The Event: The Beginning

by Lee Thomas

  “Alright guys, here’s the deal. I know you guys have cleared out the ships, and not really touched the base, so today we are going to the base. I want to search for supplies, but I also want to physically inspect the fence. I need to know if it’s intact or not. The goal today is strictly search and inspect. Hopefully no infected have made it onto the base and are hiding out, but until we confirm the fence is intact and search every building, we are going to assume they have. Everyone stay sharp, stay safe, and let’s all come home.” I addressed the group. I had met several of the sailors before, and at least recognized their faces. The civilians I had requested were Roger, Jeff, Vince, Allen, Kevin, and Adam.

  The entire group was ready to go with armor and weapons set already. We started together towards the elevator as the controller lowered it. I could see that several others had radios attached to their belts, so we could definitely split up and still stay in contact. We made our way down the stairs and started walking towards the garage to get a few of those electric carts. That way we would not attract too much attention with the noise of a car engine, nor would we be wasting gas. With twenty of us going on this expedition, and the carts only holding four, we would have to take all of them from the garage.

  “Alright, looks like it’s going to be four to a cart. That actually works out as we could split up and search faster in teams of four. Split up however you want, but make sure each team as at least one radio. We are searching for anything useable, from toilet paper to ammunition. Everyone stay sharp, watch your backs, and no risk taking. Roger, you’re with me, and you, and you.” I ordered, pointing out two sailors to go with me, so we could merge and act as one group. We handed out batteries and split up, one of the sailors opening the garage door wide. Once everyone had split up and made sure their cart worked, we headed out as a group.

  I let one of the sailors lead the way to the pier gate, then as we made our way out of it we started splitting up as the road split off. I directed Roger to head to the marina first to see if it was intact. We would then head to check out the fence. Since we were at the north end of the pier with the carriers, the gate was close to us. That meant we were also close to the marina. It didn’t take us long to make our way through the open area to the marina, and as we drove down the side road to the marina office, it appeared that it was intact, and there were several boats still at dock. It looked promising, and a closer inspection once we got to the office revealed it was intact, and there were keys in a cabinet, presumably to the boats in dock. I directed us back to the cart, and we headed south through the base to start inspecting the fence.

  Every few minutes we heard a call out from the radio when a team cleared a building. A couple of times there was good news along with it where they had found something useful, but for the most part so far it was simply that there were no infected found. We made it to the fence without any problems ourselves, and it looked like it wasn’t an ordinary chain link fence like I was thinking it would be, but instead it was simple iron posts, pointed on the top, with iron rods connecting them. The tops were just shy of chest high, which meant they were more for show than actually trying to keep anyone out. The vertical posts were close enough together that nothing could slip through except small animals. It made me think that, if need be, we could place privacy fencing up behind the iron posts as a secondary fence in case my wall idea failed, or it was broken through.

  “The side road on the outside runs almost the entire length of the fence, sir, would you rather run out there?” one of the sailors informed me, I think his name was Jason Tyler.

  “Does the inner road not follow it also?” I asked in return.

  “No, sir, only for a short bit.” He answered me.

  “Shit, ok. I would rather not be outside the fence right now. Can these carts go off road?” I inquired.

  “Just to run on grass, yes, sir.” Jason replied.

  “Perfect. Roger, follow the fence. Let’s see if there are any breaks. Hopefully we do not draw too much attention from infected, I don’t want them hitting the fence too much.” I ordered. The two sailors and myself checked our weapons and settled in for the ride. I was going to be paying more attention to the fence than anything, so I instructed the sailors to keep their eyes open for anything. Roger headed east following the fence, jumping the curb when needed as the rest of us held on as we bounced around and tried to not fall out.

  The fence had ended in the water, and we now followed it east down the side road. There was several stalled cars along the outside of the fence, but none of them had run up against or through the fence. There were actually a few infected stuck in the fence, a couple that had impaled themselves on the spear points on top, some with just their hands, but a few actually had attempted to climb over and speared themselves through the arm or shoulder.

  “Looks like the fence is effective so far against them, but what about if regular people try to climb it, or remove bars to slip through?” the other sailor said, who introduced himself as Casey Myers.

  “Then we will have a problem. I’m thinking about maybe a privacy fence on this side, butted right up against it. That would stop them from seeing us, as well as give a little more protection in case they try to push through.” I informed them. It was not a set plan though, and something better may present itself. We would keep our eyes open and see what came up.

  Roger continued rolling us down the fence line at a decent speed, fast enough this wouldn’t take forever, but slow enough we could actually inspect the fence. We passed the gate area we entered the base at and saw that our makeshift blockade was still working. Since the fence went all the way up to the overhead signage of the base, all we would really need to do was install a gate and we could remove the cars. We didn’t stop long though, as infected were milling around, and a few had seen us, and I didn’t want to inadvertently allow them onto the base. We kept heading east, bouncing over the not so even terrain. It was fairly smooth as it had been manicured lawn at one point, but after several weeks of inattention, nature was taking over and it was starting to become overgrown. I had told the others to not fire yet, because the noise would only draw more infected to the fence.

  “Look there, what is that?” I pointed out to Roger. It looked like a van or something had breached the fence, at least from a distance. As we got closer, it was indeed a full size passenger van, straddling the remains of a section of fence. It had apparently rammed through it, but instead of smashing straight through, the iron posts bent and the van went up on it before snapping some of the posts and supports. What was left of the fence was dug into the side and bottom of the van, effectively trapping the van in place, only a few inches off the ground. We walked around it as much as we could, and it appeared it had fully blocked its own hole, so I didn’t think any infected would be able to get through.

  “Wonder what happened, or if they were just trying to get onto the base.” Jason asked.

  “I wonder…” I mumbled to myself, moving for a closer look at the van. The side doors were jammed shut by the fence, but the driver and front passenger doors were still useable. I opened the passenger door and peered in, looking for infected, but it was clear. I then pulled myself inside, wincing a little at how it creaked some as it took my weight. A couple of loud pops sounded then and the van settled firmly on the ground with a bounce. Apparently I had just dug the posts in further, and there was no way now that this van was going anywhere.

  Jason poked his head in and watched as I crawled over the seat into the back, then crawled over the rear seat as well. This van had two captains’ chairs in the middle row with a full bench seat in the back. Like any van this design, there was a small cargo area between the back seat and the rear doors. Nothing was back there, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. I reached over and tried the door latch, which unlocked it and opened the back door. Climbing over the back seat and stepping out, the other guys were whisperingly trying to warn me to be careful and come back. I waved them silent, but indicated
one of them should join me. Jason was closest to the van so he climbed in and followed my path.

  Once he was also outside the fence, I whispered my idea to him, and he nodded his understanding. We then quickly, but quietly, removed the rear bench seat and placed it outside the fence, far enough away that no infected could use it to climb over the fence. Roger and Casey watched from the other side of the fence to ensure no infected snuck up on us. I whispered to Jason that I wanted to remove the middle seats too, and if we could, the front passenger as well. We started working, and in no time had the middle two seats out and discarded along with the bench seat. The front passenger however we would need tools for, so we left it alone for now. We climbed back in the van and I closed the rear doors tight.

  “That’s a neat idea for a gate, what made you think of that?” Casey asked me as we climbed back onto the cart and continued on our way.

  “Don’t know, just came to me. Since we couldn’t move the van without leaving a gaping hole in the fence, I figure why not see if we could use it somehow. I was actually thinking of using it as a guard post. You wouldn’t be seen, and we could potentially but a radio in it to communicate with the ship, and it wouldn’t be heard either. The idea of using it as a gatehouse just kinda came to me while I was inside looking at it. Let’s keep going, see what else we have in store.” I replied, settling myself on the seat. Once we were all settled, Roger took off again. We bounced along once more along the fence line.

  We came upon a tree line before too long that the fence actually ran into. I had obtained a paper map before we left, and looking at showed it should be the Sewells Point Golf Course.

  “Well, we can’t take this thing through the trees, so now what?” Roger asked as we slowed to a stop before the trees.

  “According to this map, this is Sewells Point Golf Course. It runs all the way to the highway. That road there runs behind it. Take the cart around and find the highway. You should be able to find it easily. Jason and I are going to walk the fence, make sure it’s intact through here too.” I told Roger.

  “I don’t think so man, I can’t let you do that. You know the girls would have my ass if anything happened to you and I wasn’t there.” Roger argued.

  “It’s not up for discussion. You and Casey search from here to the highway. Hopefully the fence continues around the golf course to the next gate. If not, at least we will know where to start building one. Keep your eyes open, watch your backs, and find someplace to stay hidden if need be. Jason, let’s go.” I informed him. I unsnapped my swords, checked my pistol and motioned to Jason to follow me. Roger huffed a little, but waited until Casey moved to the front seat and settled in.

  Jason shouldered his rifle, unsnapped the latch on his pistol holster, and followed me. We started walking for the trees as Roger started maneuvering the cart towards the road. It looked like the fence ran just outside the tree line, but a few had grown outside, as well as bushes and shrubbery growing through it and around it. I led the way through the brush, trying to move as silently as possible. It would also allow us to hide quickly if any infected were near the fence, or any people that might appear to be less than friendly.

  About halfway through the golf course, we found a small break in the fence where a tree had partially fallen and bent some of the posts. It appeared that the tree itself was blocking anything from coming in though, so we would probably leave it for now. We continued on our way after inspecting it, and didn’t really see anything else until we reached the curve of the road. Looking out across the road, we could see wrecked cars, some of which were burned out. A few bodies were strung across the pavement in various stages of decomposition, and even completeness. Some were missing limbs, and there was even a head missing a body. Jason and I looked at each other and then continued on our way. Since I had my machete with me, I kept swinging to clear a path through the thicker part of the brush. We kept walking, and inspecting, and watching for dangers.

  As we followed the main road now, there were more cars crashed, more bodies, but thankfully the fence was proving to be intact. Some of it was overgrown with the brush, so it was hard to see, but a close inspection proved it to be intact. There were also places were the trees had thinned out enough that we could see out across the golf course. It appeared to be mostly untouched, but we could see a few golf carts that had been abandoned, and what appeared to be golf clubs and bags dropped and left, but no bodies, no apparent blood from this distance, and no real damage either. I would save a close inspection of the course for when the wall was complete.

  “Hey, look there.” Jason said, tapping me on my shoulder to stop me, and then pointing off across the road. I followed his finger and saw a school bus abandoned near the gatehouse. It appeared that something bad had happened as there was something smeared on the glass. From here it looked like blood, and it looked to be on the inside. My hope was that it wasn’t full of kids when whatever it was went down. Several of the windows were broken out and glass was scattered around the ground, and the back door was open. I turned and looked at him, shook my head, and he shook his also. Motioning for us to keep going, we slowly moved forward.

  We made it to the edge of the golf course and met the back of the residential area fencing. The iron fence stopped there as the house privacy fence took over, but at least it butted right up against the wood. I used the support bars on the iron fence as a stepping stone, grabbed the top of the wooden fence and pulled myself up. Looking over the top, I saw a swing set, a sandbox, and a dog house. There was a flower bed in a raised box along the porch edge, and the door was slid open. No damage was evident, and no sign of any infected or dead, so I decided we should jump the fence and start inspecting the fences behind each house. At least this way we would not be seen by anything.

  “Want to search the houses now, or just keep inspecting the fence?” Jason asked me.

  “Fence. I want to make sure we are safe for now, then we can search later.” I replied. We continued on our way through this back yard, made our way out of the gate, and found the gate to the next one. We poked our heads in to the backyard long enough to see the fence was intact, and then headed out to the next one. There was ten houses down this street, and we hit each one only long enough to see that the fence was good.

  By the time we made it to the last house, it was noon or just after according to the sun. After the last house, the road turned and headed to the main road. We turned and followed it and realized that the gate was right there. The arch stretched across the road, but there was no fence between the post of the arch and the fence from the houses. We would have to put something up to keep this side secure. There were several cars lining the road, stopped by the lowered gate and the steel posts that were raised out of the road.

  “Look there.” Jason said, pointing towards the middle of the road. I looked and saw our cart standing near the guard house in the middle. We started across the road, watching for movement. Walking up to the guard house, Jason stepped to the door and knocked lightly. Casey opened the door and we all stepped in. It was a good vantage point to see most of the road.

  “See anything?” I asked as we all crowded into the small space.

  “A few infected walking around, some dogs, but that’s it. The infected just milled about, bumping into each other, or the cars, and then turning and walking away. None of them managed to make it onto the base though.” Casey informed me.

  “Excellent. The fence seems to be intact the whole way, except one place that a tree fell, but the tree also seems to be blocking its own hole, so I think we’re good there. The iron fence stops at the houses where the privacy fence takes over, but even that stops here near the arch. I don’t see any fence at all on the other side of the street, so that may be the extent of our protection. If that’s the case we are going to have some major work to put a fence up along this main road.” I told them all.

  “It should be doable fairly easily though. We can use fencing from inside the base and move it here.” Jaso
n said. I liked that idea. We watched for a few more minutes, and then I motioned we should leave. Even though there didn’t appear to be any more fence along this road, I wanted to be sure that it didn’t continue the other way. According to the map, the airfield was just north of us, so the fence could easily go the opposite direction to encompass that. We loaded back up in the cart, but before I could give Casey the go ahead since he was driving this time, our radio squawked to life.

  “All teams, report.” came the voice of Christian. We listened as each team reported in, and Jason called us in during a lull.

  “We have people on the pier. They appear uninfected and are currently on the far end. They seem to be searching the ships, don’t know if they are going to be hostile, or just looking for a place to stay. How do you want us to proceed?” Christian reported, and then asked.

  “Watch only, do not contact. I am heading back, and we will try to determine if they are friendly or not. All teams report back to the ship, but try to not be seen.” I ordered, signaling for Casey to start moving. We headed back towards the pier, but we were pretty far away at this point. Casey floored it, but since these were basically glorified golf carts, they didn’t really go that fast. At least they were silent, the only noise was the tires on the pavement and a small whine from the motor. That would allow us to not be heard as we made our way back.

  As we maneuvered through the streets of the base, we heard the others call in that they had arrived. We were apparently the farthest out, so we were the last to arrive. As we neared the pier fence, I signaled Casey to stop while we were still hidden from view.

  “This is Sheldon, who is on lookout in the bridge?” I radioed.

  “Sheldon, this is Christian. I have several lookouts keeping watch. They have moved two piers closer and seem to be not be taking anything from the ships. They could be looking for weapons or food, which we had already cleared out.” He reported back.