by Gary Chesla
“Are you ready for your computer lesson today?” Chervy asked.
“I guess so,” Fran replied. “I think this is fun, but why did you pick me to work on the computer? I don’t know anything about satellites or things like that.”
“Doc said we all have to have a job and he thought you would be good at this,” Chervy replied. “I think he was right, too.”
“I don’t know why he would think that,” Fran said. “I’m really not very good at anything.”
“You were good at surviving,” Chervy grinned. “You lived on your own all that time and then traveled a hundred miles by yourself. I know some grown men that wouldn’t have been able to do what you did. Not bad for a fourteen year old woman.”
Fran smiled, she liked being referred to as a woman
instead of being called a brat or young lady, like her sister and dad called her when they were mad at her for something.
“I’ll be fifteen soon,” Fran said.
“Reynolds makes great cakes,” Chervy smiled. “You’ll have to let him know when your birthday is. Rogers has claimed to have had three birthdays since we got here just so Reynolds would make him a cake.”
Fran smiled.
“Doc knows about people,” Chervy replied. “Reynolds worked in the mail room back at the base. Doc made him the cook when we got here, and I haven’t heard anyone complain about the food. Then there is Rogers,” Chervy laughed.
“Rogers is afraid of heights, but Doc made him our helicopter pilot. He managed to fly you here from Stone,” Chervy continued. “So if Doc thinks you can learn to work the computer, I’m sure you can do it.”
“So what do you use the computer for? Fran asked.
“The computer holds all the records about what we have here at Granite Mountain, Chervy replied. “We also use it to link up with the satellite’s camera to look for survivors, which is what I’m going to have you do.”
“That sounds hard,” Fran said.
“Programing the computer can be hard, but you won’t have to worry about doing anything like that,” Chervy smiled. “I just need you to help me look. I’ll show you how to guide the camera, give you the names of the places where I need you to search and you just look around and tell me what you see. Doc says he thinks I need glasses, but since we don’t have any way to make glasses, he said maybe an extra pair of eyes would help me find survivors.”
“If you tell me what to look for,” Fran smiled, “I’ll try to help.”
“Would you like to take a look at your house in Twin Falls?” Chervy asked.
“No, not unless that is where you want me to look,” Fran replied. “Too many bad memories there, if you know what I mean. But, could you show me how to look for John?”
“That’s a good idea,” Chervy smiled.
In fact, having Fran look for John was the idea from the start.
Doc had been trying to find someway to make Fran feel like she was a part of the group.
Fran had been trying to contact John on the CB every day since she arrived at Granite Mountain.
Doc felt her desire to find John would motivate her to learn to use the computer and help Chervy continue his search for survivors.
Doc also made sure that Chervy could have her help in a way that she wouldn’t damage the computer.
He felt it would be good therapy for Fran and also make her feel a part of the group.
Unfortunately, despite all their efforts, they never heard from John again.
Rogers and Davis continued their jobs as the facility’s drone pilots.
Every few days Doc would have them go out to collect air and soil samples from around the area so he could monitor the virus concentration.
It was important to keep track of the virus activity so he would know when the virus itself began to die so the group could begin to freely move around.
During their down time, Davis and Rogers had bonded with Smitty, Pete and Mason from Captain Byron’s group and they all spent each evening, and half the night, playing poker.
Rogers finally found someone that he could beat at poker.
Smitty was a brilliant communications man, but for some reason he just couldn’t get the hang of playing poker, so Rogers finally was able to win a game every now and then to everyone’s surprise.
Connors and Reynolds enjoyed celebrity status at Granite Mountain due to their world famous lasagna.
The highly anticipated meeting that everyone at Granite Mountain dreaded, came and went without incident.
Snoop and George greeted each other like they had been long lost friends or brothers separated at birth.
The only point of friction between the two was when George had to use the litter box and found Snoop occupying it.
Tony and Abbey continued to spend most of their free time together talking and enjoying each other’s company.
Abbey liked Tony, he was smart, strong and more trustworthy than anyone she had ever known.
Tony, after his years in the military dealing with the loss of life, could identify with what Abbey had been through.
He felt she was as smart and as tough as many Marines he had served with.
Their mutual respect and trust for each other made them comfortable with each other’s company.
Where it would lead, it was too early to tell. But for now, their time together was the best therapy that each of them could receive.
Abbey became Doc’s assistant.
Doc felt that if all went as planned, one day the group would need a doctor when his time was up.
Abbey’s nurse’s training and her determined personality made her the prefect choice.
Abbey handled the many small cuts and bruises that occurred around the facility and the men were more than happy to bring their problems to Abbey.
Abbey and Fran’s blood tests didn’t give Doc any clues as to why they had never become infected, living out in the wasteland on their own.
The best Doc could determine was, just like he and the men at Granite Mountain, Abbey and Fran had been lucky.
Tony became a regular, the voice of reason Doc called him, at Doc and Captain Byron’s daily meeting and planning sessions.
The men had decided to get as much use out of the turbo prop as they could before the weather changed in the mountains around Colorado, Montana and the Dakotas.
Doc and Captain Byron both felt that the search for survivors should continue for as long as the turbo prop continued to operate.
What would the plane give them that the satellite cameras wouldn’t?
It would give them the ability to personally enter and inspect a few places of interest.
Rumors had spurred Doc’s push to evacuate the Fallon Naval Air Station for a chance to find the survival facility at Granite Mountain.
Captain Byron’s interest in conspiracy theories, and the fact that he was able to find the survival vault in West Virginia, had encouraged him to search his memory with the hope of finding another facility that possibly housed other survivors.
The secret government survival facility built in the 1950’s, Code Name Greek Island, provided the needed environment for Byron’s group to survive and go on, finally ending up here at Granite Mountain.
So he and Doc felt that their efforts to find others like themselves should continue.
Captain Byron and Doc Kennedy knew that Granite Mountain and Greek Island probably weren’t the only two survival vaults that existed.
In fact, rumors had it that there was another one within six hundred miles of Granite Mountain.
Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado was rumored to have a mass facility that was twenty-five hundred feet below the surface under solid granite.
The facility was created to be the backup headquarters for NORAD, but rumors said that the U.S. Government had included a totally self-contained facility there to house all the branches of the government, much like had been done in West Virginia’s Greek Island, only much larger.
So Doc and the Capt
ain decided that while they still had the means to explore, that they shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to find out if there were others, like themselves, that had found a way to survive.
In reality, time was quickly running out on any hopes of finding other survivors.
But Doc and Captain Byron decided to continue the search for as long as they could.
At Granite Mountain, they had what they needed to survive for the rest of their lives.
Their small group might even be able to help the human race avoid extinction, but it would be a long shot at best.
Between the virus that was still active, the small size of their group and only three women, the future didn’t look promising.
But while they could, they felt they owed it to mankind and to their small group to try.
After all, it was man’s nature to strive for more than they had, to be more than what they were.
If the Wright Brothers had given up when their first glider failed to get off the ground, the country might not have progressed past the horse and buggy era.
Of course if that had been the case, the Z virus would have never ended up in space and mankind wouldn’t now be at the point of near extinction.
But, Doc was sure, if it wasn’t the Z virus, mankind would have found another way to annihilate their race.
But that was now all ancient history.
All the people at Granite Mountain could do was try.
With a little luck, maybe they could get it right this time.
Chances were that it was all going to end here at Granite Mountain, but if it did, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying.
Thanks for reading Infection Z: Book 2 - The Aftermath.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Book 3 is now on the drawing board and if it becomes a reality, it should be released around the Spring of 2018.
Until them, your questions or comments are always welcome at” [email protected]
In the meantime, if you have the opportunity to look at my earlier works, I would greatly appreciate your interest and support.
Thanks Again,
Gary Chesla
For Zombie Fans
Caution: Mature Content
For EMP Fans
A short early work regarding Government Conspiracy
