by Vic Sandel
Since that first day in the helicopter and the later reconnaissance flight he had a warm feeling for Amy Banks. She was young, but an exceptional young woman all the same. It took all his courage, but he asked her if she would like to make this journey with him. She jumped at the chance. One day later, Bob Eller and Amy Banks left Wright Patterson for Indiana.
Lt. Colonel Peter Marcus, unpaid and unretired, had been given the job of training pilots and rebuilding a moderate-sized air force. Without refineries working, as yet, what they could fly was limited by the amount of available fuel. Still, without any commercial aviation, the supply available at the thousands of airports would last a while. He accepted the job but every morning still took his C-113 up and flew around the state running his four arrays to keep his territory safe. Every now and then he strayed across the Canadian border to make sure there was no invasion from the North.
Brian Sanders had said an almost tearful farewell to his brother. They were, on different paths, for the moment. While Glen decided to stay with the CAG groups and his friend, Bradley. Brian, had been given a new assignment in keeping with his years as a rescue pilot. He, along with Lou Harris and Dick Grayson (who had been given back command of his ship), were to locate all the pockets of civilization in the state. There were tens-of-thousands still in hiding, totally unaware that Ohio was now clean. They would be offered the chance to move to the base or into a cleaned up and highly guarded Dayton, or to re-establish towns and more importantly farms and certain manufacturing businesses. Those with any knowledge of utility services were asked to attempt to get the power stations back on line.
It was a learning curve, trying to get a state up and running again, but it would serve as a model for those to follow... And follow, they did.
Over the next months, as equipment was made available and more planes took the air, the zombie threat was ending. Thanks to Robyn’s vaccine, those who were bitten need not join the ranks of the “undead”. Everyone with access to a radio now knew how easy it was to create a medicine to block the spread of the zombie bacteria. Everywhere an aircraft flew, the creatures fell. Flames and smoke could be seen everywhere as fire consumed the corpses, making sure that the infection would never again be spread.
Better still, what was begun in Ohio was happening all over the world. Of course, in some places it was more difficult than others. Aircraft could not see through a canopy of foliage over jungles. To a certain extent exfoliates, needed to be used but they were careful to disturb the balance of nature as little as they could. Fortunately, the sonic arrays still worked over the trees, but helicopters needed to be used at lower altitudes.
Motor vehicles, equipped with suitable emitters were used everywhere aircraft was unable to be used.
A few emitters, along with instructions and schematics, were shipped to Europe and Asia, among other countries.
The Japanese went right to work, following instructions to the letter, then making “improvements”
In keeping with custom, the Chinese threw the instructions away, and began to disassemble the weapon. Within just a few days they had reverse engineered the array, piece-by-piece.
The Germans took a bit longer as they wanted their product to last forever.
With the world now having the frequency that attracted the “undead” targeting had become far easier. Open fields, meadows, abandoned stadiums became assembly and destruction points as the zombies were drawn out of towns and cities.
The world now knew how to win! And win it would!
Eventually, The President popped up from whatever hole he had been hiding in. He hit the radio waves with a vengeance declaring VICTORY and praising his policies and his immediate staff, for their efforts in making this all go away. In truth, it had been months since anyone had heard from him at all! As for his cronies….NEVER!
Some would believe him of course, that’s the nature of politics, but anyone who fought knew it just wasn’t so!
Against all odds, and like at Thermopylae, a handful of determined humans and vampires came together to rid the world of a threat that would have ended civilization for all time.
Author’s Notes
Obviously, “The Zombie Solution” is a work of fiction. Though it has been popular today to speculate on the possibility of zombies and vampires becoming real threats to humanity, as of this minute no such fear exists.
The characters in this book are fictional, although I must confess, I have borrowed the names of my children and slapped them on a few of the main characters.
So, Brian, Glen, Robyn and Dylan If this book takes off, you can thank me. If it should flop, you have my deepest apologies.
As always many of the items I use in my stories seem impossible, but are in fact science, rather than science fiction. I will admit that when the story is in need, I might stretch an item’s capabilities a bit.
The Gatling gun used in this story, with its blistering and saturating rates of fire is absolutely real. Nothing here has been exaggerated in any way.
Then there are the properties of liquid nitrogen. The temperatures and properties used in this story are facts that can easily be found all over the Internet. The air separators used in its manufacture are also positively true. They are readily available, ranging from about ten pounds to almost a thousand pounds.
The human body does indeed possess a variety of good bacteria that help fight off disease and prevents the spread of harmful strains. Various probiotics are currently available to promote healthy levels of these in the body. All facts given here are true, though I can’t guarantee they’ll destroy zombie bacteria.
Possibly, the most unbelievable item is the Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD. Let me assure my readers that they are absolutely authentic. With the help of my scientists though, I did stretch their abilities a bit.
There are several companies currently manufacturing these devices and they are currently in use by the military, police and other public entities.
They serve many purposes, from merely hailing, to crowd control as well as protecting ships at sea.
The 2005 incident regarding pirates attacking the “Seabourn” really did occur.
They are even used by the U.S. Navy to enforce the five-hundred-yard standoff.
One of the best of these systems is indeed, manufactured by an Indiana corporation.
According to an official release by the United States Air Force, Office of Public Affairs, The Department of Defense really does do research and development on high-power microwave technologies. It is truly carried on at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico “within the High Power Microwave Division of the Air Force Research Directed Energy Directorate.”
If I have “stretched” the capabilities of these units, it might not have been by very much!
Science fiction? or science fact? Who’s to know?
I do know that I once again thank you for taking the time to read my work. I hope you found it as entertaining to read, as I did to write it for you!
Vic Sandel
