by Lee Thomas
“See anything yet?” I asked Tony, who had been standing in the shadows of the front porch watching the street.
“No, not yet. The scouts should hopefully not take too long; I would much rather be back behind the wall as soon as possible.” He replied, glancing back and forth down the street.
“Me too. We are going to have to watch two of them, they are probably going to cause problems. The other two will probably be ok, especially if we separate them as soon as we get back. Lonny and Jason are our possibilities, let’s make sure they are well taken care off quickly.” I said. He nodded in response and we both kept watch in silence for a bit. Eventually he tapped my arm and pointed down the street, and when I turned I saw two shadows moving this way. Tony raised his gun slightly, and I drew my sword. We relaxed when it turned out to be our scouts, and I re-sheathed my sword as they approached through the yard. They saw us standing there and stepped to the side onto the porch with us.
“The houses seem to be all clear on both sides of the street. If they are waiting to ambush us, it’s not on this block.” The first one said.
“There was no sign they set any traps anywhere either.” The second one told us.
“Good, let’s get ready to move out then.” Tony replied. The scouts nodded and entered the house, followed by Tony and myself. Hand gestures got everyone else moving, and Lance was brought down by his guards with his gag intact. We moved out, still looking for movement even though the scouts said it was all clear. We never knew with the infected or the mutants what to expect since they could appear so rapidly. We kept the prisoners in the middle of the group and moved at a quick walk down the street, avoiding the abandoned, and some well-placed, cars; designed to prevent or slow anyone from driving down the street.
We all had our weapons raised, scanning the yards, the spaces between vehicles, and even the houses. Just because the scouts gave us the all clear, we weren’t going to drop our guard any, just in case. We made it almost to the end of the block, only about three houses away from the corner, and still had no sign of movement from anywhere. Our two lead men rushed forward some and gave the guards the arm signals to let them know it was us. As we reached the corner, one side of the gate slowly swung open and we filed in quickly, only relaxing once we were all inside and the gate swung closed. It was now just after four in the morning, and I wanted to get Lance and David secured in the brig since they were obviously going to be an issue. Jason and Lonny would be taken to get Lonny’s wound tended to, and then taken to the welcome center, which was where all new arrivals were taken at first to be fed and given a bed, access to a shower, and we could talk to them to find out if they wanted to stick around or not. I passed along what I wanted done and left it in the guard captain’s hands to see that it was, then the rest of the ground team and myself headed off to find beds.
Chapter 7
Oct. 1st, 2020
I was jarred awake by the sound of gunfire, and a glance at the clock showed it was just before noon, so I hadn’t been asleep long. It was muted being as I was two blocks from the wall in an empty house, but since it was a nice night I had decided to leave the windows open. I figured if something was going on that someone would be coming for me, so I dragged myself out of bed, slid my boots on, and groggily made my way downstairs, about the time someone started pounding on the door.
“It’s open.” I yelled, heading for the living room to get the rest of my gear. “How many?” I asked as the kid stepped into the living room behind me.
“How many, what?” he asked, perplexed.
“How many are attacking the wall. I heard the gunfire, and I assumed that you were sent to fetch me. So, how many?”
“Total unknown, sir. They showed up about an hour ago and took up positions behind some of the vehicles a few blocks from the gate. Only a few shots have been fired from both sides, no injuries on our side, and no apparent injuries on theirs yet either.” He explained as we headed for the front door. Stepping onto the front porch, a few more shots rang through the air, and I could see that the kid had a cart with him, so we climbed on and headed for the wall. Being two blocks from the wall itself, and the attack occurring about another three blocks from the gate, the occasional shot was not very loud being around five or six blocks away.
“Have they made any advancements, or attempted to communicate?” I asked as we drove towards the area.
“None I’m aware of. I was told to come get you as soon as I arrived to help.” He answered. We were almost to the scene so I would get my answers from whoever was in charge. As we turned the corner onto the street that ran behind the wall, I could see a gathering of people near one of the staircases leading to the top of the wall. We had them scattered throughout the entire length of the wall so if we needed up there we wouldn’t have to go more than a few blocks.
“Sheldon, they are staying pretty hidden, but we are estimating around thirty or so this time, maybe more. They are using the cars to maneuver, as well as the foliage. We think they have even set up a headquarters of sorts in one of the houses.” Timothy told me as we approached. He was one of the better leaders of the guards, and one of the few I knew by name.
“I’m assuming from the random gunfire that they have not attempted to communicate?” I asked.
“No, not at all. We have called out to give them a chance, tried to talk, and that’s when they opened fire. No one has been hit, and we have only returned fire when fired upon, just enough to keep their heads down. What do you want us to do?” he told me.
“Watch them, protect the wall, but don’t be too aggressive. I would still like to talk them out of this, but not at the expense of any of our men, got it?” I replied. Tim nodded and turned to head up the stairs once again. I followed him so I could see the street for myself. We didn’t have quite the height advantage we would have had with a guard tower, but the top of the wall was still a pretty good vantage point. Looking out over the street, I saw the abandoned cars we had placed around and down the street, most with the tires removed or flattened so they couldn’t be moved easily, some even overturned. As we watched, even without the binoculars we could see the others moving around out there, slipping behind the cars and moving low. It also appeared that Tim was right as it looked like several of them were sneaking into and out of a house about four houses down from the corner.
“Do we know anything about that house?” I queried Tim.
“No, we never thought about mapping houses. The only one we have an interior description of is the safe house with the bunker basement.”
“Ok. Let’s assume there are twenty outside hiding, and another twenty in the house, conservative guess. Let’s watch them closely, see what they do. If this just a small part of what’s to come, we need to find out how far they are willing to go to take what we have. I’m going to talk to the others we brought back yesterday, see if I can get them to talk. Radio if there are any developments.” I said, clapping him on the arm and heading down the stairs. I took the cart the kid collected me in since there were two more here, and headed off for the welcome center to see how Lonny’s injury was doing, and how he and Jason we faring with the decision to join us.
As I rolled through the streets, it struck me how empty it was now since most of our people were on the ships trying to clear the northern area, and most of who was left was the children and animal handlers, plus enough guards to watch the wall. I didn’t see anyone as drove, and I figured most everyone would be staying closer to the pier, in case an evacuation was needed. Even if she couldn’t move, the Jefferson would be a perfect fortress to fall back on. The welcome center was near the pier, deep behind the wall, so it took me a while to get there. As I got close, I started seeing the kids out playing, and a couple of adults lounging around at a picnic area. I waved to all of them as I drove past, and pulled into the welcome center shortly after. It was the old Navy housing welcome center, so it worked well as several rooms were easily remodeled into bunkrooms, and even a small medical clinic
was set up. Parking the cart, I walked up to the building, pausing a moment to listen to the silence, only the occasional sound of the children reaching me. I was struck again by how silent the world had become, with no more cars, no aircraft, and few people. After a short few minutes, I headed inside.
The main lobby of the welcome center had been decorated with pictures and plaques, all describing naval history. We removed some of the island presentations to clear the floor space, and had several couches, futons, and chairs scattered around the room. There was a small kitchen down the hall, in what used to be a conference room, which provided small meals for any newcomers that we brought here first. The medical clinic was on the opposite side of the building as the kitchen, and I headed there first to see if I could find out how Lonny was doing. Not finding anyone in the clinic, I then headed upstairs to the bunkrooms to find them. A knock on the first door didn’t give me a response, so I went to the next room. Jason opened it after just a moment or two, and ushered me in. I stepped in behind him and saw Lonny sitting up at the table.
“How’s it going guys?” I asked, settling into the chair Jason motioned to.
“Hurts like hell, but at least I’m stitched up, and your medic said I should heal up just fine.” Lonny replied.
“You definitely have better accommodations than we do.” Jason answered.
“Where did David and Lance get taken to?” Lonny asked.
“Since they both decided to not take our offer and made constant threats against us, they were taken to our brig, or jail. David will be treated for his gunshot wound, Lance will be treated for the beating he took, and when they are healed, they will be given a week’s worth of supplies, taken to a distant location, and set free.” I replied, in all sincerity. That was exactly what would happen too, unless they decided to fight or try to hurt one of us.
“Why would you waste your resources and time on people that only want to turn on you?” Jason asked.
“The whole point of this endeavor is to save people. Humanity must survive, and to do that we must have people. I will always give other survivors a chance to join us and become vital, productive members of the group.” I answered.
“So even though we were part of the group that attacked you, since we accepted your offer, you have no problem letting us walk around unsupervised?” Jason asked, a perplexed look on his face.
“We all watch out for one another here, so unsupervised is not really an accurate term, as everyone is watched by everyone else. The only requirement is to find a place that fits, and do something to help the group. You have a choice between taking care of the animals, helping with food production, or several maintenance positions that need to be done. Everyone does something.” I replied.
“Can we talk to David and Lance before they are sent off?” Lonny asked, holding his abdomen where his bandages were from his gunshot.
“I will think about that. What I want to know is how big your camp is, how many people are there, and what kind of weapons you have. Essentially, I need to know what kind of threat your group, or rather your old group, poses to us. How much do I need to worry?” I said bluntly. They looked at each other for a while, apparently trying to decide how much to tell, or whether or not to trust us.
“I would guess about a hundred maybe. We usually had roughly forty at the hospital at any given time, and two or three groups of between fifteen to twenty-five looking for supplies, other groups, things like that.” Jason finally offered.
“We don’t have as many guns as you obviously do, but we use whatever we can find; knives, bats, metal bars, crossbows, whatever.” Lonny chimed in after. Apparently once they started talking, they got more and more comfortable with it. They went on to describe how their leader ran things and how they obtained supplies. It seems like they had been nothing more than raiders, acting like locusts, taking what they needed or wanted and devouring or destroying everything in their path. From the sounds of it, the group they were describing would never be interested in talking, only annihilation, so it would probably come down to them or us. I would do everything in my power to make sure that it was not us.
“Well, it sounds like a pretty rough group. I’m guessing rednecks with guns would just about describe it, right? We have some of those, but we also have veterans and some who were still active duty when the world went to shit. I guess I should let you know that some more of, I presume, your group has attacked the wall again, just a few blocks down from where you guys were. They have set up some kind of headquarters in a house about half a block from the wall, which is either ballsy, or stupid. Is there any one in particular who tends to go out on these raids of yours that might be here that we could try to talk to?” I informed them finally. They looked at each other with a look that told me they didn’t know another group was here now too. I filed that away for later, thinking of the possibility that another group attacking us at the same time was slim, but two attacking groups from the same main group, with one not knowing about the other was also low chances. However, if the latter was true, it meant the main group was much larger than these two were letting on.
“There shouldn’t be anyone else, and Gary would be the one in charge of the group we were with, but we didn’t have as many people with us as you are describing.” Lonny said. Jason agreed, both looking confused about the size of this new group. I got them back on track talking about their group, trying to get enough info to create a basic map of the hospital and the enclosure they had, so maybe we could find it. After another hour of talking, I noticed Lonny was starting to wince every so often and shifting position, trying to get comfortable.
“Let’s call it quits today, I can see you’re hurting again. I’ll let you two rest, or explore if you want to. We try not to use the gas-powered cars on base, both to conserve what little fuel there is, and to keep the noise level down. There are electric golf carts scattered around, however, and the keys should be in them; we leave them, and take them as needed, just leave the keys for the next person.” I told them as I stood and headed for the door. Jason walked me to the door and we shook hands, then he closed the door behind me. I headed first for the Jefferson, to see how things were going there, and to see if anything new had been reported from the wall.
Rolling up to the pier, I was amazed once again at how big the ship was, running over one thousand feet in length and producing enough power to run a modest sized city. She was what was powering the base, since the main power grid for the country failed long, long ago. The elevator was down, per usual, and I climbed the stairs to it, walking to the makeshift guard shack to announce myself. Even though formal watch standing and duty sections were done away with, we still had someone keep track of arrivals and departures from the ship, in case of emergency. I headed straight up to the bridge after greeting the woman on watch.
The Jefferson was a Nimitz-class carrier, so the layout and everything was the same as on the Nimitz herself, which made navigating around her very easy since I was used to the Nimitz. Most of the ship was dark, however, but that was to be expected as only a skeleton crew was aboard to make sure the engines stayed running and keep relaying ours, and checking for, radio signals. I stepped inside to find only one person there, sitting and reading a book.
“I guess this means that things are going well?” I asked, startling him.
“Oh, yes sir, I mean Sheldon, sir, yes, sir.” He stammered, obviously embarrassed to be caught reading on duty, especially by me.
“Calm down, it’s fine. I was coming to check on things since I was here about the wall situation.” I told him.
“Oh, yes, um, well, we have been playing the radio message, like always, pausing every fifteen minutes to listen for a reply. No replies yet, and the only new thing to be reported is the wall attacks, so I guess you are up to speed.” He replied as he put a bookmark in place and set it on the counter.
“The two men in the brig, has anyone talked to them yet?”
“No, sir, not since they were put in th
ere, or at least we haven’t been notified they have been. Breakfast was supposed to have been taken to them by now, but I don’t know if any conversation took place.” He answered.
“Good, I think I will go down and do that. Are they on the ships brig, or the base brig?” I asked. The ship brig would have preferred, but the base brig would work just fine.
“Base brig. Jeff thought that’s what you would prefer, and apparently, Dave agreed.”
“Ok, thank you. Enjoy your book.” I said with a small chuckle and a wave. He still looked embarrassed at being caught, but I didn’t want anyone to feel like they couldn’t relax up here. I made my way back down to the hangar bay to look for Jeff once I found he wasn’t in the captains’ cabin. I figured he would have taken to staying in the house on base he picked out; like most of the people I felt responsible for, they didn’t like living on the ship. They didn’t mind when we didn’t have a choice, but it grew old quick, and several had problems with claustrophobia, and a ship could give you that. I noticed once again how empty and cold the ship could seem with hardly anyone on board. I waved to the woman on watch as I left, got back in my cart at the bottom of the stairs, and then headed off towards the interior of the base.
