It had been abandoned after a trial flight and mostly forgotten about.
Then had come the H7D3 virus. The White House, the CDC, most news agencies had all said the same thing :"Don't Panic."
As a result, nobody at the manor had panicked.
The old gardener/mechanic had readied the largely-forgotten airship though, just in case.
Omar Gutierrez took pride in his job and his work. It paid fairly well and allowed him to engage various artistic talents. He'd never been good enough to make a living as an artist on a national level or something like that, but decorative scrollwork or lettering on a fence? Decorating the walls of a kid's room? Yeah, he could do a pretty spiffy job.
When the kid he'd seen as a baby come home for the first time eight years ago had turned - it had nearly broken his heart. That the parents had gotten bitten was immediately noted.
Omar had vanished for a bit, and by the time the boss he'd worked for had gone from parent-of-zombie to zombie himself, Omar had launched the little airship and escaped.
There had been some rattling in the hold for awhile. There were little cameras everywhere so he'd planned to go down and tie down those crates of supplies. He'd just never gotten around to it.
From the estate to a small private airfield down the coast. Remote, fenced, and equipped for resupplying the ship at least. Watch the situation on television, and make plans.
One week. One week for the situation to go to "don't panic" to an undeniable Zombie Apocalypse. For all that the Infected weren't undead, a running and howling cannibal savage who had ZERO chance of overcoming the virus - Zombie In Behavior Only was just shortened to 'zombie' because why bother?
For some reason, even when everyone with a lick of sense was trying to get AWAY from major population centers, some people were still heading into the city.
In Omar's opinion, the stupidest were the looters. Dude, zombie apocalypse! Stealing a 48" plasma TV was NOT a particularly intelligent move. Stealing a TRUCKLOAD of them was also not bright. Stealing a truckload of TVs and electronics and then getting stuck on a bridge with your stolen truck and trying to fight off a zombie horde with a FREAKING HANDGUN went beyond plain idiocy into what Omar had decided to call 'Truly Inspired Idiocy' before the news cameras had pulled away.
You couldn't loot camping equipment, tools, and other such supplies. They'd already been cleaned out of everyplace that had them. Except one.
He'd been maintaining his distance and checking roads, because THAT right there was a Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Sparks Nevada.
No obvious zombies, check. Water available, none nearby.
Problems were the distance from his base. That a little way from the center there was an algae-thick waterway and "pond" or water area. Still no zombies showing. A few dead bodies that were out - and that they weren't torn apart was hopeful.
He had many things he considered himself skilled in. Firing a gun was not one of them. He flinched at loud noises. Going in and checking out the warehouse was NOT going to be easy.
He was still debating what to do about it when he saw stowaways on his ship.
"Where ARE we?" asked Naruto, staring out the window.
"This is some sort of ship?" asked Sasuke. It was just that the idea of a flying ship was so weird that it required some serious mental rebooting to take it in.
"We're in the air!" asked Naruto.
"I take it you three are not infected?"
Naruto blinked and looked around.
Sasuke frowned and put away the kunai he had automatically drawn.
"Uhm, 'infected'?" asked Sakura.
The odd voice spoke again. "I don't suppose you are with a pocket of survivors I could hook up with?"
"'Survivors'?" asked Sakura, being quite able to put the term 'infected' with the term 'survivors' and come up with a pretty alarming picture.
Sasuke looked towards the little metal grille and the speaker, figuring the microphone was likely there as well. "We are not 'infected' and I'd rather stay that way."
The voice had a faint tinge of amusement when he replied. "I heartily endorse that philosophy. We'll be passing over the city, then heading out to the airfield. Unless you have some particular base to head to?"
"No. That sounds as good as any," said Sasuke.
"I see him," whispered Hinata.
Sasuke made a quick hand-gesture.
The voice spoke again a moment later. "I've got some water I'll put outside your door. Don't try to make contact with me, and I'll avoid you. The CDC was saying that the incubation for the virus is six hours. So in eight hours, if none of us turn - we can speak then."
Sasuke leaned against the wall. "Hinata?"
"He's done something to the controls, he's away from the communicator," stated Hinata.
"Thoughts?" asked Sasuke. He had his own plan, but he wanted to hear everyone else's.
"Too far to jump," said Naruto. "Might as well wait till he lands this thing."
Sasuke considered that. Idiot had a point. He certainly had never flown this sort of vehicle before.
"We're protected by most diseases by chakra reinforcement, but I AM familiar with some diseases," said Sakura. "The Academy didn't really go into a lot of details though."
"So you're saying?" asked Sasuke, a slight irritation in his voice as Sakura had apparently brought that up just to sound ingratiating but not actually give any useful information.
"We should maybe be okay, I think?" asked Sakura.
Sasuke snorted. "Okay. We let him land this ship. Then we see about getting information."
"Who died and elected you boss?" asked Naruto.
"If you have a better idea, tell me," said Sasuke. "Do you know how to fly this? I don't. Second. Look out the window."
They were flying over a small town at this point.
Hinata clicked on her Byakugan, got a good look, then went over to a wastebasket and tried to throw up despite not having anything in her stomach to actually throw up.
The rack of outdated magazines were there for passengers, though the four youths didn't know HOW outdated they were.
Sakura was silent, frowning as she went through magazine after magazine.
Sasuke and Hinata went after Sakura, each passing a magazine they'd finished to the next one.
Naruto glanced at them, but spent almost all his time looking out the window.
True to his word, there was a set of sealed plastic bottles filled with water right outside the door after a few minutes.
The rest of the trip was mainly silent until they'd finally set down on a large flat tarmac in what was apparently a large flat desert.
One of those speaker/camera combinations spoke up. "If you guys will remain on the ship, the incubation period will be over shortly. We don't get much channels but there's a radio and TV I left in the cargo area. I have to refuel the ship, set electrical connections and such. Bathroom's a chemical toilet and yeah, there's an arrvee hookup I rigged for that. Just hang tight."
The individual was visible briefly, going past their window three times - usually carrying something.
Sakura was the first to find the television and switch it on. Most of the channels just showed static, but they finally found one that started answering questions.
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(Posted Sun, 15 Mar 2015 18:35)
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