Hidden (Final Dawn) (26 page)

     Hannah couldn’t resist. She and Mark had watched “Smokey and the Bandit” the night before.

     When the girls made their way back to Mark, he shut down the boiler and the group went to the electrical room.

     Bryan cut power to the building and it went black again. That was Brad’s signal to turn his miner’s light back on and shut down the generator.

     The entire group met up again where they’d split up originally, in the basement hallway outside the generator room.

     They left the building through the same door they’d entered, and met up with Sami in the feed barn.

     “Well, it’s about time y’all got back,” Sami chastised. “I’ve been freezing my ass off out here.”

     Brad grabbed her and spun her around.

     “Nope. It’s still there.”

     “Smart aleck.”

     Once in the tunnel and halfway back to the mine the crew finally began to warm up and shared notes while they walked. The girls made a list of things to fix, and it was all minor stuff. A few light bulbs that were out. Several dripping faucets. One minor leak under a kitchen sink.

     All in all, things were much better than expected. If there were any delays in their plans to move from the mine to the compound, it wouldn’t be because the building wasn’t ready to go.

     “So, what’s next?” Sarah asked.

     Bryan asked Mark, “What do you think about firing everything up a couple of weeks prior? We can actually put a couple of people over there. Move them in as an advance team, so to speak. They can monitor everything and actually live there for the last two weeks. Cook their meals there and everything. If there are any bugs, they’ll find them.”

     “Good idea. Let’s check with John to make sure the security people can monitor both areas at the same time. If they can do it, we’ll ask for volunteers. I’d volunteer with Hannah, but I don’t want to take Markie over there until we know everything is working and the place is warm. It’s going to take at least two full days to bring the inside temperature up to 70 degrees, remember.”

     Brad turned to Sami with a questioning look on his face. She shook her head yes.

     “Sami and I will do it.”

     Sarah spoke up.

     “Bryan and I will too.”

     “Thanks for volunteering me, sweetheart.”

     “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. We’ll have the place all to ourselves.”

     Sami corrected her.

     “Ahem.
Almost
to yourselves.”

     “Oh, please. You two will never leave your room. Let’s be real.”

     By the time they stepped out of the tunnel and into the mine, it was settled. In four weeks, Bryan, Sarah, Sami and Brad would move into the compound and make it their home. If nothing went wrong, then two weeks later, on April fifteenth, the rest would join them.

Chapter 43

      The next few weeks flew by. After seven long years in the mine, everyone was looking forward to being free again. But there were also some fears.

     They were worried about the millions of corpses on the outside. Not just humans, but mammals of every size and shape. The cattle that Rachel and Roxanne’s father had been scavenging just before he was shot. Deer, rabbits, even rodents. Within a square mile of their location there might be thousands of them, slowly rotting away.

     Some of the decomposition had already taken place, of course. In each of the previous three years, the temperatures in late spring and early summer had crept above freezing. Just a few days the first year, and almost sixty days the third. It was sufficient time for most of the corpses to thaw, and then rot to some degree before refreezing. So after three years of thawing, decomposing and then refreezing, most of the corpses were in varying stages of decomposition.

     Most, but not all. Hannah and Sarah, who were both scientists, shared a theory that many of the corpses had never thawed. That perhaps they were in various types of shelters, or in heavily wooded areas with heavy shade cover. And that maybe temperatures that never went above forty degrees, even for weeks at a time, never quite thawed the corpses enough to allow them to rot.

     They pointed out that even with daytime temperatures as high as sixty two degrees, the nights were sometimes frigid. Sometimes as low as thirty. And those low nighttime temperatures would inhibit thawing.

     It wasn’t just that they disliked corpses, although they obviously did.

     What they were more worried about was the possibility of airborne diseases, carried by microorganisms into the air on a windy day, then perhaps traveling miles before settling into the compound and being inhaled by someone.

     When they had the main building built in the compound, they disguised what they were doing by lying to the builder. They claimed to be representatives of a corporation in
California that specialized in the treatment of drug and alcohol addicts. They said the compound would be a rehab facility, and would house the rich and famous and their sons and daughters. The isolated location, they said, was for privacy and protection from the prying eyes of the press. And to isolate the patients from so-called “friends” who might further the addiction by smuggling in drugs or booze.

     Since these were well to do clients who were used to the very best, the builder was told, no expenses would be spared.

     And since some of their patients might suffer from allergies in this part of the country they weren’t used to, there must be a special feature to the building.

     It must be equipped with a hypoallergenic ventilation system.

     The builder had readily agreed, of course. Builders love add-ons. The more unusual the better, for with every add-on comes another reason to tack on additional profits.

     And so it was that the outside air drawn into the main building first passed through special filters that scrubbed it of all microorganisms as well as pollens. Air inside the building was also continually recycled through the same ventilation system.

     The only time anyone would be in danger would be when they were actually outside, and the temperature was above freezing.

     Hannah foresaw this too, and ordered twenty thousand surgical masks and four thousand pairs of latex gloves, which sat in storage containers in the back of Bay 24. It was probably overkill, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

     At one of their last group meetings in the mine, Hannah and Sarah explained the dangers of airborne disease to the group, and an unwritten law was agreed upon. For at least three years, anyone who ventured outside when the temperature was above freezing must wear a mask and gloves. It would be a pain in everyone’s side. But it would be better than a miserable death.

     The day after this meeting, it was time. Sarah, Bryan, Sami and Brad said their goodbyes, packed a few changes in clothing, and walked through the tunnel to the compound. Bryan and Brad restarted the generator and turned the power and water back on, and the four spent their days puttering around the building dusting, cleaning, and making minor repairs.

     Mark had already spent a day running Cat-5 wiring through the tunnel and across the ground of the compound. Inside the main building, he split the cable to install a telephone connection between the building and the mine’s security desk, a computer link to the mine’s computer system, and a very noisy alarm that could be heard throughout the building. It was loud enough to wake the heaviest sleeper in the middle of a deep slumber.

     The alarm would only be used if the security desk saw someone approaching the compound on one of their surveillance cameras. It would give the four people in the compound the option of either scrambling back to the mine, or arming themselves and preparing for battle.

Chapter 44

     On April 14th, the day before the big breakout, the tension was thick in the mine. So was the excitement. Sarah and Bryan had come for a surprise visit as the group sat down for breakfast. They told everyone that their new home in the compound was all cleaned up, the repairs had been made, and that it was toasty warm.

     They said the very best thing about living at the compound was that they could take hot showers as often as they wanted. And they had flushing toilets too.

     It was the simple things in life they had missed the most.

     Mark and David had spent several hours the day before working on the three reefer trucks just inside the mine’s entrance. The term “reefer” was a misnomer, of course. It implied that the trucks could only get refrigerator cold. In fact, the compressors on the front of each truck could go as low as twenty degrees, and that made the trucks ideal for storing the rest of the frozen meat and other food products in the mine’s walk-in freezer.

     Once they had the trucks working, they spent the rest of the previous day moving food from the freezer to the trucks. Now they were all loaded and ready to go. Their condensers were set to twenty four degrees, and would come on automatically any time the temperature rose above that, whether the truck was running or not. The trucks would be parked in the lot north of the main building, and would be monitored closely until all the food inside them was used up.

     Karen’s fruit and vegetable plants, and her small fruit trees, were carefully loaded into another small truck. This truck had no climate or temperature control. But it was a short journey to the greenhouses next door, so they didn’t expect any problems keeping the plants alive. If they were to die, Karen had plenty of seeds with which to start anew.

     Karen was happy to get a report from Bryan and Sarah that both greenhouses had weathered the freeze with just minor damage. She had been afraid that the snow packed on the roofs would collapse them over time, and render them absolutely useless. Bryan and Mark had put their heads together when they contracted for construction of the greenhouses, and they were adamant that the roofs be pitched at sixty degrees. That was considerably steeper than a normal greenhouse roof, but the builder complied and the brothers’ bet paid off. The roofs were so steep that the snow could not accumulate on them. Instead it rolled down the side and fell harmlessly to the ground below.

     “I was amazed,” Sarah told Karen. “We walked into the greenhouse and it was actually warm in there. I even took off my coat. And then I went into the back, where it’s double paned, your greenhouse within a greenhouse. The thermometer said seventy degrees. I thought it was broken until I felt so hot I had to loosen my collar.”

     Karen said, “Good. That’s where I plan to grow our tropical stuff. Soon we’ll be having oranges and lemons and grapefruits. As many as we can eat.”

     “I can’t wait.”

     That evening the elders called everyone together to offer a blessing, and to thank God for watching over them during the mine years. They also asked Him to continue to watch over them as they began life in their brave new world.

     When night came, no one slept much. They were like children on Christmas Eve. Full of hope and anticipation and excitement.

     The next morning, after breakfast, the elders asked everyone to go back to their RVs and take their suitcases and other belongings to the entrance to the tunnel.

     Mark’s Uncle Marty said, “We don’t want anyone to go over there until the livestock, plants, vehicles and food are moved over there. There will be trucks, tractors and all manner of other vehicles driving all over the compound by people who have not driven in seven years. We don’t want any accidents to happen.

     “Mark and Bryan will give the all clear when everything is in place, and then we’ll walk over through the tunnel. You will be given a pair of latex gloves and a surgical mask as you enter the tunnel. You must wear them until you get into the main building in the compound. Then they are to be taken off and disposed of.

     “If you can handle your own luggage, that’s great. If you can’t, put your name on it and we’ll have the young guys who think they’re strong come back for it. Those of you who need extra assistance, don’t be shy. Ask for it. We want to make sure that everybody makes it over there safely.

     “Any questions?”

     There were none.

     “Very well, then. Let’s get started.”

     It took several hours to move the vehicles over. Mark and David unloaded enough of the frozen food to fill up the four large chest freezers in the new kitchen. Then they parked the trucks side by side on the large parking lot on the north side of the building.

     The cattle were split into two equal herds and placed into one half of each of the barns. The pigs were divided the same way and placed in the other half of the barns. The chickens were divided between the two coops.

     The crawfish, catfish and perch were released into the pond. Mark hoped that the fish that were already in there before the freeze had found a way to survive. If they didn’t, then surely the new ones would.