by Lee Thomas
Steve walked me over to a house close by that was being used as bunkroom for those standing guard apparently, and we sat and he told me about how they were surviving. I told him a little about our group and our setup, as well as the plan we had for the peninsula. Looking out the window, I saw how it was starting to get dark, so I wrapped up our conversation and told him I needed to head back out. He led the way back across the street to the dock my boat was at, and my ‘crew’ was still there, standing guard as ordered. They informed me they had packed a little bit of food onboard for me, and we all boarded the ship so I could take them back to where I picked them up from, just to save them the walk around. Once I dropped them off, I took my leave of my ‘crew’ and told them whenever I came back around, they would be required again, which sent them all away happy and excited. I used the engines this time to make better time, and once I was out in open water again I opened the throttle and cut through the water, quickly headed home.
I idled into our marina about half an hour after nightfall, docking carefully in the dark, and tying both lines off. I left the fishing gear but gathered everything else up in my seabag and headed back towards the ship, since it was a lot closer than my house. I trudged back up the stairs to the elevator, nodded to the few people out and about that I ran into, and slowly climbed the stairs to my quarters. Dropping my seabag in the corner of the bedroom, I called the bridge to see if there were any problems, and after getting a negative answer I got ready for bed and tried to sleep without thinking about everything that could go wrong.
Sept. 15th, 2020
A persistent knocking on my door woke me up, and I finally got up answer it after laying there for ten minutes listening to it. Shuffling to the door, I reached out and pulled the door open to see Thomas, one of the message runners we had, handing me a note. He had finally realized I really did hate the ‘sir’ and saluting crap, so he had finally dropped that practice. I nodded to him and he nodded back, then turned to leave. It was from Jeff, letting me know that all the preparations were complete and the ship was ready to move. All we had to do was finish moving people off that were staying, and make sure everyone that was going had moved onboard. I had hoped that would be completed by the end of the day tomorrow, so we could relax for a couple of days and then finally get started. Taking a quick shower to help me wake up, I then got dressed and headed up to the bridge to check on things. I had seriously relaxed the whole military chain of command thinking that we had going on at first, and the vets and active duty people we had from the start were finally getting used to it. I hoped soon to be completely done with them saluting me and calling me ‘sir’ all the time.
Stopping back in my quarters to grab my sword belts, I strapped both on and clipped both pistol holsters to them and headed back down to the hangar bay. I was planning on heading down to the eastern gate to check out the herd situation. If it had increased in size, I planned on starting to take them out now, before too many more joined and they decided to attack the wall. We had seen what they could do en masse, especially if the mutants find us and join the fight. While the wall had held so far, I didn’t want to put it to a hard test. It may be made of steel shipping containers, but it’s not like it was armored steel plate, enough hits or clawing at it and it would breach. Also, our gates were our weak points, even though we did our best to make them strong.
Stepping into the hangar bay, greeting the ones that were out and about walking around and making my way to the pier, I started walking out into the base itself, not seeing anyone else until I got more into the residential areas. Kids were out riding bikes or chasing each other, a few people were tending to gardens, and a few were pushing carts of vegetables towards the mess hall. All our food was still centralized, just to make sure everyone got a chance to eat, and not allow any one person to start hoarding food. It worked for us so far, and unless everyone started growing their own food, it would continue to be that way. Walking was never my strong suit as my bad knee kept me from doing much of it, and it was not feeling too good now as I finally approached the stables. With my knee, I decided to ride around the base instead as it would be faster than walking, easier on my knee, and it was very relaxing.
Letting the horse set the pace to help save his hooves, we headed throughout the base at a walk, headed in the general direction of the eastern gate. I said hello to everyone I saw, stopping to talk to a few, just seeing how everyone was holding up. there was still a lot of scared people, wondering how long we would be safe here, and waiting for the day the infected broke through the wall, or something happened inside and the whole system fell apart. That was something I was worried about as well, waiting for the day that somebody thought they had a better plan and decided to try to take over by force. Defending the group against the infected, or wild animals was one thing, but killing our own people to keep the rest safe was not something I wanted to do.
Making it to one of the original gates of the military base, I passed through and was now in the city portion of what we had. Most of this part was residential, some businesses, schools, and city government buildings. There was not much open space in this portion for crops, but almost every house had a garden of some kind in the yard. A lot of people had moved out here for the houses, and some had even started a school for the younger kids, trying to get back to some form of normalcy, keep people occupied that couldn’t contribute to food production, and help watch the kids whose parents were watching the wall, the animals, or maintaining the crops. Even though things like diplomas and degrees didn’t matter anymore, it was still important to teach the kids the basics of math, what science we could, history as best we could, and give them a start on new history of life post-Event. Some were even talking about getting with the other survivor groups and starting a new calendar, starting on the day the Event started and calling it P.E. for post-Event. I had sent a message to our friends in Ireland and Great Britain to see what they thought.
As I neared the wall, which was placed down the center of Granby street, I was only a few blocks west of the eastern gate. There was a watch tower set up here, but usually only one or two people manned it. I turned east and walked down the wall towards the eastern gate. It was useless looking for any damage as if there was a problem with the wall, I wouldn’t be able to see it from here. I would have to get off the horse and walk through the inside of the wall to see any damage or weak spots on the outer portion. I trusted the patrols to keep an eye out for any areas that needed strengthening or repair, and to let us know when it was needed. Clomping through the street, I came around a bend and the eastern gate came into view. Several people were standing around talking, and I could only assume it was about the herd massing outside. Several stopped talking and looked my way when I was spotted, and waited until I was off the horse and walked over to resume.
“Good, now that Sheldon’s here, maybe he can talk some sense into you, Jared.” One of the women said. I still didn’t remember everyone’s name, but I believe hers was Amber.
“I have plenty of sense, you’re the one who is not seeing straight right now.” Jared retorted.
“What is the argument about?” I asked, attempting to defuse the situation before in devolved into a shouting match which would only draw the attention of the infected.
“Amber here wants to lead a team out to start taking out the infected before they become a problem. I keep reminding her we have orders to ignore them unless they start becoming a problem.” Jared answered.
“And I’m telling Jared here he is being a complete coward to hide behind walls when we could be out there facing the problem head on and thinning out the problem a little bit more.” Amber responded. Both were getting heated, and their voices were starting to raise a little.
“Follow me, both of you. Grab the gate captain as well, I want to speak with him.” I told them, waving my hand in the direction of a building on the corner behind the gate. Jared waved for someone to go get the captain and bring him or her to us, while he and Amber
both followed me. I knew this conversation was not going to go well, and I didn’t want it to get loud within earshot of an infected herd. I opened the door and ushered Amber in, followed by Jared. I turned my head and saw the captain, I assumed, headed this way as well, so I stepped in and let the door shut behind me. This was apparently an auto parts store before, but shelves had been moved out and chairs and tables placed around for not only a conference area, but a place to relax as well. Amber sat, Jared across from her, while I took a seat in an armchair and waited for the captain. Timothy walked in then, someone we had met along the way, but had proved to be a capable leader himself, so I asked him to help oversee the wall guard, and he readily accepted.
“Tim, I didn’t realize you were here today, but I’m glad to see it.” I said, standing to shake his hand. He returned the shake, and the greeting, and I motioned for him to have a seat as well.
“I’m assuming this is about the argument these two have been having about what to do about the infected?” Tim asked as he sat. I raised my hands as Amber and Jared both started to protest.
“Yes, it is, although I didn’t know an argument was going on out here. I wanted to come see for myself what the herd was doing, how big it was getting, and decide what to do about it. I know just starting to fire blindly and hoping to hit as many as possible would be stupid, but I was considering taking a few people out, volunteers only, to see how many we could take out without being noticed, covered from the wall of course.” I informed them. Amber looked a little smug at that, while Jared glared at her. Obviously, there was some long-term rivalry between this two I didn’t know about. I would speak with Tim about that later.
“Well, it’s getting bigger seemingly, but without an accurate head count I can’t be sure. They haven’t seemed to notice us yet, or else are ignoring us, but I have tried to maintain quiet as much as possible. There have been a few that walked close enough to one of the view ports that we could take them out with swords or spears, and those we have taken out. I have taken the precaution of having more ammo and people nearby, just in case.” Tim told me.
“That’s good, I’m glad to hear it. I want to see it for myself before I decide if the risk is justified or not taking a team out.” I replied.
“Sir, I really think that’s a bad idea, what if it’s a trap? We have seen how the mutated ones have seemed to control the infected before, what if that is happening now, specifically to draw some of us out?” Jared said, leaning forward in his seat in his intensity to convince me not to take anyone outside the wall.
“Why? Because you’re a coward, that’s why. The only way we are going to get rid of them is to either draw them away or take them out, and if we draw them away, they can just come right back. So, tell me, what’s so smart about that, huh?” Amber retorted.
“I’m not a coward, but you must be suicidal if you think going out there is the best course of action. We could easily take out a lot of them with arrows and they would be none the wiser as to where they were coming from, or even that the others are dropping.” Jared replied. The two went back and forth for a while, trading insults and points as to why they each thought they were right. I let them each vent for a bit, listening to the points each one brought up, all of which I had considered before coming out here.
“Listen, both of you have good points, but the fact remains that we have a problem and have to find a way to deal with it. I came out here with the intent of leading a small team out to start taking out the infected. The infected don’t usually gather like this without being drawn, which make me wonder what is drawing them here. If it’s an innate instinct they have developed to find prey, we need to figure that out, and fast. Let’s stop arguing and start figuring out what is going on.” I said, stopping the arguments for now. Getting into a pissing contest over who was right or who had the better idea was not how I wanted to spend the day.
Seemingly in control of their tempers now, we started tossing real ideas back and forth, thoughts on what might be causing the herd to gather, and trying to come up with a plan. A few people had volunteered to go out with me as word had spread through the gate guards that the reason I was here was to go out. Armed with a plan, and a team of eight plus me, I headed back to the wall to climb up into the second level and get another look at what was going on. The infected were still just milling about, no real direction to any of their ramblings, but they were also not leaving the general area. We had cut and installed a small door a few feet from the main gate to allow for people to enter and exit without opening the large, main doors. Those of us going checked our weapons and each other, then entered the closed off area of the wall and prepared to go outside.
The man taking the lead cracked the door slightly, looking around for the best opportunity to slip out without being spotted by the infected. There were several cars abandoned along the street, plus the trees and bushes helped hide our exit. We crouched behind the nearest car and came up with a plan. Using hand signals, we split up and each of us headed a different direction. Keeping low, I crept from behind the car and behind the bush on the corner. There was an infected between me and the bush however, so I drew my sword as I left the cover of the car, cutting through its neck as I passed. It dropped without a sound and I went unnoticed as I ducked into the bush. I looked out and saw three other team members had taken down other infected, and so far, none had been seen. As I watched, four other infected dropped quickly as the team went from cover to cover. Everyone moved quickly, but carefully, so after five minutes, and about twenty infected down, none of the team had been spotted yet.
Moving to the next car, I took out another two infected on my way, dropping them as I ran. I crouched behind the next car, duck-walking behind it towards the back. As I peeked out over the trunk, I saw a small group of about six or seven infected shuffling around in the street. I couldn’t rush them without at least two of them seeing me, and unfortunately I couldn’t get to those two first so they would more than likely screech an alarm like they usually did before I could take out the group. Deciding to let them pass by for now, I waited for a better opportunity. A few of the others had found good places to hide and strike from as well, and it appeared that the effort was going well as it seemed that the infected were dropping rapidly and easily. No injuries yet on our side, which I was extremely grateful for, I just hoped it stayed that way.
As I peeked over the trunk, trying to decide what to do, I saw Jared signaling me from around the back of an overturned van. I signaled back that I saw him and he indicated what he was about to do. I nodded back, and waited for his distraction. The bar flew, hitting the roof of a car and making a loud banging noise, echoing in the quiet air. The infected closest to me turned towards the noise, allowing me to creep out from behind the car and get up close to the small group. There were six infected now shambling away from me, and no one else near me to help. I drew my two large knives and drove them into the back of the skulls of the closest two infected. I left them in their skulls and let them drop as I drew my swords. The thud of the two bodies hitting the ground registered with one the infected and it started turning towards me. My sword cut through its neck cleanly, severing the things airway and arteries, now allowing it to screech a warning to the rest. A kick to its knee totally disabled it and I turned to the other three as the crack of its knee breaking had drawn their attention as well. I managed to get one through the forehead and another through the chest before the third drew a breath and started screeching. My sword cut its scream off after a few seconds, but the damage was done.
“Back to the wall!” I yelled at the team, sheathing my swords and reaching down for my knives as I passed them. The others started running from behind whatever cover they were using, darting back towards the wall. The farthest away had managed to make it a little over two blocks away, and unfortunately had several infected left between him and the wall. Jared was across the street from where I was, and I saw him and Amber along with another man stuck between several crashed tog
ether cars and a house, infected blocking both ways out. I could hear the screeches from other infected being drawn in from the other streets and knew we would have to hurry.
A scream from across the street stopped me and made me turn. Jared, Amber, and the other guy were trying to get the door open of the house, presumably to get away from the infected. As I looked over at them, the other guy managed to get the door kicked open and rushed in. I saw Jared turn and wave to Amber to go first, but before she could move towards the door, two infected converged on her and I saw one of them bite firmly on her arm. She screamed as Jared took out the second infected, but the other guy pulled him back inside by the shoulder and slammed the door. Knowing those two were safe for now, I turned to head back towards the wall. Shots rang out as the watchers on the wall started taking out the remaining infected as they gathered. I didn’t want the shots fired, but we were in it now.