The Event (Book 1): Survival (4 page)

Chapter 4

Aug. 30, 2020

              After my morning cup of coffee, I headed up to the bridge for an update.

              "Morning everyone. Any news overnight?" I asked as I walked in.

              "Just a few infected trying the wall again, but no damage or injuries reported. It was a small group." reported to OOD.

              After confirming no other issues, I went down to grab some breakfast before heading out to the pier. I stopped by my quarters on the way for my swords. I liked to be armed anytime I left the ship. The galley was actually fairly quiet this morning, not too many people up and about this early.

              I nodded to the guards on the elevator as I walked out and down the stairs to the pier. It was cool for a late summer morning. No clouds meant it would probably heat up quickly, and miserably again. I took one of the electric carts and headed towards the cruisers. I could see the supplies being transferred from the carrier to the small trains we had and it looked like it was going well. One train was already by the cruisers, almost fully unloaded.

              "Morning sir." said the officer in charge of the loading. He was marking items off a list on his clipboard as they were loaded onboard, and kept track of what went to which ship. A daunting task, I'm sure, but he handled it well.

              "Looks like things are going smoothly. It's Jimmy, right?" I asked as I approached. I tried to remember names as best I could.

              "Yes sir, Jimmy Cook."

              "How are we looking? I would like to get these fully loaded today. If we could do it by noon, I would like to cast off by two."

              "I believe that's possible sir, but it would be close. Inspection crews are checking out all the ships systems, making sure they are all operational. If they find any problems, we may have to switch ships."

              "True. Just keep it up, I'm not too worried if we get started first thing tomorrow morning." I said.

              Jimmy nodded, and I got back in my cart and headed for the gate. It had been a few weeks since I had actually toured the base grounds, it was about time I did again. Heading out the pier gate, I turned right to check in with the gate guard first. The western gate was our primary gate, so it seemed to attract the most attention. I could see the wall stretching off into the distance, with the towers every so often. We also had teams patrolling the fence on foot, horse, or cart. We constantly had eyes on every part of the fence, to make sure those things didn't break through.

              After checking with the gate captain and being informed that no issues had been reported, I then headed out to the small farm we had, followed by the livestock farm. All seemed well with everyone, other than it was difficult to grow anything. Several small gardens spread around the base were doing ok though. That was expected of course, this ground wasn't exactly farm friendly. The chickens seemed to be doing well at least.

              I then turned and headed back towards the ship. It was getting close to noon and I wanted to check on the progress of the loading. I also needed to get that volunteer list from Roger and see if everyone who volunteered was capable. I passed through the northern gate of the pier and made my way back towards the ship.

              Leaving my cart near the aft elevators, I headed up to the Operations office. I walked in and Roger looked up from his reports.

              "You managed to get quite a few volunteers yesterday. I know you were only looking for 20, but I had over 50 sign up. Here is the list, and skills sheets on everyone. Would you like to choose the ones going?" Roger asked, handing me a stack of papers.

              "That's a lot more than I expected. How many of them are good with a sword? Ammo is going be in short supply for this mission, so they will need to be at least decent."

              "That would be most of them actually. I have been training people as often as I can, and a few are almost as good as you or me. I think one or two might even be better." Roger said, chuckling.

              "Good. They are going for sure then. I'll go over this list, and pick the ones going. I'll be in my office if you need me. I'll make my decision soon." I said. I headed out of his office and up to the bridge.

              "OOD, I want the cruisers loaded today and ready for cast off at 0800 tomorrow. I will be making my decision on the volunteer list for the ground crews shortly. Please make sure all preparations are completed tonight. I'll be down in my office." I expected the orders would be passed on and everything would be set. I then headed down to my office.

              The first thing I looked at was if any of these men had families. I checked everything from marksmanship scores, any skills they had, and sword competency from Roger. It looked like most of them would be qualified for this mission and survive easily. I spent the next 2 hours looking them over, debating, and finally chose the final 20, with five backups on each team, just in case. I called the bridge to have them paged to the conference room, and went to inform them they were going.

              As I walked in 20 minutes later, I saw most of them there already. Another ten minutes and the last of them showed up.

              "Now that everyone is here, let's get started. First off, I wanted to say thank you all for volunteering. This should be a fairly easy mission overall, but I want everyone to be safe. You were all picked on several criteria. First, while many of you are excellent sharpshooters, you are all also proficient with a sword. Since we don't know how strong the infected presence is up there, and ammo is going to be in short supply for you, plenty of swords will be available. I don't want anyone firing a gun if you can help it, to help keep them off of you as much as possible. Your job will be to watch and protect the engineers as they are installing the solar panels and such, and the demolition guys as they place the charges to blow the bridges. This is not a seek and destroy mission yet, this is strictly a securing the borders mission. Does anyone want to change their mind? Now is the time." I said. Not one hand went in the air. They all just looked at each other, and at the provided notes and maps scattered around the table.

              "Alright. Well, enjoy your night tonight, any of you that were on patrol tonight are excused. The ship cast off is at eight am sharp, make sure you're on them. The loadmaster will be on the pier between the ships at seven am to let you know which ship you are boarding. Have a good night."

              They all went their own ways, hopefully to prepare themselves. I hoped the mission went well, and we could have this project wrapped up by Thanksgiving, or New Years at the latest. It would be nice to have actual farmland to plant some crops in next year. I gathered all of the notes and maps up and put them away, then went to my quarters and got ready for bed myself. It was a long day, and I knew I would be stressed the next few days until the ships came back. I set my alarm for six so I could see the ships off.

Aug. 31, 2020

              After a fitful sleep, six o'clock came early. I got up, took a quick shower, then dressed and headed out to the pier. Several of the volunteers were on their way at the same time. We walked together, no one really saying anything, but I could tell they were all mentally getting into the right mindset. That was good, and if they stayed sharp, they would stay alive. I heard the loadmaster yelling names out already, guiding each man to the proper ship so we knew where everyone was. I walked up to the loadmaster, who continued barking out names, and pointing to the appropriate ship. Once the last man was headed toward his appropriate ship, I nodded to the loadmaster, who simply nodded back then started back to the carrier. I waved to the ship captains who apparently got my message and were both walking down their gangplanks towards the pier. They both walked up to me, and I passed along the final orders to them.

              "Jack, I want you and the Port Royal to head through the bay on the east side. As you make your way north to the canal, measure the depth of the bay and the marinas if possible. I need depth charts for that whole area. You will also fortify the southern bridge, but do it last, on the return trip. Mike, you and the Leyte Gulf stay to the west. You will have the most bridges to take out or fortify, just don't get in a hurry. I want you all safe. If either one of you get a chance to take out some infected along the way, that's fine, but don't put yourselves at risk. I trust both of you to captain these ships and bring your crew home safe. Please don't prove me wrong." I said to them. I then shook both their hands, and watched them both walk back to their ships to finish preparations. Line crews were already in place to cast off the lines in just a little over an hour.

              I made my way back to the ship and walked up to the flight deck so I could watch the ships leave. I heard the unmistakable sound of boots on the flight deck behind me.

              "You are always like this, you know? You just have to watch them leave, don't you?" Jeff asked as he stepped up beside me.

              "I've watched out for this group for over two years now. I accepted the responsibility when I first presented my plan to you at the beginning. It doesn't stop now. This is the start of the final step in my plan for long term survival. After this is done I'll relax." I answered him. I saw Michelle come out of the tower hatch and start walking towards us too.

              "Now don't you start in on me too." I said to her as she joined us.

              "What? We can't watch the ships leave too? You know there will be more showing up shortly." Michelle told me. All three of us turned and looked at the ships.

              "I know. But at least we get first dips on a spot."

              "They're casting off." Jeff said. I looked, and sure enough the line crews were tossing the lines aside. I heard the horns sound, and the first ship started moving. Once it had turned and started moving forward towards the bay the second ship started moving. We watched until they had both cleared the bay and we couldn't see them anymore. All three of us turned then and headed back inside. Michelle and Jeff headed down the ladderwell while I went up to the bridge.

              "Admiral on deck." said the OOD as we stepped in.

              "At ease," I said, "Radio, I want constant contact with both ships. I want status updates every two hours while it's still daylight. If they go off course, or stop responding, I want to be notified immediately. Have the chopper crews prepare the birds, and be on ready ten."

              "Yes sir." I left the bridge and went to my office to check my maps one last time. I couldn't see any way to make this easier, or faster, so I let it go.

              I then walked out of my office and went to my quarters. I poured myself a small glass of what little whiskey I had left, and settled down on the couch. I sipped the alcohol and thought about what could go wrong. I finished my drink, then decided to walk around some instead. Stepping back into the bridge, I informed the OOD to page me with any status reports with problems, then I just roamed, up this hallway, down this ladderwell, up to the flight deck, down to the hangar bay. I stepped out onto the fantail, an outdoor area aft of the hangar bay. We used it for a fishing platform, and put the grills out there sometimes. We had acquired several really good grills on some of our raids.

              I stood there and enjoyed the breeze for a while, then decided to check the weather station again, I didn't like the look of some of those clouds. I walked up the nearest ladderwell to 03 Level, the deck just below the flight deck. I made my way to ready room 3, the weather station. I stepped in and motioned to the lead meteorologist, Jackson Cole. I asked him for an update, and he pulled some papers off a clipboard and motioned me to his office.

              "We've been monitoring a system to the southwest. It's not real strong, but we could get some rain from it. What I'm really watching is a tropical storm just north of Cuba, it could potentially turn into a hurricane and make its way up here. If it does, we might be in trouble." Jackson said.

              "How strong a possibility?"

              "For the hurricane, not much right now. The system close to us, I'm almost certain we will get some rain, probably the day after tomorrow."

              "Well, as long as it doesn't cause too severe of thunderstorms we should be fine."

              "I'll keep my eyes on it, and let you know if it strengthens."

              "Good. Keep it up guys." I said as left the room. I went back up to the flight deck and just stared across the bay. I decided that since I had a few hours of daylight left, I was going to down to the stables and ride a horse for a little bit. I hadn't taken advantage of that little past time in quite a bit, and I thought it would do my stress level some good. I turned and went in to change into some better riding clothes, and get my boots on. I rode one of the electric carts out to the stables and checked in with the stable manager, got my saddle, and picked a horse. I started out at a nice trot, and just rode around for a bit. Since I grabbed my blades, I decided to ride the fence line a little, just to check things out.

              I passed several patrols, nodding to or chatting with all of them, noticing no signs of stress or damage anywhere along the wall. The maintenance crews were really doing a good job. I had started to the east, which terminated in the ocean, and ended up at the main, western gate. I spoke with the gate guard captain, Commander Dustin Neal, who actually had quarters out there, so he was always close. Dustin was Jeff's son, but he had proven himself capable to lead, and he watched out for his men, so as far as I knew no one claimed favoritism when I made him guard captain.