Shelter for Now

by Bob Howard

  We estimated the trip to Guntersville to be no more than four hours including the brief layover to refuel, and then another three hours to fly to Columbus. With any luck, we would be somewhere in the area of the shelter by three o’clock in the afternoon.

  By the time we had all of our gear loaded in the helicopters, the Mud Island flight was landing at Fort Sumter. We had each taken a few minutes to drop in on Bus. He needed a lot of reassurance that we would be okay, but he understood why we had to go.

  It was also going to be a short but sweet reunion with Molly and Josh. Jean was ready to make the sprint to the big helicopter before its wheels touched the ground, and Tom was right by her side. The Chief had to get in between them and the landing pad and put his toughest expression on his face. He didn’t need to say a word, and he would have tackled them if necessary. After what he had done at the Air Force Base, he didn’t want to see one more head removed by a helicopter rotor unless it was from an infected dead.

  When it was safe to approach, he simply nodded his head at them and they bolted past him.

  Molly was towing a suitcase on wheels behind her just as if she was making a trip to visit relatives. Someone had shown considerable concern and placed a big set of soundproof headphones over her ears. She was a lot taller to me, probably because I hadn’t seen her away from Mud Island that I could recall.

  I saw one of the soldiers hold out a squirming bundle to Jean, and she smothered poor Josh with kisses. The headphones were big on Molly, but they were just plain ridiculous on Josh. Jean hugged him as she walked in my direction.

  I didn’t think I would ever get used to being a father, and the way I saw it, that was more fun than being used to it. I wanted each time I saw Josh to feel like the miracle he was. He was born at a time when so many people had lost their loved ones, and I wanted to soak in every detail about him with complete disbelief for as long as I could.

  Jean handed him to me, and I was rewarded with a smile that rivaled any I had seen on the face of his namesake, Chief Joshua Barnes. He was just over six months old, and he was growing too fast. Jean didn’t realize how much I had missed him when we were forced to spend the night in the lighthouse, and neither one of us had let on to the other how afraid we were that he would lose one of us that night.

  I got my chance to hold Josh for a few minutes, and then Jean ran away with him to show him off to Olivia and Whitney. Poor Chase didn’t know what to do with a baby, so he just kind of hung back and watched, probably wondering if that was in his future.

  The helicopters increased power as they were brought up to their optimum flight temperatures. Unlike at the Air Force Base, we had the luxury of time to treat them properly as we prepared to leave.

  I saw Tom and Kathy talking with Molly, and Molly wiped the back of one arm across her eyes. Tom was doing his best to reassure her, but this would be the longest trip so far, and we had no idea what we would find in Columbus.

  Captain Miller came up to where I was standing and gave me a good slap on the back. Even though I was ready for it, he was a strong man, and I wound up taking a couple of steps forward.

  “Status lights for the active shelters still shows green for Columbus,” he shouted over the sound of the helicopters.

  “That’s good,” I yelled back. “At least we know someone made it there safely.”

  Tom had let Molly loose, and she was in a big neck hug with Kathy. Tom, in the meantime, had found Sam and was having a little talk with him. Sam didn’t seem like he was afraid, but he was standing at attention like one of Captain Miller’s soldiers.

  “Tom’s explaining life to Sam,” I shouted.

  “I have a feeling Sam understands life and death better than most people right at this moment,” laughed Captain Miller.

  If I recalled correctly, Sam was two, almost three years older than Molly, so Tom was willing to put up with a crush, but that was all. For Sam’s sake, as well as Molly’s, I hoped their time together was memorable, but not too memorable.

  All too soon the signals were given for everyone to climb aboard their assigned helicopters, and I had to give Josh a quick hug then help Jean to break away from him. The surprise on her face when we climbed into the spacious cabin of the executive S-76D helped get her past the sadness of leaving again.

  There were wide, brown leather seats for everyone and a table that came down across the center of the cabin. The refrigerator had been stocked and our extra gear was tucked away but not where we couldn’t get to our weapons fast. Since Kathy was up front with the Chief, we had an extra seat that allowed us to spread out even more.

  When the door slid shut, we were amazed by how quiet it got. Apparently the designers of the Sikorsky took comfort seriously. The Chief turned around and told everyone not to worry about the noise. The rotors tilted forward in flight to reduce it even further.

  The Chief was getting a little better from practice, and his lift off from Fort Sumter was slow and easy. I didn’t have a good view straight down at the fort, but as the helicopter rotated to point west, I saw the big Navy helicopters hovering in formation. The Chief talked into his microphone, and I heard him telling the other pilots that he was ready to proceed to the first destination. The helicopter tilted forward, and we left Charleston behind.

  Kathy turned around and motioned for everyone to put in the earphones that she was passing out. She pointed at digital ports located near each seat, and we all plugged them in. Her voice came through clearly.

  “As you can guess, these are miniature headsets. There’s a small microphone located on your cords. Find it and give it a little squeeze when you talk. Everyone please give me a sound check.”

  We each tested our microphones so Kathy could tell we were all receiving her.

  “Okay, everyone. We should reach Guntersville in about three hours, and the plan is to land on the golf course. We’ll move in one at a time to refuel, but for those of you who were with us on the first trip, you’ll recall that the fuel pump is located on the dock. We don’t know who, if anyone, has been on those docks since we were there before, but we should anticipate that someone has been at least trying to get to the fuel. If the infected are still climbing out of the lake through the boathouse, they’re bound to get excited when they hear four helicopters landing on their lawn. We’ll be landing in formation with the Navy helicopters surrounding us. They will deploy shooters as soon as we touch down. Does anyone have any questions?”

  I raised my hand and then squeezed the microphone.

  “I don’t have a question, but I want to remind everyone of something else. The grass will be much taller on the golf course, and the infected may be unable to leave without falling in the water. Some will stray inland and fall down in the grass. Don’t let anyone get bitten on the ankles.”

  The Chief’s voice came over the radio. He thanked me for the suggestion and then made a radio call to the other three helicopters. If it was as peaceful as it had been when we saw the country club for the first time, no one would expect it to be as dangerous as we knew it could be.

  Tom keyed his microphone and asked, “How are we going to get into the shelter? I’m sure everyone can see that the helicopters can’t land close enough to Green Cavern, and there’s no way someone could risk swimming to the entrance.”

  Green Cavern was the main entrance to the shelter. A lake went right up to the cave, and there wasn’t a piece of ground big enough for a helicopter to land. The shelter entrance was an elevator that was lowered from the ceiling of the cavern. When it was recessed into its original location, you couldn’t even tell it was there.

  “Couldn’t we use one of the escape hatches to get inside?” asked Jean.

  The Chief shook his head from side to side.

  “We could lower people to one of the hatches, but we would be advertising its location too well. We want to get Captain Miller’s people inside quickly without drawing too much attention to the shelter.”

  “So, what’s the plan?”
Tom asked for a second time.

  “We have two options,” said the Chief. “We can use one of the seaplanes or one of the boats from the country club. I know we failed at our last attempt to get another seaplane from there, but we have more firepower this time.”

  After discussing our plans a bit more, we settled in for the trip. At times it seemed like it was taking forever to get there, but when I checked my watch, I was really surprised to see how fast time went by.

  We were passing Atlanta at high speed, but there was plenty of time to use binoculars to study the city. It would be an understatement to say that we were surprised by what we saw. The tallest buildings in Atlanta were still safe from being completely swallowed by green, but even the lower temperatures of winter hadn’t completely turned the invading plant life brown. It was just too thick along the streets. Where it had turned brown, we could see that it had completely blanketed the cars and lower buildings. Roads were hidden, as well as bridges and overpasses.

  “It must be ten to twenty degrees warmer down there than usual,” said Tom. “The kudzu growing wild must’ve swallowed everything last summer.”

  “What’s kudzu?” asked Colleen.

  It seemed like everyone in our helicopter knew what kudzu was except Colleen because we all started to tell her at the same time. We all stopped when we realized everyone was talking.

  Colleen held up both hands and said, “I get it. I’m not from the south, but I heard enough in all that to know kudzu is a pain in the butt vine that grows like mad and is hard to get rid of.”

  “Before the infection,” added Tom, “Atlanta had a crew of about twenty-five people whose only job was to go around Atlanta cutting down the kudzu.”

  As we left Atlanta behind us, the foothills got higher, and before we knew it, we were entering the valley between the mountains that surrounded Guntersville, Alabama.

  We used the same route as the first time, and the convoy of helicopters flew across the quiet town at high speed. If there was anyone on the ground as we approached, they didn’t reveal their presence.

  We saw that the main street leading through town in the direction of the country club had been barricaded at some point in time. Whether the reason was to keep something in or keep something out, there was no sign of the people who put it there. Buildings inside the barricades were also boarded up, and more had been burned to the ground.

  The most striking difference about the town of Guntersville was how green it had become. Lawns weren’t just overgrown, they had also become homes to a variety of shrubs and vines. When the yards had become choked and unable to contain the vegetation, it had climbed the buildings. Some buildings had completely disappeared beneath the greenery.

  There was also a noticeable difference in the water. It had risen considerably, and in some places it had crested roads and streets among the houses. The only explanation was that the Tennessee Valley Authority was no longer in a position to regulate water levels at the dams. If the water came through the dams, towns like Guntersville might be completely submerged in a year or two.

  We were over water a few moments later and moving straight for the country club.

  “Okay,” said the Chief. “Heads up everyone. Be alert for anything unusual. If you think something feels wrong, say so.”

  If anyone was watching, it had to be an impressive sight to see four helicopters arriving in the valley. It was almost noon, and the sky was a startling blue, unlike our first visit when it seemed like all it did was rain.

  The country club had been a magnificent structure at the upper end of the small peninsula that jutted out into one of the large lakes. The last time we had seen it, it was mostly intact with the exception of the big plate glass windows facing the golf course to the south.

  It had aged a hundred years already. Without the insulated windows to keep the elements out, the building had suffered greatly. We figured in a year or two it would collapse under the rot caused by the rain and the cold temperatures.

  The grass on the golf course had grown tall, but it was as green as ever. If anyone cared, the grounds keepers could cut it and have people on the tees within a couple of hours. Of course they would still be forced to deal with thousands of tiny pine trees that had also managed to sprout on the fairways and the greens.

  In the distance we could see the brick wall that had surrounded the exclusive country club, and it had disappeared under vines that totally concealed the red of the bricks beneath it.

  We sat down facing the small dock near the maintenance building where we had found the infected waiting for the chance to walk out of the lake. The lead helicopter was the closest to the maintenance building, and we saw Captain Miller’s men fan out to the left and right as they jumped to the ground.

  Once they were clear of the rotors, they began moving forward and targeting something inside the building. It was only a few seconds before the first of the infected began wandering out into the open from the darkness of the building.

  When the soldiers opened fire, they moved forward fast and reached the big door that had caught us by surprise on our first visit to the country club.

  The last time we had seen it, we were caught off guard when it had opened too easily. Counterweights had made it go up too fast for us to stop it, and we found ourselves facing off with several guard dogs that were ready to find something to kill. This time Army M4’s beat back the threat from inside, and then the soldiers pulled the door permanently closed.

  The Chief was talking to someone in the lead VH92A and then relayed to us that the infected were still using the boat ramp to get back onto the golf course. He said the building was full of them.

  It was when the Chief was facing us that he saw movement beyond the helicopter that had landed on the right flank. There was a lot of activity in the trees that divided the fairways on the golf course. He immediately radioed to the others that the threat was at three o’clock from their position.

  Apparently the infected had wandered off in that direction instead of just walking back into the water by the boat dock. At least one hundred of them were walking slowly toward the newcomers that had landed on their piece of property.

  Captain Miller’s voice came over the radio, and he asked if anyone had any guesses about why they were moving so slowly.

  Kathy answered that the temperature had been in the twenties the night before if it had been anywhere near the average for this time of year, and maybe they were slowed down by the freezing cold.

  “That would be good news considering where we’re going,” he answered. “What’s the temperature in Columbus today?”

  Kathy flipped through some notes and answered, “Twenty-two with a high of about thirty-six. They should be having a really hard time getting started without their morning coffee.”

  Captain Miller’s voice came over the radio, and despite the Chief’s tendency to call the shots, he had to remember that there were three helicopters full of the Captain’s men on this trip, and he was their commanding officer.

  His orders to all pilots was to rotate landing and refueling, then move off to a safe distance and land but keep the engines hot. The VH92A that was transporting the new residents of the Guntersville shelter was instructed to refuel while standing guard over them as they checked out the boats and seaplanes that were still tied up at the dock.

  One by one the helicopters moved into position for refueling while keeping a close eye on the slowly advancing horde. There was no real reason to waste ammunition firing at them because they were so slow it would take them a week to cross the golf course. We were glad to see that we had been correct in our assumption that they could freeze.

  The two float planes that had the big TWA on each wing refused to start. There had been more planes when we were in Guntersville the last time, and it was no surprise to see some were gone.

  The soldiers moved to the boats that were tied up alongside the float planes and had better luck. Since it would take longer for them to re
ach Green Cavern by boat, they were ordered to proceed to the shelter while we refueled.

  The Chief took his turn at the fuel pumps and didn’t waste any time. The trip to Columbus was going as planned, and we were on schedule.

  The last of the Navy helicopters was refueling when we got a radio report from the soldiers who had left by boat. They were under attack and needed support.

  The fishing boats that were chasing the four soldiers must not have seen the helicopters over at the country club, or they would have thought twice about what they were trying to do. The VH92A’s weren’t combat helicopters, but they were loaded with combat veterans.

  It didn’t take long for us to catch up with the boats, and we could tell Captain Miller had developed a real sense of humor. He didn’t need to kill anyone today, and there was always a chance that the men in the boats were just trying to survive. They weren’t firing at the soldiers even though we could see they were armed.

  Instead of just closing in on the two fishing boats and provoking them to shoot at the helicopters, Captain Miller had his formation drop down to only a few feet above the water and ease up slowly behind them. When they heard the thumping of the rotors behind them and saw what was there, they couldn’t break off their pursuit fast enough. Both boats turned so sharply that they almost capsized.

  The order was given not to waste fuel by following the boats. Our goal was Columbus, Ohio, and all we needed to do here was to see the soldiers safely inside the shelter. To save even more fuel, we all flew to the nearest highway and followed it to a large parking area where we could all land together.

  Highway 67 was close enough to Green Cavern for us to respond again if the men needed help, so we kept the engines hot and waited.

  When the idea of returning to Green Cavern first came up, Bus was so happy to know his shelter would be occupied again that he couldn’t wait to pass along his secret about how to lower the ceiling elevator that would carry the soldiers up to the hidden entrance. There was a remote hidden in the cave entrance that had to be activated by a code. He gave them the location of the remote and the code, and if the infected weren’t in the way, they would have no problem getting inside.