Authors: Rich Goldhaber
Again, happy tears ran down my face.
“Francis, that’s wonderful. I’m sure Rich would be
honored.
Several of our female residents immediately
took charge of the freed captive women. I would see
them later in the day with; new clothes, clean bodies, and smiles on their faces.
I found Jessie in her apartment. She had
just stepped out of the shower. I held her in my
arms. “I want to marry you now Jessie. I don’t care
how it looks to the rest of the community; screw
them. If I have to, I’ll resign from the Board of Governors. I love you and want to spend every night
with you.”
Jessie dropped her towel and gave me the
most passionate kiss I could ever remember. When
we broke apart, she was crying. There were too
many tears today. I wiped her tears away from her
face with my hands and kissed her again. “Well,
I’m waiting for an answer. Will you marry me?”
“If that’s what you want, but what will our
friends want? We have so little to celebrate. Think
about it before you make a final decision”
The USS Jimmy Carter had been slowly
moving along the eastern seaboard recording the
presence of survivors who were living in small
communities along the coast. Six months into their
epic journey they had risked foraging for food on
isolated areas along the coast, but were reluctant
to have intimate contact with any survivors.
Doctor Raymond Fleming, the ship’s Chief
Medical Officer had been lobbying Captain Sanchez
for weeks. It was time to end their self-imposed isolation and reestablish direct contact with other
survivors. His latest plea was at the daily meeting
of the ship’s officers. Ed Sanchez felt he was being
beaten into submission. “Look Ray, I only want to
protect the lives of the crew. They’re my responsibility. We’ve gone over this subject every day for
months.” Sanchez was silent for several long agonizing minutes. The officers knew him well enough
to not break the silence. “Okay, here’s what I suggest. This decision is just too important. Let’s let
the crew vote on it. I know it sounds like a copout,
but it’s their lives we’re talking about. What do you
guys think?”
There was unanimous agreement to the
Captain’s suggestion, and the meeting was immediately called by the ship’s Executive Officer.
Sanchez stood in front of his full crew. He was
proud of his men who still looked like a dedicated
group of sailors ready to defend their country or
carry out his orders. He looked slowly around the
cramped mess area before he spoke.
“Gentlemen, we have come to a point in our
journey where a critical decision needs to be made.
Doctor Fleming feels there is a high probability our
self-imposed quarantine is no longer necessary. He
is the first to admit it’s just a guess on his part because this pandemic has been unprecedented, and
there is little scientific evidence to guide us.
“Each time we have made contact with survivors, we have asked if they were aware of any
survivors who had been in isolation for several
months following the outbreak of the disease. Doctor Fleming indicates if someone had been isolated
from humanity for three months and then established contact with survivors and didn’t come down
with symptoms, it would prove the period of contamination had passed. As you are aware, we
found evidence of a few such people, but they still
had not passed the period of possible contagion.
“So here we are, almost six months into our
journey, and the question confronting us is when
do we take a risk and make direct contact with
other survivors. I personally feel responsible for
each of your lives, and it would cause me great
pain if we made contact and then contracted the
disease, but this is such an important decision; I
want to put it up for a vote. Are there any questions or comments before we vote?”
There was total silence in the meeting
room. Each sailor had struggled with this issue for
many months, and each had come to their own
conclusion regarding personal risk.
Sanchez looked at each man in the room.
He was surprised to see every hand raised. He
smiled at the men, “There is no need to ask those
opposed to raise their hands. The decision is unanimous. We will make contact with the next group
we encounter.”
The crew cheered. They all had endured the
isolation, and now they were going to once again
make contact with their fellow survivors. As the
meeting broke up, the crew manning the watch on
top of the ship’s massive sail monitored the coastline with renewed energy.
Jessie and I gathered my two foster children in our apartment after they returned from
school. “Jessie and I have something important to
tell you. We’ve decided to get married. Jasmine and
Hunter jumped up and down and hugged both of
us.
“You told us to never forget our Seminole
heritage. If we’re a family then both of you are part
Seminole. In our culture when people get married
they have a special ceremony called the Rite of the
Seven Steps. Will you perform the ceremony during
your wedding?”
I turned to Jessie. It would have to be her
decision. She knelt down on her knees in front of
our two foster children. “Jim and I would consider
it an honor to have a Seminole wedding ceremony,
but you and Hunter will have to help us plan everything. Will you help us?”
The kids answered by hugging Jessie. Jasmine said, “We’ll need to go back to the reservation. Our tribe kept all the sacred things in the
museum.”
I said, “Tomorrow is Saturday. Let’s take a
trip to your village. You both can show us around
and gather up everything you’ll need for the ceremony.”
After agreeing, the kids left to do their
homework and Jessie looked at me. “I guess we’re
going to have a big wedding.”
Jessie opened up a bottle of wine and said,
“Let’s talk outside. I don’t want the kids to hear
this.”
We sat down behind our apartment on the
sand overlooking the lake. A half-dozen kids were
swimming at the beach. It was almost like a normal day before the pandemic, but Jessie was about
to end the illusion.
“Rich and I were pulling together all of the
manufacturing procedures for synthesizing the
drug. Two of them just barged in and wanted to
know what we were doing. I told them, and then
they just shot Rich. I couldn’t believe it; they just
killed him for no apparent reason. Then they
handcuffed me and dragged me out to their car in
the parking lot.
“We drove for about thirty minutes and
wound up near the airport. They kept me in the
car.”
“I know; Elizabeth and I followed you to the
parking lot. Private Duncan was keeping track of
you with the satellites.”
“They told me I was their slave now, and
they would be taking me to their main base. Their
leader arrived an hour later and he opened the
door and groped my body. His body smelled so bad
I almost puked. He kissed me and I bit his lip. He
wiped away the blood and slapped me across the
face. Then he told me I would be his to take. He
slammed the door to the car and walked away.”
“No, we drove to their base outside of Augusta, and they dragged me into the barrack where
you found me. They had been abducting women for
months and keeping them locked up in there. The
women were basically sex slaves. The women told
me guys and sometimes even women would come
in during the day and force them to perform sexual
acts. The women were kept there all the time and
handcuffed to their beds. They had given up all
hope until you arrived. I told them you would find
us and free us, but I don’t think they believed me.
They had given up all hope.”
“No, one of the guards just felt me up. He
said the general was going to arrive soon, and he
would have firsts; but others would be lined up
right behind him. He just stood there and laughed.
I’m glad he was one of the guys you killed.”
“Then Brad Davis showed up and just
started laughing at me. He squeezed my jaw and
said he’d be waiting in line to get a piece of me.”
Jessie finished her story and remained quiet for a long time just sipping on her wine. “I knew
you would come; I knew somehow, someway, you
would find me. I never lost hope.”
“Francis gave birth to a little boy. She
named him Richard in honor of Rich. We can’t tell
Margaret about Rich’s death until she’s better.
Let’s visit her now and tell her we’re getting married. I’m sure the news will cheer her up.”
Jessie and I checked up on Francis. She
was nursing little Richard and covered up as soon
as we arrived. Jessie walked to her bed and kissed
her on the cheek. “I told you he would come.”
“I didn’t believe you, none of us did. We had
given up all hope. I can’t believe this place. It was
just like you described it, only better. It’s like paradise and everyone is so nice. This is going to be
the perfect place to raise little Richard.”
Richard screamed for more milk, so Jessie
and I left to see Margaret. Mary was sitting in a
chair next to her bed reading a medical textbook.
Margaret was sitting up, still weak, but in better
spirits then when I last saw her.
She smiled as we approached her bed. Jessie leaned over and gave her a kiss on her cheek. I
held her hand. Jessie leaned over again and whispered to her. Margaret looked at me in shock and
then screamed. “I knew it; I knew it!”
Mary laughed, “I knew it as soon as I saw
the spider bite. Of course you’re going to let Beth
arrange everything.”
Margaret said, “I’ll come to the wedding. I
wouldn’t miss it for the world. I can feel the pills
making me better already. How soon will you have
it?”
I answered, “I don’t know. We’ll talk to Paul
and Beth, but in the next few days. We’ve waited
too long.”
With Margaret’s spirits restored, we walked
back to the main dining area. We found Major
Connors and his assault team eating an early dinner before they headed back to Tampa in Sammy’s
chopper. We pulled up two chairs and the team
made room for Jessie and me to sit down next to
Arnie. “We’ve got a problem,” I said. “Brad Davis
used to live here. He was at Fort Gordon and
talked to Jessie. That means the group knows we
were probably the people who freed all of the women and killed two of their men. I think they might
be headed this way to get even and take back their
captives.”
Arnie thought as he finished chewing on a
piece of meat. He took out his satellite phone and
punched in a number. “Private Duncan, this is Major Connors. We have reason to believe the men at
Fort Gordon know where their captives were taken.
I want you to set up round the clock surveillance.
Be especially concerned with any buildup of forces
in the area. We’ll be back at the base in another
few hours. I want a full report by then.”
Arnie looked at me. “They’ll be coming here.
I know the type, and the problem is they’ll have
some heavy duty weapons at their disposal. When I
get back to Tampa I’ll contact Lieutenant Monroe.
I’ll assess their situation and probably have his
team return to Florida as soon as they can.”
“Nothing right now. I’m guessing it will take
them several days to mount an attack. They may
want to send out a scouting party to provide reconnaissance. That’s what I’d do if I were them,
and this Brad Davis guy will tell them we destroyed
the Tampa misfits. That will make them think
twice about attacking us until they’re fully prepared.”
A dozen of the captive women suddenly arrived. They were being led by a few of the other
women from our community. They saw us and
walked over to our table. With tears in their eyes,
they thanked each of the assault team who had
risked their lives in freeing them. Arnie’s team was
both moved and somewhat embarrassed by the
act.
We found Paul sitting at a table with Beth
and a few other people. I asked to speak to him for
a minute. He immediately stood up and the three
of us huddled in private a few feet from the others.
Jessie and I told him of our plans.
He smiled and then shouted at the top of
his voice. “They’re getting married! Jim and Jessie
are getting married!”
The place erupted in applause and shouts
of approval from the several hundred people who
were eating an early dinner. Beth stood up and
smothered us in a matronly embrace. I stopped
counting as hundreds of people gathered around
and congratulated us. I guess our decision had the
total support of our community.
Arnie’s comment was a little surprising,
“What took so long? You guys have been making
goo-goo eyes since the first day I saw you both together.”
A lookout on the starboard side of the submarine spotted the three fishing boats. Captain
Sanchez signaled for a change in course, and the
sub reduced speed and approached the small fleet.
Stan Kolinski was the first to see the huge
dark-grey submarine approach his boats from the
west. He sounded his boat’s air horn and immediately his alert was answered with a symphony of
deep-throated responses.