The Event: The Beginning (35 page)

Moving back to the window, I could see the truck rolling down the street slowly. The engine noise started getting the attention of the infected, and some of them started moving towards it. I radioed the team and let them know they were in front of the house now and saw the truck stop. The leader told me to get down, and I darted back behind the door as I heard the gunfire start. They were obviously not just strafing the crowd and hoping for the best as the shots were not constant, and it didn’t seem like any of them hit the house yet.

“Sir, there are more coming, but the ones from the porch are all down. I suggest you haul ass out here now.” The leader spoke through the radio.

“I concur with that statement, I’m on my way out.” I confirmed with him. I unlocked the front door, locking the handle behind me and slipping the key in the deadbolt as I shut it. I turned it, pulled the key out, and turned to run for the truck as the gunfire started up again. I ran to corner of the house and peeked around to see at least fifty or so infected shambling around the corner, headed this direction. I bolted for the truck, jumping in as they threw the door open once I got close.

“Move, now.” I ordered as the door slammed behind me. The noise was almost deafening as the men fired at the approaching infected through the gun ports. The gunfire trickled off as we drove away, and ceased altogether once we turned the corner. I brushed aside a field medic who was trying to determine if I was injured or not, gruffly stating I was not. I then asked for the radio.

“Nimitz, this is Sheldon. I want a chopper prepped and ready to go by the time we get back. I want a birds’ eye view of this area and I want on that bird.” I didn’t even wait for confirmation, just handed the radio back. I knew the message was heard onboard, and knowing Navy efficiency, I knew the chopper would be ready. We rolled along, turning this way and that, heading in the general direction of the base. One thing I had noticed about the infected was that sunlight didn’t seem to bother them. Unfortunately for us, that meant that we did not have a safe haven at any time of day. The only thing they seemed to react to was fire and water, the latter being the reason I was designing the wall the way I was. If we could use water as a natural deterrent, that would mean less construction for us.

“We seem to be clear for now, sir, but there is no way of knowing if they are still following us.” One of the sailors watching out the back informed us.

“They are tenacious, they are following us, I guarantee it.” I replied. We rolled along in silence after that, keeping a watch out in all directions. Once we made it back to the gate, four men jumped out to move the car, waited for us to pass through, and then moved it back. As soon as they were back aboard, the driver floored it and we got back to the ship rapidly. The driver pulled straight up to the elevator and we then piled out, the rest of the men checking for spent casing and debris, checking for damage, and to make sure no one was hurt. I jogged up the stairs immediately, hoping to get to the flight deck without encountering Michelle or the girls. I just knew that they would have heard about my situation and would ready to beat me for making them worry. As it turned out, they were waiting just inside the hangar bay for me.

“You’re an ass, AGAIN!!!” yelled both Angie and Michelle. All four of them started moving for me as I crossed into the bay. They didn’t even take turns, just all of them hitting me together. After a minute or two though it turned into one giant hug. When I finally pulled away, everyone was wiping tears, and several others were standing around watching.

“I’m fine. I found a house that was really strong, and waited on the guys to come get me. I was never in any real danger, promise. I do need to go though, I want to go in the chopper and see how bad it is from the air. I’ll be back shortly.” I told them as I tried to pull away. They were reluctant to let me go as much as I was to let them go, but I had to think of the whole group, not just them. I managed to finally pull away and headed for the flight deck as quickly as I could. I didn’t even stop to toss my swords in my quarters, just went straight up.

Exiting the tower, the rotor wash hit me as the bird was already up and ready, just waiting on me. There were four men with guns, and two more with long range cameras, in addition to the pilot, co-pilot, and myself. Since we were in one of the two rescue choppers, there was plenty of space. I climbed up, sat down, and buckled up. I then reached over and tapped the pilot twice on the shoulder in acknowledgment and he spun up and we took off.

The headphones we had dulled the noise from the motors, but it was still loud. Luckily they had radios built in so we could still communicate. I directed the pilot to stay low enough to get the attention of the infected, hoping to draw them away from the base. I was surprised at the number of infected we could see milling about the streets. We did seem to get their attention as most of them looked up at us and started following the chopper. That gave me an idea for base defense that I would file away for later.

“Look at them all, where did they come from all of a sudden? We haven’t had a serious group of them in weeks.” One of them men said. Turner, I think it was, one of the two with a camera.

“I wonder if they are drawn to large crowds, like by scent or something. Some animals hunt like that, they can tell when a large group of prey is around.” Another answered him.

“That’s a good question. If that’s the case, we need to get that wall built even faster.” I answered. The chopper circled around about ten blocks out from the base, keeping the attention of the infected and drawing them away from the base. Per instructions, the pilot stayed low and headed more or less towards the ocean. The hope was that we could get the infected to follow us towards the water, and then be confused as where to go. Once we finally made it to the water, the chopper circled way out to sea and increased altitude so they wouldn’t hear it returning to land.

Back onboard ship, I headed to my quarters to put up my weapons and armor, then went to the galley for some lunch. Sandwiches was the menu for today, and I knew we would be going more and more throw together meals as our food supply dwindled. It was imperative we got this wall completed so we could start the next phase of surviving, which was starting our own crops, and hopefully livestock to raise for meat. If we could pull that off, I was confident we would survive, and hopefully even thrive.

“Dad!” My son Kenny yelled, jogging up to me as I walked through the hangar bay. I stopped and waited on him, giving him a big hug once he made it up to me.

“What’s up dude?” I asked him as I turned and kept walking, with him keeping pace beside.

“The girls told me what happened, are you ok?” he asked, concern clearly on his face.

“I’m fine. I had a safe place to wait on the rescue team, and it’s not the first time I’ve been stuck like that. How are you and Katelynn doing?” I replied. I hadn’t spent near enough time with him or my daughter, and I had promised myself once we got to the ship and safe I would do that. It was now time to keep that promise.

“She’s fine. She is still upset we couldn’t save mom, but Michelle is trying. When are you going to let me go with you?” he asked again.

“When you get enough sword training. If not with me, then with your uncle Roger. I’ll talk to your sister. I know it won’t help much, but she needs to know I’m here for her. You too, anytime you guys need me. I was just going to relax, sit and look at the bay for a bit, care to join me?”

“I promised Teddy I would meet him for a game of pool soon. Maybe later?” he replied. Even though he was turning 20 this year, he was still young enough for everything to be about his friends, and not about dad. I understood, but since I hadn’t had him or Katelynn most of their lives, since they had lived with their mom after we split, I was trying desperately to make up for it. It was a miracle I had found them in the first place. I messed his hair up, which earned me a grimace and a fake punch, after which he jogged off to find his friend.

The aft port side elevator had been turned into a diving board for swimmers and had been fitted with a cargo net as a ladder to climb back onboard. I knew the plans were to build or acquire a floating dock and attach an actual staircase to it to make getting back onboard easier, and also allow anyone who didn’t want to jump from the elevator deck to swim as well. Some people were scared of heights, or not good enough swimmers to go under as far as you did jumping off. Several people were there swimming now, mostly adults and a few older teens, which told me the younger ones were too afraid to jump. I decided to have the floating dock idea pushed up and have someone get it set up by the end of the week.

I walked up to an empty chair near the edge of the dock, and after motioning to it I was told no one was using it, so I sat. I could hear the laughter of the older kids swimming and just sat to enjoy the sound of laughter, the water sloshing, and the occasional sea bird cawing. For just a few minutes it was possible to forget the chaos and danger only a few hundred yards away. I made small talk again with several of the people climbing out of the water, just enjoying the company of others. I stayed there for probably an hour or so, and then decided to head back to my quarters for a shower and some sleep. I stopped by the bridge first to let them know, so if anyone came looking for me, I hoped I wouldn’t be disturbed.

Chapter 12

May 12
th
, 2018

              When I finally woke up, it took me a minute to place where I was, the dream of being back in the hospital still clinging to me as I swung my feet out of bed. Shambling to the bathroom to splash water on my face, reality slowly sank back in. I finished with my morning routine and stepped back out to the living area.  The clock said it was only around six-thirty in the morning, really early for me, but not for the sailors. Hoping enough of them were awake already, along with civilians, I made my way to the bridge to prepare an announcement.

              “Good morning sir.” Brandon, who happened to be the OOD this morning, greeted me.

              “Morning Brandon. How is the ship this morning?” I asked.

              “Outstanding. We got some status reports from Engineering, there are some maintenance issues they are addressing, but nothing too serious.  We also have an updated list from Personnel on bunk assignments, as well as a new inventory list, complete with food, ammo, and personal items. I sent Vasquez down to make some copies of them and consolidate them for you.” He informed me. He then motioned with his cup towards a coffee pot. Thanking him, I made myself a cup.

              “Good. Listen, I need a rundown of which others ships are useable. Preferably an LST, but I’ll take anything that has a landing pad for a chopper. I would like that this afternoon, please.” I informed Brandon.

              “Yes, sir. I’ll get a couple of teams together to give them a quick once over and see which ones are seaworthy. I would think they would all be, but I’ll have an answer for you later.” He replied to me. I thanked him and then asked for the phone connected to the 1MC, which is the shipboard intercom system. Brandon showed me which switch to hit to activate it, and the button to hit on the phone to speak into. Thanking him for the lesson, I decided to wait a little longer before making my announcement. I didn’t want to wake everyone up like that, so I headed down to the galley for some quick breakfast and some more coffee first. I took my time eating and finally made my way back to the bridge around eight. Feeling it was now late enough in the morning, I went straight for the phone.

              “Attention everyone, this is Sheldon. I would like everyone’s undivided attention for a few minutes. I apologize to the ones I am waking up with this announcement, but it is important. As everyone knows, I promised to get everyone here safe. I have accomplished that promise, and as you should be able to tell from the last few days, this ship will provide the safety and security I promised. I have new plans now for the survival of the group, and I am asking for the cooperation of everyone here once more. I am asking for the trust you showed me in Oklahoma, and on the road, to continue. Keeping the groups separated, civilians and sailors, is not my intention, as I want this venture to just be one big, cohesive group. I have placed several people in charge of key areas, and for the sake of the sailors I gave those people titles and ranks. My intention is not to run this as a military command, but again, for ease of transition, mixing a large group of civilians and military, I will adopt a simplified chain of command to make sure things run smoothly.

“The first order of business is building a wall to keep the infected from bothering us. After reviewing several options, the option we are going with is using the shipping containers. They will be set in place and then welded together, with viewports cut out, and eventually areas for guards to relax and hangout as well. There will be gates so we can still go in search of supplies and survivors. My hope is that the wall will be built within a week, and then the base cleared of any infected that may be here. Once that is done, we will have the ability and the space to start growing our own food. I also hope to catch and transport livestock here so we can replenish our meat supply. Food production is one of the utmost priorities we should have, right along with security.

“None of us are comfortable with our new roles, or are even sure what to do in this new world. We have been thrown off the top of the food chain. What we once knew is gone, maybe forever. We will survive, if we all work together. For those that think that I am going to sit up here in the bridge and run things from afar, I assure you that could not be further from the truth. I will be there on the fence line, helping build the wall. I will be there to help clear land for crops, or build livestock pens when necessary. I expect everyone to work towards the safety, security, and survival of this group. Some will help run the day to day; laundry, food, maintenance, things like that. Some will man the sniper positions to protect us, and others will go out in search of supplies and survivors. That doesn’t mean anyone’s job is more important than another, they are all necessary.

“One last thought and I will let you all go back to business. I want to thank everyone who stepped up and helped me in my goal of getting this group here. I couldn’t have done it without you all. I look forward to still getting to know everyone, and I plan on making it a point to personally meet everyone as soon as I can. That is all I have, but I would like all the volunteers for the wall teams to meet me in hangar bay 3 in 30 minutes. Thank you.” I finished my announcement. I replaced the phone on the cradle, nodded to the bridge crew, and then headed down towards the hangar bay. The next couple of hours was spent going over the planning of building the wall, then I had the teams head over to the container storage area to get set. I hoped to have the first set of containers on the move by noon.

After dealing with the wall crews, I headed back to the bridge and had the flight crew notified that I wanted at least one of the choppers in the air, if not two of them, to provide noise distraction in an attempt to draw the infected away from the noise of building the wall. Once all those orders were complete, I made my way around the ship introducing myself to people, learning where everything was, and generally trying to acquaint myself with the ship again. I had requested status updates daily from the wall crew, and the next several days were spent in talking to people, reading those updates, going out with the security team a couple of times, and as always, continuing the search for other survivors.

The wall project progressed well, the teams were efficient in getting them from the pier to the road, getting them set in place, and the welders worked quickly on the outer sections so they could take their time on the inside welds. They also had cutters they used to cut the viewports, as well as cut openings in the ends of the containers to allow for passage along the entire length inside them. All the doors had been removed, so only one end of each container was solid and needed cut, and we could use the doors to build our gates, and also scrap if we needed to patch a hole. Things progressed quickly, even with the few small incursions of infected we had to deal with. Like I had hoped we would, the wall was mostly completed within the week. Some of the interior welds and cutouts still needed to be completed, but we had a solid wall from waterway to ocean. We opted on using chain link fencing from the end of a container out into the ocean until the water was deep enough to cover a full grown man’s head. A guard post was going to be added there so we constantly had eyes there, and since there was a hotel there, the plan was to put solar paneling up on its roof and use part of the building as the post. By the end of another week, all the welds had been done, the gates were in place, personnel assigned and guard rotations set. We had lost a total of six men to the infected, and also found fifteen new survivors. A memorial for the fallen was held, and the newcomers merged with us fairly seamlessly. I spent some time with my kids, met more of the people living here now, and made sure that the ship was in general running well.

After completing the wall, there was one bridge to the north that we also blocked off, and luckily we could do so with three shipping containers. We simply placed them across the road over the water, and they stuck out over the edge a little so nothing could squeeze by. The western end of the wall had a bridge nearby that we destroyed, so the entire base was now officially secure. I had teams scouring every building, garage, sewer access, and shed, everywhere that an infected could hide. Once we had a clean bill of health, land would be cleared for gardens and a suitable area would be found for a livestock pen. Some of the homes had solar panels installed so they still had working appliances. The sailors had raided them early on of food stuffs, but with electricity there, they could be used easily as homes, storehouses, or rapid response guard shacks.

One more mission to be accomplished was also underway, in that we outfitted and supplied an LCS, the USS Freedom, for a rescue mission that I promised Michelle. Her sister, Nicole, was in Florida, and we made contact with her before the cell phones went down to gather as many supplies and people as she could and go to a small island just east of where she lived called Dog Island. It was a small community, only a few blocks worth of houses on it, but no land access. It seemed like a good place for her to hole up with survivors as they could fish and start gardens for food, and not have to worry about being attacked. We also told her to find some CB radios so we could contact them and let them know we were coming.

The last I had heard, the Freedom had rounded the southern point of Florida and was steaming back north towards their location. Their last status report said they were rationing food, but even so were starting to run low on food stuffs. We had sent them with plenty of body armor and ammo, so food and supply runs were definitely possible for them, and probably needed. Michelle was adamant about going, and I agreed since it was her sister. I sent Jeff along too to keep an eye on her, along with Roger, while I kept Tony here to maintain the safety of the base and the ship.

One day I was sitting in my quarters when a yeoman knocked and walked in, handing me a report with a repressed smile. I thanked him as I took it and he turned and walked out. As I flipped open the folder, I saw it was a report from the Freedom. I settled back and started reading. The first part was an inventory and status update, letting us know they were on the low side on food, so a resupply run was to be undertaken before heading back. What got my attention was a note from the captain about a supply mission that went slightly awry. Once I read that my heart got heavy, but I read on.

Due to food shortage, several supply runs have been initiated. One in particular had an issue. The one we were sent for, Nicole, told Michelle that there were some items she needed to recover from home. A team was assigned, however Michelle and Nicole both insisted on going. Jeff accompanied them, as well as a team of ten others. After acquiring the items from home, the team radioed back that Nicole and her husband stated they needed something from another location in Tallahassee. After consulting with the team captain, it was agreed that the risk was minimal due to lack of contact with infected so far, so they would make the trip. The Freedom would remain anchored offshore until the team returns. They were under orders to return in two days regardless of whether the mission is accomplished or not. Once they returned, the following report was given of an encounter with a small group of infected.

“After successfully reaching the location at approximately 1500, the items they were after were acquired successfully. On the return trip, a small group of infected were encountered at 1630. It was decided to not use firearms and Jeff took a baseball bat to the first infected to approach us. A second then turned on him and he took it out at the knees. Before killing it, Nicole and Michelle both stopped him. One other infected approached the group and was taken out. Jeff stepped back and looked at them, then back to the infected on the ground. His demeanor and expression changed then as he turned and walked back to the group. Michelle and Nicole began squabbling with each other over who should kill the disabled infected. During the argument, several men secured the infected to a nearby street light pole. The following is a transcript of the encounter starting with the argument:

“Jeff, stop!” Michelle yelled. Jeff stepped away from the infected woman, turned to look at Michelle, and then looked at the infected again. He walked back to the group as Michelle and her sister began arguing.

Michelle: “I want to do it”

Nicole: “No, I get to!”

M: “I had to deal with her longer, and put up with more shit than you did.”

N: “I had to live with her down here. You at least had other places to go, I had nobody.”

M: “I’m the older sister, I say I get to kill the bitch.”

N: “You have had your fights with her, and spoke your mind several times. You have had it out with her before, I never got that chance, so this is my turn.”

The squabbling turned physical at this point with the two of them slapping each other and pulling hair. Since they started getting louder, they were pulled apart and held.

Jeff: “Ladies, might I propose another idea? How about you both kill her at the same time?”

At this point, the two girls looked at each other, grudgingly agreed to it, and started walking to the restrained infected after being handed a bat and a length of rebar one of the sailors had found. They both walked calmly up to the infected, while Jeff hung back and spoke with the group.

AN2 Vasquez: “Just who was that infected?”

Jeff: “Their mother.” The rest of us were quiet and kept watch as Michelle and Nicole both began viciously beating their ‘mother’ over and over. They were careful not to hit her in the head for a while, obviously intending to cause as much pain as possible, even though it is unclear whether or not the infected actually feel pain. The almost constant thud of metal and wood on flesh went on for about thirty minutes before slowing down. The two finally looked at each other, nodded, and Nicole, who had the rebar, swung it high over her head and brought it down on top of her mothers’ head while Michelle swung the bat in an upward fashion like a golf swing, connecting with her lower jaw. The rebar cleaved into her skull, and since the impact from both was almost simultaneous, the upward force of the bat made the rebar sink into her face almost to her lips, while the bat pretty much shattered her lower jaw, dislocating it, and snapping her head up and back into the pole she was tied to. Once Michelle lowered the bat, Nicole let go of the rebar and left it lodged in what was left of the skull of their mother. They stepped back and just looked at what they had done. The woman hung from her arms, drooping against the pole. Her shoulders were now dislocated, arms broken, blood dripping from puncture wounds where broken ribs poked out, and her right leg was hanging at an off angle due to a fracture.