The Event: The Beginning (30 page)

Finally making it to the galley, I grabbed a tray and got in line, declining the offers from several sailors to cut in line. I wanted them to treat me like one of the crew, not the captain as much as possible. I really didn’t want the special treatment, but if they accepted me as in charge, that was the mindset of a sailor. The captain got special privileges. After getting my food, fish and veggies, I went and sat in the mess hall with everyone else. There was a separate mess hall for officers, but I really didn’t want separation like that within this group. Here, I wanted everyone to be equal. While there would be people assigned to various jobs, I wanted everyone to feel equal, as I expected everyone to do something.

“Sheldon, eating all alone?” Brian asked me, as he and Leni walked up with trays of their own, trailing Hailey with them.

“Yeah, just been walking around, meeting people, thinking, and re-learning the ship. How are you guys settling in?” I replied, motioning for them to sit.

“Pretty good, for the most part. I love the medical facilities here. I never would’ve thought a ship would have this advanced equipment. We have a mini hospital, including an operating room.” Brian gushed. He was a firefighter and paramedic in the old world, and I knew he would do well in Sickbay.

“It’s going to take some getting used to, but we are in a small room with one other family that also has a kid, close to Hailey’s age. We split it in two with some sheets for privacy, but we are getting along well so far.” Leni stated, helping Hailey with her veggies.

“Yeah, it does take some getting used to. The medical facility here was designed to serve not only this ship, but emergencies on the escort ships as well. Their medical facilities are not very big because they don’t have much space. Here, however, we have the room to go big.” I informed them. I smiled as I watched Hailey eat her veggies. It was mixed veggies; carrots, peas, corn, and green beans. Not something I usually ate, but these days you ate what you could get. We made small talk about one thing or another as we ate, just spending time as family, which was something Leni and I had not been able to do in quite a while.

Finishing my food, I excused myself and went to take my tray to the washing station. After that, I made my way behind the line to the galley office to speak with Michelle. I wanted to check in with her one more time before I retired for the night.

“Knock, knock. How’s it going in here?” I asked her, knocking on the door frame and leaning into the open door.

“I hate you, you know that? I’m not good at this kind of thing.” she griped at me, glaring from the desk.

“You actually are really good at planning meals and you are the best cook I know. I know this quantity is not what you’re used to, but it’s the same as cooking for us at home, just on a larger scale. Make things in batches if you have to, and feel free to assign someone else to do the management stuff if you want.” I informed her. I did have faith she could do it, and I meant the statement about her cooking.

“Whatever. Have you talked to the girls this afternoon yet?” she asked.

“I’m on my way to find them now, actually.” I replied, which I was. I did want to see them and make sure they were doing okay.

“Good, cause they were freaked out earlier when you and Uncle Roger were missing.” she told me, giving me that glare again that was her evil face. I didn’t mean to upset the girls, and I would definitely have to talk to them now.

“Alright, I’m going to go find them. I just wanted to check in with you, make sure you were doing okay yourself.” I assured her. She stood and gave me a hug before I left, and I then turned and went in search of the girls.

Since this was such a huge ship, and there was no telling where the girls were, I first went to the Personnel office to ask Val for an updated map of where people were bunked at. I assumed the girls would probably not wander far from their bunk room without feeling like they were getting lost. I also wanted to find out if rooms had been decided on to turn into game rooms for the kids. I knew the girls had their own PlayStation 3 and would want it set up somewhere they would have easy access to. Stepping into the office, I saw only one sailor there, and it appeared she was playing cards.

“Hello. Where is everyone?” I inquired of her.

“Went to dinner, and to call it a night. There really isn’t much to do in this department anymore.” she answered me, looking up from her cards.

“Oh, ok. Do you happen to know if there is an updated map of where everyone is bunked? I’m looking for my daughters and don’t want to search the whole ship if I don’t have to.” I told her.

“Not really, no. I know Mrs. James made a bunch of notes and such, but nothing like a map yet. I could probably draw one up for you though, if you’d like.” she informed me, standing up from her desk and walking to the front to meet me.

“While I would like one, yes, it’s not that important. I’ll have them paged over the 1MC. Could you please have one ready by the end of the day tomorrow?” I asked.

“Yes, sir, no problem. I will have it ready by 1700 tomorrow.” she confirmed, making herself a note for tomorrow.

“Thank you, but it’s not ‘sir’, my name is Sheldon.” I told her. I really didn’t want to get the whole ‘sir’ thing started. She acknowledged that, and I turned and walked out. I made my way back up to the bridge, and asked the OOD to page the girls to the hangar bay. I then made my way back down there to meet them. As I stepped out from the stairwell, I saw Angie and Cassie already standing there, and Desi I could see walking from the far side of the bay towards us.

“How are you girls holding up here?” I asked as I met them.

“Fine, but you’re an ass.” Angie replied, bluntly.

“Because I left without telling anyone?” I inquired, giving them all a hug one by one.

“Yes, mom was worried.” Desi told me.

“Mom was, huh? Anybody else?” I ribbed them.

“I want my own room, I don’t want to share with these two.” Angie stated. She always hated sharing a room with her sisters, but we never lived in a big enough house for them to get their own room.

“No one on board has their own room, sweetie. Everyone has to share.” I informed her.

“Well, I don’t want to share.” she continued to complain. I laughed a little at her fit, because it was just so Angie.

I chatted a few minutes with all of them, answering all kinds of questions they had, like how did we have running water, how did we get rid of it, where did it go when we flushed, things like that. They also asked if we were going to be able to wash clothes and have clean sheets.

“Yes, we have a laundry on board. What we will do is make sure everyone has a mesh bag that will have a tag we can write your name on, and you will use that as your hamper. Every so often, whoever is assigned to do laundry will come and collect bags, wash them, then return them to whoever they belong to.” I informed them. I was impressed that they were asking serious questions, and not just complaining.

We chatted for a few minutes more, I made sure they were doing okay, and then followed them back to their bunk room. It would be nice to know where they were staying. They were in a smaller bunk room, with another family that had kids. Sheets had been hung to give a little bit of privacy to each other. The girls showed me their area, which they were sharing with Michelle. They had their things spread out, and it was messy, but they were all teenagers. I showed them how the bunks opened up and they could put their clothes under the mattress. I told them to put their stuff up so it wouldn’t be so cluttered, then turned and headed out.

I walked around the ship some more, poking my head into the various bunk rooms and chatting with people. I also made sure everyone else knew that there was storage under the mattress. Most already knew, but it was news to a few of them. Even though it had only really been one day, everyone seemed to be settling in fairly well. Several people were worried about getting seasick, but I assured them that the ship was large enough that they wouldn’t feel the waves, so there would not be any rolling to make them sick. I did assure them also that if they did start feeling sick, to simply go to the medical bay and get something for sea sicknesses. They thanked me and that alone seemed to help them.

When I finally decided to head back to my quarters, it was almost eight. I made one more pass through the hangar bay, just to see if anyone else new was hanging out down there. There were a few more people that stopped me and made small talk, and I tried to talk to everyone. I had actually remembered a few of the names, and was starting to recognize several of the faces.

I finally made my way back up to my quarters, but decided to head up to the flight deck first. I wanted to see the sunset before going to bed. There was hardly any light left, so I had missed most of it. There was a couple of people standing around the flight deck, probably still there from watching the sunset. I looked out over the base, listening to the wind, looking for any kind of movement, or lights. Lights would mean other survivors, but if they had survived this long they would probably be smart enough to know that light would draw them. I could hear the waves slapping the side of the ship and the pier. The lines creaked slightly with the very slight movement of the ship, which was small enough a human couldn’t even feel it. There was still an American flag flying along with the ships flag, and they were both flapping and snapping in the wind. It was actually kind of eerie how quiet it was without the sounds of cars, or planes, or even other boats or ships.

The occasional bark broke the silence, and I knew dogs and cats had been running wild since the world fell. Other animals would be as well, like deer, and that would hopefully provide excellent hunting opportunities. If zoos let any animals out, or they broke out through desperation, then there could potentially be some dangerous animals out there as well. On the plus side, they would attack the infected also which would help thin them out.

After standing there for a while, I finally turned and headed back down to my quarters. Reviewing the files again didn’t really sound intriguing tonight, so I opted for a shower, and then went to bed.

Chapter 10

May 10
th
, 2018

              The following day I awoke and got up to use the restroom. I then sleepily walked into the kitchen and grabbed my last water bottle. Stepping back into the bedroom, I took one of the last remaining blood pressure pills I had. I was supposed to take them every day, but with no way to get more, I had only been taking them about every three days. Often enough to keep my pressure from skyrocketing, but far enough apart that I could make them stretch. I got dressed then and tried to figure out what to do with the day. I knew I needed to look into the wall planning, but I had to wait until the containers were emptied, counted, and measured so I could figure out if we had enough to create the wall.

              I decided to head to the bridge first and check the weather. If it was going to be sunny today, I wanted to take a team out and search for supplies. I remembered that Christian had said they had pretty much cleared the base out, but hopefully there would still be useable supplies. If the base had any power left there may even be perishable food left that was useable. Anything frozen, at least, I doubted anything simply refrigerated would still be edible.

              “Good morning, sir.” Petty Officer Trainer greeted me as I stepped onto the bridge.

              “Good morning. Any idea what the weather is doing today?” I asked him. I didn’t mention the ‘sir’ comment just yet, I hadn’t had my coffee yet and it was early.

              “Should be sunny and hot today. What did you have in mind?” he asked me.

              “I want to take a team out to scour the base. I remember Mr. Levine saying you guys had already done that, but I want to search it for supplies, and check the fence to see if it’s intact.” I informed him.

              “Today should be a good day for it. Would you like me to assemble the team that usually went out?”

              “Yes, please. And also page these people, I will want to merge them together if possible.” I ordered, writing down a few names for him.

              “Yes, sir, right away.” he said. I sighed, giving up on the ‘sir’ thing for now. I nodded to the other three sailors on duty this morning and then turned to walk out. I went out of the tower onto the flight deck to enjoy the breeze for a bit.

              “Good morning, you’re up early.” Kevin greeted me, walking up sipping a cup of coffee.

              “Good morning. Just trying to figure out how to start the day. How are your people holding up, they starting to adjust to ship life?” I asked him as we shook hands.

              “Well, they’re your people now, right? Most of them seem to be doing okay. A few are a little claustrophobic, but they go to the hangar bay and up here on the flight deck quite a bit, so I think they are dealing with it. I will of course let you know if any one of them starts to become a problem.” he informed me.

              “Yeah, that was one of my biggest concerns. I had a few as well with that problem. Luckily this ship is big enough that there are plenty of places to go to relax and cure that feeling. Sea sickness should also not be a problem. This ship is too large to rock with the waves, plus being tied up at pier it’s even more stable.” I assured him.

              “So do we have a plan for the day yet?” he then asked me.

              “Not so much. I want to take a team or two out to the base, inspect the fence, search for supplies, and see what condition the base itself is in. There is a small marina near the airfield that I want to check out, see if it’s intact, and if there are any boats there we can use. You want to go?” I asked.

              “Sure, I’ll go. I’ll go grab my things. Where and when do you want to meet?” he replied.

              “Down in the hangar bay, in about an hour. I want to grab some coffee first myself, but I’ll be down shortly.” I informed him. We both turned then and headed back down into the ship. I made my way to the galley and the coffee pot, the most important piece of machinery on a Navy ship. I poured myself a cup and headed back to my quarters to put on my armor and grab my swords. By the time I had done all that and made it back down to the hangar bay, everyone I had asked for was there.

              “Alright guys, here’s the deal. I know you guys have cleared out the ships, and not really touched the base, so today we are going to the base. I want to search for supplies, but I also want to physically inspect the fence. I need to know if it’s intact or not. The goal today is strictly search and inspect. Hopefully no infected have made it onto the base and are hiding out, but until we confirm the fence is intact and search every building, we are going to assume they have. Everyone stay sharp, stay safe, and let’s all come home.” I addressed the group. I had met several of the sailors before, and at least recognized their faces. The civilians I had requested were Roger, Jeff, Vince, Allen, Kevin, and Adam.

              The entire group was ready to go with armor and weapons set already. We started together towards the elevator as the controller lowered it. I could see that several others had radios attached to their belts, so we could definitely split up and still stay in contact. We made our way down the stairs and started walking towards the garage to get a few of those electric carts. That way we would not attract too much attention with the noise of a car engine, nor would we be wasting gas. With twenty of us going on this expedition, and the carts only holding four, we would have to take all of them from the garage.

              “Alright, looks like it’s going to be four to a cart. That actually works out as we could split up and search faster in teams of four. Split up however you want, but make sure each team as at least one radio. We are searching for anything useable, from toilet paper to ammunition. Everyone stay sharp, watch your backs, and no risk taking. Roger, you’re with me, and you, and you.” I ordered, pointing out two sailors to go with me, so we could merge and act as one group. We handed out batteries and split up, one of the sailors opening the garage door wide. Once everyone had split up and made sure their cart worked, we headed out as a group.

              I let one of the sailors lead the way to the pier gate, then as we made our way out of it we started splitting up as the road split off. I directed Roger to head to the marina first to see if it was intact. We would then head to check out the fence. Since we were at the north end of the pier with the carriers, the gate was close to us. That meant we were also close to the marina. It didn’t take us long to make our way through the open area to the marina, and as we drove down the side road to the marina office, it appeared that it was intact, and there were several boats still at dock. It looked promising, and a closer inspection once we got to the office revealed it was intact, and there were keys in a cabinet, presumably to the boats in dock. I directed us back to the cart, and we headed south through the base to start inspecting the fence.

              Every few minutes we heard a call out from the radio when a team cleared a building. A couple of times there was good news along with it where they had found something useful, but for the most part so far it was simply that there were no infected found. We made it to the fence without any problems ourselves, and it looked like it wasn’t an ordinary chain link fence like I was thinking it would be, but instead it was simple iron posts, pointed on the top, with iron rods connecting them. The tops were just shy of chest high, which meant they were more for show than actually trying to keep anyone out. The vertical posts were close enough together that nothing could slip through except small animals. It made me think that, if need be, we could place privacy fencing up behind the iron posts as a secondary fence in case my wall idea failed, or it was broken through.

              “The side road on the outside runs almost the entire length of the fence, sir, would you rather run out there?” one of the sailors informed me, I think his name was Jason Tyler.

              “Does the inner road not follow it also?” I asked in return.

              “No, sir, only for a short bit.” He answered me.

              “Shit, ok. I would rather not be outside the fence right now. Can these carts go off road?” I inquired.

              “Just to run on grass, yes, sir.” Jason replied.

              “Perfect. Roger, follow the fence. Let’s see if there are any breaks. Hopefully we do not draw too much attention from infected, I don’t want them hitting the fence too much.” I ordered. The two sailors and myself checked our weapons and settled in for the ride. I was going to be paying more attention to the fence than anything, so I instructed the sailors to keep their eyes open for anything. Roger headed east following the fence, jumping the curb when needed as the rest of us held on as we bounced around and tried to not fall out.

              The fence had ended in the water, and we now followed it east down the side road. There was several stalled cars along the outside of the fence, but none of them had run up against or through the fence. There were actually a few infected stuck in the fence, a couple that had impaled themselves on the spear points on top, some with just their hands, but a few actually had attempted to climb over and speared themselves through the arm or shoulder.

              “Looks like the fence is effective so far against them, but what about if regular people try to climb it, or remove bars to slip through?” the other sailor said, who introduced himself as Casey Myers.

              “Then we will have a problem. I’m thinking about maybe a privacy fence on this side, butted right up against it. That would stop them from seeing us, as well as give a little more protection in case they try to push through.” I informed them. It was not a set plan though, and something better may present itself. We would keep our eyes open and see what came up.

              Roger continued rolling us down the fence line at a decent speed, fast enough this wouldn’t take forever, but slow enough we could actually inspect the fence. We passed the gate area we entered the base at and saw that our makeshift blockade was still working. Since the fence went all the way up to the overhead signage of the base, all we would really need to do was install a gate and we could remove the cars. We didn’t stop long though, as infected were milling around, and a few had seen us, and I didn’t want to inadvertently allow them onto the base. We kept heading east, bouncing over the not so even terrain. It was fairly smooth as it had been manicured lawn at one point, but after several weeks of inattention, nature was taking over and it was starting to become overgrown. I had told the others to not fire yet, because the noise would only draw more infected to the fence.

              “Look there, what is that?” I pointed out to Roger. It looked like a van or something had breached the fence, at least from a distance. As we got closer, it was indeed a full size passenger van, straddling the remains of a section of fence. It had apparently rammed through it, but instead of smashing straight through, the iron posts bent and the van went up on it before snapping some of the posts and supports. What was left of the fence was dug into the side and bottom of the van, effectively trapping the van in place, only a few inches off the ground. We walked around it as much as we could, and it appeared it had fully blocked its own hole, so I didn’t think any infected would be able to get through.

              “Wonder what happened, or if they were just trying to get onto the base.” Jason asked.

              “I wonder…” I mumbled to myself, moving for a closer look at the van. The side doors were jammed shut by the fence, but the driver and front passenger doors were still useable. I opened the passenger door and peered in, looking for infected, but it was clear. I then pulled myself inside, wincing a little at how it creaked some as it took my weight. A couple of loud pops sounded then and the van settled firmly on the ground with a bounce. Apparently I had just dug the posts in further, and there was no way now that this van was going anywhere.

              Jason poked his head in and watched as I crawled over the seat into the back, then crawled over the rear seat as well. This van had two captains’ chairs in the middle row with a full bench seat in the back. Like any van this design, there was a small cargo area between the back seat and the rear doors. Nothing was back there, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. I reached over and tried the door latch, which unlocked it and opened the back door. Climbing over the back seat and stepping out, the other guys were whisperingly trying to warn me to be careful and come back. I waved them silent, but indicated one of them should join me. Jason was closest to the van so he climbed in and followed my path.

              Once he was also outside the fence, I whispered my idea to him, and he nodded his understanding. We then quickly, but quietly, removed the rear bench seat and placed it outside the fence, far enough away that no infected could use it to climb over the fence. Roger and Casey watched from the other side of the fence to ensure no infected snuck up on us. I whispered to Jason that I wanted to remove the middle seats too, and if we could, the front passenger as well. We started working, and in no time had the middle two seats out and discarded along with the bench seat. The front passenger however we would need tools for, so we left it alone for now. We climbed back in the van and I closed the rear doors tight.

              “That’s a neat idea for a gate, what made you think of that?” Casey asked me as we climbed back onto the cart and continued on our way.