by Gary Chesla
“How were you intending to answer my questions then?” Abbey asked.
“I would like to propose a face to face meeting,” Doc replied.
“That’s not going to happen,” Abbey replied.
“I could just show up on your door, if that was what I wanted,” Doc replied. “But I assure you that I will not do that. What I propose is that I will have the helicopter drop me off where we put the food for you. I will be there alone and unarmed.”
“You could also have your men hidden near by and just grab me,” Abbey said.
“You could show up and shoot me too,” Doc replied. “Again, I could just show up at the farmhouse, but I won’t. If you would just come talk to me for a few minutes, that’s all I am asking. If you still don’t trust me and you don’t want to join us, I will leave. I promise you that you have nothing to fear.”
Abbey looked at Fran, “What do you think Newb?”
“He is right, he could just show up,” Fran replied. “If they can see us with a satellite, we wouldn’t be able to run away, they would know. I say we really don’t have any way to get away if they don’t want us to leave. Besides, he sounds like a nice person. What do we have to lose?”
“I guess you’re right,” Abbey said. “They seem to be holding all the cards. OK, I’ll go talk to them, but you are staying here.”
“I want to come too,” Fran protested.
“No,” Abbey said sternly. “If I don’t come back, I want you and the mutt to make a run for it. Pack as much food as you can carry and head west towards Route 84. Maybe they can’t do everything that they said. Maybe they can watch us, but they really can’t do much else. That helicopter might have a limited range and they can only come out to where they dropped the food and that’s all the further they can come before they have to go back and refuel.
If I don’t come back, if it’s a trap, go back out to Route 84 and go north for about twenty miles and stay there until you hear from John again. Tell him what you know and then you can meet up with him somewhere safe and the two of you can live happily ever after. Got it?”
Fran nodded nervously.
Abbey picked up the walkie talkie and pressed the send button.
“When do we meet?” Abbey asked.
“I know it will take you about half an hour to reach the food drop,” Doc replied. “You can either come first and stay out of sight until you see that I am the only one being dropped off. Or you can stay where you are. You should be able to see the helicopter fly to the drop site from where you are. After it leaves you can come over to meet me then. Whatever you choose to do, I will wait at the food drop until you come to meet me. I’ll have the walkie talkie with me so you will be able to hear if I try to call the helicopter back or if you want to talk to me. Will that work for you?”
“I guess it will have to work,” Abbey replied.
“I’m leaving now, I look forward to the opportunity to meet you,” Doc said.
Then the walkie talkie fell silent.
“Pack your bike, Newb,” Abbey said. “If I’m not back by nightfall or if you hear that helicopter coming out this way, you get out of here.”
Fran walked over to Abbey and gave her a hug.
“Thank you, Abbey,” Fran said. “But, I have a good feeling about this.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt good about anything,” Abbey sighed. “But I hope you’re right kid. In any case, I guess I’m about to find out.”
Chapter 25
July 4th, Project Greek Island, West Virginia
Tony paced in his room, where he had been confined since their group arrived here yesterday.
He didn’t like not being able to go where he pleased, and this wasn’t why he had agreed to come.
The Greenbriar Hotel and grounds were beautiful from what little he had seen, but he had hoped to have seen a lot more than he did by now.
A knock sounded at his door.
“LT?” Mason asked. “Are you there?”
“Where the hell else would I be,” Tony grumbled.
The door slowly opened and Mason’s head appeared around the side of the door.
When Mason saw Tony, he smiled.
“The Captain would like to see you now,” Mason said.
“It’s about time,” Tony replied.
“Follow me, Sir,” Mason said.
Tony went out into the hall and followed Mason through the winding hallways, down a staircase and through a door that exited into an outside garden.
A man was standing a few yards away, staring out over the fields on the other side of what had been flower gardens, now overgrown with weeds.
Mason turned and left Tony alone.
The man turned to face Tony.
“Lieutenant, I hope you will forgive the precautions we felt were necessary before allowing you to move about at our facility,” the Captain said. “The infected that attacked and killed everyone may be gone, but whatever caused all of this, I believe it is still present. I have lost more men after the infected were gone than I did when they were still out there killing everyone. I had to be certain that you were not infected. I don’t need to tell you what would happen if the infection was spread to the inside our facility.”
“I didn’t like it, but I completely understand your caution,” Tony replied. “And you are right, the virus that caused all this death and destruction is still active. My group ran into four people a few days back that appeared to be alive and healthy, but turned into walkers before our eyes.”
“Walkers, an interesting term,” the Captain said.
“It was the name an old man that we met in Twin Rocks called them. He said they were dead and they walked, so he called them walkers,” Tony replied. “The name fit and we just sort of adopted the name.”
“Mason said you know what caused all of this,” the Captain said. “Is that correct?”
“It is,” Tony replied. “It was about six weeks ago, after my group managed to escape Johnstown and find a place in the mountains to hide. I found a small radio and each night we tried to find a station that was still on the air, hoping to find out what happened.
One night while panning through the dial, we heard a man talking. He said his name was Doctor Kennedy of the U.S. Navy. He claimed that he and his men had found a survival vault that had been prepared by the government to help the survivors of a disaster like we had experienced, to find a way to live and rebuild the country. We listened to him every night for a month, telling us how this all started and how he was going to try and help us.
According to Kennedy, this all started when the Air Force shot down a Russian satellite carrying an old biological weapon that must have mutated into some type of super virus. It came down in the atmosphere and was spread by rain storms. Once it began to infect people, the infected started attacking the living. I guess it spread so fast that there wasn’t any way to stop it.
Doctor Kennedy predicted that the walkers would decay and begin to fall apart, but he didn’t say anything about the virus still being active and deadly.
About a week or so ago, the broadcasts stopped.
We don’t know why, but we assumed it had something to do with the virus that is still active.”
The Captain listened then asked.
“Do you believe that the doctor is now dead?”
“It is our guess, but we have no way of knowing for sure,” Tony replied.
“Did the doctor give any clues as to where his survival vault was located?” the Captain asked.
“No, but it is my guess that he was somewhere out west,” Tony replied. “I had heard rumors about a doomsday vault being built a few years back, but nothing concrete. Scuttlebutt had it that a lot of construction work was going on out in Colorado, Nevada and Utah ten or so years ago, but you know how that goes.”
“I’ve also heard those rumors,” the Captain smiled. “I’ve always found that the most bizarre scuttlebutt is always at least fifty percent correct. This place is
a good example of that. Most rumors or theories are often based on solid facts that can’t be explained at the time. Rumors about the shelter here had circulated for years about this place, but no one really knew for sure until an employee of the hotel screwed up and let something slip to the Washington Post. Maybe the scuttlebutt you had heard could be of more help than you realize.”
“I understand that these so-called conspiracy theories are a hobby of yours,” Tony smiled.
“From Mason?” the Captain smiled.
Tony grinned.
“That guy is a walking conspiracy theory,” Tony laughed.
“He speaks highly of you,” the Captain said.
“Don’t hold that against me,” Tony grinned.
The Captain held out his hand, “Captain John Byron, U.S. Marines.”
“Glad to meet you, Sir,” Tony replied. “You did well finding this place.”
“It’s a good short-term solution,” the Captain replied. “But unless we can find more survivors like your group, it will all be for nothing.
The east coast from what I’ve seen is totally gone.
I’ve been thinking that while we have the fuel and we still have a way to travel, it might be time to move on in the hope that we can find other survivors.
I feel our window of opportunity is quickly closing.
We lack the means to properly maintain the aircraft and soon we will lose the ability to travel any meaningful distance.
I feel that if we are going to find anyone else alive, our best chances may be in areas of the country with a warmer climate than here in West Virginia.
My gut tells me it is time for us to move on.”
“I thought you found everything you needed here?” Tony asked.
“The place has been neglected since the fifties,” the Captain replied. “I’m sure at one time it would have been able to fulfill the purpose that it was designed for, but we haven’t been able to get half the equipment to work. The heating system no longer functions and if we stayed here over the winter, I’m sure we could survive, but I think it is time we considered moving on while we can.”
“Anywhere in particular?” Tony asked.
“I have a lot of ideas, but with the virus still active, I have no way of knowing where it would be safe,” the Captain replied.
“Before your men showed up, we had decided to hold up for the winter in the mountains and hope the cold would kill off the virus,” Tony said. “You seem to have the perfect set up here to ride out the winter.”
“But until I know if anyone else survived, I cannot in good conscience just stay here. I don’t feel it would be fair to my men to deprive them of a future.
If we stay here much longer, we will lose our ability to continue our search for others. It is comfortable here at this facility, but if there is something more out there, I would like to know.
I’m not ready to just curl up and die.
When I heard about the broadcasts, it made me believe that we still may have hope.”
Tony nodded.
“When Mason told me about what you had told him about Doctor Kennedy, I was hoping that we might somehow find a way to contact him,” the Captain said.
“Do you have any communication equipment here?” Tony asked.
“Smitty says we have every piece of communication gear ever invented,” the Captain laughed.
“I know I said we suspect that something might have happened to Kennedy, but it still may be worth a try to contact him,” Tony said. “I don’t know why he stopped broadcasting, but someone could still be there. If we could contact him, what did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking between what we have here and what resources that Kennedy might have, it may be possible to combine forces.”
Tony thought for a second.
“But if we did find a way to contact him, he is probably all the way across the country,” Tony said. “It would be way beyond the range of your helicopter.”
“When we searched the Morgantown airport, we found a functioning 10 passenger turbo prop.
We used it a few times to get a better look up and down the coast, but the helicopter is a much more functional aircraft for what we are doing locally. We can take off and land anywhere with the helicopter unlike the turbo prop.
If we had a reason, it would be possible to make one long flight, but we would probably be unable to return.” the Captain said. “I decided to save the plane as a last resort in the event that we had to evacuate our facilities here or we had an opportunity where the plane would be useful.
If our facility and Kennedy’s facility is all that is left, making the trip would be something I would seriously consider.
Together we may have a chance to build some kind of future.
We can survive like we are doing now.
If this is it, then so be it.
It wouldn’t be much of a life, but we could survive.
But if there is a chance at something more, we have a duty to our country and to mankind to take that chance.”
“Mike, Linda and I had come to that same conclusion the day your men showed up,” Tony said. “But since we only had an old Buick for transportation, we decided to wait until winter was over and hope the virus had been destroyed before we set out to find what our future would be, or if we had a future.”
“I guess we are two of a kind,” the Captain smiled. “Mankind was not meant to be satisfied with just surviving, it is in us to keep searching for something more.”
“Take me to your communications specialist and I will see if I can be of any help,” Tony said. “hopefully something I can tell him will give him some ideas. I have years of scuttlebutt to tell him about.”
“Why don’t you take a few minutes and go talk to your friends and let them know that they aren’t prisoners,” the Captain smiled. “I’m sure they are concerned about what they have gotten themselves into by now.”
Tony smiled, “I’m sure they are. Maybe a walk will help calm them down. Is there anywhere we are not permitted to go?”
“No, you’re free to go anywhere you like,” the Captain replied. “I would recommend that you stay close to the hotel until you become more familiar with the facility.
The property is fenced in and I have two men walking the perimeter to be sure nothing gets inside, but you should stay clear of the perimeter for your own safety.
You might want to take them down to the cafeteria and get them something to eat.”
“I could use something to eat myself,” Tony said.
“Feel free to give the cat as many cans of sardines as it will eat,” the Captain grinned. “The men hate them worse than the MREs.”
“They must be bad,” Tony laughed, then left.
Tony went back inside the Greenbriar and found the room where Mike, Linda and Jamie were staying.
He knocked on the door.
“Yes,” Linda answered.
“Mind if I come in?” Tony asked.
“Tony, is that you?” Mike asked.
“Are you decent?” Tony asked.
“Define decent,” Linda yelled.
Tony stepped inside the room and smiled.
“Whoa, what’s that smell?” Tony asked.
“George has been eating stink bugs again,” Jamie grinned. “Those damn things are everywhere,” Linda frowned.
“I can tell,” Tony smiled.
“When can we get out of this room?” Linda asked.
“Now,” Tony replied. “The Captain said they just needed to make sure we weren’t going to turn into zombies. He says we’re free to do what we want now.”
“Does that include getting something to eat?” Mike asked. “I’m starving.”
“Me too, let’s go,” Tony said.
“George says he is hungry too,” Jamie said running over to Tony with George in her hands.
“The Captain has a special surprise for George,” Tony replied.
“He does?” Jamie asked. “What is it?”
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“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I said what it was,” Tony replied.
Jamie put her hands over George’s ears.
“Now you can tell me,” Jamie grinned. “George can’t hear you now.”
“Sardines,” Tony whispered.
Linda laughed.
“Are there any of those cherry pie things down there for me?” she asked.
“Probably as many as you can eat,” Tony frowned.
“Maybe I’m going to like this place after all,” Linda grinned.
Chapter 26
July 4th, The food drop outside of Stone
Abbey walked out into the yard and began making her way to the food drop area.
She tried to stay out of sight, ducking behind trees and brush as she walked.
She stayed behind one large thicket when she heard the helicopter, then saw it hovering above the site where she was to meet Doctor Kennedy.
She watched as the helicopter dropped down out of sight, then took off a few seconds later.
Abbey waited until the helicopter was out of sight, then continued on.
“I don’t know why I bothered staying out of sight,” Abbey said to herself, “they have probably been watching every step I took with their satellite.”
Abbey looked up into the sky for a second, as if she would see the satellite, then started to walk again.
She didn’t bother to try and hide her movements any longer and just tried to take the easiest path to where the meeting was to take place.
Abbey’s stomach began to churn as she got closer to where she was to meet the doctor.
After months of keeping up her guard and staying out of sight, she couldn’t believe she had agreed to just walk right in to whatever was going to be waiting for her.
She hadn’t always been like this, but over the last few months, it was the way she had to be to survive.