“Treat all bites and infections with this paste.” John said. “It’s alkaline. Bacteria and viruses can’t live in an alkaline environment. For people who are sick and the infection has spread into the blood, mix a teaspoon of baking soda in clean water, and have them drink it three to six times a day depending on how sick they are: more for sicker people. I’ll have more for you tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Dr. Ali said.
The following day we brought more sodium hydroxide and baking soda to the hospital. As we entered Dr. Ali came running from the hall into the main reception area.
“John! John!” he shouted. “It’s working. The bites are healing and the infections are going away.”
“Good,” John replied. “We are gathering the materials to make alcohol and should have some for you in a week to ten days.”
“Bless you,” Dr. Ali said with tears in his eyes. “Bless you.”
John handed Dr. Ali a sack filled with bars of soap. “We are also increasing soap production and will have more bars of soap for you in a couple of days.”
Dr. Ali didn’t speak, but the tears and look in his eyes said everything we needed to hear.
The next morning we met in John’s office. We still didn’t have any windows but we had a door which John closed behind us. Major Samuels was there.
“We have a situation,” John said.
“There is an underground complex with access beneath the Denver airport,” Major Samuels said. “We’ve gotten as far as a reinforced steel door. It has a keypad entry system but there doesn’t seem to be any power to the keypad.”
“I believe Carl can help us with opening the door,” John added.
“Probably,” I replied. “What’s on the other side of the door?”
“We don’t know,” Major Samuels said, “But we believe that it is the place where the military and VIP’s in the area went just before the meteor storm. We need to find out who and what is down there so we aren’t hit with a surprise attack at some point in the future.”
“I want Ed and Major Samuels to go into the underground facility once Carl gets the door open,” John said. “I want negotiation to be our first response, but I also want us to be prepared for an armed conflict, so once the door is opened, I want Carl out of the way and in a protected place. Am I clear?”
Ed and Major Samuels agreed.
We rode bicycles out to the airport and met a group of armed men inside the main terminal. There were fifteen of us in all, armed with rifles and hand guns. They led us through a security office and down a stairway to a narrow tunnel lined with pipes on both sides. The tunnel was dark and musty. As we walked slowly along the tunnel, examining everything with our flashlights, we kept hearing faint scratching noises as if something was skittering along just out of our view. Finally we came to the door.
A keypad was mounted on the right side of the door, but the display wasn’t illuminated. I punched in several numbers on the keypad, but it didn’t make any beeps or clicking sounds. Major Samuels was right. No power. I took my pocket knife out and cut away the plastic covering to the panel. Underneath was the usual set of screws. I opened the Phillips head screwdriver on my pocket knife and removed the screws. I pulled the panel off and looked at the wiring inside the box.
Wires came into the box from three different places. The two heavy wires were obviously the power lines. Most of the wires went to a plug-in connector mounted on the back of the box. My guess was that this was the interface to the computer and the matching box on the other side of the door. The release for the door would be electrical and run from one box to the latching mechanism. If it was done right, the wires to the latching mechanism would come from the secure box on the other side of the door, not the one outside to which people had access. I shook my head in disbelief as I saw the two wires leading out of the bottom of the box. They did it backwards.
I figured the system was the usual five-volt computer power supply. I removed the batteries from my flashlight and borrowed another guy’s flashlight for a third battery. I used my knife to cut the two wires loose from the printed circuit board and stripped the ends of the wires. I examined the back of the circuit board and quickly determined which wire was connected to the ground path. I pulled on the wires and got enough wire free to reach the ends of the batteries. I held the three batteries connecting positive to negative in my hand. Three batteries would produce 4.7 volts, which should be enough to activate a coil designed to operate at 5 volts. I touched the ends of the wires to the batteries and heard a distinct thunk from the side of the door jamb. Major Samuels pulled on the door and it swung open slightly.
The stench of decomposing flesh poured out of the doorway. I turned to the side, but it was too late. I threw up on the side wall. As I headed back up the tunnel for some fresh air I heard two other guys lose it as well. I stopped when I reached the stairwell that led up to the security office and waited. The two other guys who couldn’t stand the smell joined me there.
“Ed and Samuels led the group into the tunnel,” one of them said to me. “We’re supposed to wait here with you.”
“Works for me,” I replied.
“If anything happens we’re supposed to protect you,” he said.
The three of us looked at each other, thankful we were not venturing deeper into the tunnel system. Ten minutes later we heard gun shots and the sound of running feet, followed by the steel door slamming shut. We watched as the flashlights wobbled in the dark tunnel approaching us. Ed and Major Samuels led the remaining group through the tunnel and up the stairs into the security office before anyone spoke.
“The rats got in through the ventilation system,” Ed said. “The designers of the underground city made sure a person couldn’t get in through the grates and filters, but it was easy access for the rats.”
“The skittering noises we heard in the tunnel?” I asked.
“Rats in the ventilation pipes,” Major Samuels said. “There’s no one left. All the people have been eaten by the rats. The only things left back there are bones and rotting rats. It looks like they put up one hellova fight, but they didn’t have a chance. There were just too many rats.”
“And the gun shots?” I asked.
“The rats have become very aggressive,” Major Samuels said. “We just barely got out.”
We rode our bicycles back to the administration building in silence.
“Are there any supplies we might be able to use?” John asked after we told him what we found.
Major Samuels shook his head. “Too many rats,” he said. “We can’t get far enough to get to any of the supplies.”
“Okay,” John said. “Thank you for trying.”
CHAPTER 26
John established the New American Bank. The currency was a scrip developed through radio conversations between members of the Survivalist Network. A printing press of the same type used to print U.S. currency was already in a member’s business and was stored securely. Acquiring the proper paper took a little longer but was finally resolved. Survivalist Network Members in the larger population centers became the default bankers for regenerating our civilization. Initially, accounts would be kept on paper ledgers and stored in vaults. The new currency would have the same denominations as regular U.S. currency, but would look substantially different.