by Lee Thomas
I finally made my out onto the flight deck, standing near the ramp to stare at the water. The wind was very low today, and the sun was shining, still holding onto the last of the summer heat, the chill of fall not yet fully taken affect during the day. The call of some of the sea birds and the splash of water was all that one could hear, and it was peaceful. The stress of the first couple of years, when any moment could be the one that infected broke through your door, or swarmed your car. The losses we all suffered the first year were so unimaginable, that even now that we have had time to process it all, it still seemed unreal, like a dream. I watched the sun go down past the horizon, just thinking and wondering what was going to happen next.
Turning back towards the tower, I started walking back to check in with the bridge and then head back to the house for the night. I glanced over to my right slightly and stopped when I saw the plume of black smoke rising into the air. Black meant a house fire, or some other type of structure, and since most of our people were up north, we would not be able to muster any kind of adequate fire response. I started running towards the tower then, flinging open the door and bounding up the stairs.
“Has anyone else seen it? Any ideas where or what it is?” I asked, slightly winded from the short run.
“We’ve seen it, no idea what it is yet. We have sent for Jeff, and sent a radio message to the guard shacks for an update. No word back yet.” Kelley answered, turning to hand me a pair of binoculars he was using. I rushed to the far window and took the binoculars. The smoke was thick, and still rising, but it didn’t look like it was close enough to be behind the wall.
“Message from the wall! The fire is about a block and a half outside of the wall, with two houses engulfed now. The guards think the other group started it as a diversion.” The radioman stated as he came into the main bridge, handing the message to Adam. Adam looked at it, then went over to the map, making some notations on it.
“Looks like the fire is about five blocks or so south of the last known location of the other group. Do you think it is a diversion?” Adam said after measuring the notations.
“I would almost bet on it. Find out if Tony knows about this, and get Jeff up here. I also want the chopper crews on standby, ready to go asap. If that group attacks, I want the bird in the air to support the wall guards to take them out. No more games, no more talking, just take them out when you see them.” I said. I was already tired of playing games with them, and if they did start this fire, they were now threatening our safety as well. I wanted this problem over with already so we could focus again on more important things. Kelley made the announcement for the chopper crew over the intercom, so I knew they would be ready soon. With the sun going down, we only had maybe another thirty minutes to an hour of light before it was dark, and if the others chose that time to attack, I wanted the FLIR on the bird to be able to track them and fight them.
“Dave has been notified, and he said he would gather anyone he could as a fire watch to make sure the fire doesn’t spread onto the base. That lets the guards focus on watching for the others. Do you think they will head back east, or continue west?” Adam said. Jeff walked in at that time, which told me he hadn’t yet left the ship, and we brought him up to speed. He agreed we needed to not try to talk to them anymore, and just fight back, and they were probably the ones who started the fire. With all of us on the bridge in agreement, I left it Jeff’s hands and headed down towards the pier to go back to my house and get my gear gathered back up. I would let more capable people handle this, but I did want to see it done and over with soon. Interfering with it would only lessen their ability to deal with it safely, so as I headed towards the house, I decided to get my gear and head over to check on the kids and Michelle, after leaving word I could be reached there if I was needed.
Rolling through the streets, the plume of smoke was still visible, but the prevailing wind was taking it away from the wall, which meant the fire would also be getting pushed away from us as well. That was a good thing, but not a guarantee it wouldn’t burn this way still, so we would still have to keep a watch on it. The grass that had become unchecked over the years was also so grown up that it would just feed the fire and turn it into a nightmare. On the plus side, it would also burn away some hiding places for either the infected or the raiders to hide, or even the other predatory animals that were around. Going out and cutting it all down was something that had been discussed before, but we had decided it wasn’t worth the risk before. Maybe this fire would clear out some of that for us.
I made it back to my house without seeing anyone out and about, so I ran inside and grabbed my stuff, taking it back to the cart without getting dressed. I secured it in the storage bin and then headed towards Michelle’s house. My kids had taken a house on the same street, so they were all close, which made it easier to see them all together. I parked my cart at Michelle’s house, then walked down the street to Kenny and Katelyn’s. Katelyn informed me that Kenny was helping with the fire watch, so her and I went to Michelle’s after leaving him a note. Angie and Cassi were both already at Michelle’s, so we all just sat down and started hanging out. I knew Desi was still at the hunting camp, so she wouldn’t be here. Michelle had my old poker chip sets, so we gathered around the table and played cards. It was a fun relaxing night, allowing us to forget the tension of the way the world was now, and the new threat we were facing, even the fire for now. It was a great night, just laughing and having fun; the only dampener to it was the fact that Kenny was out on fire watch, which kept rolling through the back of my mind.
As the night wore down and we all started getting tired, so we gathered up the chips, but them away, and said our goodnights. Angie and Cassi walked next door to their house, and I walked Katelyn back to her house down the block. I walked back down to the cart, and instead of heading back to my house, I decided to go to the wall first to find out if anything had happened this evening. I rolled to the main western gate since I knew that was always manned and would have a radio to check on the various areas. As I rolled up to it, I could see a guard in each tower looking outwards, so I parked the cart and walked into the main guard shack where the radio room, office, and bunkroom was. The lead guard on duty was sitting there looking at a map, but looked up as I walked in.
“You’re here late, sir, what can I do for you?” he asked, standing and reaching for my hand to shake it. The ‘sir’ comment, and the fact he was in a uniform, told me he was a military person beforehand, and still hadn’t gotten out of the habit that I have tried to break.
“Just wanted to check on things. With the fire to the east, and the others still out there, I wanted an update in case anyone has been hurt, or the others made an appearance.” I replied to him. His name was Grant per his tag, so I would try to remember that.
“As of an hour ago the fire was still going, but the wind was pushing it away from the wall. No sign of the other group yet either, but we are watching. The night crew just came on about two hours ago, so there are fresh eyes up there.” Grant answered me. I borrowed the radio room for a moment to ask the ship if anything had been reported to them, and getting a negative response from them, I said my goodbyes to Grant and headed back off towards my house to get some sleep. I planned on taking my sloop and sailing back up north tomorrow to help with that project and let Tony and Jeff cover this stuff. Pulling into my driveway, Max and Maya came bounding over to the fence for attention, and I barely got into the gate without letting them out. I played with and talked to them for a little bit, finally actually getting into the house without them. Sleep came quickly, thankfully, and I hoped it would last all night to be ready for tomorrow.
Chapter 9
Oct. 3rd, 2020.
Waking up with the sun in my face and the sound of the dogs barking, I felt refreshed, even though it was only a few hours of sleep that I got. Wanting to be ready for the day, I quickly gathered my gear, got dressed, and headed out to the cart. I made sure that the dogs had food and water, petted
both, then finally made it out of the gate to start my day. My first stop was the western gate again to see if the other group had been spotted yet, or if the fire had shifted overnight. The gate captain gave me the news I was hoping for in that the other group had not been spotted, and the fire seemed to still be heading away with the breeze. It was still slowly burning this way, just because of the way fire acted, but if the wind cooperated it would push it mostly away from us. That was good to hear this morning, and he also informed me that there was a fire watch along this whole section of wall, just in case. Tony had apparently decided that the other group would move south and west now, so he had taken his response team closer to our smaller western gate, ready to move if they were seen.
I made my way back to the kids houses to check on them and Michelle, swung by and checked on the dogs, then headed back to the Jefferson. I figured something was wrong when I got to the top of the stairs and there was someone waiting for me on the elevator.
“Sheldon, Jeff needs you on the bridge immediately.” She told me, turning to walk with me.
“Any idea what it’s about?” I asked as we turned towards the nearest stairwell. It must be important if he had someone waiting for me to arrive.
“Wouldn’t say, but whatever it is, I know he got some kind of report from the Nimitz right before he sent me down to wait on you.” She answered. We climbed the rest of the stairs in silence, moving slowly since my knee was starting to bother me today. I was going to have to consider getting off-ship and stay in the house when this was done with. The pain made me slightly out of breath by the time we got to the bridge, and it was only four flights up.
“What’s so important?” I asked as we entered, stopping to lean against the counter.
“Got a weather report from Jackson, were expecting the wind to shift sometime today, which will start fanning the fire directly to the wall.” Jeff told me as he turned from looking at the map.
“How soon?”
“It appears to already be shifting. Our gauges show it has already gone from a north wind to an eastern one, and it still appears to be moving. If it finishes shifting, the entire block will burn to the ground, and quite possibly spread to the base.”
“The fire truck we found at the airfield, is it running?” I asked, remembering some of the emergency vehicles that were on the base.
“No idea, we haven’t had cause yet to check it. If it’s not, all of our mechanics are up north to help with that project.”
“Call Dave, there has to be someone still around that can look at it and get it running. We need to make sure the pumps and everything work on it in case we need it.” I said, looking to the woman who met on the elevator. She had a sailors’ cap on, so I assumed she was one before, and she simply nodded and moved towards the radio room to make the call. I knew Dave would know if anyone was left that could look at the truck, and if it was useable, it would help immensely if the fire spread to the base. Without it, and having no other method of fire suppression available, even a small flame could turn devastating for us quickly, especially if it reached any of our gardens or crops.
“Have you heard anything about the other group yet?” Jeff asked me.
“No, I was hoping maybe you had.” I replied.
“We checked with Erica, and since the camera feeds had been re-routed to here, the two we had watching the water are also being monitored, but of course that’s a small portion of the river that’s able to be seen.” Adam answered. He was up here yesterday when we were talking about it, so it made sense he would mention it.
“That’s better than nothing. I know we had two watch towers set up as well. Since we are shorthanded down here with the northern venture, have they been manned, or ignored?” I asked.
“Ignored. It was assumed that since the infected can’t swim, the manpower would be better used along the wall, which made sense. Now that we have other humans to worry about, I suppose we should put at least one person in each tower.” Jeff replied.
“Tony has the response team down here near the small gate, they can help man those towers too. We need at least two boats there as well; fast, agile ones if we have any.” I informed him. If we split the response team up between both towers, and had boats available for them, we could watch the river, and still be able to respond quickly to any incursion, human or infected. After going over multiple plans and possibilities, I decided to head over to Dave’s headquarters to find out if he had found anyone to go check out the fire truck yet. It was now pushing three in the afternoon, and the wind had fully shifted to come out of the south, which would be pushing the fire right towards us. In fact, once I made it off the ship, and about halfway to Dave’s place, I could smell the smoke already. The plume was rising above the houses, thick and dark still, and I knew it would only get worse as it consumed the houses just outside the wall. The trees and overgrown yards were going to simply add fuel to it and make it burn even hotter.
Rolling up to Dave’s office, the smoke smell was getting stronger, and I parked the cart and jogged inside. Dave’s office was in the back of the building, and with so many people up north, there was no guards or secretary here anymore, which was merely a formality anyways to give some people something to do, so I walked right into the office after knocking.
“Sheldon, come in man, come in.” Dave said, waving to an empty chair and setting the papers down he was reviewing.
“How’s it going man? Holding things down alright around here?” I asked, sitting in the chair and reaching for the water bottle he handed me.
“Well, all I’m doing is pretending to run things. The guards do their own thing, maintain their own schedules, and the animal handlers do as well. The most I do is answer a question here and there, and try to organize some kind of social night every so often.” He answered. Dave was good at stuff like that, entertaining people, making them laugh and smile, and have a good time. That was the biggest reason I put him in charge of the base in the first place.
“Hopefully we can forget this overseeing things before too much longer and just go back to spending time with our families. Have you found anyone left that can look at the fire truck and see if it’s still useable?”
“Actually, I know it is. There was a mechanic named James that we had before, and he started maintaining all the emergency vehicles before he volunteered to go north. The truck works, and the pumps do too, so the only question will be if the water pressure in the hydrants will be high enough to operate.” He informed me. That was good news, bad news, I thought. At least we had the truck, but if the hydrants didn’t have enough pressure to work, the truck would be a moot point, and with all my engineers up north, there wasn’t anyone that could look at it and make it work. We would have to just make do with what we had.
“Have you considered we may have to just evacuate the base for good? Especially once we move up north, there would hardly be anyone here to defend it, unless we pull the hunting camps in and let them use it.” Dave asked me. I sat back with a sigh before I answered.
“Yes, I have, but with how hard we worked to get here, and the losses we suffered to build it, I would hate to just abandon it like it was nothing, you know? We had to spill a lot of blood to get here and build what we have. I know the peninsula will be safer, and require much fewer people to watch the borders, but I would still hate to just say to hell with it and leave it. Maybe we can pull the hunters back and turn it into the hunting camp. They would be much safer and have more room to process whatever they catch.” I answered. That was a thought to think on, as Dave was right; once the northern area was completed, at least ninety percent of our people would be moving there for safety and security. It made both tactical sense and common sense, as it would be much easier to protect three small, easy to protect areas rather than one long, hard to watch line.
“I’m sure you’ll make the right call, just think it through, talk it over with Michelle and the others. How’s things going with you?” Dave said.
“St
ressful, of course.” I answered with a small laugh. “I’m trying to hold it together, and of course have competent people leading key areas, so I can focus on the big picture, and make long term plans without having to worry about the day to day little things.” I replied.
“Well, so far, I haven’t heard of any real complaints of how things are going with the leadership, other than some people always think they know how to do it better of course. Most everyone is willing to just let it go though, so they can pretend that nothing is wrong.”
“I would love for people to go back to living without fear, or worrying of today was the day the infected were going to break through and overrun us. I worry about that every day. I also worry that something will happen to the ships, or the water pumps, or the hunting camp, or the crops, or everything.”
“How do you handle it?”
“I still have my PlayStation, so I play my games, sword practice, spend time with Michelle and the kids, things like that. It has gotten easier the longer we are here. Obviously, there are some that are wondering when we are going back to our old lives, but how do you explain that to people that don’t want to hear it?” I told him. It was true, you had to find to things to take your mind off what the world had become, and at least pretend it was back to normal or you would lose your mind.
“That’s why I keep trying to organize all these social events, to keep myself and others busy. It seems to be working fairly well so far, so we’ll keep it up.” He answered me. We chatted for a while longer about minor things, exchanging ideas about what kind of government we should set up, and how people would react to it. I finally took my leave of Dave and headed back out to check on the fire.
Stepping outside, I saw my cart was still here, and I noticed the smoke smell had intensified. Looking over in the general direction of where I thought the fire was, I could see a plume of black smoke rising into the air in the distance. I jumped in the cart and headed that way as quick as the cart would go. With most of our people up north, and most of the ones left at the wall, I didn’t see anyone along the way. Taking the shortest route to the wall, and then following the road behind it, I made it near the fire site quickly, the smoke smell getting stronger as I rode east. I could see the fire truck I was asking Dave about was there already, along with several of the remaining guards. I pulled up and parked my cart out of the way, then climbed up the steps to the top of the wall, greeting the couple of guards at the top. The smoke was intense up there, being blown straight towards them with the wind, and the fire could be heard now as well; the crackling of the flames, the bursting of windows, and the cracking of wood collapsing as it burned through. The occasional whoosh as a roof collapsed or a wall fell came through as well, usually followed by a fresh waft of smoke into the air. Ash was also starting to fall around the wall, embers being carried by the wind, which was what worried me. I was afraid that a large enough ember would catch something behind the wall and start a blaze that they couldn’t stop.
