Survivors (7 page)

Margaret, Janet, and the two boys hadn’t
found any survivors, but they were able to break
into Wynn’s and replenish our food supply. Margaret smiled as she said, “Bill and Stan stole a UHaul for us. I guess that makes me an accessory to
a crime. We took things that weren’t frozen or refrigerated. Tonight we’re serving chili and Raman
Noodle soup for dinner, and we found a couple of
wax-coated full wheels of an imported Swiss cheese
that seemed to be okay. There were a couple of
loaves of bread without any mold, and Jack and
Bobby wanted Hostess Twinkies for dessert. I told
them they could only have the Twinkies if they finished their dinners, and they promised. Isn’t that
right boys?”

In unison, Bobby and Jack promised again.

Stan and Bill had a successful day. They
found four gasoline powered generators by breaking into several hardware stores. Maybe we
wouldn’t need them if we found a way to quickly
tap into the solar field at the university, but we
would definitely need them to set up the solar array at the water filtration plant.

Margaret had interviewed each of the new
arrivals and then provided everyone with an updated spreadsheet with everyone’s skills. Margaret
was going to be worth her weight in gold, although
in our new world, gold probably wouldn’t have
much value.

Jessie, George and I updated everyone on
what we found at the university. Then George and
Jessie summarized our findings at the water filtration plant and at Opti-Solar. Our new arrivals
seemed to be delighted to have joined our little
group, and from Margaret’s spreadsheet, it seemed
we were growing in important skills.

Beth called us all to dinner. Our expanded
community filled all of the available space on
Blaine’s lanai. I watched Jack and Bobby devour
the chili and cheese, and as a reward they each
received two Twinkies. I tried one of the golden
cakes for dessert. I hadn’t had one in about twenty
years, and I had forgotten how good they were; and
then I remembered the center cream filling was
mostly pure lard and sugar. I decided to pass on
the second one.

After dinner, the technocrats, Jessie,
George, Bill, and Greg began pouring over the OptiSolar manuals and the water filtration plant drawings. Meanwhile, I grabbed a cold bottle of water
and found Josh. Margaret’s spreadsheet indicated
he was a butcher who worked at Publix.

We began talking about how we were going
to be able to procure fresh meat. “We get our meat
deliveries daily from a huge distribution center just
west of the Orlando airport. I know they have
backup power generators to keep the meat frozen
or refrigerated in case of a power failure. Maybe
they’re still working.”

“We can take a day trip up there to see if
anything is still good, but what about the long
term? What will we do when all that meat’s gone?”

Josh answered, “We’re going to have to find
a source of live beef, pork, and lamb. I know
there’re a lot of cattle farms in central Florida.
Maybe there’re some farmers who survived. If not,
we’re going to have to raise the animals ourselves.”

“Josh, how about you taking on the role of
fresh meat and produce supplier for the community? Figure out a plan, and then we’ll find a way to
make it happen.”

Josh considered my proposal. He looked
around the group as if searching for another person who might be better qualified. I could see he
was wrestling with the task, looking around our
group for help, but also understanding he was the
best person to make it happen. “I’ll try to put
something together for tomorrow. You need to understand, it’s not going to be some highfalutin strategic plan, but I’ll put my thoughts down on paper.”

“Josh, that’s all I can ask. Everyone just
needs to do the best they can. The good news is we
have a lot of skills now, and I believe we’ll be successful.”

The techies were still busy making their
plans. They had found some blank sheets of paper
and were making sketches. George was clearly the
lead expert, but Jessie, Bill, and Greg were also
busy drawing.
The kids had been pushed off to bed. Margaret had found a baby crib in an upscale specialty
store on Fifth Avenue for Carla, but she said she
would put it together when we moved up to the
university. All of Blaine’s guestrooms were now
full, and we were doubling up in the rooms with
twin beds.

Blaine was busy in his office. He was sipping a snifter filled with some port wine. He poured
me a glass, and I sat down on the easy-chair in the
corner of the room. Blaine sat down and turned his
desk chair toward me. “We stopped by the Naples
airport today. I found a small Piper Cub with a
short takeoff run. I’ll be able to land it on any twolane road. I think it’s time to expand our search.
The internet’s not working, but I checked the university campus out on my car’s navigation system.
There’s a straight stretch of road on the campus
about 3500 feet long. The Piper Cub needs about
3000 feet to take off. I’m going to fly the plane up
there tomorrow.”

“Great idea Blaine. While you’re up in the
air, how about flying down to Marco Island to see if
you can find any survivors there?”

“I’ll do that. Oh, and by the way, I stopped
at a marine supply store and found some hand operated bilge pumps with extra-long hoses. We
should keep one in each of our cars. We can use it
to pump gasoline from underground storage tanks
at gas stations.”

Blaine and I walked back out onto the lanai. The techies were done. George called everyone
over. “We’ve got two projects for tomorrow, and
we’re looking for volunteers. I’m going to be working on the solar array system at the university.
We’re going to try to redirect power from the engineering campus to North Lake Village. That’s
where we’re going to live.

“Second project is to work at the water filtration plant. We need to start it up as soon as
possible. Tomorrow we’ll be setting up solar arrays
to allow us to generate electricity and operate the
well pumps. We’re going to need people who are
mechanically inclined. Everyone who wants to help
on the water filtration project, talk to Bill or Jessie.
If you want to help out on powering up our apartments, see me.”

Greg, Patty, Stan, Frank, and Josh reported
to Bill and Jessie. Emily, Sally, Margaret, Janet,
Mary and Ruth walked over to see George. Beth
volunteered to take care of the kids. That left me
without a commitment. “I’m going to go back and
forth between the two projects, and if anyone
needs supplies, I’ll be the go to guy. Tomorrow,
Blaine’s going to fly his plane over to Marco Island
to look for survivors.”

With everything set for tomorrow’s activities, we all wandered off to our bedrooms for some
much-needed rest. Memories of the last few
months continued to invade my attempt to fall
asleep. I wondered if they would ever fade away. I
tried to think of something pleasant, something
from my childhood, but even that didn’t work. I
finally fell asleep wondering whether my ex-partner
Bruce was still alive.

Chapter 10

The kids had evidently gotten up early, because when I walked into the kitchen Beth and
Mary had been fixing pancakes for the boys. The
kids were doing well considering they had both lost
their parents. A psychiatrist could probably explain
it, but it seemed very strange to me. Were they just
in denial? We would all have to keep an eye on
them.

After breakfast the group heading up to the
university campus set out in a convoy. I sat in the
front seat of Mary’s car holding onto Carla, and the
two boys sat in the backseat with their seatbelts
fastened. We would have to get them some car
seats, and a trip to Target was probably in order.

As we turned into the campus, I saw Rebecca waiting in the same spot still hoping her
parents would show up. She waved as our convoy
pulled in the front entrance. I opened the car’s
window and introduced her to Mary and the three
kids. She squeezed into the backseat between the
two boys, and Mary followed her directions to
Building H in the university’s North Lake Village
residential area.

All of us piled out of our cars and looked up
at our new home. I introduced Rebecca to everyone, and she led our group into the residential
apartments. Rebecca said, “There’re only four
apartments with their doors open. We’re going to
have to break into the others. I’m not sure where
the school keeps the extra keys.”

Jack and Bobby ran down the hallway on
the first floor and explored every open door. Mary
yelled at them. “Boys, stay on this floor. I don’t
want you to leave the building.”

There was no indication the boys had heard
her or would obey; in some respects nothing had
changed. The rest of us explored the four apartments with unlocked doors. I looked at my fellow
survivors, and they all seemed pleased. I think this
place had exceeded all of their expectations. I noticed the hinges to the front doors of the apartments were located on the hallway side of the door.
That was good news because we could easily open
the locked doors by removing the hinge pins.

George pulled me aside. “Jim, why don’t
you and I get started on the solar power? Let the
others get settled in, and then as soon as I figure
out what we need to do, the others can help out.”

I announced George’s plan to the others,
and everyone agreed it would be an efficient use of
resources. Emily and Sally said they would work
with Rebecca to remove the hinge pins on the
locked apartments.

George and I arrived at the solar field, and
George jumped out of the car like a kid eager to
play with a new toy. I followed him around as he
inspected the solar panel arrays. After walking the
entire solar field, I asked, “Can you explain how
the thing works so a business major can understand?”

George smiled. “I’ll try Jim.” He pointed to a
small section of a solar panel. “Each of these little
photovoltaic cells produces electricity when exposed to sunlight. The voltage from these individual cells is combined, and this solar field has four
separate circuits.”

George led me to the end of one of the rows
of arrays and pointed to a box attached to a support rail. “This box combines all of the voltage produced by the photovoltaic cells in this one circuit.
The electricity then travels underground over to
this area.”

We walked toward a small fenced in area at
the edge of the solar field. Not unexpectedly, the
gate to the inside was locked. George continued.
“Inside this fence, the electricity from each array
goes thorough an inverter that converts the D.C.
voltage produced by the photovoltaic cells into A.C.
voltage. Then those transformers over there boost
the voltage up to several thousand volts. The higher voltage makes the transmission of the electricity
more efficient. The electricity then travels underground to wherever their energy plant is located.
That’s going to be our next stop.”

“George,” I said, “You’re a good man; I actually understood that.”
George laughed, “Maybe there’s hope for a
business major after all.”

We stopped at an information booth near
the entrance to the university and found a map of
the campus. There were two different energy plants
on the site. George said, “Let’s try the one closest
to the solar array. All things being equal, it would
make sense to keep the shortest distance to the
solar field.”

The main entrance to the energy plant was
unlocked, and the body of a man who must have
died several weeks ago lay on the floor near a reception desk. It was in the process of being devoured by a variety of insects and three large rats.
The rats looked at us with a total lack of concern.
Perhaps they now considered themselves at the top
of the food-chain. The smell from the decaying
flesh and half-devoured innards was overpowering.
Even after having seen dozens of dead people, this
was beyond what I could endure. My chest contracted violently, and I threw up onto the concrete
floor. George held on to me, and we quickly walked
past the lobby and into the main section of the
plant.

George said, “I think this is the right place,
but let’s go out back; I want to check something.”

Behind the backdoor to the energy plant
was a fenced in area. George pointed to a grouping
of transformers. “They’re just like the ones over at
the solar field. These transformers drop the high
voltage down to a safer level, probably 480 volts.”

“What’s special about 480 volts?” I asked.

“It’s a multiple of 120 volts, so by tapping
into the different wires you can get; 120, 240, 360,
or 480 volts. Some types of specialty equipment
use the higher voltages.”

We walked back inside the energy plant and
George spent some time searching for the plant’s
electrical schematic. He found it in a small room
off the main plant along with electrical drawings
for the entire campus. “We hit the jackpot,” George
said.

He took the power plant layout drawing
back into the main room, and the electrical schematic directed him toward a back corner. “Here’s
the key Jim. Electrical power from those transformers outside are routed to these controllers.
There are two electrical inputs; one’s from the solar
field and the other is from the Florida Power and
Light plant. The output goes to that distribution
panel over there. During the day the controller
takes power from the solar field and brings it to the
distribution panel. Any excess power goes over to
the Florida Power and Light grid. At night the controller takes power off the grid and brings it to the
distribution panel.”

“So what do we need to do to get power to
Building H?”

George pointed to his electrical schematic.
A section was labelled North Lake Village. He
walked fifty feet to his right and stopped at a distribution panel labelled North Lake Village. “Actually, it’s quite simple. All we have to do is run wires
from the output of the controller to the input of
this distribution panel. Of course we need to make
sure we’re not electrocuted in the process.”