The Event (Book 1): Survival (5 page)

              "How's it going Dut?" I asked, using his nickname from when he was a kid.

              "Not bad. We haven't had any serious attacks in a while, everyone's morale is up, it's all good," he said, running his fingers through his hair. He still preferred the long hair, I think just to irritate his dad, "What are you doing on horseback?"

              "Just wanted to get a little riding in. I haven't just relaxed in a while, and as I'm sure you've heard, we started my northern venture today, the ships pulled out this morning, and I'm a little on edge." I explained. Dustin was one of the few I was close enough with to talk to.

              "Right on, I gotcha. How's dad doing, he hasn't come down in a while either."

              "He's good. So are Michelle, and the girls. I hear Nathan is quite the shot now, and apparently Bug and Lu are becoming quite the little watchers also." I said, Nathan being Dustin's brother, and Bug and Lu being nicknames for their brother Austin and sister Alexis, respectfully.

              Dustin chuckled, "Yeah, they are doing well."

              "Well, it's getting close to dark, I'm gonna head back to the stables. Be safe, let us know if anything happens."

              "You know it." He said with a wave, as I started trotting off. I took the horse back to the stables, brushed him, and headed back to the ship. By the time I made it back it was dark. I parked the cart and walked up the stairs to the elevator. I headed up to my quarters to shower and get some sleep. Tomorrow I would start worrying about the ships.

Chapter 5

Sept. 1, 2020

              I woke up the next morning around eight o'clock. After getting dressed and making a quick pot of coffee, I took my travel mug with me as I walked up to the bridge. I heard the rain on the windows before I got up there.

              "We have any status updates on the cruisers?" I asked, before anyone had a chance to acknowledge I was there.

              "Yes sir. Nothing out of the ordinary yesterday. The Port Royal has cleared half the marinas along the eastern bay, and sent depth measurements as far as they could go in. They reported no infected contact. The Leyte Gulf also reports no infected contact. They secured the western drawbridge yesterday, and have made it to the first bridge to be destroyed this morning. Both ships report no sign of human occupation." Reported the radio operator on duty.

              "Thank you. That's a relief. Any reports from the fence line overnight?"

              "No sir, nothing."

              Jeff walked in then, and took over the bridge. I stepped over to the window and watched the rain come down. It wasn't a severe thunderstorm, but it was coming down fairly hard.

              "Are the fence guards on storm stations?" asked Jeff.

              "Not to my knowledge, no sir." answered the OOD.

              "You think Dut or Dave was smart enough to put them on stations?" I asked Jeff.

              "Dut, probably not. Dave, maybe. Comms, call down to the base command and find out. If they're not, they need to be." Jeff said.

              "Have fun. I'm going to check radar, see how long this rain is going to last. Radio, stay in contact with the Port Royal and Leyte Gulf. I want an update at noon." I ordered. I then left the bridge and went down to the weather station. I met Jackson in the hallway headed the same way.

              "Morning sir. I assume you know it's raining?" Jackson greeted me as we made our way back to his office.

              "Yes, that's why I was coming down. I wanted to see how long it will last, and how far spread it is. This is probably going to hamper the mission I have going."

              "Let's take a look." He said as we walked into the main room. "John, put main radar up on the big screen please."

              We waited for just a minute while John punched in some commands and the big screen came to life with the current radar. The storm covered most of the visible area, and looked pretty severe in some spots.

              "As you can see, it's gonna stick around for a while. We are watching various areas, as we're seeing some rotation, might even be a little hail in it. What we are really worried about though is that hurricane to the south. It has definitely veered north, has increased in strength to a Category 2 already, and is just south of Florida. It could potentially be a Category 3 or 4 by the time it gets here." Jackson explained, as he pointed out several areas in the current storm, and then changed the screen to show me the hurricane. It was big alright. We would definitely have to watch that. I thanked Jackson then went out and headed to my little get away spot. It was an old magazine, which means it stored ammunition. It was on the 02 Level, which means two levels above the hangar bay, all the way aft on the port, or left, side. It was out of the way, so it was usually quiet. Plus, it has an outer hatch I could open and enjoy the air and the rain without getting soaked. With only one other room down this short hallway, I was seriously considering making it my permanent quarters on board, let Jeff have the captains' cabin.

              I opened the hatch into the room and stepped in. Since it no longer held ammo, I had it turned into a bunkroom for me. I had a bunk, a locker, a desk, and a TV with my PlayStation hooked up. It was my downtime hide away. I left the door open, in case anyone came looking for me. I stepped to the back wall and opened the outer hatch. The wind blew a small amount of mist in, but it wasn't bad enough to shut it. I sat at my desk and listened to the storm. We needed the rain, badly, so I was glad for it. I just sat and listened, and thought, waiting for news from the cruisers, hoping it all ended well.

              After a while I looked and saw it was almost noon. I shut the outer hatch, closed the door, went to the galley and grabbed a sandwich, then headed back up to the bridge. As I walked in, I saw Jeff looking back and forth from a map and a report in front of him.

              "What's up?" I asked. It looked intriguing from his level of concentration.

              "Look at this." he said, pushing the report towards me. I picked it up and read. It was from the Port Royal.

             
From Port Royal to Nimitz

              Current position is
37.932315, -75.381442.
Patrolling north taking depth readings and searching marinas, contact was made with a small group of survivors who have secured an apartment complex with a private pier. Depth soundings indicate it is not deep enough for the Port Royal, but only just. We have anchored as close in as possible and are assessing situation. Please update with orders to proceed.

             
"I told them to secure that area, let the survivors know we will send food and ammo, but to continue their mission. Here is the complex, I think. I have Comms getting new satellite pictures to confirm, but if this is it, it's a nice forward base once we start securing that area." Jeff said, showing me the map. It was indeed a decent sized complex, which meant it should have its own generator. With its own pier we could transfer food, people, and supplies there fairly easily.

              "Is that a helipad on the side?" I asked, noticing the large square. If so, the traditional signal letter H was no longer there, but that would make things easier if it was.

              "Looks like it to me," Jeff confirmed, "I'll have Radio ask them, the Port Royal was supposed to set up a radio for them to contact us, they should be about done. Hopefully we will be able to speak with them soon."

              "Perfect. OOD, have the chopper ready, I'm going. Call Tony and have a team ready to go with me, as well as a welcome basket with some food stuffs." I said as I headed down to my quarters to get ready.

              I was almost dressed and had all my blades in place when I heard a knock on the door.

              "Enter." I said, and the one of the yeoman, or secretaries/message runners came in.

              "Sir, the Port Royal has sent a new message. They were unable to get the radio to work with the new group's current power supply, so Capt. Neal ordered them to stay on station until your helicopter arrives, in case the helipad isn't accessible. He also ordered two engineers with solar panel equipment be loaded on the Gettysburg for them. The ship should be ready for cast off within the hour. He also ordered additional food and ammo stores loaded."

              "Excellent. Thank you for the update. Tell him I am almost ready. I expect to be wheels up in no more than ten minutes."

              "Yes sir." Said the yeoman. I believe his name was Tommy. As he left to relay my orders, I finished getting ready, then headed up to the flight deck. I stepped through the hatch and saw the team standing there next to the chopper. The pilot had just finished his preflight checks and was winding up the engines.

              "Load up!" Tony yelled from behind me. I turned my head and watched him walk up with his gear. He walked past me, nodding, and started barking out orders to his men. We all loaded up in the chopper and got buckled up. As soon as we were all set the pilot looked back at me. I gave the thumbs up and we took off.

              We headed northeast over the bay, passing the tip of the area we were securing. Once over the eastern bay, we turned north and followed the shoreline. We were low enough we could see if there were any signs of infected presence. Other than the usual signs of neglect, and disuse, we saw nothing to catch our attention.

              "Five minutes." the pilot informed us. Tony's men started checking weapons and armor. We were planning for the worst, just in case. It sounded paranoid, but it's kept us alive for this long.

              We came up to the apartments and circled, looking at the helipad. It looked clear enough to land. I ordered the pilot to land, but keep the engines running in case any infected were close by. We landed on the pad, and started unloading. Tony's men immediately set a perimeter around the chopper. As we finished unloading, we saw a man walking towards us. He waved to us, and motioned for us to follow.

              "Hello. My name is Allen. Ethan, the one I guess you could say is in charge here, asked me to come out and get you. He is down on the dock with the captain of your ship. We have a fence surrounding the property, so your men don’t need to guard your chopper so closely. Follow me please." He then turned and started towards the building. We followed, looking around and seeing what they had.

              "As you can see, we have limited power here, so very few lights are on, especially during the day. We don't really use anything above the third floor." Allen explained to us. We walked up to a set of French doors and walked into a lobby area. Allen led us to the rear of the building and we exited into a sunny, covered patio area. It looked like it was plush at one point, and was still clean, but apparently had been neglected for a while. We passed through the patio and headed towards a path that appeared to lead down towards the dock. As we went down the incline, I saw the pier stretch out in front of us. It was fairly impressive for an apartment complex. Several large sailboats were still docked there, but there were empty spots. I saw Captain Phillips standing there with who I assumed to be Ethan, the leader we were looking for. Then Jack saw me, and waved to us.

              "This is Ethan, our leader." Allen said as we approached them, and then stepped aside.

              "Hello. I didn’t know there were any other survivors around here. We haven't been able to go search much, but I assumed we would have run into people somewhere along the line." Ethan said, shaking my hand.

              "It's nice to meet you. I'm Sheldon, the leader of our group. Jack, please check if the Gettysburg has left yet. If not, inform them they need to send medical supplies and personnel also, along with the food and ammo. Once they have confirmed they are headed this way, you may continue your original mission." I said, essentially dismissing Jack. I really did want them to finish their mission so we can secure this land.

              "Aye sir. Ethan, it was a pleasure. You're in good hands now. Have a good day." Jack said, taking his leave of us and heading back to his ship.

              "So you really are an admiral? Does that mean there is some form of government left?" Ethan asked. He motioned back up the path, and we all started walking back up towards the patio.

              "No, it's a long story. Let's go inside and I'll explain it. Tony here is my chief of security, I brought him along with these men to help secure your perimeter, so if you don't mind, and if someone will show them around, they can check out your fences, see if there is anything that can be done to make you safer." I said.

              "That sounds good. Allen, please show them the fence. I would like to know if anything can be done." Ethan said, looking to Allen. Allen just nodded, and motioned for Tony to follow him. Tony nodded at me, and he and his men followed Allen around the corner through a gate in the patio fence. Ethan and I went inside, and he led me to what was apparently a manager's office at one time.

              "Please, have a seat. We don't have anything to drink but water, I'm afraid, but it is filtered." Ethan said, pointing to the fridge in the corner. I shook my head, and we both sat.

              "Thank you, but not now. Looks like you guys have a pretty nice set up here." I said.

              "Well, it's kept us alive, barely. We have a small garden, so we have a few vegetables, and we have several that are good at hunting, so we get meat fairly regularly. But we have had many mishaps, lost lots of people. There is only about fifteen of us now." Ethan sighed. I could tell the stress was heavy on him.

              "I see you have a little power, but I'm guessing you have no radio?" I asked.

              "No, we don’t. We have music players, but no radios. Why?" Ethan asked.

              "Because we have a recording that has been playing on several radio frequencies for quite a while now. We have actually been set up for almost two years now. We just haven't made it up north yet. I brought a group from Oklahoma, found the naval base intact, and set up in the carrier U.S.S. Nimitz. We've dropped the USS part now though. We have the entire base secure, plus various ships, and vehicles. Most of our buildings are on solar power now, and we have small farms and even some livestock. It's a nice little colony." I explained.

              "Wow. I had no idea we had such a large group so close to us. How many of you are there?"

              "I think last count is about 2,000 people total. I started with about two hundred, but we have run across several survivors in one's, or two's, or small groups here and there. Some have stayed with us and helped us grow, some have decided to keep going on their own. In fact, we recently acquired about 36 more people with a group that found us."