by Chesla, Gary
“Where are you holding up?” Mason asked.
“If you will give me a lift, we can be there in a few minutes,” Tony replied. “It’s not far.”
Mike and Linda were in the living room, looking out the windows.
“It’s been half an hour,” Linda said. “Do you think something happened? “
“I don’t know.” Mike replied nervously. “If he wasn’t able to contact the helicopter, he should have been back by now. If he did make contact, well Tony can handle himself.”
The sound of the helicopter began to echo around the house.
Mike and Linda looked out the windows, but couldn’t see anything.
Soon the sound was almost deafening, and the little house began to shake.
Linda pointed out the window towards the front yard.
Mike rushed to the window and watched as a U.S. Marine Corp helicopter landed in the small clearing next to the front of the house.
The sound died down as the rotors slowed and finally came to a stop.
Two armed Marines jumped out of the helicopter and took up their positions on each side of the craft.
Then Tony, accompanied by two men in uniforms, came out of the helicopter and began walking towards the house.
“He has a smile on his face,” Linda said.
“Tony always has a smile on his face,” Mike replied.
Tony, Mason and the pilot walked around the house and approached the deck.
“Mike,” Tony called out as he and the two men stopped at the bottom of the steps.
“Yeah, Tony,” Mike replied from inside the house.
“We’re good,” Tony said.
Mike walked out on the deck and looked at Tony and the men, he still had his bow clutched in his right hand.
“I see you have your people armed with your favorite weapon,” Mason said.
“Yeah, and he is damn good with it,” Tony smiled.
Mike smiled hesitantly, “That’s right. If there is a barn around, I can usually hit the broad side of it.”
Mason laughed, “I see the LT has mellowed. He always told me it would be a cold day in Hell before he would see me hit the broad side of a barn.”
After hearing Mason’s comment, Mike lowered his bow and relaxed.
“I take it you have met these men before?” Mike asked.
“It’s been about eight years, but some people you can’t forget no matter how hard you try,” Tony laughed. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
Mike brought in the chairs from around the kitchen table as Mason and the pilot sat down on the couch.
Tony, Mike, Linda and Jamie sat on the kitchen chairs.
Tony quickly introduced everyone, then he started to ask questions.
“Where were you stationed when everything went to shit?” Tony asked.
“We were stationed in the Middle East. We got a call saying that everyone was being recalled stateside,” Mason replied. “There was a lot of scuttlebutt about why we were being sent home, but no one knew the reason for sure. All our other men and ships had already been recalled, we were the last of the U.S. troops to leave. When our ship arrived in Norfolk, we couldn’t believe what we found. The entire base was overrun with walking corpses. We tried to go ashore, but the damn dead began to attack us. Six men disappeared and another four were bitten before we made it ten feet away from the ship.
We managed to get the four injured men back on board, but overnight, all hell broke loose on the ship.
By morning, we were all that was left alive. Luckily Pete here was a pilot.
We were lucky to get off that ship alive.
When we weren’t able to make contact with anyone, we tried to contact the allied bases in England and Italy, but communications were hit and miss. The last we heard, whatever it was that took us out, was spreading through Europe and Asia.
We lost all communications with everyone two days later.
We started going up the coast, mostly to air bases where we could find fuel for the chopper, but it felt like we were sleep walking through a damn nightmare.
Like I said before, we stumbled on this place in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia that was secure and stocked to the hilt with food and supplies. The damn place even had its own power source, so we decided to stay there until we could make contact with command.”
“We’ve been searching for survivors and trying to contact the military or the government ever since,” The pilot added.
“Until we saw you,” Mason said, “we haven’t seen a living soul since we left the ship. Damn if I wouldn’t give my left arm to know what the hell happened?”
“You’re not with Doctor Thomas Kennedy?” Linda asked.
“Who is that?” Mason asked.
“A few weeks after we found our way up here to the mountains,” Tony said. “We found a small crank powered radio. Each night we started trying to find a station that was still on the air to learn what had happened.
One night we found a station that had a doctor from the Navy explaining what had happened. He said it all started when the Air Force shot down a rogue North Korean satellite. In the process they also shot down three Russian satellites. The Russian satellites were carrying an old biological weapon from the 1980’s that had mutated into some super virus. The virus got into the atmosphere and came down with the rain.
The rain started to infect everyone and in a few days the entire country was like what you described in Norfolk.”
“Shit, that sounds like some damn horror movie,” Mason replied. “You’re shitting me, right LT? You always did like to mess with my mind.”
“I wish I were,” Tony said. “But according to Doctor Kennedy, every word I’ve said is true.”
“After all the shit we’ve seen, I guess what you’ve said really isn’t all that hard to believe,” Mason replied. “Did this Doctor Kennedy say anything else. How can we contact him and where is he?”
“I have no idea how to contact him,” Tony replied. “We just listened to him on the radio for about a month, then a few days back, the broadcasts suddenly stopped.”
“Before the broadcasts stopped, Kennedy was telling us where the walkers were and what places should be avoided,” Mike said.
“How did he know this information?” Mason asked.
“Kennedy said he was using a satellite to monitor the walkers,” Mike replied.
“LT,” Mason asked as he looked at Tony, “does that mean that the military is still in place and operating?”
“At first I thought that,” Tony replied. “But in a month of broadcasts, we never heard a word about what the military was doing. If the military was still in place, we should have heard about operations to reclaim the country, or at least an operation to create a safe zone where survivors could go for food and security.
It’s my guess that the military was taken out along with everyone else, just like what happened on your ship.
All it takes is for one person to become infected then it spreads like wildfire.”
“Kennedy told us that he was in a secure location that the government had created in case of a major disaster,” Mike added. “He said the government had stockpiled food and supplies to help the survivors rebuild their lives.
We were told to stay where we were and as soon as the walkers died out, he would try to help us with the things we needed to rebuild our lives.
But then a few days back, the broadcasts stop, we don’t know why, but we suspect the doctor may have run into trouble.”
“That place sounds like what we found,” Mason said. “Except for the fact that we don’t have access to a satellite link up. Did he give any clues as to where he was? If he is still alive, maybe we can find a way to contact him.”
“Based on the scuttlebutt I’ve heard over the years, the government was supposed to have built a doomsday vault out west somewhere,” Tony replied. “If this is where he is, the vault was to have been built in the mountains somewhere in the Midwest. Other than this,
we don’t know where he might have been.”
“The Captain knows about that kind of thing,” the pilot said to Mason.
“The Captain has been around a long time,” Mason replied. “He is big on conspiracy theories, maybe he would have some ideas.”
“Yeah, he was the one that led us to this place in West Virginia, I don’t know how he knew that place was there.” the pilot added. “And Smitty, our communications guy, if Kennedy can be contacted, Smitty can find a way to do it.”
“Speaking of the Captain, we need to get back,” Mason said. “Our job is to find survivors that can help us find out if there is anyone else left or just be someone that can help us survive. So I would like to officially ask if you would like to join us. What do you say, LT? It would be like old times again.”
Tony looked at Mike and Linda.
“Before we answer your question, I have a question of my own,” Tony said. “When you go out looking for survivors, have you gone into any of the cities to look around?”
“No, the Captain told us that until we find out what caused everyone to turn into the walking dead, we aren’t to go anywhere we wouldn’t want to sleep,” Mason replied. “He said something about not taking any chances of getting infected. I’m sure he will want to talk to you about this virus that caused everything.”
“I like your Captain already,” Tony smiled. “Have any of your group become infected after you reached West Virginia?”
“No, the Caption insists that we not take any chances,” Mason replied again.
“The Captain will probably be upset that we let you in the helicopter without his approval,” the pilot added. “He said we have to be careful not to bring anyone with the infection back to our base.”
“So, what do you say, LT,’ Mason asked, “It’s a great place and we could use a man like you?”
“Shouldn’t we go back and run this past the Captain first?” the pilot asked.
“Not for the LT,” Mason smiled. “I’ll vouch for him, and if he says the rest of his group is OK, that’s good enough for me.”
“Mason, I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble,” Tony said.
“The Captain can be a hard ass, but he is a reasonable man,” Mason smiled. “I think he would be more upset with me if I didn’t bring you back.”
“We’ll still be here tomorrow,” Tony said.
“But will you?” Mason smiled. “You should see what this area looks like from the sky. If we wouldn’t have spotted the smoke up this way, we were ready to write this area off it looked so bad. Who knows what could happen here between now and the time it would take us to return tomorrow.”
“Mason, I see you haven’t changed one bit over the years,” Tony smiled. “You were one hell of a Marine. You would have been a General by now if you would just obey orders.”
“What fun would that be,” Mason laughed.
“Let me talk to my people,” Tony said then walked over to Mike and Linda.
“It appears we may the opportunity we’ve been hoping for, but I’ll leave it up to you. We all go or we all stay,” Tony said. “Do you want to stay here and stick to our nine-month plan and see what happens in the Spring?
Or do you want to go with them, combine our resources, and see if we can make a better life for ourselves with the others. Both options are a risk, but I think we should go. It’s an opportunity to join up with some good people.”
“I would like to go, but we don’t know anything about this place where they want to take us?” Linda asked. “We know what we have here. They could be taking us to some dead-end place with less of a future than we have here.”
“Linda is right,” Mike added. “I like the idea of joining up with other people, but I wish we knew more about where we would be going.”
“Give me a minute,” Tony said.
Tony turned and faced the two Marines.
“Mason, by any chance is you base located under the Greenbriar Hotel?” Tony asked.
“How did you know that?” Mason asked looking surprised.
“If after we arrive, we decide we don’t want to stay there, would we be able to come back here?” Tony asked.
“If you decide that you don’t want to stay,” Mason smiled. “I’ll bring you back myself. You have my word. In fact, I’ll move back here with you.”
“Thanks,” Tony replied and turned back to Mike and Linda.
“I know where we are going,” Tony smiled.
“Well?” Linda asked.
“In the 1950’s, President Eisenhower wanted to be sure that the U.S. Government would be able to survive and continue to lead whatever was left of the country in the event of a nuclear war. It was the start of the cold war and relations with the Soviet Union were getting tense.
So the government helped build the Greenbriar Hotel on 6500 acres of land in the Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia.
But the hotel was just a disguise for what was under the building.
Sixty-five feet under the hotel were secure shelters large enough to house both houses of congress, their staffs and families and the president for up to sixty days. The place had its own power source, its own closed ventilation system and of course enough of everything for the government to be able to survive and continue to govern the country. I hear it has 110 showers and 167 toilets,” Tony smiled. “So we would be moving to a five star hotel.”
“How do you know all this?” Mike asked. “It sounds like it was a top-secret project.”
“It was a top-secret project code named Greek Island,” Tony replied. “In 1992 the Washington Post did a story on it after doing a piece on the hotel in the entertainment section. One of the employees they interviewed at the Greenbriar gave out too much information that got the paper digging into a lot of unexplained activity at the Greenbriar.
The Soviet Union had disbanded in 1991, so the government decided to acknowledge the truth and decommissioned the shelter and turned it over to the Greenbriar to use as they saw fit.
Turning it over to the Greenbriar was another ruse, so I heard.
Scuttlebutt has it that the government only turned over parts of the shelter to the Greenbriar and continued to operate the rest of it.
It was their way of hiding what they were doing in plain sight.”
“It sounds good,” Linda said.
“From what rumors I’ve heard, the place is fit for a king.” Tony laughed. “Did I mention that it has 167 toilets?”
“It would be nice to use a real bathroom again,” Linda smiled. “Maybe Jamie will stop getting Poison Ivy on her butt.”
“If we ever want to live a halfway normal life again,” Tony said. “This might be the best opportunity we will ever get.”
“Mason said he would bring us back here if we decided we wanted to leave,” Mike said then asked. “How much do you trust him?”
“I’ve trusted him with my life when we were stationed in Afghanistan,” Tony replied. “If he says he will bring us back, you can take his word. He’ll bring us back if he has to steal the helicopter to do it. So what do you say? I say we do it, but if you are against it, I’m staying with you. We’ve been through too much together to split up our group. Besides, you’re my best friends. I don’t abandon my friends.”
Linda smiled, “I suggest we make a new nine-month plan. I say we try it for nine months, then reevaluate what we want to do.”
“That works for me,” Mike smiled.
Tony turned towards the Marines.
“What can we take with us?” Tony asked.
“No more than ten pounds of stuff per person,” the pilot replied. “We are going to be overweight as it is, but I’m sure we can handle another fifty pounds. Just be ready to leave in ten.”
Linda packed a bag full of cherry pie MREs and her extra shirt.
Mike took his bow and his new hiking boots.
Tony brought the three crank powered radios, his bow, knife and all the arrows he could carry.
Jamie took George.
As they left the house, Mike stopped to lock the door.
“Maybe we should leave it unlocked,” Tony suggested. “It helped us when we needed it, maybe if some poor bastard makes it out here, it can do for him what it did for us.”
Mike nodded, “It was a godsend when we needed it. If there is a chance it could help someone else, I wish them luck.”
“I’m going to miss this place,” Linda said. “In many ways, it was more of a home than our old house.”
“I know what you mean,” Tony said. “After what we’ve been through together, I’ve never felt as close to anyone as I do with the three of you. You’ve been more of a family to me than anyone ever has.”
Tony looked up into the trees.
“I guess I’ll never know about Rocky and Fred,” Tony sighed.
Linda grinned and pointed to the tree next to the house, “Tony, look up there.”
Tony looked up where Linda was pointing.
Rocky, Fred and two small squirrels sat on a branch looking down at them.
“You have a nice family there Rocky,” Tony laughed. “Take care of them.”
They all started to laugh when the family of squirrel began chattering.
“I think they just wanted to tell you goodbye and good luck too Tony,” Linda said. “They are going to miss you.”
“I think they are just happy we are taking George,” Mike laughed. “I don’t think they liked George. I always heard that squirrels were smart.”
They all got into the helicopter as the rotors began to spin.
A few moments later, the helicopter lifted off, rising above the trees.
The helicopter banked left and began to go south towards West Virginia.
“Can we fly over Johnstown before we leave the area,” Tony shouted over the sound of the engine. “I’d like to see what Johnstown looks like before we go.”
The pilot nodded, then turned the helicopter and flew back over the house.
It only took a few minutes before they passed over Westmont, then reached the city.