Chapter 25

Experts Make Life Easier

With Helen’s specialized help we grabbed the necessary information to sort through back on the boat very quickly.

“Helen do you know anything about the secure site?”

“I know a little, what do you need to know?”

“I have heard that it holds things like explosives, fireworks and ammunition. Is that true?”

“I believe so. I know that we do ship some of those out of this port and they do not go through my office so it makes sense that it would be out of that group.”

“Fantastic, do you think you could lead us there. We would really like to go through that information also to check for usable supplies especially ammunition.”

“It is almost half a mile from here. Can we make it safely?”

“It really should not be a problem. We will take it slow and easy and be very careful. If it gets too dangerous than we will turn back.”

“Okay.”

With that I made sure everyone ate something and had something to drink. There is no reason to start this trip hungry or thirsty. After each of us making a final trip to use the restroom, no flushing at this point, but I doubt we will be back to smell the mess any time soon, we were ready to go. We left out the back door this tie and saw only one zombie within 20 feet. Michael ran out and took care of it. Why is he so eager all of the sudden? Oh wait, he is young, Helen’s daughter is pretty. Yep he is showing off a bit. I have no problem with that as long as it does not cause a danger to anyone. I was young once. Before I follow him out I remember to quickly contact Olivia on the boat. I told her we found two female survivors and were heading to get the paperwork from the secure site. We should be back in an hour or so. Can you please set up the other crew cabin so they can clean up when we get back?

My casual mention of cleaning up almost brought the girls to tears. I forgot that it had been probably five to seven days since they have had that chance. We easily made our way to the secure site and grabbed another set of paperwork. After a quick break with snacks and water we head back. The girls have not had anything to eat in days, so small meals and drinks over a long time is better than one large one. We run into several zombies on the way back, but they are all singles or doubles. No large groups. Easily taken care of with our experience at this point. I don’t even get nervous anymore unless it is an unusual situation or there are more than four zombies.

My estimate is very precise and my little group makes it back to the tender just under an hour after I called Olivia on the radio. When we arrive at the boat, Olivia meets us with sandwiches and then escorts the new girls down to get washed up. We agree to meet in the cockpit in an hour. An hour later Olivia comes up to the bridge followed by a very refreshed looking Helen and Sally. The next two hours are spent explaining our group, our goals, and our needs. Helen helpfully points out several things both Trika and I missed in the paperwork and helped identify where the containers were that we wanted.

“So now that we have our containers identified, we need to get rid of the zombies so we can work in peace. Helen am I right in thinking that this whole place is surrounded by fencing?”

“Yes Mark, this is an international port so it has to be separated by twelve-foot chain link fencing covered with barbwire.”

“That means if we deal with the zombies in the port, we should not have to worry about new ones coming in. After time the fencing might break down, but it should be enough to keep new zombies out no matter how loud we are. So what I think we should do is move off the end of the long skinny dock over there.” I pointed to the south. “The wood products dock?” Asked Helen.

“Sure whatever it is. We then play music really loud. The majority of the zombies should be attracted to the noise. Just like we saw in Hilton Head the back zombies should push the front ones off the dock causing them to drown. We will then have a much easier time shooting the remnants.”

“That will work?” Sally asked incredulously.

“It has in the past. We can only try. If it works, it makes everything easier. If it does not work then none of gets hurt and we try something else.”

We implemented the plan as soon as possible. It turns out that the tender has an amazing sound system for the main deck. It seems that the main deck was also designed to be a large dance floor for rich people. It was a much larger open area than you can find on any yacht so it made sense. In order for you to host a dance, you need the sound system to entertain with it. I gave my I-Pod to Michael and he decided my 80’s mix would be the best thing to draw in the zombies. Boy did it work.

In less than five minutes we already had over a dozen zombies in the water drowning. Another 40- 50 were on the dock trying to reach us. I look in the distance and see at least that many more headed in our direction. I think another fifteen to twenty minutes just to be safe would be the ideal time. I bring out a .22 rifle from storage for everyone to use. This elimination of zombies would be an all hands evolution. We had over 20,000 rounds of .22 ammunition. With us parked only fifteen or so feet of the dock, even the occasional miss with the waves meant we were close enough to do a lot of damage even with the smaller caliber. I would rather shoot 5,000 rounds of .22 than 500 of another caliber, at least for now. It was smaller, easier to pack, and much easier to replace than some of the larger rounds. Even when we looted the guns and ammo store. No one had taken any of the .22 ammunition, when they had taken or used a quarter of some of the more standard large caliber rifle and pistol ammunition.

Another advantage to this plan was time. We had a lot of it. We could shoot and wound a zombie and then wait for it to bleed out rather than having to finish it off. I use the next few minutes making sure everyone is up to date on gun safety and how to use a rifle. How to reload, where to aim and most especially how to clean. That was my least favorite part of guns, the cleaning. Then again I have never liked cleaning in any fashion. Twenty minutes go by and I cannot see any more zombies headed in our direction. The number of zombies being pushed into the ocean has also gone way down. We have probably 30 zombie left on the pier. I give the order to shoot. What happens next is the sound of a cute little war.

I never thought I would describe war as cute, but volleys of .22 rifles after hearing larger calibers is just that. It sounds like a toddler trying to act like an adult. Don’t get me wrong it works. I watch and see several of the zombies fall off the pier when we shoot. Some slump down from damage, and others just continue moving forward trying to get to us. It takes us five rounds of reloading before the thirty or so zombies go down completely. Six guns, times ten rounds each, times five reloads, is 300 rounds of ammunition. It took 300 rounds to kill just 30 zombies. That seems so wasteful, but when you factor in the amount of .22 ammunition we had it was nothing. In fact, we did not even have to open a second brick of ammo. Each .22 brick has 500 rounds in it.

I have everyone clean their rifles and then store them in their cabins. Every one now has a personal .22 rifle. I make them each take 50 rounds with them. This is for emergencies. If Michael or I are not around I want them to have something to defend themselves with. A .22 is not much, but it is better than throwing rocks. Wait we don’t even have rocks, were on a boat. Once everything is cleaned and put away, Captain Trika moves us to the dock that is about half the distance from both shipping and the secure site.

Trika and Sally will be staying with the boat. Olivia and Michael are going to start locating and marking containers that are useful with spray paint. Helen and I are heading to the secure site to check it out. Once we have everything prepped, we will have a crash course, hopefully not literally on using forklifts and the crane. I make sure that everyone is geared up before we leave the boat. “Everyone be careful. Our little trick with music and the dock should have cleared more than 90% of the zeds. Some however may have been caught in between containers, or have bad hearing, or something else that means that they are still present. I don’t want anybody to get bit because they were careless.” A chorus of Yes Marks and okay come back at me.

Helen an I split off from Olivia and Michael and start towards the secure site. I whistle along the way and explain to Helen that this is a way attract any left-over zombies. In reality, I was feeling good. The zombie thing was just a bonus. Everything was going according to plan and I had high hopes for the secure site. A fifteen-minute walk and we are at the secure site. A double wall of chain link and a gate mean that there are few if any zombies inside. I search the security hut for keys and find a set. Helen helps me open and then close the gate. I don’t want any zombies walking in behind us. Inside the secure compound is a small building. Helen indicates that this is where we would find any paperwork. The compound is full of containers so without the paperwork we are going to have to open each one. Please let it be inside.

We open up the building with the set of keys I found in the security hut and in less than five minutes Helen has pulled everything that I want to know. It is great working with someone who knows the business. It makes everything easier. As I go through the manifests with Helen I discover that my plan is even better than I thought. According to the manifests there are 22 containers full of assorted ammunition, three containers of Remington firearms. 2 containers of specialty firearms, and one container of believe it or not silencers and gun accessories. This is just the weapons manifests.

Helen points out that there are 42 containers of fireworks waiting to be shipped. Eight containers of industrial explosives, 12 different containers of assorted medication. This place is like my dream come true. I thought that I would have to raid up and down the coast for months in order to find stuff like this. I had made lists of where different manufacturers were. I expected I would have to mount an expedition and go and raid factories to find this type of stuff. My apocalypse life just became so much easier. I run outside and check the first container on the list just to be sure. I cut the lock and look inside. All I can see is pallet after pallet of cases of rifles secured to the walls of the container. There must be 10,000 rifles in this thing. I check the manifest. This container was headed for the Remington distribution center in Europe. Jackpot.