Lucky
Page 15
They seemed to have it all under control and the truck was empty. Someone was driving the truck to a spot out of the way. She moved toward the open entrance and saw Tom looking out at the storm clouds. Sam touched his arm and he lifted it and put it around her. She put her arm around his waist and squeezed hard as he smiled down at her. It had been a long five days but it looked like they were going to be alright.
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Chapter 13
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21 December 2020 – Kittens 6 days old
Douglasville, GA
Sam was lying in her bed with Mew cuddled up on her chest. She had just finished giving her another bottle and wiped her bottom with a tissue to relieve her. She had been feeding Mew every 2-3 hours all day except last night when she slept for 5 hours. She had gotten up feeling guilty but Mew was fine and seemed happy to take the bottle when she offered it. Sam was tired from lack of sleep and the temperature had dropped again so all she wanted to do was snuggle under the blanket with the hot water bottle. She kept the hot water bottles warm and fed Mew her warmed milk. She slept on and off between feedings and sometimes kept Mew with her in the warm bed. Mew’s weight went up by ½ an ounce. Once Lucky came looking for her and picked her up and carried her back to the tent. Sam let her, because she wanted Lucky to stay bonded with Mew and she knew that was a good sign.
She set the oil lanterns up on the night stands. They provided decent light and she quickly learned how to adjust the wicks so they gave light but didn’t smoke too much. She thought she could use them until the oil was gone and save the batteries and candles. Plus, the candles didn’t give off very much light. She lay in the warm bed between feedings, she was now using all of the hot water bottles to keep herself and the kittens warm. When she got out of bed her breath came in steamy plumes. She put on her warmest clothes and added a robe when she got out of bed. She had put one of the sleeping bags on top of her comforter and draped the other one over the cat tent, hoping to keep the heat inside of the tent and it seemed to be helping, as long as she kept the water bottles hot. It occurred to her that it was odd that she didn’t see any coats in the closet when she moved and sorted everything. Surely, they had winter coats and assumed they must have put them up for the summer and she wondered where they were. She might have to go look for them.
She tried opening the shutters to let some light in but it seemed that the cold just seeped through the glass along with the light. She closed the shutters and hung a thick blanket over the old curtain rod that was high over the window. That added some insulation from the outside cold. She had also noticed a slight draft coming in the central a/c vent and that worried her for two reason, she didn’t want contaminates to be blown in or the cold air. She took the duct cover off and stuffed a towel in the duct and then put a plastic bag over the hole and put the cover back on. She decided on hot oatmeal for breakfast, she was heating up water for the hot water bottles anyway.
She left the room once to look in the kitchen for another big pot so she could heat more water at once and was surprised at how much warmer her room was compared to the rest of the house and she began to worry that the pipes inside of the house might freeze. As she was coming back to the master bedroom from the kitchen she happened to look up and see the attic pull down stairs. She hadn’t noticed it before because there wasn’t a sting hanging down, instead there was a round eye bolt and realized that was probably where the winter stuff was. But how was she going to open it? She couldn’t reach it without something to pull it down and pulling it down while standing on a ladder would be awkward and dangerous. She would have to look for something to pull it down with.
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15 July 2020 (Continued)
Fort Jackson, SC
The storm was coming in fast and they still had a lot of work to do. They were setting another tent up at the entrance going into the decontamination trailer. Earlier Sam had asked Jerry where the Lowe’s truck had come from and Tom listened in with interest because he wanted to know too. Jerry explained that after Tom dropped them off Hernandez had noticed an old Ford Mustang sitting in the parking lot, and he pointed to a blue Mustang in the back of the lot near the Lowe’s truck. He continued on saying that Hernandez told him he had an idea and after they all talked it over they had decided it was at least worth taking a chance. Hernandez hotwired the car and had it started within minutes of them getting there.
Sam thought, “Well that little scamp. That could come in handy!” Jerry continued on saying they all got into the Mustang and drove to the local Lowe’s that wasn’t that far away. Sara Green who was also on Jerry’s team had lived in Columbia before joining the Army so she was familiar with the area and took them straight there. She could see his face fall a bit as he mentioned the Lowe’s. After seeing the bodies at the Logistics warehouse, she could only imagine what they saw there.
He said on the drive they decided what all they would try to get and what they would do if the found survivors. When they arrived, he said the front doors were already smashed in and someone had gone in and taken most of the batteries and tons of other stuff. He said there were dead bodies everywhere, and in the back of the warehouse they found a door to a security room that had been busted open and the person inside was dead, but he could tell by checking the body that he hadn’t been dead as long as the other people even though his death had certainly been caused by the nerve agent. Sam could tell that something was really bothering him about this and she looked at Tom. She could see that his face had tightened up at that information. Jerry said they didn’t find any survivors in the Lowe’s at all.
Tom told him they would talk more about that later and to finish up how they got the truck. Jerry said Hernandez found the keys to the Lowe’s delivery trucks that were parked out back and tried them until he found one that worked. He backed it up to the Lowe’s loading dock and they all loaded it up with plywood boards, tape, battery powered lanterns, solar lights, work gloves, two of the largest gas grills and propane canisters. He said someone had already broke into the propane cage but they must have run out of room because there were still several propane canisters left.
He said that right after they got back and started putting the boards up, Tyrone had pulled up with the decontamination trailer. Jerry laughed and said he was very confused on who this guy was that was walking up with a smile so big he could see it through the gas mask. He said that after what they saw at Lowe’s he had felt a little leery of Tyrone until he handed him Tom’s Air Assault coin and said, “Make it happen”. Tyrone introduced himself and told them what the trailer was and after they got over their shock and happiness of not having to build a decontamination area themselves they all worked to get it set up and the boards on the sides of the awning. Jerry then turned around and looked at the tent and said, “And that’s when Maria pulled up!” Sam could see his eyes had sought out Maria’s figure inside the tent and she wondered at the look in his eye, but Maria was someone to be admired!
Maria pulled up in the first semi with Joe riding shotgun and Austin was right behind them with Benny riding shotgun in the other semi. Rick came in behind them both in the Bronco with David. He said they had the big tent loaded on top of the pallets of the first rig and apparently Maria had already had it all planned out and as soon as she jumped out of the big tractor she immediately started passing out orders. Jerry laughed and said he didn’t have any problem letting her take over the set up. They all looked around and nodded in agreement.
Once they were done putting up the tent by the decontamination trailer and securing all of the sides with the last of the people inside, Sam was starting to feel the exhaustion and hunger. She was looking forward to sleeping on a bed tonight but she knew they still had a lot to do before that could happen. The last of the soldiers were passing through the dirty side of the decontamination trailer and all that was left was herself, Tom, Maria, and Jerry.
Sam was a bit shocked when s
he walked into the dirty room. It was just that, dirty. She couldn’t comprehend why people couldn’t clean up behind themselves. They had tracked in mud that had not been washed down the drains and there were even marks on what had been pristine walls. She saw Maria was also looking around the room in disgust and their eyes met and she could see Maria was already working on a plan. They all stood in the water with all of their gear on and using special soap dispensers on the wall washed off the outside of their gear so it could be reused again later after it was dried. They removed the outside gear and placed it into a chute on the side of the trailer that was marked “Deposit scrubbed gear here”. Sam wondered where it went and how they would get it back out later.
They were all now in their standard uniforms and they moved to the next section where there were four separate stalls with curtains in front for privacy where they stripped off all of their clothes and gas masks. There was a small shower with a door she had to duck to get into and once inside she felt like she was in a small capsule. Sam luxuriated in the hot water and was happy to see shampoo and soap dispensers in the shower. She had carefully hung her clothes up on the hooks before getting into the shower but when she stepped out she saw the clothes were gone and on the bench was a towel and what looked like new issue t-shirt, pants, white panties, sports bra and socks. Her boots and gas mask were still there.
She dried off and was happy it was a full-size towel that didn’t smell like it had already been used and put the new clothes on. She could smell that new smell on them and had a feeling Maria was to thank for all of the new clothes. But who had guessed her size and put them in the room? She knew Maria was in the other shower. She walked out of the shower area carrying the wet towel and into the locker area. Tom was sitting on the bench putting his boots on and Amy, Drill Sgt. Torres, was standing in front of him leaning against the locker in a suggestive pose. She gave Sam a funny look and straightened up.
Sam said, “Do I have you to thank for the clothes and towel?” Amy said yes, she had been put in charge of making sure everyone had new clothes put out when they came out of the shower. She added that she almost didn’t get Tom’s clothes out in time because he was coming out of the shower naked when she opened his curtain. Amy was eyeing Tom as he sat on the bench lacing up his other boot and he seemed oblivious to the fact that Amy was trying to flirt with him. He said, “Yea, but you forgot my socks so I couldn’t put my boots on!”
Just then Jerry and Maria came out of the shower area and thanked Amy. Maria asked her if they had any problems getting everyone into new uniforms and she no, but a lot of the girls had complained about the white granny panties and sports bra’s that didn’t fit right. Sam and Maria both adjusted their bra’s and laughed. Maria said that beggars couldn’t be choosers and they all headed out the side door that lead into the tunnel going into the building.
The awning, turned tunnel, had only a few lights hung up in it and after locking the doors on the decontamination unit and shutting it all down they turned the lights off as they went. Sam was asking Tom if they were going to set up guards outside, because they still had a lot of stuff outside and of course in the warehouse tent. They were standing at the center of the Y and Sam could hear the rain hitting the top of the awning. Tom said he didn’t think it would be much of a problem with this rain coming down, then after a pause he said after they all met he would put a guard in the warehouse tent. Sam looked back toward the warehouse. There were clear plastic curtains hanging at intervals all along the corridor of the tunnel. She guessed it would create buffer zones in case contamination entered the tent. She could see that the inside of the boards still had a foamy wetness in some areas where they must have sprayed it all down with decontamination spray. She just realized they none of them were wearing their masks. She trusted that they had set it up this way.
Once entering Dozier hall, she wasn’t surprised to see that some people had already set up card and domino tables and she looked toward them with disapproval. Everyone else was moving around organizing various items that had been brought in and she could smell that someone was in the kitchen cooking something. She looked around and didn’t see any of the cooks from the mess hall. They found John over by a stack of boxes and his wife was there with him with the cutest little girls, one on her hip and another one hanging onto her leg. Both had skin that was a smooth caramel color and long dark curls. The little one had huge blue eyes and she was looking at her daddy and cooing. Sam couldn’t help but smile at the scene.
John turned and saw the four of them and introduced them all to his wife Tabitha. She said hello to each of them and said she had heard a lot about all of them, except for Maria, and she had already seen how amazing Maria was. Maria took the compliment in stride and just nodded. Tom asked John if he was ready to have a meeting with everyone and John said that dinner was almost ready to be served and they would meet as soon as everyone was sitting down with food. Sam noticed that additional tables had been brought out and there was plenty of seating for everyone.
John told them all to go to the big table and grab a seat. They all headed to the biggest table in the room and she saw it seated twelve people with five on each side and single chairs on the ends. Tom pulled out a chair for her and she smiled at him and sat down. He sat down next to her and she saw that Tabitha was struggling to get the toddler in a highchair and she offered to hold the baby. She gladly handed the baby over and pulled the toddler up to the table and buckled her in. She gave the toddler some crackers and sat down across from Sam.
Sam saw Amy and Rick heading toward them from opposite directions and Jerry and Maria came up from behind her and sat down on the other side of Tom. Sam was glad Amy didn’t get the chair next to Tom and she realized that was a bit possessive and decided that she wasn’t going to let it bother her if she did. Tom could make his own choices. Joe was coming toward their table with an elderly woman on his arm and she realized it must be his wife. She knew that Joe was older than the rest of them by quite a bit, but his wife looked older than him by at least a dozen years and she didn’t look like she was in good health. They sat down on the other side of Tabitha and Joe introduced his wife to everyone as June. They all said Hi and Sam wondered when she got here and who went to get her.
The chairs in the dining area were filling up as everyone realized the people they had come to know as their leaders were starting to sit down. Tom excused himself and went to the kitchen. He came back out and called “Attention!” everyone got quiet and he announced that tonight dinner would be served but from now on they would be eating buffet style once they had it all set up. He also told them that after dinner they would all have a meeting and they would sort out what rooms people were going to be staying in. Someone from the card tables shouted out “I want a big suite! There should be plenty of them”. Sam frowned and couldn’t help but think some people just didn’t change.
Tom glared at the person that spoke and the room was quiet. He said rooms would be assigned accordingly. He then said he needed five people to come help serve. About a dozen people raised their hands, including Sam. He chose five and went to the kitchen with them. Sam noted that not one of the people at the gaming tables raised their hands, they were still playing cards and dominoes and were being loud and obnoxious. She couldn’t imagine what they would be like if they had alcohol too.
Soon the door to the kitchen opened and a stream of people came out carrying pizza. Sam almost squealed in delight. There were a lot of ohhs and ahhs and almost everyone said pizza! Somehow the kitchen had kept it a secret and Sam didn’t think to wonder what they were cooking except how wonderful it smelled. They placed pizzas at all of the tables and other people came out carrying plates and those were passed around too. More of the kitchen staff came out pushing a cart with glasses of iced tea and water. Last out of the kitchen was John and Tom and they were both carrying pizza’s that they put on a table that was still empty and had been reserved for the kitchen staff.
Sam was baffl
ed, how did they have ice and cheese? She wasn’t going to complain but she was very curious. She took a bite of the hot cheesy pizza and saw there was pepperoni and sausage and onion on it. She moaned allowed and Tom looked at her and raised an eyebrow. She smiled as she ate the pizza and winked at him. He took a bite and said, “Wow, delicious.” Sam turned to John and said, “How is it possible that we have cheese and ice with no electricity?” John explained that although the electric was knocked out the natural gas lines still seemed to be working and this facility was set up with gas stoves, ovens, walk-in refrigerator/ freezer and an ice machine, all hooked up to the gas line. So, all their perishable foods were still good. But since they didn’t know how long that gas was going to keep up they wanted to eat the perishable foods first, hence the pizza.
There were now a total of sixty people and they had plenty of pizza. Everyone got at least two pieces and some people had more than their fair share. Sam had heard some people wondering about the cheese and meat and the ice, but others just seemed oblivious to the fact that these were things they would rarely see anymore. The pizzas at Sam’s table were all gone and John looked at Tom and said ready for this? Tom nodded gravely.
John and Tom stood up and walked out so that everyone could see them. Tom called “Attention” and a lot of the soldiers started to stand up and John said, “Sit down, sit down, we just needed to get your attention. We have some decisions to make. Our group is growing and we need to thank the people here at Dozier Hall for allowing us to come in and join them during this troubling time.” He gestured at two tables of people that Sam hadn’t met yet. There were six women and two men. They all hesitantly smiled and waved. They had obviously been eating well, but they still looked a little lost.
John continued. “Based on the information we have gathered from everyone and what showed on social media before the EMP hit, the whole Nation suffered a catastrophe attack. Life as we know it has come to an end. The food we eat now will be the last of its type until we can make it ourselves. That means a lot of hard work in the future.” He paused and looked around the room before continuing. “That means that from this point forward everyone, and I mean EVERYONE will contribute. If you don’t contribute, you don’t eat.”