by Lee West
“How are we fixed for food?” he asked.
“After tonight, I think we could use another run. I can head over in the morning with Marta. We’ll grab some more cans. Who knows, maybe we’ll find some hidden gems in the main kitchen’s supplies.”
“You want help? I could divert a few people. Those not on watch are mostly drilling to get better at handling emergencies,” said Ed.
“No. We’ll be fine. I found a cart we can use to haul everything over here. It’s not a big deal. Just a long walk.”
“Sounds good. Thanks for your hard work. Mealtimes help everyone feel better. You’re doing a great job given the circumstances.”
Ed meant what he said. Bob and Marta managed to make decent meals out of the canned food they had at their disposal. The two would grab enough food from the campus’s main cafeteria to feed everyone for a few days at a time, moving the food to the small kitchen adjacent to the windowless conference room. The location gave them quick access to the tunnels if the need to flee arose.
Although moving the supplies slowly seemed like more work than necessary, Ed knew they would be safer with less evidence of a disruption on campus. As people came and went from the university, looking for relatives, Ed heard news of the outside world. Without exception everyone reported that nothing in the rest of the world had been touched.
People had simply left their homes intact, without taking anything with them. The citizens did not pack large amounts of stored food to take with them. In addition, no looting had occurred in the city. Ed knew if the soldiers searched the campus and found the food missing, their interest would be piqued. He concluded that making everything look untouched would keep them safer than if they merely ate in the main kitchen or hauled all the food to the small kitchen.
“Mr. Ed!” yelled a woman with a heavy accent.
“Flora! I was just heading in your direction. How are things?”
Flora Valendez had worked on campus in the housekeeping staff for the past ten years, eventually working her way to the position of day-crew manager. Her constant presence and dedication to the job endeared her to the professor, who formed her extended family. Despite her success, Flora lived alone near the university—the rest of her family still in Mexico.
“Everything is good. We cleaned the entire first-floor bathrooms in this building but not the hospital. No one wants to go into the hospital area anymore.”
“Why not?”
“The smell has gotten really bad. I’m not sure what we can do about it.”
“Smell from what?” said Joe as he joined the two.
“The campus hospital is a teaching facility. Meaning that students who are studying to become physicians can shadow working doctors as part of their education. When the electricity went down, we quickly lost our ability to safely handle the patients.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” said Joe.
“It wasn’t. Many left with family members. However, the sickest of them died as we helplessly looked on. Without electricity, many of our normal modes of treatment were unavailable to us. We simply had nothing to offer them but our prayers.”
“What did you do with the bodies?”
“That’s the problem. The university’s morgue is located in the basement level. It opens to the tunnels. When everything is working properly, a body could be transported to the morgue very easily. Now that we’re living down in the tunnels, the last thing we needed was a bunch of cadavers rotting in the system. Without refrigeration, things get messy very quickly.”
“I see where this is going. So you buried them?”
“Not exactly. We moved all the patients who died, along with the existing cadavers—”
“Wait a minute. Sorry to cut you off, but did you say existing cadavers?”
“Yes. Part of medical school training is done on cadavers. If a person donates their body to science, that body will usually find its way to a university facility like ours, either for research or to train future doctors.”
“Wow. I didn’t know that. Remind me not to donate my body to science. Last thing I’d want is a bunch of students poking around at me.”
“They do more than poke around, that’s for sure,” said Flora with a disgusted shake.
“We moved all of the cadavers to the top floor of the hospital.”
“Why? Wouldn’t burying them be a better idea?”
“No. If the troops saw fresh graves, they’d know we’re here. So far we’ve done everything possible to make sure that we leave everything undisturbed topside. That way, it looks like the entire place just emptied out, which should be consistent with the way other uninhabited buildings appear around town.”
“That’s what the city looked like. It was as though people just walked out of their homes and businesses. It was the oddest thing I ever saw.”
“Exactly. That’s what we’re going for. Actually, I think that’s why when they search, their searches are very limited in scope. To them, everything looks as they’d expect.”
“Yeah, but now the stench of rotting flesh is starting to reach the ground floors, and I can’t get my people to go anywhere near the hospital,” said Flora.
“Too bad you can’t make them into mummies. That’d solve the problem,” said Joe jokingly.
Joe’s comment stopped Ed in his tracks. He stood for a moment considering the idea of making the cadavers into mummies.
“That’s perfect! Why didn’t I think of that! Excellent idea. Thanks, Joe!” said Ed as he bounded off excitedly.
— 5 —
Dr. Sal Lordes reclined on one of the lounge couches in the main section of the tunnels, mindlessly flipping through a magazine. Boredom accompanied him everywhere he went like a heavy dark cloak draped over his mind. Despite being at a university with unlimited supplies of reading material, he couldn’t get settled. Nor could he shake the boredom.
Some days he could not be certain if the thick sluggish feeling he experienced came from depression rather than boredom. His guess was depression. He had watched his entire critically ill patient population die under his care. Saving them would have been simple under normal circumstances. Modern medicine made it possible for people to live well beyond their natural physical capacity, even beyond their societal utility. Unfortunately, modern medicine turned out to be more dependent on electricity than medical science—or his skill as a doctor.
“Sal! There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!” shouted Ed.
Ed ran to him from the east tunnel. Prior to the emergency, he had never met Ed. Now he relied upon the man to make critical decisions involving his safety.
“How are things topside, Ed?”
“Great! The weather is perfect. You should come out once in a while. It’d do you some good to get out of the tunnels and into the sunshine.”
Sal knew fresh air and sunshine would do wonders for him. However, he couldn’t muster the strength to leave the tunnels. Besides, the recent killing of a student gave him a handy excuse to stay safely tucked away.
“Why were you looking for me, Ed? Is someone hurt?”
“No. Not at all. The bodies are starting to stink, even on the lower floors.”
“We knew that was inevitable, especially with this heat. Maybe we should consider moving them deep into the forest? The soldiers won’t find them if we put them really far out.”
“I don’t want to do that. Eventually, families will come for their loved ones. When they do, I want to be able to return what’s left. I’d rather not have to explain that we left the bodies exposed to the elements—and the animals.”
“Good point. There’s not much else I can do to preserve the bodies. I don’t have embalming fluid. Even if I did, they’d still rot. Draining the fluids is about all I can do.”
“What about mummification?”
“Mummies? Have you been reading sci-fi in your spare time?”
“Not at all. I’ve checked with the kitchen; they said there are barrels of salt you could
use for the process.”
“Salt but no canopic jars for storing the organs?” said Sal jokingly.
“I’m afraid not. Canopic jars are hard to come by these days. You could remove the organs and store them in regular jars. It wouldn’t be as fancy, but you’d get the job done. Then you could submerge the bodies into a salt bath. It might work. In any case, it’s probably better than letting them simply rot.”
A spark of interest pierced the darkness of Sal’s dark mind, causing him to sit up straight. He pushed up his thick glasses and said, “I’ll grab my Anubis mask and get started right away.”
“Anubis mask?”
“Yes. The high priests who handled the mummification process always wore Anubis masks. Anubis is the Egyptian god of the underworld. No mummification procedure would be complete without the wearing of such a mask.”
“Sounds like you have some knowledge on the subject. That’s a relief. And here I was only concerned about the amount of salt you’d need.”
“Yes. As a kid I went through an ancient Egypt phase. Mummies were the main draw during that time in my life. In some ways I feel like curiosity about the mummification process blossomed into my goal to become a doctor.”
“You think this will work?”
“Probably not, but I could try anyway. Who knows, we might get lucky,” said Sal with a smile.
“Terrific! Let me know if you need anything or if you’d like some help. I’m not sure I’ll get many volunteers, but you never know.”
The doctors, nurses and medical students had slowly left the campus as the days ticked past, leaving Sal as the only medical professional on campus.
“It’s okay. I’ll grab the hand tools I need from the morgue. You said there’s plenty of salt in the kitchen?”
“Yes. I could ask Marta to bring it to you.”
“Don’t bother. She won’t want to see what happens up there. For the uninitiated, removing organs from a chest cavity is a pretty rough sight, even without an Anubis mask,” said Sal with a wink and smile.
It occurred to Sal that the smile on his face felt foreign to him. It had been a long time since he’d worn a genuine, effortless smile. Days and weeks had passed with him merely displaying the obligatory socially acceptable grin usually plastered on his face for other people’s benefit.
“Thanks for your willingness to take on this unusual and grisly task. Giving the families of those poor people their loved ones is paramount. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll do my best to try to get you the necessary supplies. I can’t guarantee we’ll have what you need, but I’ll try.”
“Alright. I’ll get started immediately,” said Sal, checking his watch.
Sal was about to embark on his first trip out of the tunnels since his last patient had died weeks earlier. He’d need to access the library and retrieve any books it carried regarding the topic of mummification. All he could remember from his previous reading on the topic involved removing the organs and burying the body in salt for seventy days. Smiling to himself, he felt good to finally have a challenging task in front of him. The long days without the intellectual rigors of practicing medicine wore on him. Finally, he had an inkling of his old sense emerging from the hazy mental muck that had plagued him since his last patient died. His spirits felt boosted by the thought of presenting the families with their loved ones, who had been treated with the care worthy of an Egyptian pharaoh.
— 6 —
Joe and Meg surveyed the grounds from the university’s bell tower, located in the center of the large hilly campus. The tower, over one hundred years old, was the oldest structure on the campus. Over the years many of the buildings around the tall, stately tower had been replaced under its watchful eye. The bell room located at the top of the tower provided a commanding three-hundred-sixty-degree vantage point. Because of the sweeping view, Ed had stationed a two-person watch in the structure at all times. A total of eight people stood watch at different points around campus.
The more he saw Ed in practice, the more Joe admired his leadership abilities. For a man who had never been on active duty, Ed knew how to set an appropriate watch schedule.
“It sure is peaceful up here. Sort of makes me forget everything, just a little,” said Meg as she leaned against the safety rail.
“Me too. It’s amazing how quiet the world is without electricity. Even when we thought things were quiet, everything around us hummed. We were living with near constant noise pollution and didn’t even know it.”
“Especially living right downtown. We had constant noise around us. I could get used to this sort of quiet,” she said.
“You saying when all this is over, you’d rather live in the country than in the city?”
“Maybe.”
He came close to her and nuzzled against her shoulders. The warmth of her body felt reassuring next to him.
“When do you want to leave for the camp? I’m curious to see how my brother is doing,” he said.
“Soon, I guess. Do you think Jeff and Kim will still be there?”
“I really don’t know. I’m also not entirely sure where the camp is located. I just know that we can’t stay here indefinitely. Eventually, they’ll find us. The camp might be more secure. Besides, Jeff and Kim are survivalists. They go to the camp every summer to hone their survival skills. It has to be the best place to hunker down and hide.”
“What about the tunnels? I feel like we’re safe down there, don’t you?”
“Sure I do. For now. If the troops end up taking over the campus, like they did with Brett and Nancy’s house, we’re in trouble. We can’t live down there for the long run if all of this is occupied,” he said, waving his hand over the campus grounds.
“Do you think they’d want us there?”
“What do you mean?”
“I wonder if Jeff and Kim will want us to join them? We always mocked them for this. Who knows? Maybe now that it’s clear they were right to amass all that stuff, they’ll turn their backs on us?”
“I don’t think Jeff would ever do that to me. He’s my brother. I know we aren’t super close, but he’s still my brother. Besides, we aren’t asking to share limited supplies. This situation really doesn’t require them to lose part of a stockpile to us. There’s plenty of food out there!”
“I guess you’re right. I’m sure they’ll be happy to see us.”
“Jeff will be. I’m not so sure about Kim. She’s always been a little standoffish,” he said.
“A little?”
“Okay. A lot. But you’ll see. It’ll be fine. If anything, we can share information with the camp and then continue to stay here. Who knows, the troops may never take over campus. I just like having a plan B, just in case. I think the others must feel that way too.”
“You’re probably right,” she said softly.
The handheld crackled to life. “All quiet on One.”
The people on watch checked in periodically by simply saying those words. The check-in occurred every thirty minutes. Like most watch-standing protocols, the check-in served to keep the people on watch awake more than anything else.
“All quiet on Two,” said Joe into the handheld.
“All quiet on Three.”
“All quiet on Four,” said the final person on watch.
Meg yawned and stretched out then said, “Now what?”
Checking his watch, Joe said, “We have three more hours. I’ve got a couple of ideas on how we can spend the time.” He nibbled her neck playfully, pulling her into him.
The handheld chirped again. Vicki Smith’s voice broke into their private moment. “I have lights coming this way on the main road! I say again, lights on the main road!”
“Shit!” said Joe.
Joe hoped the watch stander nearest the tunnels had heard Vicki’s report. With any luck, early warning of a threat would ensure everyone had ample time to seal off the tunnels. The people outside the dark system had to find safety in place wherever possible to evade dis
covery if the troops conducted a thorough search. Joe felt reasonably sure the bell tower provided the best position outside of the underground fortress.
“What do we do now?” said Meg.
“There’s nothing we can do. We just have to wait it out and hope they don’t come up here.”
“Do you think they will?”
“I don’t know. Let’s hope not.”
The lights from the trucks illuminated the dark campus as the vehicles drew closer to their location. Soon the soldiers would be right beneath Joe and Meg.
“We need to get down. If they shine a light up here, they’ll see us!” said Joe excitedly.
Earlier teams had been through this situation before. Crouching down in the dark, unable to see the movement of the troops, put whoever sat in the bell tower in a dangerous position. Someone had thought to make things easier by fastening a mirror to a long pointer stick. With the mirror angled over the safety rail, they would be able to view the movements on the ground.
Joe slid the mirror up the side of the wall, just above the safety rail. At first he didn’t see anything through the darkness. Then, as the soldiers moved closer, he could count the trucks and men.
“Three trucks. Looks like at least four people per truck,” he whispered.
“What are they doing?”
“So far nothing. Just getting out of the trucks.”
Doors slammed beneath them, making Meg jump.
“We’ve got this side! You guys go through those buildings!” yelled one of the men.
“Crap. They’re searching buildings.”
“We need to warn the others on watch. None of them can see the center of campus. They’ll have no idea the men are on foot searching. They could be discovered.”
“I’ll do it quickly before the troops get inside any of the buildings. I don’t want their radios going off when they’re trying to hide,” whispered Joe.
He whispered a harried, tense warning into the radio and then turned its volume all the way down to prevent a response from giving away their position. For all he knew, the others on watch had done the same, never hearing his warning.