Following Arthur, Shawn held his AR to his shoulder and scanned the area, seeing several military vehicles near some tan tents. They smelled the stench long before they reached the area. Slowing, Arthur eased up to the first tent and glanced inside.
Cots lined both sides of the tent with bodies and Arthur only spotted movement from one at the other end. Slipping inside, Arthur moved down the tent and stopped at the cot with movement. A young man not even old enough to buy beer was sprawled out on the cot. Breathing shallow, fluid rattled in the young soldier’s lungs as the young man coughed weakly, never opening his eyes.
Moving over, Arthur propped him up using pillows from other cots and then placed water bottles on the soldier’s lap. “Gather the weapons and backpacks,” Arthur told Shawn and Tony as he tried to get the soldier to drink some water.
When the soldier coughed after drinking a few sips, Arthur put the bottle of water in his hand. “You have to drink, but sit up,” Arthur said, standing up. “Sorry, but that’s all I can do for you.”
The soldier never opened his eyes as he continued to wheeze when Arthur walked off. Stopping at three cots, Arthur grabbed the combat vests off the floor and headed for the door.
He saw Shawn and Tony coming back for another load. Moving back to the truck, Arthur tossed the vests in the back and then moved to the driver’s door. Taking the sling off, he placed Nicole in the seat and then gently closed the door.
Breaking into a run, he passed Shawn and Tony carrying a load back to the truck. Emptying the first tent of equipment, Arthur pulled the boys over to a five-ton truck and started tossing out ammo cans and other boxes. The boys would grab them off the ground and carry the thirty-pound ammo boxes back and toss them into the bed of the truck.
Jumping out of the supply truck, Arthur helped the boys carry over what he had tossed out.
Twenty minutes later, they loaded up and Arthur led them north. Before they drove off, the soldier in the tent weakly opened his eyes, wondering why he was sitting up. Wanting to lay down, the soldier pushed the pile of pillows from his cot and lay back down.
Just as Arthur drove through the gate at the house, the soldier gave a grunt as his last breath escaped. Nobody knew that the soldier had joined the billions that were already dead and still had billions more to go. The virus was now at its peak, with over fifty million dying an hour around the globe.
Chapter Twenty Three
Preparing for a journey through hell, tickets please
May 16
Standing out on the balcony, Wendy scanned the shore for any signs of life. Lowering the binoculars, Wendy glanced up at the dark clouds of the storm that had rolled in last night. Her fear of tornadoes had kicked into overdrive as the ship had rocked back and forth during the night.
Looking around at the ocean, Wendy gave a shudder at all the floating bodies. The beach was lined with them and several days ago, they’d watched sharks feeding on the dead bodies. Even as she looked on now, Wendy saw a body two hundred yards away get jerked under the water. When the body bobbed back up, a large splash appeared at the body and it went back under.
Turning away from the feeding, Wendy saw Jo Ann and Sally looking at the shore with binoculars they had scavenged up. “Ready for some breakfast?” Wendy asked.
Lowering her binoculars, Sally looked up at Wendy. “I think we’re closer to shore,” Sally blurted out.
Taking a deep breath, Wendy nodded. “Yeah, I know we are,” she said, just thankful that the sea had calmed down and the ship wasn’t rocking that badly today. “I’m just guessing, but I think we moved in a few hundred yards.”
Still looking at the buildings of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, “I’m just glad we didn’t move further out,” Jo Ann admitted.
Suppressing a shiver, “Me too,” Wendy agreed, watching Jo Ann lower her binoculars.
“Daddy isn’t coming back,” Jo Ann said in a low voice.
Reaching over, Wendy pulled the twins into a hug. “Girls, we don’t know that. I put a note in your cabin so he can find us, but we can’t stay here,” Wendy told them. “The computer in the bridge shows a bigger storm coming and I don’t want to have to travel miles to get back to shore.”
Squeezing Wendy tight, Jo Ann and Sally nodded.
After the night Wendy had taken care of Anthony, she and the girls had carried Ryan to the kitchen and found the emergency lights were still on. Reaching the kitchen, they’d found that the freezers and refrigerators still had power.
On a hunch, Wendy had tried the service elevator she had used at the stern and found it still worked. It may have worked, but they didn’t use it. Instead, they would load it with supplies and then walk up to their level and call the elevator up.
None of the passenger elevators worked, so Wendy led the girls up to the bridge and found it still had full power. It took some time on one of the computers, but Wendy found out that the ship was only running emergency systems. The computer had given a readout that said those would shut down in fourteen days when the last of the fuel ran out.
That was the only day Wendy had tried the radio. When she’d called out for help, a stern voice had answered and told her if anyone left the ship, they would be shot.
After the warning, each day Wendy exercised more and scouted the ship with the girls, and the spear gun in hand. They even searched
