“Stand what?” Rachel said with a straight face.
“Right,” he said rolling his eyes, “You got a minute? I need to talk to you about something.”
She glanced around the room quickly.
“Maybe a few but if it’s something really important maybe you could wait. I get off in an hour. You can come over for dinner.”
“Wow, someone’s cooking besides me. I could go for that. How many meals in a row can you have Beans 'N’ Franks from a can?”
“I don’t know and I don’t think I want to know. You do air out your house occasionally don’t you?”
He laughed. That was so unlike something she would usually say.
“How about six o’clock?” she said.
“You got it. Thanks,” he said, waving as he left.
The drone of the engines was becoming monotonous. Colonel Webber leaned over to the pilot and asked, “How many planes do we have operating now?”
“I think fourteen. Last time I checked they were scavenging for parts for one of the old C-119 Fairchild Boxcars.”
“What about California? Didn’t they find a B-19 out there?”
“Yes sir, but the air frame was kind of weak. We sent three guys out to see if it could be salvaged. They also found a Douglas A-26 Invader but the engines are in pieces.”
“If we could get those three running we would be able to move some troops or move people back to Colorado Springs,” he said.
“I know. This is the largest thing we have now and we couldn’t carry very many at a time.”
“That’s what worries me. We know the group in Kentucky is starting to spread out. It is only a matter of time before they come across those people back there in Pennsylvania,” the Colonel said.
“Are they going to move?”
“I honestly don’t know. They do everything by committee.”
“By committee? How does anything get done like that?”
“Thus my point,” the Colonel said, leaning back in the copilot’s seat.
He just watched out the window, contemplating his options. Forcing them to come to Colorado would be a fatal mistake, he was convinced of that. Sending troops to protect them was one option he could suggest if they decided to stay.
His other option of course was to gather his men, head south and disband the gangs one way or another. None were particularly appealing. He pulled his cap down over his eyes, folded his arms and just let the engines lull him to sleep.
Randy helped Rachel carry the dishes to the kitchen.
“That was terrific. Way better than Beans 'N' Franks,” he joked.
“You better say that buster. Look, I know you have something on your mind. You didn’t talk as much as usual at the table.”
“Too busy stuffing my face,” he kidded.
“Come on. Out with it,” Rachel said, scraping the dishes in the garbage can.
She filled the sink and placed the dishes and utensils in the soapy water. She washed while he dried. Randy told her all about the gangs in Utah and Kentucky and what Webber had said. She listened without asking any questions until he was done.
“What do you think we should do?”
“That’s just it. I don’t know. Part of me says we need to pack up and head to Colorado Springs and help build an army. The problem with that is once an army is built what is to stop it from becoming the law? It could spiral out of control pretty darn quick.”
“That may be true but having a lawless bunch of cutthroats coming in here and taking what they want doesn’t sound all that appealing to me,” she said.
“I understand, but surely they have some decency. I mean, we all survived the same thing. That ought to count for something.”
“You don’t really believe that do you Randy? I mean, you don’t really think you can reason with a gang of thugs do you?” she asked.
“I want too.”
“You may want to but I know you don’t. You’re not that naive. You can’t talk to a bunch of jerks hell bent on doing as they please. I can tell you one thing. They sure the hell aren’t taking me,” Rachel said determinedly.
“I know, I know. God, why does it have to be so damn difficult? Isn’t what we are facing hard enough without this?”
“Doesn’t matter, we are going to have to deal with it. Not understanding ‘why’ isn’t going to change a thing. The simple fact is that we need to give some serious thought to moving to Colorado.”
“You think everyone will pack up and go?” Randy asked.
“No. Some will stay. They will have to choose their own fate. You can’t force people do what is best for them. All you can do is offer then the option. I’m just glad Colonel Webber is willing to take us in and help protect us,” she replied.
“It wasn’t easy to get many of them to move once. Asking them to move again is going to be really difficult.”
“You need to bring this to the town meeting. Maybe they should even call a special one. I’m not sure sitting on this kind of information is such a good thing. If something happened they would blame you for not telling them right away.”
“I know. I thought of that. I’m meeting with Bud and the other council members tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. I am going to tell them then.”
“The sooner the better.”
They finished the dishes and Rachel walked Randy to the door.
“You don’t have to leave,” she said as he turned to say goodbye.
He looked at her for a second. She had changed remarkably during the past weeks. Her hair was longer and her bruises had all healed. Even her skin seemed softer. He closed his eyes for a second and then opened them again.
“I had better go. I want to stay, honestly I do but right now I don’t need further complications. I need to think about what is good for all of us and not just one person.”
She didn’t say anything for a few moments.
“I can’t say I buy that totally. I’m sure you’re having a hard time with the fact that I used to be heavier and now I’m not. I understand, honestly I do.”
“Rachel. That’s not true. That has nothing to do with it. That is stupid and I resent it. You’re taking this personally.”
“Damn hard not to don’t you think?” she shot back angrily.
“I’m not saying I don’t want to stay. I do, but I have to look at the bigger picture. Colonel Webber reminded me of that and he was right.”
“Just go now. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Goodnight,” she said and opened the door.
“Rachel….”
“Goodnight Randy,” she said again.
He looked at her for a second and then turned and walked out. She slammed the door much harder than she needed to but she wanted to make sure he got the message. He did.
****
At 7:45 a.m. the next morning Randy headed for the council meeting. He walked across the bridge and realized that the water level was much higher today than ever before. That seemed strange since it had only rained three or four times and in short bursts at that. Maybe it was raining higher up in the mountains and this was just the result of the runoff. He decided he would have to keep an eye on the level from now on. Everyone was already there when he arrived.
“So, what is this urgent news?” Ben asked after they had all settled in.
“Colonel Webber told me that we need to be aware that they found two more fairly large colonies of survivors.”
A buzz went around the table. Everyone looked happy about the news.
“I know how you feel. I felt the same way until he gave me the rest of the news.”
“What rest of the news?” Ben asked.
Randy told them all about his discussion with the Colonel. The potential dangers they were facing and the options that had been presented to him. The feeling of elation changed quickly as Randy reiterated what Webber had said.
“Does he know for sure they are headed here?”
“He said it was just a matter of time. Once they start talking about
how we have it made, they will come.”
“But he doesn’t know that for sure,” Ben pressed.
“No. He is just telling us what he thinks.”
“Hell, that’s nothing more than a guess,” one of the other members said.
“A pretty intelligent one. Look, they have far more resources than we do. They know more about what’s going on. I think we would be foolish to just dismiss this,” Randy said.
“The sky is falling, the sky is falling,” one of the others said in a shrill voice and several laughed.
“Goddamn it! This isn’t funny. If they come here they will take what they want and a hell of a lot of us will probably end up dead. Instead of joking we need to be talking about what needs to be done,” Randy said angrily.
Everyone became silent.
“We can’t just turn tail and run. We have to stand and fight. I’m not about to run from a bunch of bullies,” one of the men said.
“And if we fail? You have a wife and teenage daughter. What happens to them?” Randy said.
“I’ll kill them myself before...”
“That’s stupid talk. And besides, you may not get that option,” Randy said cutting him short.
The discussion carried over until everyone was too hungry to argue any longer. Finally they decided to take a break and start fresh later in the day. Randy shook his head as he headed back home.
The Colonel was right. This was going nowhere fast and he knew this was just the tip of the iceberg. Once everyone became aware of the situation more and more voices would want to be heard from. Not that it was all bad but he was sure no real decision would be made.
As he crossed over the bridge he realized the river was still rising. It sure must be raining like hell further north he decided. Maybe they would get a good soaking. They certainly could use one.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Colorado Springs
Colonel Webber and several of his men stood looking down on Fountain Creek. No one could ever remember it being so high. It was starting to overflow its banks in several places and threatening to in others. Low lying areas were two to three inched deep in water.
“Where is all this coming from?” one of the men asked.
“Snow melt?”
“I don’t think so. It hasn’t been all that warm on a constant basis. This weather is so screwy. Colder than hell one week and then spring like the next,” Webber said.
“Should we try to build up the banks? Start sandbagging?”
“At the rate it is rising, I don’t think it would do much good.”
“What if it continues to rise?” he asked the Colonel.
“We move to higher ground. That’s all we can do. Unless you have some expertise in this kind of thing. I sure as hell don’t. For now, all we can do is keep watching and if it appears that it is going to threaten the city, we will evacuate further up. Captain Jasper, I want you to get a detail of men and start moving spare generators further up the mountains just in case. We have plenty of flatbed trucks now so that shouldn’t be much of a problem,” the Colonel said.
“How high?”
“Up around Teller. Find a place we could put people.”
“What about mobile homes?”
“Good. I think that would be a good idea. Get your men together and move them up there. Take as many men as we can spare. Something is going on and I don’t think it’s good,” Webber said.
****
When they got back to Colorado Springs he drove out to the UASF Academy Airstrip and climbed into a Vought F4U Corsair and fired up the eighteen cylinder, Pratt & Whitney radial engine. He decided he would fly over the Colorado River and see if it was doing the same thing. He slid the canopy closed and tightened his belts one last time before opening the throttles on the 2000 horsepower engine.
With a top speed of over four hundred miles per hour, it took him less than an hour to locate the river. He was shocked. He had done rafting many times down the river but now it was wider than he had ever seen.
He flew north and had an even bigger surprise. He knew immediately that something was wrong. Flying over Lake Granby he realized the extent of the flooding. Deer Island, Harvey, Shelter, and Elephant Islands were all gone. They were all covered with water. Even the Stillwater boat ramp where he used to bring his boat on warm summer weekends was gone. He turned back and returned to the airstrip.
“Find out anything interesting, Colonel?” the airman asked, helping him down from the plane.
“Yeah, you could say that,” was all he said as he walked off.
****
“You think it’s not just rain causing this?” Captain Keller asked.
“I don’t think so. Something else is going on. I know we can’t do much about it but I would like to know if we should start building an ark.”
“That bad, huh?”
“That bad,” the Colonel replied.
“You want me to take a run out to California and then north to Alaska? That should tell us something.”
“I wasn’t going to ask, but since you offered, I certainly wouldn’t say no. Maybe you could check on the guys working on the B-19 and Douglas Invader while you’re on vacation,” Webber said smiling.
“Some vacation. And I wouldn’t hold it against you if you didn’t want me to go all the way up to Alaska.”
“Ah what the heck. It’s practically on your way.”
“Remind me not to let you navigate on the next flight,” the Captain said.
“Take one of the DC-3s and two good men with you. Make sure you pack survival gear and take parachutes with you. Alaska is a tough place to try to crash land.”
“Thank you so much for those final words of encouragement,” the Captain said.
“Those aren’t my final words. I’ll have more before you take off.”
“I can hardly wait.”
“So, can you leave tomorrow?” the Colonel asked.
“First light.”
“Excellent. I really do mean it when I say I appreciate your offering to go on this mission.”
“Like you said. We need to know if we should start getting plans for an ark. What’s a cubit anyway?”
“Beats the hell out of me,” Webber replied.
****
The first leg of the trip was routine and boring. It was easy to see that every river was on the verge of overflowing. Many already had and others were at their maximum level.
“It sure must be raining hard some place,” Captain Keller said to his copilot.
Keller was one of the finest pilots in the Air Force. He had flown almost anything with wings and a few things without them at Groom Lake. He had been asked by the Skunk Works, the people responsible for developing some of the most sophisticated planes in the world, to test some of their latest inventions. Thinking about this he sat bolt upright in his seat.
“Area 51,” he said excitedly.
“What?”
“Area 51. We haven’t even checked that place. Hell, they have an underground facility that goes down hundreds of feet. They have another one tucked under a mountain. Shit, someone has to have survived. They are always doing some kind of work there,” he said and turned the plane toward Nevada.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“I kid you not. The Ranch, as they call it, does indeed exist. It’s a hell of a lot bigger than you suspect. With today’s satellites it is no longer possible to deny that it exists. The IKONOS – 1 takes almost crystal clear pictures of the place. You can even make out the famous Hanger 18 where they were supposed to have brought the Roswell spaceship after it crashed.”
“Give me a break,” the copilot said.
“You’ll see.”
It was three hours later when the copilot rubbed his eyes and looked out the window, “What the hell?”
“Told you it was big. That’s the main area. The Stealth base is a little further on. I’m going to put it down on the middle runway and taxi to the main buildings,” he told
his copilot.
“I don’t believe it. I am actually at Area 51.”
“Yeah, Fox Mulder would be proud of you,” Keller said, “Shall we?”
“Okay. Landing check list. Flaps, set. Trim, set. Landing gear, down.”
“Let’s put this puppy down and see what’s going on here.”
They taxied to the far end where four hangers sat. Along the taxiway the large infamous Hanger 18 stood.
“I gotta admit, this is kind of cool. You have actually been here and inside the place?” the pilot asked.
“Yep. Didn’t see any space ships. It was just a big hanger with some experimental aircraft.”
“Still, that’s pretty damn cool.”
“This is good here,” Keller said and the pilot applied the brakes and cut the engines.
Like every other place, it was totally still. Not even the wind made a sound. It was eerie.
“Follow me,” the Captain said, heading off toward the nearest large building.
Inside he yelled, “Anyone here?” but only his echo answered him.
He led them down a hallway and it got progressively darker. No lights were on.
“Did you happen to bring a flashlight with you?” Keller asked the pilot.
“Got one right here,” he said, switching it on and handing it to the Captain.
Keller continued on, deeper in the building until they came to an elevator. It had only one button and he pushed it. A faint humming could be heard and a few seconds later the door slid open.
“I sure didn’t expect that to work,” the pilot said surprised.
“It has its own power source. Actually it has several backup systems. Where it goes you sure wouldn’t want to be stuck for very long.”
“Where does it go?”
“Get in and you’ll see.”
Keller pushed the only button inside the elevator and the doors slid closed and the elevator started to descend rapidly.
“Whoa.”
“Yeah, kind of gets to you the first few times,” Keller said grinning. The elevator stopped as quickly as it started making their insides want to come out of their throats.
“Damn, they need to work on that thing,” the pilot said.
THE END - Book I - Of THE EVENT SERIES Page 33
