The Event: The Beginning (9 page)

              No movement anywhere did not always signal safe. Even though we couldn’t see anything, if any infected were fairly far off, they could still be coming, and in the dark we wouldn’t see them until almost too late.

              As people piled out of the vehicles, I told a few to spread the word that I wanted watchers on the roofs, and for everyone to keep an eye and ear out for anything. I didn't want anyone wandering off by themselves, or too far off. We immediately split into three groups, one to search for and acquire any gas they came across, one to search the building, and one to get on the roofs and watch. I also instructed four men to get onto the roof of the building to watch, as there was an easily accessible ladder. I watched the guys climb the ladder, then I joined the team clearing the building.

              Walking up to doors, the windows were all boarded up from the inside. Even the glass doors had boards on them. It appeared that someone was either staying here now, or at least had at one point. As we made it to the doors, Dave came over to me.

              "If they're locked, why we don't we try knocking first? If someone is in there, we definitely wouldn't want to break their safety net if they decide to stay, right?" he asked me. It was a very good point. If this was someone's refuge, I didn’t want to destroy it by breaking their door. Before we could try it though, one of the rooftop guards got our attention.

              "Sheldon, Dave, we got something up here you should see." Eric said. Jeff, Dave, and I looked at each other, then headed towards the ladder. I told the rest of the men to stay down here just in case. We climbed up the ladder and joined the four on the roof. Once my head popped over the edge, I saw they were not alone.

              "This is Kevin, apparently this was his store, and he and a few others fortified it. Kevin, this is Sheldon, the leader of our little band.” Eric introduced us.

              "Nice convoy you got here. Do you have a plan or are you just moving?" Kevin asked me as we shook hands.

              "Oh, I have a plan. We can go over it if you'd like. How about you, how are you holding out?" I asked him in return.

              "Well, why don't we get your people inside and I will tell you. Does anyone have a problem climbing a ladder?" he said.

              "No, they should all be okay with that. We have some kids, but none so small they can't climb a ladder.” I told him. I had noticed while we were talking the open roof hatch. Apparently that was their main way in and out. Smart, since it didn’t appear the infected were smart enough to climb a ladder.

              "Dave, go tell the group what we found, and get them ready to get inside for a bit. I do want guards left on or in the vehicles though, their choice." I said, turning to Dave. I would like to see what kind of set up Kevin had down below. It might be worth repeating somewhere if we had the opportunity.

              "Follow me then, I'll take you down.” Kevin said, turning towards the hatch. I followed him, along with Jeff and Eric. The others remained on the roof to keep watch. We went down a short service ladder into what appeared to be a mechanical area of the building. Central heat and air units, along with all the associated duct work ran all over the place. We had descended onto a small walkway between them that led to a stairwell only a few steps away. Those steps ended in a steel door which Kevin pushed open. We stepped out into what was probably originally office space. Now it seemed to be sleeping and living quarters.

              "We started with about twenty of us, grew to almost sixty. After going on various food or ammo runs, or in the process of securing this place, we have lost a few along the way. Now we number twelve.” Kevin explained to us as we followed him through the rooms. "We had power for a long time, so with that we had refrigeration, but that went out about a week ago when we ran out of fuel for the generator. If your men are looking for diesel, they won't find any."

              "That's ok, we should have enough to last us a little longer on that. We scrounge where ever and whenever we can. We had a similar set up back in Oklahoma. When I first gathered my group, we also started with about fifty or so in the local hospital. We did what you have done, boarded up windows, hoarded food and ammo. But that was only a short term goal. Let's sit down and talk, I'll tell you the long term plan." I said to Kevin. "Jeff, go help get everyone inside and comfortable for a few."

              Kevin and I went and sat in a small area they had set up with couches and bench seats from restaurant tables. He had stopped one of his people and asked them to bring us some water to drink, and we got down to talking.

              "Ok, so here it is. I know at any given time, there is usually one or two carrier groups in Norfolk naval base. My short term plan here is basically get to Norfolk, get aboard a carrier. Once on board, we can raise the aircraft elevators, post guards on the catwalk under the flight deck, in the line rooms, and on the fantail, an area in the back. Once the lines and fantail are guarded, nothing will be able to get on board that ship without us allowing it. Carriers are nuclear, so we will have power. There should still be food on board, as well as guns and ammo. We will have protection, security, and we won't be running anymore. I have plans for food production, and looking for other survivors. Once the ship is secure, I plan to start securing the base itself. It would be plenty of land for people to spread a little, yet be small enough to protect. That is the basics. If you want to join us, I would be more than happy to take you guys with us, but my rule is everyone helps, however they can. If you aren't interested and want to stay here, then we will leave you to it and continue on our way." I explained all this to Kevin as he listened carefully. We talked for a while longer, him asking questions, me answering, hashing out whether or not I really knew what I was doing. I really didn't, but I made it sound good.

              "Let me talk to the group. We have barely been surviving, and hadn't actually expected to see anybody else at this point. I think we may take you up on it. If nothing else, you guys can get some rest, relax, we are safe here. I'll put some of my men up on the roof with yours so nothing can sneak up on us." Kevin said. We both stood and shook hands, and I went to find my group.

              "Well, how did that go?" Jeff asked me as I found him and Michelle eating dinner.

              "I think we may have to find room for twelve more people.” I said absent mindedly, not really paying attention to the conversation. I was thinking about where we could fit them.

              "That would take our total up to about what, 120 or so?" Jeff asked. I nodded, knowing Roger and Val were keeping up with the numbers more than I was.

              "So what do you want to do, it's like two in the morning, most everyone is trying to get back to sleep. Do we stay the rest of the night or get back in the RV's?" Michelle asked.

              "Let them sleep. This is a safe place for now, we will continue in the morning. That will give Kevin time to decide if they are coming with us or not. Get some sleep yourselves, I'll talk to you later.” I said, taking my leave of them. I went back to the roof to check on our watchers before I went to sleep.

              Opening up the hatch, I climbed out onto the roof and stepped over to the nearest set. They greeted me quietly, and I nodded back. I had four men up here, and Kevin sent four more, so there were two men watching each wall, as well as getting to know each other. I watched over the area with them for a minute or two, then went to the next set and did the same thing. After quietly visiting with each group, I headed back down.

              "Well, the few that are awake right now have no problems going with you, if you will have us.” Kevin said as I came out of the door at the bottom of the stairs.

              "Do you think the rest will follow too?" I asked him. I really didn't need people going with us, and some not, then the ones with us getting cold feet and demanding to be brought back. It was too much of a risk to the group as a whole. Once we left, we left.

              "Yes. We all are close, one way or another. If a few leave, we will all leave. So what's your plan then?" he asked me as we walked away from the sleepers.

              "Well, I guess I will let everyone get some sleep tonight since a lot are already out. We will take off in the morning, say around eight at the latest. We should make Virginia by nightfall, and the ship by nightfall the next day. If the roads were clear, and it didn't take too long to search for gas at each stop we could make the ship by dark tomorrow, but let's be realistic." I replied to him.

              "Sounds good to me. Let's get some sleep and we can push through in the morning.” Kevin said. He patted me on the shoulder and then went to his sleeping area. I hadn't pulled my bed roll out of the RV, so I just found a place on a free couch and laid down. I fell asleep quickly, thinking of the next leg of the trip already.

Chapter 5

May 4th, 2018

              I awoke to the sounds of people moving around, voices talking and laughing. I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, not feeling rested at all. As I looked around I saw people packing up, talking, and smiling. It appeared my group was mingling with Kevin's quite nicely.

              "Good morning.” Kevin said, appearing at my side. He was holding out a mug of something hot.

              "Please tell me that's coffee.” I asked, taking the mug and inhaling. It smelled wonderful, and tasted just as good as I took a sip.

              "It's only instant, all we have left, but it's better than nothing.” he chuckled, sitting next to me on the couch with his own mug. "Can I ask you a question?" I glanced over at him and nodded, drinking some more of that wonderful coffee.

              "How old are you?" he asked.

              "Thirty nine, why" I replied, glancing over at him.

              "I'm fifty eight, and I don’t think I could lead a group like this like what you're doing. How are you pulling it off?"

              "Honestly? I don't really have much of a clue. When I was in the Navy, we ran different scenarios on a regular basis, as exercises. World War III, nuclear accidents, natural disasters, things like that. As odd as it sounds, zombie apocalypse was one of those scenarios. I came up with this basic plan during those exercises. When the news started about this thing, I don't know, something clicked and I remembered those exercises, and decided it was a good enough plan as any. I told a few of my friends and family, and we went with it. How am I pulling it off? Barely, but I have good friends who keep me grounded and back me up.” I told him. He laughed a little at that, then slapped my shoulder like an old friend, stood up and went to gather his things. I finished drinking my coffee while I thought about what we would do with twelve more people.

              I set my mug on the table, stood up, and headed towards the roof so I could see what was going on. I nodded at and greeted several people along the way, and eventually found the roof hatch. It was already open since so many people were going in and out, and also to let some sun in and fresh air, I was sure.

              I climbed onto the roof to find about ten or so men keeping watch on the perimeter, while two were dropping supplies to the ground with a rope and makeshift pulley. I walked over to the ladder since that was the side our RV's were on and looked down. There was a watcher on each of the three outermost RV's, I could see a team filling gas tanks, and two of our cars were gone which told me someone went to scrounge for food and supplies. It all seemed to flowing fairly smoothly, like everyone had been doing it a long time.

              I walked around the perimeter of the roof, looking out, greeting people, and just getting a feel of my own on what was going on. I wanted the people looking to me to know I was more than willing to watch with them, and put myself out there and not just risk their lives while I stay in safety.

              "Sheldon, we're almost done. I have two teams out to search for food and/or supplies. I told them not to leave a three block radius, so they should back very soon. Kevin said most of it was already searched and cleared out, so I'm not holding out much hope they find much. Val is finding room for the new people, and we should be able to leave in about an hour.” Dave said, coming up behind me. I was extremely glad I had several people I could count on, like Dave, Jeff, and the rest of my inner circle. It helped take some of the stress off of me.

              "Excellent. Soon as all that is done we leave. I want to be somewhere in Virginia by nightfall, and we are only about halfway through Tennessee now. Thank you, Dave, in case I haven't said that lately.” I told him, reaching my hand out to shake his.

              "Don't even think about that man, you probably saved me and my family's lives. I owe you for that.” he replied, taking my hand and shaking it. He then turned and walked towards the ladder. I peered out over the parking lot and various buildings surrounding us, wondering how many of them were hiding infected.

              I decided to head down and check on the status of the RV's. I wanted to make sure none were about to blow an engine, or had any sheet metal about to fall off. I ducked into my RV and grabbed a towel, then reached in the driver’s area and popped the hood. Stepping out, I went around to the front and lifted the hood. I pulled the oil stick out, wiped it clean, then replaced it and pulled it back out to check the level. It seemed to be fine, but I knew all of them would need to get an oil change when we made it to the ship. We should have sufficient filters and oil in the rig for all of them. I checked everything else as well, air filter, coolant, etc. Since everything seemed fine, I closed the hood and went to the next RV and did the same checks. I did the same for all the RV's we had. They all seemed fine for now, but I would probably check again tomorrow morning before taking off also. By the time I was done with that almost everything was loaded and the scrounge teams were back, loading up what little they found. Jeff was under his hood as well, I hoped just checking things and not with a problem. I walked over to him to find out.

              "Hey man, problem, or just checking?" I asked as I stepped up to the far side of the engine from him.

              "Just checking. I saw you doing it to the RV's, so I thought I better do it to her too, just to be safe. It all seems to be good though.” he told me, wiping some engine grime from his hands and stepping down. I stepped back also as he dropped the hood.

              "Well, we should be able to leave in just a few minutes. I'm hoping to go straight through Nashville, and hopefully make it to Knoxville before we have to stop, but we will see how it goes. How's your fuel situation?" I asked. I knew the RV's were on average half full, but we had cans in the rig that were being put in them now, so they should all be full when we started.

              "Let me check.” he said, moving towards the drivers' door. He climbed up, put the key in and turned it enough for the gauges to come on. After a minute he looked at me, "Looks ok for now, a little over three quarters."

              "Good. I'm going to check on the rest of the drivers, make sure there are no issues. Channel eight still, right?" I asked, stepping down to the ground.

              "You got it. I've got the truck CB on 19 still which is the emergency band, but nothing yet. I'll let you know if I get anything." He said. I then left him to finish getting ready to go and went to make sure I was ready myself. I checked that all my gear was stored properly where I could get to it, and it wouldn’t go flying around while we were moving. Everything seemed secure, as well as the food and ammo, and everyone else's stuff that was loaded in this RV.

              I then went from vehicle to vehicle, checking with the drivers, making sure everything was secure, and nobody had any issues before taking off. Everyone seemed to be getting ready just fine, and everything was getting put away. I figured ten minutes and we could hit the road. I found Kevin and asked him how his people were doing.

              "They are all fine. Some are worried about leaving since we had a safe place here, but I assured them you had a plan for an even safer place. That seemed to alleviate most of their fears, but this is such a weird time, and situation. No one will give you any problems.” he assured me. I shook his hand, sure that he would deal with any problems his people came up with, until they learned they could trust me.

              Once I finished my rounds, I headed back to my vehicle. I got on the radio and asked all drivers if they were ready. I got mostly yeses, but two were finishing locking things down still. I told them to inform me when they were ready, and then looked at my map again. I-40 would take us straight into Knoxville which was where I hoped to get before stopping today. It was a long stretch of road, with many exits, rest stops, truck stops, and restaurants. Unfortunately that meant lots of places that could have roadblocks.

              I finally got the green light from all the drivers, so I told Jeff to go for it. We hadn't seen any infected moving this morning, so hopefully that meant we were clear to the highway. I saw Jeff start moving, so I put it in gear and waited for him to clear me. Once I started moving, I saw the rest follow suit. We drove down the service road towards the highway single file. As we pulled onto the interstate itself, I eased to one side of Jeff and looked in my mirrors to see the rest also staggered themselves.

              We rolled east, towards the rising sun, thankfully not coming across any roadblocks as we made into Nashville itself. Several cars were on the road, either crashed, or just abandoned, mostly on the shoulders or median though. A few had to be pushed out of the way, but Jeff did a pretty good job of that with the rig. I started seeing a lot of what we had seen in all the medium to large cities we had been through; burned out buildings, cars, trash blowing all over the place. A few bodies here and there lined the roads as well. I radioed Jeff to stop at every available truck stop and gas station so we could scrounge for fuel.

              With his blinker on, Jeff angled the truck towards the next exit. I saw the fuel signs and was hopeful that with several gas stations on this exit that we would be able to find something. We had only been on the road for less than an hour, but we did need the fuel, so I didn't have much choice but to stop. Like all the other stops, we circled the rig and faced so we could move out quickly.

              I got out with my riot gear on and swords on. Larger cities like this would be higher risk for infected attacks as well as other people trying to take our supplies. Several of the others got out similarly dressed. Like always, I posted watchers on the rooftops and split the rest into two search teams. Some of Kevin's people had also got out and were adding themselves to the teams. I liked that, as it meant they felt they could trust the plan.

              Breaking from normal protocol slightly this time, I ordered a car off a trailer and decided to take a small group to search the nearby houses, looking for survivors.

              "Are you out of your mind? There is no way in hell I'm letting you do that.” Jeff said angrily, walking up to me. I assumed I would see him as soon as he heard about it. I knew he wouldn’t like my idea, but I didn’t care, it was time for me to do something significant again.

              "You don't have a choice. I'm going. But don't worry, I'm not going alone. I'm taking Roger, and Eric. Both are good with swords, and I don’t want to fire a gun if I can help it.” I told him, not looking at him as I checked my weapons and gear.

              "The hell I don't have a choice. You are the one who has this groups trust, and you have the plan. What do think is going to happen if something happens to you out there? Have you thought about your kids, or Michelle, or the group in general?" he yelled at me. I looked around at saw he was starting to draw attention.

              "Keep your voice down before you draw unwanted attention. I'm going, so zip it, this is not up for discussion. Yes, I have thought about the girls and Michelle. I'm the leader you say? Then I'm pulling rank.” I replied to him, pointedly ignoring him after that and moving to find Roger and Eric.

              "Then I'm going too. Dave can keep everyone happy for a little bit. At least this way I'll know at least one person has your back that knows what they're doing.” he said to me, heading towards his rig, presumably to get his riot gear. I knew he had a couple of short swords, but he was lethal with a rifle or handgun, so I was sure he would be taking one or the other.

              "Fine. But no one fires a gun unless there is no other choice. Bring your swords.” I told his back. I knew there was no way to not let him go, and I didn’t really want that fight. As he walked away, I went in search of Roger and Eric. I found Eric in his RV, getting fitted in some riot gear of his own. Roger was walking this way in his homemade leather and plate mail armor. It looked a little cheesy, but it was effective. I had seen a couple of those things bite his arm and the armor didn’t even have a scratch on it yet.

              "Are you sure just three of us are going to be enough?" Eric asked me as I got close.

              "Well, Jeff caught wind of me leaving, and decided that he didn’t trust anyone else to watch my back, so he made an executive decision to go as well. So it will be the four of us.” I informed him. Roger had walked up and heard me talking to Eric.

              "Well, four would probably be better than three anyways. That way we could split and go two by two to clear the buildings. It would save time." Roger said, agreeing with Jeff apparently. I shook my head, thinking about it, then nodded and decided he was right.

              We checked each other’s gear to make sure it was tight, no tears, and nothing loose. It would not be good to be attacked and have a piece fall off. Eric had two pistols and a hatchet, while Roger had two swords as well as his own hatchet. I had my customary weapon set, but I grabbed a pistol just in case as well. I disliked guns, even though I was good with a pistol. Jeff walked up during the checks and I checked his armor as well. All of his gear looked good. He had a pair of pistols with extra clips, as well as an assault rifle. He did have a machete with him at least as well.

              After making sure everyone's armor was good, and weapons were secure, we walked over to the van I had decided to take. It was a full size passenger van, so if there were survivors we should have space for them. I told Eric to drive and climbed in the passenger seat. Jeff and Roger got in the back and Eric climbed in and fired it up.