All the people I’ve known that have been in the military were all good people. If I had to guess, I would say that what happened was an accident, a horrible accident, but just an accident.”
“Too bad we can’t listen to the President’s speech,” Michelle said. “It would have been nice to hear what he had to say. It might have helped us figure out who was lying and who was telling the truth.”
“I have a radio, we can listen to his speech,” Bill said.
“Dave looked at his watch, “His speech was two hours ago, we missed it.”
Bill got up and took a battery powered radio off a shelf on the wall.
“Maybe someone will replay the speech,” Bill said as he turned on the radio and began turning the dial as he tried to find a station that was broadcasting.
He stopped when he heard a voice talking.
The President made a broadcast earlier tonight.
We will be signing off shortly, but once again the main points of the President’s speech were this.
Last night sometime a submarine transporting captured biological agents from the Middle East to the US to be analyzed, crashed on the coast of Georgia.
It was assumed that sometime during the transit across the Atlantic, the biological agents were released into the submarine causing the death of the crew and leaving the submarine on a crash course with the East Coast of the US.
The crash caused the biological weapons to be released in the town of Kingsland, Georgia.
The Navy has sent in Haz Mat units to Kingsland to try and contain the virus, but despite their efforts, the effects of the unknown biological agents have continued to spread.
There have been reports of outbreaks, the effects of the unknown agents on humans, have been reported in Charleston, Miami, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Boston and many other smaller towns and cities up and down the East Coast.
How this has been spread so far in only twenty-four hours are unknown.
It has been suggested that it is being spread by birds and animals, interstate truckers and by people traveling by cars, buses and airplanes.
The government has activated all resources at their disposal to stop the further spreading of this situation.
The President has declared a state of emergency and has requested that everyone stay inside until further notice.
Units of the US Army will deliver water and food to your neighborhoods during the emergency.
We will begin broadcasting again tomorrow on the top of each hour to update you on the situation and to tell you when the Army will be bringing supplies to your neighborhood.
Until tomorrow at twelve noon, this is the Georgia Emergency Broadcast System signing off.
The radio went dead.
“The Apocalypse is here,” Bill said. “And we were here to witness it all happen from the very first hour.”
“Lucky us,” Michelle sighed.
“It sounds like the President told the American People just about everything,” Dave said. “I don’t think anything is being covered up.”
“It doesn’t sound like he told how that biological material got on the submarine in the first place,” Bill said. “It sounded like a stupid idea to transport biological weapons on a submarine if you ask me.”
“I bet whoever made that decision will get fired,” Michelle said.
“If he lives through this,” Dave replied. “But regardless of what happens to him, it won’t help us.”
Bill got up and walked out of the room.
Dave and Michelle could hear the door to the small refrigerator in the little kitchen close.
Bill came back into the control room holding a six pack of Budweiser.
He walked over and sat down next to Dave and Michelle, popped the tab on three cans and slid a can over to Dave and one to Michelle.
“I only have one six pack in the shelter, I was going to store a few cases in the stock room but haven’t had the chance yet,” Bill said. “But in light of what we’ve heard, I think this would be the best time for us to enjoy the beer, while we can.”
Bill held his can in the air and said, “Cheers!”
Dave looked at Bill like he thought he was crazy.
“I really don’t think this is a time to be celebrating,” Bill said.
“Yeah, what’s to celebrate?” Michelle asked.
“The zombie apocalypse has started, but we have a shelter and we have all survived the first night,” Bill smiled. “I think that is worth celebrating.”
“I think I was right all along,” Dave smiled. “You are a crazy son of a bitch.”
A few seconds went by, then they all started laughing.
Michelle grinned and held up her can of beer, “To Bill and his survival shelter.”
Dave shook his head.
“To us and to surviving the first night,” Dave said, raising his can.
They all took a long slow drink from their cans.
“Drink up and enjoy, there is one more can for each of us,” Bill said. “After tonight, it could be a long time before we have another beer.”
“If ever,” Dave added.
“Dave?” Michelle asked. “Last night was horrible. Since we have this shelter and know what’s out there, do you think it will get any easier?”
Dave looked at the scene on the monitor of what was outside surrounding the mobile home.
“Not a chance,” Dave replied. “Not a chance.”
“I didn’t think so,” Michelle said and took another drink of her beer.
“If anything,” Dave added. “It is only going to get more difficult.”
“Like I told you before,” Michelle smiled. “It would be nice if you would just lie to me sometime.”
“I am,” Dave replied looking grim. “I don’t think I could have sugar coated my answer much more than I did.”
“That bad?” Michelle asked.
“Maybe worse,” Dave replied.
Dave, Michelle and Bill sat quietly and sipped their beer.
Each were deep in their own thoughts.
Dave and Michelle’s thoughts were somber.
They felt lucky to have survived the first night, but they both knew that the worst was yet to come.
Bill on the other hand somehow felt excited about what had happened as he looked around and admired his shelter.
But, that was Bill.
As Dave had always said, Bill was crazy.
The best thing to happen over the last twenty-four hours was that they had survived the first night.
You could say big deal, it was only one night.
But if they were going to survive, they had to survive the first night or nothing else would matter.
For all things there is a time to begin and a time to end.
The first night was the beginning.
When would the end come?
Only time would tell.
Thanks for reading The First Night.
I hope you enjoyed the story.
To be put on my email list or for any questions or comments you may have, feel free to email me at
[email protected]
Thank You for your interest and support.
==
Apocalypse- the Plan Page 55
