Dead Air (Book One of The Dead Series) (26 page)

"
Nooo, going to plant seditious thoughts and incite the masses to revolt?" Heather asked with a laugh.

"Maybe
, if I get the chance, I'll preach to them about the dangers of marijuana use," Steve said slyly.

"Just say no
," Heather spouted the anti-drug slogan.

"I do say no to drugs all the time," Steve retorted. "They
don't listen."

The polite firm knock from earlier now turned into an insistent hammering, prompting Steve to say, "Call me later and take care of yourself. If things go to shit, get your ass in here."

Pressing end on the phone without waiting for a reply, Steve turned the lock and opened the door. In the hall stood three men in full battledress, the one in front he recognized as a Captain by the insignia on his collar. This man carried a holstered pistol on his web belt and the two soldiers on either side of him carried M4 automatic rifles at port arms.

The officer said,
"My name is Captain Sobloski and I’m here on orders from the Governor to secure this radio station. I’m looking for Tom Oliver.”

"
He's not here, but I’m the station manager, Steve Wendell. Tom left me in charge. Why don't you come in?" Steve said casually. He noted that Sobloski looked surprised at the suggestion, as if he might have expected armed resistance. Turning to the men behind him, the officer said, ''Stay here and secure the door."

Steve led him to his office, waving toward the chairs in front of his desk for the Captain to sit in and then offered him coffee.

"Ah, no thank you Mister Wendell. I just stopped by to let you know that your station is now under State authority," Sobloski told him firmly.

"
Great, glad to hear it," Steve replied amicably. "What do you need from me?"

''Your cooperation
,'' the Captain said in a commanding tone.

"Anything
I can do to help," Steve lied. He didn't mind that the National Guard was in the area, but he didn't want them inside the station. He needed to figure out if their presence would interfere with his plan and decided this would be a good time to go fishing for information.

"I’ll be posting
a sentry outside your door and we have an armored vehicle downstairs," Sobloski said. "And even though the bank is under Federal authority, we'll be securing that too"

"
What kind of armored car?” Steve asked. He really wasn't curious but he wanted to act interested so as to befriend the Captain. Everyone liked to talk about their work - or bitch about it - to a sympathetic ear.

Smiling
, Sobloski stood and said, “You can probably see it from here. It’s one of the MRAPs they brought back from Iraq."

Going to the window, Steve pressed his forehead against the tinted glass and looked down. Parked in the turning lane in the center of the street was exactly what the Captain said, an MRAP armored vehicle.
He had only seen them on TV and was impressed at how imposing it was in real life. He noted six armed soldiers standing around it while one manned the .50 caliber machine gun in the top turret.

"It’s a
beauty, Captain," Steve commented approvingly.

Sobloski beamed
. "The MRAP is positioned here until the crisis is over. We'll patrol this area on foot and keep it secure from looters and Z’s. I’ve got a whole platoon at my disposal, but I’m rotating them here one squad at a time from the high school.”

Steve looked confused
and asked, ''Squad? Platoon? What’s a Z?" Even though he knew what these things were, he wanted the captain to get the impression he was just a harmless civilian in need of protection and explain it to him. Sobloski did just that, telling Steve more in ten minutes of casual conversation than a team of skilled interrogators could have gotten out of the officer in five days. By the time Sobloski was done answering his questions, they were on a first name basis.

When he was finished Steve
said, "I feel safer already."

They talked for a few minutes more about living in Clearwater before the captain said he had to go check his other positions. Steve saw him to the door where Sobloski collected one of the men posted there and left.

Steve offered the remaining sentry coffee but was politely declined. Give him time, he said to himself. He remembered his own four years in the army and knew soon enough that the guard would relax. Going back to his office, he reviewed what the Captain had told him and was relieved that it wouldn't interfere with his plan. To his recollection, martial law had never been declared on this scale in the history of the United States, so he didn’t think anyone was really sure what his authority was. He was confident the Captain would see that when Steve locked down the building, it was only to protect himself and the station.

In fact
, since they were on such friendly terms now, the Captain would probably be glad to help.

Chapter 13

Quantico, Virginia:

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called the meeting to order, "Gentleman, we have an order from the President telling us to take Washington DC back from the dead."

The Commandant of the Marine Corps spoke up immediately, "We need to advise him that it would be a serious misuse of the resources we have here in the United States. The closest base we could launch an assault from is here in Quantico and I'm already committed to bolstering the National Guard and preparing to retake Atlanta per his order
s."

"That was before DC fell and we ended up being your guests,"
the Navy Chief of Staff said. "Now you can scratch Atlanta and write in Washington D.C. as your priority. It'll be a relief to get back to the Pentagon."

The Joint Chiefs
, along with most of their staff, had been evacuated early that morning to the Quantico Marine Base when it appeared their safety could no longer be assured if they stayed in the Pentagon. After overrunning the White House, the undead had traveled along the underground metro line and come up inside the five-sided building to run amok. The security forces pushed them back but at great loss. The structure had been sealed from more zombie incursions, but temporary quarters were needed until the area could be fully secured.

"It'll also be a relief when the President finally declares martial law,"
the Army Chief of Staff commented.

The Chairman cleared his throat for attention before speaking again. "The President has put off declaring martial law indefinitely. He feels he's in control of the situation from his alternate base at Cheyenne Mountain. He wants the Army and Marine Corps to substantially back the National Guard without full deployment of the military."

The Marine Commandant flashed anger at this new development but calmed himself. In as reasonable a tone as he could muster, he said, "If we don't relieve the key cities, how can we keep our supply lines going? We rely on civilian contractors for almost all of our needs, so if they're shut down, soon we'll be shut down. Then the military won't be in a position to substantially back anyone."

"The president is aware of this,"
the Chairman replied.

"But he's on a course of self destruction because he's afraid that if he hands over power to the military he won't get it back,"
the Army Chief of Staff pointed out. "My desertion rates are going through the roof and I've had five new reported outbreaks of HWNW at bases across the country. At this rate, by this time next week we won't have a military left to hand power to."

The Chairman held up his hand for silence, reaching in front of him, he flipped several switches on the control board recessed into the table. After pulling a black box the size of a cigarette pack from his uniform pocket, he pushed a toggle switch on the side before laying the device down.

Pointing to it, the Chairman said, "It's a jammer, you'll also notice I’ve turned off all recording devices in the room. What I'm about to say could be construed as treason so I want no record of it." Nodding to his aide who quickly passed out telephone book sized, sealed packets to the men around the table, the Chairman continued, "This is a plan that was put together by some of my men this morning after we evacuated DC. As you are aware, the recall of troops from overseas has been postponed since we don't have the available resources to transport them, so this is an up-to-date listing of all bases and assets of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps in the continental United States. It also lays out a rough plan of attack from these bases into their surrounding areas and the gradual reclamation of cities under control of the undead. It calls for a large amount of individual initiative from base commanders as to how this is accomplished since the situation around each base is different. If activated, this plan would start immediately with small scale excursions that will take back our country before it's too late."

"I take it the President didn't authorize this
," the Navy Chief of Staff said cautiously. "Is he even aware this plan exists?"

The Chairman sighed, "He's not aware of quite a few things. When I spoke to him an hour ago at 1400, he informed me that Lancelot
Linc, secret chimp, would be coming to our rescue any time now and that Erm, the rabid elephant from hell, is behind this virus. The man has gone over the edge. I reported this to his psychiatrist who assured me the President is taking his medication now and will be fine. I was holding the plan I'm showing you in reserve, but after that phone call, I feel it is in the country’s best interest to bypass our Commander-in-Chief and take matters into our own hands."

"What if we decide to turn you in for treason?" The Navy Chief asked.

"You would be doing this country and its people a great disservice. I would go along peacefully but you would be in the same situation as before. I ask you, who is with me on this? Who will step forward to help save the United States before we run out of time?"

The men eyed each other for a moment before all raised their hands.

Tearing open the flap on the packet in front of him, the Chairman said, "Then let's get to work. I want to go over some force relocations for the next hour or so and then get these orders out. Operations are to begin at 0600 tomorrow morning, but we can start moving assets tonight."

Donning his reading glasses, the Chairman said, "Let's start with McDil
l Air Force Base in Tampa. Centcom is located there and they’re top heavy with troops. We'll leave the base security in place and move the other units to bases around the Atlanta area and over to Louisiana. Reports filed from Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg show a very low infection rate so the troops aren’t needed there."

The Army Chief of Staff called out a list of bases in Georgia and Texas where the troops from McDill were needed
, while his aides took notes. In minutes, locations and troop strength movements were confirmed.

The Chairman gave the order, "
Redeploy them starting tonight."

Clearwater, Florida:

Heather Johansen ignored the smell of blood coming from the back seat of her patrol car as she entered the parking lot of Clearwater High School. She had just completed her fifth run to the hospital
, and now she was back to ferry more wounded from the supposed safe zone. It was the city’s first major disaster area from the zombie apocalypse.

Because of a shortage of manpower, the refugee center had been set up on the high school's football field right across from
the quarantine area. This way, the National Guard wouldn’t have to split their forces to cover two separate areas. Initially, the plan to combine the facilities had run like a well-oiled machine, and having been informed of the location of this clear zone on television and radio, people had been flooding in all day. The evacuees were first examined by a doctor to see if they were at risk of exposure to the HWNW virus, and if negative, were fed and assigned a cot in one of the large tents erected for this purpose on the home side of the football field. If positive, they were still fed but were assigned a cot in one of the large tents on the visitors' side of the field. Here, they were kept under observation. The only thing separating the two areas was a grass strip manned by a handful of National Guard troops.

Those on the visitors
’ side had to be quarantined for a minimum of twenty-four hours. As most of them were slight risks, usually having scratches or sores that could have been caused by any number of things and those who had an elevated temperature, it was now falsely believed a slight fever was a symptom of exposure, the confinement was brief.

The high-risk cases were segregated in the
school’s gymnasium and kept under close scrutiny by taser wielding Clearwater Police officers. The high-risks were people showing evidence of human bites or infected scratches. Since nine o'clock that morning when the quarantine zone opened, twenty-two people had turned and been put down by the police officers in the gym.

As darkness fell, a large portion of the troops stationed at the high school went out to patrol the streets for curfew violators and looters, leaving only a skeleton crew to patrol the safe zone. Up until then, a
walkthrough of the quarantine tents had been performed every fifteen minutes. With the reduction in forces, that now changed to every hour.