Read Online Voyage of the Dead - Book One Sovereign Spirit Saga by David Forsyth - Free Book Online
Authors: David Forsyth
Ads: Link
should report for duty…”
“Turn that crap off,” said Scott. “Have you ever heard so much B.S.? He’s safe on Air Force One, just like we are on this ship. But he’s telling everyone else not to do anything except stay where they are and wait for help? Hell, it sounds like he doesn’t know much more about what’s happening on the ground than we do. Less, if he doesn’t believe that we’re facing zombies or something so close as not to matter. And if he really won’t rest until they find a cure, my bet is he’ll die of sleep deprivation!”
“Yeah, that was some scary shit,” said Scott’s friend Clint Murdock. “Martial law and curfews. Shooting looters on sight. Hell, if I was in LA right now without a gun, you better believe I’d do whatever it took to get one! How can he say they’re going to shoot people who are just grabbing what they need to survive, huh? Won’t shooting zombies keep them busy enough?”
“Uh-huh,” agreed Stan Welsh, who had known Scott since junior high school. “He might be trying to prevent a panic, might even think what he’s saying will save lives, but I’d say it’s too late for any of that. Instead of telling people to just hide and wait for help, he should be telling everyone to protect themselves any way they can! ‘Cause I don’t see the army and police doing too good a job of protecting anyone right now.”
“You got that right,” said Scott. “But this president doesn’t think like that. It’s the damned ‘nanny state’ mentality. Did you hear him try to link finding a cure with his unpopular health care policies? There is no damned cure yet, but he’s offering to give it away for free when he finds it! Isn’t that typical? Promising things that don’t even exist! The nation is self-destructing and he sounds like he’s still on the campaign trail!
“And,” Scott continued heatedly, “He seems to think that simply ordering the military to take over is going to solve the problem. The man has no grasp of how bad this crisis is! Not to mention the logistics. How many cities have military bases next to them? Not too many. On the West Coast, I’d say San Diego will be best defended. We’ll see how well that’s working out when we get there. But most of the other cities are lucky if they even have National Guard or Reserve units. And how many of them are actually going to show up if it means leaving their family alone in the middle of all this. Not to mention the fact that a lot of those units are deployed overseas. So he’s ordered them all home, has he? And how long will that take? If it ever happens at all! Did you see the video from Iraq earlier? The place is crawling with zombies! South Korea, Germany, Japan? This is happening everywhere at once! How in Hell does he expect to redeploy our troops now? Either he just doesn’t get it, or he’s lying through his teeth.”
“I haven’t trusted him from day one,” said Michelle, nodding in agreement with Scott. “I’m not saying he’s responsible for this nightmare, but it’s obvious that he can’t save everyone from it either. If he thinks he can, he’s crazy. I hope he enjoys being up there on Air Force One. I think he will face a rude awakening when he finally has to land somewhere.” Everyone nodded in agreement. Then they went back to the serious task of figuring out what they should do to give the people aboard the Sovereign Spirit the best chance at living through this mess. None of them had the slightest faith in the ability of the President to do it for them. And they pitied those people ashore who did.
*****
At the next meeting of passengers and crew that evening Scott decided to make it short, if not sweet. As soon as it looked like everyone had
“Turn that crap off,” said Scott. “Have you ever heard so much B.S.? He’s safe on Air Force One, just like we are on this ship. But he’s telling everyone else not to do anything except stay where they are and wait for help? Hell, it sounds like he doesn’t know much more about what’s happening on the ground than we do. Less, if he doesn’t believe that we’re facing zombies or something so close as not to matter. And if he really won’t rest until they find a cure, my bet is he’ll die of sleep deprivation!”
“Yeah, that was some scary shit,” said Scott’s friend Clint Murdock. “Martial law and curfews. Shooting looters on sight. Hell, if I was in LA right now without a gun, you better believe I’d do whatever it took to get one! How can he say they’re going to shoot people who are just grabbing what they need to survive, huh? Won’t shooting zombies keep them busy enough?”
“Uh-huh,” agreed Stan Welsh, who had known Scott since junior high school. “He might be trying to prevent a panic, might even think what he’s saying will save lives, but I’d say it’s too late for any of that. Instead of telling people to just hide and wait for help, he should be telling everyone to protect themselves any way they can! ‘Cause I don’t see the army and police doing too good a job of protecting anyone right now.”
“You got that right,” said Scott. “But this president doesn’t think like that. It’s the damned ‘nanny state’ mentality. Did you hear him try to link finding a cure with his unpopular health care policies? There is no damned cure yet, but he’s offering to give it away for free when he finds it! Isn’t that typical? Promising things that don’t even exist! The nation is self-destructing and he sounds like he’s still on the campaign trail!
“And,” Scott continued heatedly, “He seems to think that simply ordering the military to take over is going to solve the problem. The man has no grasp of how bad this crisis is! Not to mention the logistics. How many cities have military bases next to them? Not too many. On the West Coast, I’d say San Diego will be best defended. We’ll see how well that’s working out when we get there. But most of the other cities are lucky if they even have National Guard or Reserve units. And how many of them are actually going to show up if it means leaving their family alone in the middle of all this. Not to mention the fact that a lot of those units are deployed overseas. So he’s ordered them all home, has he? And how long will that take? If it ever happens at all! Did you see the video from Iraq earlier? The place is crawling with zombies! South Korea, Germany, Japan? This is happening everywhere at once! How in Hell does he expect to redeploy our troops now? Either he just doesn’t get it, or he’s lying through his teeth.”
“I haven’t trusted him from day one,” said Michelle, nodding in agreement with Scott. “I’m not saying he’s responsible for this nightmare, but it’s obvious that he can’t save everyone from it either. If he thinks he can, he’s crazy. I hope he enjoys being up there on Air Force One. I think he will face a rude awakening when he finally has to land somewhere.” Everyone nodded in agreement. Then they went back to the serious task of figuring out what they should do to give the people aboard the Sovereign Spirit the best chance at living through this mess. None of them had the slightest faith in the ability of the President to do it for them. And they pitied those people ashore who did.
*****
At the next meeting of passengers and crew that evening Scott decided to make it short, if not sweet. As soon as it looked like everyone had
Similar Books
