Post by Sarah Sharpe on Aug 27, 2018 20:21:25 GMT -5
Current Map of Belle Isle/Detroit, August 2018
#1 - Main Supply Route btwn Belle Isle and Coleman Young Apt.
#2 - MSR Mack (Mack Ave.)
#3 - MSR Jefferson (E. Jefferson Ave.)
#4 - MSR Cadillac (Cadillac Ave.)
Red Line denotes furthest cleared areas w/in Detroit
Black-lined area is a free-fire dead zone
"Looks like its' going to be another Motor City scorcher," Sarah whispered as she looked out the windows of her third-floor Belle Isle office, overlooking the city of Detroit and the Detroit River below. Boat traffic was light for a late August morning but at least there was boat traffic going to and from Detroit from points north and south of the city. Turning every so often to check on Meredith - now 16 months old and turning into a bit of a whirling dervish at times (all good things to be, according to Doc MacMillan, she mused) - Sarah thought about the past 10-11 months and shook her head; it'd been a combination of both good and bad.
At least the damn Russians are no longer here, she thought with bitter pride, remembering the night Detroit was attacked by jet aircraft from the north. It still burned her whenever she remembered being overruled by both Colonel McKenna and Captain Beloi and how much it had not only embarrassed her but had also weakened her standing as Belle Isle leader; for several weeks, she had fought through what Dr. MacMillan later told her was the worst depression he'd ever seen, enough to actually make him consider relieving Sarah and finding someone to take over in her stead....but with help from Doc, Hyatt and everyone else close to her, she'd fought the depression that'd crippled her and once the Russians withdrew (for reasons she didn't know and didn't really want to know) she felt the weight of command fall back onto her shoulders.
That was the bad part....over the course of several weeks, teams of soldiers and civilians had tracked down the location where the jets had come from; once tracked down, troops, equipment and supplies from New York state were rushed forward by water (unbeknownst to her at the time, the Great Lakes had been reopened to ship traffic) and marshaled at points just north of Belle Isle. Once in place, a series of pitched battles in what had been Michigan's northern peninsula took place, eventually ending up in what was probably the largest pitched battle in the post-apocalyptic world near and on the grounds of the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base. Though the cost had been worse than everyone had expected, Wurtsmith fell and was now back in American hands, with a small but growing survivor community now living on the base, sprinkled with advisers to help with security and other matters.
Turning back to look out at Detroit, Sarah thought about the past winter's work; in what most everyone on the island considered either audacious, crazy, stupid - or a mix of all three - Belle Isle residents, infantry from New York state plus a small force of dragoons from Mississippi armed with Stryker IFVs, had cleared everything possible up to McNichols Road and west to Woodward Avenue, the Motor City's dividing line between the two halves of Detroit (a road they referred to as "the Magic Line"), clearing every building and residence they came across. It was hard, brutal work, especially as it took place through all of winter (and the winter of 2017-2018 in Detroit was especially cold, harsh and brutal) and through most of the spring but at the end of the day, the whole of East Detroit was cleared of hostiles (both human and walker) and it made Sarah proud to know they'd done it.
Hearing the clocks of the grandfather clock in her office chiming nine bells (around 9am), Sarah grabbed a large sling with space in it to carry young Meredith in, got her fixed in place and in front where she could see her and headed out, ready to face the day once more....
