by D A Carey
“Then why go?” Ava asked. “You have a strong home. We’ve seen you’re stocked up well on food. They will get the lights on and the crime stopped soon, and everything will return to normal. All we have to do is sit tight.”
“I hope you’re right, Ava. That would be the best thing in the world. I don’t believe it, though, and neither does Vince. We’re both from Kentucky, and I have family I worry about. For all I know, we could be at war. I just don’t know.”
“Then why not wait until we do know?” Tyler asked.
“I’m convinced that if I wait and things get worse, I may not be able to get out. There are fifteen million hungry and scared people in this part of the country. I want to be on the road before things get worse and those people lose it worse than they have so far.”
“What about us?” Kayley asked in a voice so low it was hard to hear.
“I can’t say,” Liz responded with anguish in her voice. “I’ve racked my brains and asked Vince’s opinion, and I just don’t know. The trip I’m going to take will be long and filled with more hardship and danger than you can possibly imagine. I wouldn’t take it if my family wasn’t back east, and I’m probably emotionally scarred from what happened to me in Chicago last year. Honestly, I believe that if you have family near and think you can get to them, you should. If you don’t, then you’re welcome to stay here. Vince will give you some tips on how to fort up the house, save clean drinking water, and defend yourselves. Hopefully the National Guard comes through soon. Frankly, I’d rather you do those things. If you went with me and got hurt, I don’t think I could bear it. I won’t turn you down if you want to go with me, though, because I do think things will get worse here before they get better.”
“You mean you won’t turn anybody down except for me,” Bill added wryly.
“That’s right, Bill. You need to be with your son. Down deep, you know I’m right.”
“Yes, ma’am, you’re right.”
“I’ll be going with you,” Junior said. Liz nodded, not trusting her emotions to speak. She and Junior had shared some hard things last year.
“I want to go, too,” Carol added.
“Carol, I don’t know. You remember how hard things were in Chicago. This will be a hundred times worse. You can stay here and fort up.”
“I’ll be coming along if you’ll have me,” Carol countered firmly. “Don’t forget, I’m scarred by what happened last year, too. I won’t be left alone in this house when things go like they did last year. Like you, I’ve seen Vince in action. As weak as he is right now, I’d much rather put my lot in with him rather than stay here.”
Liz merely nodded with moist eyes. She glanced around the room, and the others were distracted or not making eye contact. Liz didn’t want to put them on the spot. “Vince will work to get the old gardener’s truck ready and loaded with all the supplies and extra fuel we can carry, and we’ll leave in the morning around two a.m. I have two bicycles we can load in the truck. We’ll take as many of the guns and ammunition as we think we’ll need and distribute the rest among those of you who aren’t opposed to using a gun. After that, Bill, Junior, and Vince can help set up some defenses, give you some food and water tips, and help setting up a watch schedule and rotation.”
Bill nodded curtly. “I can stay as long as I’m needed here.”
“No, you won’t, Bill. I actually have three bikes, counting Carol’s. We held back the best one for you. When we leave, I need your promise that you’ll leave as well and get to your son.” Liz spoke with intensity, making eye contact with Bill.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It will be okay. I’ll be here and can keep an eye on things until the police or National Guard comes through,” Tyler said with a tone halfway between a smirk and giggle.
Liz gawked at him for a long moment, unable to reply. In the shadows, Bill could see Vince slightly shake his head. Tyler had no idea what he was getting into.
Character Revealed
“Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos.”
- Robert Frost
<< Dave >>
Infrequent news reports indicated military relief columns were headed into the west. Naval ships had been dispatched west, but those not already in the Pacific would have to take the long route around the horn because power was out and there was rioting in the Panama Canal. Communications with the Pacific Fleet based out of Hawaii were sporadic. Air traffic was grounded, and many reports from the military in the west hadn’t come back yet or been vetted for public dissemination.
Across the eastern half of the U.S., most police forces had stopped responding. Larger police forces had been conscripted into national service by the DHS. The smaller police forces were hunkering down in their towns and keeping a small central part of the town where they had moved their families safe. Many other policemen resigned or went home rather than become a part of Homeland Security.
“Levi, you’ve been down in the communications bunker,” said Dave. “Are we getting any information about the government’s response to the terrorism in the east?”
“Right now, the news we’re getting is centered on the DHS takeover of major police departments in the east. They’re setting up safety zones in strategic locations in and around major cities and letting the violence outside its zones go unchecked.”
“That’s terrible. How can they justify that?”
“The party line is that it’s merely a triage and they will get everything settled down in short order. They claim they need more manpower and that’s why they conscripted the police forces under an executive order. The camps are a safe place to bring citizens to and run their operations from.”
“How are people taking it? Isn’t your cousin a NYC policeman?”
“People are taking it better than I thought they would or think they should.” Dave raised an eyebrow, and Levi continued. “People are scared. Too much has happened too fast and from different directions. They’re terrified and don’t know who to turn to. Despite the heavy-handed approach, the DHS safe zones are crime free, and people are receiving food and shelter. Though it’s precious little of both, it’s more than they had. The preppers and country folk are mostly doing the same as they were, but we’ll see how that shakes out when the shelves go empty.”
“What about your cousin?”
“He left the NYPD maybe six months ago. I did get in touch with him for a short call. He took a working retirement to be the police chief at a small town called Phoenicia, in upstate New York. They’ve barricaded all the entrances to the city and are hunting the nearby forest and fishing the river beside the town. He’s in good shape. Some of his buddies in the NYPD are having a real crisis of conscience. They’re working for FEMA and their families are safe and fed in the camp, but the things they are forced to do are really bothering some of them. Some of the bad eggs are loving it, though, and are quickly rising in the ranks under the FEMA and DHS direction.”
“Are the military units pitching in to try and keep things on the up and up?”
Levi shook his head. “The reports we’re getting are that even though some National Guard units are trying to respond, it’s limited. Like last year, many National Guardsmen are ignoring the call. The regular military units are more concerned with an attack by foreign forces and are focused on guarding their bases and the major ports.”
“That’s a shame. I get it, though, and there is a practical sense in it. John Adams said, ‘Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’ This is exactly the kind of situation to test that premise. People should pull together and help each other. Police and guard units should be stopping terrorism and directing people where to go and who to help.”
While Levi agreed with Dave, experience taught him that if he indulged in this stream of thought, the conversation would go on for a long time and get heated. In the end, they could do no more about the problem than they
had with the Arks. “Well, the U.S. military forces are much smaller than most people know, and many are stationed overseas. They will be coming back, but that takes time. If the military was at full strength, they would be hard pressed to simply guard borders, coasts, ports, and a few strategic locations.”
“I suspect the terrorists planned for that. Middle America is on their own, then. God help them.”
<< Louis >>
One of the runners from the communication bunker interrupted Dave and Levi’s conversation, pausing to catch his breath. “Mr. Clark asked me to go get you on the double. He said there is some stuff coming across the feed you’ll want to see.”
“We better get going then,” Dave said, already on the move.
Dave and Levi had barely entered the communications bunker when Louis said, “We’re getting reports that after the attack on the western U.S., and sinking the ship attempting to attack the eastern U.S., the U.S launched counterattacks on Iran, North Korea, and Russia.”
Dave gaped. “God help us.”
“Yeah, and that created a domino effect of subsequent attacks around the world. I guess tensions are so close to the boiling point that it didn’t take much.”
“That and people are plain scared,” Dave said. “Nations can be like people. Seeing the U.S attacked must have put some of our allied nations into a panic. Seeing us strike back sent many of them, allies and antagonists both, over the edge.”
Louis nodded grimly. “It’s been estimated that in the last few days, less than thirty percent of the world has the same power and services as they did a week ago. The world economy is crashing and sending the economies of those countries that weren’t a part of the attacks into a downward spiral as well.”
“Makes sense,” said Levi.
“Not being attacked by missiles isn’t going to save those smaller countries,” Louis countered. “The fact they weren’t attacked meant that they didn’t have armies large enough to fear. That means they have food and electricity and no army to defend those things. Those countries are already calling for help as their more militaristic neighbors mobilize what’s left of their own forces to roll over their better-stocked, less-prepared neighbors.”
“There is a lesson to be learned in that for nations and people alike,” Dave said. “It’s not enough just to hope your neighbors will be ethical; you have to show your willingness to protect your own to insure that behavior.”
“Good fences make good neighbors,” Louis quoted.
Walking back to the main cabin, Dave was lost in his thoughts, and Levi trailed behind, letting him stew. World War III had started, although no one called it that. The world was experiencing war, terrorism, and chaos on a global scale.
Last year’s internal chaos in the U.S. must have gotten China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia thinking that the U.S. was vulnerable. To some of those leaders, it was plunder that drove them, for others religion, and yet others an insatiable quest for conquest. In the end, it didn’t matter. The behemoth of a nation had been knocked to its knees, and the shockwaves had done the same to the rest of the world.
It was probably inevitable. Any college student had seen the graphs of the world’s population growth over the last millennium. The world was not used to this many people living this close together. Throughout the history of mankind, the population had reset itself when it spiked too high or too fast. It was due.
<< Big Jim >>
Big Jim doubled down on his control of Turk-Town. They hadn’t seen anything of the Army or National Guard since the lights went out. Only a few policemen had come by, and they were only scouting for a place to stay for themselves. Big Jim made sure to tell them that Turk-Town was a private venture, gave them a bit of food, and sent them on their way. The cattle operation was doing well, and the cathouse was becoming the talk of the town. Big Jim didn’t try to hide it much anymore. His men had run off a few people who opposed his style too strongly.
Of the three security men from Cavanaugh Corp., he’d converted two to his way of thinking. It had been relatively easy to keep the third one busy or out of the way. Clyde said he’d seen the man nosing around the cathouse and bar.
“What’d you say to him when you caught him?” Big Jim asked.
“I told him I was going in and asked if he wanted to join.”
“And?”
“He said he didn’t think Mr. Cavanaugh would approve. I just told him we all voted on it for the charter and that stuff like this had been legal in Nevada for a long time. Now that things have gone to hell and we’re making our own laws, these women need work, and we have hardworking men who want to burn off some steam.”
“How’d he take that?”
“He said, ‘I don’t know, it just don’t seem right,’ then he walked away.”
“I’ll have to do some thinking on that. How are you doing on that other project I gave you?”
“We have about nine men I can count on, and we’ve started on the other stuff.”
“Nine? Is that all? I thought you’d be turning them away by now.”
“Big Jim, you have to trust me on this. I’ve done this type of thing for you for years. It takes a while to feel someone out. I can’t have a man getting a case of ‘good Samaritan’ right in the middle of an operation. I got nine men I can count on to be as nasty as I want, no questions asked, and probably that many more who can do the normal stuff. The ranks will swell. It takes time.”
“Okay, so what about the other stuff?”
“We’ve cleared probably half a dozen farms and homes nearby. The cattle are mixed in with ours and the supplies hidden in our bunkers.”
“Did you take care of the Watsons, too?”
“Yes, sir. No chance of them telling anyone what’s going on here. It was a good test for the men, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I assigned a couple of the newer men to take care of those kids.”
“How’d they do?”
“They passed. Maybe not as fast as I wanted. On the other hand, they can’t back down now. They’re in.”
“Good.”
“It’s going to be a right nice little city for you to control.”
Big Jim grinned. “My plan is higher than that.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“I’m thinking like an old English walled city of a lord.” Seeing Clyde’s perplexed mien made Big Jim smile. “In those cities, there were lords and aristocracy. They had knights and soldiers, skilled workers and peasants. All of them worked at the behest of the lord. He ruled with an iron fist and could have people put to death or do whatever he wanted.”
“I ‘spose we could try. People are going to fight back, though. I don’t think they’ll go for it.”
“They will over time. Unless they cross me, I don’t plan to break ‘em like a rodeo horse. I plan to train them gently like a good trail horse. Bit by bit, I’ll build my aristocracy and you’ll build our knights. We have some of our peasants and skilled workers. We have a few more to break to the bit. It will all work out well in the end!”
<< Christy >>
Christy and Mary hadn’t quite become a nuisance yet. They both were hard workers and had so far kept their heads down. Even so, Big Jim didn’t like them. They were a bit too uppity for his taste, and he never did quite understand their type. He always thought they were looking down on him or talking about him behind his back.
While he didn’t come right out and tell Christy and Mary to leave, he did send word that with the recent EMP they may not get their permanent residence completed. The same thing was told to another family who happened to be black. Big Jim offered both groups food and supplies if they wanted to leave. The black family accepted the offer. Christy and Mary did not. They had paid their money and knew how bad things were about to get out there.
After that, Christy was politely told she wouldn’t be needed in the community meetings. Later on, she and Mary were assigned tasks in the garden with quotas that took ten or el
even hours to fill.
“Christy, this is bullshit and you know it!” Mary said as they cleaned up from their day’s work. “No one else is putting in this many hours. Hell, half of them are drinking and carousing at the bar and cathouse.”
“Try to be patient. Something will come up. We’re safe and fed, even if we are overworked and under-appreciated. It sure beats the alternative.”
“What alternative?” Mary said in exasperation. “There aren’t any police coming. We haven’t heard anything of the Army or National Guard. Heck, they say they aren’t even in communication with Cavanaugh Corp. We paid good money to have a nice place here, and we’re the only ones working like servants and living in a shack. They’re trying to push us out like they did the Watsons.”
“The cattle workers are working as hard or harder than us,” Christy pointed out.
“That’s what I’m saying. Big Jim treats those Mexican people like servants. You know I speak the language. They are afraid of him. He has them on the chartertown roles as special skills needed for farm and ranch work, and he makes them and their families live in small huts out in the fields. Do you know he had one man whipped for opposing his daughter’s assignment to the cathouse? The man said she was forced. Big Jim said she asked and they got into a fight and he had the man whipped.”
“As ghastly as it is, we don’t have a choice. We have to bide our time.”
“Okay, I trust you. We can’t live this way forever, though. It eats at your soul and corrupts. They’ll kick us out soon. It’s better to go on our terms than theirs.”
* * *Later that night in their cramped cabin, the ladies added to their store of dried food in a couple of backpacks under a loose floorboard. They had a few guns and ammunition that Big Jim hadn’t taken to be locked up in the armory, as well as some camping gear.
