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Chapter 35 The Plague
Wyatt was furious with the leader of the recon force that he'd sent to scope out the Canal and the approaches to it.
"How are we gonna feed 'em? How are we gonna get them the hell out of here? We have 4 boats and even if we ferry them to Manitowoc it will take two or three days."
"Wyatt, I couldn't just leave them there! My God, how can you be – "
He shoved the Exxon road map into the man's chest. "See the 'X' in red? I left a labor compound full of half-starved men to complete my mission. If we win, we can pull them out, but we know nothing about what's facing us."
The man mumbled apologies and Wyatt relented and told him that he probably would have done the same thing but that "this is a new world with new rules and you need to accept that the Colony and its needs come first."
Manitowoc
Howard, Sheldon and Bomber stood on the quay and looked at the Coast Guard boat that was moored there.
"Are you certain you can run the motors, Howard?" He knew the answer but wanted to hear Howard say the words. He'd learned a lot in the short time they'd been on the road, short in comparison to the sum total of his life.
Never make assumptions.
Sighing, Howard said, "Yes, Sheldon, I can handle the motors. Someone else will have to do the driving because I can't be two places at once." 'Take that, crazy man,' he thought with affection.
Now it was Sheldon's turn to sigh. He couldn't drive a vehicle worth a damn and a boat (or was it a ship?) was well beyond his comfort zone.
"We'll ask if anyone has experience on craft of this size. Surely someone has boating experience or has been in the Navy?"
"Ship – I think the proper term might be ship."
The CGC Lake Huron was an impressive vessel. One hundred thirty feet long, Sheldon had read the specifications on the commissioning plaque, a top speed of 37 knots and a crew of 20, it had been built in 1962 specifically for law enforcement and rescue duty on the Great Lakes.
Bomber had seen the small sign 'Manitowoc Coast Guard Station' and brought the two scientists down to see what could be scrounged. What they found was more than they ever would have hoped for.
It was an armed cutter, with a 20mm autocannon mounted on the foredeck and positions for .50 caliber machine guns strategically placed along the decks. It would make a superb escort vessel for the Badger. It would be tragic to come all this way and have the unarmed Badger fall victim to pirates or worse.
"Well, shall we go on board and see if Howard can start the motor?"
"Engine, Sheldon – motors are things they hang off the back of small pleasure boats. This sucker has gas turbine engines!"
It took 3 hours for him to make the journey from where the landing party had met the boats to Manitowoc and it had taken all the extra gas they'd brought on board. To run at 35 knots had sucked up gasoline at an unbelievable rate but worth the exchange for less time in transit. Wyatt had been adamant: get to Manitowoc and bring help and transportation for all the women and men.
While the Canal team leader sailed south to Manitowoc, Wyatt and his entire force would free the men from their pens and rendezvous back at the beachhead and wait for pickup.
He moored his boat at the yacht basin and ran to the school where the colonists had set up a base camp. Those who saw him and had loved ones on the reconnaissance party followed him with fear and concern on their faces. He ignored their questions and demands and found Bomber and the others huddled around maps and charts they'd found on the cutter.
"We found the parents from here and other towns. Wyatt's got the women but there are too many of them for us to transport. We found the drugs and notes and computer discs but we have to rustle up anything that floats so we can bring them all back. Wyatt's going to free the men so there'll be about 150 to transit plus the recon force."
Bomber took the large bottle of tablets that were going to save his life. He looked at the man and hugged him. "Bro, I – I can't begin to thank you enough for these."
Winkle breathed a sigh of relief and then started figuring out how many boats they'd need, fuel requirements and was getting bogged down in details.
"Leslie, we'll need to find blankets and warm clothes for the people. It's cold on the lake and it'll get colder still after sundown. We need to organize a scrounging party and get things collected."
Penny was already making a list of things they'd need to scrounge and soon she and Leslie were neck deep in what-ifs.
"How many people can we cram on the Lake Huron?" The vessel had been fully fueled before they'd arrived and Howard had easily mastered the intricacies of the gas turbine engines and had started them and run down the pre-sail checklist.
"Doesn't matter, Sheldon, since we don't have a pilot or someone who knows how to handle something that big."
The man who'd brought the pills and message was one of the bus people. He spoke up for the first time since he'd delivered the news.
"I conned a transport in the Navy. It was 800 feet long. How big is this one you're talking about?" His name was Howard Kaminski.
Howard smiled and elbowed Sheldon who just smiled that secret smile of his that Howard found so damned annoying.
"One hundred thirty feet. A Coast Guard Cutter. We could probably make it up to the Point in 4 hours or so. Show us on this chart just where you left Wyatt and the others…"
Above the Canal
Door Peninsula
Their 'whores' were gone and the convicts that made up the Veridian Dynamics' 'security police' were angry and began searching for them. The scientists who'd organized them and kept them in line with weekly shots of a 'temporary vaccine against the Virus' let them go on their merry way and returned to their research in the temporary lab set up in the local hospital.
When the virus first hit, the scientists had thrown their lot in with the townspeople but soon the locals turned on them, blaming them for the Choker. By some quirk of fate, all the scientists were Natural Immunes and after the first few months, there were damned few townspeople left. They emptied out the survivors from local jails and conned them into believing they had a vaccine but it was a weekly dosage and wasn't 100% effective but was better than nothing. The convicts never knew they were being shot up with distilled water.
There was no vaccine.
They set their new 'police force' loose on the locals, going from town to town rounding up people to work in the fields and cook and serve the police and the scientists. Someone had to keep the wheels of civilization going so they needed labor to keep the power going and the toilets flushing – and entertainment.
A few of the police force ran headlong into Wyatt's rescue party and after a brief but violent engagement, only one of the thugs made it back to their headquarters. He reported that 'hundreds' of armed and organized 'soldiers' were heading for them.
The head of the research facility called the commander of the police in for a meeting and told him bluntly that they were to 'defeat the enemy force' or there wouldn't be any more vaccines shots and that 'withdrawal symptoms often led to a horrible death'.
The commander, a convicted drug dealer, 'commanded' through fear and intimidation and he used all his skills to motivate his two hundred men and women. "You will do this or the scientists will be killed or captured and we'll all die horrible deaths from the Choker."
The ambush survivor led the police force up the coast to where his ten-man patrol had been overrun. The bodies had been stripped of anything useful and left to rot in the road where they'd fallen.
The police commander sent out patrols with orders to find the 'invaders' and report back so that they could plan an ambush. All the patrol leaders used CB radios to keep track of the other teams and to report any discoveries. They filled the frequencies with constant chatter.
"Wyatt, turn on your CB to channel 19 and listen to the chatter. They're lookin' for us and it won't be long before one of these patrols of theirs finds us."
Wyatt looked at the Exxon roadmap and grinned. "Then we find them first, fuck 'em up, regroup and then find another patrol and repeat as needed."
North of Manitowoc Harbor
Eastern Shore of the Door Peninsul
Lake Michigan
The Lake Huron carried armed men, woman and weaponry. The decks were crammed with people anxious to get to their friends and rescue them and the ones they'd freed.
Two miles behind the Lake Huron trailed the Badger at a much lower speed. The ferry would transport everyone back to Manitowoc where hopefully parents would be reunited with their kids.
"Penny, you do realize that this is the largest Great Lakes ferry ever built? You're piloting history and someday people may erect statues to you in your honor."
"Is there a point in there, Sheldon? All I'm doing is following the Lake Huron exactly as you instructed."
"The point is that you're making history and our children and their children need this recorded in chronicles so that our history won't be forgotten – so that we won't be forgotten – in the busy times of rebuilding civilization."
He'd whispered his statement in her ear and his breath wafting across her sensitive ear sent chills down her back but it was 'our children' that caught her attention.
"Will we have children, Shel? I want a boy and a girl, at least." Her mind was full of images of skinny boys with black hair and blue eyes prattling on about physics and history and literature.
"We've yet to come across anyone who can marry us, Penny."
"Um, can't the captain of a ship marry people? I mean I read that in a book someplace. The Lake Huron is a ship and Kaminski's the captain so technically – "
"Why Penny Ford, I never thought of that. When this is over, we'll board the Lake Huron and have 'Captain' Kaminski marry us all legal and proper."
He edged closer to her as she stood holding the great spoked wheel, concentrating on her compass bearing since the Lake Huron would soon be 'over the horizon' and she'd have to rely on the plotted course.
Sheldon ran his moistened lips up her neck and whispered, "And then we'll have some time for a honeymoon and, oh, the things I've been hearing from Howard and Bomber…things I never dreamed were possible between two people. Mmm."
Her knees buckled and he wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her neck. "Sheldon Cooper, that is just so mean! Keep your lips on your face, lover boy. I'll bet you I've heard about – "
He whispered something in her ear and she blushed and leaned back against her husband-to-be. "Okay, so I haven't heard about that one but – " He whispered something again and she reached back and grabbed him through his clothing and laughed. He was just as aroused as she.