Chapter 28
"How many people are here?" Burk asked his brother as Wolf settled in at the table. He couldn't believe his brother was alive. Correction, he could believe it now. He was just surprised he hadn't shown up in Norfolk months ago. Lt Commander Burk, the Golden child of the Burk family. He excelled at everything, so of course he'd be successfully running a safe zone. Of course he'd be in charge of it all and everyone around him would just hero worship him while he; Carlton Burk was just the little brother who had came up short to all expectations laid on him.
"We had over 600 yesterday but we transported 200 to Norfolk this morning." Cameron said to them as he signed paperwork that a subordinate handed him. Burk wondered if the paperwork was legitimate or just a really good show. He of course wasn't going to ask as he preferred to be completely removed from Cameron's sphere. It was why he chose a different speciality to Cameron and opted for duties on any vessel on the opposite side of America to him as he refused to live in his shadow.
"Who are all the people here?" Alisha asked, she had to admit she was surprised to learn that Burk's brother was the Lt Commander Cameron Burk. The guy was a legend as he got top marks in everything he did, he climbed the promotion ladder like it was nothing where others struggled. Lt Commander Burk was what every CIC officer dreamed of being as he was amazing, she didn't get why Burk would pretend not to know his own brother but decided it wasn't her business.
"Military personnel and their families, orphans, people left in the dead zones as 'sport' for the Scavengers-" Cameron started only to be cut off.
"Sport?" Wolf asked as he overheard that word being thrown around like it was something filthy instead of an innocuous term for physical activity or term of endearment. Cameron wore a disappointed and somewhat saddened expression.
"Yeah, a lot has changed. Here is the US." Cameron said as he pulled a portable white board from the side of the room over closer to the table. It had a map of America on it, on the map were roughly seven small blue zones, only two green zones while the rest of America was marked out in black stripe pen lines. "Green Zones are the only true safe zones on the maps." Cameron said.
"Milwaukee is a blue zone. What does that mean?" Alisha asked thinking of Sara, she realised that the airport they had been at today was in the black area. Something that raised red flags in her mind.
"Ok, I'll answer your questions but for now let me tell you what's happened in your absence. So I need you all to pretend whatever you've heard about America since the pandemic happened and throw it out the window." Cameron told them.
"Ok." Wolf said while the other agreed with a nod as they were all under the assumption that America and it's people were in disarray but the map showed a different story.
"When the virus hit it's peak and majority of the population was wiped out. Cordon Sanitaire protocols for infected areas like the one in Milwaukee turned into safe zones, they cleaned out the dead and extended their walls out to increase their populations of survivors. All the blue zones are those areas on the maps. There were many more in the early days. They kept out the infected as best they could while trading their neighbours for supplies and food etc. Then the Immunes came over from Europe spreading the good word of the Lord and how they were chosen-"
"We defeated them." Burk told Cameron. His brother gave him a patient look and continued on ignoring Burk comment.
"So, naturally immune people who didn't go into the Blue zones wandered lost. They heard about other Immunes and formed their cult. From what we know, Ramsey and his men in their first few weeks in America went around the east coast enlisted the surviving prison population into their ranks. They must of communicated with their buddies on the west coast and inbetween because that's when everything went to hell."
"No way," Alisha said in disbelief.
"Ramsey made a bargain with them. The prisoners got their freedom and they could do whatever they liked as long as they helped get rid of non immunes and followed the rhetoric of the cult." Cameron told them.
"How could they tell the difference between non-immune and immunes?" Burk asked as he couldn't believe it. But then he had to admit he never thought about what happened to people in prisons and jails serving time for their crimes. Though he remembered Tex and Gitmo, it was a nightmare.
"Probably the reason they had a fall out,little brother and the Scavengers emerged as their own group. They had no allegiance to the Immunes or anyone. They ate up the territory you see here." Cameron said gesturing to the black areas of the board.
"But we've been travelling through the area for over a day and we didn't run into any Scavengers." Alisha said, she looked to Wolf who was incredibly quiet and wondered what he was thinking as he just stared at the map like he wanted to tear it to shreds.
"That's because there aren't as many as there used to be. It started with thousands of inmates. It was a massacre, they decimated our ranks. Army, Air Force, Navy we all were hit bad, if it wasn't the Scavengers then it was the virus. I'm not saying all the prisoners who escaped came after us. Some disappeared to lead normal lives. Some ended up here." Cameron told them. Wolf, Burk and Alisha all looked at him with wide eyes at the last part.
"You have convicted criminals here?!" Burk asked in a low and incredulous tone as his brother had to be insane to work with criminals.
"Some people are rehabilitated by the system, some wrongfully convicted but most who end up here are paying penance. They want to help and I don't have many soldiers. They have been invaluable." Cameron told him.
"You can't be serious." Burk said disgusted at the idea that his brother felt he had everything under control.
"They know the lay of the land, they know how the Scavengers think and they all had families and people they loved. They are human, they are flawed but they have proved that they can be trusted. They also understand that if they survive these months that they will have to return to prison. It's non negotiable, one they voluntarily agree to." Cameron said defending himself as he knew he would but he had saved many lives with the help of the reformed prisoners.
"I guess, we'll see about that." Burk said sarcastically as he leaned back in his chair. Cameron gave him a dismissive look and continued on.
"What we know was that even while the Scavengers were working for the Immunes there was a lot of infighting in the early days which culled their number down somewhat. But in saying that it just weeded out the weak and left the worst of them. But it's still too large a number for us to take out." Cameron said.
"Why haven't they just over run you?" Alisha asked.
"They're amused by the concept of what we're doing. They attack us but it's more about testing our defences, gaining information on us. I know they are going to come at us hard which is why we're helping establish Norfolk a more secure perimeter; soon they'll be able to house those we have here and we can move the zone and continue our mission statement. The other reason they haven't truly come at us yet is that they have a steady flow out of sport out of the blue zones." Cameron told them.
"I'm still lost about this sport business." Wolf said speaking up. He looked at that map and his gut twisted into ugly knots as he thought of Larrin walking through all that dangerous territory with nothing but a satchel bag and birkenstocks. She was either really lucky or she was keeping back a lot of information from him. He wasn't angry at her for wanting to keep secrets but he was angry at himself as he was her older brother. It was his responsibility to protect her.
"They exchange food and supplies between the blue zones in exchange for people. People, they hunt and kill for 'sport'. You can draw your own inferences. It's why when you start walking around you'll see certain archetypes here." Cameron said, the man looked visibly ill talking about it. Something Wolf could empathise with.
"That's sick." Alisha said.
"The people in the blue zones sacrifice the few to save the majority. I'm not condoning it, it doesn't make it right but it's what they do. But when he virus hit us, police and military took the hardest hits as we were on the front lines with no protection from virus and heavily outnumbered by scared and angry people. It was a mess and the immunes brought stability and their own kind of trouble-"
"Don't defend them."
"I like many of our brethren broke away from the blue zones and formed what green zones we could. We've lost a lot of good men and women in building what we have here, in the lives we've saved. We did it because while those blue zones seem like a dream, it comes at a cost my conscience couldn't live with. But you have to remember those who have survived are still desperate and scared people. We all are, it's just that some of us make different choices." Cameron said, he didn't want to say it but he felt his little brother had the easier time being on a ship far away from all the mess. That he'd missed out on the degradation of their culture and so he couldn't really grasp what was going on.
"But there are only two green zones." Burk said.
"There are a few smaller pockets of green zones but they are nomadic. We also have operators who live in the black areas their function is to pick up anyone being hunted. We're doing the best we can in trying to save as many people as we can." Cameron said.
"So let me get this straight, Blue zones toss people out for the Scavengers to slake their addictions." Wolf said as he looked at Missouri where St Louis was, on the map it was a blue zone.
"Yeah, they toss out displaced overseas travellers first who fit the descriptions given. When they ran out of the types. It was down to anyone who wasn't an American citizen or couldn't prove it. They trap tourists in the embassies." Cameron told him, he knew it was a lot to swallow for anyone.
"What do they do when they ran out of tourists to toss out?" Alisha asked thinking of Sarah, though she could understand Wolf's concern as his sister was in a blue zone. What she didn't get was why no one in St Louis told them about this.
"They started with anyone who didn't have an important skill set, teenagers and kids who don't have ID or parents. Like I said, they prefer to send out people who fit a certain physical descriptions over random people. It gives them a longer reprieve from the Scavengers." Cameron told them as he sat down at the table. He wasn't going to paint them a pretty picture as they needed to know the truth. He needed them to understand that the Immunes weren't the worst thing to come out of the pandemic. That just because they sunk a submarine didn't mean the job was finished. They still had to reclaim their country from their own prison population.
"What happens when they don't meet the end of the bargain?" Burk asked as he was overwhelmed by what he was seeing and hearing.
"Blue zone that can't provide the sport-" Cameron started but Wolf cut him off.
"Stop calling it sport." Wolf told him in a dark tone as all he could think about was Larrin. He knew she was safe with the others but they didn't know the danger was surrounding them.
"When they can't provide, the Scavengers do one of two things. They let the blue zone starve which forces people out into the dead zones. Or they go in and take what they want and burn the zone to the ground." Cameron told them.
"I was here during those months. I never encountered any of this." Wolf said to Cameron.
"It's all very well orchestrated, the blue zones don't want word going out or they wouldn't get people into their zones. I've also encountered survivors who hadn't seen anyone for weeks. It's a lot of space to cover. There have been small pockets of towns that were left untouched and completely disconnected from the world. Were you in any safe zones?" Cameron asked him, the lack of a reliable communications system and infrastructure cut off a lot of the population.
"Only Norfolk." Wolf said the other safe zone's he'd been in were nomadic at best. So communications were limited.
"Just like Mrs Miller, she only heard rumours." Alisha said.
"Who?" Cameron asked.
"Someone we encountered on the road." Burk said to him as he looked to Wolf with real concern. He knew the Captain and XO needed to know what Cameron was telling them just as much as Wolf needed to get back to his sister.
"I only found out a week ago that they were one of the small pockets. I'm one of the few who made from San Diego, so I'm still trying to make sense of what's going on over here." Cameron said.
"Why wouldn't you stay in San Diego?" Burk asked him.
"There's nothing left there. I figured I come find you given you're stationed out of Norfolk. But then I got tied up in this and I couldn't just walk away from it all." Cameron told him, hoping his brother would forgive him for not being there when the Nathan James docked in St Louis as he felt he was needed here.
"Why did your Doc say I was lucky the Scavengers didn't pick me up?" Wolf asked.
"There are three leaders in the Scavenger group that we know of. They run different sectors together, they are at the top of their food chain. They have particular tastes. When a blue zone provides the perfect match they get a generous reprieve before they have to sacrifice more people." Cameron paused as he looked to Wolf. "For example, any military servicemen and women no matter their country of origin are highly desirable. We have survivors here you can talk to directly as I feel it's not my place to share their experiences." he said.
"Bloody hell." Wolf said as he felt the blood drain from his face as he thought of Larrin. She was like the equivalent of a member of the military given her martial arts skills and their childhood training.
"We need to get back to St Louis." Burk said as he knew what Wolf was thinking and he didn't care if he was in agony right now. He drive all night to get back to St Louis for Wolf. The man had fought by their side and they weren't going to let anything happen to his sister and frankly the Captain needed to know what was going on.
"You're not going anywhere tonight. The camp is on lockdown until dawn and none of you are in any shape to leave." Cameron reminded them.
"You don't understand." Alisha told him.
"No, you don't. The Scavengers are waiting for you leave. They will pick you off one by one." Cameron told them.
"Is there a way we can contact Norfolk and have them relay a message to our Commander in St Louis?" Alisha asked trying to find a compromise.
"That we can do." Cameron told her.
