“How do you know that?” Skannish asked, sitting down.
“It said so on the plan. The other one said the same,” Sutton said, sitting down. “In each tunnel, according to the plans, there are entrances. The one that leads to Washington, you can see tire tracks. I’m not an expert, but they look old.”
Slapping his thigh, “I feel like a kid, one of those Goonies,” Skannish cackled. “I wonder if there is a pirate ship around here.”
The others moved around, looking at the fine china and silverware sitting on the tables as Sarah sat down at the corner table with Sutton and Skannish. “Why is there power here?” Sarah asked.
“Well, you may not believe this, but they put in a nuclear power station,” Sutton told her. “It’s not a big one and it’s only a mile from Camp David and supplies backup power there. It was put in to power the trains.”
“What were those buildings on the other side for?” Sarah asked, seeing a bottle of water beside Sutton’s laptop and grabbing it.
“Living areas, shops, a movie theater, a bowling alley and such, but most I looked in are just packed with supplies,” Sutton told her. “This was going to be another living area around the train entrance, but they stopped and I don’t know why.”
Sarah looked up and saw the others leaving the restaurant to go explore. “Do you have any idea where the president is headed?” she asked.
“Yep, Denver,” Sutton answered quickly. “If you think that complex we were in was big, it’s nothing compared to that one.”
Draining the bottle, Sarah looked over at him. “How do you know?”
Tapping the keyboard on the laptop, Sutton turned it around and showed her the screen. “Whoever the president told to send me the file, sent me the files on every top secret bunker the US has.”
“How do you know it’s all of them?”
Tapping the screen, “Sarah, that’s seventy-nine bunkers in the US, linking tunnels connecting military bases and one bunker in Hawaii,” Sutton told her. “I hope that’s all because that would explain a lot of the debt.”
With a huge grin, Skannish stood up. “Will you two accompany me so we can explore this?”
“What about the vaccine we were making?” Sarah asked, standing up.
“Well, my dear. I’m sorry to say, we will have to start over,” Skannish said, walking slowly toward the doors. “Those that broke in sealed everyone’s fate here. Atlanta only had several dozen chickens that were immune delivered to them.”
Sutton walked past her, following Skannish. Putting the empty water bottle down and following, “I hope there is water,” Sarah said.
“Oh, there is,” Sutton told her, following Skannish out the doors. “Underground lake across the tracks that’s filtered in a plant. It’s a gravity based system and I don’t think the filtration was necessary.”
“So, we just explore while people die?” Sarah asked as Skannish headed into the first building.
“Sarah, we can’t be exposed to the virus for several days at the soonest. Those people out there are just scared. We will figure out our next move later but now, let’s see what our tax dollars have stored down here,” Sutton told her, holding the door open. Inside, they could hear Skannish cackling up a storm.
“So, you played Nintendo?” Sarah asked walking in. “You think they have TVs and we could hook one up?”
“Oh, I’ll kick your butt on Mario,” Sutton boasted, following her inside.
“They have ‘I Love Lucy,” Skannish howled, holding up a VHS tape from a box he’d opened.
“Haven’t seen one of those in a long time,” Sutton admitted, looking at the tape.
“What is it?” Sarah asked, wrinkling her brow.
“Oh shit, do I feel old now,” Sutton groaned. “Do you mean the tape or show?”
“Both! Who’s Lucy and why is someone in love with her and why would others care?” Sarah asked with a shrug.
Skannish stopped opening the next box and turned around, not laughing anymore. “You were very abused as a child to even ask that,” Skannish declared.
With her mouth gaping open, Sarah turned to Sutton who just shrugged. “Don’t look at me because I know they have reruns on Nick at Night,” Sutton said, moving down the room between stacks of boxes.
Chapter Thirty Two
The Caravan Man arrives
May 19
With his arm resting on the door, Shawn glanced over at Tony. They had pulled out after feeding the animals and he was driving the new Chevy 3500 quad cab and pulling a forty-foot trailer. In front of him was Andrea in the Dodge they had picked up on the day Andrea and her group had joined. But now, Andrea was pulling a forty-foot trailer like he was.
Only Arthur, driving the Suburban in the lead, was pulling the same trailer they had started out with. “Why doesn’t Arthur let you drive one of those big trucks with him?” Tony asked. “I can drive this truck.”
“Because we always go back to the shipping yard,” Shawn answered and glanced over to see Tony was looking around, even glancing behind them. “If anyone is watching, they will see us coming back when Arthur loads those empty shipping containers.”
The day after Andrea had joined them, after loading trailers from stores on the way home, they had set out to a trucking terminal. Arthur had climbed in one of the bobtail semis and had hooked up a tandem trailer. Even Shawn could tell Arthur had never driven a tandem trailer.
With Shelia driving the Suburban, the group had followed Arthur home as he’d driven the tandem trailers with shipping containers on them. Some days when they went out, Arthur would drive the truck back to the terminal and park it.
Then, Arthur would climb in the Suburban and they would head off into a nearby town and collect
