine. I
think the problem is just a clogged fuel filter.”

“Sounds like a plan; let’s leave at nine
o’clock.”

As an afterthought I said, “Let’s bring them
some fresh fruits and vegetables. I’m sure they’d
appreciate the gift.”

Blaine smiled, “I guess a little bribe won’t
hurt.”

I was walking away when Bruce caught up
to me. “Jim, I want to apologize for what happened
out there. I’ve never done anything violent in my
whole life. It’s just that I saw what they did to Debbie, and the big fat guy was the most brutal. The
gun was sitting in the front seat. I just grabbed it
and sneaked up on you guys.”

“Bruce, we all did some bad things yesterday. I hope we all learned from what happened so
it won’t happen again. By the way, how’s Debbie?”

She’s better; we moved in together in Building F; I’m taking care of her now.”

“That’s good,” I said, “I’m no psychiatrist,
but I’m guessing it would be a good thing if she
volunteers to do some things to take her mind off
what happened.”

Bruce nodded his head in agreement.
I was walking back to my apartment when I
ran into Jasmine and Hunter. I told them what had
happened to Beth.

“How was school?” I asked.

They showed me their homework. Jasmine
said, “It was pretty easy today. Miss Janet just
wanted to find out what each of us knew. Then we
all had to pick out a book to read tonight and give
a report tomorrow.”

Hunter said, “It was pretty cool, I picked
out a book about astronauts. Jasmine said she’d
help with some of the hard words.”

“That’s great Hunter. Tonight you can tell
me all about the book. That way you can practice
for your presentation tomorrow.”

It was close to dinner time, and Isaac had
set up a table just outside the tent and was distributing phones to people. He had also typed up a
phone directory, and was handing a copy to each
person who registered for a phone.

I waited in the long line. When he checked
off my name and handed me my phone, I asked
him if he had given phones to Mary and Jessie. He
had, and he said Beth was doing better. I tried my
phone, and Mary answered on the second ring. After getting her update, I asked if I could bring over
dinners for everyone. I found out the surprise meal
for tonight was beef tenderloin. The meat had been
taken from Publix yesterday. Mary asked me to
bring five servings.

I walked into the kitchen and gave everyone
an update on Beth’s condition. The kitchen staff
was relieved. They prepared five individual servings
of the dinner: a generous portion of tenderloin,
fresh green beans, a baked potato, and some chocolate pudding for dessert. The staff packed the
dinners in some empty cardboard boxes, and then
they helped me bring them to my U-Haul truck.

I arrived in our new emergency room to find
Beth in good spirits. Mary explained they had
hooked up vital signs monitoring to Beth more for
practice than because she needed it. Phyllis, Paul,
and Jessie were receiving instructions from Mary
on how each of the instruments worked. I bent
down and gave Beth a kiss on her cheek. “You had
us worried Head Chef.”

She smiled and answered, “I think I was
more worried than you.”

“By the way, your staff said they would visit
you after they serve dinner, and your surprise dinner looks wonderful.”

She answered, “We had to fix it; all the
freezers at Costco and in the apartments are filled
to capacity.”

By the time I returned to the apartment
complex, people were lined up to get their taste of
the wonderful meal. Several bottles of wine were
available at the end of the food line, and I poured
myself a full glass of the red.

I found an empty seat at Manny’s table and
explained I wanted to bring a gift of fresh fruits
and vegetables to the survivors at MacDill. He said
he would personally prepare a few cases of fresh
produce. Looking around the table, I noticed the
Immokalee people were not sitting at his table. As I
looked around I could see them spread out
throughout the tent. They were all being accepted
into our community and the sight made me feel
very good.

I spotted Brad Davis at another table with
some of the same people who had been reluctant to
welcome the Immokalee survivors the day they arrived. They didn’t look very happy as they ate their
dinners. After clearing my plate, I took my halffinished glass of wine and sat down at their table.
“What’s up guys?” I asked.

Brad said, “I heard you’re flying over to
MacDill Air Force Base tomorrow. What are you
going to do there?”

“I want to locate more survivors.”
“Aren’t there enough people living here already?”

“Brad, we have room for a lot more people,
and those people are more than welcome to come
live with us, but that’s for them to decide. I just
want to meet with them so we can open lines of
communication. I’m sure there will be thousands
of communities just like ours across the whole
country. Eventually we’re going to have to figure
out how we can put the country back together.”

Brad and his friends looked bitter and angry. I can’t explain why they looked that way; it
had something to do with their body language. “By
the way Brad, what have you been doing to volunteer?”

Brad answered, “I’ve been checking things
out; I’m still trying to decide where I can help out.”

“Well Brad, if I can help, just ask; you know
everyone here has to be willing to help. I’m sure
you guys all have skills we can put to use.”

As I left their table, I wondered how these
characters were able to find each other so quickly.
They obviously weren’t friends before the pandemic.

Chapter 24

The drive down to the Naples airport was
uneventful. We had four large crates of fresh fruits
and vegetables in the back of the U-Haul truck. We
passed a few corpses along the way, and all had
been picked clean. Only bones and torn clothing
remained scattered alongside the road. I wondered
what animals had been feasting on the human
flesh.

It took Blaine a few minutes to show Bruce
where all of the parts and tools could be found,
and then another thirty minutes to check out his
twin engine turboprop. It was almost eleven o’clock
before Blaine and I took off and headed north toward Tampa.

An hour later we were approaching the
MacDill Air Force Base. Blaine slowed down our
plane and deployed the flaps. We were floating
along at a little over ninety miles per hour and circling around the military field. There was no point
in landing if nobody showed up to greet us, and
the sound of an airplane would certainly attract
attention.

Suddenly a group of soldiers ran out of a
building and began waving at us. Blaine lined up
the plane with the runway closest to where the
people were waving. He made a perfect landing and
taxied over to the group of survivors. As soon as
the propellers stopped spinning, Blaine opened the
portside hatch, and we stepped down onto the
tarmac.

A dozen soldiers wearing fatigues met our
plane. Blaine and I introduced ourselves, and I explained we were from the Naples area, and several
hundred of us had set ourselves up at the Florida
Gulf Coast University campus, and we were here to
establish contact with the survivors in the Tampa
area.

A sergeant, who seemed to be the senior
soldier in the group, explained there were a little
less than fifty people remaining on the base. Another dozen had left during the past few weeks. I
asked who the senior officer was.

The sergeant said, “That would be Major
Connors. He’s at his home right now, but I’m sure
he heard your airplane and will be here in a few
minutes.”

Sure enough, I could see a car speeding on
the tarmac in our direction.

The bright red Chevy Camaro screeched to
a stop, and a soldier dressed in army fatigues and
an olive-drab t-shirt stepped out and immediately
introduced himself. “Major Arnie Connors, pleased
to meet you.”

Blaine and
I
introduced
ourselves,
and
then I explained where we were from. “Major, we’ve
brought some fresh produce with us. We thought
you might be short of food, and we have enough so
we brought some for you guys.”

Blaine opened the luggage storage hold and
the soldiers smiled as they gathered around the
aircraft and helped unload the fresh food. The Major thanked us. “You have no idea how much this
is appreciated Jim. We’re desperate for fresh food
here. We’ve been living on canned food. I’m personally getting pretty tired of canned tuna.”

“Major,” I said, “Blaine and I want to spend
today with you and your people. We need to help
each other. There are some important things going
on, and you need to get updated. Where’s a good
place to talk?”

The major thought for a minute. We’ve got
no power. The emergency generators ran out last
week. Why don’t we all go over to my house? I’ve
got some shade in the backyard and we can talk
there. Sergeant, please muster all of the survivors
and tell them where we’re meeting, and see if you
can find some refreshments for our guests.”

Major Connors drove us over to his place,
and we sat at a round patio table in his backyard
under a grouping of palm trees. He offered us bottles of warm water and we sat there waiting for
other people to show up.

“Major, what’s been going on here? Why
have people left?”

“Please call me Arnie. I think my role as a
military officer isn’t quite like it used to be. Riots
started in Tampa about a month ago. Survivors
weren’t just hunting for food; it was more like
class-warfare. The poor survivors began attacking
and killing the rest of the people. I don’t really
know why; maybe it was revenge for all of the mistreatment they thought they had received over the
years. As soon as it started, survivors began leaving. I guess they knew they would have to leave
sooner or later. There was no electricity, no fresh
water, the toilets didn’t work. The whole city was
one big disaster.

“There was plenty of food of course. You
could break into anyone’s house and get a week’s
supply of whatever you wanted as long as it wasn’t
refrigerated. As best as we can determine, there’re
about one-hundred survivors living on the outskirts of Tampa, just east of the city. They’re a
bunch of drunken men along with a few women.
They’re just living day to day existences. They kill
anyone who won’t join their group. I’ve sent out a
couple of my men as scouts, and they’re keeping
track of them.”

I asked, “Why haven’t they attacked here?”

“I guess they’re afraid. They know we’re
well-armed, and they don’t know how many soldiers are still here. So they leave us alone. The
truth is if they attacked, our small group of soldiers would probably get overrun quickly.”

“So why don’t you leave?”

“There’s a huge armory here Jim. This base
was the United States Central Command. You may
recall we ran the two Gulf wars out of here. Can
you imagine what would happen if these misfits
captured our armory and took possession of all the
weapons? They’d overrun the countryside. Someone needs to protect the armory. I’ve got the place
already wired with explosives. The last man standing is under strict orders to blow everything up,
but I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.”

Blaine asked, “Where are all the aircraft?
The place looks deserted.”

“About two months ago, General Simmons
ordered all our aircraft to redeploy. They were sent
to isolated bases throughout the country. The
General thought the soldiers would be protected
from the pandemic. None of us realized everyone
had already been infected.”