by Howard, Bob
It was all done with such purpose and acceptance of duties. Iris smiled at Kathy then gestured toward a few of her officers.
One of them announced to the room, “Okay, you all know the drill. Weapons on the tables beginning with this table over here. He pointed to the table nearest to the makeshift privacy curtain.”
Kathy leaned closer to Iris and whispered, “What stops people from trying to make a break for it or from drawing their guns at the start?”
“Everyone is assigned to watch three other people. If anyone even looks worried, someone will say something, but just to be sure, there is overlap. Someone may be watching three other people, but three people are watching one person. We can do that because one person can watch more children at one time. They don’t hide their bites as well. We’ve also done this many times, and everyone knows why we do it.”
The table that was picked to go first lined up at the curtain and the first person walked behind it. One of the officers walked behind it from the other side, and the inspection began. When they announced they were free of bites, they were joined by two people from the table who had hung the curtain. When they were done being inspected, they inspected the original two who had begun.
With four people done the process began to move more quickly. Those four people inspected four more, and in minutes there were eight people checking eight other people, and then sixteen people checking sixteen more. The children were checked by a group of people other than the children’s own parents.
“I’m so impressed,” said the Chief.
“As I said, Chief, this isn’t our first rodeo,” said Iris. “We learned from the beginning that people will hide bites, especially if their children are bitten. Some of the hardcore members of our group were all for firing squads for families that hid bites, thinking that would motivate people to be honest, but some of us understood that family bonds are so strong that some families preferred to die together rather than to give up one of their own.”
“So, how did you find the proper motivation? It’s hard to get a group this size to care enough to rat themselves out if they get bitten,” said Colleen.
“For one thing, you have to inspect several times a day. We started with three but went to four when someone was bitten and died between inspections. We almost lost more people that day. We also talked out this system where family members aren’t inspected by anyone related to them. Anyone who didn’t agree was told to leave the group. We also had to account for the weapons. You may have braced yourselves when Macey stood up and drew her gun, but she’s supposed to go first. She’s one of my most trusted people, and she would eat a bullet before she would hide a bite. Plus, she was being watched by three other people.”
“We have people like that in our group,” said the Chief. “If things go as planned, you’ll be able to cut back on your bite inspections.”
With the inspections done, it was time to start the searches of the remaining rooms, the inventory of supplies, and above all the explanations. It was announced that everyone would be fed as soon as they knew the extent of their food supplies and all rooms were searched, but it was obvious that the newcomers were all more curious about their surroundings than the food. They were ready to begin exploring.
Iris divided up the men and women to assign specific tasks. One group she sent off to a kitchen with the instructions to prepare the first meal from the supplies they had carried in with them. If they found they could have a second meal later from the shelter supplies, they would make it.
Kathy took Iris and a couple of her officers to the control room and showed them what was happening outside. Iris stared at the monitor with her mouth open watching as infected dead stumbled over the bodies left behind on the bridge outside the gates of Ambassadors Island. Some even stumbled enough to fall over the railings into the water below.
Hampton and Colleen were just as new to the shelter as the group of newcomers, so they stayed with Kathy and Iris to hear explanations they didn’t have the time to receive before. The Chief had taken a detail to the power plant to assess whether or not it was as sustainable as the one on Mud Island. Other groups were quickly briefed about doing a fast but thorough search. They were told not to let themselves become so fascinated by what they saw that they couldn’t move on to the next room. Colleen gave Kathy a guilty look when she thought about stopping for a shower before getting the job done.
“Iris, the most important thing for you to know at this moment is that the four of us will be leaving as soon as we get you and your people situated, and the reason we will leave soon is because a few hours from now it won’t be safe to leave for years.”
“How many years, and why?” asked Iris.
“The second part of your question is the easy part. The Oconee Nuclear Plant is releasing a cloud of radioactive material. There’s no real answer to how much, but it’s enough that it reached the coast. It’s manageable, but only if you take precautions.”
“We heard it was leaking,” said Iris, “but not in this direction.”
“That’s about to change,” said Kathy. “There's a hurricane making landfall on the Gulf coast. It’s going to shift the radioactive fallout to this area, and it might be heavy. We just don’t know enough to say how heavy.”
“I see,” said Iris. “If it’s heavy, we’ll be in here for years. If it’s light, we just monitor levels until they’re low enough. Of course no one has any idea how hurricane force rains will dilute the fallout. The water table might be screwed. There will be a lot of survivor pockets that will die, and there’s also no data on how radiation will effect the infected dead.”
Kathy continued, “Our expectation is that the infected won’t be stopped by radiation poisoning, but they will be contaminated by it. We think the water table will definitely be unsafe for years, but that will depend upon annual rainfall and snow. Pray for a bad winter and a rainy season from hell.”
“You didn’t expect us to show up, did you?” asked Iris.
Hampton answered for Kathy.
“They didn’t know you were here. As a matter of fact, we didn’t either. They came here looking for me. I haven’t even had a chance to thank them.”
Colleen walked over and put her arm around Hampton’s waist and leaned into him. The smile she gave Kathy was thanks enough.
“Why did you show up, Iris? Your timing was perfect,” said Kathy.
“We were coming for the scum that lived on this island,” said Iris. “They tried to raid our camp a few miles from here. We knew they were over here all along, and we were keeping an eye on them. When they came at us, they turned around and ran, but we knew they would come back, so we followed them.”
“My God, Iris, you didn’t leave anybody behind when you came after them, did you?”
“No, Kathy, we know better. When we mobilize, we all move as a group. Plus we had plans for Ambassadors Island. It looked like a safe place to defend. Those scum forced us to move on them sooner than we had planned.”
“Did you know they had packed the houses full of the infected as a means of defense?”
“Our scouts saw them capturing the infected and bringing them back to the island, but we didn’t know why. We were thinking they were using them as a food source. You said they were filling the houses with them?”
“The Chief and I noticed too many of the driveways had cars in them instead of inside the garages. Apparently, Hampton and Colleen noticed the same thing and used the captured infected against the people who attacked you.”
“That explains why there were so many,” said Iris. “I imagine we would still be clearing the homes when the fallout arrives. So, how do you guys fit in?”
******
Needless to say, Iris was really stunned by some of the things she was told. She was particularly interested in what happened to the Atlantic Spirit. Her ship, the Atlantic Mystic, had docked at the North Carolina State Port at Wilmington. The passengers had disembarked on shuttle buses to do a tour of Wilmi
ngton, and when the attack began she had been stranded too far from the ship to make it back. As it turned out, the Mystic had not even made it out of port.
She had been working her way west toward Atlanta in hopes of locating her family, but when she saw Charlotte, she realized there was little hope that Atlanta had been much better. There were too many people dead, which meant too many infected dead.
Kathy told her they had flown over Atlanta, and it had been worse than Charlotte. Iris told her it was okay. She had given up hope for her family long ago. If they were alive, there wasn’t much chance of finding them. She said it also wasn’t fair to the men and women who had tagged along with her because they had families, too. Now that was all beyond their control.
“Iris, you have a big group of people. Some of them may choose to take their chances outside. They’re going to die if that’s what they choose, but at least it will be their choice. We should get them all back together and tell them what their options are, but you have to tell them it’s a one-way ticket. You won’t be able to let them back in if they leave.”
“I know. They should all have a choice. Could you fill me in about all of this electronics? I imagine we can have them assemble in the dining room for supper and give their reports, then we can break the news.”
It didn’t take long to explain the control room to Iris because she took her turns standing watch on the bridge of the cruise ship. She was a fast learner, and she was delighted to find that she would be able to communicate with Kathy whenever she wanted. She would also be able to talk with Captain Miller in Charleston and some guy who had a shelter in the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig. There was an unmanned shelter in a place she had heard of but never visited named Guntersville, Alabama. Kathy told her they considered it a fall back plan if they ever had to leave their shelter on Mud Island.
By the time they finished, the survey of the shelter was also done. The groups were returning, and everyone was eager to share what they had learned. Each group was told to go to the dining room and await the return of the last groups.
They were a different looking crowd from when they assembled the first time. They were hard-faced and determined before. Now they were overjoyed and hopeful. Some of them were joking around with Hampton and Colleen about something, and the children were lining up for rides on the Chief’s shoulders. As dangerous as he was to enemies, he was equally safe to anyone who wanted to be his friend.
Kathy and Iris stood next to each other at a speaker’s podium someone had dragged in from one of the small auditoriums they had found. Iris had collected some notes from some of the groups as they had returned, and she was smiling as she reviewed them.
“Did you know much about this shelter before we came along, Kathy? It seems this was supposed to be one of the showpieces for that old survivor’s club. Every room has some sort of amenities that rival the others. It’s like people were trying to outdo each other.”
“The shelters are all like this. They aren’t all the same design, but each one seems to be like its own little resort. Our shelter on Mud Island is the most practical I’ve seen so far. It has less amenities, but it’s by far the safest. Even though you are underground, there will be times when you’ll feel less safe.”
“Well, if you’re right about the radiation coming this way, we’ll have less problems with people trying to break into the shelter,” said Iris.
Iris held up her right hand, and the chatter that had made it seem like a crowded restaurant died down quickly. She held such respect from her group that Kathy couldn’t help wondering how much more she would have when she washed her long, silver hair and was dressed in something other than the worn and dirty clothes she was wearing.
“I’ll make some announcements first,” she began in a clear voice, “and then we’ll take reports from each group. When we’re done with the reports I’ll answer all of your questions. Anything I can’t answer, maybe our hosts can answer for me.”
“I’m going to start with the bad news because it will help everyone here understand that we are short on time, and we have to make decisions quickly.”
Iris surveyed their anxious faces, knowing that she had to get the first decision done with. If anyone wanted to leave, they had to leave soon.
“Our hosts have information that the nuclear power plant in Oconee, South Carolina is going to be sending its fallout in this direction. A Gulf hurricane is making landfall at this time, and the prevailing winds will be to this area. For that reason, anyone inside this shelter a few hours from now will have to remain here until the radioactivity levels outside drop to safe levels.”
“How long will that be?” shouted a voice from somewhere in the dining room. It wasn’t difficult to spot the man who uncharacteristically interrupted Iris because everyone looked at him.
Iris had never doled out corporal punishment, and she wasn’t planning to start now. She understood and even expected the question.
“Years,” she said.
No one bothered to ask how many years. The meaning of her one word answer was clear enough.
“Because no one has been forced to be in this group, anyone who would rather take their chances above ground must do so now. Once the door is sealed against the radiation, we will not be opening it for a long time. No one will be allowed to leave or return.”
The same man stood, but it wasn’t in defiance.
“Ma’am, how can we all survive down here for years?”
“That’s a good question, and I’m glad you asked. Now that I’ve laid the options on the table, I would like for each group to give a summary of what they found in the shelter. Let’s start with the group that did an inventory of the food and water.”
Iris gestured for the leader of that group to take the podium. A woman who had introduced herself to Kathy earlier as Marina cleared her throat and began.
“If there’s anyone here who doesn’t like chipped beef, you might want to take your chances with the radiation.”
There was generally good natured laughter from the crowd and even some applause, but the audience was still a little nervous about the situation, and some just wanted to hear the reports. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise if a few people couldn’t stand the idea of being stuck underground for a few years.
Marina waited for everyone to settle down again then continued.
“My estimate is that the food supplies were intended to last for at least ten years if one hundred people were being fed.”
There was a general outburst this time because the sheer volume of food she was talking about would fill a warehouse.
Iris held up a hand for silence and said, “We won’t get through the reports fast enough this way. Let’s wait until we have all reports completed before we start with questions.”
“As I was saying,” said Marina, “there is a tremendous storehouse beneath this shelter. Food will never be a problem. As for water, there is a filtration system that draws its water from the deepest part of Lake Norman. I have been in contact by radio with a doctor and an Army engineer, with the help or our hosts, and they will be giving us the assistance we need to monitor the safety of the water.”
“Ma’am,” it was the lone man again who had interrupted earlier. “I’m sorry because I know you said we are short on time, but those infected things walking around up there have been falling, stumbling, and sometimes getting thrown into the lake. We’ve been avoiding lake water. How are we supposed to start drinking it now?”
Iris waited before answering this time. It was a legitimate question, but she didn’t need one person identifying potential barriers to their survival.
“Mr. Dawson, you sit among a group of eighty peers. Why is it that you alone are the only person here smart enough to think of these things? How long will we be sealed in here? How will you make the food last long enough? How will the water be safe enough to drink?”
The man had already made up his mind that he wanted to stay, but he was afraid. Either decisio
n, whether it was staying or going, was a one way ticket, and he was sure which one was for the longest ride, but he was still afraid.
He sat down slowly, but he managed to croak out, “I’m sorry, Ma’am.”
Marina explained that there would never be a shortage of water as long as the filtration system worked, and the engineer she spoke with had assured her that the system was state of the art. He told her it would last over a hundred years if they needed. She told everyone that the purity of the water was beyond anything they had ever drank because it was distilled as it was pumped in. The steam was converted into drinking water and used as part of a self-sustaining power source.
That was where Marina turned it over to another former member of the Mystic’s crew. His job had been in the ship’s power plant, and he gave a quick description of the system in the shelter. Because his explanation was a bit technical, some of the people became bored, but when he said they would have hot showers as often as they wanted, he got their full attention.
A former security officer was next, and he told them about the well-stocked armory under the shelter. As he explained on Iris’ instructions, there would be a minimum of armed residents in the shelter. They would maintain a small police force to handle civil disputes, but their primary goal was to be ready in the event that someone was able to breach the shelter. He was quick to add that he had personally inspected the shelter for safety, and he found it to be completely unlikely that anyone could force their way into the shelter.
Iris took over and explained some of what she had been told about the shelter, its origin, and its electronic capabilities. She told the people that the Chief, Kathy, and all of their friends were fighting back against the infected dead by populating the shelters. Eventually, they would all play their part in reclaiming the world from the infected dead.