That evening Gus and I sat in Fred's and I asked when he would be able to fly the Pegasus up north for me and train someone to fly it. Gus said he would need at least 6 weeks to train a backup chopper pilot. And that between a trainee and old man Ramsey, a 70 year old Vietnam era chopper pilot, they should be fine here for a month or so without him. So, since I would need time for my shoulder to heal anyway that worked out just about right. I was due six months room and board for the trip to Edwards so I wouldn't have to worry about earning my keep around here for about six weeks. Now, what I would do for six weeks to stay busy was another thing. But I guess I'll worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, I think Gus and I will just do some serious drinking and relax.
To keep myself busy while I healed and Gus trained a chopper I told Tom to get a list of potential trainees. I would start a survival training program as soon as candidates could be identified. I told Tom they needed to be less than 35 years old and in good physical condition. My intention was to at least show the trainees the basics of surviving while on a foraging mission. The group that Tom put together consisted of three Deputies and 12 towns' people. Talking to Tom I said that this would be a good program for any of his rowdy teens. The ability to forage could make them productive. And young people had the reflexes and stamina that were needed to survive out there as long as they weren't reckless. If they didn't show restraint and care, a Zombie would solve their rowdiness problems. In the end, the list of names Tom provided included the name of a 17 year old. Tom said the boy was in and out of trouble constantly for drunk and disorderly behavior. But due to his age nothing that he did could be construed as a felony and get him exiled. I was surprised to find the name of a woman on the list as well. Zombie fighting was normally the task left to the testosterone charged young men. Although most of the people on the list had full time jobs in the community, Tom said they would be made available for training.
I asked Tom for background on the personnel on his list. Most were current experienced hunters or deputies. With the exception of the female and Jason the delinquent he had added to list. Tom said that the female volunteer was Elizabeth Doyle a local rancher's wife who had witnessed and survived the killing of her husband and three kids in the early days of the Zombie attacks. She had been found by one of his deputies holding out in a tree outside her home. She had told the deputy who had found her she had killed Zombies until she ran out of ammunition and had taken refuge in the tree
Tom and the trainees were ready for the first session the following Monday. In the first meeting I told the trainees that I had been surviving in the outlying Zombie world for the last two years and would present some of the skills and techniques I had learned during that time. Over the next month I gave lectures on the obvious as well as the subtle nuances of searching shops and homes for the necessities for survival. We made trips to various shops around town for practical examples of the techniques of searching and surviving. On week five we took a field trip to Edwards for a practical test of searching homes and the base commissary. All of the students survived the test, and although I didn't try raiding the hospital or any areas that were to highly populated with Zombies, several Zombies were encountered and destroyed. Each of the candidates was required to terminate a Zombie with a silent hand-to-hand weapon (i.e. knife, club bat etc). On the training exercise we were able to gather some loot such as toys for the kids in town and some much needed clothing. Liz Doyle was the most natural of the group. She was deadly with her little PPK, and the .380 caliber had plenty of skull piercing power. Liz never hesitated when facing a Zombie. She drew and fired, then looked for her next target. The three deputies were probably the next most proficient. Displayed mainly through their conduct and efficiency acquired through their professional career experience. The remainder of the students were capable but none showed the potential of leading a team. Jason, the youngest member, was definitely the most careless and the most nervous. But after a few trips his nerves would settle down. What concerned me most was how reckless he could be. He tended to stop and admire his kills without checking to verify there weren't more Zombies to target. Hopefully, more experience would teach him the error of this practice without getting him or someone else killed.
Gus had also accompanied us and retrieved the T-44 Pegasus. I asked if Jason thought he would be able to drive the APC back to Wasco. We had located another tanker truck of fuel and Gus said 8000 more gallons of fuel back in Wasco would be a nice bonus. Jason assured me that without a doubt he was more than capable of driving the APC back to Wasco. Jason may have shown nervousness and been careless but he certainly wasn't lacking in self confidence. Gus flew the T-44 back to Wasco with a deputy for shotgun. I drove the tanker of aviation fuel back with another Deputy as shotgun. Jason and the other trainees drove back in the APC.