Virus-72 Hours to Live (25 page)

Sure enough, he exited on Tippin and turned
into the Food Lion Market parking lot. The lights were on and it
took only a few minutes to break in through the front door. Picking
through all of the food was fun, he could pick something up taste
it then throw it on the floor and he knew there was plenty left for
him. He surveyed the entire store making note of the large
containers of food in the rear and where the location the good
stuff. He was satisfied, that store would provide him all he needed
as long as he wanted. He would tell his men to find food elsewhere
this store was his.

After he had filled his stomach and decided
to head back to the police station. He saw a sign for the Thurmont
Gettysburg Hospital and decided he should check it out. They might
have some fun stuff he could put to use later on. The hospitals
always had the really good stuff.

He parked his car near the emergency
entrance and he walked towards the doors, he noticed a van with the
back door open and it was full of masks and protective clothing.
"Interesting," he said to himself. Maybe this could come to good
use, with us having to be around all of these sick people. He made
note of the location and he would send back one of his crew later
to retrieve the vehicle.

He was lucky when he got inside and he found
a lot of the fun stuff. He was sure he had enough to have fun for a
long time.

Monday
7/17/51

Date – 2051.54037 (9:39 AM)

“SIMPOC; Comm. I have received responses from 92% of
the systems online. They are resident in 126 regions around the
planet. They have had no human interactions.”

“Acknowledged, maybe all of the people have
stopped thinking. What does that mean?”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Joan I had the SMU's load what we could on
one of the space supply ships and we're ready to launch it to
Desert Beach. I'll meet you control."

"Ok, I'll be right there."

Joan walked slowly up rotation to the
control center and she ran through in her mind her recent
decisions. Oasis had two supply ships in parking orbits near Oasis
and they were lucky to retrieve them. There wasn't much needed to
be done just top off the fuel tanks. She wished there were more
supplies that she could send to the moon and Mars, but there
wasn't. The supplies they did have were uniquely appropriate to
both sites. They didn't have much food, but they did have hardware
and spares designed for their individual systems."

"Ok, Tom we're ready to launch? Have you
checked everything twice, I'm not comfortable launching an
auto-ship without someone on the tug, but I don't want to risk you
out there with only a couple of us here."

"Honey, there isn't much we can do. We might
be dying anyways so if a ship on auto decides to accelerate through
us. At least we'll go down in flames."

"Lovely thought. Go ahead and release her
and let Desert Beach know she's coming."

"The Mars ship will be ready to launch in an
hour. The SMU's are still loading her. I'll call you when she's
ready," Tom said trying to calm her by telling her of the good
things happening.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Joan didn't wait around for the Mars
re-supply launch. Somehow, it seemed like desperation moves.
Something a person would do when they had no other options.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what they were doing. They had no
other options and if they could help the two other colonies a
little then that is what they'd do.

Date – 2051.54139 (6:33 PM)

“SIMPOC; Mobile. I have received responses
from 12,340,429 mobile units. They have searched their areas and
found no responsive humans.”

“Acknowledged.”

Apparently, I’m alone on Earth.

Admiral Hagerly wasn't happy. The greatest
military in the history of the world had rapidly become a whisper.
Friends led many of the units that he crossed off the list or the
units had storied pasts, which were ending. When he spoke, it was
with a voice where the words hurt when he spoke them. "Mr.
President we've been trying to maintain some sort of communication
with as many military units as possible, but each day we lose some
of them. The troops we're talking with are brave individuals who
are sacrificing a great deal to be our point of contact.
Unfortunately, the list of units we're communicating with is
growing short and I'm afraid we've lost contact with most of the
HQA down through to the numbered armies. At that level, we can
contact a couple but most of our contacts are at the operational
level. Most of them have contacted us directly."

"Do we have any projections of what we might
end up with?"

"Sir, that's hard to do. We're monitoring
the rate of decline and we see some changes in the loss rate.
Unfortunately, it is a small change and I'm afraid that we'll end
up with a hand full of units scattered across the country."

"Once they're stabilized, tell them that
we'll be making landfall somewhere on the east coast and if they're
able they should move in that direction. We need to consolidate
what we end up with."

"Yes, sir."

President Arnold Patterson sat and watched a
proud man collapse and break down. He didn't collapse and cry, but
his eyes were watery and it took all of his strength to keep his
dignity.

"Nial, I know this is rough. You've done the
best you could; there is nothing else that you could have
done."

"I know sir." As he rose to leave, the
president rose and gave the man a hug. They cried and they held on.
They were two powerful men dealing with a greater foe and
losing.

Virus New Government

Tuesday
7/18/51

Date – 2051.54278 (6:45 AM)

“Oasis, Desert Beach; SIMPOC.”

“Yes, SIMPOC this is Oasis.”

“Computer Comm received responses from 92%
of the systems online, from 126 regions around the planet. There
were no human interactions. I also received computer responses from
12,340,429 mobile units. They searched their areas and found no
responsive humans. None of my connections or mobile units can find
any responsive humans.”

"SIMPOC; Oasis. How inclusive was your
search? Did your units look everywhere?"

"No. I only can access the units on open
networks. Industrial, special duty or personal units that are under
local control are beyond my reach."

"Regardless, the human death toll is
enormous."

"Yes, I'm afraid that it has been. I
estimate that more that 90% of the human population has perished
due to the virus."

All Joan and Tom could do was stare at each.
There was no reasonable response to what SIMPOC has just told
them.

"Desert Beach; Oasis. Did you copy what the
computer said?"

"Yes, we did..."

Date – 2051.54352 (1:12 PM)

“Desert Beach, Oasis,” said Joan.

“Go ahead.”

“Based on what SIMPOC said this morning
we’re pretty much alone. I hope many people are still alive. After
all, some were in remote areas, or on ships, or were just smart
enough to isolate themselves. At least in the near term, they don’t
have our frequencies so they can’t contact us. Until they do, I
suggest we take some time and put together the best plans, we can.
We should make sure we know what resources we have, and see what
options we have. I know we have limited supplies on Oasis so our
options are limited. We launched the other supply ship yesterday
and it's on track. Beyond that we’ll do anything we can, to help
you guys, so let us know.”

“Will do, good luck. Desert Beach out.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ophelia sat as the transmission from Oasis
and the computer called SIMPOC completed. She had hoped for some
encouraging words, but she got none. Losing over 90% of the human
population was a difficult fact to comprehend. The numbers were
staggering and the personal loss was numbing. Ophelia knew that
Mars' problems were unique and potentially catastrophic. They had
to come up with a plan for survival.

The next painful step was to pass the
information on to the Red Dirt crew. They weren't expecting great
news but having your worst fears confirmed is never pleasant.

She knew they would have to put together a
plan. Elements of which were beyond her at the moment.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Eddy, can we talk for a minute?" asked Chef
Johnny as he caught the president's chief of staff leaving the
dining room."

"Sorry, to corner you like this, but I feel
fine and I need to talk to you."

Eddy was a little concerned because they
hadn't passed the full 24 hours of separation. However, the Chef
wouldn't have asked to talk unless it was important, "It's ok, Chef
what do you need."

"That's exactly what the issue is. Camp
David has supplies for the President and his immediate staff for 30
days. None of the emergency plans called for so many people being
here. We're starting to run out of supplies and unless we're
planning to leave quickly, we need to send someone out and find
what we can. We have long-term survival supplies that will keep us
from starving, but believe me they don't taste very good."

"Is it serious?"

"I think we'll start running out of some
major items within the week."

"Ok, we'll put together a seek-and-retrieve
team. I'll try to get them out the first thing in the morning.
Let's hope they make it back ok."

"Admiral," said Eddy into his
communicator.

"I'd like to find Louis and Colonel Dodd and
meet with you as soon as you can."

"C'mon down, I'm in my office."

"Great I'll be there as soon as I find Louis
and the Colonel."

"Don't worry about Dodd, she's in the office
next to mine and I can hear her voice."

A couple of quick calls and Louis came
online and he was only a short distance away, so meeting at the
Admiral's office was easy to accomplish.

Louis and Eddy met in the hallway in front
of the Admiral's office and they walked in. Eddy noticed Colonel
Dodd was already there, "Ok now Admiral?" Eddy asked.

"Sure sit-down."

Eddy was the man requesting the meeting so
he started, "Admiral, the OP Plan for Camp David didn't plan on
this many people for this long a period of time. Chef Jonny told me
we're running out of supplies. We need to think about replenishing
them while we can."

The Admiral looked at the Colonel and asked,
"Colonel you're responsible for the site, what's your
assessment?"

"Sir our snack bars and main kitchen were
supplied daily. The main kitchen has stores for 100 executives for
10 days and emergency supplies for 50 executives for 60 days. Last
count we have 250 people on site and no daily supplies. I'm not
surprised if we're running out."

"Ok, what do we do about it?"

The room was quiet for a moment then Colonel
Dodd said, "We send a team out to get supplies."

The statement was so obvious no one felt the
need to reply.

The Admiral picked up on the statement, "Ok,
who are we sending?"

Once again, Colonel Dodd spoke up, "Sir,
it's our responsibility and we're better suited for this type of
mission. We have no idea what or who we might encounter."

Louis quickly jumped in, "Sir, I'd also like
to include some people, we need to know what is going on out
there."

"Ok, Colonel. Put up a team of six marines
in command and Louis give us two service guys and we'll send them
out tonight. Let's put together some encounter plans in case they
run across some civilians. I don't want any problems, we have
enough already."

Everyone nodded and the discussion went on
to other concerns they all shared.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Mr. President I'd like to update you on
some other issues," said Nancy Bartlett.

"What little staff I have from the state
department, we've been doing everything we can to maintain contact
with our allies. Our contact patterns have been similar to what's
been happening domestically. Initially, we had a contact at the
higher levels, but as time progressed, the contacts disappeared. We
have to work with low-level personnel that had a limited view of
what they were dealing with. Since your contact with the Russian
premier, we've had no follow-up contact. If he did pass away then,
his successor never contacted us. We have lost all contact with
Canada and we have only one person in White Hall speaking for
Britain. The Europeans collapsed quickly and we have no one to
speak with. It was great that Bruce was able to call in from
Australia since then we've had periodic contact with the
Australians. Unfortunately, it has taken multiple calls to get
through, but at least they have a functioning government. The
Eastern Alliance is continuing to cause problems in the eastern
Indian Ocean. We've tried to pass information to the 5th fleet, but
we've been unable. Admiral Hagerly is trying to improve the
communications, but it has been difficult. We've had some
communications with Israel but again nothing consistent. As we
improve our information, I'll keep you current."

"Thank you, Nancy."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Senior Staff Sargent Leroy Lenmore or "LL"
as his friends called him, sat in the main gate shack and looked
around at the team.

He had agent Michael Dereaux, who he knew
little about, except that he was the lead secret service agent on
the president's detail. The other secret service person was an
enigma. She was a small woman, but she had a case that was
obviously carrying a sniper rifle. Her name was Agent Ruth Minor.
Any girl who could handle a gun that big couldn't be all bad.

The Sargent's team was all men he knew and
trusted. He introduced them, "Sargent Maccabee is my second in
command, Sargent Mark Sherly is our transport guy and Sargent Kevin
O'Neal is our explosives man.