Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation (39 page)

Chapter XIII

Major
Briggs, accompanied by his always informative executive officer, Sergeant
Brown, flew in for a quick visit. With the raiders no longer an ongoing concern
and no other threat in our portion of the country rearing its head, the overhead
scouting missions had been cut way back. This helped with fuel, which was an
issue that wouldn’t be going away anytime soon, and allowed our pilots to
increase the number of flights between the Black Hills and Yellowstone. Those
tended to be fast, direct, and extremely beneficial.

“So,
guys,” began Briana, “what’s happening in your half of the civilized world.”

“Civilized
world?” inquired the major.

“Yes,
civilized. I’ve decided that we are the pinnacle of the cultural ladder,
although Mary would disagree since we don’t have television yet.”

I
laughed curtly. “That lasted for days after we got back. She kept going on and
on and on about how she could at least watch reruns in Hawaii. I don’t see the
difference. We have DVDs, so she can watch reruns now, anytime she wants.”

“I think
it’s the prescheduled programming,” said Briana. “It seems more special that
way.”

“I
prefer the convenience of deciding for myself.” Briggs looked around. “Where is
Mary? She normally comes right over, asking about news, gossip, or sweets.”

“She
took Asher to the playground,” replied Briana. “He’s having a play date with
some of the other toddlers. It does him good to get out from time to time. He’d
be out more often, socializing with the other children, but we don’t have any
sort of preschool yet. That is being worked on.”

Ah,
preschool. This was one of the things I regularly got an earful about and not
just from Briana. The complaints came from a wide variety of parents. With our
primitive living conditions, it was difficult caring for children. A few lucky individuals,
such as my wife, dealt mostly with paperwork and could keep their little ones
with them. For those who worked in the fields tending crops or in the kitchens,
it was far more complicated. Others, namely the militia and scavenging parties,
simply could not have their children with them when working. In short, childcare
was a very real issue. Hence, school became more than an educational system. It
was also daycare. The students might not enjoy having close to half again as
many hours in the building as pre-apocalypse brats did, not to mention more
days of school overall, but it served a purpose.

“Just as
well. When she gets back, let her know that I do not have any chocolate, but I
did bring some fresh cinnamon, straight from trees grown in Hawaii. It had been
gathered by locals on and off the past few years, but proper cultivation is now
up and running, primarily as an export to the other nations and for use by
those of us not living on the islands.”

“Maybe
we can make some sweet rolls,” I suggested. “Is there enough for that?”

“I have
two hundred pounds for you.”

Wow.
These little luxuries were very much appreciated. I doubted if we would be
anywhere near pre-zombie status during my lifetime, but it would be nice if
Mary and Asher one day had the convenience of grocery stores and international
trade. There was so much that had to come from elsewhere. For instance, if you
wanted fresh fruit in the winter, you had to have connections in the tropics,
that or a very large greenhouse.

“Everyone
will be glad to hear it,” confirmed Briana. “Any other goodies?”

“A few
crates of ammo, some of hand grenades, and a whole lot of cloth diapers, fresh
from the Hawaiian textile mills.”

“That
would be mill,” corrected the sergeant. “There is only the one.”

 “True
enough,” admitted Major Briggs. “I have designs for some looms you can build yourselves,
powering them with generators. They will work with cotton or wool.”

“We do
have sheep,” I commented. “Cotton won’t grow here, but someday, someone will be
back south again.”

“After
we get air conditioning,” added Briana.

I nodded
my agreement. I missed Texas. The weather, not so much.

“The
last supply flight was light on goods, but we sent back plenty of beef, along
with some heavily sedated cattle, breeding stock. The islands are lacking both.
Most of the limited livestock they had died early on or was slaughtered for
food that first year.”

“I don’t
know how much we can ship by air,” I said, “but if the president or anyone else
wants, we can do a roundup. There are herds all over Wyoming and around us.”

Briggs
shook his head. “It will likely just be the occasional shipment of convenience
until we have a clear route to a sea port.”

“Like
that will happen anytime soon,” snorted Briana.

“I’m
going to have to agree with the wife, although we could possibly open a route
to the Mississippi and ship things out into the Gulf of Mexico.”

“The
river is still a mess and a navigational hazard,” said Sergeant Brown. “It is
heavily polluted too, but that seems to be clearing up. The gulf is best
avoided as well.”

“Planes
it is,” shrugged Briana.

“Now,
what do you two have for us?” asked the major.

“There
is definitely someone, possibly several someones, riding about on a motorcycle.
This individual has been spotted south of the Black Hills. He sticks to the plains
but has come pretty close to the mountains a few times.” I hesitated. “I keep
thinking it’s a raider who survived everything, but there is no way to tell. It
is pretty obvious that someone is here, with the walls and barricades and
everything else we built, but they haven’t approached. Again, I think that
means they are up to no good, but with all the bad that’s happened, I can
understand an outsider being cautious.”

“I would
be surprised if they weren’t somewhat paranoid.” The major grew a tad graver.
“Keep an eye out, just in case. For our part, we haven’t seen anything. We
still get the occasional walker that stumbles in from the countryside, but the
roads and easy routes are all blocked off, not to the extent you’ve
accomplished…”

Briana
dismissed that with swipe of her hand. “We’ve been over that a million times.
The Black Hills are tiny compared to Yellowstone and have tons of cliffs that
already blocked a lot off. Way less work for us.”

“We do
have an easier time of it,” I said, “which means God loves us more than you.”

“Please.”
My wife rolled her eyes. “Oh, while I’m thinking about it, have you found any
other survivors in the area, or anywhere else?”

“Same
problems as before,” replied Sergeant Brown. “The satellites have difficulty
locating any but the largest groups. If you are under twenty or thirty people,
you might as well be invisible. There have been discoveries, and with things
calming down more people have been assigned to recovery. Most notable are several
bands in the western mountains, Rockies and down into New Mexico. Most of those
with whom contact has been made are independents, but a good proportion, perhaps
forty percent, are survivors of Salt Lake City.”

“Are
there hard numbers?” I asked.

“Maybe
fifteen thousand all told,” said Brown, “with six thousand having come from
Utah. Strangely enough, they were steadfast about keeping to small groups. Most
of these are in contact with one another but are generally spread about in
camps or tiny, makeshift forts. Since they’ve been keeping to the higher elevations,
growing food has been a problem.”

“Having
six thousand who got away and are still alive is nice,” commented Briana. She
tugged on her long hair with both hands before placing them in her lap. “But something
like forty escaped that place originally. Please don’t tell me the rest have
died.”

“Can’t
say.” The major frowned. “Still, I am not hopeful. There could be a few
thousand more, here and there, but… Most appear to have perished since then.”

And the
conversation had started off so well.

“We are
also getting some new equipment. That will be sent in soon,” he continued. “The
intent is for long range flights to leave Yellowstone and the Black Hills going
as far as possible. Pre-recorded messages will then be broadcast on all primary
frequencies, stating that government backed safe zones exist in Yellowstone
National Park and in the Black Hills. I said, from a security standpoint, that
I have no issues with this.”

“Doesn’t
bother me either. We are well fortified, better than ever. We are armed to the
teeth, at least compared to anything random gangs or survivors could likely
manage. Have them come. I would say to give a response frequency that they can
use. We can get Harlan or someone else to set one of our receivers on that and
let it run. That way if anyone does call back, we’ll know before they are
knocking on our door.”

“Have
them approach the Black Hills from either the south along US-385 or to make
contact before entering,” added Briana. “That will make it easier on our scouts,
and that is the most direct route.”

“Good
point,” I confirmed. “Best to avoid accidents. Wouldn’t want anybody to get
shot due to a mistake or because someone was startled.”

“Will
do,” said Major Briggs. “The supply craft flying in from Hawaii will begin
broadcasting as well, and they are going to start blanketing the coastlines
with pickup times and locations. Marines will clear landing zones a few hours
in advance.”

“I
really don’t think anyone is living on the coast.” In fact, I was certain those
were giant dead zones. The forays the military had been doing had yet to turn
up any breathers. “You never know though. It might be better to park some small
boats off the rivers and say that anyone nearby or inland should go to those
and follow them to the ocean for pickup. Might have better results.”

“I’ll
extend that suggestion too.”

From
there the conversation turned to less exciting and more tedious topics, such as
the need to exchange certain people for a time so they could train their
counterparts in the other settlement. It was another thing we had neglected.
Alan Myers would be happy. His oldest daughter, Carla, was an apprentice to a
veterinarian in Yellowstone, and she would be one of those coming to help teach
our people about proper medical care for the animals.

Additionally,
the sergeant gave us an update as to what was happening overseas. The United
States remains the premier superpower. We might not have the population or
economy, but we still possess the largest, most high tech, most intact
military. American holdings were the coastal islands, Hawaii, and various other
islands scattered around the globe. A formal claim to all of North and South
America had also been made with no one complaining.

The
Russian Mongolian Alliance – this is my term; they haven’t formalized their
agreement yet – was running strong with Siberia and the Urals holding most of
the people. They had also issued a claim to all of the former Soviet Union,
Mongolia, and Turkey. Russian troops have entered Constantinople, achieving
something the Tsars desired ever since that great city fell to the Ottomans
back in the fifteenth century. The Hagia Sophia was in the process of being
restored with the current Patriarch of Moscow assuming the title of Patriarch
of Constantinople. He was now the undisputed head of the Orthodox Church. The
undisputed part is only because all the other patriarchs and most of the clergy
were dead.

The
Caliphate issued a statement regarding this – gotta love radio communications –
expressing in very straightforward terms that all of Turkey, including the city
of Istanbul, their name for Constantinople, was Islamic territory and any
infidel defiling these lands would be killed or enslaved. Such pleasant people.

The
British Swiss Alliance – again, there is not yet an official term for their
cooperative agreement – followed suit by claiming all of Europe, aside from
what was once Soviet territory and Turkey, along with every island in the
Mediterranean and Black Seas, excluding those that clearly belonged to somebody
else. They also took Iceland but issued no objections to the United States
keeping Greenland. I was shocked at this. Shocked, I say. You’d think everyone
would be fighting over Greenland.

Japan
seemed mostly content with their traditional islands. Their only other claim
was for a few islands whose ownership had been in dispute for decades, in all
cases with either China or Russia, and for a huge swath of the Pacific
including all of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Russia didn’t bat an eye. They
just said fine, take the damn things. The Chinese spent a few days bickering
but gave in without too much griping.

As to
the newly rediscovered Chinese government, they wanted China proper along with
the Koreas, all of Southeast Asia, the subcontinent, and Sri Lanka. China also claimed
first right to the Middle East. Needless to say, the Caliphate was in a total
uproar over that.

This
brings us to little Israel. Not wanting to be outdone, they claimed all of
Syria, Lebanon, most of Jordan, and pretty much the entire Nile Valley. China
amended their right to claim the Middle East, should they wish to do so, to
exclude these areas. The Caliphate – yes, I am going to mention them yet again
– reached a new crescendo of insanity. They reiterated, many, many times, that
Israel was not a real nation and called for the extermination of the Jewish
people, quoting the Quran as they did so, most specifically passages saying Jews
had been turned into pigs and apes by Allah, stating that Jews were the most
wicked people on Earth and the greatest of Islam’s enemies, and so on. I dug
out an copy of this book, which we had recovered somewhere or other, to see for
myself. Yep, it was all in there. So much for people saying the old conflict
between the Palestinians and Israelis was over land. It was straight up
religious, at least on the side of the Muslims. There was also a claim about
meat only rotting due to Jews, which might have been from the Hadith – I
couldn’t find an actual reference and lack any direct quotes, having gotten the
information secondhand – and a second assertion, which was clearly a new one,
saying that zombies not rotting was also their fault.