Twenty minutes later though, our story cleared. The commander of the group guarding us informed us that he had been waiting to speak to Captain Rhodes directly, but that Rhodes had confirmed that he knew us, and asked that we be taken to him. The commander ordered us to follow his jeep in, and to not deviate at all.
We followed the jeep closely. At first, there was nothing to see, just good old North Carolina coastal brush, quite high actually. I guess without people mowing or burning, nature was left to grow on its own. After a while though, we started passing what appeared to be large empty parking lots. At first, I was a bit confused, as I could see no purpose to all these empty parking lots, but further ahead, we began to see these lots filled with shipping containers. The closer we got the docks, the fuller these lots became.
The terminal has three large, deep water docks (who knows how deep they are now, they had to keep them dredged before Deadfall). We arrived at one to see a bustle of activity. Hundreds of men and women in uniform were working on the docks, loading crates of all different sizes, onto small boats docked there. There was certainly a lot going on here, but what quickly stood out to me, was the giant ship looming in the background. We quickly found out that it was the USS Abraham Lincoln, nuclear powered aircraft carrier, and current base to the military command here in the Cape Fear region. This was proudly told to us by the commander who had guided us here.
“Is Captain Rhodes on there?” I naively asked.
He wasn’t, he was on dry land, on the island on the other side. We would be taking a boat across to meet with him. The commander then nodded at us, and pointed at some other soldier type (I really don’t know ranks or signs, or salutes or anything, so just keep up with all the soldier guys) who was walking towards us. This man would now be responsible for us, until we reached the Captain.
We parked our truck and van as we were instructed, in one of the lots that was being used for this purpose. We were allowed to take a few personal items, whatever that meant. It wasn’t as if I was going to forget my toothbrush, iPod and latest backpacking magazine. He did guarantee that our vehicles would be safe, and that no one would touch anything inside of them. I almost laughed as I caught Evan gazing at his machine gun; as if he was saying goodbye to an old friend he might never see again.
We were taken out onto the dock, and on board a smaller passenger, ferry type boat. This boat was certainly not a military boat, but most likely, a boat that had once, in the past, been used by some businessman or woman to give tours on the Cape Fear. Now, it was being used to move people back and forth across the same river. I almost felt like standing up and pointing some historical things about that little trip, but I felt like people just might not get it. Or I’d get thrown overboard. Or shot.
The trip to the other side was quick enough. Down river, we could see a few more very large navy boats, I don’t know, battleships or destroyers. My limited knowledge on these things comes from a board game. I’m not an expert. One thing I did notice was that the Abraham Lincoln was not in the main river channel. Instead, it was clearly in the much shallower, eastern side of the river. It took me some courage, but I finally asked one of the soldiers on the ride over what had happened. He told me that they had purposely set the carrier there in order to be able to run an electricity line out to the mainland. Why they didn’t have enough cable to run a few more hundred feet, I don’t know, but there it was, a gigantic ship, marooned. It was, of course, obvious that it probably had no need to go anywhere else at the moment. I just wonder if anyone ever got to thinking that this is North Carolina. We get hit by hurricanes nearly every year. One good one coming up this cape and that ship is toast. Well, maybe, maybe not. That thing was, is, huge.
We were greeted on the other side by a familiar face, that of Captain Rhodes. He and two other soldiers drove us out from the makeshift dock they had built to accommodate the transport ferry, and up into the residential area. Here, among the wildly colored beach houses, we arrived at a house he said he lived in. It was a four story vacation home that would have easily been worth a million dollars, or more, before Deadfall. He said it was one of the perks of being higher ranked, but that really, there were plenty of houses to choose from. During the summer months, between the towns of Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, there were easily ten thousand people living here semi-permanently. All that housing easily provided for the two thousand plus soldiers that now used these vacation homes as their own homes. Rhodes explained to us how the vast majority had taken residence in the area he was living in, a few miles south of the only bridge into the area, a bridge that was guarded heavily against zombies.
He was the only one living in this enormous beach house, so he said there was more than enough room for all of us. He seemed at ease, and it sure helped that we had already had some past between us, but it wasn’t just his attitude, but everyone that we had encountered from the ocean terminal and on. I had first attributed it to a general overconfidence that most military types have. I would like to point out, that I’m not an army hater, or anything of the like. What I do think, is that being in the military does instill, as it probably should, a good sense of confidence, not only in ones abilities, but in the overall system which they are a part of. Of course, you might hear the jokes, from former or current military guys, that the army will bungle this or that up, but there’s still that sense of no matter what, they get it done.
That feeling was evident here. While I had been impressed with the people I had met in the water towers, there was still an edge of desperation, of hanging on, of survival. Here, it was as if I had crossed over from a world where the dead walked, to a small island somehow immune to the world’s ravages. Parties and get togethers were a common event here, and as we’ve seen here well after dark, there are no posted guards in our area, no watch of any kind that we can see. I'm sure there are guards somewhere, but, I never once saw any. Our neighbor across the street has friends over, and it is loud. Now, that is something I had certainly forgotten about.
Once the dead took over, the natural silence of nighttime had been restored to the world, or at least this little sliver of the planet called North Carolina. Not that it wasn’t much quieter during the day, as well, but at night, the only sounds hitting your ears, were the sounds that nature had been producing for countless millennia. I can clearly remember the shock it was to have such deafening silence. I think it took me a good week or two, before my ears stopped ringing at night, so used to the white noise of civilization as they were. And now, my brain was having a hard time coping with the reverse situation; the shouting, laughing and music that were coming from across the street.
I could tell the restlessness with the group tonight, as well. Some commented on the sound, but something just felt off. I have a few theories. One could be that although we had slept in “safe” locations on many occasions, this was the first time that the safety wasn’t up to us at all. The location was safe by default, or at least gave that appearance to us, as vividly as any other.
It was also that we were simply uncomfortable with being part of a greater community again. It was one thing to be among fifty to a hundred more human beings, and those few times were certainly different, but even with them, we knew that beyond the tower walls, the same death awaited all of us. But here, there were thousands of us, and we didn’t need to see them, to know that they were there. And, there was something very disconcerting about that. Tague had mentioned that, and I countered with my opinion, an opinion that had, at least, in my opinion, some weight behind it. That’s a lot of opinion.
Well, my theory is that we had reverted to a more natural state. Reverted isn’t the right word, either, because that seems to show that somehow our situation had gotten worse, while I didn’t think it had. Certainly, the world going to hell, the dead rising and culling nearly the entire world’s living population is a step back, but in doing so, those of us that survived, found ourselves more in touch with our own humanity, a humanity that for a good portion of it
s existence, had relied and thrived in this very state; a state of codependence on nature, and I say codependence, because I think nature itself profited more from that relationship, than it did when humans had poured concrete everywhere. I might also mention that when I was talking about this, Heather punched me in the shoulder, and told me to go hug a tree.
My point is that, despite the horror of watching the world burn and our loved ones die, our travels have brought us closer to nature in a personal, rugged and human way. We’re slimmer; we eat leaner, of course, because we have no choice, but all of us agreed that we could think clearer and react quicker. Of course, that might just be because we didn’t want to get mauled by the dead.
We had gotten used to living close to the ground, and had, in some ways, benefited from that, and now we had suddenly walked right back into that old world, and something was off.
Of course, I might be completely wrong. I only happen to live in what’s probably the world’s most technologically advanced house.
Entry 50 – Possibilities[47]
It’s been a busy week. Well, six days. We talked in length with Captain Rhodes the day after we arrived, over an amazing breakfast, I might add. I still remember it. Anyways, there’s been some promising progress made this week, in many departments. I’ll try to get them all in this entry, although I hope I don’t rush it, because I’ve been informed that our good host has brought out some steaks that were just cut from some cattle they rounded up a few days ago. He’s supposedly grilling the steak now on the beach.
I’ll try not to hurry.
We talked to Captain Rhodes about our request from the tower cities. We really only spoke about them briefly, mostly about their request for, I guess as it they put it, an alliance of sorts. When I thought about it, it really did seem odd. Here were a group of Americans, asking for an alliance with other Americans. The request seemed just as silly to Captain Rhodes, but after all the discussions we’ve had, I’ve come to realize that to most of the survivors, completely excluding the military, the United States simply ceased to exist. If it ever does again, and that’s always a possibility, I would bet that they would be the first to jump right in, but to those who had established, built and lived in their towers, there was no more government.
To the military though, especially the high brass, even though they had absolutely no contact with any form of American government, they still fully operated under the assumption that the United States still existed, and that this was, essentially, just a war of liberation. Herein laid the basis of the main problem. Clearly the Navy knew about the existence of the tower communities, although it took our news to really show them the true size and complexity of that network. To them, the people in the towers were just survivors, trying to make do. Captain Rhodes told us that they had been offered relocation to Fort Fisher, and had turned down that offer. I hadn’t heard about this offer from anyone at the towers.
What had been established was that the towers wanted their own kind of autonomy, the ability to do things their own way. They didn’t just want to be reintegrated back into the little America that was budding off the tip of North Carolina. Instead, they wanted to trade, to have contact, exchange information. This was a concept completely foreign to anyone that held power within the military structure here on the Cape Fear.
You know, I could see a little from the Navy’s point of view. Evan had pointed out, that it had barely been a year since Deadfall, and these people had already completely given up on America as a nation. So many of us had simply taken for granted the existence of our nation, that the idea that it no longer existed, hadn’t really taken hold in our thoughts. Here was the basic fact, though, the United States alone had about three hundred and thirty million people at the moment of Deadfall. We had estimated that of that amount, maybe one million were left on the entire continent, a number that could easily be going down faster than it was going up still. In history, when nations lose that much of their population, usually they are counted as not existing as a people anymore.
Captain Rhodes had us meet a couple of his superiors that afternoon. We relayed our message to them, and even the thoughts that I have just talked about in the last few paragraphs. I would like to think that those higher ups, generals or admirals, whatever they may be, got to such positions of power and responsibility, because they were smart and able men or women. Some maybe still clung to the notion of a working nation, but whatever they thought, by the second day, it appeared that things were beginning to change.
We were informed, late the morning of that second day, that the two admirals and one general had given the go ahead to establish communication with the tower communities. In fact, they had requested that any leaders or representatives of these towers come down to Fort Fisher and the Abraham Lincoln to hash out a legitimate deal between the parties involved. That was great news to us. We waited out the week, and with all the good news, I think we’ll be heading back home in a day or two.
Some of the leaders began showing up the very next day. Silvio and Sammy were the first to arrive, as they were, of course, the closest. By the morning of our third day here, we had someone from each of the seventeen towers, or at least someone to represent them. Maxie had come to speak for the towers in Fayetteville, and even Mr. Hubs made it. He was the next to last one to show up. Colonel Banders didn’t come, though. One of his women (or was he theirs) came. Duty called, I guess.
The basic premise was simple. The residents of the towers were allowed to visit the ocean terminal, where a trade post of sorts would be created. There would be no restrictions in the visits, the only requirement being that the visits had to be communicated via the radio network. If and when the towers grew in numbers and quantity, that system would be changed.
Until the towers could begin to provide their own harvests, the Navy would help provide food supplies for any of the towers. The hope was that by this fall, and certainly the next, the tower’s main source of trade, would be crops and game or meat. At that point, each tower would provide a certain amount of extra food supplies, according to the population of the tower and their abilities to produce food. That number was being hashed out. In exchange for this extra food supply, the Navy would quite obviously, provide protection.
The story about the Goldsboro tower that had been massacred by, well, bandits or marauders, or as Tague whispered, hungry survivors, had been made very clear. There was also the issue of the Followers of Inanna, although just what this group was actually capable of, was completely unknown at this point. Each tower would have two soldiers attached to it at all times. What the use of this was, I'm not sure, maybe it was the Navy’s own way of keeping a handle on things.
The Navy had one immediate request. They asked that the towers find a way to provide secure landing areas for their helicopters. It was the Navy’s full intention of using the towers and forward bases. In reply to this requests, which most of the tower leaders easily agreed to, they asked that the Navy help them find train engines, and possibly provide the engineers or know how, to fix them and/or run them. Sammy especially was very gung-ho on that idea. Apparently, the Navy had already located several engines, so that plan was easily put into motion.
It appeared that those issues were the easiest to hash out. The hardest one was the issue of sovereignty, or to put it clearly, just who was in charge. It had been quite clear that the towers still wanted to be their own thing. Clearly, the nudists (who thankfully showed up clothed), wanted to be able to be nude still, just as the female reverse harem didn’t want to have its odd rights taken away. The compromise they came up with was that any soldier stationed at a tower, didn’t have to follow their laws or rules, although they were also not allowed to intervene. Also, all visitors to the ocean terminal trade station, appropriately now being called Sunny Point, had to abide by the rules and laws of the Navy. And here was the interesting point, only those with strict permission were allowed to go onto Fort Fisher.
Now, I have pointed out all
these discussions rather vaguely, because I wasn’t present at any of them. I never even met the admirals or general. I gave my information, and that was that. I did meet with some other military folk, who wanted our information on the Followers, and we gave them all we could, without giving away our house. It was the same story we had stuck with from the beginning.
What I really wanted to have seen was just what the Navy folk were going to do about themselves. I’ve been using Navy, Army, soldier, and military kind of interchangingly, mostly because I was never quite sure about what to call them. It’s quite possible that they still hope to reestablish a United States, but in their current condition, they can’t. They would have to elect a civilian government, and it was clear that this sort of thing was not going to happen here. In my historical curiosity, I kind of wanted to stick around, to see just what would happen, but we all agreed that we just wanted to head back. Dawn must be bored, unless she got her rabbits.
All these negotiations were done in two days. It’s amazing what you can resolve when there is so much less at stake and you really only represent a few hundred people, as opposed to millions. On the morning of our fifth day here, the leaders began to leave the carrier, where they had been hosted. Maxie did get permission to go on to Fort Fisher, where he met me. That afternoon, with or without permission, we snuck across the channel, and slipped into Wilmington. We drove a small dune buggy; the kind tourists would rent by the hundreds and annoy the locals with.
We only had to drive a few miles, and avoid a small batch of zombies, which walked even slower on the sand covered roads. It hadn’t taken long for the wind to blow sand over everything, covering up the paved roads. In one spot, we found a zombie buried up to his chest. We drove right by it, an odd solemn silence, well, other than the loud raucous motor on the buggy. It really wasn’t a good idea to drive such a loud vehicle around.
Deadfall: Survivors Page 29
