by Chesla, Gary
“The corner of First and Coors Boulevard to be exact,” Mason replied. “To tell you the truth, I’m not exactly sure how I got here, but I was as surprised as hell when I finally came to and realized where I was.”
“How long have you been there?” Tony asked as the others listened excitedly to the conversation.
“My friend says I’ve been here for a week,” Mason replied, “but all I’m sure about is the last few days. I would have tried to call sooner, but I’ve been busy. There are stock rooms all over this place packed to the ceiling with cases of Coors Light.”
“You say you are there with a friend?” Tony asked.
“Pardon my manners,” Mason replied. “Say hello to Airman Kevin Johnson.”
“The same Airman Johnson that wrote the message you found?” the Captain asked.
“Yes Sir,” Johnson replied.
“Johnson has a lot of stories about Cheyenne Mountain that I’m sure will interest you,” Mason said. “And by the way, Johnson got bit and lived, and he likes Coors Light just like me.”
“You were bitten and survived too?” Doc asked.
“Yes Sir,” Johnson replied. “A friend of mine had just helped me escape from the hospital where they were going to inject me with the virus. They were trying to find a cure for the virus and made me one of their lab rats.”
“Wait until you hear that story, Doc,” Mason added.
“But anyhow, when we slipped out of the hospital, it was like running into a battlefield. Some of the doctors working on the project got infected and carried the virus back to the barracks. When we escaped the hospital, it was like a full-fledged riot going on,” Johnson continued.
“The infected were attacking the living everywhere we turned. We soon got cornered and then they were all over us too. My buddy Larsen was torn apart by those things, but after getting bitten on my arms and legs, I managed to crawl into a dumpster where the infected couldn’t finish me off.
I was passed out for days, the best I could tell, when I came to, I managed to crawl out of the dumpster and get out to the tunnel. I closed the barrier to the main complex, hoping to lock most of the infected in that part of the facility, then I got the hell out of there.
I left that message in the control room in case anyone ever came into the facility they would know what had happened, but I never really thought that anyone would ever see it.
After I made it outside of the facility, I didn’t know what to do or where I could go, but I remembered seeing the Coors Brewery when I flew over Colorado Springs before. So, I decided to come here until I could decide what to do.
It turned out to be a good decision.”
“But seriously,” Mason said. “You guys have to hear all the stories Johnson has about Cheyenne Mountain. I can’t believe our own people would ever do anything like that to their own men. The stories Johnson has to tell is enough to make me want to tell the next politician I see to do more than just kiss my ass.
Doc, you might also want to run a few tests on me and Johnson, don’t worry Johnson, Doc is one of the good guys.
I’ve never heard of anyone getting infected and living to tell about it, now you have two of us.
I know you have been searching for something that would help you discover a vaccine against the virus, so you could keep us all from getting infected, I think we might be what you have been looking for.”
“Are you safe where you are right now?” the Captain asked.
“Sure,” Mason replied. “Colorado Springs is a ghost town now.”
“Do you have enough to eat?” the Captain added.
“We’re not going to starve if that’s what you mean,” Mason laughed. “Both of us are on a twenty-four hundred calorie a day liquid diet at the present.”
Tony laughed.
“I can’t believe this,” Tony said.
“You can’t believe I’m still alive?” Mason replied.
“Somehow, that I can believe, Mason, I always thought that you were too damn ornery to die,” Tony laughed. “But I always thought that after God made you, he destroyed the mold and buried it where no one could ever find it again. Now I am finding out that there appears to be two of you. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep the two of you out of trouble without a lot of help.”
“But we have a big problem,” the Captain said. “That problem is how do we get you two back to Granite Mountain. It could take us a while to find a way get out to Colorado Springs without a plane.”
“Take your time,” Mason chuckled. “I’m really not in any hurry to leave.”
“Where is the power meter on your radio?” the Captain asked.
Mason looked at the radio.
“Ten percent, Captain,” he replied.
“You only have about another twenty minutes air time left,” the Captain said. “I want you to turn off your radio until sunset. That will give us some time to come up with a plan to bring you back. We’ll call you back then to let you know what our plans are.”
“Will do,” Mason replied. “If for some reason you are unable to get us back, don’t worry. We’ll be right here until you come to get us. It would be appreciated that when you come to get us, that your plans include room for a few cases of beer.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” the Captain replied, “but no promises.”
“How about saving a few beers for us to enjoy when we get there?” Tony added.
“I’ll see what I can do, but no promises,” Mason laughed then added. “Mason out.”
After Mason ended the conversation, Doc sat back in his chair.
“Maybe the Cheyenne Mountain mission won’t be a complete loss after all,” Doc said. “I think Mason could be right. Between the two of them, I’m sure I’ll be able to isolate why they were able to survive and be able to make a vaccine. If we can find a way to keep us from being infected, it could mean that we would be able to do things and go places that we can’t go now.
This would increase our ability to survive by a thousand percent.”
“But we are back to the problem of how to go out to Colorado Springs and bring them back,” the Captain said. “Any ideas?”
“You had Mike unpacking and preparing the quads down in the transportation bay,” Tony said.
“Going by quad would take forever, that is even if we could make it that far,” the Captain replied. “Colorado Springs is a six-hundred mile trip and there aren’t any direct routes to get there from here. Any road that we would take ends up going through Denver. I’m not sure I would want any of us going through Denver yet.”
“I wasn’t thinking about using the quads,” Tony replied. “I was down helping Mike the other day. We were bolting the fuel tanks to the back of the quads. The quads run on hydrogen fuel just like our helicopters. The tanks for the quads are about one fourth the size of the tanks on the helicopters. What if we fill all the spare tanks we have and load them into the helicopters.”
“If my calculations are close, we would need to load twelve tanks into each helicopter,” the Captain replied. “Twelve tanks and three men, I think we would have another weight problem for those small vehicles.”
“If we only send out one man in each helicopter and twelve tanks,” Tony said. “That would be an approximate weight load of eight hundred pounds or the max load for our helicopters.”
“Weight wise, it sounds like it could work, but fuel wise, we wouldn’t have any room for error,” the Captain replied.
“I was also thinking if we took a day to make a couple of fuel drops say at about the one fifty and the three hundred mile marks,” Tony said. “On the second day when we will be making the full trip, we would have six tanks each waiting for us to top off the tanks, so when we leave from the three hundred mile mark, we would have a full tank in the helicopter and six spare tanks to get us to Colorado Springs and back to the three hundred mile point again, where we would have tanks waiting for us to refuel so we could move on to the next refuel point to get us home.”
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��Do we have enough spare tanks to do that?” the Captain asked.
“We will if I take the tanks off the quads,” Tony replied.
It could work, but it seems complicated,” the Captain replied. “Too many opportunities for something to go wrong.”
“It’s as simple as we can make it with what we have to work with,” Tony replied. “At least by making fuel drops, we’ll have enough overlap that we wouldn’t be taking a chance of running out of fuel.
By sending both helicopters, if a problem developed with one of them, the men would still have one helicopter to get home in.
I think this is the best we can do, Captain. I think the risks are acceptable to possibly get our hands on a cure for the infection. Like Doc said, this could almost guarantee our ability to survive.”
“I agree,” the Captain replied. “Let’s go run it by Doc and make sure he is on board with it, then get to work.”
Sunset
“Mason, are you there?” Tony asked, holding the radio out in from of his face.
“We’ve been waiting to hear from you,” Mason’s reply sounded over the speaker.
“I’ll make this fast to save your battery. We will be over to pick you up in two days,” Tony said. “When we arrive, we plan on spending the night and helping you drink some of that beer. We will then be returning to Granite Mountain the following morning.
I just wanted to give you time to make the most of your stay there.”
“Understood, LT,” Mason replied. “My battery indicator is blinking red. If we lose power, I’ll see you in two days.”
“Mason,” Doc said. “I would like for you and Johnson to get cleaned up and maybe find a change of clothing, if you already haven’t done that, before our men arrive at your location. I know you may not be in any further danger from the infection, but we need to take precautions to protect the men that will be arriving to bring you home.”
“No problem, Doc,” Mason replied. “This place still has running water and one of the first things we did was to get scrubbed up to get all the blood and guts off us. We also found new uniforms to wear. We look like the newest employees of the Coors Brewing Company.”
Then the radio went dead.
“At least he knows the plans,” Tony said as he set down the radio. “Doc, when we get those two back here, I suggest you burn their clothes.”
“If the clothes are clean, we shouldn’t have to burn them,” Doc replied.
“If we let Mason run around here dressed like a Coors delivery man,“ Tony laughed. “There will be no living with him.”
Chapter 15
September 8th, Granite Mountain.
The helicopters circled the entrance to Granite Mountain as the Captain, Doc and the other residents waited outside the entrance below to greet the men.
“Remember, when they land, let me go out to greet them,” Doc replied. “I need check them out and make sure that no one can become infected by just being near them.”
When the helicopters landed, Mason jumped out holding a case of beer.
When Doc saw Mason in his tan slacks and tan shirt with Coors written across the back of the shirt, Mason’s official Coors had on top of his head and a big grin on his face, he turned to Tony, “I think you’re right, those clothes have to go.”
By the time Doc reached the helicopters, Mason and Johnson had unloaded six cases of Coors Light and had them stacked on the ground next to the helicopters.
“We brought everyone a present,” Mason said. “I really think the Captain should consider moving everyone out to Colorado Springs.”
Doc laughed, “I don’t think that idea will fly, but something tells me it may not be too hard to talk him into making a few beer runs in the future.”
“It’s good to see you again Doc,” Mason said. “This is Johnson. I’m sure you and he will spend a few late evenings listening to his stories.”
“Johnson,” Doc nodded.
“Hi Doc,” Johnson replied. “Mason has spoken highly of you.”
“I’m sure you know by now that you can’t believe everything that Mason says,” Doc smiled.
“Yes Sir,” Johnson smiled.
“Before you can join the others, I will need to examine the two of you to make sure your presence doesn’t pose a risk to the others,” Doc said. “Then I think they have a welcome home lasagna party planned.”
“Reynold’s lasagna?” Johnson asked as his eyes lit up.”
“The one and only,” Mason replied.
“It will be nice to have solid food again,” Johnson smiled.
Doc’s examination showed that the two men were both in perfect health.
Johnson’s wounds had been completely healed, Mason’s wounds were close to being healed.
Over the next few weeks, Doc was able to isolate the reason that both Mason and Johnson were immune.
It wasn’t too long after, he found the vaccine he had been hoping for.
He also found that the vaccine could be used as a weapon against the infected, should they ever encounter any that were still mobile.
The six cases of beer only lasted two days, as everyone rushed to have a cold beer before Mason and Johnson would drink it all.
Fran, on the second day, suffered from her very first hangover.
The spirits at Granit Mountain were higher than they had been in a long time.
Doc and the Captain also were considering making another trip to Cheyenne Mountain and Colorado Springs in the Spring if they still had a means of transportation to make the trip.
But for now, the residents of Granite Mountain settled in as the weather had taken a turn to the cold side as Fall and Winter approached.
The weather in the mountains would soon drop below freezing and they could expect significant snow fall during the winter months.
But with the fear of the virus being lifted from their shoulders, the future now seemed to hold unlimited possibilities.
What they could do and where they could go would only be limited by their imaginations, and as we have all seen, the residents at Granite Mountain, each and every one of them, had great imaginations.
You would think that so few people would not have a chance to rebuild the human race, but really, I certainly wouldn’t bet against them.
This would be a bet that even Rogers wouldn’t want to take.
The end of the beginning!
Thanks for reading Infection Z – Start to Finish, I hope you enjoyed it.
I have received a lot of good responses from my readers since the first book of this series was released.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Any positive feedback that you could leave on Amazon would also be very helpful.
As always, questions and comments are always welcome
at [email protected].
Your interest and support are greatly appreciated.
Until the next time,
Gary Chesla