The Emerald Virus (12 page)

    
“It sounds to me like you have everything under control. I’ll let my team know
where we’re going and what to expect regarding the helicopters.

    
Jack looked at the bunker entrance with amazement. It did look like a Cathedral
opening cut into a solid rock face. There were even rocks that looked like twin
spires on either side of the entrance, although the rock spires were huge and
the entrance rather small, just large enough to drive a large truck through. Ron
showed Jack how the outside of the entrance blast doors were covered with rock
and explained that when the door closed it would look like it was part of the
rock face.

    
Jack was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a flatbed truck and a
forklift available to take the cargo into the facility. The bunker turned out
to be much roomier than Jack had imagined. Ron told him it had been built as a
communication facility and could hold a hundred people comfortably. Since their
combined teams totaled only thirty-four people, space would not be a problem.

    
Each team member was provided with a one page map of the interior so nobody had
to worry about getting lost.

    
The bunker was built on three levels that were connected by three different
staircases. One was located near the front entrance, one at the rear of the
facility and one in the center next to the two large elevators that could be
used for moving equipment or gear. The elevators were large enough to hold the
small forklift with a full pallet.  

    
All of the communication gear and work stations were located on level one, the
upper level; where the entrance was located. The first level down, referred to
as level two, house the work area for Jack and his team, as well as the
cafeteria. This meant that Jack’s team would be totally separated from the
military team, which was okay since they had different missions. The lower or
third level housed the living quarters.

    
Ron and Jack decided that their teams would split the living quarters evenly
since there was so much space available. The bedrooms were small. Each bedroom
had a single bed, a desk and chair, and a large easy chair. The rooms had ample
lighting and they were carpeted; the walls were painted different colors,
albeit the colors were industrial plain. Each room had a single doorway going to
the hallway, and each had a bathroom that connected to the room next door. The
bath was intended to be shared by the occupants of each adjoining room. Since
their numbers were small each person was assigned to the two rooms with the
connecting bath so nobody needed to share a bathroom. The extra room could be
converted into a sitting room if the occupant wanted to do so. Each room was
also equipped with a radio and a small T.V., both of which accessed satellite
signals.

    
After all of the gear had been stored and the room assignments had been handed
out Ron and Jack asked all of the team members to meet them in the cafeteria
for a meeting of all hands. Ron and Jack briefed the teams on the arrangement
they had come to. Ron would be in charge of all things military, the cafeteria
and half of the living quarters. Jack would be responsible for the working half
of the second level and half of the living quarters.

    
Each quadrant on the living level had a decent workout room. Ron explained that
two were for both military and civilian women, and two for both military and
civilian men. Ron also told the civilians that one of his sergeant’s was
trained as a physical therapist and anyone who wanted to use her to build a
personal training plan was welcome to do so.

    
One of the young military men asked about a section of the map that did not
have a label and seemed to be off the cafeteria, but beyond the visible floor
plan.

    
Ron smiled and said, “This is one of the nice things about this facility. That
area is through the double doors behind you and is about twice the size of one
of the levels. It’s an area set aside to grow fresh fruits and vegetables. In
permanent storage in this bunker the Army has kept enough bagged dirt to cover
that entire area with eighteen inches of some of the best soil available. Part
of the bunker activation plan included bringing in plants in various stages of
growth so that we can harvest different plants at different times. Two members
of my team are specialists in this area and will be responsible for the care
and harvesting of our natural products. However, if any other member of either
team wants to participate in growing anything at all you’re welcome to do so.
We have enough room so that if you want to start a flower or vegetable garden
you can. We have an assortment of seeds available so you can even pick your
favorite plants to work with. The ceiling is covered with gro-lights so the
plants won’t miss the sunlight. Growing flowers and vegetables is a great hobby
and I plan to start my own garden.

    
“The only thing I ask is that you always make sure the doors seal shut behind
you when you come and go. The environment in the growing room is strictly
controlled and leaving the door ajar will be harmful. By the way the garden
will be watered through our water recycling plant. The only water we will
actually lose is that absorbed by the plants themselves.”

    
Jack asked Ron if he had any more nice surprises for the group. Ron said, “I do
have one or two more surprises; one I’ll tell you about now and the others
we’ll save for another time. As you know alcohol is generally not allowed in
military facilities. However, we have managed to bring enough wine with us so
that we can serve wine with dinner each evening. There is enough wine for two
glasses per person per night, and the choices are pretty generic, but I hope
this will help make things a little more comfortable for us. By the way, if you
don’t drink, please don’t give your share to anyone else. We can’t afford for
this to become a problem for anyone and I don’t want any hangovers because
someone over indulged. If having the wine creates any problems we’ll have to
stop, so please be responsible.  

    
It was late and Jack told his team it was time to call it a night. Breakfast
would be served by the Army cooks between six and seven o’clock. He told them
that he expected to see all of them at breakfast since there would be no other
chance to eat until lunch. He wanted all of them to stay healthy and eating
three meals a day would help.

Tuesday,
Atlanta Georgia

    
Charlotte White sat on the sofa with her Mother and watched reports of the
spread of the Emerald Virus. She had been at her Mom’s house for about an hour
and she knew she would have to start for home soon. She wanted to be there by
dark and the light failed early in November, even in Atlanta.

    
Like her Mom, Charlotte was of diminutive build and of neither light nor dark
complexion. She had large and expressive hazel eyes and her boys always swore
she had more insight than a person needed. She always laughed at that. She did
have a good feel for people, and her husband James used her talent to help him since
he had no insight at all. But with the boys she didn’t need insight. As a
mother she could read both of them like a book.

   
Charlotte and her Mom had talked a little about their family history. Both of
them were proud of the fact that they could trace their history back to Africa.
Her Mom had always told her that there was power in knowing your heritage, and
Charlotte had always believed that truth.

    
They had talked of Noqui, the small village in present day Angola that sits on
the Congo River. Noqui was the home of Charlotte’s Great Grandfather, who came
to be known as Homer Wells. He had been captured by the Chief of the
neighboring village of Matadi, and sold to the captain of the slave ship the “Wanderer”
for $50.00. He had then sailed on the “Wanderer” to America and had been sold
on Jekyll Island, Georgia to a local farmer for $650.00.

    
The Wanderer had been built by Thomas Hawkins in Setauket, New York. The ship
had been built as a luxury yacht and sold in 1857 for the unbelievable price of
$25,000. The following year it was purchased by William Corrie who outfitted
the ship as a fast slaver. The Wanderer then sailed to the Atlantic coast of
Africa and up the Congo River where it stopped at various villages randomly and
purchased slaves.

    
The Wanderer left Africa with 487 slaves and arrived six weeks later on Jekyll
Island with 409 slaves still alive. The death rate had been slightly higher
than the typical twelve percent. The slaves were sold quickly and quietly since
importing slaves had become illegal in both Britain and the United States in
1808. Unfortunately only Britain enforced the law with enthusiasm. The British
Government not only patrolled the Oceans in search of slavers, they also tried
to convince the rulers of other European, Caribbean, and South American countries
to outlaw slaving; lastly they tried to convince African tribal leaders to get
out of the slave business. The U.S. was split; the North had stopped importing
slaves while the South continued to import slaves to the extent they could get
away with it. By 1858 it was getting difficult to get away with slaving.

    
For a while the Wanderer was thought to have been the last slave ship to
complete the Middle Passage. However the following year the schooner
“Clotilde”, carrying about 140 slaves reached Mobile Bay. The slaves were taken
off the Clotilde to an off shore island and the ship was set on fire and sunk
by the owner in order to avoid conflict with Federal authorities.

    
Charlotte and her Mother were always thankful that Homer Wells had come so late
to America. Consequently he was a slave only from October 1858 until the end of
the Civil War in April 1865. He never forgot his home village and always hoped
one day to return. He never did. He did however manage to make a living
following the Civil War, to marry, and to have five children. The youngest was
Charlotte’s Grandmother.

    
As a child Charlotte was enthralled with the stories her Grandmother would tell
her about Homer Wells. Charlotte smiled at the thought. The family always
referred to her Great Grandfather as Homer Wells; never as Homer, or Father, or
Grandfather, but always as Homer Wells. Her Grandmother had once told her that
her Father had always referred to himself as Homer Wells, and so the family
continued the tradition.

    
Charlotte had once asked her Grandmother to tell her what Homer Wells said
about his years as a slave. Her Grandmother surprised her by saying that while
Homer detested being a slave he was thankful to have been brought to America.
Her Grandmother explained that Homer Wells had been captured by the residents
of a village in Africa, and that typically he would have been sold to another
distant tribe and would have remained a slave for the rest of his life. He also
knew from his experience in his own tribe that slaves tended to die young in
Africa, so the rest of his life would have probably been much shorter than it
turned out to be.

    
Homer Wells also knew fate had smiled on him when he became associated with a
land lord who was actually fair. It was this that allowed Homer Wells to save
enough money over time to purchase his own small plot of land and ultimately
move away from share-cropping and begin farming.

    
Homer Wells had moved to the Atlanta area after the end of Civil War hostilities.
He became the rare ex-slave who came to own his own small farm. He passed the
farm on to his children who took it a step farther when they changed from
growing tobacco and cotton to growing vegetables, and selling them locally.

    
Following World War One the roadside produce stand became a small store, and as
the city of Atlanta expanded and surrounded their rural setting, the store and
the family became if not wealthy at least prosperous for the times.

    
Following World War Two the family business continued to expand. The original
store had doubled in size and a second and then a third store had been added in
neighboring towns. The family had expanded the size of the farm and they now
not only sold fresh produce at their own stores, but to other retailers as
well. They enjoyed a great reputation locally and anyone who bought their
produce knew they could count on a quality product.

    
The family never considered making the migration to one of the northern cities
as so many of their friends and acquaintances had done. Charlotte still
remembered her Uncles having a heated debate with her younger brother on this
issue one evening.

    
Saul had come to believe that life would be better for a Negro family in the
north. Both the Uncles were adamantly opposed. She could still remember her
Uncle Robert telling Saul that he had fought in WWII so that he would have the
right to live where he wanted, and while this country had a lot of problems,
and the South even more so, this was home and he wasn’t moving. Besides, there
were now important people who were fighting to change things, and for the first
time they were getting support from the Federal government, even if the support
was largely passive.

    
Saul remained focused on his dream of moving north and so he did. Two years
later he was back in Atlanta and he had the good sense to act humble. He told
the family that he didn’t understand the northern Blacks who looked poorly at
recent migrants from the South. He found work in a factory and made enough
money to live, but the circumstances of that life weren’t for him. It just
wasn’t the same as his Southern life style.

    
The family attributed Saul’s adventure to youth and welcomed him back into the
family business. Saul became the most outspoken member of the family when it
came to supporting the local community and the quiet lifestyle found on the
outskirts of this small Southern city.

    
Charlotte blinked and realized her Mother was speaking to her and had to ask
her to repeat the question.

    
“I said, don’t you have to be going soon? It will be dark in about an hour.”

   
 “Oh, thanks Mom, yes I do need to leave soon but we still have a little time.
Tell me, have you decided yet about coming to stay with James and I?”

    
“Yes I have, I’ve decided that this is not the time to be too independent. It
looks like this virus will be with us soon. There are already hundreds of cases
reported in the city. While I haven’t gotten used to the idea that we will all
move on within just a couple of weeks, I have decided that I don’t want to be
alone when we go through it.”

    
Charlotte said, “That’s a relief. I can’t tell you how much I want you to join
us and how happy I am with your decision. I’m afraid if you had said no, I
might have had to ask James and the boys just to come and kidnap you.”

    
Her Mom smiled and said, “Well, we don’t have to worry about that, but what
about your boys and their families, what will they do?”

    
Charlotte frowned and said, “I’ve extended the same invitation to both of them
and they’re talking to their wives now. Jamal will probably join us with his
two little ones since his wife is from Florida and all of her relatives are
there. I’m not sure about James Jr., you know Tiffany’s parents live in Decatur
and I’m sure they want Tiffany to join them. I don’t even know what I would do
under those circumstances, so I’m waiting for J.J. to tell me what they’ve
decided.”

    
Charlotte and her Mom agreed on a time for James to pick her up in the morning,
and Charlotte began the thirty minute drive home. She spent the time both
listening to the radio news of the virus and working out the logistics of her
Mom, her sons, their wives and the three Grandchildren living with her and
James. Once she felt she had a workable plan to keep everyone in relative
comfort with some semblance of privacy she felt better.

    
However, there was nothing on the radio that could be considered anything like
good news. The virus in Western Europe was terrible. It seemed that no one even
knew what was happening in Great Britain or Ireland. News reports from there
had stopped a couple of days ago. The countries on the Atlantic seaboard of
Europe were being devastated and those farther inland were in panic as the
virus spread quickly through Europe and into Asia. 

    
Charlotte was worried about what would happen in Atlanta when the virus started
killing people. She didn’t know and she tried not to think about it, although
that proved impossible.

    
For now she would do what she could for her family. When she got home she would
ask James to get the old bunk beds and a cot out of the attic and set up for
the grandkids. She knew her job would be to make sure the freezer and pantry
were well stocked, and she knew she would have to complete that job tomorrow.
She was already concerned that services would start going down-hill soon, and
at the rate the virus was spreading it would not be long before the stores
would no longer be stocked, or even open. She would ask both J.J. and Jamal to
bring whatever food they had at their homes.

    
She was looking forward to getting home and talking to James. The two of them
had been together for almost thirty years and he remained her best friend. He
always seemed to know what to say in times of crisis and she wanted to talk to
him again about the virus. She knew there was nothing he could do to change
anything that was coming, but she still wanted to listen to him and his
inevitable practical approach to every problem.

    
She had met James when he came home from the war the first time. He had served
with Charlotte’s older brother Paul and they had become close friends. She had
adored Paul her entire life. He always seemed to take pride in his little
sister and she always felt special around him.

    
She had been devastated when Paul had been killed in February 1968 during the
battle for Hue. James and Paul had been in the 1
^st
Battalion, 1
^st
Marines, and were fighting side by side that day. After being wounded Paul had
asked James to promise that he would visit Paul’s family and tell them how he
had died and that his last thoughts were of his family. Even though James kept
telling Paul he would be okay, Paul had died before the corpsman could even get
to him.

    
James had knocked on their door four months later. He spent three days with
them during which he fulfilled his promise. He described Paul’s actions during
the first three weeks of the battle, and he described his death. During those
three days he cried with the family and he laughed with them, and he came to be
a part of them in a surprising and comfortable way. It was the only time James
discussed his role in the war with Charlotte, although they talked of Paul now
and then over the years.

    
James still had a year to serve on his enlistment and the Marine Corp sent him
to Vietnam for a second tour of duty. During this time Charlotte, who was now a
senior in high school, wrote James often, and occasionally James would write
back. Charlotte was attending Clark College in Atlanta when James returned
home. He visited the family again, but this time as a guest of Charlotte’s. The
family was pleased and Charlotte’s father offered James a job with the family
business, but with conditions.

    
It was apparent that Charlotte and James were strongly attracted to each other,
but Charlotte’s education was paramount to her father. He told James he had to
agree first and foremost that he would do everything he could to help Charlotte
graduate. That meant he could only see her on Sundays during the school term.

    
He also let James know that this would be a courtship, not a whirlwind romance.
James agreed, and he ‘courted’ Charlotte for more than three years before they
were married. While they found that some exceptions to the Sunday only rule
were important, they were sure to keep clandestine meetings quiet since neither
of them wanted to disappoint Charlotte’s father.