The Fall of Bangor (Part 8)

Posted on Mon Mar 11th, 2024 @ 4:44am by Hale Stratton [Major, United States Army] & Calista Sutton & Vienna Quinn & Killian Sutton & René Rouen & Reuben Baptiste & Victoire Olaffson [Lieutenant, United States Navy] & Emma Lynn Starsky

2,782 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Bangor or Bust
Location: Bangor Safe Zone, Bangor, Maine
Timeline: 4 September 2010 - 08:00 p.m.

[Pentagon, Washington, D.C.]

In Washington, D.C., they faced reality on a grander scale. Cities like New York and Los Angeles, places that over ten million people called home. There were just too many and in the minds of desperate men, an idea blossomed into existence.

Limit the spread. Give those still wholly alive a chance to survive, to regroup, to come back. But how? The resources were there but the numbers weren't. Whole bases had gone silent. Communications were becoming unreliable.

How?

They were tough-minded men and women who understood their duty and came up with a plan. The final decision would belong to the President, of course, but they were ready. Pilots and soldiers. Planes and ordinance. Everything gathered and prepared. People sequestered to prevent infection. All volunteers. All ready to do the unthinkable.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made the trip to the White House to present available options.

[Later]

The President and his advisors had tried every angle they could imagine but the truth was, there was no plan, no playbook for something like this. One by one, the world leaders went silent, no longer available for coordination. America was on its own. The CDC was contacted. But the truth was that there was no hope on the horizon. No cure. No vaccine. Just the sad reality that every American was at risk and the dead were rising exponentially.

And so, the Chairman found the President ready to listen and to at least entertain an unthinkable act.

[Field Hospital, Bangor Safe Zone]

Vic led the way into the field hospital; she had created a ‘muzzle’ of sorts by securing a pillow into Nurse Quinn’s mouth in case she turned while they were en route. She left Reuben and Kenny outside of the hospital to keep an eye on her while she walked in and scrambled through some documents and forms that despite the futility of it she filled out, just in case by some miracle somebody actually got them somewhere useful.

Once the forms were handled she hunted down the Hospital's assigned Chief of Security and the Charge Nurse and brought them to the small number of bio-containment tents that they had been provided for the purpose of trying to study while they could.

“I do not want to hear a damned word about the security risk of this… I already know what this station is destined for and by the time this becomes a security risk I fully intend for each and everyone of us to be on our designated transports out of here. Understood?”

The Security Chief nodded. Just one last duty to perform before they all got out and Bangor, the only place he'd ever lived, became a grave yard for the dead. "Not a problem, ma'am," he said quietly having had his fill of officers and their need to pound a person into the dirt with ever order. Still, he felt for the woman on the stretcher and he had never been one to shirk his duty no matter what some of the others did.

Vic stepped to the edge of containment tent area and called for Reuben before stepping back inside to look at the two she had summoned. “This is to be an eyes only, limited information and limited personnel job but I need samples from Nurse Quinn taken and preserved in a long-storage case for as long as we can get them without risk to ourselves. There is going to be a single authorized visitor aside from those currently present and Major Hale; that visitor being Vienna Quinn, her daughter. All others must first be cleared by myself and myself alone. Am I clear?

Reuben nodded, "Understood, feel for her daughter though. I will keep an eye things as best I can." With that Reuben looked about and found a folding chair and took a seat. He thought back to the poor kid he had tied up and gagged Oh well, he and his poor gang deserve it. Two sides in this so called war, those who think everyone is prey and those who plan on stopping them. he reached down and scratched his ears.

"I'll have someone here to back you up in a bit," the Security Chief said to Reuben. "I know just the guy. Two's always better." He slipped away in search of a reliable guard who wouldn't scurry off at the first opportunity.

Meanwhile the Charge Nurse, smothered a yawn behind her hand, and followed Vic into the tent. "Soft restraints, ma'am?"

Vic shook her head; “better do firm restraints… the less ability she has to move is probably best. Both to keep the infection from spreading faster and to ensure that if she does turn on us that we can maximize safety for ourselves.” She rubbed at her eyes, exhaustion creeping in but she brushed it away as she set up a fresh pot of coffee. “It’s just me and you to take samples and monitor Nurse Quinn… what are the chances you think that I’ll be able to get what we take somewhere that they can do some good?”

"Slim to none," Susan answered. "The hospital has been mostly stripped already." A wave of sadness swept through as she saw Mrs. Quinn; it didn't stop her from setting up the hard restraints. "Sorry about this dear," she whispered. Once they were in place, she returned to the doctor. "There aren't any working labs left in the area and honestly, I can't think where the nearest one would be."

“I guess slot the case with both batteries… I doubt you will be able to find one of the newer cases but as long as it doesn’t get opened once we seal it the batteries should last for awhile… it’s worth a shot at least” Vic looked over Susan’s work and then glanced to Susan herself. “I hope you keep safe after this Susan. Those like us, the caregivers I mean, are in for a rough ride. Stay strong.”

With that she silently turned and prepared the tools she would need to take the first set of samples from Ms. Quinn.

[Vic's House, Bangor Safe Zone]

Leaving Vic with Mrs. Quinn, Hale ran the entire way to Vic's home, all the way trying to figure out the best way to tell her what was going on. By the time he arrived at the front steps, he was fairly certain there wasn't a particularly good way which meant the truth. At least she'd get something most of them wouldn't, a chance to say good-bye.

Vienna was happily cuddling up on the sofa with René, enjoying a little alone time while they had it. She looked up as she heard movement on the steps outside. “Did you hear that? It sounds like someone is outside.”

Hale knocked on the front door, resisting the habit to tidy up his appearance before the door opened, and waited. Though he didn't particularly believe it, he was fortunate in that his parents lived off-grid and were, therefore, much less likely to run into a hoard of the not-dead-enough. Still, it would be years before he knew, one way or the other. Long years. And longer still for someone like Rene whose family lived overseas.

René released his hug on Vienna and stood up. He moved to the door and peered out the window on the way. He glanced at Vienna briefly. "It is Monsieur Stratton." He unlocked the door and opened it. One look told him that Hale had been running hard to get to the house. "Come in Monsieur."

Vienna stood up to greet Hale offering a cheery smile. “Welcome to our humble abode, what can we do for you?”

"We found your mom," Hale said as he approached Vienna. His expression was serious with a trace of sadness lurking in the depths of his eyes though he refused any outward display of emotion. She didn't need that on top of everything else. "She's over at the hospital now. I can take you and ..." He placed one hand on her shoulder. "... it's not good."

The smile on Vienna’s face disappeared as she looked towards René then back at Hale, her heart sank knowing what Hale most likely meant but didn’t say. “I want to go, right now!” She looked towards René, “Come with me?”

René wanted to go with Vienna, to be there for her when.... "One moment." He left the living room and went to knock on the door to Emma's room. "Emma, we need to go. Something has happened and...Doctor Olaffson would not want you to remain here alone at night."

She'd been thinking. Just looking out the window in the darkened room, framed in the light of a single candle, and thinking when Rene showed up. She listened to him and thought it over as she retrieved a pencil from the nightstand. No paper to waste, she did as before and wrote her answer on the wall near where he stood.

It's okay. Lock up when you leave.

Message delivered she went back to her spot by the window, drawing her legs up to her chest and propping her chin on her knees. ~Go,~ she signed in case he understood at all. ~I'll be fine.~

René sighed as he shook his head. He had learned a few phrases from the ASL book and had memorized the alphabet. He used his knowledge as he spoke to Emma. "Nobody is supposed to be by themselves for any less of time. If you do not come with us, I will have to stay to watch your back. Doctor Olaffson would be angry if something happened to you while we were gone and the Soulless...are. not the only threat to be on guard for."

Frustration swept through her but there weren't enough words in common between them for her to 'voice' her opinion. She narrowed her eyes but rose smoothly and gestured for him to proceed her and that she would follow if only long enough to make herself clear to the doctor who had given her shelter for the night.

In the sudden shock of the moment Vienna had forgotten all about Emma. “I forgot about Emma” She looked at Hale. “When you said bad, how bad?”

Hale kept his gaze on hers and shook his head slightly. "I suspect she was lured out of the hospital. Raiders looking for supplies most likely. Her medical kit was missing. They had the not-quite-dead chained up near the doors and well ... she was bitten."

“B..B..Bitten!!” Vienna sat down on the arm of the sofa, it was that or fall down. “Not again...my dad...he...” she shook it off. “Take me there, now, please!!”

"Of course," Hale answered. "That's why I'm here. C'mon. Let's go."

[Outside of Bangor]

The putrid smell was finally dissipating throughout the nightly breeze that was coming through the small farm. "Did you see anything when you were inside?" she asked Killian.

"No, it was pretty dark in there. We could probably find the windows and open them up to get the rest of the windows open. Whatever we do, we don't open the fridge," he commented. While they were both cognizant to not do that with the way power losses were, it was worth mentioning again just in case the smell in the house was not the fridge and something else.

Calista nodded. She was in agreement that they didn't need to make the house stink worse than what it was already. She had her hatchet now ready in her hand as Killian nodded and then moved back up the stairs to the house.

What little light they had outside definitely showed the difference between the darkness of the night inside the stuffy, smelly house. She wished they hadn't lost their flashlights in one of those bags that had gotten left at either the high school or the airport.

Having perfected the quiet foot fall over the last couple of days hiking, Killian walked into the house, one foot slowly after another. There was nothing much that they could see as the house was pretty dark. There was some places that he could tell that there was a window and went to open the one next to the front door that they had entered. It was pretty stuck and no matter how hard they had tried to be quiet, it made some racket. He flinched as he looked over to his wife who had stopped in the door frozen, making sure that they hadn't inadvertently triggered something inside the house.

There were the noises from the outside of the house, but nothing that was particular to the inside of the house. The extra air helped dramatically. They proceeded a bit further into the living room, and then looked around. There so far was no one there that was waiting for them.

Calista's heart rate was through the roof since Kil had opened the window. She was taking shallow breaths as it was because even though the cloud of stench that followed him out the door earlier had dissipated, it had not inside the house. She was even more nauseous than she was before. Determination to find something to eat though was on her priority list. It looked like a window across from the living room, and from what little light they had, it seemed like a dining room table stacked full of different items at different heights. It gave off an eerie feeling. No shadows in the house moved though.

Killian had moved from the living room and started going deeper into the house. Right now, they wanted to open the windows. One it would get them light, and two it would allow them to air out the house so that they could possibly use it as a safe haven for the night.

She moved closer to the dining room and smiled when she saw a sliding glass door. Picking up her pace, and not having quiet foot falls, she moved to the door to open it up. The cross breeze through the dining room to the living room and the front door would be amazing to get the stench out of the house.

Not having found anything substantial in the hallway with how dark it was, it seemed like the doors in the house were all closed. He moved back to where Calista was in the dining room, fumbling with the locking mechanisms on the door. "You okay?" he whispered.

"Yeah, just can't find the rest of the locking mechanism," she said, as she ran her fingers down the middle of the door again and then smiled as she found the one little bolt sticking up at the top of the door, pinning it locked into place. As soon as that door opened up, even more light and that very welcome breeze came through the door. She closed the screen door that was there to help with bug control.

Killian pulled her close and hugged her for a moment as he looked out the screen door to keep an eye on their surroundings. "All the doors in the hall are closed."

"Okay, seems like the smell is coming from what I'd assume from the kitchen there," she said quietly. She looked over her husband's shoulder and while her stomach growled, The nausea was abating as they stood there in the breeze.

"Looks like a window in there, that'd help if we can get those curtains open and see what's going on in that kitchen," Killian said as he gently kissed her head. "Stay here, I'll go check it out."

She waited behind as he went into the kitchen. Killian didn't last long as he came immediately back to the dining room and grabbed a chair and went back into the kitchen. Calista had to turn as the smell came off of him in waves. It took him a couple more minutes to get whatever he was doing with the chair situated, and the window creaked as it opened.

He came out back to her and grabbed her hand. "Fridge was open. Chair is now blocking it. It's pretty gross in there," he said.

"Well, let's see if we can find some food." She was hopeful, because most farms preserved a lot of food, and considering they were going into harvest time, she had hoped that there was something easy access that they could find that night.

 

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