The Event (Book 3): Expansion

by Lee Thomas

  Spring also brought some pretty good thunderstorms, which gave us plenty of rain for our rain-catching tanks we had set up, both for drinking water and the hydroponics. We did have some damage from them, however, but most of it was downed trees and power poles, but since there was no power grid yet we didn’t have to worry about fires or anybody being electrocuted. The engineers had finally found water pumping stations scattered throughout the peninsula, and were working on checking them all and getting them running to hopefully restore running water soon. That was going to be one of the biggest challenges we faced getting this place running. Some of our farmland suffered damage as well, and the livestock pastures lost some fencing, but all in all it wasn’t catastrophic losses. We rebuilt, just like we were trying to rebuild everything else.

  Summer started heating up the days, and on the advice of quite a few people, we decided to break the peninsula up into three areas, to help identify where things were at. Since the peninsula was originally comprised of parts of three states, we kept the state names, but changed the current state lines. There was an area, close to the center of everything, called The Island. I decided that since many of the people wanted some kind of leadership or government in place, the Island would be a good, central place to have a main headquarters setup, and with the small rivers surrounding it there was an easy way to set borders for the three “states”, and keep the Island separate, not belonging to any of the three.

  We set up in an old retirement home called Manor House, and it became the new White House. Solar panels gave it power, so we had lights, and a radio room to keep in contact with all the gates, ships, and the base. I had an office there, only because so many still looked at me as the leader, but the people I had put in place actually ran things. Each of those leaders also had an office here, but really it was full of record keepers who took the reports from the different areas and kept them safe so we could document what happened, how we built what we did, and have some semblance of a government in place for those who felt we needed one.

  One day in September, I was at the dock on the Island where I kept my boat, just doing some upkeep on it. I was planning on taking her out the next day for a sail around the river, maybe all the way around to open ocean and back up to Ocean City, which was were the Nimitz was still docked at, or maybe down to the base. There was also a possibility I would just sail around without any real direction for a while. The dock was at the end of a walking trail from the Manor House, which allowed me to stay near the Manor, but have easy access to my boat without having to keep a car handy. I had just finished checking everything down below and stepped back up top when I glanced over and saw Michelle walking down the path towards me. I waved at her, and got one in response, then I turned back to the inspection while she continued down the path.

  “Getting ready to leave again?” she asked as she reached the end of the dock. She didn’t climb aboard, which I knew was because she still wasn’t fully comfortable on boats.

  “Thinking about it, just for a day or two maybe. Want to go with me?” I replied, running my hands down the length of rope I could reach, looking for signs of fraying or wear. I ran each sail out one at a time, then back down, eyeing each of them for bad spots in the rope, as well as wear or tear on the sails themselves. Since I carried very little fuel for the gas engine onboard, I wouldn’t be able to go far without the sails.

  “Maybe, depends on where you are going.” She answered.

  “Haven’t decided yet. May go down to the base, may go all the way around back to the Nimitz, maybe up north to the Port Royal, or just do some open ocean sailing for a bit. I could also just go up or down river a bit, find a nice cove or offshoot and do a little fishing. Figured I would decide once I set sail.” I told her, finishing the line inspection and turning to the wood and other surfaces. A few nicks in the wood from storm debris being blown around along the rails was all I found, and no damage to the hull, which was the important part.

  “Have you thought about what everyone asked, the whole president thing and all that.” She asked, finally climbing aboard and having a seat on the aft bench.

  “Yes, and we probably should do something like that. It would solidify the chain of command for the guards, who see themselves and the sailors as the military branch, and everyone else as civilians. Have you heard who the consensus is for president yet?” I replied, sitting down on the port bench and looking at her.

  “I’ve heard a couple of names being thrown around, yes.” She answered.

  “I think Christian would be an excellent choice, as well as Judith, both of those two have excellent rapport with the military folks, so anything stated as an order would go over well, but they are also good enough with the civilian folks that there wouldn’t be too much of an outcry for either of them.” I stated, knowing full well that many of the people put my name in the suggestion box for that honor, but I quickly quashed that idea. I may have had enough of a plan to start this endeavor, but I knew for sure that getting to Norfolk and securing the ship was the extent of my plan. Everything that had happened since then was fully a group effort. I was not about to take credit for even close to all of it, as most of the ideas after getting to the ship came from other people.

  “I told Val that you would say that.” She said, leaning back against the rail.

  I don’t have anything on the boat just yet, but I do have some snacks and drinks in my room up at the Manor, want to go relax up there for a bit?” I asked. The inspection was done, and the boat seemed to be seaworthy, so I would bring my gear down in the morning and head out, but for now heading back to my room to finish packing sounded good. I helped Michelle off the boat and back down to the dock, wincing as I stepped down myself. My knee had been bothering me a lot more lately, and I had been using my cane a lot, but having it on the boat would be difficult.

  We walked towards the Manor making small talk, not really saying anything, just talking. As we entered the Manor, we headed for the lobby where the stairs were at and headed up towards my rooms. Since this was a retirement home before, those of us that had offices here also had apartments. All we did was knock out a wall in between two suites, install a door, and used one of them for the office space, and the other for a residence, if we wanted. There was a dining room for large groups to eat in, and a community rec room where people could gather and relax, and once more power was available, even watch movies together.

  I ushered Michelle inside my office, then led her to the door to my room. I motioned to the couch and she went over and sat while I pulled out a couple bottles of water and some of the jerky that the hunters were making. It was good, and it made the meat last longer. I handed her a water bottle and a bag of jerky, and we continued to talk for a while, just about little things, how other people we knew were doing, what we wanted to do now, just general small talk. We heard the office door open a couple of times, but no one called out for me, so I assumed it was simply the reports being delivered, which I would get around to reviewing and filing at some point.

  “It’s getting late now, are you heading home, or do you want to crash here tonight?” I asked, after looking at the clock. I was going be going to bed very shortly myself so I could get an early start on the boat.

  “Home, I have plans with the girl tomorrow. Have fun on the boat, and you should come by more often, the girls miss you, even if they don’t say it.” she replied, standing as she prepared to leave.

  “I will, now that things are pretty well settled down. I’ll see if the hunters can set me aside some good steaks on their next good kill and I’ll come grill for you guys.” I answered. Even though Cassi didn’t eat meat much, the others liked my grilled steaks. Michelle left then after a quick hug, and I checked my swords and pistols, out of habit I would be taking them with me, and once I was satisfied with their condition, I took a shower and then climbed into bed.

  The next day I awoke with the sun coming in the window, but I felt rested, so I got up and dressed, put on my gun
belt and threw my sword belt over my shoulder and grabbed my cooler of food and water. There was a small food cart in the hallway that I placed everything on and started rolling it to the elevator. The solar panels we had installed did provide enough power for it, thankfully, or else I would have insisted on a first-floor office. We had several rooms on the first floor for supplies, and just general stuff, so I hit that room before leaving to gather some fishing poles and lures, as I did intend to do some fishing. I put two poles on the cart, along with a good-sized tackle box that had several different types of lures in it, then headed outside for the foot path that led down to the dock.

  The path wasn’t very smooth, just due to age and weather, but the cart rolled along well regardless, and I nodded and spoke with the couple of people I ran into along the way. Finally making it to the dock, I loaded all my gear onto the boat, stowing the fishing gear underneath the benches, and the cooler and the weapons went below. The sloop was big enough I had a small kitchen with a table, a bedroom, and a small bathroom. Putting the food up, and storing the cooler where it wouldn’t go bouncing around, the guns were placed in the nightstand drawer like always, and I just tossed the sword on the bed for now.

  I went topside once more, jumping back on the dock to undo the mooring lines, tossing them each back on the boat. Once back onboard, I used my push-off stick to push slightly away from the dock, and then fired up the trolling motor to get me out of the small, shallow lagoon and into deeper water. Once I was into the river itself, the current caught me and started moving me along slowly with it, which was fine since it was the direction I wanted to go anyways. I let the current do the work, to save what little fuel I had, as well as to not worry about letting out the sails yet. I drifted along, turning the wheel to make sure I followed the current, and didn’t drift into the bank, just listening to the sound of the water, and the birds, which was a gentle, relaxing sound, along with the rocking motion of the boat.

  Finally making it out of the smaller channel of the Nanticoke River, I came to the slightly deeper, but much wider waters where the current wasn’t so forceful. As I drifted to a stop, I raised the sails and caught the wind, moving forward again towards the Chesapeake Bay. Once I finally made it to the Bay, I lowered the sails and went below to look at my charts. I looked at the various islands all along the Bay, most of which had no houses, or were set aside as animal preserves, and so many side channels and lagoons to choose from for fishing, it was difficult to decide where to go first, since I had no real plan other than being out on the water.

  I settled for south, mostly since that was the direction the wind was blowing best, raised my sails back up, and spun the wheel to turn south. The sails caught the wind, the cloth snapping and popping as it pulled taut, and I began cutting through the water as I picked up speed. The feeling was awesome, the wind at my back, the slap of the water on the hull, the seabirds calling out, and the smell of the air without all the pollution from cars, and airplanes, and oil refineries. It was a difficult life now, to be sure, but we had managed to pull through the worst of it. We survived the original infection, pulled together to build a safe haven, found and made new friends, and we lived. The expansion was now all but complete, with the land free from infected, people could focus on providing for their families, which after all was what we did before, just with more options and opportunities. Schools were being cleaned out and re-opened, with several people willing to teach the basics to the young ones, but with a focus on survival skills as well. Farms were growing and expanding, people were learning how to live in a world without all the luxuries and comforts we had before. There were also plans to travel, to stock the Nimitz and take her across the ocean to our Irish and Italian friends, maybe start a trade with them for food we didn’t have, or even ask for help to come back and help us grow even more.

  We continued our radio broadcast, looking for survivors, hoping that there were still others out there, and constantly watched for any sign that the infected were getting smarter, or more dangerous. Everyone had a place, and a purpose, and with the proper amount of organization and appreciation, everyone seemed happy with it, or they went off and found something else to do. There was still plenty of work to be done, but it could now be done in safety.

  As I made it to the southern end of the Bay, I turned to port, or east, and headed away from land, towards open ocean. I would still have to pass the bridges of course, but open water was close at hand. As I sailed east, the rising sun glinting off the water, the wind in my hair, and the sounds the boat made as she sailed, it all combined into a wonderful feeling, and that’s when it hit me. We had survived, but not only that, we had thrived. Those of us alive today had witnessed, and overcome, probably the worst disaster, or epidemic, the world had ever seen. We persevered, we overcame, and we proved humanity was not going to be taken out so easily. The determination and will to fight for survival was all we needed, and I was awed by the fact that so many people looked to me in the beginning to provide that, and believed in me when I knew my plan was half-ass at best, and they knew it. I was proud of what we had accomplished, and was humbled by the experience, but I knew that if they fight needed to happen again, I would do it all over again with these amazing people by my side once more as we proved that the human spirit would not be broken or squashed so easily so long as we believed in each other and was willing to work for it.