Krantz was pulled out of his musings around the construction of the cloud city by the sounds of his pilot arguing with someone over the radio about landing. Krantz listened in for a second before deciding it was something the pilot could deal with. Worse case the pilot may have to tell the moron on the other side of the radio signal that the commander for everyone in this battle theatre was riding shotgun with him. While the frustrated pilot argued with the controller, a Chinook slowly appeared out of nowhere carrying a heavy load.
The flying workhorse was carrying a large section of what looked like the ladder from a firetruck. The massive ladder was dangling from a cable below the helicopter. That explained why they hadn’t wanted the Black Hawk to land yet. They were waiting on a shipment that was going to take up the whole roof. It was going to take a full crew to manhandle the ladder out of the way so that they could land afterwards. The Chinook helicopter wouldn’t have time to hang out either. It must’ve used up a ton of fuel getting the ladder this far. There also wouldn’t be any room for the massive chopper once it set its load down.
Krantz signaled for his pilot to back off and hover so they could watch the ladder delivery. They had plenty of fuel themselves to hang out for a bit and still be able to get off the building later. The huge helicopter carrying the ladder maneuvered until it was directly above the semi-cleared roof of the tallest building. It looked like it used to be a Sheraton or some sort of hotel. Once it was there the ladder was lowered to the roof where a handful of men scrambled all over it releasing the cables connecting the ladder to the helicopter. As soon as all the connectors were released the Chinook spun around in the air and disappeared as quickly as it’d materialized in the first place.
With the Chinook out of their air space it was time for them to land on the roof top. Krantz watched as his pilot maneuvered the Black Hawk to set them down as directed by the controller. Their bird was heavier than anything that would’ve normally landed on a roof. One of the first things that’d been done after clearing the roofs off had been installing heavy steel girders to strengthen them to handle the additional loads they were going to have to deal with. Krantz knew all this but still held his breath as the pilot settled them down on the roof. The pilot didn’t trust it either since he didn’t seem to want to stop the rotors until he’d sat there a minute making sure the landing pad wasn’t going to collapse beneath them.
The grizzled old Seabee in charge of the operation was standing on the roof waiting for them when they climbed out. Krantz and his team of guards, medical and administrative types all followed the Seabee over to the edge of the roof to look down at the city of Columbia below. The streets surrounding the building were teeming with mobs of Zombies screeching their heads off. The roar of their lust rising up like the sounds of waves crashing onto a rocky shoreline during a storm. It must always be like this with all the activity taking place here. The Zombies below in a permanent state of distress at having uninfected humans right at the edge of their perception.
A pulley system had been rigged between the buildings. It was being used to move supplies from one building to another. It looked like it was stable enough to transport people between the buildings as well. Looking down at the upturned faces of the damned on the streets below he shuddered at the thought of having to ride some sort of rope pulley over all of that. If the system broke, you better hope the fall killed you because otherwise you were going to be lying on the street below with a bunch of broken bones being eaten alive.
The Seabee gave them plenty of time to check out the pulley system and the moat of Zombies. Once they’d taken it all in, he led them through a door down a staircase into the actual building. The first thing Krantz noticed was the lights were on. He pointed that out and their guide answered at once. Krantz realized that was probably a question the guard got all the time if he was typically one of the tour guides when VIPs came through.
“Yes sir. One of the first things we did was rig up some solar cells to the electric panels and get power going for the top five floors of the building. Everything below the top five floors we blocked off with solid steel doors to keep the Zombies out. We could’ve probably cleared a few more floors but I didn’t see the need. I don’t think we can get enough supplies up here to really justify that much open space. If we do need more room later, we can always gas the next few floors below.”
“Outstanding.” Krantz responded before launching into more questions. He knew he was eventually going to get called on the carpet and asked about why he’d invested so much in this effort. He wanted to make sure he had his answers ready to go. He was also genuinely curious of what others thought about the feasibility of this idea. He wanted the honest feedback of the ones working on the project as they’d obviously be the ones who would’ve put the most thought into it. He didn’t want to get stuck in the age-old trap of his men only telling him what they thought he wanted to hear.
It turned out most of the people assigned to this project had thought it was a waste of effort at first. Now after they’d been working on it for a little while they were starting to see the potential. The biggest issue being the logistics of getting supplies up here. They had ideas around that as well though. If they could rig up bridges between all the buildings and get someone who understood gardening, they felt like they could setup some systems with minimal dirt needed to grow food. Evidently, they were looking to model it after what a few of them had seen at Epcot down in Orlando. They explained it to Krantz as giant carrots growing in midair that they’d seen in an exhibit of how to grow food in the future. Krantz had never seen the exhibit himself but he got the gist of what they were talking about. Like most of the ideas for building a rooftop utopia it led to fifty more problems to solve but it was a step in the right direction.
The floors had been cleaned out of items not immediately needed with everything moved down to the lowest secured floor for storage. They’d considered just throwing everything over the side that they didn’t need but considering what a pain in the ass it was to get supplies up to the base they opted to keep everything whether they had an immediate need for it or not. They walked past a small room with a guy actually entering data into a computer. Krantz stopped to see what the man was doing. The man was just entering data into a spreadsheet for inventory purposes. It may not be a powerful use of computing but just seeing someone casually tapping away on a keyboard was a nostalgic moment for the team. A little bit of normalcy returned to their crazy lives. The man looked up and awkwardly waved at the large group of people he found suddenly staring at him.
The ladder they’d seen getting delivered was going to be used to connect to the closest building to provide an easier way of moving supplies and people. The pulley system worked but was cumbersome and slow. No one really loved dangling over the Zombies for long periods of time either. The Zombies themselves were what made the concept so great. With those demons swarming around the base of their base they were well protected from any sort of ground attack. They were highly vulnerable to an air attack though which was something the northern forces were fully capable of. Krantz made a mental note to work on getting them some air defense systems.
Water was being collected from the rain in large tanks that’d already been in place on the roof. They had a couple of men looking at how to connect those tanks to the plumbing system to allow for actual running water in the building. Altogether the place was starting to sound like a paradise if they could get past the north sending planes to blow it up. Krantz hated that he had to contend with being at war with other uninfected when they were still barely surviving the war against the infected. This base would be the perfect model for moving forward for humanity to survive the scourge of the infected if they didn’t have to contend with other humans attacking them. The irony there being that it was his own side who was picking the fights and starting the wars. Everyone else in the country was focused on surviving. The Senator was focused on consolidating power.
Krantz continued to ask
questions trying to understand how hard it would be to use this concept in a few more cities like Atlanta. Right now, they had to constantly relocate camps and settlements since the Zombies eventually rooted them out and attacked no matter how well hidden the and quiet the people in the camps were. If they could build these cities in the clouds all over the place, then the people could stay in one place without fear of being attacked. That one place would inevitably be surrounded by Zombies but as long as it was high enough in the air there was no real concern there. The main issue being how did they get food and other supplies to the people in the cities? How did they get the people out of the cities to go do their jobs? They couldn’t have all their looters stuck at the top of a building when they needed them out in the real-world looting to supply the buildings.
Krantz announced they’d be spending the night at the base and more than likely staying a couple of days if nothing came up in the meanwhile. He wanted time to really think through all the ramifications of this project. It could really turn out to be a game changer. He just hoped Roberts didn’t do anything to piss off the armies in the north before he had a chance to work out all the details on how to defend these places.
Krantz lay in bed cooled by a ceiling fan rotating magically above him. He’d been given a corner suite with a huge king bed to rest in. Despite the obscene amount of comfort, he still found himself lying awake late into the night. His mind kept working over the logistical and strategic challenges and opportunities of this concept. A strange feeling flickering in the back of his subconscious. Right before he finally fell asleep, he was able to identify that odd feeling. It was hope. Something he hadn’t felt in a really long time. He needed to fan that little spark of hope into a fire to help him through the darkness he sensed lie ahead.
Chapter 16: Apocalyptic Staycation
Kelly stared at the pitiful pile of supplies she’d stacked in the hallway outside the bedroom they’d been camped out in. She had a box she’d filled with her bandage and ace wrap collection sitting next to a couple of large Ziploc bags filled with random medications. Some of it was in the original containers but a lot of the pills were just loose. She thought she knew what most of the loose ones were, but they’d managed to get unsorted on her a few times in all the commotion. She knew the best thing to do at some point would be to just toss the ones she wasn’t sure about. Especially the ones she’d snagged from Rodriguez after he overdosed.
They had enough ammunition to defend themselves against a few Zombies if they needed to. If the Brotherhood showed up with real weapons, then they were going to be in a world of hurt. They only had enough rounds for a gunfight if it lasted less than three minutes. Any longer than that and they’d be tossing rocks and harsh words at their attackers. Randy summed it up by announcing that a troop of cub scouts armed with nerf bows could kick their asses at this point. Half their fighters were on the injured list and the other half had very limited supplies to actually fight with.
Thanks to the rain pouring down throughout the first few days of their stay at the home they had plenty of water at least. Kelly had used her time on watch to find anything and everything in the house that looked like it could hold water. She’d set every single one of those containers on the porch then had everyone empty the containers into the tubs in the home as they got full. The result was a few bathtubs full of nice fresh rainwater. At least it was nice and fresh the first few days. It was starting to look a little gross at this point. She probably should’ve spent more time cleaning out the vases they’d used to collect the water.
She needed to go on a supply run. She knew there was a Walmart up the street, and she knew they had a working car parked at the other house. Over the last few days they’d seen a grand total of one Zombie in the area. It’d wandered in off the main road, walked around for about an hour, then wandered back to the main road and disappeared. Other than going out for the water on the back porch they’d been able to stay inside the house the entire week so far. Randy kept complaining his wound itched which Kelly had read was a good sign. Kyler was sitting up now and joking around with the rest of them. He could stand up and move around, but he limped pretty bad. His fever had finally broken. Kelly was starting to think he might actually live.
She really wanted to spend another week at the house resting to get everyone back to as close to a hundred percent as possible. The open road was a dangerous enough place when they were all healthy and well-armed. She needed everyone in their party to be able to pull their own weight. Kyler was probably the best fighter in the group. Unfortunately, he was also currently the sickest. At the rate he was recovering though Kelly really thought a week or two more may do the trick. It wasn’t like they really had anywhere to be anyway. Kyler had told them everything he knew about the aircraft carrier they were looking to get into action up north. It sounded like a pipe dream to Randy and Kelly. Especially when Kyler admitted he’d never even seen the ship.
The only reason Kelly could think of to hurry was that the Brotherhood was expanding. They were still way too close to Atlanta for comfort. The Brotherhood had already taken Tennessee and now they were moving into South Carolina. She didn’t want to be caught up in that net again. The faster they could get up into North Carolina or Virginia the better. If there really was an aircraft carrier loaded up with enemies of the Senator, she’d be happy to jump on board. If not, she’d be just as happy to head west. She was sure they could find some place nice and remote they could settle down and try to build an actual life.
She knew they couldn’t head too far north. They’d managed to piss off the regime up there as well. It was either going to be North Carolina or Virginia or head west for them. She was just so tired of running. Even being stuck inside this house drinking water with stuff floating in it while the bedroom slowly started smelling like a giant armpit was nicer than the constant running that they were forced into on the road. She’d loved that they’d started to fall into routines. They had a bedtime and a story time and were doing some normal things with minor modifications like playing hide and seek without counting out loud.
Remembering the last time that she’d gone off on her own without a plan she called the adults together in the living room to talk. She laid out her thoughts on staying in the house another couple of weeks. She casually mentioned that they needed supplies. She told them all there was plenty of gas left in the car she’d used previously. When she was done with her piece she stopped talking and waited for the discussion.
“Sounds like a plan to me. You don’t think we should check the local houses for supplies first before driving into town though?” Kyler asked.
“There’s only one house here we haven’t checked. We know the dead cat house doesn’t have any food left in it.” Caitlyn said.
“We could run check the last house tonight.” Myriah said. “Maybe it has enough stuff in it to keep us going for another couple of weeks. Worse case it’ll have something in it we can use. It’s not like it’s far or something. Definitely worth checking before mom decides to drive back into Zombie town to grab all the canned beans she can get.”
“Yeah. That bedroom smells bad enough already. If you bring home a bunch of beans you better bring an equal number of cans of Febreze.” Randy joked. Everyone courtesy chuckled except Kelly who didn’t look amused. She was thinking they really could use a crate or two of Febreze. The apocalypse just plain smelled bad. There were a lot of things that sucked about the end of the world, but she could honestly say that the smell was one of the top ten things for her. Everything smelled like mold. Unless there were dead bodies in the mix then it smelled like mold and death.
Kelly thought she’d love to find a can of Febreze. She’d happily snort the contents she was so desperate to get away from the stench of the new normal. It sounded like a consensus was being reached on checking out the last house in the neighborhood before making the trek back into town again. That made sense. She honestly couldn’t remember at this point why they hadn’t gone to c
heck out the other house already anyway. She vaguely recalled it having something to do with the other house looking like it’d already been broken into.
A few hours later as the sun went down her and Caitlyn were prepping to go hit the house down the street. They’d emptied their packs out so they had room to shove in whatever supplies they could find. They each had a full magazine in their rifles and another in their pistols. That left enough for Randy and Kyler to have full magazines in their pistols and for Myriah to have about half. Once they ran through that ammunition they’d be completely out until they found some more. Kelly was hoping the house they were fixing to check may have been owned by a hunter. They were in rural South Carolina, so it was a distinct possibility. You didn’t get much more red neck than the area they were in.
“Be careful. If it seems off just come right back.” Randy told Kelly after she gave him a quick kiss. He’d argued that he should be the one going since he was fine enough now to hold a gun. Kelly had vetoed him though since he wasn’t so great at picking up and carrying stuff still. The whole point of this mission was to go somewhere to pick up and carry as much stuff as possible.
Zombies! (Book 6): Hold The Line Page 14