“What about the committee?”
“What about them? Call the meeting, lay it out and let the people decide what they want to do.”
“But gas is still a problem,” Ben said.
“Not really. Fill up the cars that want to leave and let them go. They will be able to find plenty of gas along the way to Colorado. Those that want to stay here will have enough gas because not as many will be here to consume it. It will all work out,” Randy said.
Ben leaned back in his chair and put his neck on the headrest. He closed his eyes and put his clasped hands over his eyes.
He let out a long sigh before saying, “I know you are right, but damn. So much hard work has gone into making this place livable. We just start to get something that begins to feel like home again and now we have to up and move. What the hell else is going to happen?”
“Honestly, I don’t know but I do know that we are going to have to adapt to many new changes and challenges. Webber was definitely right about one thing that he said to me. It is a whole new world. We can make it better or worse but it will never be the same.”
“What about planes? Didn’t he say something about getting people out that way?”
“He mentioned it but he also said they didn’t have many that could carry a lot of people. That thing they flew in here is about as big as they have from what I understand. It can haul maybe twenty or so. I think we are going to have to depend on cars to get most of us there.”
“We have three people in the hospital, what about them?” Ben said, taking his hands from his face.
“They can go in the plane, assuming we can find a place for it to land now that the field is flooded.”
“Can they use Valley View Road if we got all the cars off it? Maybe cut down a few trees?”
“That should work. We will have to let them know somehow but we can work that out. We need to get people working on it immediately. They are due back day after tomorrow.”
“Then I guess I should let the committee know the plan and have them starting getting into contact with as many people as possible. We can use the loudspeaker system as well.”
“Good. Good. I’ll go over to the center and start rounding up people to go to work on the airstrip. I’ll pull them off other jobs if necessary.”
“You do that and I’ll locate the committee.”
“Just don’t get into a debate with them. Just tell them the plan and walk away. They will all want to put their two cents worth in but you have to stand up to them.”
“Yeah, yeah. Easy to say.”
“Easy to do when lives are on the line,” Randy replied.
“Look, we need to cut those trees down as close to the ground as possible. That means anything sticking up more than a foot has to go. Shrubs, fence, whatever. It all has to go,” Randy said to the men as they started to clear the landing strip.
“What about that barn?”
“It goes.”
“And the telephone poles?”
“Yep.”
“Some of them carry power lines as well.”
“Phil made sure they were all dead this morning. Nothing is going through them.”
“So we just cut them down?”
“No, we disconnect the cables. Phil is bringing his people to do that part. You just start on the other stuff until they get here.”
“What about the ditches alongside the road?”
“We have to fill them in. We just need to give them as much room as we can to get plane in and out of here. We will have to build a turnaround area at each end,” Randy told them.
****
Once all the questions stopped the men got to work. Randy made sure they saw that he was doing the same things they were. His back had been hurting him for the past three days and he had thought about going to see Rachel but decided after their last meeting, he would just take aspirin and suffer.
Around noon, just as his men were starting to think about lunch, Phil and his electricians arrived and went to work taking down the power lines. It was a backbreaking job and took several hours before they were satisfied.
Randy and his people were able to finish up before dark. He looked the place over one last time and felt comfortable with what they had done. Now all that remained was finding a way to let Webber know of the new landing area.
“What the hell?” Webber said, looking down at the town.
“What are they doing?”
“Beats the hell out of me.”
“Wait. Look. I think they are trying to redirect us.”
“I’ll be damned. I can see why. Look at the field down there. It’s more like a lake. Follow the arrows and let’s see where they want us to go,” the Colonel said.
Randy had gotten groups of people together with large red cardboard signs and had them form an arrow. When the plane flew over, he had them hold up the signs so that they pointed out the path to the new landing surface. Once Webber and the copilot spotted the strip, they made a low pass over it first and then came in for a landing. They had plenty of room as they came to a halt and wheeled the plane around.
“Pretty clever,” Webber said, climbing down the ladder.
“No way that you could land in the field,” Randy said.
“What field, you mean the lake?”
“That too. Anyway, you’re here and that’s good. Is every place experiencing the same thing?”
“Yes. Rivers are rising everywhere. The Mississippi is huge. It felt like we were flying over an ocean. You can hardly see land from one side to the other. It’s really weird.”
“But bridges are still intact?”
“The southern ones are but some of the northern ones are starting to go under. If it keeps up, in a week or so and they will all be under water as well.”
“Did you find out what was causing it?”
“We think we did. I sent a team to California and then up to Alaska. From what they saw, the ice caps are melting and most of Alaska has no snow which is causing all the runoff in the rivers. We don’t know how much more is left or if it will keep on melting but I think we can assume we haven’t seen the end of it yet,” Webber said.
“That pretty much settles it then. We had a town meeting and told everyone the situation. In the end we left it up to each family or person to do what they thought best. We tried to get a count of how many wanted to go to Colorado but a lot of them wanted to think it over. Still, at least a couple hundred said they were definitely going.”
“It’s a start, but from what we saw, you aren’t going to be able to stay here much longer. You definitely need to get to higher ground,” Webber told him.
“I believe you. I’ve been keeping track of the level and know we don’t have but a few more days if anyone is going to get out of here.”
“That’s true if you mean coming to Colorado. Once the bridges are underwater it will no longer be possible.”
“What about flying people out?”
“We are better off than before,” the Colonel told him, “We were able to salvage a couple of bigger planes out of California and we found four DC – 47s in Nevada. Even so, we won’t have enough planes to get everyone out in time. Maybe with jets we could, but so far we haven’t been able to make them run. We were able to find some top notch scientists in Nevada and brought them back to Colorado. With them, we should be able to solve a number of problems.”
“Nevada? Who the hell is in Nevada and how did they survive?”
“They were at Groom Lake, underground,” Webber said.
“Groom Lake? You mean Area 51?”
“One and the same.”
“So all that stuff it true?”
“Not all of it but some of it is.”
“Did they do this?” Randy asked.
“They say they didn’t. I doubt they did. I think this was beyond even their capabilities.”
“Do they have any little green men out there?”
“A couple of them looked pretty green when they go
t off the plane but they weren’t from outer space if that’s what you mean,” Webber replied, chuckling.
“Okay. We are going to get people ready to leave tomorrow. Those who want to go will start getting ready and those who are going to stay will be on their own essentially,” Randy said, getting back to the subject at hand.
“We will fly in and take as many as we can. Older people, kids, and anyone too sick to travel by car should be the first priority. After that we will just take whoever we can fit in. When the pilot says that’s it, that’s it. He has the final word.”
“I understand. What happens when we get out there?”
“We will process you like everyone else. You helped set up much of the system we use so it won’t come as much as a surprise. We have a few differences but nothing so major as to cause someone to flip out.”
“Good enough. What about Kentucky and Utah? What’s going on there?”
“Kentucky is pretty much cut off now. They are heading for the hills as the water rises so I think they will stay put for now. Utah is still milling around but hasn’t ventured far from where they started. For now that issue is on the back burner from our perspective. We will still be keeping an eye on them.”
“What do you need from us?” Randy asked.
“Have those that we need fly out ready and up here at the strip no later than 0600 the day after tomorrow. Those that are going by car should leave tomorrow if at all possible. We will have nine or ten planes arriving at one hour intervals. We need to be refueled, loaded, and ready to take off before the next plane arrives. The sick, elderly, and families with kids should be ready first. Any estimate on how many we are talking about would be helpful.”
“We have three really sick people and several minor ones. About thirty-five families have kids and as for the elderly, maybe twelve at most. Not many of them were under ground.”
“That makes sense. Equipment you want to take should be up here as well. Don’t bring a lot of things. We will have almost everything you will need.”
“Anything else we should know?”
“I think that is pretty much it. The planes aren’t pressurized so they should bring gum if they have it. Oh, and warm clothing. It gets kind of chilly at 8,000 feet and we have no heat.”
“I’ll tell them.”
“Other than that, I think we’re ready to get this move on the road.”
“What about those that can’t fit on the plane?”
“Good question. Doing some quick calculations, I figure we can take about 550 people all total. Maybe a few more than that. I would stick with the 550 number. Have them draw numbers or however you want to do it. Everyone else has to go by car. They will be leaving late if they decide to take the chance we can fit them in but I’m sure some will chance it.”
“We will have all the fuel hauled up here this afternoon. Anything else you can think of?”
“I don’t think so. The critical thing will be getting everyone on board in time and ready to take off so the next plane can land. I don’t want to waste any more fuel than necessary.”
“We’ll be ready.”
“You coming with us?”
“Later. I want to make sure those moving to higher ground are settled first.”
“Randy, you can’t wait long. Even a week will probably be too long. You should get out now while you can. What more can you do for these people?”
“I just feel like I should stay. Some of these people will have no clue how to get set up again.”
“You can’t be responsible for everyone. They are making a conscious decision to stay. You don’t owe them anything else at this point,” the Colonel said.
“I hear you and I partly agree but it’s just the way I am. I can’t just leave them on their own.”
“After the last plane flies out you will be on your own. We won’t be sending another plane back for some time. We have others to evacuate. The best I can do is maybe send one more plane in another week.”
“Fair enough,” Randy said, shaking his hand as he got back on the plane.
“You have a lot to do in the next day or so. Don’t worry about us; we will be here to get the evacuation started.”
“I have no doubt about it. We’ll be ready,” Randy said waving.
****
The first plane touched down at 05:57 and rolled to a stop. Colonel Webber was in the first plane.
“Got everyone ready?”
“It was a little bit of a hassle but yeah, I think we’re good to go.”
“Okay. Start with the sick, then the old, and after that, families. Everyone else goes after they do.”
“You got it,” Randy said. It took no more than thirty-five minutes to refuel the plane, get it loaded and have it ready to take off.
“I hope it goes this smoothly the rest of the day,” Webber said.
“Yeah, me too. We had a few that were pretty vocal about not making the cut but I think that’s over with now,” Randy told him.
“The ones going by car, they left yesterday?”
“For the most part. A few are still giving it some thought.”
“They don’t want to wait too long. They have maybe three, four days at most before they won’t be able to cross over the Mississippi. Only two bridges aren’t under water now,” the Colonel told him.
“We warned them.”
“I guess that’s all you can do. I had better get going. The next plane is due in just a few minutes. Good luck Randy. Hope to see you in Colorado Springs soon.”
“Thanks Colonel. Thanks for everything.”
The plane taxied to the end of the runway, revved the engines to full throttle and took off. Ten minutes later the next plane touched down and the process was repeated. By the time the last plane landed they had managed to take out five hundred and seventy-five passengers.
“Ben, you should go out on this last plane,” Randy said.
“Look, we have been through this. I’m staying. The question is why are you? They don’t need both of us hovering over them.”
“Ben, you have done your fair share. More than your fair share. You deserve a break from all of this. Look at how many hours you have put in, day after day. How much longer do you think you can keep it up?” Randy said.
“Go on. Add the last part?” Ben said.
“What?”
“At my age.”
“Oh crap, I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I do think that anyone who works so long and hard needs time off.”
“And like I said, you have done just as much, if not more, than I have. You get on the damn plane,” Ben said. Before Randy could reply the pilot came up to them.
“Guys, we are ready. We have room for the two of you. You ready to board? It’s getting dark.”
“Just one second,” Randy said.
“Sure, but just a few more minutes before I button her up and we are out of here,” he said, walking back to the plane.
“Go,” Ben said.
“No way. Look, Ben. Don’t make me drag you over there and stuff you into that damn thing.”
“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. Randy, please go. Rachel is already headed to Colorado. You have done all you can for these people. We all know what you have done and are grateful for it but it’s time for you to go and help out in Colorado. You have bigger fish to fry than this little bunch.”
Randy looked at him for several seconds. The plane revved its engines in the background. Finally he stuck out his hand.
“I’m going to miss you Ben. It has been an honor to work with you. I can’t express how I admire all you have done and what you stand for.”
“Ah stop it. I’m too big and tough to get all teary eyed. Just get your butt on that plane and do good in Colorado. We will see you again, that I’m sure of.”
Ben pulled Randy to him and gave him a big.
After a second he said, “Okay, enough of that crap. You ever tell anyone about that and I’ll have to hunt you down and kill yo
u.”
“I think the world of you too Ben,” Randy said and walked to the plane.
He didn’t look back as he climbed on board and the door closed.
Five minutes later the plane was airborne and heading toward Colorado and Randy was heading to a world filled with new challenges.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Colorado Springs, CO.
Randy and Rachel stood beside Colonel Webber watching as the long line of cars turned off the Interstate. Several military personnel in white hats were waving them toward the center of town. A few of the occupants waved but most just looked at them with blank faces. Randy had been keeping count.
“Looks like about one hundred and fifty-seven people so far. There are bound to be others that couldn’t keep up.”
“They don’t look particularly happy,” Rachel said.
“It has to have been a rough trip. Who knows how many times they had to siphon gas, change tires, and replace various parts along the way,” Webber said.
“It is a hell of a feat just getting this many cars here,” Randy agreed.
“So what happens now?” Rachel asked.
“We get them fed first of all. That has already been arranged. Then we get them into housing. Families will get three or four bedroom houses. Couples will get one or two bedroom houses. Singles will move into apartments or condos. We have over four thousand billets still available,” Webber said.
“Billets? What are those?” Rachel asked.
“Sorry. Sleeping arrangements,” Webber told her.
“Strange thing to call them.”
The Colonel didn’t bother to answer.
“When do they get their job assignments?”
“We will let them have three or four days to rest up and learn about the city before we start that process. They will need to get a feel for the city. We just now finished processing the ones that came by plane.”
“Yeah, I still don’t have a job yet. I guess I need to get on that,” Randy said.
“You don’t? I’m working at the Hospital again,” Rachel said.
“I guess I had better get my butt in gear,” Randy replied.
“Actually, I have a job for you if you’re interested,” Webber said, taking his hat off and wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve.
THE END - Book I - Of THE EVENT SERIES Page 35