The Infected Dead (Book 2): Survive For Now by Bob Howard Page A

because less water will come back into the moat. In a week or so after that, we’ll see the top of the net and the first of the bodies.”
    I was picturing the net above the water line, and I could see it pulling at its moorings. That’s when an idea hit me.
    “Chief, how are the nets anchored to the mainland and to Mud Island?” I asked.
    “I already thought about that, Eddie. They already support a lot of weight, so they must have concrete moorings on both sides.”
    Kathy, the architect of the plan that saved thousands of people at the Charleston cruise terminal felt like she had the answer.
    “Why not cut the net loose?” she asked. “We could wait for the top cable to be exposed when the water level drops, and just cut it.”
    The Chief didn’t get excited the way the rest of us did, so it must be more bad news. “Here’s the catch,” he said. “For the nets to collapse the power conduits, the weight has to fall all at once. For that to happen, it will take the weight of the fully loaded nets to be completely above water. I don’t doubt that their full weight could pull the moorings out in a few days, and the whole thing will come crashing down. If we were able to cut each mooring cable as they become exposed, the weight would gradually settle over the power conduits and actually protect them from damage. The problem is that the cables look like they are the same cables used on suspension bridges. They’re probably woven steel, and I would guess about four inches in diameter.”
    It didn’t take a rocket scientist for all of us to understand that there was no way to cut through those cables, and there must be a lot of infected dead in them if they were heavy enough to pull the moorings out.
     
     
    Chapter 4
    Escape from Conway
     
    The mood in the shelter was not the best, to say the least. We all felt like we were one step closer to being the oyster that got eaten, and it was Tom who brought things back into perspective. He looked at each of us one at a time. I could almost feel his gaze.
    “Guys, did someone tell you there was no Santa Claus? Did someone tell you there would be no Trick-or-Treat this year?” he asked. “I made an error once that cost us the ball game. I’m glad I didn’t have your attitudes or I would have quit then.”
    I think he did a good job of putting us in our place, and we couldn’t help but grin. He took Kathy by the hand and said, “Everybody in the dining room.”
    We all followed behind Tom and Kathy. Jean nudged me and hooked a thumb in Kathy’s direction. She was blushing beet red. We all knew she was attracted to Tom, but it had been a long time since a man had taken her by the hand.
    When we were all seated around the dining room table, Tom passed out beers and sat down next to Kathy. He said, “It’s time for me to tell you how Molly and I got here. Maybe after hearing our story you will know just how lucky you have been, and you won’t cry because someone licked all the red off of your candy.”
    “I know where the red went,” said Jean. She looked at Kathy and smiled, and Kathy turned beet red again.
    “See, there it is.”
    Kathy gave Jean a mock scowl, and Jean mimicked it. The Chief started doing a full body laugh, and the mood got better. When it started to die down, and everyone was wiping tears from their eyes, Tom caught his breath and started to tell them about that first night.
    “Do you four remember where you were when you found out about the infected?” he asked. He knew the answers, so he didn’t wait for us to speak.
    He went on, “From the moment it started until the night that we escaped from Conway with over forty armed saviors, I had one clear thought, and that was we were going to die. I knew I would do anything to keep Molly alive, but I also knew it was only a matter of time. That’s what hopelessness is, folks, and I would have been right if not for a baseball fan.”
    He took a long swallow of his beer and got a distant look.