Lunch was a simple a fare as one could ask. Cold cut turkey sandwiches and chips and beer for the grown-ups and another rootbeer for James. The sandwiches were piled high with meat, telling me that the Colone—err Frank had wanted to get rid of his perishables. Fine with me as I dug in. It was tasty stuff. Tasty, compared to what I had been eating on the road since I left home and hearth. We ate mostly in silence, just enjoying the opportunity to be able to actually sit down at a table and eat in relative peace. Soon we were done, and sitting back to relax for a few moments. Frank got up from his seat for a moment and reached for something that sat on top of the fridge. An ashtray, bless him. I got one of my cigs and lit up. Maggie got up from the table with a look of disapproval at her father, which he ignored, she was also denying my help in anyway and recruiting James who reluctantly did so like any normal pre-teen his age.
The Colonel and I sat across from one another not saying much. Seemed to me that Frank was waiting for an opportunity to chat with me in private. Maggie and James conveniently gave it to him by stating they were going to take a shower.
The house had two full baths so there'd be no waiting. In a few moments we could hear the drumming of the water from both bathrooms. Frank looked at me for a long moment before speaking. “I don't have to say again how much I appreciate your help with my family,” he began casually enough. “If it weren't for that you'd be hoofing it on down the road long before you even came up on this place.” Somehow I started feeling a bit uncomfortable. The man was perceptive, “I'm not saying this to make you feel uncomfortable son, but it needs to be said, so that all the cards are on the table.” He gave me a sober stare. “All the cards are on the table aren't they?”
So that's it. He had a feeling that I was perhaps hiding something. I bit down on my first remark which would've gotten me tossed out on my ass had I expressed that I planned to sleep with his daughter. But that wasn't of course the entire deck. “I guess so,” I remarked instead. “I'm not a hundred percent sure what exactly you'd like to know from me, but I do have some questions that I hope you can answer. My questions might be irrelevant at this point but a part of me is wanting to know.”
That left the ball in Frank's corner, either he'll start asking me or offering me the opportunity to ask him what was nagging on my mind. Perceptive as he was, he opened himself up to my questions. I knew that it would be the best way that he could get to know me was through them.
“Basically sir,” I began and stopped when he raised his hand to stop me, “Frank, if you please. I am trying to play the role of being retired and I've been trying to shake this air of command off of me for some time.” I grinned and nodded. “Basically Frank, I wonder about how the military got over-run by these things. A lot of folks I've talked to are wondering the same thing. With all the firepower at their disposal, we'd thought that the military would've wiped these things out pretty as you please in a month or two.”
The man nodded in agreement. “Yes, and they could've as easily as you think.” He shook his head. “Thing is, this ... plague or whatever it is, took damned near everyone by surprise, especially the military.” He passed a hand over his eyes and went on.
“When this thing hit, it basically started out small, then snowballed to the point that any armed resistance to it, ended up being futile. Units sent to contain the situation were over-run from all points. Those who were injured by these things, were let in behind the containment lines and when they turned they were in an ideal position to get the soldiers busily fighting the hordes that were coming straight at them, by coming in from behind. So first line units didn't really stand a chance. We had gunships from just about every major air unit in the area at ground zero go in and lay down so much firepower that it'll take years to rebuild certain parts of whatever city they were defending.
“Problem is that they didn't get them all. A lot of these things were still inside buildings and relatively protected. Our gunships didn't start taking out buildings full of these things until it was too late. Another problem that messed up the works was that these things can go 24/7. Troops have to rest, have to re-group, fall back, refuel, re-arm and so on. These things... they just keep on coming regardless and the soldiers that they left behind, rose up an joined them. Not to mention a relatively defenseless civilian population that were attacked and subsequently turned, out-numbered the troops by at least 3 to 1. So you're looking at initially an endless wave coming at you with no end in sight. There's only so long that a unit can fight against that.
“Armored units proved ineffective except at range. Get under a tank's main gun range and it's useless. These things, again were doing just that. The small guns on the tanks could only get so many before they ran out of ammo or got too hot to shoot anymore, and those things just kept coming. Either way tens of thousands of these things were “killed”, he made quotation marks with his fingers, “but by the 36th hour there were close to a million of them and it had spread so fast across the country, especially in the cities, that it became impossible to slow it down or stop it.” He paused for a long moment considering then spoke.
“What I'm about to tell you, before, I'd probably be arrested and the key thrown away down a deep dark well.” He let that sink in then continued, “They still don't know exactly what caused it, but it's speculated, speculated mind you that it was a vial of biologic war-fare that gotten loose during secure transport. The vehicle bringing it from the airport to the main CDC in Atlanta, for testing, ended up in a wreck on the interstate and the civilian EMS made the mistake of opening up the doors of the transport, and letting it loose. Those men couldn't be blamed for ignorance.
“Whether or not it was exactly that particular vial or not, they're not really sure, only that the soldiers transporting it had been ... infected. How they became infected is again under speculation and that is the box in which the vial was being held got broken open from the wreck and the vial itself was broken, releasing the agent. The soldiers got infected while in the truck and when they died they reanimated and started biting some of the staff in the basement morgue which in turn died and so on and so on until the hospital was overrun and containment was compromised. The other people in the accident also died and revived which added to the problem.” He paused again, looking at me and trying to figure out how much he should tell me. I was still trying to sort out everything that I heard thus far. He continued on.
“The “agent” had mutating capabilities. Designed to prevent an enemy from developing a cure fast enough to control it. The thing was the agent was really a failure. After a certain amount of time it had mutated to a harmless virus like our common cold. However, studies at the CDC showed that it went airborne and infected everyone. Everyone, John. So it doesn't matter if you get bitten or not, you die, you turn it's that simple. Worse of all it jumped so quickly and managed to get out of the country by the end of the first week. Someone infected, panicked and managed to get out of the states and over to Europe where there... well you know.
“Meanwhile back here at home, by the time a containment crew arrived at the hospital, it was already too late. Some of the infected got out of the hospital and, well, all hell broke loose.”
“Now, you're wondering how I, being retired and all that, know all of this.” I nodded and he got up out of his chair and beckoned me to follow, explaining as we went. “Thanks to some... political influence and the people that were in the same graduating class at West Point that I was in, I was able to be on the inside of, certain projects. This of course lead to rapid promotion and ever increasing security clearances.” We went into the living room and on the other side of the partition separating the kitchen from the living room was a long wood cabinet that I recognized as an old fashioned entertainment center for the home. He rested his finger tips on the surface and looked at me. “Saving lives and being decorated tends to help as well.” He looked down at his fingers and my eyes followed. His hand was next to a mid-sized frame that held a plethora of various medals, including one with a bright blue ribbon gathered by a field of stars all above an eagle perched on top of a large upside down star encircled by a thin green wreath. Around it were other various medals, including a purple heart that had several smaller stars on it's ribbon. Allowed me to take it in. “Audie Murphy” I muttered. He chuckled and flipped the framed medals face down. “Not quite, but I have been compared to Alvin York more often than not, but of course that's another boring war story. Lets stick to the subject at hand. I only showed you those to make a point about how I tend to know so much.” Frank knelt down and opened up one of the doors along the front and had me look.
Instead of the usual home entertainment center was a regular sized flat screen computer monitor and a keyboard. He pulled these out and set them on top of the console. He then reached in and picked up a wireless mouse and set it beside the other items. He scooted over a bit and opened up another panel and I had to lean a bit to the side to see a short computer tower. Next to the tower was something else I could recognize, a big ham radio. Before the outbreak I had a friend who was a big ham nut and he had been trying to get me to get one for myself for years. The one that Frank had would've had my friend drooling.
As I admired the set up, Frank reached into his pocket and pulled out his keyring. On it I saw that he had a couple of USB flash-drives. He selected one and held it up to me so I could get a better look at it. “Does it look like anything special?” he asked. I saw in his eyes a glint that he was enjoying himself. I looked at the flash-drive stick he was holding out from the keyring. It didnt' look like anything different than what I've seen, except for a bright red streak down one side. Could've been a decoration, but part of me knew better, so I pointed it out. He chuckled again, more to himself. “Glad Maggie found herself a smart guy for once.” I wasn't sure how to take that so I remained quiet and waited on him to continue. Gave the stick a little shake, “This was Maggie's husband, God rest his soul. It's a Secure Internet Protocol Router or SIPR flash-drive. He had left the house in a rush and forgotten it. I made a couple of phone calls to, certain people, and they told me to hang on to it. I was given passcodes and routing numbers and I upload regular updates. All of this is because I have friends with stars on their shoulders. Friends that owe me a favor or two.” I nodded that I understood.
“Normally I would've asked you not to tell anybody about this, much less even show it to you. But seeing how things are...” he trailed off. “Maggie's husband had this installed because he had security clearance and that he was part of a special ops group that needed to communicate with him on a secure channel. This was, top-secret and above and beyond normal protocol. That soldier was part of a black bag special forces unit. He had it installed here instead of his own house with Maggie because it was a lot safer in many respects.” There was a pause as he reflected quietly. “He also knew that I could be trusted because of my own personal background with units like his.
“Anyway, I used this to monitor communications between National Guard and Active units in the area and at ground zero, down in Atlanta. Heard it and seen most of it until there was nobody left to broadcast or stream as they call it.” He rose up slowly and leaned against the entertainment console.
“It was a god awful mess.” his eyes began tearing up. “I've been through a lot of combat and heard men screaming for their lives and confusion mucking up the entire operation. But nothing compared to what happened when this plague hit us. It was like this all over the country.
“Later I found out,” nodding to the computer, “that the air units were largely unable to return to their respective bases because they'd been over-run. Many of them set down where they could when they ran out of fuel and the crewmen were never heard from again. I'm hoping that a lot of them managed to get out safely and are probably like yourself. Just surviving or trying to hook up with whatever remnants of their units that they could. As far as I know there's a terrible breakdown in the command chain. The President and his cabinet and most of the Pentagon bigwigs are all safe of course in a secure facility somewhere around Washington. But there's not much of a country to run now is there?”
He bent and put away the monitor, keyboard and mouse, closed the doors hiding the tower and radio again then went over to a lazy-boy and took a seat. He waved at one of the couches nearby. I hesitated, more of worrying about getting the furniture dirty since I hadn't changed clothes yet. Ever perceptive, Frank waved me down, “don't worry about mussing up the furniture, I only kept it clean out of respect to my missus. She's long gone now died before this horror came down upon us, thank God, and well, we're not going to be here long enough to worry about it anymore.”
My eyebrows went up, “we're... not?” I asked.
The colonel nodded. “We're not.”
The silence sat between us and was growing thick.
“And just where do you propose that we go?” Maggie's voice called out from behind me. I turned and she was dressed in civilian clothes this time, her hair done up in a towel, indicating she just stepped out of the shower. She gave me a quick smile and then looked at her father, I caught a quick blush before she came around and sat down next to me.
Frank leaned off to one side of his chair to see down the hall way leading to the bathrooms and bedrooms. I presume it was to look for James who obviously hadn't finished with his shower. “I was thinking that we should follow this young man's lead,” pointing at me “ and head west or I'm thinking more of south-south west from here.”
Curious I asked, “What is south-southwest of here si... Frank?”
The man smiled at my self-correction, “Wildfire 2” he stated simply.
I was at a loss, but Maggie wasn't. “Dad, there's no guarantee that W2 is even viable.” He nodded, “yes I know” he agreed then more to me he said, “but it's a stronghold for heads of government and the military. It'd also be heavily defended even if none of those idiots made it there. We get in there we should be safe until it all blows over.”
Maggie snorted, “IF we get in there, Dad. Remember I'm just a E-6 with the equivalent clearance. I'm pretty sure I don't have enough to get past the guard at the gates.”
Frank nodded sagely. “Yes, that is correct. But I do.”
I felt that I was in a tennis match trying to catch the look on Maggie's face and the somberness of her father. It was dawning upon me just how extraordinary my particular circumstances were becoming. Had I not decided to check out the convenience store for supplies and been stuck on the roof and coming down at the same moment Maggie was casing the store herself... I shook my head, a move that got both of their attention.
I looked at them both in turn and faced the Colonel. “I was just reflecting on where I'd be right now if I had zigged instead of zagged.” This produced a puzzled look from the Colonel and a chuckle from Maggie. “Please go on Dad.” she encouraged.
He took a breath and focused his attention to his daughter. “Before I retired I was part of a DOD project to ensure that places like W2 were maintained in full operational readiness. Now granted that seems to be more of a Brigadier's job but, well... in my case it was more of a who you know than what you know.” He grinned in a private memory then went on. “Since I was in charge of assigning base commanders for each of them, well, for them it was also a “who you know” kind of thing.
“Oh I made sure that they were capable of doing the work, but there was a list. Thanks to “who I knew” I was able to re-arrange that list to suit.” He turned and looked at me. “Military, while under the command of politicians, is still subject to it's own politics within the ranks.” I nodded, understanding that part but not about “Wildfire” so I had to ask.
“Frank, excuse me but I thought Wildfire was the name given to the CDC.”
Frank nodded, “right you are, right you are. But Wildfire wasn't just the CDC itself, it was also the name of the bunker which sat under the CDC. Wildfire One has three more just like it. SAC-NORAD, also known as Wildfire 3, I believe is one that is known to the general public, somewhere in Colorado. Wildfire 2 is located somewhere near Popular Bluff Missouri.”
My head began to ache a little. “So, it's not likely that the President and Joint Chiefs are holed up there?” I asked. He shook his head. “No. They're in that secure facility somewhere around Washington. Wildfire 2 was designed for the fellas residing in the Capitol building... and their families of course. They have a direct line of communications with all the other Wildfires in the country, via satellites.”
Maggie jumped in, “So, you can get us into W2?” Frank nodded. Yes, I think so, provided Your “uncle Bobby” is still in command there.”
“Uncle Bobby?” she asked incredulously. “The uncle Bobby that came over every other Christmas and always bought me a stuffed animal no matter how old I was, that uncle Bobby?” Her father chuckled and nodded. “Yep, the same one who got drunk and fell off the front porch whenever he went out for a smoke.” he looked at me, “did it every year that he came to visit, though you didn't hear this from me, he'd have my ass in a sling. The man made Brigadier a few years ago.” I didn't chuckle along but nodded that I'd keep my mouth shut.
James came into the living room, fully dressed and his short hair raised up in crazy spikes from his shower. He sat down on one of the other couches and signed without speaking. Maggie translated. “He says the shower is free.” She signed something to him quickly and he responded in what I thought was a rude gesture, before she signed back and he lowered his chin and signed the same gesture only more politely. Maggie laid her hand on my arm, “I asked him if there was still hot water left” she explained, “he said yes.” I had a feeling that it was my cue to leave the family to themselves and got up. Frank spoke up as I walked around the couch to head down the hall. “There should be clean towels in the cubbard behind the door. Maggie, James and I have some pre-planning to do and we'll let you know when you're done washing up.” I turned and nodded thanks and caught a glance from James that still said he resented my presence there. I ignored it and went to my room to get the change of clothes for after the shower.
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