“He’s over there by the APC with the command section,” he said.
Dan walked over and introduced himself to Master Warrant Bell and outlined his idea to acquire a few drones.
“Good thinking Sergeant, I’ll relay that to Major Hunt and we’ll get it done,” MWO Bell replied.
Chapter 5
October 29th
CFB Edmonton, originally an airbase well north of Edmonton, was now abutted by Edmonton’s urban sprawl. In the first few weeks, thousands of zombies had shambled towards it, trying to get at those inside. It was then and only then that the military’s firepower was of use. When the infected had surged towards the base from nearby Lake District, troops opened up with everything they had, cannons, rockets, heavy machineguns and anything else they could use. Despite seemingly endless numbers, the infected had never breached the fence line. While morale was high on the base right now, General Nicholas Raine, had no illusions of how useless his artillery and most of his other heavy weapons would be in clearing Edmonton of infected. Patrols that had headed into the city over the past week had seen a sharp increase in casualties – and casualties in this conflict were almost always fatal.
General Raine’s other problem was the burgeoning population on the base. Nearly ten thousand refugees now lived in tents and temporary shelters around the base, while several thousand soldiers stood guard. Despite a number of successful supply runs in the past weeks, supplies of food were starting to shrink and he had no idea how long he could continue to feed everyone. That was why he had called this meeting of military and civilian leaders, most of whom were chatting quietly amongst themselves.
“This meeting will now come to order,” General Raine said. “Ellen, attendance please,” he added, nodding to his executive assistant.
“Mayor Steven Johnson?”
“Present.”
The Mayor was part of a dozen or so civic officials who had been rescued from Emergency Operations Centre at City Hall by the military shortly after the pandemic had exploded out of quarantine zones around the city.
“Councillor Jim Tkachuck?”
“Here.”
“Councillor Melanie Fisher.”
“Present.”
Councillor Fisher was the only woman at the table and while she was used to being outnumbered by men throughout her life, nothing in her time as Councillor had really prepared her for the daunting task of competing with so many Alpha males.
“Deputy Police Chief Robert Lewis?”
“Here.”
Rumour had it that Lewis had disobeyed orders and had gone straight to City Hall to work with the Mayor in the emergency operations centre in a vain effort to further his career. Nobody was sure exactly what had happened to his family, but the bags under his eyes and hollow stare suggested the very worst.
“MLA Scott Gregson.”
“Present.”
Scott Gregson, a New Democrat Member of the Legislative Assembly from an east Edmonton riding, had been fleeing the city with his family. When he had driven past the base, he had been ordered inside and his entire family searched and quarantined. That caused a nasty shouting match with insults such as “Fascist” and other derogatory remarks lobbed by Gregson at soldiers until he calmed down after someone recognized him.
“Member of Parliament Steve Franklin?”
Steve Franklin was one of the few surviving MPs in the entire country. Most of his colleagues had been in Ottawa dealing with the crisis when infected broke down the barricades around the Hill and stormed the Parliament Building, killing nearly everyone inside. Only the Prime Minister and a handful of others had escaped the carnage, several of whom had been infected. Franklin himself had been attending a funeral when the crisis erupted and had chosen to stay in Edmonton rather than abandon his family. His biggest problem was that he was a Conservative Party member and the ruling government had been a Liberal one, which meant he had less authority than a member of the government would have. Still, as a member of the federal branch of government, he did have some ability to get what he wanted.
“I just want to remind everyone here that we are still operating under the Emergency Measures Act and that because we still have a definable chain of command, we were under no obligation to form this advisory group. Despite that, because a fair number of the troops on this base, myself included, are relatively new arrivals to the city and are not all that familiar with the lay of the land so to speak. Those of you who are long time residents however, can provide us with information we might not be able to access. So with the notion that two minds are better than one, I decided this group was in all of our best interests. But the minute this group is no longer of value, I will disband it rather than waste time bickering amongst ourselves.”
There was some murmuring by Mayor Johnston and his colleagues but the General continued on.
“The first item on our agenda is food – the fact is there isn’t nearly enough to sustain us over the winter. We’ve got roughly ten thousand civilians on the base, and that number is growing every day. The problem is we don’t have enough food for all of them. If we continue accepting survivors from the Capital Region, we will be overwhelmed and everyone will either starve or freeze to death,” General Raine said.
“Can’t we get supplies from the city? There must be a dozen grocery stores within a ten minute drive from here,” Councillor Tkachuk responded.
“We have sent out patrols for the past few weeks and emptied most of them already. The ones that aren’t already empty, will be soon. We’ve also checked restaurants, convenience stores and even homes nearby. The problem is that with power having been off to most of the city for more than two weeks now, anything frozen or perishable is no longer edible,” replied General Raine. “In fact, with the lack of power for several weeks now, most food items in fridges, either commercial or domestic, will have rotted and would be classified as toxic waste and will have ruined other foodstuffs nearby as well. In some cases, it has left all food in some houses totally unfit for consumption.”
“I guess that means we have to go farther into the city then,” replied Tkachuk.
“Going farther into the city increases our risk. However, there are several items we have done to try and secure a stable food supply. My staff has brokered deals with several nearby farms, offering protection in exchange for food. While they won’t be able to meet all of our needs, those farms will provide limited supplies of eggs, dairy products and even meat. One of them has provided several truckloads of oatmeal, which, as you all know, is what most people on the base are eating for breakfast.”
“Additionally, a patrol into the west end found two untouched food distribution warehouses, which should tide us over in the short term. The recent liberation of the Costco in northeast Edmonton is another success – best of all, the survivors there jury-rigged power and were able to save a fair amount of frozen and perishable food items. We also have stockpiled Individual Meal Packets, which are the Army’s rations we use when deployed on missions away from our bases. However, due to their balanced nutrition and their shelf life, we need to keep those in reserve if at all possible. We’ve also begun construction of several greenhouses to start growing produce over the winter. How successful they will be, I honestly don’t know, but we’ll do our best.”
“Now, despite those successes, we’re going to have to scale back rations for the civilians on the base. They represent two-thirds of the population and consume most of the food. The diet will be reduced from 1500 calories per day to 1200. I know that is a significant drop, but coupled with our recent discoveries, we should be able to stretch what we have until mid-December. By then, winter will have settled in and we should be able to search the rest of the city and find enough supplies to get us through the winter, even if it means ransacking every house in the region.”
“Anyone have any other thoughts?” General Raine asked.
Several people shrugged their shoulders indifferently – after all, nobody at this table wa
s suffering any hardships. MLA Gregson appeared as if he had something to say, then stopped and shook his head.
“Okay. The second item on the agenda is almost as critical. The barracks, the elementary school, fitness centre and every other building on the base are already stuffed to overflowing with refugees. We’ve also got some billeted with military families and anywhere else we had room,” Raine replied. “That has meant that new arrivals have been forced into the tent city in the northeast sector of the base. That is a poor solution that needs a solution ASAP. As you may recall, last week’s cold snap killed several dozen people who didn’t pay attention to our safety briefings.”
“Yeah, that was a fucking disaster,” MP Franklin mumbled.
“There is also a small problem with petty crime in the tent city, as residents have no way to secure their belongings. There are also some rumours of a black market operating there too, which we’ve tried to counter with patrols of Military Police. To alleviate this problem, I’ve asked Lieutenant Becker to brief the group on what our options are,” General Raine said.
A gangly soldier stood up and walked to the front of the room and aimed a laser pointer at the screen on the wall, bringing up a PowerPoint presentation.
“Good lord, not even the end of the world will kill fucking PowerPoint,” one of the politicos in the back muttered.
“There are several nearby areas we could clear out to provide additional shelter for the refugees on the base. The first is the Dorchester building in Griesbach,” Lieutenant Becker said. “It is a sixteen storey apartment condominium just off Castledowns Road. It was planned to be part of a TOD development that would house up to 10,000 people close to the new LRT station at 137th avenue.”
“TOD? What’s that?” Asked MP Franklin.
“A TOD is a transit-oriented development. Proponents felt that by building high density buildings near LRT stations, they could maximize ridership and decrease the numbers of people driving to work – thereby reducing CO2 emissions,” Mayor Johnson answered.
“Densifying neighbourhoods is always a good idea,” said MLA Gregson. “They’re more sustainable, better for the environment, better for…”
“There you go, pushing your fucking Hippie Dippie agenda again. Not everyone wants to live in a shoebox-sized condo you know. And given that the Mayor and most of city council didn’t either, it was a case of do as I say, no as I do,” Councillor Tkachuk snapped. Councillor Tkachuk was well known throughout the city for his far right stance on most issues.
“Typical left-wing elitist bullshit,” MP Franklin added. “All of you ‘people’ needed to stop living in cuckoo land and join reality like the rest of us.”
“We’re drifting off-topic here…” General Raine warned.
Once everyone quieted down, Lt. Becker started again, “The Dorchester building was completed recently with a brick exterior with safety glass windows on all floors, so it should be sturdy enough to survive with minimal security forces present. In addition, it is less than eight minutes travel time from our base, so if a large group of infected is sighted, response times will be minimal.”
“Our estimates are that the Dorchester could hold somewhere between three and five hundred residents, assuming we put six to eight people per unit. That would be tight quarters, but preferable to tents in the TRQ. Securing it would likely not be very difficult. The plan would be to airlift in several shipping crates as temporary walls and then clear the building with troops from the roof down. It could also provide an excellent vantage point when we begin clearing the area around it.”
Heads around the table nodded.
“Our second option would be the neighbourhood Rapperswill in northwestern Castledowns. It is a new development that is separated from the rest of Castledowns by 112th street on the East and a recently twinned 167th avenue on the south. A line of about fifty shipping crates could form a substantial barrier to isolate the area from the rest of the city. Similar walls on the east and west sides would further enhance its safety. This would require a substantial investment in resources, both in transporting the shipping crates from the west end and then emplacing them around the neighbourhood. However, this option would be very secure.”
“That sounds fairly good too,” Mayor Johnston said.
“In addition, it is located just off the Anthony Henday and forces from here could react very quickly should it come under attack or siege. Most homes in the neighbourhood average about 1600 square feet, so they are about twice the size of two bedroom condos around the city. We estimate that the Rapperswill neighbourhood could hold upwards of five thousand people – assuming that we billet more than one family per home.”
“Our final option is to seal off the neighbourhood of Griesbach. As you maybe be aware, it used to be part of CFB Edmonton and housed the old Airborne Regiment. It is surrounded by multi-lane roads on all four sides, and trenches and a wall of shipping crates would also need to be constructed here as well. However, the Griesbach area is considerably larger than the Rapperswill area and would require approximately double as many crates to complete the wall. While this community is only partially developed, it will hold more people than Rapperswill, but would require even more resources to construct and garrison. If we added additional buildings over the next year, it could be built to hold as many as twenty thousand people, if we constructed high-density low-rise apartment buildings instead of single family homes. If the numbers of infected in the surrounding communities is relatively high, we would have to postpone this until after the snow flies and work on building it up as a secure base for next year.”
“Which option does your team recommend, Lieutenant?”
“It would have to be based on the total number of refugees we plan on housing over the winter and into next year. Based on the numbers currently on the base, we suggest using temporary housing in the short term and then liberating the northwest section of Castle Downs. Over the course of the winter, we can gradually expand the safe zone all the way south to 137 Avenue, eventually encompassing Griesbach and the Dorchester, which will be a linchpin in our southern defences. ”
“What kind of temporary housing are you looking at?” General Raine asked.
“Close to the food distribution warehouse on 170th street, there is a yard with dozens of office-type trailers often used at construction sites. We could bring them here and use them. They might not be as warm as a regular house, but they should be much more comfortable than a tent,” Lt. Becker said. “However, there are two problems with using them. The first is transporting them here. We only have half a dozen flatbed trucks, and each convoy would need a security element attached to it, as there are a number of residential areas in the near vicinity. It may also be possible to find tractor-trailers nearby, as there are a number of multi-modal yards full of shipping containers in the vicinity. ”
“Still, that’s better than the status quo. I don’t want people dying like flies when it gets really cold here in a month or so. Let’s get to work on that, we can drop them in the northeast quadrant – get the engineers to prep the area immediately,” Raine said.
“Okay sir, I will get that started right after I leave. The second problem, which isn’t as serious, is that we’ll also need a large number of propane tanks to heat and power them, but I can alert our scavenging teams of that need.”
“My staff and I will confer about the long term plans for securing parts of the city and inform your team when we’ve made a decision. Thank you Lieutenant Becker,” General Raine said. Lieutenant Becker packed up his files and left.
“Okay, that brings us to our final problem - security,” General Raine replied. “We are losing soldiers at far too high a rate. Even hunkered down on the base, our patrols and raids are running into heavier than expected resistance and taking much higher casualties. Just yesterday, we lost four men near Londonderry Mall,” General Raine paused. “It’s bad enough to lose trained troops, but even worse, every soldier lost is converted to an enemy.”
>
“When this crisis started, I had roughly six thousand troops on the base. However, of that number, less than half were actual combat troops I could send into the city to deal with the infected. The rest were in support roles such as medics, engineers, supply clerks, and radio operators. Losses have shrunk the number of combat troops to just over two thousand.”
“Well that’s a nasty double-edged sword,” another politician mumbled. “We need troops to clear the city, but every time we send them out, we lose some.”
Everyone was silent.
“Luckily, my staff came up with a plan to deal with this issue. My 2IC will explain it,” Raine stated.
“2IC?” Asked Councillor Tkachuk.
“Second in command. You’ll get the jargon soon enough,” General Raine replied. “John, why don’t you outline what you’ve come up with? Everyone, Lieutenant Colonel John Burkhart.”
The Lieutenant Colonel strode to the front of the room.
“Up to now, we’ve been using civilians for mundane tasks on base, cooking, reinforcing/repairing defences, that sort of thing. My plan is to give some of the younger men rudimentary training and use them to flesh out a few of our units. Those units will then be used to clear out apartment complexes and other parts of the city, starting with those nearest the base.” Lieutenant Colonel Burkhart said.
“Is that wise? I’m not a military man, but doesn’t sending out untrained men seem like a disaster waiting to happen?” asked Mayor Johnston. “And where will you get the weapons to outfit all these men? General Raine was telling me about a lack of arms and ammunition just the other day.”
“It’ll be easier to show you than it will be to explain,” Lieutenant Colonel Burkhart said as he picked up the phone on the desk, “Send in Sergeant Drake.”
The door opened and a young soldier walked in. Instead of the typical camouflage battle dress and assault rifle, he was wearing an odd assortment of sports equipment and carrying a heavy mace for a weapon, and a rectangular-shaped metal shield graced his left arm. A hockey helmet with full face mask shielded his face, while hockey pads covered his joints. Hockey gloves and standard combat boots rounded out the ensemble.
Zombie Night In Canada (Book 2): 2nd Period Page 5
