Heart of Death 2

The small group, consisting of the four Navy officers, Chris Soren, Becky Par, and Jim Blankenship, had packed the night before and were ready to move out around daybreak. The loaded what fuel the community could spare, a bit of food that Lorrie packed for them, and started off north up the Kissimmee River. They moved at speed that allowed them to conserve fuel as much as possible, as they went Jim Blankenship noticed something odd about the wildlife on shore.

“Why do the animals look so weird.” Jim inquired

“The virus.” The Commander started. “It killed humans but it mutated animals, then it was transmitted from one species to another as each consumed the other.”

“But that means we can’t hunt to eat as we do back at Surviorville.” Chris said excitedly

“No, we have to forage for fruits and berries.” The Chief said

“Why didn’t we see this back near our home?” Jim pondered out loud

“That’s an excellent question.” The Commander pointed out “Yes, why were the animals in that area so unaffected. Just one of a million questions we have come across.”

Their journey soon brought them to Lake Tohopekaliga. The sun had set several hours before, so the commander decided to anchor for the night, “Set the anchor, everyone try and get some rest, we will need to search the shoreline in the morning to look for fuel.”

“I’ll help with standing watch.” Jim offered “I’m not very tired right now anyways.” Jim was too anxious to get any real rest anyways. The commander nodded and the Petty officer Euwing sat up with Jim as the rest of them found a spot to lay down. Not a word was said between the two as they sat there in the darkness, four hours passed, and Jim didn’t even realize it till the Chief patted the boy on the shoulder and indicated for him to get some rest. Jim didn’t argue this time, he knew he would need his strength come sunup.

The following morning the boat made its’ way over to the northeastern shore, after tying it off to a tree the group set out together in search of something, anything. The Commander instructed Lt. Hall to accompany the three newcomers and to head in a northern direction, while he and the rest went to the south. Hopefully they would each come across some houses, or a store, or something where they could find food and fuel. The two groups agreed to be back at that point by mid-day and went their separate ways.

The Commander’s group made their way inland slightly and after about an hour and a half they cleared the underbrush and came across what appeared to be farmland. “This looks promising.” the Commander thought to himself as he hoped that maybe they could find a fuel tank on the farm, or at least some crops still growing. They made their way cautiously through the field but saw nothing even resembling buildings.

Meanwhile, the Lt. lead his group along the shoreline north and soon came to the end of a road. “Well, there’s got to be something somewhere on this road.” Becky pointed out. And with a chuckle from Jim, they started up the road. They soon came upon an alligator farm, “Hey, look, there’s got to be gas tanks here.” Chris said excitedly as he started to jog ahead.

The others picked up their pace a bit to try and keep up. They found the front doors locked, as they made their way around to the side, they could see the airboats all lined up in the back, sitting right next to the best site ever, a fuel tank. They shattered the front door and made their way inside towards the back doors that led to the dock. The Lt., Chris and Becky went directly to the fueling station, but Jim went over to the airboats to see if any would be able to run. Finding one that had fuel still in its’ tank, Jim hotwired the key and the large fan on the back roar to life.

“Fill up as many as you can find.” Jim yelled at the others over the airboats sound. “We can use the airboat to get all the fuel back to our boat.”

“We can’t take two boats; we won’t have enough gas for two.” Lt. Hall mentioned.

“We won’t take two, just use this one to get all the fuel we can carry back to our boat.” Jim explained his thinking. With a nod the Lt. agreed as they all searched for more fuel cans. After filling all the fuel cans, they could find around the dock the four climbed on board the airboat and started back to where they agreed to meet up with the others.

The Commander, Chief and Petty Officer finally started to see something in the distance, trees. After walking for almost an hour they came to rows of orange trees, but nothing was growing on them, so they continued. Another fifteen minutes brought them relief as they sighted an old, rugged looking barn. It was overgrown with vines now but underneath it was a maroon red color, with a black shingle roof, big double doors on this side. It looked like it had stood there for a century when in actuality it was probably no more than twenty or thirty years old. With no one around to tend to it nature had started to reclaim everything. They walked around the right side of the barn and there out in the open was a huge fuel tank, but their hopes were dashed immediately upon seeing it. Painted in big green letters, “DEISIL, FOR FARM EQUIPMENT ONLY” It will do them no good.

“Damnit!” the Commander said almost under his breath. “Well Chief we came…” His voice trailed off as he realized the chief was no where to be found. “Chief! Chief! Where you get off to?”

“In here Commander” came the response from the direction of the house sitting some fifty yards away.

The Commander and Petty Officer went to join the Chief in the house, “What are you doing in here?” Petty Officer Euwing asked as he came in the front door.

“Canned food.” Chief Hall slammed a can of beans down on the counter. “We eat tonight boys.”

An excited smiled came to all their faces as they stared to gather up everything they could find, putting it in anything they could find to carry it back with them. They knew they had a long walk back to the meeting point but at least everyone would be happy tonight.

That night everyone was able to fill their stomachs to their content, get sleep, and were ready to set off the following morning.

“To the east should be a small river leading to the next lake.” Jim told the Commander

“No, we go north.” The Commander explained “According to this map of Florida there is a river that runs all the way up into Orlando, from there we will have to go by foot to the airport, where hopefully we can find something that flies.”

“Flies? Did he say flies?” Becky queried

“Yes, Miss Par. Flies. Much faster to get to South Carolina by air than by water.” Chief Hall said with a pat on her back and big smile on his face.

“Oh, great.” She said with a sigh and anxious fear in her eyes.

North, they set off, to Orlando and the next part of their adventure to find the woman with the Heart of Death.