by Lee Thomas
Stepping back into my quarters, I put the maps and my notes on the table to put up later, then headed for my bedroom. Pulling my armor and swords out of the small closet I had, I armed myself and then headed towards the bridge. I wanted to let someone know that I would be leaving the ship for a while along with the search teams. Stepping onto the bridge, I held my hand up to forestall the anticipated ‘captain on deck’ announcement I knew they would say. At least I had seemed to be having good luck breaking them of that habit.
“What can we do for you this morning sir?” the OOD asked. It was first class petty office I hadn’t met yet named Thomason.
“I just wanted to let someone know that I would be leaving the ship along with the search teams. I will have a radio with me, but I wanted to make sure it was in the log that I left, in case anyone comes looking for me.” I informed them. Thomason made a notation in the daily log they still kept and then nodded at me. I nodded back, waved to the others on the bridge, and then headed down to armory to get a weapon. The radioman handed me a portable radio as I left and assured me it was fully charged, and had a five mile range. I thanked him and headed down.
Several people stopped me as I made my way down to the armory to make small talk. Most of them were still thanking me for saving them and getting them here, and several others had ideas for ways to improve life onboard. I asked them to write them out for me and leave them in my quarters and I promised to review them and see what we could to use them. I finally made it to the armory and stepped up to the window to check out a weapon. Ringing the bell, I heard the sailor in charge stepping towards me from the back.
“Yes sir, what can I do for you Captain?” he asked me.
“Please, it’s Sheldon, not captain. I need a couple of pistols, .380 or 9mm preferably. Several clips for each, nothing loose though.” I replied.
“Yes sir, I have a couple of Glock 9mm’s available, freshly cleaned and serviced. I can give you an extra six clips, plus the ones in them.” he informed me.
“Perfect, get them please. I’ll be off ship all day.” He stepped back to the racks of weapons and I heard him opening cabinets and shelves. A few minutes later he stepped up back to the window with two pistols in holsters, along with a pouch which he flipped open showing me six clips in individual sleeves. I nodded at him, and proceeded to write the guns info in the log book. Once completed, I reached through to shake his hand, clipped the holsters to my belt, placed the pouch on my belt at my back and headed towards the hangar bay. There was a guard station set up just aft of the door at elevator four, which was the main one we used for entering and exiting the ship. Sailors manned it to keep up the habit of watch standing, and it also made it easy to get the operator to open the door and lower the elevator. I stepped up to the podium and acknowledged the salute the watch standers gave me.
“Please, saluting is totally unnecessary. Have the search teams left already?” I said.
“Yes, sir, about twenty minutes ago. They should still be on the pier though if you want to catch up to them.” the female told me. Her name was Alexander according to her name tag, while the man on watch was named Curtis. While Alexander was talking to me, Curtis called up to the elevator room to open the door. The hangar door started opening with a small whine and as it opened I could see the elevator lowering. Once the elevator was fully down, I stepped out of the door onto it, waving to the watch. Out of old Navy habit, I stopped, turned towards the tower, and saluted the flag in the age old tradition of asking permission to leave or board the ship. I caught myself as I did, and turned to look at the watch podium. Both sailors smiled and saluted back, even after my little speech about saluting being unnecessary. Laughing to myself, I turned and went down the stairs, heading for the garage where the electric carts were kept.
As I entered the garage, the first thing that I noticed was that three carts were missing, which only left two. That was surprising, as only two teams were supposed to be out. Making a mental note, that was something for another time. I gathered two batteries, put one in place, and the second in the storage compartment. The door was already open, so once the batteries were in place I hopped in, started the cart, and pulled out. After stopping to close the door, I headed down the pier once more, headed south towards the shipping area. Approaching the shipping office, I found the missing cart. Curiosity made me want to stop and check out the office to see what was going on, but I decided to just keep going.
Making it through the pier gate with no issue, I continued through the base, looking for any signs of infected that would mean the fence was already compromised. Seeing nothing that caused concern, I continued on towards the main gate. The car we were using as a gate was still in position, still in neutral. I stopped the cart and started pushing the car backwards. Luckily it wasn’t a large vehicle or I wouldn’t be able to do it alone. Once it was finally moved far enough to fit the cart through I pulled the cart through and moved the car back to block the opening. I then sat back in the cart and consulted the map. It looked like traveling down the main road here along the fence I could easily duck into some of the residential area and search without the risk of being too far away from the ship.
I turned down another main branch road and went about eight blocks before turning into a residential area, remembering that Christian had said they had searched a five block radius before. I pulled up to the first house on the block, killed the cart and looked around. Abandoned cars, knocked over trash cans, overgrown lawns and shrubbery was all that was visible. I stepped out of the cart and listened, but could hear nothing. Leaves rustled in the slight breeze we had, and the sun was already heating up the day. I checked my weapons, made sure my swords were unsnapped and both pistols had a round chambered already.
Walking up towards the house, I noticed that the curtains were all pulled, but the windows were not boarded up. The door was shut, and it looked like an ordinary morning where the owners were simply away at work. Glancing around the block one last time, I decided to search the outside of the property first, before venturing inside. I pulled my short sword and headed towards the side of the house where the gate was. Opening the gate, I stepped into the backyard and closed it behind me. As I came around the corner of the house, a normal looking backyard spread out before me. There was a swing set, a doghouse, and an impressive flower garden. A work shed in the back corner stood open, with the door swinging gently in the wind. I checked it out and found some gardening equipment, a partial bag of potting soil, and a couple of garden hoses. Nothing surprising, but nothing we could really use right now either.
Next I turned my attention to the house itself. Like the front side, all the windows back here had the curtains drawn, but not boarded up. The back door was a glass sliding door, locked. I didn’t want to break the glass, but it appeared to be a simple lock, so I shoved my sword in between it and the frame, and twisted. The door slid open with a small pop, so I slid it all the way open, pushed the curtain aside, and listened for any movement inside. All was quiet, so I entered the house and closed the door behind me. The kitchen was to my left, a door to my right, and I could see into what appeared to be a dining room just beyond the kitchen. I tried the door, which opened up into a pantry. There was only a few cans and boxes on the shelves, which told me that either the owners took everything with them when they left, or someone has been here to scavenge it already. I stepped through the kitchen, not bothering with checking the cabinets right now, and entered the dining room. There was a nice table, six chairs, and an old looking china hutch filled with dishes. Walking through there, I then entered the living room. The furniture was nice, there was a fireplace along the left hand wall with a painting over it. It was dim inside with all the curtains drawn, but I didn’t want to draw attention to the house by opening them.
Continuing on, I went past the front door and checked a closet just inside the foyer. Coats, a couple of umbrellas, and some boxes were all I found. There was a staircase leading upstairs and a door next to that s
tanding open. It led into what looked like a home office, complete with a computer desk and several filing cabinets. I only gave it a cursory search, then decided to head upstairs. Stepping carefully and slowly so as not to make any noise, I made my way up the stairs. The landing turned into a hallway to the right, with a door to my immediate left, one at the turn on the right, then two more along the rest of the hall. I stepped into room on the left, which appeared to be the master bedroom. It was a pretty good sized room, held a dresser, king size bed, and an armchair in the corner. A couple of nightstands scattered around as well gave it plenty of space for lamps, a TV, and a radio. There were two doors leading back out of it, which turned out to be a walk-in closet, and nice sized bathroom.
Nothing seemed out of place, or currently useable, so I continued on. The rest of the rooms were likewise furnished. Simple, nothing extravagant, but obviously people who had a little bit of money. I exited the house through the front door and looked around the block again. Nothing seemed to have changed, so I went across the street to the next house and started again. This house held no surprises either, and was similarly furnished, as was the next two. Moving the cart up the street some to the next set of houses, I began my next search, not expecting any different in this house.
The first thing I noticed though was that this house had safety bars on the windows. They were the kind that had emergency handles on the inside in case of fire, but otherwise were pretty much impossible to get through without making a huge racket. I decided to try the front door again, as one of the previous houses proved to be unlocked. This one was not, so I circled around to the back to see if I would have any luck there. The back yard here was sparse, but there was a doghouse. It looked rundown though, and probably hadn’t housed an animal in quite some time. There was a vent for a storm cellar, but I didn’t see the door. A backup generator was also back here, but since it wasn’t running I assumed it ran out of fuel a long time ago.
I went for the back door to try it since the windows back here were also barred shut, and to my surprise found it unlocked. I stepped through into a utility room with a washer and dryer and several cabinets. It apparently also served as a mudroom as it had coat hooks and a pair of work boots near the door. Only after I entered did I realize that the slats and boards outside were only a clever screen print covering the windows. One could watch the entire back yard from here and never be seen. Judging from the cigarette butts lying around, I wondered if someone hadn’t done just that before.
The interior door was also unlocked, so I made my way into a small, but functional kitchen. Passing through the kitchen, I found myself in a narrow hallway. One door led off to the right which led into a garage. I decided to search it later and kept heading towards the front of the house. It was easy to figure out that whoever lived here was an avid hunter, as there was a deer head hanging in a den, several hunting magazines scattered around, and pictures of the same man with various kills. It looked like he took down anything from an elk, to a bear, to rabbits. Even with the security bars, the windows had been boarded up partially along the bottoms. It actually appeared that they were boarded up enough to provide a rail to set a rifle on if someone was sitting in front of them.
I continued my search upstairs, finding only a bathroom and two bedrooms, none of which was overly decorated. I did manage to find a few boxes of ammo in a dresser drawer, which I pocketed on the off chance they would fit any of our weapons on the ship. Finished with the upstairs, I made my way back down to the garage. Without a vehicle in it, it was a roomy space, with shelves lined up on either side, full of tools. I decided we would come back with a truck for those as you never knew when tools could be useful. The back side of the garage appeared to be have extended quite a bit and an impressive work area had been arranged.
More tools lined shelves and pegboards, along with a lathe and a vise attached to the table top. Spent casings spoke to the fact that this hunter probably reused his shells, a smart thing with the economy the way it is, or was, I corrected myself. I turned to leave when I noticed a small lip in the floor, near the door to the hallway. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a trapdoor in the concrete. I lifted the inset handle and then lifted the door open. My assumption that this would lead down into a storm cellar was quickly proven false, unless this was the most elaborate storm cellar I had ever seen.
A set of steel stairs descended into the earth about ten feet, if I had to estimate. Grabbing and testing a flashlight from the bench, I went down the stairs, sword in hand. At the bottom landing, the way ended in a steel door. It appeared to be similar to the watertight doors on board ship, with an oval shape, and I bet it would have a similar closing and locking mechanism on the inside. Pushing it inwards, it appeared locked. Then I looked closer and pulled on it. The door swung open silently, revealing a doomsday prepper’s dream.
Inside was a bunker, no other way to describe it. One wall had a row of bunk beds down about half of its length, shelves full of canned food, dehydrated potatoes, cases of water bottles, and boxes of jerky. One area had been set up as a small kitchen, and there was even both a CB and shortwave ham radio on a long table along another wall. There was also a section that had maps tacked up, one of the surrounding area, one of the entire country. Another door leading off proved to be a shower and restroom, complete with a chemical toilet. I found books with diagrams detailing the collection of rain water for showers and drinking and one last room held what I considered to be an insane amount of guns, bows, crossbows, and shelves full of ammunition. I definitely needed to secure this house for us to use. That way, if any of our teams ever got caught out in bad weather, or at dark, or simply cut off from returning easily, this would be a great place to hole up for a time.
I made my way back to the ground floor and searched for keys to the house so I could lock it up. I found a key ring finally in the bedroom upstairs, and it proved to work on the front door. I secured the back door, made sure both doors were securely locked, then exited the front door, making sure it also was locked securely. I then made a note of the address so we could find it again and headed for the cart. Just before I stepped off the porch however, I stopped cold. A small herd of infected were milling about in the street, slowly making their way forward. With my pistols and swords, I felt confident I could take on maybe up to five on my own, but there was at least twenty now. They were ignoring my cart, simply going around it, but there was no way I could get to it, fire it up, and get moving fast enough to avoid them.
I slowly backed up, trying to not draw any attention to myself, and slowly drew out the keys to the house. I turned to unlock the door, and as I did my elbow hit a potted plant hanging from the porch roof. The wire must have been weak, as even that small bump snapped it, and the planter fell to the porch with a crash. I temporarily froze, then turned and looked towards the street to see about half of the infected start to look this way. I quickly placed the key in the lock and turned it as I heard several of them scream. Opening the door, I looked behind as four of them had already made it to the sidewalk. I jumped in and slammed the door, locking it just as one of them slammed into it. I threw all the locks on the door, glad now the owner was paranoid. Pounding and screeches followed as more and more infected joined in.
Running to the living room, I peeled back one of the curtains to look through to the porch, and all the infected I originally saw were now trying to crowd onto the porch. I pocketed the house keys and made sure the cart key was where I could reach it easily. As I did, my hand hit my radio, which I had forgotten I had. I made my way back to the kitchen so I wouldn’t be heard and turned up the volume.
“This is Sheldon, can anyone hear me?” I said, hoping that the ship was listening, or at least the other search teams. I repeated myself three times before I finally got a response.
“This is SH2 Crowe, go ahead captain, we read you.” Came a welcome response.
“I am off ship searching for supplies and survivors. My current address is 819 Carlis
le Way. I am trapped by a small herd of infected, approximately twenty of them. The house is secure, but I don’t know for how long. Send help immediately.” I reported, searching for anything to help me in case they broke through the door. The radio crackled back to life as Bobby reported back to me that an armed response team was on their way.
“Understood, I’ll keep you appraised if my situation changes.” I answered him, clipping the radio back to my belt. I went back to the window, and this time I could see that the infected were moving out along the porch and not all focusing their attention on the door. I wasn’t sure if that was a sign of intelligence and planning, or simply an animalistic instinct to find another entry point.
Flesh pounded against steel as they tried to break the security bars, which I was desperately glad of now. I could have fired through the window at them, but that would have broken the glass and I didn’t want to do that. I then remembered the armory downstairs, so I rushed back down to the bunker, grabbed a shotgun and a box of shells, then ran back upstairs. My thought was that if they started to break through the door, I could fire through the hole they made point blank at their heads and more than likely take them all out before they ever got inside.
I went all around the house double checking all the windows and doors to make sure they were locked, even heading upstairs and checking the upstairs windows. As I pulled the curtains aside and checked on the street, I noticed more infected heading this way down the street. I groaned to myself, and then headed back downstairs. I sat on the bottom stair, listening to the pounding and yells of the infected. I knew they couldn’t get in through any window, and both the back doors were securely locked. Judging from the weight of the doors, I guessed that the front and back doors were not your regular wooden doors, but rather a steel core security door. If that was the case, then there was no way any infected were getting inside without me opening the door.
