It took another fifteen minutes before everyone was in the hall and the Mayor stood on the stage with his hands raised for attention. Once there was silence, he gave a nod to the crowd and began.
“It has been five days since the power went out. From what we have heard from others, our best guess is that an EMP or electromagnetic pulse was detonated in the atmosphere somewhere over this continent. Two of the three scouts we sent out have come back and the news they have returned with isn’t good. The first and most important thing they have told us is that it doesn’t look like there were any bombs detonated in Alberta. Our two main cities, Edmonton and Calgary, are still intact so we weren’t nuked. Beyond that, we don’t know what is going on in the rest of the country or in the United States. They saw many fires out of control and there were quite a few crash sites where planes had gone down. Hardly anything mechanical is moving unless it’s an older model or has a simple motor with no electronics in it. They report seeing a lot of ATVs and quads moving as well as some golf carts. The highways are starting to fill up with people who are fleeing the cities. Our scouts are reporting some crime but so far it seems that people are grouping up and helping each other. What they didn’t see was any form of government or military presence. There were rumors on the roads that the event didn’t affect anything a hundred kilometres past Edmonton so this could mean that we would see help coming from the north. That doesn’t fill me with much hope as we know that there isn’t a lot of population up there. The bottom line is we’re on our own and we need to put into place a plan to get crops planted and the basic necessities functioning again. We’ve started taking a census to get a population number but as of yet, we don’t have those figures yet. We know that there are a lot of people from town who commute to the city for work and many of those people have not made it back yet. We have also had many people come into town that were stuck on the highways or have walked from other areas. We’ll need to crunch some numbers and see how many people we can realistically feed and house with what we have and what we can grow. Once we have that number, we most likely will have to turn many refugees away at the town borders.”
When the Mayor paused to take a drink of water the crowd started to talk to each other and voices started to yell out questions. He held his arms up again and tried to get them to settle down. Eventually, someone blew a loud whistle and it brought silence to the room.
“Listen up, everyone! I know you have questions but we need to get through this information first and then we’ll try to answer questions to things we haven’t covered. The first thing we need to do is get an accurate count of who’s here and who isn’t. If you know that some of your neighbours are missing and their homes are empty, please let the town secretaries know on your way out. We don’t want abandoned homes broken into. Eventually we’ll have to move people into them as the community centre fills up. Next, we need to think about food and water. We have the supermarket locked down and it has a generator to keep the freezers going. We’ll ration out food from there as it’s needed for as long as we can but obviously, that supply won’t last forever. We’ve made a plan with all the local farms and we’ll let everyone know the details of it at the next meeting in a week. The farm supply store had a big delivery a couple of weeks ago so all the garden seeds are in. All available green space needs to be planted. That means front yards, backyards, and all public green spaces. We have to think long-term, people. We may need to survive the winter on our own so the more we can grow, and get canned or bottled, the better. We have three water distribution sites set up around the town right now, but - there are things we can do to make that better. Rain can be used for cleaning and cooking so start rounding up barrels to go under downspouts. The food you have on hand should be rationed to last as long as possible. We’re lucky we have the capability to grow a lot of what we need, but it won’t yield for months. The next…”
The Mayor came to an abrupt halt when sounds of shouting came from outside the doors and the report of a gun going off rang out. There were a few screams from the crowd and people started to stand up. Within seconds of the gunshot, the main doors to the hall and the two sets of doors on either side were thrown open and men with shotguns, rifles and handguns rushed into the room and surrounded the people on all sides. Anyone who had been standing against the walls was shoved roughly towards the middle, and many fell on the people seated in chairs. The noise in the hall was deafening with the confused and scared townspeople yelling and screaming. The wall of guns aimed at them kept anyone from trying to leave. The Mayor was yelling as loud as possible at the invaders but was silenced as a tall man climbed up onto the stage and struck him with the butt of his rifle. He turned to the crowd as a few more of his men joined him on the stage, and he silenced everyone by shooting twice into the ceiling.
In the paralyzing silence that followed, he roared out, “SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!”
Everyone dropped down into their seats or onto the floor and many parents pushed their children down onto the floor to try and shield them. The tall man on the stage gave a grim smile of satisfaction that the crowd was now under his control. He kicked the Mayor with his big boot until he rolled off the stage and then faced the crowd.
“The world is now an ugly place and my men and I have come to this town to protect it. We’ll be taking over the administration and security from this point on. Now, there’s no such thing as a free lunch so you people will work for us to pay for that protection. This is how it will work. All the children and some of the women will be staying here in the hall for safety. They rest of you will be divided up into teams that will go out with my men and work on planting the fields and tending to the livestock around town. Anyone who decides they don’t want to work or tries to run will have to deal with the consequences! If you aren’t working for me then I have no reason to keep your women and children safe. Just to make this really clear, you run or fight and they DIE!” He roared the last word.
All eyes were on him as he surveyed the crowd and he had to shake his head and laugh at how easy it had been to take this town. All it had taken was one Judas to feed him the information on when they were going to have the meeting and all his new subjects were sitting ducks. The roadblocks had been a joke to take over with all his men outnumbering the guards and it was smooth sailing into town. Yes, he would now be the new king to these people and life was going to get a whole lot more fun.
“So, before we divide everyone up, we have a few little details to sort out.” He turned behind him and waved Hank Morris over to him. He held out his hand for the paper Hank was holding and took it from the smiling man before addressing the crowd again. "One of your townspeople, Hank Morris, was good enough to let us know that you needed our help, and he has provided us with a list of people that will be getting a pink slip today.”
He called out nine names and they included the Mayor and all of the police officers in the town as well as a few other business owners. They were all men and they were made to kneel in front of the stage.
“I am the new boss of this town and I’ll be in charge from this moment on. As your new boss, I’m sorry to tell you men that your services are no longer needed. In other words…YOU’RE FIRED!”
Boss pulled his gun from its holster and calmly shot each of the kneeling men in the head. The crowd erupted in screams, yells, and panic. The people in the first row shoved their chairs back into the people behind them and others stood and turned to run. The line of outlaws around the edge of the room all raised their guns and aimed at the panicked crowd, bringing them to a stop.
From the stage, the Boss roared out for them to return to their seats and after the execution they’d just seen there was no resistance. Hank Morris was staring down at the dead men. He hated most of them and felt that he had been picked on by the police for no reason. He thought he would be happy with them dead but his plan was that he would control the town after the takeover and he was starting to see his mistake. He reached for his gun but before it could
clear its holster, his arm was grabbed by one of Boss’s men.
Boss looked him up and down and shook his head. “What’s the matter, Hank? Did you really think you would be in charge? I run this outfit and the men all answer to me.” He reached over and took the gun from Hank’s holster and then turned to the crowd.
“I want all of you to know that I’m a fair man. This man betrayed you all and sold you out to me and my men. Here’s a little bit of justice.”
Boss didn’t even look at Hank as he raised the man’s gun and executed him. This time the crowd stayed silent except for some weeping and crying children.
“People of Prairie Springs, welcome to my town. Let’s get to work!”
Chapter One
It had been three days since Alex and her group of friends had discovered the fate of their town. They were deep in the forest at a little-used campsite and they had all sunk into depression and despair. Alex had proclaimed that they would fight to get their family and town free but none of them could agree on how to go about it. Josh wanted to go in with guns blazing; Quinn wanted to sneak people out a few at a time and Cooper was so full of guilt that he offered no suggestions at all. Dara had lost herself in misery and had hardly spoken. Alex was so frustrated that it brought her to tears and she found herself just walking away into the woods. They had all stopped talking to each other and she spent the last two days wandering the forest around their campsite wracking her brain to find a solution. Going into town head-on would just get a lot of people killed and sneaking them out wouldn’t amount to anything except tipping their hand. The main advantage they had was surprise and they needed to keep it until they were ready to make their move. They needed more information. They needed to map out where everyone was in town and what farms the people were being held at. Whatever they finally did had to be planned out and implemented quickly.
She was sitting on a stump of a tree chewing on a piece of grass when she heard someone crashing through the foliage towards her. She didn’t bother pulling her gun as she’d been listening to Josh stomp his way through the forest for years. There was a reason she never took him hunting. Game would hear Josh coming for a mile. When he finally made it to her position, he was red-faced and sweating. She just stared at him with her eyebrows raised until he got his breath back. He threw himself down on the forest floor and put his head in his hands.
“I can’t do this anymore, Alex! It’s been three days and all we’ve done is sit around and argue and mourn. Who knows what’s happening to our families. We’ve got to do something!”
Alex looked down at him and dropped the grass she’d been chewing on.
“Yes. Let’s go back to the others. I have some ideas.”
Josh’s head came up and he looked at her with hope. “Finally!”
They made their way back to the campsite where the others were all stewing in their misery.
Alex looked at them all and huffed out a breath of frustration.
“Okay, that’s enough. Get over here, everyone!”
When they were all standing around the picnic table, Alex made eye contact with them all before beginning.
“Listen, I’m scared too but sitting around being depressed isn’t going to help our families. I know we all feel helpless right now but I want you all to remember something. We got out of a city on fire. We found transportation home when nothing worked. We took down a group of thugs and rescued children. We made it through two countries against all odds. The reason we did all that? We didn’t give up! Come on, guys! We made it home and our families need our help! I am not going to give up now, are you?”
Dara scrubbed at her head with her hands before replying.
“It’s not that we’re giving up, Alex. It’s just…what do we do?” she asked in a defeated tone.
Alex squared her shoulders. “Well, the first thing we have to do is get out of here. Sitting here hiding isn’t going to get us any closer to freeing our town. We need information. We need to map out the town and find out where everyone is. We need to scout and we need to watch the bad guys to see if we can figure out any patterns in their schedule. When do they rotate the guards? Where are they based? We can’t make a plan until we have more information and we can’t get that information sitting out here in the woods. So, let’s start there!”
Quinn was nodding his head thoughtfully before turning and going to the camper. He came back with paper and pencils and tape. When he dropped them onto the table, he looked at the others.
“Alex is right. We need info. So, let’s tape this paper up into a big sheet and start drawing out the town. Tomorrow we should split up into groups and start scouting around. It will take a few days, but we should have all we need to know to put a plan together. I think today we should scout out the RV resort north of town and see if we can scavenge some more supplies.”
A spark was starting to spread through the group and Josh fanned it. With a trademark Josh grin, he asked, “So, can we go all Red Dawn on their asses?”
Alex had to laugh. “Not yet, Josh. We don’t want to tip our hand, but once we know their schedule and where everyone is then yes, we’ll go gorilla on them!”
Josh pumped his fist in the air and whooped while doing his funky dance.
“The Maple Leaf Mafia is back in business!”
There were smiles for the first time in three days as the group gathered around the table and got to work. They all had different knowledge of the town and surrounding areas and took turns filling in the map. They marked different approaches and places they could hide while spying on the areas they were interested in. Alex, Quinn, and Josh knew all of the trails they could take in the forest close to their homes and Dara and Cooper gave details of shortcuts through town. They spent the next hour and a half working together until they had the map fleshed out to all of their satisfaction.
Alex sat back and sighed happily. It felt good to finally be doing something. She felt her belly rumble and for the first time in days felt her appetite return. She left the others at the table and went into the camper to make some lunch. They’d started making soups and stews to stretch out their supplies and she had one simmering on the stove before long. Humming to herself, she mixed a fresh batch of biscuits and popped them into the oven. While she waited for them to bake, she did a quick inventory of their food supplies. They still had quite a bit but it wouldn’t last five people more than a week and a half.
Alex liked the idea of scavenging more supplies and the RV resort was the perfect place to do it. When they had left for the school trip, there had still been some snow on the ground so most of the RVs would still be in the storage compound. There were people who winter-camped at the resort but most people started the camping season on the May long weekend. Her family owned a fifth wheel trailer and she knew that her mother left a lot of dry goods in the pantry so chances are others would as well. She even knew how to get into many of the locked campers from experience. More than once they’d locked the doors in the fall and then forgotten where the keys were the following spring.
Once the soup and biscuits were ready, she carried the pot out to the table and they carefully folded the map away and had lunch. While they ate, they decided on a plan to scout out the resort. They wanted to bring back as much as possible but they also wanted to be quiet. Their best defence was being able to hear a vehicle coming in time to hide. They decided to put their bikes in the back of the truck and take it as close to the resort as they could before biking in the rest of the way. They could make trips back to the truck with the supplies they found. After seeing what was going on in the town, they were very cautious and each of the teens carried a handgun and an assault rifle with extra ammunition. A backpack with a small amount of food, water bottles, and a first aid kit was also packed. They piled into the truck with Quinn driving and Alex in the passenger seat. The others climbed into the bed with the bikes and they drove slowly back towards the road leading into their secluded campsite.
The resort was
huge, with over four hundred camping sites, a small store, and a pool. The storage compound had at least three hundred campers of all different makes and models and it would be a great source of supplies if it hadn’t already been looted. There was a paved road running between the area where the kids were camped and the resort, and as they came up to it, Quinn came to a stop and shut the engine off. Josh hopped over the side of the truck and made his way up to the pavement. After listening for sounds and hearing nothing, he moved out onto it and scanned both ways before waving Quinn through.
Quinn drove over the pavement and onto the gravel access road that led deeper into the forest and the resort. Josh hopped back in and they followed the road slowly. Alex leaned forward and watched for the turn they wanted. She knew there was a service road that skirted the resort and that’s where they were going to hide the truck. The main highway that ran through town wasn’t very far away to the south but with the trees between them, they would be out of sight.
Quinn pulled over off the road and shut the engine off. They all piled out and Josh started to hand down the bikes. Alex scanned the area around them and was going over the resort’s layout in her head when a sound caught her attention. Her head came up and she looked to the west and held up her hand. Everyone froze and strained to hear what she had.
Josh was still standing in the bed of the truck and he turned towards the trees separating them from the highway.
“Two engines maybe, but not cars or trucks, something smaller. They’re coming from the west, I think,” he reported in a low voice. “It could be our bad guys scouting or it could be people heading to town who don’t know what’s waiting for them.” He turned and looked down at the others. “Should we check it out? We can cut straight through here and stay under cover but still be able to see the highway.”
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 42
