by Ricky Sides
“I couldn’t let anything happen to you,” Herb responded. “Randy would never forgive me, and I love that man like a brother.”
“I think lack of sleep has loosened his tongue, and his mind,” Randy said from behind Herb.
“Hand me the case, you clown,” Herb said. “Oh, and get me the alcohol and a sterile cloth.”
When Randy left the room to get the supplies, Amy looked Herb in the eyes. “He thinks he loves me. He proposed just before you got here, but I’m afraid he’s doing this too fast.”
Herb nodded his head. “He told me he loves you. He’s a big boy. I think he knows how he feels.”
“You don’t object?”
“Good heavens, no. Why would I object? If you two feel a mutual attraction, you should follow up on it. God only knows what the future holds in store for any of us. Why waste a couple of years of time together remaining apart, if you both know how you feel? It’s like a writer named Tennyson once wrote. ‘Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.’”
“That makes sense,” Amy said.
“What makes sense?” Randy asked as he returned with the medical supplies Herb needed.
“Later. Let’s get this done. The longer we wait, the longer it will take her to recover,” Herb said.
“You mean it’s not instant?” Randy said as he handed Herb the alcohol and a clean white cotton cloth. He sounded disappointed.
“No, it’s not, but it does work quickly,” Herb explained as he swabbed Amy’s arm with alcohol.
“There now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Herb asked once the shot was administered.
“Not at all. You’re pretty good at that. In fact, I barely felt a thing,” Amy said. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Herb said as he climbed to his feet tiredly. He swayed slightly, causing Randy to catch him and hold him steady.
“You need me to give Ox his shot?” Randy volunteered. “You’re pretty much done in from the looks of things.”
“No, I’d better do it. He might bite you. Hell, he might bite me, but I’m responsible for him, so it’s my place to do this.”
“After what he has done to protect us all, I think we all feel a responsibility to that animal,” Amy said, endearing herself to Herb in the process.
“You get well, young lady. We need you to teach us about animal husbandry and farming,” Herb said, and then he left the room.
“You’d better go help him. He isn’t looking so good,” Amy advised Randy.
“He’s been awake a couple of days now,” Randy explained as he walked away.
Herb stroked the dog’s back and talked to him in soothing tones. Randy watched as he gathered the skin, pulled it away from the animal’s muscle tissue, and injected the nanobots beneath the skin behind his left front leg.
Ox turned to stare at Herb as he removed the needle, and for a moment, Randy thought he might bite his friend, but he just licked his hand.
“Good, boy,” Herb said as he stroked the top of the dog’s head. That will make you feel better soon. Now, let me tend to those claw marks.”
A bawling sound resounded from the woods, and Ox was off and running before Herb could stop him. He was barking, but stopped as he entered the woods where he began the hunt in earnest.
“That would be the bear cub that belongs to the female we killed last night,” Henry said. “It will have the parasites too.”
Herb sighed. “Well, it sounds close. I’ll go kill it,” he said.
“You go sleep and leave that to me,” Randy said.
“You’re no better than he is. You were up all night with Amy, so both of you go sleep. I’ve got this. Just lock the door and tell Martha to be ready to let me in when I get back.”
“You’re sure?” asked Randy.
“I’m sure. It’s just a bear cub. They are pretty much helpless.”
“I’m not going to argue. I’m so tired I can barely stand,” Herb said.
“See he makes it to bed, son,” Henry said, and then he walked off toward the woods.
An hour passed with no sign of Henry, nor was any shots fired. Martha paced the floor. Her anxiety was building by the moment. Then a single shot was fired. Half an hour later, Henry knocked on the door to the cabin.
“What kept you, Henry?” Martha asked as she opened the door so her husband could enter.
“That blasted bear cub was way up in a tree and I couldn’t get an angle to shoot it. I finally had to climb a tree to get the shot, but I got it. That thing was a monster,” he confided to his wife. “I think it had already changed into one of the zombie animals.”
“Randy said Herb calls them anizombies,” Martha pointed out.
“He does. It’s a shortened version of the two words put together.”
“Did Ox come back with you?”
“Yes, he’s out on the porch eating again. Speaking of food, I think we could all do with a good meal soon.”
“When the others wake up, but they’re all sleeping now,” Martha pointed out. “But I’ll get started on a large lunch. Would you check on the cow? She hasn’t been milked today, and some fresh milk would go well with lunch.”
“I’ll do that. I need to check on the chickens too. We haven’t gathered the eggs since Amy got bitten.”
Martha was making biscuits when Henry came back inside with his bucket of milk and a small basket of eggs.
“That darn cow is a pain. Amy might be able to call her to her, but I sure had trouble getting her to cooperate,” Henry complained as he set the bucket and basket down on the table for his wife.
Martha was about to respond to her husband when the old man held up a hand gesturing for silence. “Listen,” he said, “Do you hear that?”
Martha listened and she did hear something, but wasn’t sure what it was at first. Several seconds elapsed as the elderly couple listened to the sound growing louder and louder. Ox barked out in the yard, adding to the general uproar.
Henry grabbed his rifle on his way out as Herb came staggering sleepily out the door to his and Randy’s room. Randy came out of Amy’s room and both men grabbed their rifles as they followed Henry out the door.
The three men stopped out in the yard in front of the cabin and stared up at the sky to their west. A flight of helicopters was headed toward them. Two were attack helicopters, but the remaining four were the Chinook transport choppers.
The men watched as the transport helicopters dropped down on parallel courses in the open area to their west. They slowed their forward airspeed and skimmed just above the ground as their crews shoved crates out the rear of the giant helicopters. The two Apaches circled the area, looking for probable hostiles, but they left without firing a shot when the transport choppers left.
“With everything that has been happening, I forgot they were supposed to deliver some weapons and ammunition today,” Herb said.
“I’d say they must have delivered a lot more than that,” Henry said. “They could have fit all that in just one of the crates those helicopters dropped off just now.”
“Apparently, there’s more to come,” Randy noted. Then he said, “God, would you look at the size of that airplane.”
A large fixed wing transport aircraft made an approach to the same area where the helicopters had made their deliveries. It slowed its forward airspeed as it flew just above the ground. Three large parachutes were deployed behind the airplane. They pulled some sort of vehicle out the rear door. It struck the ground hard and skidded forward quite a distance before coming to a halt. The aircraft made a second pass. It deployed another large package and then dropped numerous smaller bundles and crates, which floated to the ground on parachutes.
After the last of the government aircraft left the area, the three men moved out to check on what had been delivered. As one, they all turned their attention to the largest of the packages that had been airdropped. The vehicle had captivated their attention from the moment they saw it deploying.
&n
bsp; “It looks like a minibus to me,” Herb said. “But just look at the modifications someone made to it.”
The bus had steel mesh covering the side and back windows. The front end had a modified cowcatcher that would knock zombies out of the way and prevent them from falling under the bus, which could cause an accident or get the vehicle stuck. There was a gunner’s chair that could be utilized to clear hostiles. It was operated by manipulating a hydraulic pump, and could be elevated to a retractable glass port in the roof. This would give the gunner, who sat behind the driver, the opportunity to provide covering fire for people getting in or out of the bus. It would also make it safer to navigate the streets and highways when the zombies were present.
While examining the bus, the men found a manifest taped to the dashboard that catalogued the shipments that had been delivered to them. There were twenty M4s and a matching number of M9s. There was also a very large supply of magazines and ammunition for the weapons, as well as military holsters for the M9s.
There was a large set of solar panels and the batteries needed to operate the system, as well as instructions on how to install and wire the setup. They had searchlights that would run off that system, when it was installed. Hand drawn diagrams showed the specifications of the unit mounted in the bell tower.
For communications, they received a satellite phone and a large box of rechargeable replacement batteries, along with a charging system.
The bulk of the remaining supplies consisted of food, disinfectants, and fence construction supplies, which were contained in the second large package that had been dropped by the fixed wing aircraft.
“There’s enough stuff here to build a good fence around the cabin,” Herb said.
“I think that needs to be a priority, but then, so do the solar panels, and we need to see about clearing any remaining zombies out of the area,” Randy said.
“We also have to disinfect the cabin again, now that Amy is getting better. In short, we’ve got a lot of work to do. We should recover the parachutes first. They’ll get damaged blowing around in the wind, and they can be a valuable asset,” Herb said. “We also need to be on the watch for anyone or anything that might come along to see what the aircraft were doing in this area.”
“I agree. Let’s get to it. We can store the food in the trailer, at least for now. That will protect it from the elements,” Henry said.
“That sounds fine, but we need to pull the coil wire from the truck to keep a thief from just driving off with that much of our supplies,” Herb countered.
“Yeah, something like that would be a terrible loss,” Randy agreed.
It took the men two days of hard work, but they got the drops secured. It took them another week to construct the fence and install the solar panels.
Amy, Ox, and Herb all recovered from their brush with the Akins parasites. A month after the drops, Herb and Randy were ready to begin patrolling the area and eliminating all of the zombies that they encountered. Their primary mission was to eliminate the threat of the zombies in the area, but they had another goal, which was to locate any survivors and assist them when they could. They found a few, but most seemed afraid to make contact.
“It’s like they’re afraid of us,” Randy said.
“They should be wary of strangers. They will run across a lot of people who are more than willing to kill them over a can of food,” Herb replied.
The next day, the two friends ran across the site of a massacre. Three men, two women, and three children had been murdered. “Zombies didn’t do this,” Herb said. “So-called normal people did.”
When Randy asked how he knew, Herb pointed to the wounds on the men. “Those are knife wounds, not teeth or claws. From here on out, we’re going to have to be even more careful, buddy.”
“I’ll kill anyone who hurts or is a threat to Amy,” Randy said protectively.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but remember how you feel right now if it ever does.”
“I will,” Randy said with determination.
Epilog
Two months after Herb’s return to the cabin, a helicopter touched down inside the eight foot high fence that surrounded his home. When Erma stepped out, she and Herb ran to each other and greeted one another with a kiss and embrace. The two had stayed in touch via satellite phone. True to her word, Erma had stayed with the project long enough to see the production of the nanobots get up and running.
She brought a gift with her when she arrived. The aluminum-padded case contained the latest version of the nanobots that had been upgraded so that they didn’t die off after being injected into a patient.
“Are you saying these offer permanent protection from the parasites, like an immunization?” Herb asked.
“Yes, but that won’t help you if you get torn limb from limb by the zombies,” she pointed out.
“Nothing would help in that scenario,” Herb said. Then he changed the subject to the one uppermost in his mind when he asked, “Are you here for a visit or to stay?”
“I’d like to stay, if you still feel the same.”
“I do, and that’s a fact, but will you be happy leaving your work?”
“My work is finished. We’re down to 5% of our pre-parasite population. This nanotech will help protect the rest, so there’s nothing left for me to accomplish with the government, not that there’s much of it left anymore. Even the military is falling apart. In another month or two, the helicopters will be grounded. We’re going to be on our own, Hon, so are you sure you want to be saddled with me? There won’t be any changing our minds.”
Herb kissed Erma passionately by way of response. “I’m sure I won’t be changing my mind, ever.”
“Where will we stay?” Erma asked Herb when they came up for air.
“You choose. We can stay in a room in the cabin, or in the CDC trailer.”
“I’d like using the trailer, if you think it’s safe enough. I could still tinker with some experiments with the equipment we left in it.”
“Yes, you could. All that stuff is still there,” Herb responded. Then he said, “You know, we should see about getting a large quantity of the immunization shots. Do they need refrigeration or anything?”
“No, they just need to be maintained in a stable environment. They were designed to be used in the field, under bad conditions, so they are pretty stable. Why, what do you have in mind?”
“Well, it really wasn’t practical before because we didn’t have an immunization, but now I think we should consider really making this area a refuge for humans. Randy and I have eliminated the zombies in a ten mile radius. There are plenty of homes to be had in this area. We could start actively seeking survivors, immunize them, and get them settled in this zombie free zone.”
“Don’t you still have occasional invasions?” Erma asked.
“Yes, and we probably will for years to come. We’ll have to run routine patrols, but with extra help, we can do that. We’d just need assets. Do you think we could get the government to help at all, or have we reached the point that we are on our own.”
Erma thought for a moment before she responded. Then she said, “Let me make a couple of calls. I’ll see what can be done.”
Two weeks later, a very large, heavily armed, army convoy arrived at Herb’s place. They brought with them dozens of FEMA trailers that they set up on land adjoining Herb’s property. They fenced in the makeshift trailer park and installed guard towers around the perimeter.
On Herb’s land, the army constructed an armory to store the weapons, ammunition, and accessories that they were giving the refuge. They also constructed a solar powered clinic, where the new arrivals could be immunized and given a medical examination. Then they put together a large prefabricated store of sorts, which they stocked with canned foods. Those canned goods included items such as flour, powdered eggs, powdered milk, and freeze-dried goods, such as meats, fruits, and vegetables.
The bulk of the food the army delivered was housed in
twenty, forty foot long, steel shipping containers, which were buried to protect the contents from temperature extremes. They were accessible via a ground level entrance, leading to a steep staircase, which entered one end of each unit. Once the containers had been buried, teams of soldiers relayed the food from tractor-trailers into the mini warehouses.
Eventually, the refuge would have to become self sufficient, but the materials and supplies that had been delivered would make it possible for them to begin gathering survivors.
The army brought dozens of civilians with them. They had already been immunized, and would help run the store and serve as guards. Several were prior military, and would go with Herb and Randy as they sought out other survivors. One man was a doctor, and he was going to operate the clinic. He also took charge of safeguarding a large vault that contained thousands of doses of the immunization injections.
The army worked at the site for four weeks, and then they left to resupply for a similar mission in Kansas. Two other convoys were doing similar work elsewhere. As the government was collapsing, the military was doing what it could to see to it that as many Americans as possible had what they needed to survive. Time would tell if that would be enough, and time was running out.
Erma’s prediction regarding the collapse of the military was off, but not drastically so. They managed to hold themselves together long enough to establish half a dozen refuges in as many states. The other forty-two refuges that the government had wanted to establish weren’t outfitted before the military collapsed, which occurred three months after Erma’s arrival at the cabin. The people in those other states had received their startup packages with the airdrops, just as Herb’s people had, but they never received the comprehensive help that the ground convoys had delivered.
Six months after the meteorite crashed into the Tennessee River and released the Akins parasites in America, most governments of the world, including the United States, had collapsed. The military infrastructure had similarly fallen apart.