People were in for a surprise as they arrived for supper that evening. Claire had created a meal with help from Rachel and Sarah. She had prepared three meat loaves, one of which was gluten free for Jack’s sake. Along with the meat loaf, the group was treated to pan-fried vegetables and potatoes. For dessert, Claire had taken the last bread and produced a bread pudding that everybody agreed was delicious.
Every person in the group took a moment to thank Claire for her contribution, and for the first time since they had arrived at the Ren, Claire truly smiled.
That evening there was more good news. Emily had established contact with somebody on the radio. Word spread quickly, and everybody got to the media room to listen in. Everybody except for Patrick and Rosa, that is. Apparently, Patrick was suffering from a migraine headache.
A solitary person named Phil Mitchell was locked in his place on the edge of town. He had been operating his radio for fifteen minutes a day, every evening from seven-thirty to seven forty-five. It was lucky that Emily was scanning just that frequency at just that time.
Phil said that he was doing fine. He lived in a relatively rural location and had only seen several zombies. Phil said that he was able to pick off several zombies quietly, thanks to his crossbow.
“Them zombies just stand around. It’s a turkey shoot! Though I got to admit, I didn’t make every shot.” Phil had run out of arrows for his crossbow and was smart enough to avoid using his rifle.
Phil said that he had been in contact with a few of his ham operator buddies, and a couple of them had been shooting the undead. He heard back from one of them the next morning, saying that his house was surrounded by dozens of undead. He never heard back from the other one.
“You see it’s the noise that attracts them.” Phil said.
He was located about fifteen miles away. After an internal discussion, the location of the school was shared with Phil. Phil thanked them for their invitation to come over but declined.
“I ain’t ever gonna make it over to y’all. Besides, I need nothing. I got plenty of food and water. It’s the ‘lectricity I’m worried about losing. All y’all got a generator I can borrow?” He asked with a good-natured chuckle.
Phil went on to share more news with the group. He had been listening in on military communications and gathered some ’intel’, as he called it.
“If ya haven’t heard, we’re outnumbered about a hundred to one! I heard from another Ham operator, who had heard from somebody out west, that the air force tried to carpet bomb some of the cities out there. The guy never told me what cities... Man, we’re lucky that we’re too small! Otherwise they mighta bombed our assess too!”
“I also heard about the ground troops out there. Man, those boys make me proud! From what I heard; those guys were droppin’ like flies themselves, but they sure laid an ass whoopin’ on them undead! Yeah, the army sure did a bang-up job. Them boys were taking names and kickin’ ass allright! Wooohooo!”
The fifteen minutes were over very quickly. Phil promised to be on the air again the next day and every day after that, at the same time and frequency, ‘until my batteries run dry, y’all.’
And with a ‘Happy Halloween, y’all!’ He was gone. Most of the group had not even realized that it was Halloween. There would be no trick-or-treating tonight.
One hot topic for discussion after the conversation with Phil, was the electricity.
“It’s going to shut off at some point.” Craig said. “So, we should get that solar array up and running sooner than later. Who knows how to do that?”
Nobody responded. After a moment, Ern flat out stated that he had ‘no idea how that fancy new techno stuff works.’ Eventually and reluctantly, Jack raised his hand.
“I kind of know.” He said with a grimace and a shrug.
Nancy offered some good advice. “We’re in a school.” She stated. “Why don’t we check the library – maybe there are some books on it?”
Several people agreed to go search the library in the morning. Not now though, as it was nearly time to connect with the Willemtown group.
The tension in the group was high. Would they be there to answer?
Joe set the frequency and spoke into the mic. “This is Romeo Echo November calling Willemtown, how do you read, over.”
The only sound that could be heard on the speaker was the light static of radio waves.
“This is Romeo Echo November calling Willemtown, Michelle, are you there? Over.”
Still nothing. Joe looked around at the others, concern etched on his face. He turned back to the radio and repeated his call once more. When there was still no response, he started fidgeting with the dials. “Maybe the frequency is off...” He tried several other frequencies and kept trying over the course of the next fifteen minutes. But it was to no avail.
The group had to face reality. Michelle and the folks from Willemtown were off the air. People started guessing what could have happened. Everything from ‘broke their radio’ to ‘saved by the army’ was brought up.
Joe tried to remain optimistic. “We’ll try again tomorrow. Maybe they’re just hunkered down for tonight...”
Most people secretly thought that the worst had happened though.
The group eventually disbanded, and the mood was somber as everybody went to bed that night.
Chapter Fifty-three
Tammy
November 1, 8:35 AM
Tammy woke up. In yet another place, and in a very uncomfortable position. She lay there, looking at the Humvee interior and listening to the steady breathing of those around her. She had no idea what time it was, but she knew she had to pee. Badly.
She shifted her body to a more upright position and looked at her companions. Breanne and Abi were lying in the back – their small sizes almost a perfect fit for the small storage area of the
