The Event (Book 1): Survival (9 page)

              Once I got everything moved, I figured I had about an hour before everyone would be gathered. I decided to grab a quick drink from the last of my stash. I walked into my kitchen and poured a small glass of scotch, which was all I had left of it, and took it back to the conference room. I set my notes out, pulled the map up on the projector, and waited for everyone to show. One by one they filtered in. There was Dave, Jack from the Royal, Tony, Jeff, Jackson, Roger, and Dut. Michelle walked in with Jeff, and while I didn't actually invite her to this meeting, I figured she should hear it firsthand too.

              "Thank you all for coming. Jack, I know you just got back, and I appreciate you being here. I hope you all brought progress reports like I asked," I asked, looking around the table. After receiving nods and yeses from everyone, I continued, "Ok. The northern venture is underway, and all bridges have been secured or destroyed, thanks to Jack here, and Mike on the Leyte Gulf. Their crew and ground teams did a wonderful job, and no one got hurt. Now comes the serious part. The push to clear out the peninsula of infected so we can move in safely. As you can see from the map here, I have been searching for possible dens, but nothing seems to be jumping out here. I also, along with Roger's help, have sectored off grids to run search and destroy teams systematically, while keeping them to one day time frames. That way no one should be out after dark, without having a safe place to hole up. Stop me at any time if you have questions, need clarification, or see a better way. Ethan's group at the complex has decided to join us, and we have full use of the apartments as a staging point. We will fortify it, and the eastern teams will start from there."

              I went on to explain my plan in detail, getting ideas from them, modifying things when a better way was found. I took their recommendations for people to go on this mission, and told them what I wanted, and what was needed. We talked until almost midnight, then I dismissed them.

              "Jack, as of 0800, I am giving your crew a 48 hour pass, no duty, just rest and relaxation. They will run point on this, and I want them sharp. I know you keep them rotated well enough, but this is big, and I'm paranoid. The pass applies to you too, so take advantage of it." I told him as everyone started filtering out.

              "Yes, sir. I assume then you want all maintenance tasks put on hold until then?" he asked.

              "Yes, unless there is anything that just cannot absolutely wait, or can be done by 0800." He nodded and turned to walk out. Jeff and Michelle came up next and we chatted for a few minutes, then they left together. Roger stayed behind to help me pack the maps and notes up, and take everything back to the map room.

              "Alright man, that's everything. I'll see you in the morning to start all the prep. Have a good night." Roger said, then we both walked out. I wanted a shower and my bed. The next two days were going to be hectic and very, very busy.

              I stepped into my quarters, locked the door, and kicked my boots off in the living room. I sat there for a few minutes, just resting. I got up, unbuttoned my shirt and walked into the bedroom. Tossing my shirt in the direction of my laundry basket, I finished getting ready for bed, then turned off the light and laid down, passing into a fitful sleep.

Chapter 8

Sept. 5th, 2020

              I woke up groggily, heading for the bathroom, and then to the kitchen to make some coffee. As it brewed I sat on the couch and started reviewing the personnel files on the volunteers I had from earlier once more. As I was finishing my second cup, there was a knock at the door.

              "Enter." I said, refilling my coffee cup. Roger entered, tailing Jack from the Royal.

              "Morning fellas, what's up?" I asked, motioning to the coffee pot. Roger sat at the counter and filled a cup while Jack started arranging papers on the table.

              "I was reviewing the depth soundings from the bay, as well as sonar reports. I think I found something." Jack said, setting the papers out.

              "Roger, what time is it?" I asked. He turned and looked at the clock behind him.

              "Looks like 7:50, why?" he answered.

              "Jack, you have ten minutes to tell me whatever it is you need to tell me, then you are on 48 hours leave, remember? No working, only resting." I told him, grinning so it didn’t come across too harsh.

              "Yes, sir," he chuckled, then began, "In most of the bay, it's too shallow for the cruisers even to pull all the way in, but they could get close. There is no way the carrier could make it. But if you look here, there appears to be a trench, which opens into a deep hole, right here. It's more than deep enough to park the Nimitz at this pier, or what looks like a pier at least. I thought you might want to see that."

              I went and looked at the maps, saw where he was pointing. It did appear that it would be deep enough to get the carrier in there, which would be a huge bonus to this operation. As I reviewed the maps and notes, something occurred to me.

              I retrieved a map I had seen earlier, and on it was marked fishing and shipping businesses. After pulling it out and searching for the right area, I found it. An old shipping center that had closed before the event and became warehouses. That made perfect sense. Most of those freighters had to carry so much weight, their draft was about equal to what the carriers was. Which meant there had to be a dock for them also. We might not have to anchor in open water after all.

              "How did we miss that on the original go through?" I asked, to no one in particular. I then turned and looked at the clock.

              "Jack, it's eight. You are officially on leave. Go relax. Roger, get me those new satellite pictures ASAP, and meet me in Ready Five." I said. Jack stood and left as Roger followed him out. I gathered the maps and information together, then headed back into the bedroom to get dressed.

              I had Jack's notes with me, and I laid them out on the desk in the ready room, waiting on the others to show up. Roger walked in a few minutes later with the newest satellite pictures.

              "Here are the new pics. I also brought a selection from when we first got here, and about every six months, to see if we just flat missed it, or if it got overlooked for some reason. But then again, we weren't looking for anything like this. We were looking for infected dens, survivors, things like that." Roger said, as he came in with a stack of photos and started laying them out on the desk. While I watched him get situated, I called up to the bridge to make my other requests. While I waited for everything, and everyone, to arrive, I looked over Roger's maps. I decided to start from the beginning and look forward. I quickly noticed that the area didn't really change, so it would have been noticed, had we been looking for something like this. But Roger was right, we weren't. I don't think knowing this would have made me speed up my timeframe for the northern venture, but I will definitely take it into consideration now. Since we had two carriers, the Nimitz as well as the Thomas Jefferson, I may just decide to park the Jefferson up there and make it its own, new base. Jeff would have the captain's quarters here finally, and we would have a secure location up there.

              One of the yeomen walked in carrying a folder with what appeared to be several reports in it. I thanked him, and he nodded and walked out. I sat at the desk and started reviewing them. I had inspection reports from the Port Royal, inventory levels of food supplies, ammo stores, recommendations of personnel, and field reports from the Royal and the Leyte Gulf from the bridge mission. While I was reviewing all this, Thomas came in with a tray of snacks, and I heard him setting up the coffee pot. Tony came in, as well as Val. Along with making sure everyone had bunks, and clean laundry, Val was responsible for keeping personnel records on everyone on board, what training they had, if they got in trouble, things like that. I saw she had a box full of records, which hopefully was every name I had given her.

              "Thank you all for being here. I have here in front of me the inspection reports from the Royal, which I was originally going to use for this mission. Everything looks good there, but I have new information that has made me rethink the plan, slightly. Roger has provided satellite pictures that show an excellent landing area that should be fairly easy to secure. Plus we have the apartments. I also have inventory levels so I know how much food, ammo, and supplies of all kinds I can send on this mission. My original plan was to take the Royal to the apartments with five teams of ten to search and destroy, along with three teams of five for recon. The Royal crew is on a 48 hour leave, which even though I have changed my mind, they have earned so I'm not rescinding that."

              "So do we still need to keep these lists handy then?" Tony asked.

              "Yes, to a point. But here is my new plan. If you look here, there is a pier with a fairly deep bay. According to maps we found, that is an old fish processing plant and shipping company. All these buildings are now warehouses, but the fencing should be intact, or easily repaired. The bonus is, the water is deep enough to dock the carrier. Measurements indicate the pier should be long enough also. My new plan is to take the Jefferson and dock her up there, use her as a secure starting point, and have the Royal take two teams up to the apartments. The two groups will then start to clear the area towards each other."

              "So we are moving the Jefferson? Has it even been maintained? Who's to say it can be moved?" Tony asked.

              "Good question. I asked Shayne to send a team over to inspect and prepare the engines an hour ago. I should have the answer to that question by the end of the day tomorrow. If it's not a viable option, then the Royal will take the two teams to the complex, then come back and dock here so the remaining teams can secure this area, then begin cleaning operations. It's now Saturday, I expect to have everything moving by Tuesday." I said.

              With that, I dismissed everyone so we could start getting ready for this huge step. I pulled the box of personnel records to me to start reviewing who I would crew the Jefferson with. I would probably take command of it myself, leave the Nimitz to Jeff. I started separating the piles into sailors and civilians. I would need enough sailors with varied training to train civilians so that we had enough people to crew the ship. Luckily a lot of that had already been going on. The only ones I knew for sure that would be going with me would be Roger, Tony probably, which would of course mean Dawn, as well. Jeff would probably want to go, but I needed him here. I needed a short list from Tony on who would be going from security so I didn't leave the base or the Nimitz vulnerable. I figured we could short the ship since the base was well protected, and if we had to evacuate the base for any reason, the ship would still have ample guards. Thomas placed a glass beside me, and since I was expecting coffee, I was startled by the fact that it was cold. I glanced up at him with the question written all over my face.

              "It's tea. You have been drinking way too much coffee. Plus, we are almost out, so I figured this would have to do." He told me. I took the glass and drank, nodding in approval and smiling, as it really was good. I went back to my records as he left and went about whatever business he had to do. He was still a yeoman after all.

              After perusing a few more records, I finished my tea, and got up for a refill. About noon I decided to go for some lunch and stretch my legs. I had too many to choose from, so I decided to let my department officers let me know which of their people would be best suited to going north with the ship and running things there. I did have a pretty good idea of who I wanted on the recon and search teams though. It looked like I had enough for six teams of ten, with five secondary's each for the search teams, with four recon teams of ten total each. I hoped with this many men on each team that the mission would go quickly and easily and we could be finished by the end of the month.

              Walking down to the hangar bay, I watched the people going back and forth, taking care of the various needs of surviving. The RV's were being worked on, making sure they were in good shape and ready to go. Six RV's, six teams. I just hope we had the gas stockpiled for it, but we should be able to scavenge some from the peninsula. I hoped there were no serious problems with any of them.

              I walked forward towards the galley to get my lunch. I decided to take my tray back up to the ready room so I could keep reviewing my plans. I needed to check with Monique in supply to see how may solar panels and batteries we had left, if any. It would be nice to set up at least one or two safe houses with power while we were clearing out the infected. As I sat and ate, I thought about the entire plan, where things could go wrong, when things could go wrong. I also considered asking the Irish or Italians for help, but their resources were pretty slim too, if they gave us accurate numbers. Plus, it would take them weeks to get here, even if they decided to send help. A knock on the door was immediately followed by one of the yeoman entering the room.

              "Admiral, Comms has received a response to our recording. Capt. Neal is requesting your presence on the bridge." he informed me. He waited for me to acknowledge him and the message, then he turned and walked out. I gathered the records up and put them back in the box. I would have them sent to my quarters so I could finish with them at my leisure. I refilled my cup with tea and headed up to the bridge. As soon as I walked in, Jeff handed me the message from the survivors. Apparently they were to the west about 80 miles in the foothills of the mountains.

              "I'm sending a team out to talk to them, see how they are set up, and see if they need our help. How's the planning going?" Jeff said.

              "Well, I think I have the teams arranged, but I'm waiting on a report from Shayne before I make my final decision about something. Hopefully I will have it by the end of the day." I told him. I looked at the area he marked on the map. It looked fairly sparse, so that's probably why we hadn't found them before, and they probably hadn't had to deal with many infected, being out in the woods like that.

              If they joined us, we could definitely use the extra people, always. I made a note of the position and headed down to my office to mark it on the map I kept of where survivor camps were found. I was hoping to find a pattern, or at least see a better way to find survivors. As limited as our resources were, we were always looking for more people to save. I asked a sailor to take the box of records to my quarters, and informed Jeff I would be out walking around for a bit, just thinking, planning things out. I had only hoped to get us here and survive the zombies. We are lucky we don't have to worry about the human race since Italy, Great Britain, and Ireland are safe too. With scattered bands of survivors all over the world, I'm pretty sure the human race will survive even if I fail at keeping everyone here safe.

              I set out to the flight deck, just looking out over the water, wondering if I could even pull this off. Of course, I thought the same thing when we first left Oklahoma after the Event, and through sheer luck, hard work, and plenty of people with skills, we have so far. Yes, we have suffered losses, but for the most part we have succeed, and flourished as much as possible here. We are surviving.