“What happened that you found yourself in the unfortunate circumstance to be chased?” Frank asks.
“I heard the aircraft come in. They found me and started breaking in so I figured I had no choice but to make a run for it,” he answers.
We settle in amidst the continued noise outside and share our stories. We bring Greg up to speed with our journey, structure, and knowledge. He in turn fills us in on his “adventures” over the past few days. We also fill him in on our plans but reserve assigning him to a team until Lynn and I have a chance to talk about it. That he is joining us is not in question as he seems to mesh nicely with our group. Plus, his experience will be extremely beneficial.
“Okay, everyone, let’s get whatever rest we can inside this noisy tin can. We have a very busy next few weeks coming up,” I say. “Lynn, would you mind coming up with me.”
We enter the cockpit and I pick up my phone from the seat where I left it as I scrambled out. Lynn looks at me quizzically as I open it and pull up the text. With the glow of the phone shining brightly in a darkened cockpit, lit only by the glow of the instrument panels, I hand the phone to her. She takes it and looks down at the screen. She stares at the screen with furrowed brows for a few moments.
Finally, looking up with a scowl, she says, “You have got to be fucking kidding me!”
“Hey, it’s not like I planned this,” I say defensively.
“What are you going to do?” She asks.
“Contact her and go get her I guess,” I say thinking, How is there any right answer to this one?
“I suppose you’re right. There’s really no other right choice but I’m going with you.”
“I have no problem with that but I would like you here to keep control of things. There’s a ton that needs to be done during the day before night falls.”
“Yeah, I went along with your foolhardy plan and let you go into the CDC but there’s no way in hell you’re going down there alone,” Lynn says putting her hands on her hips.
“I was thinking about taking Robert and Bri actually.”
“Now why on earth would you do that?” She asks tilting her head to the side.
“The Guard Base down there has a couple of C-130’s and I was thinking about flying one back up. It’s would be nice to know we have one available just in case. I’ll need their help to fly it back up,” I answer.
“Well, I’m still going with you and that’s the way it’s going to be. You’ll just have to get used to that idea,” Lynn says adamantly.
“Okay, okay,” I say waving my hand in a warding off gesture. “We’ll take a Humvee with just the four of us.”
“Why not take a whole team or two?” She asks feeling slightly appeased but not completely happy.
“There’s a lot we need to get done before night hits and I think we’ll need everyone here helping to set up a secure location,” I respond. “It’ll be a quick down and back depending on what the road conditions are like. Let me try and get hold of Mom and then respond back to Kelly. We should then gather everyone together to quickly cover what we’re going to do come morning.”
Lynn continues looking at me and makes the ‘well, go ahead’ gesture indicating she is not going anywhere. I nervously dial Mom’s cell phone as I am worried about her but don’t get an answer increasing my worry even further. I leave a voice mail and try her home phone. There is no answer at that number and I don’t even get a voice mail. I send a thought of protection out to her as I have periodically throughout our journey.
Now the interesting part. I hit reply to Kelly’s text.
“I’m here. Are you okay?” I text and press the send button.
Several minutes pass and Lynn comes to look over my shoulder. The phone vibrates in my hand and the screen comes to life.
The words appear on the screen. “OMG!! You’re alive! I’m so scared. Where are you?”
“Fucking drama queen,” I hear Lynn whisper by my side as she reads the message. Yeah, Lynn’s not particularly fond of Kelly.
“I’m in Tacoma. Where are you?” I text asking. I would call but I don’t know her situation and the sound of her phone ringing could make it worse.
“At my place with Jessica and Brian. Can you come help us?”
“Be there tomorrow afternoon. Keep the lights off and stay quiet. Turn your phone off for now and then back on when it’s light. I’ll call you then.”
“Ok.”
I try Mom once again after the texting session but still don’t get a reply. I’m extremely worried about her. I really have a hard time with worrying and it eats at me until I find an answer one way or the other. I also notice an edginess with Lynn. I would normally attribute it to the text but I understand her well enough to know that it goes deeper than that. She keeps biting her lip and that’s one of her signs that she is nervous or anxious about something.
“Everything okay?” I ask noting her nervousness.
“I’m just thinking about Mom and Craig and worried about them,” she answers. I pull her in close and wrap my arms around her.
“Well, I told him five days and that isn’t until tomorrow. Craig probably doesn’t want to fly at night into a strange airfield,” I say whispering into her ear and continuing to hold her close.
We hold each other for a moment longer and then head down into the cargo compartment gathering everyone around as best as the confined space will allow. The thuds against the side of the fuselage continue sporadically as the night runners persist in their attempts to get to us. Their howls are muted by the thin steel walls between them and us. I cannot really say we are becoming accustomed to this, as the bangs still startle us each time, but we are able to focus to an extent.
“I just want to give a rundown on tomorrow. First of all, Bannerman, will you put together a list of our critical supply needs? The overall plan is to gather vehicles, raid the armories, and then caravan down to Cabela’s. For that, we’ll need a few cargo trucks and some bolt cutters. We also need a few Humvees so we can scout the area for any additional survivors. Make sure they are filled with fuel. Siphon if you have to. Once we get the vehicles, head out and cover the area in teams. When we finish here, we’ll head down and make further plans once we see what we are up against. Lynn, will you please see to the assignments?” I ask finishing the quick briefing.
“Will do. Drescoll, take your team along with Alpha and Bravo to secure the vehicles. Horace, take your team and search the open maintenance hangars for bolt cutters. The rest of us will unload the supplies in the meantime,” Lynn says. Everyone nods at their assignments.
“There’s two Humvees parked on the ramp. I’ll be taking one and Drescoll, you can take the other with your team to the front gate where there are two others parked. That should be enough for all of you,” I say adding to Lynn’s instructions.
“What are you doing with the other Humvee?” Robert asks.
“Going to check on Mom. I can’t get her on the phone. I’ll be back by the time the vehicles are secured,” I answer.
“Can I go?” He asks.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Bri, Nic and Michelle, I want you to stay here with the others.”
The sound of boots shuffling and walking on the cargo floor fills the aircraft as everyone finds a place to settle in for the rest of the evening. Our rest is broken by the echoing of the hollow, metallic thuds periodically through the night. The night runners eventually give up close to dawn and we are afforded a small period of rest.
Another dawn breaks over the Cascades to our east, filling the cockpit with its radiance. My head is aching from all of the time spent at altitude with its low humidity. I am dehydrated coupled with a lack of sleep. I feel a little overwhelmed thinking about the busy day and times ahead. There isn’t time or room to ‘take a break’ and deal with the issues another day. Lynn stirs beside me and heads into the back after a good morning kiss. I get up shortly thereafter thankful I don’t have to plop right down into the pilot seat. My rear end could use the rest.