Bobby G says, “I’ll go with you. I would like to see World of Trade. When are you going?”
Shaun looks at me.
“We will go shortly. I want to bring some of this stuff inside and go through it. Let’s plan on leaving in three hours.”
Shaun says, “Great. I’ll be ready. We can take my jeep.”
Shaun walks back over to his house.
“I’m going to take some of this stuff inside my house. I’ll see you guys later,” says Matt.
Phil and Nicole exit Matt’s house.
Matt sees Phil and Nicole standing out front of his house.
“This isn’t good,” I say to Jon as I see Matt looking at Phil and Nicole.
Matt looks at Phil and Nicole and walks inside his house.
Matt doesn’t say anything to Phil and Nicole.
Nicole and Phil look at each other and then place the objects they are holding in Phil’s truck that he parked in front of Matt’s house.
I look at Phil and ask, “You guys all moved in?”
Nicole says, “Not quite, but we will be. This is the last couple of boxes. You guys should come over later for a little get together.”
“Sounds good. I’m sure we will stop by.”
Phil looks at me and says, “We will see you later.”
Phil starts up his truck.
Nicole gets into Phil’s truck, and Phil drives to his house.
Bobby G looks at all the gear and supplies that we got from our run today.
“Nice, I’m taking one of these fishing rods. I’ll catch us some fish,” says Bobby G.
Bobby G and I use to fish when I was younger. We didn’t catch that many fish, but we always had a good time.
“Sounds good dad. Let’s get these things inside and see what we got.”
Jon, Bobby G, and I bring most of the items in my house.
“I left a couple coolers in the truck, but this is the majority of the stuff we got from the store,” says Jon.
“Awesome, let’s separate the items into stuff we want to keep and what we can trade.”
Lauren walks over to me and sees the huge pile of gear, supplies, and products.
“Damn, you guys made out,” says Lauren.
Bobby G says, “I’ll see you later for our trip to World of Trade.”
“Okay, we will leave in about two hours.”
Bobby G exits my house and walks over to his house.
Lauren picks up a pair of black yoga pants.
Jon says, “We got some good stuff today. I can’t believe that store wasn’t touched. I guess people didn’t see the sense in looting a small mom and pop sporting goods store.”
“Yeah, most people wouldn’t think to get some supplies at a sporting goods store. They had tons of useful items though.”
I grab some supplies and start to make a pile of items that I want for myself.
Jon grabs some items for himself and Kelly.
Keith walks into the living room and sees the large pile of items we have.
“Hello, what do you guys have there?” asks Keith.
Keith walks over to me and sees a case of water.
Keith picks up the case of water and asks, “You mind if I have this?”
Before I can answer, Keith exits the living room and walks into his bedroom with the case of water.
Lauren looks at me and we both laugh.
“Good ole Keith. He cracks me up,” I say to Lauren with a smile on my face.
About an hour goes by, and we finish separating the items into piles that we are keeping and items that we are willing to trade.
“Let’s make a couple lists of our items and leave room for what people might like to have,” I say to Jon with a half-smile on my face.
Jon laughs and asks, “You serious or just messing with me?”
“I’m serious. I want to make a list of our tradeable items. Stuff we can trade at World of Trade, with William, and with Channelside. Bartering is how we will get some good stuff around here.”
Jon says, “Good idea.”
Lauren hands Jon a notebook and Jon starts to make an inventory of our trade items.
CHAPTER 3
HERE WE GO
“Sir, they just landed,” says a man over the radio to Rich.
Rich replies over the radio, “Thank you. I will be right there.”
Rich takes out a bottle of scotch and a drinking glass from the bottom drawer of his desk.
Rich pours some scotch in his glass, looks at the glass, and says, “Here we go.”
Rich drinks the scotch, puts the empty glass on his desk, and exits his office.
It’s an overcast and cloudy morning at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
The base is busy and getting more crowded every day.
A huge C-130 military transport aircraft sits in a hanger.
The back hatch of the C-130 opens.
Rich drives his sedan right up to the C-130 plane.
Rich looks at the huge aircraft and says to himself, “I guess they mean business.”
Rich exits his sedan and walks over to another MacDill employee.
Ramano, who is standing next to his helicopter, watches Rich walk over to the large C-130 aircraft.
Several soldiers, military personnel, medical personnel, and government agents exit from the C-130 plane.
Rich sees the military personnel exit from the plane and shouts, “Everyone, please make your way over here to get checked in! We need to check you in, before you leave the hanger!”
The soldiers look at Rich and put their bags on the ground.
Rich’s team from MacDill start to check the personnel that exited from the aircraft.
“Who’s in charge here?” shouts a male dressed in green military fatigues as he exits the back of the C-130.
Rich sees the man exit from the aircraft and starts to walk towards the man.
“You must be Captain Bailey,” says the man.
“Yes sir,” replies Rich.
“Well, I’m Lieutenant General Swartz. This is Colonel Meyers, Commander Pine, and Major Hoffmann,” says Lieutenant General Swartz.
Rich says, “Nice to meet you all. Let’s get you all checked in and then we can talk in my office.”
Lieutenant General Swartz with a condescending tone says, “Whatever you say captain. We are all yours.”
Rich takes Lieutenant General Swartz and his group to get checked in and then takes them back to his office.
“How was your flight? Where did you come from?” asks Rich as he enters his office with Lieutenant General Swartz, Colonel Meyers, Commander Pine, and Major Hoffmann.
Commander Pine says with her Chicago accent, “We came from Texas. Our flight was good.”
“Good, do you need anything? Anyone want a water or anything?” asks Rich.
Major Hoffmann says, “I’ll take a water, if you have one.”
“No problem. Anyone else?” asks Rich.
Commander Pine and the rest of the group declines a bottle of water.
Rich calls for Rebecca to bring some bottled waters in for everyone.
“Where will we be staying?” asks Commander Pine.
Rich replies, “Well, ma’am. We can put you up in a secure room on base for now until we finish clearing out a condo building nearby.”
Colonel Meyers says, “We can have our kill team clear out the building in a matter of hours.”
“Your kill team?” asks Rich.
Lieutenant General Swartz interrupts, “We can worry about our lodging later. Let’s talk about your setup around here. What you have for us, my team, and our personnel.”
Rebecca comes in Rich’s office with some bottles of water and some bags of pretzels.
“Thank you, Rebecca,” says Rich as Rebecca hands out the bottles of water.
Colonel Meyers takes note of Rebecca and seems interested in her.
Rebecca hands Colonel Meyers a bottle of water.
Colonel Meyers with his so
uthern accent says, “Thank you, Rebecca. Where are you from?”
Rebecca nervously replies, “I’m from here. My husband and I are from here.”
Colonel Meyers gives Rebecca a creepy smile.
Rebecca finishes handing out the bottles of water and hurries out of Rich’s office.
Rich sees the interaction with Colonel Meyers and Rebecca and becomes annoyed.
“I want to make one thing clear. This base is mine. I run things here. I will provide you with what you need while you are here, and within reason,” says Rich with a stern tone of voice.
Rich stares at Colonel Meyers and says, “Please treat me, my staff, and my personnel with respect and dignity.”
Colonel Meyers senses Rich staring at him and says with a sarcastic tone of voice, “Yes, sir.”
“My name is Captain Bailey, but you can all call me Rich,” says Rich.
“Thank you, Rich. We are happy to be here,” says Major Hoffmann.
“Are you done Captain Bailey?” asks Lieutenant General Swartz.
“Yes, I’m done. I just wanted to get that off my chest,” says Rich.
Lieutenant General Swartz replies, “Good. Well, we are happy to be here. Texas was too damn hot. General Godfrey gave me the direct orders for our trip here. We are to start project Weaponize, clear out the streets of Tampa Bay, evaluate and secure all viable resources around here, and neutralize all threats.”
“What is project Weaponize? What does that consist of?” asks Rich.
Lieutenant General Swartz replies, “We will get to that. I have a whole file on it, but Commander Pine knows more about project Weaponize than all of us.”
Rich looks at Commander Pine.
Commander Pine says, “Thank you, Lieutenant General Swartz. My team and I developed a possible way to control the dead. A team of scientists and I have had some success with controlling the dead with sound waves and an implanted device Dr. Yen developed in Maryland.”
“Are you serious? You want to control zombies?” asks Rich.
“We want to learn more about them,” says Commander Pine.
“We need them gone, not kept alive,” says Rich.
“I agree, Rich. We need them all gone,” says Major Hoffmann.
Major Hoffmann asks, “How are the streets of Tampa Bay? I have a lot of family around here still.”
“They are safe overall. We have some rough spots, but nothing too crazy. Like for a project reset or anything,” says Rich.
Colonel Meyers looks at Rich and asks, “What do you know about project Reset?”
Rich hesitates to answer as he is being stared at by everyone in the room.
“I have heard places in the northeast being blown up and destroyed under the project Reset order,” says Rich.
Colonel Meyers looks at Lieutenant General Swartz with a concerned look.
“How is the rest of the U.S. doing? I have heard bad things about parts of the U.S.,” says Rich.
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” says Colonel Meyers.
Rich looks directly at Colonel Meyers and says, “I never do, but I have to make sure Tampa Bay stays safe and protected.”
“That’s why we are here Captain Bailey,” says Lieutenant General Swartz.
Suddenly, Rich’s satellite phone rings.
RING! RING!
Rich looks at the phone.
Rich picks up the phone and says, “Captain Bailey speaking.”
“Hello, Captain Bailey. This is General Godfrey. Please put me on speaker,” says General Godfrey over the phone.
Rich puts his satellite on speaker.
“Go ahead General Godfrey,” says Rich.
“Welcome everyone. I hope you all made it safe and sound to Tampa. Fort Hood, Goodfellow, and Texas are in better shape since you and your personnel were there,” says General Godfrey.
“Thank you, sir. Texas should be secure for awhile now,” says Lieutenant General Swartz.
“Now, Captain Bailey, Lieutenant General Swartz is my contact there. I will contact him every week unless there is a problem that we need to connect more frequently. His team of Commander Pine, Colonel Meyers, and Major Hoffmann are there to secure Tampa Bay, initiate project Weaponize, and report back to me,” says General Godfrey.
Rich tries to reply but is interrupted by General Godfrey.
“I will not be coming to Tampa Bay anytime soon. They are my eyes and ears down there. Project Weaponize is very important for the future of the United States,” says General Godfrey.
Commander Pine puts a large folder on Rich’s desk that has the word of WEAPONIZE on the cover.
Rich looks at the folder.
“Now, I trust that you all can get along. I am counting on you. The government is counting on you. The world is counting on you,” says General Godfrey.
“We won’t let you down sir,” says Rich.
General Godfrey says, “I have faith in you. Please take me off speaker and give the phone to Lieutenant General Swartz.”
Rich takes the phone off speaker and hands the phone to Lieutenant General Swartz.
Rich look at the folder that Commander Pine put on his desk and opens the folder.
Commander Pine walks around Rich’s desk and over to Rich.
“In the folder, we have details about project Weaponize. We are trying to get fresh kills, but still have the brain intact. We have had some success in Maryland, but the lab was destroyed,” says Commander Pine.
Rich looks at the papers in the folder and then comes to a picture.
Commander Pine says, “Doctor Yen and his team have had some success, but we need to continue to improve on the science and techniques we are using. We had some great scientists, doctors, and leaders in Maryland and D.C. working on this project. Project Weaponize is a three-phase program, the folder has details for all three phases.”
Rich picks up the picture in the folder and sees that the person in the picture is a teenage boy.
“Who is this?” asks Rich.
Commander Pine replies, “That is Edward. He was our first successful zombie that we were able to control. He is here on base now. We were able to save some of our subjects during our travels.”
Major Hoffmann says, “I don’t like being in the planes with those things. They freak me out. They just stare at you from inside their cages.”
Commander Pine looks at Major Hoffmann and says, “Don’t go killing anymore of my subjects again. Good subjects are hard to find.”
Rich is taken back by the picture and what Commander Pine is saying.
Commander Pine looks at Rich and sees that he has a troubled look on his face.
“You okay Rich?” asks Commander Pine.
Lieutenant General Swartz hangs up the phone with General Godfrey and hands Rich back the phone.
“We all good here?” asks Lieutenant General Swartz.
Rich doesn’t say anything and is trying to process all this new information.
“You okay Rich?” asks Commander Pine.
Rich puts the picture of Edward down on his desk.
Rich snaps out of his daze and says, “Yeah. I’m okay.”
“Good, now let’s see where you are putting us up around here,” says Lieutenant General Swartz.
Rich says, “I’ll meet you down stairs in the lobby.”
Commander Pine, Major Hoffmann, Colonel Meyers, and Lieutenant General Swartz exit Rich’s office.
Rich takes a deep breath and tries to gather his thoughts. He can’t stop thinking about the dangers that this new project poses to himself, MacDill, and Tampa Bay.
Rich looks at the picture of Edward and sees that Edward has some metal device electrode around his head, his eyes are bloodshot, and he’s clearly a zombie.
“Are they really trying to control the dead?” asks Rich to himself.
Rich’s radio gets a call.
“Sir, we have a problem in hanger six with the new arrivals. We need your assistance now,” says a female caller on the
radio.
Rich replies, “I’ll be right there. Call security if you need it.”
“Already did sir,” replies the female caller.
Rich exits his office and locks the door to his office.
Rich walks down to the lobby and walks towards Commander Pine.
“Everything okay Captain Bailey?” asks Colonel Meyers.
“We have a problem with your personnel,” says Rich to Commander Pine.
Rich, Commander Pine, Lieutenant General Swartz, Major Hoffmann, and Colonel Meyers get into Rich’s sedan.
“I bet it’s with your guys. They are always starting trouble no matter where we go,” says Major Hoffmann to Colonel Meyers.
“Probably, they are always looking for an excuse to use their weapons and kill people,” says Commander Pine.
“My team gets the job done. They do the dirty work that no one wants to do,” says Colonel Meyers.
Rich arrives at hanger six and he sees an altercation between several soldiers.
Rich, Major Hoffmann, and Colonel Meyers exit Rich’s car and run over to where the altercation is taking place.
“What is going on?” shouts Rich.
A large soldier that came off the C-130 plane punches one of the soldiers from MacDill.
“That’s enough!” shouts Rich.
BANG!
Rich fires a warning shot into the air.
Everyone stops fighting and looks at Rich.
Colonel Meyers shouts, “Marines! Over here!”
Major Hoffmann shouts, “Rangers! Over here!”
Rich walks over to his soldiers and security personnel.
“What happened?” asks Rich.
“They didn’t want to be checked in, and they just started getting physical with everyone here,” says Ramano.
“Is everyone okay?” asks Rich.
“Gills took a couple punches, but we are okay,” says a female MacDill soldier.
Rich walks over to Gills and says, “Get over to sick bay and get checked out. Make sure nothing is broken.”
Gills says, “Yes, sir.”
Rich looks at Colonel Meyers and sees that Colonel Meyers is smiling.
Rich walks over to Colonel Meyers and asks, “Do we have a problem here? Are your men out of control?”
Colonel Meyers doesn’t like Rich’s tone of voice and what Rich just said.
“Excuse me, Rich!” shouts Colonel Meyers.
Fight 4 Us (Book 7): Weaponize Page 3