by D A Carey
“What about the residents?”
“It was a slaughterhouse. The few nurses who remained were used horribly by the gangs who took up residence. They locked residents in groups in a room with nothing more than a can of peaches and a can opener. They took a few of the older men and practiced beaning them with baseballs. A few were shot for resisting. Yet that wasn’t the worst of it.”
“How could anything be worse than that?”
“The residents who were denied their meds. Those people died slowly and in a great deal of pain. For some, it was as simple as insulin that the gangs didn’t even want. For others, it was heart medicine or something to ease their COPD. Imagine those people strangling on their own breath who desperately needed medicine that was only a few feet away yet denied to them by some thug.”
“That’s sickening.”
“Yes, and by all accounts, the thugs enjoyed the show, enjoyed seeing these people suffer and die.”
“Did Martha get caught up in all that?”
“Her ordeal at home left her very cautious. She left her sister in hiding and snuck into her husband’s room. He’d already passed. She said she knelt by his bed for over an hour crying. For her, the worst was not that he died, since she’d long since come to grips with the reality that that would happen soon. It was that she couldn’t bury him. To save her sister, she’d have to leave him there like that.”
“That’s a terrible thing for a person to go through.”
“She’s a strong woman. She and her sister made their way to a storage facility on the edge of the community where her husband’s old ’69 Firebird was parked. He had showed her how to connect and disconnect the battery cables. She’d even got her grandson to help take him for a ride in it a few months earlier.”
“That’s a great car.”
“It’s here at the community now, although a little worse for wear. After she got it running, she loaded a few more mementos from storage and headed this way because this is where they drove that day they took her husband for a drive and she thought this would be where her grandson and his young family would come when things went bad. Martha was angry and grieving and determined to reunite with her family here.”
“Good for her!”
“People tried to stop her a few times. Once she was blocked and surrounded by thugs much like the ones in the nursing home. She hit the horn hard to clear them and the gas harder to go through the ones who didn’t move.”
“Did she kill any of them?”
“She thinks she did. The leader, a large man, wouldn’t move. She felt the car rumble over his body before she hit open road. She said she didn’t shed a tear. She’d shed all the tears she had the night before at her husband’s bedside. She didn’t have any left for scumbags like that.”
“What a great lady.”
“She’s a former schoolteacher and choir leader. She’s already asked to teach school and lead the choir here. All she wants in return is a gun and shooting lessons.”
Dwellings
“Success is all about persistence and doing the right thing for the long term.”
- Bruce Rauner
<< Kate >>
While Kate didn’t want to admit it, waking up to room service was enjoyable. It was a luxury she didn’t know she’d missed until she had it back. It had only been two days ago that she and Matt and his parents had taken their boat from Carrollton to Louisville. While the trip had only taken a few hours, the two places were worlds apart in other ways. Kate was haunted by leaving without facing her mother. Her father had always taught her to face things head on. At the same time, she trusted Matt when he counseled her to do it this way.
At Louisville, they tied the boat alongside a few similar pleasure boats at the slips in the water front park at a place called the Great Lawn. When Matt’s father told the guard they were expected by the professor, they were immediately escorted for the three block walk to the Galt House.
After a short wait in the elevated atrium-style connecting area between the two towers of the hotel, the Hanovers met with the professor. To Kate, he appeared to be a genial college professor like he’d been described. He was obsequious to the Hanovers and immediately assigned them two rooms in the west tower to keep them further away from the parkers. While Kate didn’t know what “parkers” were, she was happy they were being treated with such deference.
Later, Matt’s parents were taken to the series of rooms that were being used as a clinic and infirmary. They later told Matt there was a cruder clinic down near the parkers that was strictly voluntary and only excess supplies would be sent there in a “doctors without borders” approach.
The professor asked Kate to confine herself to the atrium area and floors three and up of the west tower for her safety. Matt did spend some time in the east tower but told Kate he was always accompanied and it was to do work for the recovery. Kate met with the professor twice to discuss an outdoor market similar to what her mother had set up. While the professor wasn’t overly supportive of a market due to what he called security concerns, he was very curious about potentially trading with C-Town. He wanted to know what they had to trade and how they protected it. Kate was eager to help and even more eager to prove to her mother that her coming to Louisville had a noble purpose. She wanted to blunt her disappointment about the way she’d left.
Matt and Kate were assigned a room service person whose job was to take care of all their requests, bring their food, and take their clothing for cleaning. As much as Kate tried to make small talk, the woman assigned to them wouldn’t make eye contact with either of them. The most she would do was make short replies, leave the food, gather their soiled clothes, and leave quickly.
“Matt, isn’t it weird she won’t even speak? We’re all in this together. I would think she’d be happy to be here.”
“I’m sure she is. You read too much into things, Kate. She may be shy or intimidated by our status.”
“Our status? We’re just people. We all put our pants on the same way, as my dad used to say.”
“That may be true. Your dad was always a champion of the common man. However, in most civilized societies, people of certain education levels are revered above others. It’s not a bad way to define a class system, much better than just being born into privilege. The way the professor explains it, it’s especially important now. It lets the people with the most knowledge and education make decisions for those less qualified in a crisis situation like now.”
“Those are not the ideals America was founded on. Won’t we go back to what it was before as soon as we get further along in the recovery?”
“According to the professor, it was the previous situation that wound us up here. The lesser-educated people with guns drove much of the policy decisions for the country. That meant the more enlightened people had to waste a lot of time and energy opposing their destructive impulses. It ground the country to a halt. It’s a fact of history that countries with a progressive, educated upper class and a servile lower class last the longest.”
“My dad’s uncle is as educated as they come, and he doesn’t think this is the right way,” Kate said defensively.
“Dave Cavanaugh is an elite and won’t accept it. He loves the adulation of the common people too much. The professor knows about him and hopes he will come around. He says that the obedience of the common people is more important than their adulation.”
“What about my dad? He was a soldier.” Kate pulled away from Matt.
“Yes, and a good one.” Matt pulled her close. “You have to admit he was a little quick on the trigger, though.”
Bowing her head, Kate said, “Please don’t say was like he’s gone.”
“Okay, Kate, however you’re going to have to face facts sometime.”
“He is hard to kill. I have to believe he is out there somewhere trying to make his way home.”
“I know you do, honey.” Matt rested his chin on her head. Kate couldn’t see his patronizing smile.
Later that day, Kate was idling in the atrium area, hoping to get some of the professor’s time to push once more for a trade mission to C-Town. The professor’s desk sat in a raised corner area of the atrium room above the Ohio River. There was typically a long line of people awaiting his time for various reasons. His staff expertly ushered them along or away, depending on who they were or what they had.
Today a bedraggled and bloodied soldier was ushered past the throng, who was pushed back to allow the soldier to report. Kate was ignored and could hear the entire conversation.
“Tell him what you told me,” one of the professor’s staff said.
“Well, sir,” the soldier began hesitantly. “We were patrolling like we normally do. Our sector was the Middletown area out Shelbyville Road near I-265. We’re used to seeing people peek at us through windows. Our orders are not to engage those people if they don’t come out of their homes. They aren’t much of a threat. Most are bone racks living like animals anyway.”
“At least they’re free.” The professor’s sarcasm was evident at the word free. “Go on, Sergeant.”
“It was near an old Wal-Mart and Target that we spied a few trucks looting. We engaged them right away. We had them pinned down, but they must have had shooters stationed around that we didn’t see. They also had a second team come rushing in from a nearby gun range and store we thought had already been stripped. They were picking us off one by one. We lost five men. There were only seven of us left, and it didn’t look good. Then our luck turned better because for some reason they left, heading out of town on Shelbyville Road.”
The professor was fuming. “Better than losing five men and being forced to cower and hide from looters?”
“Sir, the last truck in their convoy broke down, and my lieutenant led a rush on that truck. We killed four of their men and took the truck and some guns they took from the old gun range.”
“The others didn’t counterattack?”
“They tried, but we had them in a bad position, so they skedaddled.”
“Then what?”
“We hung the bodies of their men around stores they looted with signs on them calling them looters per your orders, sir.”
“Then where are the rest of your men and why isn’t your lieutenant reporting, Sergeant?”
“That’s the thing, sir. When we were arranging the bodies, they hit us from behind. It was a slaughter. The lieutenant and the rest of the men were killed. I barely got away in the truck to get back and give you this message. Heck, even some of the skeletal-looking people came out of their homes and threw rocks at me. I’m lucky to be alive.”
“It’s a sentiment the rest of your team cannot share. We don’t tolerate these kinds of losses, Sergeant.” The professor waved him away. After the sergeant was out of earshot, the professor said to one of his lackeys, “Strip him of his uniform and put him on a high rise destruction team work detail for one month. If he survives, he may reenter the defense force as a private.”
“Yes, sir.”
<< Luke >>
Luke was glad to be getting out of the camp. He’d been trusted with a task to go with Sergeant Penders to set up a trading post upriver at the old Captain’s Quarters restaurant and marina. He suspected that Cindy’s influence had something to do with the assignment. Right now he was just happy to be out and doing something. He hoped the trading post could be a good thing, like a community outreach program to see who needed help and what was going on out in the world. Sergeant Penders shared that there was a large group further upriver who had corn and beef to trade. While that level of hoarding was against the law now under the current martial law rules, they didn’t have time and resources to waste going after them, so it was easier to trade for now.
Luke wondered whether Sergeant Penders could be discussing his old friend Vince’s community yet was smart enough to hold his tongue. Besides, the last he’d heard, Vince had been out west when that half of the country went dark.
Seeing the place where Harrods Creek emptied into the Ohio River next to Captain’s Quarters brought back memories for Luke. It was only a little further up the creek that he and his family spent the night before coming into the FEMA camp at Louisville. They’d come around this point in the dark of the night in such a small boat searching for the safe haven of the FEMA camp. Now Luke wondered whether he would have been better off turning upriver that fateful night.
“You know you can’t talk about this to anyone,” Sergeant Penders admonished. “If word of this gets out, no one will be able to keep you off one of the high rise work details. Normally a civilian wouldn’t be allowed out here.” Sergeant Penders was kind enough not to say that it was Luke’s wife who successfully lobbied to get him this assignment.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t. I’m going to enlighten you. If you betray my trust, I’ll take you to the top of a high rise myself.”
“You can trust me.”
“I know, otherwise I wouldn’t tell you this. Do you know about the youth gangs in the garages? Sometimes they rough up people at the behest of the guards or leaders to get some of their own benefits. Mostly what they do is collect information. The youngest ones can only tell what they hear at home in the parking spaces. The older ones get more creative. They share what they know with adult informants, and it all finds its way to the professor.”
“That’s ghastly, though I assumed something like that might be going on. I’ll be careful.”
“You can’t be too careful. I’m only telling you what I’m about to say out here so you have time to compose yourself before we head back inside.”
“What?”
“Your oldest son Brian is running with one of the gangs. He will be encouraged to tell what he hears at home to stay in their good graces.”
“That’s bullshit! He’s barely ten years old,” Luke retorted angrily. Then after a moment, he said mostly to himself, “I’ll put a stop to that!”
“You can’t. You’ll only end up in a high rise work detail, your family will move into the hotel, and Brian will still be with a gang. You can’t fight this. You’ve got to learn to live with it. It’s how the world is now.”
“So what will we be trading here?” Luke said to change the subject and give himself some time to think. He trusted Sergeant Penders to a degree. While the sergeant knew what was going on was wrong, he was a “go along to get along” kind of dude. If it came down to him or Luke, he wouldn’t hesitate to throw Luke under the bus. Both men knew that and accepted it.
“We will trade silver and gold coins, jewelry, or fuel and equipment for corn, beef, and vegetables. While the food will come in handy, putting these people off their guard and collecting information is what we’re mostly after.”
“Okay.”
“We need to fort this place up so we aren’t ambushed and put out the word that the trading post will soon be open for business. There is a new girl in the camp that will help. The people upriver trust her. That way we can trade for as long as we like, and when we decide to deal with them, they won’t see it coming. We may reel in a few other small communities in the same way.”
* * *
That night when Luke got back to the parking space, it was empty. Before he could become alarmed, the neighbor on the floor stepped in to calm him. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Cindy asked me to tell you she’d be working late again. Mrs. Simms down at the other end has Jessica and Patrick. Brian is probably with his friends.”
“Thanks,” Luke told her and went to collect Jessica and Patrick.
Luke’s backup floor leader made sure he had rations for the day. Luke ate and fed Jessica and Patrick. Brian came in later, and Luke snapped at him about staying out late and who he was running with.
“There aren’t many places to go, and there are guards all around,” Brian said sullenly. “What trouble can we get into?” He finally admitted they liked to go up to the top floor of the parking garage to look out. No
one was allowed to live on the top floor because crews were lugging in buckets of soil during the day so they could grow vegetables in the spring. For now, it was only dirt and open sky.
It was late when Cindy came in dressed well and smelling even better. “Where did those clothes come from? Where have you been?” Luke asked more sharply than he meant to.
“They’re mine. The professor sent a team to our house to pick up some things for me. There was a reception tonight for a couple of doctors that recently joined the rebuilding effort. The professor asked me to help set up the soiree and mingle. I told him I couldn’t possibly do it without my party clothes.” Cindy giggled in a way that showed she’d been drinking.
“Did they say anything about our neighbors and our home? How are they?”
“I didn’t ask.” Cindy giggled again.
Luke sighed. “Cindy, these late nights are getting too common. I don’t trust those people upstairs.”
“Why don’t you trust them? I like them, and they throw great parties.”
Brian sat up. “Dad, I like them too. I don’t like camping every night in the garage. Some of these people are cool.”
Luke sighed. “Okay, everyone, let’s get some sleep and deal with this tomorrow.”
“I have to help the professor tomorrow. He’s agreed to sponsor the children into the FEMA leader’s school program. Isn’t that great?” Cindy laid down and fell asleep in her good clothes.
While Luke suspected the worst of these FEMA leaders and the professor, he didn’t want to argue with his wife. He didn’t think she was aware of how serious it was. Sergeant Penders had him worried about Brian as well. He wasn’t sure how to get through to Cindy or tackle the problem with Brian. He could only take it one day at a time and try to figure something out.
