Found - 20
It has been 5 weeks and 3 days since leaving Disney
"SSBN 826, this is Alexis. Are you online?" Alexis waited impatiently for Jarod to come on screen.
"Alexis, it's good to see you. You look a lot better. Just as pretty as ever." Jarod positively beamed at her.
"Thanks, I feel a lot better," she said with a shy smile.
"Our doctor's been waiting for you. Let me put him on." Jarod disappeared and an older man, even older than her dad or Hunt, sat down.
"Miss Alexis, I'm Doctor Bellinger. Can you take me through what happened as best you can?" He was full of questions and hope.
That had Alexis looking at Kate and they traded places. "I'm Kate Beckett. Alexis had infected blood on her: her arms mostly, a little on her face, and on her clothes. She was stripped naked and we scrubbed her using an antibacterial cleanser that we had handy. It was only much later that we remembered that we had medical supplies from an ambulance.
"We burned her clothes. She's allergic to penicillin so we used all the antibiotics that we'd taken from an ambulance. We also kept her warm, wrapped up in comforters. She had a temperature that topped out at 103 degrees for just shy of 3 days. And she vomited profusely those three days. We fed her chicken soup, made her drink water. We even ran a saline IV to keep her hydrated," Kate explained.
"And her stools? Any blood there or in her urine?" Doctor Bellinger inquired, busily taking notes.
Kate looked at Alexis. "Diarrhea at first. My stools have gotten more solid over time. I haven't seen any blood," Alexis answered a bit uncomfortably.
"And you're infection free. If you are indeed free of any infection we might be able to use your blood to look for antibodies. It might be just what we need to defeat this infection. Where are you now?" Doctor Bellinger was going to talk to the captain about how they could keep her alive no matter the risks.
"We're sitting on a bridge over the Cumberland River. We're getting ready to go into Fort Campbell. We're going to be out of diesel soon and without it, we can't make any more hydrogen. We need what's in Fort Campbell," Alexis told him and saw him turn to talk to someone.
"Our part of the convoy is on State Route 30 with most of us sitting just outside a small town called Glenwood. I'm not sure what the captain has in mind. Typically we send out teams to raid all the restaurants, convenience stores, and grocery stores we can see before leaving."
"That's too dangerous for us." Kate would be impressed if they could pull that off.
"We have a lot of fire power. So far it hasn't been a problem. How long before you plan on going into Fort Campbell?" How much ground could they cover in that time"
"Another six days sitting on this bridge then into Fort Campbell," Kate replied.
"I'll inform the captain and ask him to contact Fort Leonard Wood. I'm hopeful one of us can reach you. Can you delay longer than that?" Did they have more time?
Kate looked at Alexis who nodded. "We have drinks, more than enough food; we can stay if we have to if you trust staying on this bridge that long," Alexis affirmed.
"We can if we have to," Kate answered.
"I'll inform the captain." The doctor got up and was replaced by Jarod.
"Stay safe and don't be surprised if the captain asks you to stay there. Talk to you later." Jarod waved – it had become their thing, after all – and ended the transmission.
Kate turned to look at everyone. "That was interesting."
"You really think they'll come to us?" Martha asked, wondering if she could hope for such a thing.
"He seemed very interested in getting his hands on Alexis," Hunt commented.
"Omega Man and I Am Legend both ended with blood samples," Rick noted.
Kate shook her head. "This isn't a movie, babe."
Alexis called what Kate had said into question. "Isn't it? I mean, think about it. We're not infected and we're trying to reach a place that's free of infection. They want my blood because I recovered."
"So do we stay here?" Hunt asked.
"We have no choice since we need hydrogen. We'll wait six days and decide then." Kate watched their heads nod in agreement.
"Have we got food, Castle?" Kate inquired.
"It's all canned and dry goods. Chinese noodles, chili, tamales, soups of all kinds. More Spam, tuna, and pasta. We'll survive." Rick was sure he could come up with something for them to eat.
"That leaves drinks since we have very little fresh water." Kate glanced at Alexis, knowing she'd made provisions for them.
"There's lots of Gatorade, Powerade, and even bottled water. We can leave the hydrogen trailer behind now and go searching if we want. And come back after we find something," Alexis assured them.
"Then we wait six days and decide." Kate was willing. If it meant not going into a base crawling with infecteds with almost nothing, she was very willing.
~[o]~X~[o]~
The very next night Alexis and the rest were in the Command and Control trailer.
"SSBN 826, this is Alexis, are you on line?"
"Alexis! I've called for the captain, give us a minute." They watched Jarod stand up, leaving the seat empty.
A moment later a winded Captain Zimmerman sat down. "Alexis, please tell me you haven't moved from yesterday." He needed them to still be there.
"We still need to make more hydrogen before we can go anywhere very far, so yes, we're still here," she replied.
"Good, I need to know if you can reach a town called Paris in Tennessee." The captain waited for her answer.
Alexis didn't understand. "I'll need my binder from the Stryker to know for sure," she said; Kate hurried out of the trailer and began running.
"What's in Paris, Tennessee?" Alexis still didn't understand. It sounded like a really small town.
"If you can reach it, what will be there is us. Well, a piece of us. We've broken up into three groups. If you can reach Paris I'm going to send one entire group to meet you there and escort you to Fort Leonard Wood. The rest of us will continue on to Fort Leonard Wood."
Hunt leaned in so his face was on the screen. "May I ask what one of your teams is made of?" He was hopeful but didn't want the captain screwing himself to do it.
"Each group has 51 to 52 men. Eight to nine Strykers of various types and capabilities, four old Bradleys that had been converted to hydrogen, 2 MTVRs, 8 to 10 M-35 2-1/2 ton trucks used mostly to hold supplies, 2 HEMTTs that each have a tank to hold the hydrogen we generate and one step deck trailer that holds a single hydrogen generator. We've learned that so long as we don't drain it dry it can use the hydrogen it makes to make more. Essentially self-generating.
"We send out teams to raid every town we stop in to fill our trucks and fill our jerry cans with water for the generator. We eat cold mostly," the captain added. "Unless we find a restaurant that runs on propane or if the gas is still working, then we do a little cooking but not much."
Kate came running back inside and handed Alexis her binder. "Paris, Tennessee." She started flipping pages.
"We have to go back the way we came a little and then head west on State Route 70 until we reach State Route 461 into Paris. We can do it. If the roads are clear we might even do it in one day though I'm betting two. It'll have us using up the hydrogen we generate to reach Fort Campbell. Not all of it, but about half or more." If they didn't show up they were screwed.
"Six days, give us six days. I'll order my XO to meet you there in six days. He can fill your Strykers and you can join his group for the trip to Fort Leonard Wood. Six days." The captain began praying silently.
"Keep your Command and Control trailer and you can talk to us in ours. We have the same trailer you do but just the one that I'm keeping with me," the captain said.
"Six days?" Alexis looked at everyone. "A day or two to get there. We might have enough to get back here if we have to."
~[o]~X~[o]~
"Turn left onto Route 12, please," Alexis asked after consulting her binder.
"Stop, stop, stop!" she suddenly exclaimed and as much as Kate wanted to slam on the brakes, it wasn't a good idea so she slowed down as fast as she dared.
"What?" Kate hadn't seen anything.
"The building a little behind us and to the right said Army National Guard. Is there anything we want or need? We don't have a lot," Alexis said.
"Hunt–" Kate was willing to ask him but was interrupted by him.
"I see it. Probably won't have an anti-tank missile, however, they are likely to have some .50 Cal ammo. A possible bonus is that the National Guard would have been part of the first responders so it's quite probable that it's empty." He meant of infecteds.
"Ammunition." Kate liked it and pressed the button to let Rick and Bear out while she popped her top and climbed out followed by Alexis.
~[o]~X~[o]~
Kate was happy now that Hunt was happy. She had even let him load their .50 Cal. With all the ammunition they had gotten. "All done." Hunt closed the top and went back to his Stryker feeling a lot better.
"Stop, Kate." Alexis had spotted another store.
"Now what?" Kate hadn't seen a thing.
"Ashland City Liquor and Wine." She'd popped her top and pointed. "We made Hunt happy, now maybe we can make Grams and Dad happy. …And you and maybe me."
Grams was soon carrying a case of wine that she'd found while Rick had selected a six-pack. Kate had found a few bottles of tequila and Alexis had gotten her own case of wine. Hunt walked out with a case of beer.
"Thank you, Alexis." Martha would have kissed her if her hands weren't full of wine.
"You're welcome, Grams. And don't you dare give Bear any beer, Dad." Alexis put her case down and went back outside to climb into her seat.
"Waste beer on a dog? Yeah, I don't think so." Rick had no intention of sharing.
"If you see a Starbucks let me know," Kate asked Alexis who just smiled back.
~[o]~X~[o]~
"Sycamore Creek." Alexis started looking at her binder.
"Now what?" Kate stopped at a tee in the road.
"Left on Route 76, please." Alexis began looking ahead in her binder.
They were on 76 for a while. Then, "Left on Route 13. There's the Cumberland River. We can stop here if you want. We have another two days before we have to make it to Paris," Alexis remarked. "Plus I could use a bathroom break."
"Hunt, we're stopping here for the night." Kate slowed and stopped in the middle of the bridge.
Alexis was walking back with Bear right next to her. "There's a storm coming if you want to move a little." She gestured to the black clouds behind them and they noticed the trees were being blown.
Kate pulled forward until she saw something even better. "Food Lion." She was smiling from ear to ear.
"Lucky us." Alexis started smiling and watched as Kate pulled up right out front with Hunt next to her.
"More food, more drink. Keep your eyes open and your ears. If Bear starts barking, run for the Strykers," Kate told all of them.
An hour later each traveler was emptying their last cart into a Stryker. "That place stunk more than the last one," Alexis grumbled, dropping one of the several big bags of dog food that she had picked up for Bear along with a couple of cases of canned. He was getting bigger and was eating more.
"It was the meat and chicken that had gone bad. That and all the cheese, milk, and cooked food. Just think what the inside of the walk-ins smell like," Kate said with a shudder.
Alexis made a face. "I'll pass." She didn't even want to imagine it.
"Dinner, Castle?" Kate inquired now that he had more bottled water to work with.
While they were busy with the preparations, Alexis made her call. "SSBN 826, this is Alexis. Are you online?"
"Alexis! Glad to hear from you. Where are you? Are you in Paris?" Jarod hoped she was.
"We're on Route 13 over the Cumberland River. We stopped a few times. One was at a National Guard Base that we ran across. Another was a beer and wine store and now we're parked outside a Food Lion where we got a lot of things. We'll make Paris tomorrow."
"Before Morrison gets there, that's good. I'll inform the captain. I presume you've had no trouble." Alexis hadn't said anything.
"We have Bear to tell us if there are any infecteds around. He's a good boy." Alexis reached down to pet him when he came to her after hearing his name.
"We haven't seen any dogs that aren't infected. You're lucky. What does he think of seafaring men?" Jarod questioned.
Alexis tried to hide her smile. "He likes naval officers."
"Good, talk to you tomorrow." Jarod ended the transmission and high fived the guy next to him.
~[o]~X~[o]~
"Right on Route 149, please," Alexis asked Kate.
"Hilltop Supermarket." Alexis chuckled as she airily waved a hand at it.
"Lake Barkley." Alexis took a peek as did Kate.
"Elk Creek." Alexis started looking at her binder.
"Which way?" Kate stopped at another tee intersection.
"Right on Route 49." Alexis went back to looking forward from here.
"That's a lot of water to our right." Kate had noticed they'd been traveling next to water for a while.
"Cross Creek National Wildlife Refuge. I think that body of water was Pool Five. We're going to lose it soon," Alexis commented.
Kate drove over three small bridges and came to another tee intersection and stopped. "Left on US Route 79, please. This will take us straight into Paris, so no more turns." Alexis put her binder away since she doubted she would need it again.
"I'm getting a lot of residences. The outskirts of Paris, I'm guessing?" Kate wondered and Alexis nodded.
"Market Street. Welcome to downtown Paris, Tennessee," Alexis announced. They had arrived.
"Now what? I'm not parking here." This place looked like it could be dangerous at night.
"Straight. There's a bridge over a rail line ahead; we can try there," Alexis suggested. Kate drove straight until she reached the bridge.
"This will do." Kate stopped and popped her top to look around. "Housing, trees, and I think I see a train station not far away. It has a lot of rail cars. On second thought, maybe we should keep looking." All those rail cars just screamed infecteds to her.
"Right, I'm guessing." Alexis asked for Kate to go slow. "There! I see a large parking lot behind this row of buildings. Maybe the end of these buildings?"
"Henry Farmers Co-op." Alexis read the sign before Kate turned left and they found that it opened up into a massive almost empty parking lot.
"Perfect." Kate liked this spot a lot better. There was nothing around them.
Kate pressed the button and let Rick and Bear out. Bear found a light pole and lifted his leg.
"Sunset's in about 4-1/2 hours; let's look around," Kate proposed and they broke up into two groups just like how they traveled together.
Alexis used her headset. "There's a wine and liquor store down here, Grams."
"On my way," Martha responded, dragging Hunt with her.
"EW James and Sons Supermarket," Kate noted.
"We may raid that tomorrow," Alexis said.
Rick stepped in behind Kate and wrapped his arms around her. "You happy yet?"
"I'll be a lot more happy when we make it to Fort Leonard Woods. But yeah, I'm happy. I've got you." Kate spun around and kissed him deeply.
"You shouldn't do that." Rick was finding that Kate in his arms was arousing and he was starting to get an erection.
"I'll take care of you, Castle." Kate kissed him again.
"I want my own room when we get there. Between you guys and Grams I'm going to need a whole lot of counseling," Alexis commented as she and Bear walked past them.
"You have Jarod," Kate countered and went back to kissing Castle. Alexis ignored her and just kept walking. She saw Martha and Hunt carrying another case of something toward their Stryker.
"Do you give good kisses, Bear?" Alexis leaned down to kiss his head and began to get her face washed. "I said kisses not a bath," she laughed. "Let's go find your tennis ball." They had a huge open parking lot to play in.
At the mention of his favorite toy, Bear wheeled around and barked. That, however, caused an unintended reaction. Rick and Kate ran their way, weapons drawn, only to find Alexis throwing a yellow tennis ball that Bear was busy chasing.
"GOD! For a minute there I thought infecteds had adapted to the sunlight." Kate willed her heart to slow down.
"Bite your tongue." Rick couldn't think of anything worse.
"Still not sorry you followed me through a door?" Kate asked him.
"Not for a second. I'm already trying to figure out how we can do it again after this life." Rick smiled slowly and moved in to embrace her. "We still need to get married in this life." He kissed her deeply to silence her reply.
~[o]~X~[o]~
"SSBN 826, this is Alexis. Are you online?" Alexis had waited until late in the day and would need to run for their Stryker after this.
"Hi Alexis, where are you?" Jarod needed information so he could pass it on to his XO.
"We're a couple of blocks north of the intersection of Route 69 and 54 on Route 69. We're in a huge parking lot behind Henry Farmers Co-op. There's an open view for yards around. We even have a little diesel to make hydrogen with." Alexis was a bit amazed about that.
"We're running really low on fresh water but we have a lot of Gatorade, Powerade, and water in bottles that might still be good. Plenty of canned food. We even still have propane to cook with." They were down to two bottles but it should last for a while.
"I'll pass all that along. Expect them sometime tomorrow. I'll know better after I talk to them. Help is coming. Gotta go." Jarod waved and ended the transmission. He had someone else to talk with tonight.
Alexis shut down and they all ran for their Strykers.
"How long a trip is it? To reach the base, I mean?" Rick queried as he lowered his bed into position.
"About two days, maybe three at our speed if the road's clear. The trick is getting across the Mississippi River." Alexis had left that part out.
"You have got to be shitting me!" Kate sat down instead of climbing into her bed.
"We've always been on the east side and need to get to the west side." Alexis didn't understand how either of them didn't know that. Did they not know their own country?