by Howard, Bob
Tom concentrated hard on the pictures, looking back and forth between them and his window. He finally spotted what he was looking for.
“Okay, Chief. We’re really close. Bring us in lower and look for the most populated area straight ahead. Just after you pass over it you’ll see a big bridge. That’s Highway 431 North. About two miles up 431 we’re going to make a sharp turn to the east. If we’re lucky, it will take us straight at another bridge. You should come at it from the side. When you cross over the bridge, hug the shoreline on the right and get ready to land as it narrows. We’re going to coast straight at a dead end, and that’s the entrance to the cave. Believe me, you can’t miss it.”
“Where’s that fueling station from the landing spot?” asked the Chief.
“That’s easy,” said Tom. “Go back toward the last bridge and cross it at an angle going straight north. Only about a mile across some land and water is the resort. It’s just as easy to spot as the cave.”
Despite the darkness below, the Chief could make out enough detail to tell when he reached the town of Guntersville. There weren’t any really tall buildings with survivors camping on top, but here and there he spotted lights. He knew he had to be careful. This was definitely deer hunting country, and people were probably tired of shooting the infected dead. They were slow, easy targets, but above all, there were too many of them. Angry, desperate people with guns and no supplies would be very jealous of someone in a seaplane. The Chief didn’t agree with their jealousy, but he understood their frustration.
As the plane got lower and closer to the buildings, the surrounding mountains seemed to close in. They weren’t tall mountains, but they were bigger than hills. They were heavily forested even for this time of year because they were covered with ancient pine trees. The area was a fisherman’s paradise, and for those who liked to live dangerously, there were massive caverns.
The shadows from the mountains made it difficult to spot the bridge that Tom had told him to look for, but the Chief spotted it and made a minor course correction to line up with it. Once he had the bridge in his sights, he increased power to get out of rifle range if someone had been taking aim at him.
The sudden burst of power would have been enough to make anyone miss, but the Chief didn’t think anyone had taken a shot at them the way someone had in Goose Creek. When they were clipped by a bullet that time, they were forced to leave the plane behind and make their way back home in cars. If it happened this time, it wasn’t likely that they would be able to drive home past Atlanta.
The bridge flashed by, and the Chief followed Highway 431 as it veered more to the northeast. Tom started hanging over the Chief’s shoulder to watch for any familiar landmark, and the Chief was grateful for his help. This was seat of the pants flying at its best. At his present speed two miles would go by fast, so the Chief anticipated the tap on the shoulder when it happened. He banked hard to the right across the water and increased his speed even more. There was no reason to take his time now, and he knew he could either slow down quickly or come around for another pass if he had to.
Kathy had been listening to something on the headphones while Tom was leading the Chief through his maneuvers. Molly was watching out the windows because this was home to her, and she wanted to see her mother. I was lost in thought, wondering if Jean was okay, and wondering if she knew how much I missed her. I had just learned I was going to be a dad, and Jean and I were going to get married, but here I was five hundred miles away and getting ready to take risks that could kill me. If Bus was seeing more of the infected than usual, I could only guess what he meant by ‘usual’.
Kathy keyed the microphone to the off position and exchanged a few words with Bus. She looked confused when she signed off and didn’t say anything at first when she took of her headset.
She said, “Guys, all Bus said was to be careful because it was raining dead. What do you think he meant by that?”
None of us had a clue what he must have meant, but then Kathy answered her own question. “Chief, Ed, isn’t that what the guy said to us on the Stono River when the dead started falling over the railing of the bridge? He said something about so many falling over the edge into the river that it was practically raining dead.”
The Chief and I exchanged looks and agreed that Bus could mean something similar, but we weren’t going under any bridges, so we couldn’t figure out how it could be the same thing.
“Tom,” I said, “did you say we’re going to be able to use the seaplane to get to the entrance of the shelter?”
“Yes, it’s a grotto, and the plane will be able to beach on the sand once we go inside. There will be an overhanging cliff that we will pass under to get inside. You can only get to the grotto by water,” he said.
I said to the Chief, “After you land, don’t go forward to fast, Chief. Just coast until we can see the entrance.”
Kathy and the Chief both understood what Bus was trying to tell us just about the time that we crossed directly over the second bridge. It was so dark, and we were going so fast that we almost didn’t see it flash by under us. The Chief made another hard right turn and descended at the same time. He expertly pulled the nose of the plane upward and eased the pontoons into the water. He kept the power up enough for us to keep moving forward, but he had plenty of room to stop or to make a turn if there was trouble. We all kept our eyes on the big, gloomy shadow of the mountain directly ahead.
“Chief,” said Kathy, “do you think it’s safe to use the spotlights?”
There was one located on each wing, and we could have been using them to navigate, but they also advertised our position better than we would have liked.
The Chief said, “This may be the perfect time to use them, Kathy.”
He reached over and hit the switch that turned on the two high powered lights on the wings, and we were stunned by the view. What looked like the dark side of a mountain was actually a massive cave entrance, and the lights didn’t even penetrate all of the way into its depths.
The Chief slowed our forward speed to a crawl as we took in the view. I wondered what it would look like during the day because it was such an enormous black hole at night.
We were still at least one hundred yards from the entrance, so my guess was that it was at least fifty yards wide and thirty yards high. Above the entrance was the sloping side of a mountain.
Our lights didn’t penetrate the black entrance, but they did light up everything outside, including the trees above the entrance…and they were moving, or at least they looked like they were moving. As a matter of fact, the whole side of the mountain looked like it was moving.
We had to enter that grotto to get to the shelter where Molly would be reunited with her Mom, but there was something wrong, and I was beginning to understand what it was.
“Chief, turn around and get us airborne again,” I said.
“Why?” he asked. He looked like he was going to say something else, but he started turning the plane away from the entrance to the cavern.
“Did you guys see that?” asked Kathy. She was pointing back toward the opening as we made our turn.
We all looked back in the direction she was pointing just as three dark shapes came from the trees above the grotto and fell into the water. Before they could sink totally out of sight, about six or seven more fell from above.
“That’s what Bus meant when he said it was raining dead,” said Kathy. “He was trying to tell us to be careful as we entered the grotto.”
The Chief added, “Even one of those things falling into the prop could do enough damage to cripple the plane. How are we going to time it so that we don’t have any dropping in on us as we go in?”
“I don’t think that’s our only problem,” said Tom. He was watching the water through one of the side windows as we were making our turn. I joined him to see what he was talking about. I couldn’t even make out the details around the dark cave, so I didn’t know what he meant about other problems.
&n
bsp; Tom pointed down toward the water, but it was too dark, so I told the Chief to rotate a spotlight in that direction. He reached up and pressed the switch that rotated the light just like a rearview mirror on a car. As the light crossed the water, I saw what Tom was talking about. The infected dead were so thick in the water that they weren’t sinking……they were piling up.
“Chief,” I said, we were just about to run aground on bodies. “How close can you get without having any land on top of us?”
“What have you got in mind, Ed?” asked Kathy.
“We need to be able to see further into the grotto,” I said. “I’m not sure, but I think there’s no current here to wash them away, so they’re walking back up onto land. If they are, the closest place would be right on top of Bus’s shelter.”
The Chief eased the plane closer a little at a time until we were almost to the infected that were piling up so deep that they weren’t even sinking. He brought the spotlights back around to shine on the same spot just inside the grotto.
We all stared into the darkness and watched our worst fears coming true. They were walking out of the water onto the soft shore inside the cave, and they kept going until they disappeared into the darkness. Even if we could get past where they were falling in and piling up, we weren’t going to be able to deal with the huge number of the infected dead that were already inside. We had no way of knowing how long they had been increasing their numbers, but something was making them go inside instead of trying to walk ashore in other directions.
“Kathy,” said Tom, “see if you can get Bus on the radio and find out what’s happening in there.”
Kathy keyed up and asked Bus if he was reading her. On the third try she switched to the speaker so we could all talk with him. She told him we were here but needed instructions. Bus came over the speaker and said he could see us, and he felt like we could assess the situation better because we could see the mountain.
“Bus, this is Ed. It’s too dark out here for us to see anything. How can we assess the situation? Over.”
Bus answered, “You’re going to have to wait until daylight and then check the top of the mountain. I think you will have most of your answer then. Find a place to spend the night and assess the problem in the morning. We can’t tell how bad it is from here. Over”
“Bus, are you and Allison okay? Can those things get into your shelter? Over,” asked Tom.
“We’re fine, Tom,” he answered. “Allison is fine. Those things can’t get in here no matter how many there are, but there’s no way out past them, and I don’t think you can get in here for the same reason. Over.”
“We read you,” said the Chief. “We’re going to find a safe place to spend the night. We’ll be back at dawn to see what’s happening. Over and out.”
The Chief turned the plane away from the entrance to the grotto and increased speed, but he didn’t take off. He turned to us all and said he felt like the safest place to be was in the middle of the lake. It was deep enough and far enough from shore, and they didn’t have long until dawn, so someone could stand watch.
Chapter 7
Jean
Jean kept telling herself that she was okay alone. She was independent even though she was in love with Eddie. At least that was what she told herself more than once in the first few hours after the others had left. She also understood why they couldn't check in with her by radio again. The Russians could be listening and might figure out that there was someone still hiding on the island.
Jean had the night vision cameras turned on, and so far so good. They hadn't come close to the entrance of the shelter. She looked at the camera view that showed the dock and noticed there were more armed men at that location than anywhere else. They also seemed to be more relaxed. They were sitting around smoking cigarettes and talking. There was even occasional laughing which told Jean they were less convinced they were in danger. She could see that they were boldly using lights out on the dock and in the houseboat.
She switched to the houseboat camera view and was surprised to see three men gathered around the small table that served as an eating area and a recreation spot. They had a map spread across the table and were pointing first at the map and then at the outside of the houseboat. She guessed by the gestures that they were pointing in the general direction of the moat that surrounded most of Mud Island. The rest of the island was bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. There appeared to be some disagreement, and she didn't speak Russian, so she could only make more guesses about what had them so worked up.
They finally called for one of the men to come in from outside, and they pointed at the map and asked him several questions. He gave them the universal answer to what appeared to be the central question, a shrug of the shoulders, and they looked even more frustrated. He apparently said the same thing they were saying. "I don't know."
One of the men put his finger on the map at the northern entrance of the moat and traced it all of the way around the moat to the southern exit. Then he pointed at the jetties themselves and put his finger on the spot they had fixed. Jean was pretty sure they were debating the very existence of the moat, and they were coming to the conclusion that it was made by someone rather than carved out by nature. The men got up from the table and apparently had reached some form of consensus. One of then stuck his head out the door and barked and order at a man with a radio. He immediately snatched up the microphone and started speaking rapidly.
In the distance behind the man on the radio Jean saw white light. She knew it was not the moon, and she couldn't imagine what could generate that much light. Then she saw the corvette in the monitor that faced the open sea, and it was beginning to move. Spotlights located along the central part of the ship were aimed at the southern jetty, and the corvette was increasing speed quickly. In only a few minutes it reached the end of the jetty and made a sharp right turn headed straight for the opening of the southern end of the moat.
The Chief had been right. The Russians were going to hide from the US Navy by parking in the moat behind Mud Island. Even though the Chief hadn't told her what to do if he was right, Jean had been thinking about it. She was sure the Navy would investigate if an anonymous radio report said, "Hey, Navy! There's a Russian corvette parked at these coordinates." She had the coordinates marked on a map, and all she had to do was make the call.
The problem was that she didn't necessarily want the Navy to bomb the moat. There wasn't much doubt that the sinking corvette would collapse the power conduits that crossed between Mud Island and the mainland. She supposed there was at least some possibility that the current state of affairs facing the entire world would make the Americans and Russians consider a nonaggression pact, but she couldn't take that chance.
The bright lights and activity on the dock had the expected outcome over on the mainland. Jean looked at the camera view that showed the spot where the houseboat used to be parked, and there were about six or even infected dead trying to cross the northern entrance to the moat by walking along the sand bar. The dead could see the men sitting on the dock and couldn't resist the temptation, but the recent repairs to the northern jetty had already started to have its effect on the current. One by one the infected were washed off of the sand bar and dragged under by the current.
The Russians on the dock were totally aware of the infected, but they couldn't have been less concerned. They just watched as the dead lost their battle with the current. When one made it just a little further than the others, one of the Russians reached for his rifle, but the others just laughed at him.
Jean switched back to the southern view and saw that the beach on the other side by the fishing trawler that had come aground there a few months ago was surrounded by the infected. The Russian corvette was around the end of the jetty and making good speed toward the opening. The infected were drawn to the lights on the ship like moths to a flame, and they just walked from the shore into the direct path of the warship.
There was so much light coming from the
ship that Jean had switched to the normal cameras. Night vision was just a big, white flash. As the corvette reached the entrance to the moat, she saw the bodies of the infected popping up in its wake. There were so many in the water trying to get into the path of the ship that its propeller was probably stirring them up like fruit in a blender. A trail of body parts was washing up on the beach on both sides.
Jean switched to a different camera again in time to see the corvette make its final turn in the moat. She wanted to see if it would draft deep enough for the propeller to get stuck on the nets. Jean couldn't remember if the ship had one propeller or two, but that didn't really matter to her. The best possible outcome would be for them to park then successfully navigate back out of the moat when they were ready to leave.
With the bright lights shining from the corvette, the mainland beach was too dark to see, but Jean didn't doubt the trees were being cleared of the infected. Judging by the numbers on the southern beach, there were probably hundreds still staggering through the brush trying to reach the light and the noise.
Jean stifled a big yawn and saw the time. It was after three in the morning, and she was tired but too wired to shut her eyes. She knew she wouldn't be able to tell what was happening outside until daylight, but she was trying to watch anyway. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the Russians on the dock were loading their gear into a pair of Zodiacs, probably to rendezvous with their ship after it dropped anchor.
She started to look back at the corvette when she saw that the last Russians on the dock were lagging behind the others and working with some small devices at key points along the dock. She saw one string some wire across the dock and draw it tight to the other side. It had to be a trip wire. She knew that Ed, the Chief, and Kathy weren't likely to approach from the North, but she didn't like the idea of them stumbling into booby traps when they got back. She wondered if they had put similar traps at the southern end of the island. She also didn't want to see their dock getting blown up because some infected dead managed to reach the dock and get hung up in those wires. She knew that Eddie would kill her if he found out she went outside, but she felt like she had to give serious thought to disarming those booby traps.
