“Are you getting hungry?” Bill laughed.
“No, I’m thirsty,” Michelle replied.
Bill reached in his pocket and pulled out a dollar.
“Here, just do me a favor and save me a drink,” Bill said. “I’m kind of thirsty myself.”
“Here,” Dave said pulling three dollars out of his wallet, “get us each a drink. Are there any candy bars in that machine?”
“No, just soft drinks and water,” Michelle replied.
“I guess a drink will help,” Dave replied. “Just don’t give me any of that diet crap, I need sugar. I’ve been so busy I didn’t have a chance to eat anything tonight and my stomach has been letting me know about it.”
Michelle fed the money into the machine then turned and handed Bill a Coke, she had a Diet Coke for herself and handed Dave a Jolt Soda.
“What’s this?” Dave asked.
“Something to keep your engine running,” Michelle smiled. “It’s high in caffeine.”
“It will be like drinking an entire pot of coffee,” Bill chuckled. “You drink that and you can forget about getting any sleep tonight.”
“Good,” Dave replied then popped the tab and chugged the entire can. “It’ll be morning soon and I doubt any of us are going to get any sleep tonight anyhow. Drink up and let’s get moving and find out where everyone is around here.”
They unlocked the door, an easy task from inside the room, left the building and wandered through the small complex before starting down the road towards the main part of the base.
When they were almost half way to the next gate, Michelle said, “That smell is getting stronger again down this way. I hope it is a beached whale and not more zombies.”
“Dave, what do you make of that smell?” Bill asked.
“I really don’t know,” Dave replied. “Nothing has turned out to be what we’ve expected it to be, hopefully it is just another beached whale, but keep your eyes open. I don’t really think we will run into any zombies here on the base, this is the East Coast Base housing our ballistic missile submarine fleet for God’s sake. If they can’t keep from being overrun by zombies, what the hell chance to do we have?”
“We’ll they would be in deep shit if we were here to do a surprise readiness inspection,” Bill said. “I expected the military to be a lot more on the ball than what we’ve found here tonight. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“Just keep alert,” Dave replied, “we shouldn’t have much further to go.”
Chapter 11
Dave shined the light into the distance in front of them and was relieved to see in the distance the light reflecting off the gate they had been searching for.
“The main gate,” Dave said.
“It’s about time,” Bill replied. “I still think we should have run that first gate with the car, my back is killing me, I think I would have been willing to take my chances with a missile to avoid all this walking.”
“If you would have been trapped in a room surrounded by zombies that were trying to get in to tear you apart, you would be happy to be out here walking no matter what was hurting,” Michelle replied.
Dave laughed, “You tell him, Michelle!”
“I guess you’re right,” Bill sighed. “It could always be worse.”
“But I have to say that I’m glad we finally made it,” Michelle said. “Besides worrying about zombies, all these crickets and frogs croaking are starting to freak me out.”
“As long as we keep hearing the sounds of the night, we don’t have anything to worry about,” Bill said. “The frogs and insects get quiet when there are zombies around. Critter sounds are good.”
“And how do you know that?” Dave asked.
“Basic zombie knowledge,” Bill replied. “Everyone knows that critters are afraid of the walking dead and they are smart enough to be quiet when zombies are around.”
“Sorry I asked,” Dave replied as they approached the fence.
Dave shined the flashlight on the fence next to the gate.
“Michelle, hand me the wire cutters,” Dave said. “This looks like a good place where we can get inside the fence.”
Michelle handed Dave the wire cutters and he began to cut the links in a circular pattern.
The fence vibrated with each link Dave snipped and made a loud clanking sound.
“The frogs and insects suddenly got quiet,” Michelle whispered. “Should I be worried?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not because there are zombies around,” Dave chuckled, “it’s because they are afraid of wire cutters too.”
“No, they are afraid of the people with wire cutters,” Bill replied.
“But now I can hear a different noise,” Michelle said. “Listen, can you hear it too?”
Dave stopped cutting the fence links and knelt in front of the fence silently for a moment.
“I hear it,” Bill whispered. “It sounds like something splashing in the water out in the channel. Did you ever see an old fashion paddle boat going up the river? It sounds like the paddle wheel of one of those old river boats churning in the water. I wonder what a paddle boat is doing on the submarine base.”
“It can’t be a river boat,” Dave said. “The sound is probably coming from the Navy repair yard, they could be working on a boat and are testing it out in the channel.”
“I don’t know,” Bill replied. “But at least it doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with zombies.”
“It’s good to finally hear normal living people making noise for a change,” Dave said and started cutting the fence links again.
After a few moments, Dave stopped cutting and pushed open the section of fence he had just cut free.
He crawled through the opening, stood and held the fence open.
“Let’s go,” Dave said.
Michelle crawled through the opening followed by Bill.
Dave cut a few sections of wire and began to tie the loose section back in place.
When he was done he stood and shined his light towards the base.
They were still too far away to see anything with the small flashlight.
“Where do we go from here?” Bill asked.
“Let’s go towards that sound,” Dave replied. “I don’t know what’s going on around here, but that should be a good place to start where we might be able to find some help.”
“But I tried calling the repair yard when we were back in that office building and no one answered,” Michelle said.
“I know,” Dave replied. “But right now I can’t think of anything better to try. I have a feeling that we will find Navy personnel when we find the source of that sound.”
“I hope you’re right,” Michelle said.
They started walking towards the distant sound of the churning water.
From the second gate, the distance to the channel was about half a mile.
As they walked towards the sound, it began to guide their approach towards the right side of the base.
“I’m getting the feeling that something is wrong here,” Dave said.
“Why do you say that?” Michelle asked.
“Because if I remember correctly, the main part of the base where the repair yard is located is up in the other direction,” Dave replied.
“What is down this way,” Michelle asked as the sound they were following became louder.
“Nothing that I can remember,” Dave replied. “Down this way was just a long stretch of beach where the channel begins and leads back up to the main part of the base.”
“Maybe we should go the other way if you think something is wrong,” Bill suggested.
“I still think going in this direction is our best chance to find help,” Dave replied. “Besides, now I’m curious about what is making that sound.”
They continued to walk.
It was now six o’clock in the morning and the eastern sky was beginning to brighten as dawn was approaching.
Buildings and trees began to beco
me recognizable as their dark shapes began to contrast against the still dark but brightening horizon.
Dave continued to shine his flashlight on the path in front of them to light the ground ahead so they could find their way without tripping over the many small obstacles lying in the sand.
As they approached the beach, a large dark object appeared to be on the beach directly in front of them.
They were still a few hundred yards away, but a two-hundred foot section of the beach was unusually dark.
The sound they had been hearing was also now much louder.
“What the hell is that?” Bill asked. “Can you make out what that is?”
“Well it doesn’t appear to be a riverboat,” Michelle added. “It’s way to long to be a riverboat, it looks more like a massive tree trunk that was toppled by a storm.”
“How could a tree end up on the beach, there isn’t anything that big around here,” Bill replied as he studied the large dark shape out on the beach. “The only thing around here is brush and seaweed. Do you think there was a storm somewhere along the coast that washed this thing up on the beach?”
“But trees don’t make noise like that,” Dave added.
“Maybe it’s the waves breaking over the branches,” Michelle replied.
“No, the noise is too steady to be that,” Dave said. “The sound would only be made when the waves washed over the branches, the sound we are hearing is constant.”
They walked closer as Dave thought about the sound and what would have a shape like the long dark object that covered the beach in front of them.
Then it hit him.
“I think I know what it is,” Dave exclaimed as they moved closer.
“Well, what is it?” Bill asked.
“I think it’s a submarine,” Dave replied.
“What the hell would a submarine be doing on the beach?” Bill asked.
“I have no idea, but we are on a submarine base,” Dave replied. “Look at that shape, it’s long like a submarine and that sound we’ve been hearing could be the propellers still churning in the water.”
“How the hell could a submarine end up getting itself beached on the sand like a damn whale?” Bill asked. “I’ve never heard of anything like that ever happening before, at least I never heard of it happening around here.”
“Why is it still here?” Michelle asked. “If a Navy sub ended up beaching itself, why isn’t the Navy out here trying to get it back in the water?”
“Or at least, why hasn’t the Navy turned off the damn engines,” Bill added. “If they were waiting until morning to push it back out into the channel, I think they would have at least shut down its systems and not just let it sit out here running at full power all night.”
“Maybe it’s something else,” Dave finally said. “It was just an idea. Let’s keep moving, we’ll find out what it is in a few minutes. I’m sure the shadows are just playing tricks with my imagination and it will end up being something simple.”
“Something simple,” Michelle replied. “I think I heard someone say that somewhere else tonight.”
The eastern sky brightened a little more in the few minutes it took them to reach the beach.
It was still dark, but the shapes around them were becoming more and more distinct.
When the sand under their feet began to feel softer, and the sound of churning water began to sound like more of a roar, Dave raised his flashlight and shined it in the direction of object on the beach.
The large object was beginning to take shape as they moved closer.
It was massive, appearing to be as tall as a building, it was much taller than it had looked from a distance.
When the light from Dave’s flashlight struck the object, they had the answer to their question.
His light illuminated the tall conning tower and fins of a submarine.
They could see that the submarine was lying on it’s side with the end of the tall conning tower resting on the sand.
The hull of the sub extended across the beach and into the dunes, but that was only the part that was on the beach.
The other end of the sub extended out into the channel for another hundred feet or more.
The loud roaring sound of churning water was coming from the end of the sub still out in the channel.
“That is one hell of big submarine,” Bill gasped.
“I believe it is about six hundred feet long,” Dave replied. “The base here is the home to the U.S. Ohio Class submarine fleet. They call them ‘Boomers.’”
“Why are they called ‘Boomers’?” Michelle asked. “Is it because they are so big?”
“No,” Dave replied. “It’s because they each carry one hundred twenty nuclear missiles, each with five individual warheads capable of striking five different targets. Each missile has the capability of destroying five major cities on its own, thus creating a tremendous Boom, so they gave them the name ‘Boomers’.”
“You mean this thing which obviously has some kind of problem, since it is sitting here on the beach churning up water, is loaded with nuclear missiles?” Michelle asked. “Why isn’t the Navy out here doing something about this? This is dangerous, this thing could be unstable or something. What if it explodes right here on the beach?”
“We’d be vaporized and would never know what hit us,” Dave replied.
“Being vaporized doesn’t worry me too much right now,” Bill said. “It would happen so fast, you wouldn’t feel a thing.”
“Well it scares the hell out of me,” Michelle replied.
“What scares the hell out of me right now is what I think I just saw,” Bill said. “Dave let’s get a little closer and shine your light on the sand below the conning tower.”
“What did you see?” Dave asked as he took a few steps closer to the submarine.
“I’m not sure,” Bill replied.
Dave was aiming his light in the direction of the submarine’s conning tower instead of on the ground in front of them as he been doing before as they walked.
“Oh God,” Michelle groaned. “I think I tramped in a pile of cow manure or something. I can’t see where I’m walking.”
Dave turned to give Michelle some light so she could get her foot out of whatever she had gotten into.
When the light struck her foot, Michelle shrieked and jerked her foot up and began dancing around hysterically.
Dave grabbed her and pulled her close, squeezing her against his chest to hold her still.
“Relax, your OK,” Dave said.
“How can I relax, I had my foot stuck in a dead body,” Michelle shrieked. “It wasn’t even a whole dead body, it was what was left of someone’s dead body. I think I’m going to be sick….”
Michelle pulled away from Dave, leaned forward and began to throw up.
After a few minutes Michelle straightened up and wiped off her mouth and chin.
Dave shined his light over Michelle’s foot.
“God,” Michelle gagged, “My foot is covered with blood.”
“There seems to be a lot of that going around tonight,” Dave replied as he examined her foot. “The good thing is that it appears that none of the blood is yours.”
“That doesn’t really help,” Michelle gagged.
Michelle tried to throw up again, but there wasn’t anything left to come up.
Dave began to shine his light on the ground around where they were standing.
The ground all around them was red with blood.
Bloody body parts and pieces of clothing were scattered around over the ground.
“Aim your light towards the sub again, Dave,” Bill said.
Dave began to shine his light towards the sub, following the bloody trail across the sand until it reached the point where the top of the conning tower was buried in the sand.
A welding outfit lay on the ground below the open hanging hatch on the conning tower.
The trail of blood continued up into the hatch and into the submarine.
“Yeah,” Bill replied. “I thought I saw a red color in the edges of the light. I was afraid this was what it would be. It looks like the sub was attacked by zombies.”
“How could zombies attack a submarine?” Michelle asked, as her stomach finally began to settle down.
Dave got down and shined his flashlight into the open hatch. He quickly moved away from the hatch.
“I can still hear them groaning inside the sub,” Dave said. “We better get away from here before anymore of them find their way out.”
“How did zombies get on a submarine?” Michelle asked.
“I heard the Navy was experimenting with unusual kinds of weapons,” Bill replied. “I heard they were strapping explosives onto Dolphins and Sharks, cameras onto birds, but putting zombies on submarines, that’s wild. Whatever they were teaching them to do, they obviously couldn’t teach them how to pilot a submarine.”
“Bill, you’re starting to sound ridiculous again,” Dave growled. “I agree that there are such things as zombies, unfortunately, but the idea that the Navy was sending zombies out on submarines is ridiculous. Obviously, the zombies somehow got on the sub when it was out at sea.
How, I have no idea. The sub was probably trying to return to base, but after the zombies killed everyone on board, the sub ended up running a ground, beaching itself here.”
“How did they get out of the sub?” Michelle asked. “They didn’t seem to be able to use doorknobs over at the office, getting out of a sub looks to be a lot harder than opening a door.”
“After the sub ran aground, I think the Navy would have tried to communicate with the men inside. When they weren’t able to establish communications, they came out and cut open the hatch to get inside the sub to get the men out. When they cut open the hatch they were attacked by the zombies,” Dave replied as he shifted his light to the welding equipment lying on the sand by the tower. “Here’s the welding outfit they were using.”
Apocalypse- the Plan Page 48
