A/N: I had a PM regarding my treatment of various cities and so here is my disclaimer:

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and any similarities between anyone or any place is mere coincidence and should not be taken to heart or to a lawyer. After all, it's not my fault you live in BFE, is it?

Chapter 33 The Plague

The convoy spent the better part of a day in Sheboygan, adding 14 more colonists and prepping two new RVs for the additions.

Luck was finally turning their way. Four of the group worked in the medical field. One was in her final year of medical school and she was appointed the convoy's 'doctor' and was assisted by a 60-year old retired nurse, a Natural Immune. The other two were dental hygienists and with help, the two quickly established a dental clinic in their RV. A dentist office was dismantled and reassembled in it although some remodeling was required.

Sheldon and Howard 'borrowed' a pickup truck and drove ahead into Manitowoc to see if their 'transport' was in harbor of if they'd have to look forward to several more weeks on the road. The ice on the lake had almost disappeared and Howard was beside himself with questions and things to do.

"Sheldon, according to your atlas, and thank God you had the sense to download it before the Web went down, the Badger is coal-powered. That could be a problem depending on which landing stores the coal. If we have coal, we have power."

"And if we don't have coal on our side of the lake?" This was an area where Howard's experience and training would shine. Sheldon didn't have a clue about alternate energy sources except the more esoteric ones like cold fusion. Something as ordinary and mundane as a lump of coal or a cord of wood simply was beneath him.

"Well, 1kg of wood is equal to about .5kg of coal so if we would need, say, 100 tons of coal for the trip, that would be 200 tons of wood. Of course, that's a rough approximation but you get the idea."

"And assuming we can get coal or wood, you're certain you can master the intricacies of what is virtually our best hope of reaching our destination without exposing ourselves to needless combat or delays due to the weather, break downs and such?"

"Sheldon, just where is our ultimate destination?"

Everyone wanted to know just where the convoy was headed and he'd always said 'some where the Choker won't be a threat year round and somewhere we can put down roots and begin to rebuild.'

"Well, Howard, now that we don't have to leave our fate to the vagaries of whether or not a bridge still stands…"

Howard glanced from the road to his friend and then back again, barely missing a body lying in the road. They'd seen few bodies on the main roads but once off the beaten track, foraging parties came across more and more of them. Their instructions were to 'ignore them, don't try to do the civilized thing and bury them, there are just too many and we have so little time…'

"Steady on, Howard. I don't appreciate the irony of surviving so much only to succumb to a traffic accident. Perhaps slowing down might be appropriate since – "

The rest of the smart-assed remark died on his lips when the windshield was struck by a burst of automatic weapons' fire and the truck veered toward a storefront. Sheldon's mind registered that they were about to crash into an 'all night diner' and he giggled as the big pickup jumped the curb, careened across the sidewalk and plowed into the diner.

He heard Howard's scream abruptly cut off as the airbags deployed and again Sheldon's mind began spewing out the physics of the impact and probable damage to the vehicle and its occupants. When he reached 'probable injury and perhaps even death', he lost consciousness.

"What do you mean, he's gone? Gone where and with who?" Penny was, as they say, in Winkle's face, mere millimeters from it, in fact, but Winkle stood her ground, weary of dealing with the drama that was 'Shenny'.

"First of all, Barbie, it's with whom. Secondly, I wasn't presented with a request but rather a done deal. He and Howard fueled up a local's pickup truck and headed north towards Mani…damn these Indian names…Manitowoc, up the coast a ways. They left at sunrise and I have no idea why they were in such a hurry but Wolowitz was champing at the bit even worse than your boytoy."

Penny looked like she was ready to burst into tears. Sheldon had been studiously avoiding her and it was her own damned fault. She didn't know that Winkle was also being shunned and felt just as prone to tears at that moment as did the blonde.

"Look, Penny, I'm sure they're off on some adventure to look at the world's largest ball of belly button lint or something. They took along weapons and two of Dr. Dumbass' survival packs and it's not like they're going looking for Missy or – "

"He – he told you about that? About looking for his sister? You don't think – "

"Not for a second. First, Wolowitz wouldn't leave his wife and second, they were prattling on about 'steam engines' for God's sake. Maybe the dumbass found a train on that atlas of his. You know how he loves trains."

"Quit calling him 'dumbass', Leslie. He's hardly stupid and he's mad at both of us for what happened back in Port Washington. He's pissed off because you did what was necessary and because I didn't back him. And he's mad because I punched him and now he won't even look at me or talk to me or…"

Now came the tears and Winkle found herself hugging Penny while fighting back tears of her own.

She and Bomber were a couple, to be sure, but she had been in love with Sheldon Cooper on some level or another for the past 8 years and this sojourn of theirs had only underwritten the fact in her mind.

'Dr. Dumbass' was the Winkle equivalent of 'I love you, Sheldon' and had been for years.

Penny approached her dad about going after Sheldon and Howard. It was 2:00 and it was only an hour or so's drive to Manitowoc and even given the nature of the two scientists to get 'lost in the science', they were late.

"I'll get a bunch of guys together and we'll gear up and be there in no time, Slugger. Are you two still…" The look on her face told him everything he needed to know. Sometimes kids were so dumb.

Manitowoc

They drove cautiously into Manitowoc in three vehicles: a civilian pickup truck, the army fuel truck and a 5-ton dump truck that Wyatt figured would double as an armored personnel carrier and carried most of the 15 men and women who'd volunteered to make the recon/rescue.

The city of nearly 30,000 (pre-Choker) looked desolate with bodies left in the street and litter everywhere. There had been a fire here, a bad one, and Wyatt's eye picked up the signs of the use of explosives and the many shell casings that littered some streets. He'd been in Viet Nam for two tours and recognized the signs of battle. The nearly 60-year old farmer still possessed the instincts of an 18-year old combat vet.

"Oh shit!" the pickup's driver exclaimed as he pulled the truck over to the side of the road. Standing across the road blocking the mini-convoy's path, was a ragged line of children, none more than 12 or so. And they were armed and dangerous. What had really caught the driver's attention were the two scientists they were sent to find – tied upright in wheelchairs in the center of the street.

They were either unconscious or dead.

"Let's drive up a little closer," said Wyatt. And then, into his CB radio, "We got us a situation here. Get ready to deploy in a skirmish line and take cover behind the vehicles and along the sidewalks. No one fires until I say so."

A reply was quick in coming from the dump truck. "Um, Wyatt, this is Flanagan. They're just kids for Crissakes. We can't just – " Martin Flanagan was the man who'd tipped off everyone to Will Montgomery's treachery and he was a good man, but Wyatt felt 'maybe a little too good' for the here and now.

"No one's shootin' unless they start it. They got Howard and Sheldon and we aim to get 'em back," Wyatt replied tersely, interrupting him. The last thing any of them wanted to do was to shoot kids.

It was nearly dark when the CB radio on Bomber's belt broke squelch but the there was nothing. Everyone was standing around waiting, hoping to see the rescue party come barreling down the road but some were giving up hope.

Jenny was sitting with Penny and Bernadette in the Beast just quietly talking and drinking tea. Coffee was at a premium and reserved for special occasions.

"It's all my fault. He never would have just up and left with Howard if I'd just taken the bull by the horns and talked with him." Guilt was etched in her fine features.

The CB radio on the table between then broke squelch and distracted them.

"What's with this static? It's never done that before. We'll need to find more of these and distribute them so that every team has at least one backup." Even in a depressed mood, she still thought about survival. Sheldon had stressed the need for 'an excess of equipment we'll need to survive, Penny, even to the point of redundancy'. It was a typical Sheldon word – redundancy – and she had to ask Leslie what it meant.

Martin Flanagan drove like a man possessed. He blew past abandoned vehicles like they weren't there and periodically he tried the CB radio but figured he wasn't in range yet. It was line-of-sight and that meant a maximum range of 3-4 miles in this hilly terrain.

All the radios were tuned to Channel 9 with some units on foraging tuned to their own frequency for local communications but all foraging was done and all teams tuned to Channel 9.

Penny picked up the radio when it squelched again and she swore she heard a man's voice lost in the static.

She ran out of the Beast and climbed up on its roof using the integrated ladder on the rear. It had the effect of increasing range and she heard loud and clear 'hurt [static] doctor ready to [static] bring food [static] kids [static]'.

She plunged down the ladder hollering for the medical unit to get off their asses and in their RV. They were needed up the road.

Manitowoc, MI

Howard was conscious but throwing up, a clear indication that he had a concussion to go along with his broken nose and split lip. Sheldon had been spared the concussion but had a badly broken nose, swollen eyes and a broken or badly sprained right wrist. He was conscious and had stuck his injured wrist inside his field jacket and zipped it up. He was deep in conversation with a couple of the kids about the SS Badger and what they knew about her and where the coal was kept.

The child soldiers had been taking them from the accident site back to their 'dormitory' using what they had at hand when they heard Wyatt's trucks coming. They did what they'd seen in a movie once – put the 'enemy' in front and stand in a line behind them. Mel Gibson would have been tickled to think that his legacy lived on in the minds of kids.

"Honest, Mister, it was an accident. He was screwing around and when he saw the truck he got scared and fired. He didn't mean to do it. Please don't kill him!"

"I might spank him but kill him? Whatever for? We're not like those ones who took your mothers away and killed your dads if they couldn't work. Nope, we're the good guys."

Wyatt's CB radio squawked and he answered it, hoping it wasn't one of his group reporting trouble but it was Penny demanding an update.

"Their truck got shot up and then driven through a brick wall but they're both alive and talking. Have the medical RV in the lead and bring up the 18-wheeler with the canned goods. We got some hungry young uns here that could use a good physical and some good food."

"Daddy, let me talk to Sheldon, pleeeeeease?" She used her little girl voice that seldom failed to get Wyatt to do what she wanted but not this time.

"Penelope Ford, I gave you orders not a request now you can talk to Sheldon after the medics say he's okay but first, get the convoy up here. We're on the street bordering the lake. Just follow the smoke."

A/N: I lost 200 hits last chapter so I'm going to do some triage on my plot diagram and wrap this up.

Rep