Chapter 2

Bill and Jimmy had charged 250 rounds of .22 caliber hollow-point ammunition and loaded their weapons before they ventured out of the lab. The first thing they did was scour the science buildings, looking for survivors. They didn't expect to find anybody, but they needed to try. They did find a Physics post-graduate student cowering in a basement office, and they had some difficulty in enticing him out when they did find him. John Perry was not the bravest sort of person you might encounter, but he did claim to know how to use a rifle, so Bill gave him his. Bill had his pistol, so he still felt protected.

Jimmy and John got to talking about the antigravity belts worn by the Wasps. Jimmy said that he had one, but had not figured out how to use it. John offered to look it over to see if he could figure it out, so they stopped by Bill's car to pick it up, plus pick up some more weapons. Bill reclaimed his rifle, and John took a different rifle, but declined a pistol, saying he could not hit the broad side of a barn with a pistol.

They happened to be near some Women's Dormitories, so they decided to go there, next. They went into the lobby and, as expected, saw nobody. They shouted to attract attention, and a voice was barely heard in answer. Relieved that they had found somebody, they called for the person to meet them in the lobby.

Moments later, two women showed up, both appearing to be in their early 20s. Each one rushed to the nearest man and hugged him in relief. Jimmy joking said, "Don't I get a hug, too?", so both women ran to him and gave him a big hug. One of the women, Sue Hobson, reported that there was at least one other woman in the building, because she had heard a toilet flush on several occasions. Whoever it was had not heard the men shout, or were too frightened to come out on their own.

Bill suggested that the men wait in the lobby while the women go through the building looking for other people. He promised to wait until both came back. That sounded like a good idea, so Sue went down to the basement to search and Ann Hawkins went searching on the ground floor.

Sue returned shortly with two girls who must have been freshmen, they looked so young. They had been roommates who had hidden together in the basement. They had heard the men call out, but were afraid that they might be raped if they showed themselves. They claimed that there were no other people in the basement.

Ann was not able to find anybody in her search, so Ann went up one floor and Sue went to the top floor to search. Fifteen minutes later, Sue returned empty handed, but Ann came back with a member of the cleaning staff who had been hiding in a broom closet.

None of these women were in very good physical condition, since they had been surviving for days on the junk food that they could get out of vending machines. Bill suggested that they visit the two other Women's Dormitories next door, then go find suitable food for the whole group.

They found five more women, making a total of 13 people who needed feeding. The headed for one of the central dining halls on campus, expecting to find something edible in there while Bill headed back to his lab to run the next stage of his manufacturing process.

He had gotten that going and had started back toward the dining hall when he had a premonition of terrible danger. He snapped his head around just in time to spot a Wasp diving on the attack. He dropped to the ground and rolled to one side as the huge alien swooped passed him. With hardly a thought about it, Bill snapped off a shot at the Wasp and hit it somewhere in the body. The Wasp turned to head back toward him and suddenly was consumed by convulsions. Moments later, the bug crashed into the ground and stopped moving. At least, I know that the poison works in that dosage against those damned Wasps. Bill liberated the antigravity belt and trotted to the dining room with the good news.

One of the women had taken over the job of cook and had started a balanced meal for the group from the food that she had found in the freezers. Fortunately, nothing had happened yet to cause the power grid to shut down, so all of the freezers, lights, and other such appliances were operating as expected.

After everyone had reached the dinner table, Bill told of his success against the Wasp. He was quite elated and soon everyone else was, too. He asked for a show of hands of those who could shoot and would be willing to take up arms against the Wasps. Only one woman, Sue, held up her hand, so Bill thanked her for being willing to take some responsibility for her own safety and the safety of others. He then asked the other women if they were willing to learn to use a gun and join in the fight. All but three held up their hands.

The older woman who was part of the cleaning staff said that she would like to help, but she simply could not see well enough to shoot. She had been scheduled for cataract surgery only a week ago, and the Wasps interfered with that. However, she wanted to help and was willing to do anything which did not require good vision. She had been the cook for this meal, so Bill thanked her and asked her to stay on in that capacity.

The other two women were Southern Belles who considered themselves above such mundane tasks as fighting. After all, that was no a job for a lady. Bill said, "Fine, then you two are assigned to be permanent helpers to Mrs. Exter (the cook). You will do whatever she tells you to do, or you can take your chances with the Wasps." Both of the Belles turned first red, then green, for Mrs. Exter was black and they were deathly afraid of the Wasps.

"Jimmy, can I put you in charge of getting us some more rifles and in training these ladies in how to shoot? We can use one of the indoor basketball courts as a practice range."

"Sure, Bill, I'll be glad to do what I can. Ladies, we'll start training tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, we'll need more guns. Suppose Sue and I take a van or panel truck to some of the stores on the road to Opelika and pick up some more guns. Meanwhile, the other ladies can continue to pack the current ammunition with poison."

John interrupted with, "Wait a minute! Bill, who put you in charge?"

"Well, I guess nobody did. Since this was all my idea, I figured that I needed to take over. Do you object?"

"Not exactly. I just thought that we should have a democratic election to select a leader."

"OK, then, the floor is open to nominate a leader. We need some nominations before we can vote."

Jimmy said, "I nominate Bill for leader." There was a roar of affirmation! "I guess that settles it, Bill. You are our leader."

Bill took over, again, and said, "OK, I guess that is settled. We need to set up job assignments. I will be in charge of making the poison, and John will be responsible for figuring out how the antigravity belts work. Mrs. Exter and her staff are in charge of cooking. Jimmy and Sue will handle armaments and training.

"This dining hall will be the one we use until further notice, and we will all sleep in the dormitory next door. Jimmy, you and Sue should pick out where you want to hold your classes."

One of the women held up her hand. When acknowledged, she asked, "Did you know that the ROTC had a shooting range already set up in the basement of their building?"

Jimmy said, "Hell, that will be perfect for our needs. They'll have a lot of ball ammunition there, too, so we don't have to waste any of the hollow-points in training. We'll use that place for our armory. Elsie, we'll need for you to show it to us this evening after we get back with more guns. Bill, if that's all, Sue and I should go now."

The kitchen crew was left to do what needed doing while Bill led John and the rest of the women back to his lab to work on the ammunition.

Jimmy and Sue went by Bill's car and picked up a rifle and a pistol for her. She loaded her weapons and took some extra cartridges from Jimmy, just in case. They went to the office of Buildings and Grounds and broke in to find some truck keys. This was no problem since the keys were prominently posted on a board right by the door. Most of the keys were missing, but there was one set for a panel truck, so they took that.