Survivors (6 page)

We took a left turn after walking through
the unlocked front door and entered what must
have been her father’s office. It took her only a few
minutes to find a manila folder labelled Solar. She
gave it a quick look over and then handed it to
George. He was our resident electrical engineer after all.

While George and I looked through the brochures, Jessie excused herself. The local solar
company, Opti-Solar was located near the Naples
airport in the industrial park.

I went looking for Jessie and found her
standing in the backyard clutching a picture
frame.

She had found a couple of beautiful red geraniums and had placed them over three fresh
graves overlooking a wooded area. Her eyes were
swollen and red. I put my arms around her and
kissed her on the cheek. She refused to cry; she
was one strong lady.

She showed me the picture. Jessie and her
brother were smiling with both parents behind
them. The background was some place in Disney
World. Jessie said, “We went there for David’s
birthday. It was a fabulous vacation; I’ll always
remember it.”

We found George still studying the OptiSolar brochure. “They sell two types of solar power
kits. One is a stand-alone system, and the other is
designed to be hooked into the power grid. We can
use both types. We’ll have to see what they have in
their inventory after we explore Florida Gulf Coast
University.”

The three of us climbed in our cars and
headed north on Livingston Road. The entrance to
the university campus was located just off Ben Hill
Griffin Parkway and a few miles south of the Fort
Myers Airport. The roads were deserted. As we
passed some major intersections, a few cars were
parked alongside the road and appeared abandoned. Perhaps there were people in those cars,
but if there were, they were certainly dead.

We turned into the university’s main entrance on Florida Gulf Coast University Boulevard.
I had never been to the school before and really
had no idea of what to expect. About fifty yards
onto the property, I saw a young woman under a
palm tree. As soon as she saw our cars, she
jumped out of her chair and began waving her
arms up and down.

We stopped, and she ran over to greet us.
She was crying, and tears were running down her
cheeks. “My God, I thought nobody would ever
come. I’ve been waiting here every day for the last
two weeks.”

Her name was Rebecca Wilson, and she
was waiting for her parents to pick her up. She
probably knew they would never be coming, but
she seemed to have nothing else to hope for. She
was just glad to see another living person. I said,
“Rebecca, where can we go to talk? We need to
speak to you about what’s been happening.”

“We can drive over to the engineering campus.”

Rebecca sat in my car and led us over to
the center of the engineering campus and to Whitaker Hall. I looked at the building in amazement.
Lights were on in some of the windows.

I asked Rebecca, “How can they have lights
there? Florida Power and Light shut down their
power plant”

“We have a solar field, and it supplies the
engineering campus with electricity during the
day.”

We left our cars in front of the building and
George screamed, “Look, they have power. How can
they have power?”

“Rebecca told me they have a solar field
supplying electricity to the engineering campus
during the day.”
“We need to see it right now.”

Jessie interrupted George. “Let’s talk to Rebecca first. We’ve got to accomplish a lot today. We
can visit the solar field after we talk to her.”

Of course Jessie was right. We were lucky
to find Rebecca, and we needed to confirm this was
going to be the right place for us to live. We followed Rebecca into Whitaker Hall, and the temperature instantly dropped to a comfortable seventytwo degrees. The air-conditioning felt wonderful.
We wound up in a room with various vending machines. Rebecca said it was for the staff. She
opened a large refrigerator and offered us a choice
of water or Diet Cokes.

I chose a cold bottle of water, and the four
of us sat down around a table overlooking the
campus mall. I said, “Rebecca, the three of us are
from the Naples area. We’ve been finding survivors,
and we’re trying to find somewhere for us to live.
We thought the campus might be a good place. The
solar field is an unexpected bonus. First, tell us
what’s happened here. Are you the only person left
on the campus?”

Rebecca began to cry again, but she finally
was able to regain her composure and tell us her
story. “It was terrible. As soon as the CDC began
saying it was a major pandemic, almost everyone
started to leave the campus. People just got into
their cars and left to try to find their parents. Then
a month ago everyone still here began to get the
disease. It spread very quickly. They couldn’t bury
the bodies fast enough. There still must be almost
a hundred bodies just lying around. I didn’t know
what to do. I just covered the ones outside with
sheets, but the birds and other animals just pulled
off the sheets and began eating the flesh.”

Rebecca’s recollection of the horror resulted
in another breakdown, and she shook uncontrollably. Jessie knelt down next to her and held her in
her arms, but her sobbing continued for another
minute. Finally, she recovered. “I’m sorry but just
thinking about those bodies is too much for me.
My best friend is lying in her room being eaten by
insects.

“Before the telephone system broke down,
my parents told me to wait here. They were driving
down to pick me up. I don’t think they’re alive, but
I didn’t know what else to do other than wait here
for them. That’s why I was waiting on the road. I
didn’t know what else to do.”

Jessie asked, “Rebecca, if we all move here,
are there good places for us to stay?”

Rebecca thought for a moment. “There’re
plenty of places to stay, but most of the places still
have student’s belongings”

I said, “In the next week there may be as
many as a few hundred people needing a place to
live. Where would be a good place to stay?”

Rebecca was quick to answer. “North Lake
Village is the best place. There’s a grouping of
apartments, and each unit can house up to four
people. Each place has a bathroom and a small
kitchen; they’re just like regular apartments. Other
places might work, but that place is the nicest, and
it’s alongside a lake.”

George asked, “Can we see the place?”
Rebecca answered, “Sure. It’s a long walk,
but we can drive there.”
Chapter 8

Five minutes later we arrived at Building H,
a three story structure amidst a multi-building
apartment complex. Rebecca led us inside, and we
found an apartment with an open door. We walked
inside, and it was almost too good to be true.

George, who still had electrical power on his
mind, said, “If this solar field is what I think it is,
we can tap off the system and provide power to this
apartment complex, at least during the day.”

We stepped out of the apartment’s backdoor and immediately walked onto a beach with
enough water toys to keep the little kids happy.
They would be in paradise. I looked at the others,
and they were all smiling. This was the perfect
place for us to build our new community. I was
certain we would run into some problems, but the
place had the all right infrastructure to make for a
successful lifestyle.

I turned to Rebecca, “This place looks perfect. Can you show us the solar field now?”

Rebecca answered, “Sure, let’s go. The solar
field was a joint venture between the power company and the university.”

The solar field was back toward the main
entrance. She led us onto a narrow back road that
suddenly opened up onto a field with a huge solar
array. George and Jessie, our two technocrats,
wandered around the place.

George said, “These solar arrays move to
always face the sun. That building over there probably controls the system. Let’s take a look at it.”

We made our way through the solar field
and finally arrived at the small shack in the corner
of the field. The door leading inside was locked,
and we didn’t have the tools to break inside.

George stood back and looked inside the
fenced-in area adjacent to the building with an engineer’s eye. “Look alongside the building. This is
where the electricity from the solar array is transmitted to some central energy distribution point.
The equipment inside the building must monitor
the solar array. I’ll know more as soon as we can
break inside.”

Jessie said, “So I guess this place is even
better than we thought, and a side benefit is the
library, and think of the chemistry and engineering
labs. We’re going to need those facilities. This is
the perfect place to start a new life.”

I said, “Rebecca, we’re going to bring survivors here starting tomorrow. Do you want to come
with us now or wait here?”

Rebecca said, “I need to stay here for my
parents, but I can’t wait for you all to get here. It’s
more than I could have ever hoped for. I’ll be with
other people again. You don’t know how good that
will feel.”

Jessie said, “Rebecca, we know exactly how
good it feels. All of us have been there, just like
you.”

We dropped Rebecca off near the main entrance to the campus, and George led the way to
the water filtration plant off Alico Road. I had never
been to the place, and it was in an out of the way
spot. Except for the sign on the gate, you would
have never suspected the place’s real purpose.

George parked his car by the front of the
building, and Jessie and I parked our cars next to
his. George looked at us and asked, “How long after the power went out did the water stop flowing?”

I answered, “One, maybe two days.”
Jessie agreed.

George continued, “That’s what I remember
too, and that’s good news for us. I think here’s how
this place works. Water from those wells over there
is pumped up into those two tall reservoirs. Each
must hold thousands of gallons at least. Whenever
there’s a power failure, they’ve got all that reserve
to meet the demand. That’s why the water lasted
for a couple of days after the power went down. All
they need is a small pump to keep the pressure up
in each tank, and they can power that with a
backup generator. ”

I asked, “Why is that good news?”

Jessie smiled and said, “Because if we start
things back up with solar power, we can store the
electricity in just a few batteries to keep the water
pressure up during the night. We can use the water in the reservoir at night. We just have to be
careful not to use too much water in the evenings.”

George smiled at Jessie, “You’re pretty
smart for a genetic engineer young lady.”

Jessie gave him a high-five and said,
“You’re lucky you didn’t say I was pretty smart for
a girl, because I would have smacked you over the
head.”
I think George believed her.

“So what are we going to do here?” I asked.

George answered, “We’re going to break in; I
want to find their electrical drawings. We need to
find out how much energy we need to power up the
pumps.”

We looked around for something to use to
break a window by the front entrance. We finally
gave up, and I decided to sacrifice my car. A low
window off to the side of the entrance seemed like
a good target. I started up my car, fastened my
seatbelt, backed up, lined things up, and punched
the accelerator.

My car jumped forward and crashed into
the window. As the window shattered, my car’s
airbag deployed. I hadn’t figured on that. The window was broken, and I had a few scratches from
the airbag; but after I backed the car away from
the window, we were able to enter the facility’s lobby.

We walked around the place and found the
Chief Engineer’s office. Inside George found one of
those large grey horizontal metal cabinets containing drawings for the entire facility, including the
electrical schematics. The three of us rolled up
hundreds of drawings and carried them out to
George’s car.

“We’ll study them tonight and then decide
what we need to do.”

My car was of no further use. I guess I
could pick out any new car from the dozens of new
car dealers in the area. I always wanted a Lamborghini or maybe a Bentley. There would be plenty of
Bentleys to choose from.

I drove with Jessie, and we followed the
navigation system in her car to the industrial park
near the Naples airport. Opti-Solar was located on
Industrial Boulevard just off Airport Pulling Road.

Luckily, we found a heavy metal post out in
their parking lot, and we used it like a battering
ram. Three swings and the front door to the company burst open.

We walked past the front office area and entered their warehouse. A few skylights in the roof
provided a modest amount of light, just enough so
we could look at the company’s inventory of solar
equipment. Jessie and George were like little kids
at Christmas as they walked down the aisles looking at pallets of solar arrays, sophisticated batteries for storing the electricity produced during the
day, and elaborate control systems for controlling
the electricity generated by the photovoltaic cells.

Jessie finally spoke. “We can pick up all
this stuff tomorrow. We should have more than
enough to power up the water filtration plant.”

George agreed. We found a variety of
equipment manuals for the various pieces of
equipment. Jessie and George sorted through the
literature, and by the time we left Opti-Solar, we
had three stacks of documentation.

We headed back to Blaine’s house. It had
been a very productive day, and I was interested in
what the others in our little group of survivors had
found.

Chapter 9

When we arrived back at Blaine’s house,
the driveway was filled with several new cars. It
seemed the others had discovered more survivors.
Mary and Blaine found three: Patty Greyson, a
lawyer, Greg Langer, a chemist, and a teenager
named Frank Blake. Stan and Bill, while searching
for portable generators, found four others: an elderly lady named Beth Horton, an adult man in his
forties named Josh Stanton, and two people who
were walking down Route 41, a lady named Emily
Fox and a fifteen year old girl, Sally Nelson.