The Event: The Beginning (2 page)

              "Yes. You know how I am, I was always thinking of things like this. Zombies, military invasion, natural disaster, whatever. Have you got a hold of your parents or brothers yet?"

              "No, but knowing dad, he won't leave. He will want to just stay and hole up at home. Scott should be here soon hopefully. No one has reached David yet."

              "Ok. I'm going to try to reach my dad and cousins. I'll find you later." I told him as we went separate ways. I had made sure several people brought game systems and such for the kids, and someone was supposed to be setting them up. People were setting up laptops and pc's to try to connect to the internet, if it was still functional, to locate friends, family, and see what was happening with this new plague. I made my phone calls, told my family what I was planning, and they agreed to help me. Since my cousins were in Branson, near Table Rock Lake, and my dad lived on Table Rock closer to Eureka Springs, I arranged it that my cousins would go to dad's house and bring them back to Branson to hole up with them for the time being. Dad was out in the country, so it would take longer for the virus to affect his area.

              I decided that since it was dark, and I had volunteers to watch for infected overnight, I went to find a room and get some sleep. I let Jeff know where I was at, plus a few others, just in case, and took two of my swords with me. I laid everything out close to me and went to sleep.

April 22nd, 2018

              I woke up and went to see if anything was seen over night. I figured not or someone would have found me. Several people were hanging out in the main lobby, talking amongst themselves. I saw Shayne, Roger, and Jenna. Several of their friends came since they called them, and we had about fifty people here now, not counting the kids. Jeff told me that he had already arranged a team to go out and search for foodstuffs, ammo, etc., and people were still trying to reach other family and friends to come here if possible. I asked Shayne to follow me, along with Jeff, Roger, his brother Wes, Shayne's friend Mark, and Michelle's friend Dave who showed up late last night. We went to the conference room off the cafeteria, which was actually the doctors dining room, and explained to them my plan to get the RV's, stockpile gas, and start heading out towards Virginia and the carrier, if there is one there.

              "And what if there are no ships there when we show up?" Dave asked. It was a valid question, and one I was asking myself.

              "Well, we will still have several options. We could just secure the base and live there. Or we could head south along the coast and find other Navy bases with hopefully ships, or as a last resort we could head north towards Groton, CT. That is the submarine training base and shipyard. There is pretty much guaranteed to be at least one submarine there. I am really hopeful that at least one carrier will be in Norfolk though." I said, "But we will cross that bridge when we get there."

              "So what are we doing now?" Shayne asked.

              "First, let's worry about gathering plenty of food and supplies. Sometime in the next few days I want us to go get the RV's. We need to figure out how many people we can fit in them, so we can figure out how many we are going to need. I'm sure it won't be comfy, because I want to get as many people in each as possible. We shouldn't be in them long anyways. I also want to see if we can leave holes to shoot infected through if they swarm the RV's." I explained to them.

              "You have really thought this through, haven't you?" Shayne asked me.

              "Yes, I have. The carrier, or carriers if there are two, will be, I think, our best chance at surviving this thing. It's nuclear, so it will have power. They are designed to pull water in from the ocean, purify it and turn it potable, so we will have drinking water, and hot showers, along with laundry. Also, there should be plenty of weapons and ammo there for defense. We will be secure once we raise the elevators and close the hanger bay doors. Plus, if we absolutely have to, we can train people so we can move the ship, and sail somewhere else if need be. I doubt we will move her though, we should be safe enough at port."

              "Alright, so let's do this." Wes said. Mark, Roger, and Dave just started nodding, looking to me to get this thing going.

              "Ok. In that case, let's take some of the larger vehicles and find some more food and supplies. I want to make sure we have plenty to last the trip to Virginia. We will also need several gas cans per RV to make sure we don't run out of gas. Jeff, I want you to drive your rig. We will also take extra cans of diesel for you. I want the rig in case we run into any blocked roads. We will need to hit a truck stop or two to make sure all the vehicles have working CB's in them, just in case we start to get separated."

              "Ok. We should also think about grabbing some extra chains and tow straps, just in case. If I take the trailer, we can load up extra tires for the RV's, and truck, as well as extra parts. We could keep the gas cans in there too, so they aren't exposed outside the RV's or leaking fumes inside.” Jeff said.

              "That’s a really good idea, yeah. I will want the weapons stored in the RV's with us though so we have easy access to them. We need to find out how many people here are good shots, are squeamish, and how many are willing to follow orders so we can do this without having to worry about explaining every little detail every time, or convincing everyone every time."

              We discussed various other aspects of my plan for a while, making sure there were no obvious holes in the plan. We ran different scenarios through, from lack of gas, large swarms of infected, hostile groups of humans, and lack of shelter. They brought up new ideas and backup plans. We talked about the people we knew would follow us willingly, and the ones who we thought would be problems. Talents were discussed so we could figure out who could do what best.

              The next week was spent gathering supplies, contacting families and friends, watching the news and waiting for the looting to stop. We had several instances of looters trying to break in as well as infected. We had power throughout all this time, as well as water. I was waiting for the electrical grid to go out, which would then kill our water supply. I made sure we were bottling as much water as possible for when it finally went, plus the trip. I was figuring water and food would be in short supply on the road. We had brought Jeff's rig and trailer to the hospital and parked it in back. Jeff, Shayne, Mark, and I then went and started bringing RV's back. We got four the first time and parked them out back, between the trailer and the building. I wanted to try to somewhat armor them before we went and got more. So we took the sheet metal we had and made plating to protect the tires, the windshield as much as possible, and the windows. We figured out how to leave small ports to fire from, in case we were swarmed.

              The news finally petered out as various locations either completely succumbed to the virus, lost power due to rioting and looting, or people just gave up and ran. The day before we lost city power, I managed to find an internet connection and found one site that gave updates on the virus. According to the maps it showed, about 50% of the population had either been killed, or infected. This was now about one month since the first patient walked into an ER complaining he had the flu.

April 30th, 2018

              I awoke to mostly darkness, and then realized the only light was from the emergency lighting. That means the city power was out, and the generator wasn't working. I got up and dressed, grabbed a flashlight, and went in search of Shayne to see if he could figure it out. He was good with mechanical stuff, and I thought we had a couple of electricians and such too, so I would ask around.

              I went to the bathroom to see if we still had water, which I was betting not with the city power off. Sure enough, nothing. Well, we had an outdoor courtyard in the middle of the building; I guess we would need to build some outdoor toilets soon. This bumped up my timetable a little.

              I found Shayne with five others in the generator room, looking it over, talking amongst themselves about possible solutions. They looked up when I walked in. Shayne motioned me over, not a pleasant look on his face.

              "The generator seems basically sound, but it is very low on fuel, and some of the parts have not been maintained well, so it will need some work before we can use it. The problem is we don't have the necessary parts to replace them with.” he told me, giving me a rundown of what was wrong with it.

              "Alright. Well, with no water, we can't stay here long anyways. How long will the emergency lighting last?" I asked.

              "No more than three days.” said James, one of the electricians.

              "Ok. Well, then, in three days we leave, unless you can get it running.” I told them. I left them to figure out if they could get the generator running in three days, while I went to make preparations just in case.

              We now had about 80 or 90 people total here, including the kids. I needed to know how many people for sure we could get in one RV so I could plan how many more we needed to obtain. We also had regular vehicles and tow hitches for the RV's, so if need be people could ride in the cars being towed. I found Jeff and Mark, then went in search of one more driver so we could bring back four RV's to give us an even eight. That would allow us to have ten people or so in each RV, which shouldn't be too crowded.

              "Sheldon! Sheldon!" someone came running down the hallway yelling for me. It was Travis, one of the kids we were using as message runners for the watchers, "Jason, on the west door, sent me to find you. There are looters trying to get into the west door. They have guns, axes, and crowbars."

              "Mark, you and Aaron go grab some more weapons and men, Jeff, come with me. Meet at the door. Travis, go around to the other watch stations and make sure no one else is trying to break in anywhere else.” I said, staring to run back towards my room to grab my swords. After I got them, I ran to the west door to help Jason. I could hear the outsiders banging on the doors from down the hall. As I came up to the door, I could see that they hadn't broken through yet. Footsteps behind me told me that Jeff was there with his gun, and probably sword as well.

              Jeff snuck up to the inner wall; with the power out they wouldn't see him from outside. He and Jason crouched down below the viewports on one side, while I crouched down on the other. The door was locked tight, and boarded up inside and out. Jeff had his pistol in hand and his sword on his side, while Jason also had a pistol. I looked back down the hall and saw Mark and Aaron coming, along with four more men, all armed. I glanced back at the door when I heard glass crack. Another two hits and broken glass fell down between the boards, right behind Jeff and Jason.

              Jason popped up and fired three rounds through the new hole. I heard shouts from outside as Jeff also popped up and fired as well. Shots from outside hit the boards, some punched through, some didn't. Luckily none of us were hit. I stood up and looked out the viewport nearest me and saw them running away, firing blindly behind them. They jumped into their truck and drove away. I watched them until they were out of view.

              "Jason, Aaron, stay here and watch, just in case they come back. I'll have Travis make sure extra ammo is brought." I said. I then turned and walked back down the hallway. Jeff came with me, as well as Mark. I went to the nurses' station we had set up as an impromptu info center. I asked one of the message runners there to gather everyone in the cafeteria. I sent a second one to find out about the inventory levels of our ammo, and food stores.

              I went and sat at one of the tables and waited for everyone to filter in, minus the ones I left on watch to make sure the looters didn't come back. It wasn’t the first time some had tried to break in, plus the infected were starting to become a serious threat. It took about thirty minutes for everyone to show up.

              "Okay everyone, here's the deal. As you all know by now, we have lost city power, and the generator is not kicking on for some reason. With no city power, we no longer have running water either. I need a couple of volunteers to help dig some holes out in the courtyard to set up a few outdoor toilets. I also need two drivers to go with me to bring back four more RV's so we can get them ready for the trip. We have stockpiled a little gas already, and will continue to search for more on the road. I would ask that everyone be ready to leave in two days. It will not be an easy trip, nor safe exactly, but in the end we will be more secure than we are here, with space, security, power, and water. I ask that you all listen to me, and we should get there safe and whole. Thank you." I then sat down and began thinking about how I was going to get this group halfway across the country. The two runners came in with notes in hand. I took them and reviewed what we had. It looked like we had plenty of ammo and food if we ration the food. Water might be an issue, but I was pretty sure we could ration it too and be fine. All I knew was we had to get moving.

              With it being lunch time, I figured we could get the RV's here this afternoon and have them outfitted by dark. My hope was that overnight we could get everything loaded and actually hit the road first thing in the morning. I went and found Jeff and the other drivers, gathered some weapons, then headed out to get the last RV's. There was Jeff, myself, Shayne, Mark, and four others who volunteered as guards. We headed south, then west to the RV dealership. Along the way we saw wrecked cars, broken windows, even a few bodies that no one bothered to pick up. A few of the infected seemed to be out and take notice of our passing.