Wisconsin Outpost. Chapter 14

Wisconsin Outpost. Chapter 14

No Guts, No Glory

The problem with the end of the world, is, it truly never ends. It’s an end of a way of life. That’s it. Unless you have complete global thermal nuclear war, then of course that’s debatable as well. There’s always some dickhead to deal with. In my youth; when I talked with survivalist buddies, conspiracy theorists, and the generally wacky. They all had this plan like wandering nomads. Turning their back on society, making it on their own. Good for them. I needed scouts out there and if I could trade a safe night’s sleep and some hot food for good information. Well then, so much the better.

But the truth is few make it on their own without having to deal with a society of some sorts.

Yes when I was young; the plan to head to the hills or the woods with your clan of wanabe militia and bad asses. Live like Viking warlords days and nights filled with violence, battle, drunkenness and fornication. Those days never came to pass. We damn sure came close. But in the end, society frowned upon our miscreant ways. Where you could David Kresh it until the dying day in a utopian environment away from the sickness’s of society at large. Even David found this to be a bit troublesome.

It was a fools dream and small minded thinking. The world will turn and burn forever. People will want what the Jones have or just to keep their families safe. Progress will be made until we exhausted all resources and even then we will invent new ones. Not disease, plague, zombies or nuclear winter will stop ole Mr. and Mrs. Homo-Sapien from trudging on.

If anything it was a cleansing. We wiped the lucky seventy five percent out. Which just made another challenge for man to deal with and extended those resources we were so flipping worried about. So now a new dawn was coming. We had the choice to take care of our own and make a better tomorrow even if it was in some twisted freak of science fiction wasteland.

Basic human needs were back, people needed heat, water, food and safety. Mothers didn’t want to see the sons and daughters they had left die. Fathers didn’t want to see the daughters pimped out or worse, and with basic survival came basic human indulgences. As I precluded to all along I did not want to be a hero, I just wanted to lay my head somewhere safe. If I could show them where to take it and how to do it. I could walk away and find my safe haven. Least that was the goal.

If I had to rebuild an empire to do it

Then damnit I would. From the ground up, if needed be. I ground out the fifth cigarette I was smoking. Hades cleared his throat. Handed me a piece of paper, I looked down the list of locations, contacts and phone numbers. I sighed.
“You ready papa?” Hades asked.
I smiled weakly. “Numbers bro.” I commanded.
“Mercy has taken in eight confirmed infected.” Hades started. One went nuts and they ended up shooting her. Aurora hospital has confirmed four; the police have another five in route.” He sighed.
“Keep reading Hades.” I urged him
“Fire and EMS has another three.” He stopped. I nodded.
“Sightings” I asked. His finger flew across the keys.
“Seventeen in Oshkosh, twelve in Fondy, Appleton has thirty and between Neenah and Menasha and the rest of the valley.” He looked sad. “Someone fire bombed the police station in Kimberly and in Appleton.” He looked at me. For what I do not know
I said nothing. I sipped my coffee and waited for him to continue.
“AMC and Mercy Appleton?” I asked. He let the silence dragged on five seconds.
“All Infected being routed to the VA Hospitals. But still their having issues.” He said.

The task was looking overwhelming for us, why didn’t the government relocate the people before this. The bastards.

I nodded. “Start the calls” I said and everyone took their list and found a place to call from away from each other. I dialed the one building I wanted for sure. Winnebago Mental Health institute.

The hospital started as a self sufficient farm in the eighteen hundreds, over the last one hundred years it maintained that self sufficiency. It only had one down fall as a fortress. Otherwise it had its own water supply strait from Lake Winnebago along with a filtration system. It’s on its own coal powered energy. It holds enough food for one thousand five hundred people with three months reserve. It was a fortress where you could not move fifty feet without the keys or escort.

A complex of six separate buildings all connected by three miles of underground tunnels. Some rumored more. Which, I will address later. For every fifty feet of tunnel, two steel fire doors the Hulk couldn’t get through.

This combine with the fact that the Valley was a cold war populace. In Wisconsin we produce everything, Food, Dairy, Steel, Paper, Coal, Soil, Livestock and Rock of all kinds. Back in the fifties and sixties after the Nazi war machine and Reds scared the snot out of the USA, they outfitted and supplied every foundry and factory at the time to be reassembled in to a munitions factory or Armory. In the last twenty years factory specifications changed, but all the foundry’s were still operational.

The Thirty Second division had a long history as a Guard unit and never losing a battle. A fact many Wisconsinites hold dear even now. If need be, during the end of days in the cold war, Wisconsin could pump out Tanks, Weapons, Ammunition, shells and supply a full ICorps going to war. It was one of six states that could accomplish that feat. And I knew that with the little time I spent in, if I knew it so did about thirty percent of ex-soldiers and guardsmen who served in the Thirty Second. That also meant so did the Army and the Feds. I did not feel like becoming a complete Military state under the federal government when spring came.

I also knew neither did any Wisconsinite. So this is why I wasn’t leaving Wisconsin. Nor the Valley. We could hold up here for a long time. Plus I had other aces up my sleeve once we got WMHI.

As I said it had a flaw. A flaw I didn’t look forward to dealing with. I looked up the first number and punched into the cell.

“John Witter” the voice on the other side answered. He sounded tired.

“Hey John, Jack Moon here.” I said.”
“Who?” he implied.
“Jack Moon” I retorted. “Listen, in about two hours you’re going to get and influx of people, You need to find them rooms and separate those you think are infected.
“What?” he demanded “Who is this?”’ His voice broke.
“Jack Moon.” I said again. “Doesn’t matter you need to allow these people access to the hospital.”
“This isn’t the Red Cross.”He began.
I cut him off. “Look numbskull in two hours the infected rate will raise out of control, if you think Uncle Sam is coming your wrong otherwise an officer would have answered the phone. The fact you there in near Fucking tears is they dumped this shit on you and in the last twenty hour big brothers has left you with the good luck story.”
Silence
I waited, I was guessing about the twenty four hours, but not much else. That’s when the troops pulled out.
“I’m listening Mr. Moon” he sighed “Please continue.” He said dejectedly.
I did. “Civilians are coming to seek shelter you get all your people and start triaging them, separate all infected from the general staff. You need to post guards with cold weather gear on the buildings with rifles directing the people where to go. Fill up everything. Have anyone with police or military experience screen candidates for guard duty and set them on the prison, roof or guarding looking for infected.

“I don’t know.” Witter replied defeated, he sounded like he was going to cry.
“You better because I am about two hours out and when I get there I am getting in. I would like to do that with as little trouble as possible.”
Mr. Moon we have instructions from the federal government and.” I cut him off. “Do it Witter.” He actually found his balls. “Mr. Moon I need authorization at least from the Local Sheriff’s office for a state….”
I lost it, Completely. “You tell the Fucking sheriff I authorized it and if he doesn’t like to call me personally at.” I rattled off my cell number.
“They can show up Mr. Moon but….”
My voice became icy clam. The way it gets when I finally decide something for good.

“Listen to me carefully. Witter I will survive this, my people will survive, if I come to your location and there are more dead bodies outside than alive inside I will find you, I will hunt your blood line down and I will terminate it with extreme prejudice.” I hissed the last part. “Only after you suffer for your immoral blindness to protocol, before your endearment to human life.” I paused. “Be a hero for once in your fucking life.”
I hung up.

I called the power plants and four other locations and gave them the same spiel. Surprisingly I was only hung up on once. Which I made a mental note to kill Mr. Thomas McMahon. People were starting to get the picture. I had Sissy, Joe and Susan break down the radios we set up and move them to the vehicles. I chatted with Hades about what ifs and possibilities. How he convinced me to stay where we were. I never know. Not stay for the night but to give it a few hours. By that time more folks would arrive at the locations. He has explained. He talked a good game. I knew something was on his mind. But there was some many pressing matters.

I decided to get a few minutes shut eye. Hades decided he was going to grab a shower, who knew when the next time he could get one, or even if it would be alone. I remember joking about that with him. I had just laid my head down and was drifting to that half sleep when I heard it.

I shot up on the floor where the sleeping bags were, Susan just looked at me with horror, not comprehending, but her mind knew what had just happened.

I couldn’t speak. Susan’s hand went to her mouth as her eyes teared up.

“oh, no.” She said quietly.

Someone had discharged a large caliber handgun in the house. I knew the sound. There were four of us in the room.

Hades was missing.

It was the first and only time I prayed Zack had breached our defenses.