The Last Days (33 page)

“There are too many of the infected out that way. We couldn’t get through and decided to back the way we came.” Mike said. “What are you doing walking out here on the road?”

Billy’s Dad stepped forward. “Mister, I owe you an apology. Could I speak with you privately for a minute?”

Mike felt a little uncomfortable. The big man was not too happy with him the last time they spoke. He was worried the man was now not too happy to see that Mike had come back.

“Please Mister.” Billy’s Dad said.

Mike looked at Kelly. “I’ll be right back.” Mike said quietly.

He stepped out of the car.

The big man walked slowly away from the car. When they were out of ear shot of the car, the man turned. “I’m sorry for my rudeness before. We get a lot of city slickers that go through here, mostly they are a bunch of know it all’s that think they are better than us. I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance.” The man said. “You were right, what you said about the infected and what would happen when one of us got bit. It was about forty minutes after you left the bitten men began to change. They killed everyone left here. I managed to escape out in the woods. Billy and Liz were already hiding out in the woods thanks to you.”

“I’m sorry.” Mike said.

“Don’t be sorry. They are alive because of you.” The man said. “I owe you, but I’m afraid I am in no position to repay you.”

“You fixed my car.” Mike smiled. “That is enough.”

The big man hesitated. “I was wondering if I could ask you one more favor?”

“I’m not in much of a position to do much either.” Mike smiled. “But if I can I will.”

“Would you take Billy and Liz with you?” The man asked. “I don’t know where you are going, but please take them. Anywhere but here.”

“I don’t have much room in this little car, but I’m sure we could manage to get all three of you in there somewhere.” Mike said. “I can take all three of you. We are only going another five or six miles, but I can take all of you that far.”

“I can’t go with you.” The big man said. He slowly rolled up his right sleeve. A large chuck of flesh was missing from his forearm. “It happened about thirty minutes ago. We were attacked back at the house. I don’t have much time left. Would you please take my kids away from here for me?”

“What about you? You know….” Mike said.

“I know.” The big man said. He pointed to his gun. “As soon as you get them away so they won’t hear, I will end it. I was going to do it just down the road, so I wouldn’t hurt them. They would know, but I didn’t have a choice. I would appreciate it if you would take them now. It would mean a lot to me if they didn’t have to know.”

Mike nodded. “OK. Again, I’m sorry.”
“Please take them now. I can feel the pain running all through me. I know I don’t have much time.”

Mike nodded.

“I owe you mister. I promise you that if there is an afterlife and there is a way, I will repay you somehow for your kindness.” The Man said. The man’s eyes were starting to appear glassy. “Now, Please?”

Mike put his hand on the man’s shoulder and turned towards the car.

He pulled the driver’s door open. “Kimmy, go up and sit with Mommy. Billy and Liz are going to ride with us for a while.”

“OK Dad!” Kimmy said and crawled over the console.

Billy looked at his Dad.

“You go with these kind folks. I have something I need to do. We’ll all be together again later.” The big man said. “You take care of your sister,”

“I will Pa.” Billy replied. He crawled in the back seat. He had a sad look on his face as he looked out at his Dad. Liz crawled back and sat on his lap.

Mike could tell by the look on Billy’s face, he knew.

The big man nodded at Billy, then at Mike. “Thank You!”

The man turned and started to walk off the road and into the field.

Mike closed the car door and pressed the accelerator.

He didn’t drive off slowly, he sped off down the road instead.

He closed the windows. He didn’t want the sound of the gun to reach inside the car.

He looked in the rearview mirror and could see a tear run down Billy’s face.

He knew the pain that Billy must be feeling.

Mike had felt that pain only hours before.

Unlike the pain Mike felt, his was short lived,

the pain Billy felt would last a lifetime.

Chapter 26

“Captain, the helo is inbound. ETA in five minutes. The XO reports four more survivors. All have been inspected and verified clean.” McClain reported.

“Very good Petty Officer.” The Captain replied.

That would bring the total on board to twenty-four. Four Navy, ten Marines, six Army and now four civilians. Not many after the many days of searching the southwestern U.S. as far as the helo could travel, before needing to return to the carrier to refuel.

Conditions on land had been even worse than the Captain had expected.

There were few small groups of survivors to be found.

Most of the people had been city people in southern California. When the virus hit, they all headed into the cities for protection. They headed to what they knew. Unfortunately what they knew was also where the infection hit the hardest and spread the fastest.

If there were any more survivors in the cities, they would not last much longer. Unfortunately, the Captain could not risk going into the cities to search for them.

Their fates had been sealed.

If any had fled into the mountains, they weren’t revealing their positions.

The Captain didn’t have the man power to do a more thorough search on foot. If they were there and had decided not to show themselves when they heard the sound of the helo, he wished them well, but they were on their own. But he knew there would be very few of them.

The Captain knew few civilians would have had the skills to survive for long. Any military would have signaled the helo. So he needed to move on.

In any case, he had spent as much time here around San Diego as he could afford.

“Captain!” McClain shouted, interrupting the Captain’s thoughts.

The Petty Officer was staring intently at the screens in front of him. “Sir, I have a contact out about seven miles.”

“Can you identify the contact.?” The Captain asked as he slid over behind the Petty Officer.

“It’s a sub Sir!” McClain reported. “Port side at ten o’clock.”

“Whose is it? Can you tell if it’s one of ours?” Captain Bolten asked. The world had gone to hell, but that didn’t mean a Chinese or North Korean sub wouldn’t have survived and still be out trying for one final bit of revenge.

“If I had to guess, the return signature looks like a Ming class sub.” McClain replied.

“Try to raise him on the com?” The Captain ordered. With nowhere to call home any longer, maybe the sub would respond. After all, there didn’t appear to be many living people left. Maybe the thing they now all had in common would overrule old political allegiances. To keep fighting no longer made sense. But of course people had fought wars many times that made little sense.

“Trying Sir. No response.” McClain said.

“Where is he headed?” The Captain asked.

“Straight for us Sir!” McClain replied. “He is coming up to periscope depth Sir!

“I have another contact Sir. One mile north of the last contact. It just came out of nowhere. One second it wasn’t there, then the next second it just appeared.”

“How far out is our helo?” The Captain asked urgently.

“It is still two minutes out, Sir!” McClain replied.

“Shit!” The Captain said. If the helo had been on board, he could have sent it out to drop explosives if needed. It would take too long to prepare a plane to send out. Getting a plane off the flight deck, with the limited systems they were able to man could be another problem. If the sub had any hostile intentions he could be in trouble.

Torpedo fired Sir!” McClain shouted as he studied the data flowing across his screen. “But it’s not at us. It’s from the new contact and appears to be targeting the Ming.”

“KaBoooom!”

A huge explosion was heard off in the distance. Smoke and a large spray of water rose high into the horizon.

“The other contact has now come to the surface. It is coming our way.” McClain said. “I believe it is a Las Angeles class sub. It is one of ours. Still no response over the com, Sir!. Any orders?”

“I don’t know if he has a problem and can’t receive our radio communication? Use the tower lights and signal ‘Welcome’.” The Captain said. “I have an idea he could also use a friend about now.”

“Yes Sir!” McClain replied. He pushed the controls using the tower lights to send the greeting.

A few minutes later, a light flashed a reply from the subs periscope.

“It’s the Topeka Sir. They are requesting permission to approach.” McClain said. “It’s either that or they are requesting an apple pie. Sorry Sir. My Morris Code is a little rusty.”

“Tell them to come on in. I believe we have a few apple pies on board.” The Captain smiled.

“XO on one Captain. He is asking if we know what caused that big explosion?” McClain said.

“Just tell him to get his ass on board. We are having company.” The Captain replied.

“Yes Sir!”

The Topeka moved alongside the Ronald Regan.

The Regan lowered a rope ladder and helped the Captain of the sub get on board.

When the sub’s Captain climbed on board, he saluted Captain Bolten. After exchanging introductions, he quickly added. “I see we are doing things the hard way.”

Captain Bolten smiled. “Trust me. You wouldn’t want to come up through the lower decks.”

“No Problem Captain. I’m just happy to be able to come aboard. “Captain Andersen replied.

“What happened out there?” Bolten asked.

“We’ve been tailing that Chinese sub for a few days now. We were in the Pacific. When all communication stopped from command, we started to attempt communications with our ships around Japan. We were only able to make contact with some of our other subs. When all hell broke loose on the surface, we got some garbled communications about ships’ crews going crazy.

We decided to approach a few of our destroyers to see if we could find out what the hell was going on. It was unbelievable what we found. Most of the ships were either deserted or crawling with…..I don’t know how to describe them.” Anderson said.

“Is zombies the word you are searching for?” Bolten added.

“Do you know what the hell is going on Captain?  Because if you do, you would be the first one that we have contacted that did.” Andersen said. “Some of the other subs reported they had brought some injured sailors on board. That we the last communications were received.  We picked up a few injured men north of Australia. An hour later all hell broke loose. Half my men were killed. I had to seal off all the forward compartments to keep control of my ship. Our communication equipment was destroyed in the struggle. Unfortunately the mess and supply room was in the forward compartments. The rest of the men and I have been living on potato chips and popcorn since. We could all use a good meal.”

“How many men do you have left?” Captain Bolten asked. “Thirty men.” Andersen replied.

“We can provide you and your men with a good meal, but what about that Ming?”

Andersen continued. “After we lost all communications, we decided to come back to San Diego. All our surface ships were just drifting aimlessly, some had even sailed aground. Our ships, the Russian and Chinese ships, there was nothing left. We decided to come home and see if there was anything we could do to protect the states. That’s when we detected this Ming. It seemed to be sinking these dead ships for the hell of it. We followed it to see where it was going. It was the only active boat we have seen in the last week, when it headed for the U.S. we took a serious interest. We detected you yesterday, but we didn’t try to make contact with you until we determined the Ming’s intentions. We didn’t want to let them know we were there. When we saw it get into position to threaten your ship, we took it out.”

“I appreciate your assistance Captain.” Bolten said. “Why don’t you get your men on the Regan. After you have something to eat, you and I should talk.”

After the sub’s remaining crewmen were feed, Captain Andersen, Captain Bolten and the XO had a long talk up on the bridge.

Captain Andersen didn’t want to believe what he heard, but from what he had seen with his own eyes, he understood the gravity of their situation.

Captain Bolten continued. “I’ll take you in for a tour of San Diego and LA in the helo. Words can’t describe it. You need to see this with your own eyes. We have been using the helo the past few days to search for survivors. You’ve met the entire ship’s complement at dinner. Most of them were trying to survive inland before I found them.

The best I can tell, there isn’t anyone else left. There isn’t anywhere inland to go. The only safe place on the west coast is the Regan.”

“So what are your plans Captain?” Andersen asked. “It doesn’t appear there is anything left here worth staying for.”

“I was thinking I would go north. We have some bases in Washington and Alaska. There may still be some of our men that survived up that way. I thought I would go see what I can find. “ Captain Bolten replied.

“If you don’t find anyone?” Andersen asked.

“I thought I would come back to San Diego and see what I can salvage from the ships in the harbor, then maybe go try to find an island somewhere. Come back here in a year or so and see if anything has changed. Care to come along?” Bolten asked.

“You’re the Ranking officer Sir!” Andersen replied.

“Between you and I, I’m afraid the chain of command doesn’t exist any longer.” Bolten said.

“On the contrary Captain.” Andersen smiled. “As I see it, it is the only thing that still exists. I don’t think we can survive without it.”

Andersen stepped back and saluted.

“Very well Captain.” Captain Bolten smiled. “Together we might just be able to survive this.”