TEOTWAWKI
#91: Anette - Left for Dead
It WAS getting colder. In the morning when Anette woke up there was a rime of ice on the water bucket. There was no shortage of fresh water though, thanks to the constant rain. The repeated moves had played havoc with the camp’s infra structure. Almost everything other than the tents had been lost so they were reduced to the most primitive equipment...like buckets. There were no portable sanitation units any longer. The portia-potties had been lost two moves back.
Anette had to go to the bathroom. The designated latrine area was down hill. That kept ‘bad things” from happening she had been told, but it also put them closer to the approaching waterline. The waterline was always been approaching. Steadily, inexorably, silently. It kept coming. The water was close again. The camp was preparing for another move. The water was very close to the latrines.
They were the simplest of latrines, a slit trench had been dug and bits of canvas had been draped over ropes strung between poles, for privacy.
The smell was bad enough that she didn’t spend any more time in the latrine than she had to. As always she glanced at the face of the enemy. The tide that waited for no man, no young girl, nor any evacuation effort. The water was still rising.
Anette did her business and stepped out, slipped on a patch of mud, fell and hit her head. She passed out.
She woke up to find that the camp was gone. It had been moved again while she was unconscious and she had been left behind, unnoticed, in the mud. She was stranded on a little island with the latrines. She stood in calf deep freezing water. Everything was icy. She was shivering, and the water was rising.
Nothing grabs a female’s attention like the sound of a baby crying. It’s instinctive, they HAVE to look. Anette heard a baby crying. It was above her head in the fog. She stepped out away from the latrine poles and looked skyward.
Something fell from the sky.It covered her like a net then puffed up like a ball. Anette had been Turtled Up.
Anette felt a sting on her neck and screamed.
Rescue Control in what
was left of the Banana Slug
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“Day-um! Talk about traumatic! Shelby said.
The weather had turned bad. It had been foggy forever it seemed but now the fog had Bite! Everything was becoming covered in ice and the water was much colder. Deadly cold. Anyone falling into that water unprotected would die of hypothermia in a very short while.
Shelby had been true to his word. He’d set up a rescue center. One of the wheel-houses of the Banana Slug had been hastily converted into ’Rescue Control’. The Banana Slug wouldn’t move, ever again, so it wouldn’t miss the control center. The surveillance permitter was huge and getting larger constantly. Several Refugee camps were being watched..
“We didn’t really have much choice. Passive telemetry on that young lady was not so good. She desperately needed warmth and nourishment. She’ll get it now. Do you really think that asking her politely to ‘come into my parlor said the spider to the fly’ would have worked?” the Dragon Lady asked.
Shelby thought about it. “Umm...no. It might taken awhile to convince her. She might have tried to get away and run herself to death. You did exactly right.”
“ Not that she could run far on that tiny island but that’s correct. If she had gone into the deep water rescue would have been more difficult.We don’t have that type of asset close by. What other option did we have?” Marc asked. “The temperature has fallen off a cliff. It’s getting colder by the minute. A major ice storm is forming. She didn’t have any time left for niceties. She needs warm shelter, food and she needs it NOW!”
“How’d you do that anyway?” Shelby asked.
“The old Drop Net technique.” Captain replied. “Julie configured a Drone then flew it above the girls head in the fog. It lured her away from cover by making baby noises. When she stepped into the open it opened up, fell, netted her and turtled up.”
“She’s totally englobed in a sphere now and completely insulated from the wind and the cold. She’s ‘turtled-up’ like you taught us. She’s wearing an Omni-Suit that is warming her and will protect her from any more harm.” he said.
Anette didn’t know what was happening. Something had fallen out of the sky and wrapped her up like a blanket. It had stung her on the neck too. She was cushioned like an egg in a styrofoam carton.
Didn’t.
Matter.
She was warm. She was finally, finally WARM. She wasn’t shivering any longer. It was totally worth being bit on the neck and stuffed into a sack to be warm.
A straw was brushing her lips. A straw? It looked and felt for all the world like one of the sippy-straws that came with the coffee cups at WarBucks. She remembered her last one. It had been a Quadruple Espresso, Super Grande with Light Blueberries, Cream and Organic Caramel Vanilla, Iced Double-Shot Macchiato and Black, Foamed Cinnamon Eggnog and Peppermint Pumpkin Spice Latte.
She sooo missed those. Without thinking she slipped the straw into her mouth and sipped.
That’s what it WAS, or close enough not to matter. It had SUGAR! It was HOT! (but not TOO hot). It was so totally AWESOME. Better than she recalled. She was warm, her tummy was full, she was dry, and she began to cry.
“What the actual HELL?” Josh was mystified “I don’t understand why she crying. She’d be dead if not for that Omni-Suit .”
“Shush. Let her work it out, it’s a gurl thing” the Dragon lady said.
Anette was finally warm. She had been courting hypothermia for so long that she had almost forgot what warm was. The massive jolt of sweet, high calorie, high protein fluid that she had drank had helped a lot too. The SugarCharge was wearing off and a CarbComa was setting in. She was so drowsy that all she wanted to do was to go to sleep. She relaxed and did that.
The Next Episode
#92: Anette - Shopping…
The Previous Episode was
# 90: Weldon: Splat Team Training…
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
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Book One: SoulStone
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When watching the LameStream FakeNews Media
it's hard to tell what’s true or when they are lying isn’t it? It seems that they are more interested in influencing public opinion than they are reporting the facts.
SteemPunk Snail Image from Pixabay
What a good rescue team: immediate detection of victims and execution of an immediate first-aid plan at a distance; although they do not finish yet her rescue... the efficiency shown in this type of rescue actions it makes us think immediately the current rescue services that we have in the face of tragedies ...it is necessary to improve it.
Rescue-ops in order, snag and bag, wrap em up, round em up, keep em alive. Sort the finer details out after they are living and healthy again.
exactly...
can you imagine being in such a situation?
Yep, had hypothermia as a kid while on a 50 mile backpacking trip with the scouts, had to be airlifted, in basket cause they could not land.
now imagine shelby...he KNOWS that thousands of people are in that same situation.
relatively near by...millions if not billions world wide.
he's helping as many as he can with the resources he has...
but he has to keep his people alive too...
reckon he sleep well?
Not likely concerning the sleep. It is to often that we worry over saving the many, and losing the one, while saving none.
good post