Kane paused for a moment as Miller thought furiously and tried to figure out the motivations of the strange and powerful man beside him.
“As previously stated, I’m not here to conquer. However, you must be aware by now that I do not need to keep you in this role. I could easily replace you.” He gripped Miller behind the neck and squeezed. “You would be wise to openly accept your position and not continue to test my patience. As I have already stated, your military is under my control. If I were the one to bring these supplies to your people, how easily do you think it would be for me to place myself in a position of power with them as well? However, time is of the utmost importance in dealing with this rampant infection. It will be to both our benefit if you simply accept your new role and continue to lead them. I do not have the time to deal with a rioting public, and your cooperation in this will see to it that my attention is focused on cleansing this plague. Now, what is your decision, Mr. President?” Kane turned his back and walked toward the bar to refill his glass.
“I see your point, and I will play my role if it will help my people in the long run,” Miller stated regretfully.
“Good. Now please see yourself out. I will be in touch with you shortly.
The man’s predatory smile chilled Miller to the bone. He quickly left the office and made his way to the elevator, noticing all the while that his former security detail was absent from patrolling the hallways. He quickly entered into the first elevator car that arrived, and instead of heading to the floor where his quarters were, he pushed the ground floor button.
Miller made his way through the lobby of the building and found it was as empty of personnel as the upper floors. Good, he thought. He had been worried about how he would slip out of the building to do what he needed to do, unseen. He leaned over the main desk and grabbed a set of keys out of the top drawer, to one of the service vehicles always parked in the garage.
Miller had been on the road for about 10-minutes before he noticed a distinct lack of security on the street. As he pulled up to an apartment building situated in the center of downtown Miami, he leaned into the backseat and found an old ball cap and slipped it on, hoping he wouldn’t be noticed entering the building.
As he approached the door of apartment 3B, he took one last look around to make sure he hadn’t been followed. He knocked three times and, apparently, his adrenaline was still flowing hard, as it almost sounded like he was trying to kick the door open rather than get the tenant’s attention. The door opened only as far as the chain would allow, permitting the occupant to see who was there. The door shut and reopened after the chain was removed. A tall, skinny blonde-haired man stood in complete shock at the arrival of his guest, but that quickly changed as he looked at Miller and noticed the dread in his eyes.
“Get your ass in here,” the man said, grabbing Miller by the arm and pulling him inside while he looked up and down the hallway to see if they were alone. “What the hell are you doing here by yourself, man?” the blonde-haired man relocked the door behind them.
“Aldrick, we have a serious situation that I need your help with.” Miller sat down on the couch and buried his head into his hands trying to figure out where to begin.
“Talk to me. If this has got you so rattled, I will do what I can to help.” Aldrick whipped a chair around and sat in it backwards, placing himself directly across from his friend.
Miller went into all the details of the night, uninterrupted. As he finished, he looked up at his friend, expecting to see a glimpse of disbelief on his face, but couldn’t find a trace. “Well, talk to me. What do think of all this?”
Aldrick took a deep breath and exhaled before he stood and started to pace. “Well, as you know, I spent 20-years in the Secret Service after our time together. I protected every conceivable level of official in all those years. I’ve heard this name Kane whispered about, and it was never good. We were taught to never ask questions, but I paid a lot of attention over the years and compared notes with a few of my fellow agents. From what I was able to gather, he is not a person you want to be indebted to. Your predecessor was in his pocket big time, and would have never gotten to the presidency without that guy. There were some stories out there that Kane isn’t the only one, either. Before I continue, though, I want you to promise you won’t think I’ve lost my mind when I tell you the rest of what I know.” Aldrick gave Miller a look of hope.
“Listen, I trust you more than I trust my own wife. So whatever you have, please shed some light on the situation for me. Please?”
“Alright, but don’t laugh. Kane and these guys are the true deal in the conspiracy-theory world,” said Aldrick. “Everyone’s heard of the Illuminate, The Bilderberg’s, and the New World Order. Well, these are the men in the shadows, these guys are the ones behind even those groups. They’ve had their hands in every facet of life for as far back as you can go in history. They started World War One, World War Two, Vietnam—you name it, they were behind it. They decide years ahead, who will be president, premiere, hell, I think even the queen of England. I’ve heard they even know the nuclear launch codes for our missiles before the president even gets them. The UN was their baby, too.” Aldrick pulled the edge of the curtain over the window back just enough to peer out and see if they were being watched.
“If we hadn’t just finished building a barrier to protect us from zombies, I’d think you’re nuts, but in this time we’re in, I completely believe you.” Miller was quite for a moment as he started to piece together everything that had happened. “Now I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Whatever you need,” his friend replied, still keeping a lookout for surveillance.
“I need you to get to Alaska.” Miller fully expected an argument.
“I’m game,” Aldrick responded without hesitation. “But why?”
“I need to get word to Peterson up there. He was speaker–of –the house, and next in line behind me. He has a sizeable army stationed up there, and I’m thinking it might be time to find out where his allegiances are.” Miller fished into his pocket for set of keys.
“I owe you a lot, but that is a long distance to go in this crazy world we’re in.” Even as he spoke he produced a backpack from his closet and started to pack some supplies.
“Well, here is a key to a wharf in Naples. There’s a boat there I left fueled up and ready to go as a backup in case we were ever overrun. It should have enough fuel in it to get you up to the panhandle of Florida. From there, it’ll be up to you, but I know with your skills you should be able to make it from there.” Miller handed him the key off the ring. “The address is on the key.”
“I was going bat-shit crazy sitting around here all day, anyway. Anything in particular you want me to tell Peterson when I get there?” Aldrick finished his packing and shoved a pistol into the back of his pants.
“Just use your judgment to figure out if he is still trustworthy, and tell him everything I told you. Oh, and if he causes any problems, remind him about his bachelor party, and tell him I’m calling in my marker.” Miller tossed the other car keys in his hand to his friend. “It’s around back in the alley. It has official government logos on it, so the patrols shouldn’t mess you with. I’m gonna walk back and clear my head.”
“How do I make contact with you if I find out anything?” Aldrick extended his hand out to shake Miller’s before he left.
“Short wave frequency 9444. I have someone else monitoring it around the clock. They will get a hold of me. Password is kumquat.” Miller headed out the door. “Good luck.”
Miller was walking down the street when he heard the sound of an approaching patrol. They pulled up and immediately started questioning him why he was out past curfew until one of the men recognized him. After explaining he’d just wanted to walk and think and that a ride wasn’t necessary, they still insisted on following behind him a short distance to make sure he wasn’t bothered by anyone else, all the way back to the presidential towers.
Miller reen
tered the tower and was greeted by a fully operating staff again, completely opposite from when he’d left. He looked around, puzzled by the fact that everyone was going about their business as if nothing had changed. He waved at a few people as he made his way to the elevators and was stopped as he entered one by one of his former security guards who told him his quarters were now located on the 25th floor, and were ready for him to occupy. As the door shut, and the lift started to ascend to take him to his new apartment, he stood in disbelief at the situation he was in. Maybe, just maybe, if Peterson isn’t under this guy Kane’s thumb, maybe the cavalry will get here to sort it all out.
CHAPTER 49
Kyle, Wes, and Benjy
The hurricane fully bore down on top of the camp. Kyle stood guard at the wall and thought of about a hundred different places he would rather be at that moment. Other than dodging a few pieces of debris thrown about by the wind, it had been mostly uneventful so far. Hurricane Slab, as they had come to call it, wouldn’t rank high on Kyle’s list of powerful hurricanes he had lived through. He figured at worst, it was a strong Category 1 storm, or small Category 2, which to most Floridians was just a large thunderstorm. It was big enough to cause some minor damage, but by no means a large destructive force to deal with, not unless you happened to be in the direct path of the eye. Even so, it still might only take off some of the shingles from the houses and topple over some trees. Fortunately, with all the preparations made to the camp, it looked like they might come out of this with very little damage. One unexpected convenience of the storm’s timing was that all the wind and rain seemed to have helped mask the camp’s presence a bit from the approaching mega-horde. Kyle had watched many of the slabs wander right by the walls for the past hour.
Kyle’s station at the front gate had one significant advantage in that he could take periodic refuge in the bus that made up the main gate. It was only when the lightning flashed that he got a good look at the size of the horde, and he was very thankful for the camouflage that the storm provided. At times, in the brief flashes of lightning, he viewed hundreds of slabs. The slabs, however, weren’t fairing as well in the storm. Most of the time he had been on watch he had witnessed the slabs tossed about like leaves in the strong winds, which had been quite hilarious to see.
He frequently looked onto the camp to make sure he could still see the colored lenses on the flashlights placed on the towers so they could keep tabs for signs of trouble through the rain. David and Leon’s green light was still visible at the western tower. Pete and Kenny’s blue light was faint, but still there at the northern one. And the yellow light was visible at the east, which was manned by the husband-and-wife team of Mike and Kim, they had taken a break from their usual duties as radio monitors, listening on the shortwave radios. Kyle looked at his red light shining above the bus and breathed a small sigh of relief that so far everything had gone smoothly.
Unexpectedly, the door to the bus was pushed in, and a rain-coated figure jumped into the bus and quickly shut the door. Kyle jumped a little at the surprise visit, but quickly relaxed as he realized it was his watch partner returning from a snack run to the kitchen. “Damn, Wes, I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.” Kyle started to put his raincoat on. “Sorry, man, I stopped by Patty’s house to check on her and Anne.”
“How’s Patty holding up?” Kyle asked. “I haven’t really had a chance to talk with her since Rico’s burial.”
“Not too good. That’s why I asked Anne to stay with her tonight, to give her someone to talk to. She’s not taking Rico’s death well, but then again I can’t blame her. Now where are you going?”
“Topside, to get a good look at the situation out there.” Kyle exited the bus and made his way to the ladder that led up to the deck on top of the bus.
As he got up top he was almost blown off by a powerful gust. The wind roared up stronger than anything he’d felt so far and lasted much longer. He kept himself low to the roof, holding onto the rails situated around the platform, and tried to look out into the darkness. It was pointless, as the stinging rain made it impossible to keep his eyes open. Before he could decide to retreat back into the bus, he was battered by another large gust of wind, and one much stronger than he was ready for, and he slipped right off the roof and landed in the mud. For the next 30-seconds there was no break in the wind, and then just as suddenly as it began, it stopped, and there was absolute quiet as he realized that the eye of the storm had arrived.
Kyle looked up, and for the first time in three days, saw open sky above him, and even caught the twinkle of a star in the night sky. As he lifted himself from the mud, his momentary relaxation was broken by the sound of one of the AA-12 shotguns going off behind him across the camp. He turned toward where the shots rang out and saw that David’s tower light was no longer visible and neither was the tower.
After running back to the bus to retrieve his shotgun, Kyle and Wes were in a full sprint towards the continued sounds of gunfire at David’s Tower. When they arrived, they became fully aware of how bad the situation was as they saw the East tower had been blown over the wall. Then they saw David on top of the wall firing past it. As Kyle climbed up on the wall, he saw what David was trying to do.
Leon was still trapped inside the downed tower, and with several slabs trying to get to him, and worse yet, he wasn’t moving. Kyle yelled out to Leon but got no answer. He looked into the darkness and saw dozens of slabs quickly approaching from the north to check out the collapsed tower. Kyle was about to jump off the wall to get to Leon when he was grabbed from behind by Wes. Wes pointed to the left of the tower and Kyle found an even larger group of slabs appear from the darkness and descend upon the wreckage. Within seconds they were on top of Leon and dragged him away out of sight.
Kyle stood in complete disgust at losing another member of the camp, and a good friend. He turned to David. “What the hell happened?”
David started reloading his empty shotgun. “We were in the tower when that last gust hit, and the tower just lifted right up. I was able to jump free, but Leon hit his head on one of the beams and went over the wall with the tower. The rest you saw.”
Kyle looked at David and Wes. “Well let’s go check on the rest of the towers, and if we survive the night, we’ll see if we can find his body later and give him a proper burial. You two go check on Mike and Kim, and I’ll go see about Kenny and Pete. If they’re okay, get them to do a perimeter check, and then meet me back at the kitchen.” The trio split off to check the other towers.
As Kyle arrived at the North tower, he found Kenny and Pete still standing guard and full of questions about what happened at David’s tower. After catching them up, he assigned them to check the rest of the perimeter before taking off to his house to check on Hope.
When Kyle entered his house, Ron met him with a shotgun aimed at the door. “Whoa, big guy, it’s just me.”
“Sorry, I heard the gunfire and took up a defensive position in case we were breached.” Ron moved the reclining chair he had positioned himself behind in the hallway. “So what was that noise all about?”
Once Kyle caught him up on the events he went into Hope’s room. “Has she woken up any?” Kyle asked while he rechecked her temperature.
“No, but she did wiggle around a little while ago,” Ron said. “And then she started snoring a bit. That was five or 10-minutes ago. Since then, nothing.”
“I’m going to go check on the kids and wait for the others to report back on the condition of the perimeter. I’ll send Josey over to you until we know more. I figure we only have about 30- to 45-minutes until the eye moves past, and then we’ll have the backside of the storm to deal with. Maybe we’ll be in the clear by morning.” Kyle leaned down and kissed Hope on the forehead and took off to the kitchen house.
Kyle was met by David and Wes, who gave Kyle the all clear from their perimeter search. As Kyle and David entered the kitchen to check on the kids, Wes left to look in on his wife and Patty . Seeing Kyle
and David, the kids and the women swamped them. Kyle told Josey to go see Ron and that he would catch her up on what had happened, and then he sent David to brief Christi and Brian on the most recent events. Kyle walked the kids into the rear of the house and did his best to ease their minds that all was okay. While he did that, one by one everyone else returned from doing perimeter searches. He sent word over to the armory to relay the info to Yankee Dave, Benjy, and Stephen who were holed up there with instructions not to come out unless they were told it was all clear.
Once they had caught everyone up, David and Kyle left to talk about the plans for the back half of the storm and to check for any damage to the houses while they did. Benjy met them outside as they made their way with flashlights.
“Sorry to hear about Leon,” Benjy said. “But I think we should count ourselves lucky that he’s been the only casualty so far. This could’ve been a lot worse if the wall had been breached.”
Kyle looked at his friend. “Maybe I’m becoming hardened by all the loss lately, but I’m afraid I agree with you. I was watching the part of the horde that’s shown up so far, and I don’t know if we could’ve repelled them all, even on the best of days. I think we’re only seeing the first wave of this migration so far. It looked nothing like what we saw on that ridge in Georgia the other day. I just hope this storm keeps us hidden when the rest of them show up. At the very least, if the storm passes, I hope we can get the fires going again to mask us from them.”
CHAPTER 50
EIGHT MONTHS PRIOR TO THE CAMP H INVASION
Kane, Rowland, Eva, and Tovas
Kane stood at the end of the boarding plank that had just been extended to the dock from the ship. He waited for the arrival of his guests, already aware of who would be the first to exit the vessel. He was not disappointed when he saw Eva make her appearance, and making her way straight towards him. “How was the trip, my dear?” He placed a hand on the back of her bowed head.
Humanity's Hope (Book 1): Camp H Page 22