by Lee Thomas
“We could post shooters on the frame as well, just forward of the wall. Multiple firing positions would help us take them out faster.” Haskins offered.
“True, but how would we get more ammo to the ones on top?” I asked.
“Rope? We have plenty of that, and we could secure it to one the beams up there, throw the other end to you here at the wall, and pull an ammo box up, and throw back empty ones.” One of the other men suggested, Fred I thought his name was.
“That could work, take a couple of men and test it out, see if that is doable; if not, think of something else, I’ll leave it up to you.” I told him. I couldn’t come up with anything better with what we had on hand, so I let them run with it.
“Why don’t we move the wall? It’s not secured in the ground, all we did was build feet on it, and braces so it couldn’t be pushed backwards, but we could pick it up and move it if we need to. Why don’t we move it forward so those on the frame will be able to lower the ropes behind the wall?” Levi asked, one of the original men up here.
“Levi, you’re a genius, I say we do that. What do you think Sheldon?” Haskins replied, clapping Levi on the shoulder.
“Sounds like as good a plan as any. Get everyone gathered, but I do want at least three men on the bridge, far enough forward to see if the infected start coming this way. Let’s move it.” I answered. Three men grabbed their guns and headed out on the bridge, while the rest of us all found a place to hold on to the wall, and then we lifted. It was still heavy, even with all of us lifting, and awkward to move in such small steps, but we managed it, slowly. We quickly realized it would not fit under the frame as it had wings sticking out over the cement guardrails, and when we got to the part that had a fence, they hit each other. We decided that was far enough anyways, and set it back down. I had several men start checking it for damage, while I sat down to catch my breath.
“How long do you think this wall will hold, if they do attack?” I asked Haskins.
“Well, it was never designed to be permanent, we knew a better one would be built at some point. This was only to be a deterrent while the land was searched, or so I was led to believe. It won’t hold up to a determined attack, but we should be able to take out most, if not all, of them before they get up to it.” he answered. The riflemen had shown up by then, each carrying his own weapon and one additional ammo box each. Between the boxes and what they could carry on them, they informed me that was all the ammo they had for the rifles. We watched them as they crept up the frame and slowly made their way towards the other end of the bridge. As we waited for them to get into position and start shooting, we made sure what little ammo we had left was near each firing position, and made sure each man was ready to go.
The first shots rang out about twenty minutes later. They continued regularly, far enough apart that it showed they were taking their shots carefully to make each one count. The clicking around me meant that everyone was making sure they had a round chambered and that their weapons were ready to fire, and no one was talking. Haskins and I stayed back to help direct things, keep a watch and provide help wherever it was needed. I wasn’t that good a shot, but I had my swords with me, so if anything broke through the wall I could help plug the hole.
The shooting finally died down about an hour later, with no sign that the infected were crossing the bridge. I motioned to Haskins and two others, and we began walking down the bridge to look at things. I pulled my swords as we walked, and the other three kept their guns ready, but as we made it over the hump of the bridge, we all relaxed a little as we saw that the infected still standing were making no move to cross the bridge, or even move closer to it. They kept shuffling around like usual, not even seeming to notice that the others had been shot. The snipers were good, as there was a decent amount of infected on the ground now. We didn’t get close enough to draw attention to ourselves or draw the infected this way, but even so we estimated that there was only about forty to fifty infected left. As we turned to make our way back, we noticed the snipers also heading back to the wall.
We followed them back, and once everyone was behind the wall again we shut it and slid the lock. We left enough people at the wall to guard it, and the others went to rest. I stayed around the shed, waiting to see what happened and wait for the supplies to get here. I didn’t know who was coming, or how many, and I wanted an idea so we could plan rotations. The building of the new wall would have to wait until morning, but hopefully the loadmaster on the ship thought about sending power saws and welding equipment as well.
I was close on my estimate of nightfall for the arrival of the supplies, as shortly after the sun set I saw lights in the distance. This stretch of road ran straight for quite a while with no turns, so we could see them coming from a distance. We had switched guards out already, so we had fresh eyes out here, but still had seen no sign of infected. I notified one of them and then started walking down the street towards the trucks. They slowed as they approached and saw me walking towards them and I moved to the side of the road as the lead truck rolled up beside me and stopped. It was an APC, which meant it was full of men and ammo, so I directed them towards the wall and instructed the next two trucks with the building supplies to go ahead and park where they were since the concrete median started soon and they would have a hard time getting turned around after that.
It took several hours to get the trucks unloaded, but finally everything was off the trucks and stacked close to the wall. Chief Brandon had sent many wood planks, like if we were building a privacy fence type wall, but there were also some steel beam sections, which told me that they raided the warehouse of the construction company we had found. An arc welder had also been sent, but I was warned that the tanks for it were quite low, so we would have to be accurate and sparing of the welds. Gary was in charge of the new men that came up, but I told him this was Haskins job to protect this wall, so he was in charge here, which he graciously accepted, and placed his men at Haskins bidding. There were enough military men and women in this combined group that nobody questioned it or complained about it.
With Haskins making the decision to start building in the morning, he and Gary came up with a guard rotation schedule to include the new people, and everyone else went off to try to get some rest. Some food provisions had been brought as well, so before sleeping, a few of the men lit a fire and cooked some so everyone still awake had a chance to eat this evening. I decided that since the snipers had cleared most the infected out earlier, and Haskins seemed more than capable at coordinating things here, I hopped in the cab of one of the trucks and started heading back to the ship with its driver. The drivers name was Alec, and we made small talk for a bit, and I discovered he was one of the ones we rescued from the original hunting camp. They were doing okay there when we found them, but he let me know that they were getting scarce on supplies, and several run-ins with the infected had lowered their numbers. I hadn’t had the chance to talk to anyone from the camp in detail, as other things took priority when we found them, so I was glad I finally got the opportunity to hear how they were doing. About midnight I decided to try to get a little bit of rest, so I closed my eyes and got as comfortable in the seat as I could, finally dozing off.
“We’re here.” Alec said, shaking my shoulder to wake me up. I jerked awake and looked around as we rolled through the residential area just outside our gate. Marks on the doors showed where we had cleared already, and it looked like someone was moving abandoned vehicles out of the way as well. I assumed that any vehicle that still had gas was being siphoned off for our use, and anything useful would be taken as well. As our vehicles needed maintenance, we would scavenge from these as well for belts, hoses, tires, whatever else was needed, until we could be producing new ones of our own. We approached the gate and I got out to open it, waiting for Alec to pass through before shutting it. I climbed back in the truck and we continued through the warehouses to the parking area. Alec parked the truck near one of the warehouses, and while he we
nt inside to drop off the keys, I headed towards the ship. I wanted a shower, and fresh clothes, then to find out how things were going with the other search teams.
After grabbing a quick breakfast, followed by a shower and change of clothes, I finally made my way to the bridge. Chief was there and informed me that one of the satellite operators had an idea yesterday, which they attempted last night. Instead of using the FLIR to search building by building, they would use satellite imaging to detect any potential hotspots, and then take the FLIR units to that area and search. Three such areas were identified last night, all a good distance from any of our current search grids, and teams were on the way to search them this morning. If that worked, we could have the entire landmass searched and cleared in a matter of weeks, not months. I would keep my hope for that to myself for now though, I didn’t want to jinx it. with everything else onboard running just fine, I sent a message to the base and the other search areas for updates, then headed back down to my cabin to review maps, and hopefully get some rest.
By the time the reports came in from the others, I had finished making notes on the maps and turned my attention to how things were going elsewhere. Seeing nothing worrisome, I put the reports down on the table on top of the maps and went to lay down for a few minutes, intending to only take a short nap. Hours later I woke up, blearily looking at the clock and seeing it was already seven in the evening. Cussing myself, I got up, shaking the cobwebs out, and made my way back into the living room. Since it was so late, I expected the search teams that had gone out this morning to have either returned, or at least reported in by now, so after slipping my boots on I made my way up to the bridge to find out which.
“Sheldon, Brandon told us not to disturb you, but we got a report a few minutes ago from Jared’s team who to check out the infrared signature today. They found a den, it seems.” Taylor said, handing me a piece of paper.
“Thank you, was anyone hurt?” I asked, glancing at the paper. My still sleep addled brain didn’t let me process it very quickly, and that was my only concern.
“If so, they didn’t report it.” Taylor answered. “They did report that they found several good locations for safe houses along the way, and in the area they are in.”
“Good, good. Keep me updated. I’m assuming the satellite imaging for heat worked then?” I inquired.
“It seems to, yes.” Taylor replied.
“Awesome, let’s keep that up then. If I’m needed, page me. I’ll be walking around a bit, then head back to my cabin.” I informed her, then headed out of the bridge. I walked out onto the flight deck first, just to enjoy the breeze and relative quiet, finally heading back inside and just wandering around the ship. I visited with everyone from the galley crew, the laundry team, eventually making my way all the way down to the engineering department. I could see the stress on everyone’s faces, so I did my best to encourage them and let them know that our plan was working, and that hopefully by the end of the year we could start living on shore permanently and get away from the ship. I had to admit that even I was getting tired of being onboard all the time, and I had better quarters than most. After wandering about for some time, I noticed it was starting to get late, so I headed back towards my quarters. After an inspection of my weapons and gear, then a quick shower, I climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly.
Chapter 11
The next weeks followed rapidly with the construction of the wall at the bridge, the search teams were using the satellite imaging to pinpoint their search areas, and within two weeks they had managed to find and clear out ten separate dens, and several smaller groups along the way, all with only two injuries. One of those unfortunately was a bite, but the team amputated the man’s arm almost immediately and we are keeping an eye on him to see if that prevented him from turning. It had been over a week now with no signs from him other than dealing with the blood loss, so maybe that was a good sign.
The wall at the bridge had progressed a little more slowly than I wished, but they managed to find some materials nearby at a home improvement store so they made up for what we couldn’t send. They were almost done with a solid wall, with a strong gate, which meant I could relax and stop worrying about that particular problem.
Fall was giving way to winter, as the days were getting colder, and the nights even more so, but it wasn’t yet to the point it was miserable. That seemed to be helping the search go faster, as the infected showed up even easier against the cold ambient temperatures. The men had found winter gear before when we cleared out the ships after our arrival here, so we had plenty of warm clothes for the teams.
People had also started moving up here already, farmers claiming land, starting repairs to fencing, removing trees for cropland, things like that. They all knew we hadn’t officially cleared the entire area yet, but they were willing to take the chance, and keep their eyes open for now. Once we had two livestock farms with good fences, we moved all our animals up here from the base and started rebuilding barns and shelters for them. It stretched us thin on people to be doing all this at once, but it was getting done, and the ships were becoming less and less needed, which is what we wanted.
Power and running water was of course still an issue, but the solar panels we installed at the base for the various houses were being removed and brought up here, so at least the farmers could have power until we could find a way to restore a main grid. The hope was that the engineers could also restore running water, which hopefully meant only finding and getting the pumps working again and not having to find and repair broken pipes. If we could get that done, it would go a long way to restoring some semblance of a normal life for almost all of us. The farmers would be able to start sowing crops next spring, and there was warehouse area near the southern end that the satellite pictures said would be a perfect spot for a major hydroponics project, with multiple large buildings, and the team I sent to inspect it said the buildings were in great condition, only minor damage from the weather, which could be easily repaired. Nicole was given that project, since her and her husband had started a small-scale version of that before the world went to hell, so she knew what she was doing. There was also plenty of residential area nearby it, so I figured her family, plus Michelle and the girls would be heading down there and getting set up as soon as they could.
The raiders that tried the wall hadn’t been seen since, and everything was finally seeming to go according to what makeshift plans we had. There was a group of about two hundred that wanted to stay at the base and protect it, so they did. It was mostly guards, but a few gardeners stayed to, I assumed to give them fresh veggies as often as possible, or maybe they were involved with someone who stayed. Their private lives were none of my business, but they all volunteered, so it was their choice. We of course left them plenty of supplies, from ammo to solar panels, and once our production was up and running they would be getting a regular delivery of food as well.
The hunting camp was a split decision though, some wanted to stay there like they had been, some wanted to move back to the base for more security. In the end, some moved, and some stayed. There was still a processing station at the camp, but another was being set up on the base as well, so fresh kills could still be cleaned as quickly as possible.
My days were finally being spent in quiet, since I had put people in charge of each area that was more competent than I was, and that meant I could what I wanted without having to make all the major decisions anymore. Dave had placed a Larry Jones in charge of the base, since he was the new guard captain; so he controlled the guard rotations down there, and was to let us know weekly how things were going, unless there was a major problem. They were still going to use the Jefferson as a final fortress if needed, but if I understood right the main office was going to be were Dave had it on the base itself. Dave himself, and his family, found a nice neighborhood to move into, empty so far, so they took several houses on the block between his kids and himself, and we still visited from time to time.
Jeff
was spending time with his kids more and more now like he wanted, in between their own pursuits. He also spent a good amount of time driving still, going from farm to farm picking up food and delivering it to the central market we had set up. We had still not instituted any kind of monetary system, but it was watched and recorded who got what, so no one person or family could short change anyone else, but we did our best to keep it fair. People with more to feed obviously was allowed more than a single person, and so far, no one seemed to be trying to cheat the system. Since we were doing it that way, we no longer had a main cafeteria running, except the galley on the ship, but even that was toned way down as more and more people were off ship more and more often.
Michelle and the girls found some houses close to each other they could all agree on, inland, and they got busy getting their new homes organized, as well as Kenny and Katelyn. Everyone was finally starting to be able to breathe easy and start some form of normal life again, or as close as we could get towards normal that is. None of the kids had ever been sailing before, nor had Michelle, so now that we had the time, I made sure that all of them got to go out with me on the sloop as often as possible. Most of them enjoyed it, but some more than others. I was also trying to teach them how to do it so they could take their own boats out if they wanted, along with anyone else who wanted to learn, but not everyone took to it very well.
The winter passed mostly uneventfully, though we did have a couple of snowstorms that covered everything. No serious damage was reported on either one of them though, so we lucked out there. As the days started heating up with the coming of spring, we discovered a few creeks that looked like they were going to be prone to flooding, but luckily no one had moved into anywhere close to them yet. Most of the farmers were able to start plowing the ground to prepare for planting, and the livestock would hopefully be either to start breeding, or giving birth soon, depending on the animal. We had a couple of incidents where some wild animals had attacked some of the cows and horses, but we managed to find them, which turned out to be lions from a local zoo. Unfortunately, we had to take them out, as we had no way to relocate them. If we could have found tranquilizers we may have tried to put them to sleep and take them somewhere else, but no vet office we searched had anything like that.