THE END - Book I - Of THE EVENT SERIES

by Marshall Huffman

  It was an amazing thing coming from the straight laced Colonel.

  Franklin took I–395 across the Potomac River and headed down 14th Street until he crossed Pennsylvania Avenue where he turned left and then onto the side road that led to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Everything looked perfectly normal with one exception. There were no people milling around, no tour guides or groups holding signs and trying to keep track of people. No dumb protesters yelling like they thought they were really accomplishing something. No vegetation.

  “Looks like no one is home,” Franklin said as he pulled up and stopped the car.

  “Don’t shut it off unless you are sure you can get it going again,” Webber said.

  “I can. I know what to do now.”

  “Okay then, let’s go see if the man made it.”

  They started to go in the east wing of the building when someone yelled at them.

  “Freeze. Get your hands up.”

  “Holly shit,” Franklin said.

  Webber jumped as well. Both men stopped dead in their tracks.

  “Get them up. Put your hands on your head,” the voice said menacingly.

  They both did as they were told. They heard a noise behind them and both men were frisked. Their side arms were taken.

  “Who the hell are you?” the man behind them asked.

  “Who the hell are you?” Webber asked.

  “Don’t get smart with me. I’m not kidding, I will shoot you if you don’t do as I order.”

  “Why? You think I might steal something from the White House?”

  “Damn it. I’m not going to ask again. Who are you?”

  “Colonel Webber, US Air Force.”

  “Colonel?”

  “Correct.”

  “You have ID?”

  “Sure, inside my flight suit front pocket.”

  “Hand it to me and no funny stuff.”

  “I’ll do that but you had best hope to hell you are a Colonel or …” He didn’t finish the sentence.

  He handed his ID to the man who had stuck his hand over his shoulder. For an instant he thought about just spinning around and decking the guy but decided that might not be his best move of the day. Instead he waited.

  “Colonel Webber. Your service number.”

  “312-44-1993”

  “How did you get here?”

  “We flew in from Cheyenne.”

  “Cheyenne Mountain?”

  “That’s the one,” Webber said, turning to face the man.

  “What brings you here?” the man said in a much softer tone.

  “What the hell do you think? We are trying to find out if the government still exists and to what extent,” Webber said, “Uh Lieutenant …?”

  “Lieutenant Fargo, sir. Lieutenants Miller and Robertson are in the shadows over there. Come on out,” he yelled. He handed Webber’s ID back to him.

  “Sorry about that sir. We have been here ever since this happened. We didn’t know if anyone else was even alive. We are a little spooked I guess you could say.”

  “I understand. So, you found no one here?”

  “No sir. No place. We have been all over the city and haven’t found a single person.”

  “But the President could have survived. In the bunker under the building maybe?”

  “I don’t think so sir.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Follow me please, Colonel Webber. I’ll show you.”

  Lieutenant Fargo led them down a maze of hallways until they came to the Oval Office. He opened the side door and they walked into one of the most famous offices in the world.

  They were standing in the place where the President of The United States took care of the country's priorities. The Lieutenant pointed to the desk in front of the window. Webber and Franklin walked over and looked. The chair had a gold pen and a belt buckle on it, along with a globule of the same slime that they had seen everywhere.

  “I don’t think he had time to make it out. I don’t think anyone did,” the Lieutenant said.

  “But you did.”

  “We were in the Pentagon in the Situation Room underground. The three of us had duty at the time. Well, when it happened I mean. We didn’t even know what happened but we knew something was going on. We lost power for a few seconds and then the emergency generators kicked on. None of our electronic equipment worked and we couldn’t raise anyone on the landline or secure line.

  We tried to re-boot everything but nothing happened. Finally we just waited. It is against protocol to leave the Situation Room without your relief. So we waited. Finally after our shift was four hours past the time it was to end I decided to open the door and find out what was going on.”

  “Against protocol?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Go on.”

  “The emergency lights were on but I couldn’t find a soul anyplace. I even looked outside. That’s when I noticed crashed cars and cars just sitting in the road. There wasn’t a single sound. No car horns or anything. I could see smoke coming from the airport and thought a plane might have crashed or even that we had been hit by terrorists again. Honestly we didn’t know what to think,” he explained.

  “What a mess,” was all Webber could think of to say.

  “Yes sir. Do you have any idea what did this?”

  “Son, you’re guess is as good as mine but from Colorado to D.C. the story is pretty much the same.”

  “Son of a bitch,” one of the other men said, just audible enough to be heard.

  “You got that right,” Webber said.

  “Sir, what do you want us to do?”

  “Let me fill you in on what we do know and then what we think we know. First, we know others survived…”

  All three spoke at once, “Where?”

  “Let me finish. We know others that were deep enough underground at the time of the incident survived. We happened on to seven survivors that had been taking a tour through a cave in West Virginia. No one above ground lived. That means others have probably survived due to circumstances such as being in caves, in mines and other military facilities like the one you were in. At least it’s a start. We are pretty sure everyone above ground is gone. We know nothing about our ships at sea or submarines. They go pretty deep but what we don’t know is if water acts the same as dirt and rock seems to.”

  “Then we need to gather the survivors,” the Lieutenant said.

  “One step at a time. First we have to find them, and then we have to decide where to move them. And how to move them from point A to point B. Jets won’t work. We had to use an old World War Two plane just to get here. On top of that, we can’t just march in and tell them what to do. They survived just the same as we did and no one really has the right to tell them what they have to do.”

  “But we are the military; we should do what’s best for them even if they don’t agree,” the Lieutenant said.

  “What’s best for them? Do you know what that is because I sure the hell don’t? Everything has changed and we all need to understand that. There is no military or civilians, just survivors.”

  “Someone has to be in charge.”

  “Yes, but it damn sure shouldn’t be the military. As far as we know, we caused all of this. The military has its place but dictating what is good for others isn’t one of them.”

  “I’m surprised to hear this from a Colonel,” the Lieutenant said.

  “So am I. I’ve had a long time to think about all of this as we flew over this land that was once full of people, both good and bad. I think things are going to have to change a great deal and it’s going to be both a long process and a painful one.”

  “What do you want us to do in the meantime?”

  “We are all going to go over to Regan and see if we can find a big enough craft for us to all go back to Cheyenne. We will have to stop along the way and let the people in Lewisburg know what’s going on and then we will get back to base.”

  “But sir, we can’t just leave
our post.”

  “What post?”

  “Uh…..I see what you mean. Sorry, I’m still trying to digest all of this.”

  “We all are, son, we all are,” Webber replied.

  ****

  “Wow, cool car. How did you get it to run?”

  “We have found that only the older ones work. Lieutenant Franklin used to steal cars for a living before becoming an officer and a gentl…well, an officer,” the Colonel said.

  “Thanks,” Franklin said while he worked on getting the car to start.

  They drove over to the Ronald Regan International Airport and spent a considerable amount of time looking for a serviceable aircraft that would carry all five on them back to Colorado.

  “Uh, Colonel,” Lieutenant Robison said, running up to where he was looking in one of the smaller hangers.

  “You find something?”

  “Maybe. It looks pretty good. Old, but good.”

  “Show me,” Webber said and followed him across the tarmac to a larger hanger.

  “What do you think?”

  “I’ll tell you in a minute,” Webber replied looking the old plane over.

  “Do you know what it is?”

  “A De Havilland. Build in the 50s I think. They were built pretty sturdy. This one looks like it is still being used. I can’t imagine what for but nevertheless…” Webber said, not finishing the sentence.

  “Will it fly?”

  “We will find out soon enough. Go get Lieutenant Franklin. We need to check this thing out before we jump in and try to take off.

  Webber walked around the plane and went through his usual pre-flight inspection. It certainly seemed air worthy. The tires were in excellent shape and none of the landing struts had pits or rust on them. He checked the fuel and oil. Both were in good condition.

  “What do you think?” Franklin said as he came walking up.

  “I think it might just do the trick. I want you to do a pre-flight check as well. I sure the hell don’t want to overlook anything. I’m going to get inside and test the pedals.”

  “I’ll watch while you put them through their paces,” Franklin said.

  The other three men just stood and watched as Webber and Franklin went through the check. They had all resorted to sitting on the floor by the time the two men were finished.

  “Will it fly?” Lieutenant Fargo asked.

  “Looks pretty good. I’m going to fire it up. You men get the doors open. It won’t be easy with no power but you’ll just have to put some muscle into it.”

  “Yes sir,” Fargo replied and got his men working on getting the huge hanger doors open.

  “How are you going to handle this?” Franklin asked.

  “I’m going to let it warm up, taxi out and take off and see how it feels. If it’s okay, I’ll land and you can all pile in and off we will go,” Webber said.

  “You don’t want me to come along?”

  “I’d better do this alone. If something goes wrong, you take the car or plane and get back to Cheyenne and tell them what we found.”

  “I’ll do it but I don’t like having you just take off alone like this.”

  “I appreciate the concern but it’s the best thing to do.”

  “Yes sir, I understand,” Franklin replied.

  Webber climbed into the cockpit and went through the checklist of instruments and gauges before he finally decided it was time to fire the De Havilland up. He hit the starters and the prop turned over slowly at first and then caught and roared to life. Webber watched the gauges making sure everything was within normal range before he opened the window and yelled down to Franklin.

  “Looks good. Watch the prop wash; I’m going to take her out.”

  Franklin gave him a thumbs up as the aircraft started to slowly taxi out of the hanger and onto the service way.

  “Is it going get off the ground?” Robertson asked.

  “We’re about to find out,” was all Franklin said.

  They watched and Colonel Webber taxied to the runway and pushed the throttle forward. It started slowly down the runway but lifted off easily.

  They all cheered as it climbed higher and started a gentle turn around the airport. A few minutes later they saw it coming back in for a landing. It touched down smoothly. Webber let it roll a ways before applying the brakes and then turned the plane back to where the four men stood waiting. They were all grinning when he came to a stop and shut down the engine.

  “Is everything alright?” Franklin asked when the roar of the engine died.

  “It’s excellent. It’s a good aircraft,” Webber pronounced.

  “Why did you shut it off?” Robertson asked.

  “I want it topped off. I don’t know the exact range of this aircraft and I sure don’t want to find out the hard way. Once we get it topped off we can head out. The faster we get that done the quicker we can be on our way.”

  Franklin was sitting in the co-pilot seat as they skimmed over the ground. The other three were in the back. Two had fallen asleep almost immediately. Lieutenant Miller was still talking a mile a minute, asking an endless stream of questions. Webber didn’t mind, he knew they had been out of touch with anyone for five days now.

  “We will circle Lewisburg a few times to see if anyone is still there. Honestly, I doubt they left.”

  “And are we going to take them with us?”

  “Can’t do that. We could take maybe one or two more but I think it’s best if they stay together for now. When we get back we can send a plane, truck or whatever it takes to get them to Cheyenne.”

  “Is that the plan? Get everyone to Cheyenne Mountain?” Miller asked.

  “It seems logical for now. We can take care of anyone better there than they can on their own. We have medicine, food, water and places for them to sleep,” Webber said.

  “Who will be in charge?”

  “Of the base?”

  “Yeah, I guess, that too.”

  “The base will be under General Martin. He is the commanding officer.”

  “So he is the closest thing to a President we have for now?”

  Webber paused, “I hadn’t thought about it like that, but I guess so when you put it that way.”

  “So, you’re like the VP.”

  “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. We have other officers at Cheyenne.”

  “Yeah, but you are the one taking all the risks. That’s gotta be worth something,” Miller insisted.

  “Like I said, let’s just wait and see how all of this plays out.”

  ****

  An hour later they were buzzing above Lewisburg, just fifty feet above the ground.

  “I don’t see anyone,” Franklin said.

  “Maybe they left,” Miller said.

  “I doubt it. Where would they go really?” Webber interjected.

  On the fourth pass, Franklin saw someone waving a white cloth.

  “There. At about two o’clock,” he said, pointing.

  “Got em,” Webber said and dropped down even lower. He wiggled the wings at the man on the ground.

  “Looks like they took your advice and moved all the way into town,” Franklin said as he watched two more people come out.

  “Find a place for me to land this thing. I want to get as close to them as possible. I intend to make this short and sweet,” he said.

  “How about right there? No cars are on that part of the highway.”

  “That should do it,” Webber said and lined the plane up. They touched down without incident and rolled to a stop.

  “You can all stay here, I’ll take care of this,” Webber said and hopped down from the plane.

  Willie Baker and Barry were there to greet him.

  “Welcome back. You changed planes. I thought it might be someone else at first.”

  “Nope. Just us. Look, I want to fill you in on what we have found out. I see you moved everyone into town.”

  “Yeah. We have a generator supplying power to several houses and a s
mall workshop. Things are a lot better now. We even have running water,” Willie said, smiling proudly.

  “Way to go. I knew you people were resilient and resourceful,” Webber said.

  “Mr. Henderson is really the man responsible for most of this,” Willie said.

  “Not true. Everyone has pulled their weight with the exception of one.”

  “The Wilson guy,” Webber said. Barry nodded his head.

  “Figures. Look, I need to tell you what we found. Washington was decimated like the rest of the country we have been to but we did find some survivors so the theory about being underground seems to be holding true,” Webber explained.

  “They were underground in DC?” Willie asked.

  “At the Pentagon. It has a bunker.”

  “What about the White House? The President?”

  “No,” was all Webber said.

  “Now what?”

  “We are on our way back to Cheyenne. When we get back we will send a plane or some kind of vehicle to take those who want to go back there. This one only holds six people. It will be a far better and safer place there. We have everything we need to be self sufficient for some time.”

  “If we want to go? We don’t have to go?” Barry asked.

  “We won’t force anyone to go back, but each person needs to consider what is best for him or her.”

  “That’s refreshing. I figured the military would just take control and start ordering people around,” Henderson said.

  “Nope. At least as far as I am concerned we won’t.”

  “Thank you. I really have a hard time with that,” Barry confessed.

  “So would I,” Webber said.

  “So now what? You go back and we stay put until help arrives?” Willie asked.

  “That’s the plan,” Webber said.

  “And they will come for us?” he asked.

  “Absolutely,” Webber replied.

  “Just don’t make it too long. Wilson is talking about taking off on his own.”

  “Let him. It’s his choice but if he does, we won’t go looking for him,” Webber assured them.

  “Good luck Colonel,” Barry said.

  The three men shook hands and Webber headed back to the plane. They stood in the road as he took off. Webber wiggled the wings and then they were gone.