by Robert Boren
“How many of you were originally in that militia?” he asked. “Don’t worry about admitting it. You're with us now. I would just like to know. Maybe you can be of some help.”
About ten people raised their hands nervously.
“I’m Jackson,” said one man who had his hand up. “A lot of us were in that group until we found out what they were about. We went to that campground outside Williams to get away from them, because they had the town under their control, for the most part. Then those creeps Dave, Ken, and Lewis showed up. It was right after the chief got there. It was almost like they were trying to keep an eye on him. They were asking everybody out there where he was.”
The other people with their hands up nodded in agreement.
“This wasn’t what we considered a militia when we joined up,” said another man. “It was originally just a hunting club that the chief started, but then Dave and Lewis got in and started teaching us survivalist skills. We thought it was fun at the time. You know – ‘Doomsday Preppers’ was on TV. These guys were like that. The person that we really thought highly of was the police chief, though, and I don’t think he liked those guys. I’m wondering now if he really killed himself.”
“What’s your name?” Frank asked.
“Earl,” he said. “I’m glad to be with you guys. I hope you don’t hold any distrust. I’m not like those guys. I chose to come with you.”
“I know,” Frank said. “You’ll get no problem from me.”
Hilda stood up.
“I think we should talk about security, just in case,” she said.
“Before we get into that, can Arthur fill us in about what has been happening outside of the country?” asked Jerry. “We haven’t been getting very good news.”
Arthur stood back up.
“I’ll tell you what I know, but it’s unofficial,” he said. He paused until the room got quiet, and then went on. “North Korea is gone. The US did most of it, but Russia and China helped. A couple small devices were detonated in South Korea. We lost a lot of people, including some of our soldiers.”
“Oh no,” said the woman who had a son stationed there.
“Most of the Americans stationed there survived,” Arthur said to her. “I’ll take you back to my rig after the meeting and we’ll see if we can contact the army about him.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Russia was hit with small nuclear detonations in several more of her cities, basically in the same way we were. They've been wiping out radical Muslims and those associated with them within their borders, and doing the same in former USSR provinces that are just outside. The UN is complaining, but nobody cares about them at this point. They're a joke – and many people think they're at least partly responsible for this mess. Some of the worst of the enemy countries have been controlling the Human Rights Commission for years, and people are finally wise. The peaceniks in the US that usually jump up and down about this sort of thing have been staying home.”
“There’s a shock,” Frank said sarcastically.
“Yeah,” Arthur said. “There haven’t been any more detonations in the US. There have been a few in Europe. There was one in Italy, one in Finland, and one in Spain. Nothing as bad as what happened in Paris, though. Things have been very rough for the Muslim populations in Europe. Same with Canada and Australia. You mess with the bull long enough, and you get the horns.”
“What about the Middle East?” asked Charlie.
“I was getting to that. The major cities of Iran, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and the smaller countries along the Persian Gulf are history. Bombed flat, some with nukes, some with conventional. Pakistan was hit hard with nukes, by the US, Russia, the EU, and India. Turkey was also hit, and was kicked out of NATO.”
“Turkey,” Frank said. “I knew it.”
“Are things settled down now?” asked Charlie.
“Yes, they're getting there,” Arthur said. “Governments have turned to humanitarian work in their own countries, and in others if they have the capability.”
“Anything happen to Israel?” asked Jerry.
“Somebody tried to sneak a nuke device in through a tunnel in Gaza,” Arthur said. “They screwed up and detonated it there. Idiots. After that, Israel, Egypt, Jordon, and Lebanon made an alliance. They have been protecting each other, and have been able to ride out the storm with very little damage. All of those countries are now involved in humanitarian work in the region. That’s about all I know, folks. You may see different things on the news for a while. It’s been all over the place, but things will sort their way out.”
“Thank you, Arthur,” Hilda said. “Now, back to security.” She glanced over at Charlie, and he stood up.
“We told you about those deer blinds,” he said. “I think we should set up a schedule and ask for volunteers to man them.”
“Yes,” Jerry said, “and we should work out the rules for firearms. For sure anybody outside of the park should take a gun with them. We might even want to consider having some people wear side arms inside the park.”
“I have reservations about carrying firearms inside the park,” Hilda said, “but if we take a vote on it, I’ll go with the majority.”
“What about the surrounding area?” asked Jerry. “Any militia types around here? Who’s in the nearby towns?”
“I’m still in contact with most of the local folks,” Hilda said. “The nearest town is pretty small. About half of the people there are retired folks. The rest families. Mormons for the most part, of course, so they tend to have a lot of kids. There's good school system here, with a High School…..class size usually about 80, so it’s small. The economy is almost all tourism, although there are a few small ranches and farms here and there. I haven’t heard anything about militia activity around here. I doubt that the townspeople would put up with it, and since this is a rural area, they're all well-armed. There are also some rednecks living on the outskirts of town, but they aren’t the militia type. They only care about hunting and their moonshine.”
“How far away is the town?” asked Frank, “and do they have much in the way of supplies?”
“They're about twelve miles away,” she said. “There's one other RV park between here and there, and they have a pretty good sized store. Howard, the owner, is a dear friend. That park is about five miles away. Howard has already told me that he’s got a lot of stuff for sale there if we need it, because he stocked up for the tourist season, and we all know what happened to that this year. The town has a Walmart, a smaller grocery store, and several motels and restaurants. I don’t know how well stocked the Walmart is at this point. Probably depends on if they were getting their trucks from the north or the south.”
“How about supplies at this park?” asked Jane. “I see you have a little store up front.”
“Yes, I’m pretty well stocked too. Over stocked, in fact. I would normally have more than two hundred RVs here during this season, and I stocked up on a lot of merchandise before I knew things were going crazy. So we have plenty of canned and dry goods, food and otherwise. We're running low on produce. There’s very little left at this point, and I doubt if I'll be able to get more.”
“Yeah, the price has probably gone through the roof too, I would think,” Jane said.
“Of course,” Hilda said.
“Well, this isn’t the apocalypse,” Jeb said, “at least from what Arthur was saying. Things will slowly get back to normal, and most of us will be able to go back home. It might take a few months. It really depends on what happens down south, and if the nuclear threat is really over.”
“I partially agree,” Jerry said. “The US will be secured in a few months, but I think we're looking at over a year of action south of the border. Mexico is a mess, and what happens down there will impact what happens up here to a certain degree.”
“Yes, that is something important to keep in mind,” Arthur said. “There are probably still hundreds of Islamic fighte
rs down there…maybe thousands. The governments of the US and Mexico are going to have to root them out. They had a big pipeline of war supplies which we stopped at our borders. I’ll bet there are a lot of heavy weapons that were queued up down there…might even be more nukes.”
There was a collective groan from the crowd.
“Alright, that's true enough, folks, but we should focus on the near term,” Charlie said. “There’s nothing we can do about the longer term problems. I say we take a few votes.”
“I agree,” Frank said.
“Me too,” said Hilda.
People in the crowd were nodding and some were saying yes.
“How many of you would be willing and able to take turns manning the blinds in the back of the park?” asked Charlie. “You need to be young enough and strong enough to climb a tall ladder safely.”
About one half of the crowd raised their hands.
“Excellent, thanks,” Charlie said. “We’ll put a signup sheet on the front table, and then we’ll put together a schedule and place that on the wall outside the door of the clubhouse.
“The roof on the store in the front part of the park is flat with a façade around it,” Hilda said. “We’ll get that set up as an observation post too, and add that to the schedule. There are stairs to get up there in the back section of the store. It’s easier to get up than a ladder, so if older people want to help, that might be a good alternative for them.”
“Great idea,” said Charlie. “Now, about firearms. We’ve already suggested that people who are outside the park be armed. Let’s have a show of hands on carrying guns inside the park. How many are in favor?”
There was a murmur in the crowd. About a third of the people raised their hands.
“How many opposed?”
Most of the other folks raised their hands. It was a clear majority.
“Okay, folks, looks like we have a clear majority against wearing guns inside the park, so we'll discourage that, except for when people are walking to the outside of the park from their rigs. Anything else we should talk about today?”
“How about payment for the park spaces?” asked Jerry.
“I’ll be charging the normal rates, which you can pay via credit card if you’d like,” Hilda said. “The financial systems seem to still be working. If any of you has problems coming up with the rent, I’ll discuss it with you on an individual basis, and we’ll work something out.”
“Anything else?” asked Charlie.
“I’d like to make a comment,” Frank said.
“You have the floor, Frank,” Charlie said.
“I’d just like to make sure all of us understand that our government, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights are still in force. We can make decisions on how to weather the rough times and protect ourselves, but bottom line is that our societal norms, our laws, and our constitutional protections remain in force. Does anybody disagree with that?”
There was a smattering of no comments, and most people shook their heads no. Jane looked up at Frank and smiled proudly.
“Why do you bring that up?” asked Jerry.
“Because I’ve run into more than one potential warlord on this journey,” Frank said. “I just want to make sure that nobody feels they can take advantage. I have my eyes wide open. This isn’t the wild west. This isn’t the apocalypse. I will not give up my freedom to anybody – especially to somebody who says they are only trying to protect me.”
“Well said, my friend,” Jeb said. “I’m with you.”
“Me too,” Chester said.
“And me, sir,” Jackson said. Earl was standing next to him nodding in agreement.
“And me,” Arthur said.
“I think we all agree with you on that, Frank,” Charlie said, “but it needed to be said. Thank you.” Hilda got up next to Charlie and nodded as well.
“Here’s the sign-up sheets,” Hilda said, holding up two pieces of paper. “I made one for the blinds and one for the roof of the store. I’ll leave them on this table. Come by at your leisure. Oh, and we’ll have Happy Hour back here at 6:00pm. The drinks are on the house. We still have a lot of Charlie’s spread left over….we’ll put it out, so come hungry.”
There was a smattering of applause.
People started slowly walking out of the clubhouse, and into the warm air outside. Jane grabbed Frank’s hand and entwined fingers. He looked down at her.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m just proud of you, that’s all,” she said. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
He smiled and nodded.
“That was a genius play,” Jane said as they walked. “You were watching the crowd, weren’t you? Most people were right there with you, but not all.”
“I was watching the crowd, but I wanted to watch the folks up front.”
“Really? I was a little worried about Jerry.”
“Jerry is a loner, and he lacks social skills, which makes him seem abrupt and awkward. I’m not worried about him, though. I knew a lot of folks like him when I was running the IT department at work. Lots of computer scientists are like that.”
“Go on,” Jane said.
“You remember his joke when we were first exploring behind the park, right? It was a socially awkward comment. You also noticed his wife. You're right, she probably is something like a mail order bride.”
“I think I know where you are going,” Jane said. “He may ask questions, but he’s not going to try to take over.”
“Right. He’s an introvert. He doesn’t know how to meet women, and he’s shy around most people. He’s cautious and wary of people. He’s not political. I want to get to know Jerry better, because he’s probably really good at something. If it’s IT, we could probably work together and put some security into this place that's a little less manpower intensive.”
“What about the folks at the front of the room?”
“We need to watch Charlie and Hilda,” Frank said. “I’ve already seen Charlie move in and try to steer things. He’s very political. So is Hilda.”
“You're worried about them? I don’t see it,” Jane said.
“I’m expecting them to try to put together some kind of leadership team or council,” Frank said. “I’m going to fight that. When that happens, it'll become a click, and people will start to become distrustful. Councils do things like banish people for breaking some arbitrary rule. If that happens here and we can’t stop it, I think we’ll want to move on.”
“Well, it is Hilda’s place, after all, and Charlie and she are, shall we say, close.”
“Oh, you’ve picked up on that too, eh,” Frank said with a grin.
“More than that, I saw Charlie leaving her residence very early in the morning.”
“Oh,” Frank said. He chuckled. “Well, nothing wrong with that, but it is instructive.”
“So who do you trust in this group?” Jane asked.
“Jeb. Chester. Arthur. Maybe Jerry. Maybe Earl and Jackson.”
“Really, the two guys from the Williams militia?”
“Yes, and they may have been right about the police chief. That’s been bothering me for a while. It was too tidy, and those three creeps came out of nowhere like that.”
As they approached their rig, Lucy started barking. Jane and Frank looked at each other and laughed. Frank walked up to the door and unlocked it. He pulled it open and she bounded out, tail wagging, licking Frank’s shins.
“Would you take her for a walk, honey?” asked Jane. “I want to freshen up a little bit.”
“Sure,” Frank said. He got the leash on her. “Maybe we can go swimming when I get back.”
“I have a chore for you to do first,” she said, blushing. Frank picked up on it fast.
“Oh, really? Do tell,” he said with a grin.
“Let’s just say your speech had an effect on me,” she said. Then she pulled the door closed, and Frank let Lucy drag him around the campsite.
Chapter 9 – Happy Hour
Frank sat up in bed. He pulled the window blind aside and looked out. People were starting to meander over to the clubhouse for Happy Hour.
“Want to go, honey?” asked Jane. She was still lying in bed, a sheet covering her naked form.
“Yes, I think it'd be good for us to go,” Frank said. “Besides, you’ve worn me out. I need refreshment.”
Jane picked up his pillow and threw it at him. Then she giggled.
“Oh, you want more, do you,” Frank said, laughing. He jumped onto the bed next to her.
“Noooooo!” she said, still giggling. “Alright, I’m getting up.”
Frank pulled her up and gave her a kiss. She melted into him.
“I love you, honey,” Frank said.
She smiled up at him.
“Well, I guess I can tolerate you,” she said. Then she giggled again.
“Oh, really?”
“Okay, I love you,” she said. They kissed again, and then they got out of bed and got dressed.
“Wonder if they have any gin?” Frank asked.
“Martini night? Trying to take advantage of the best things in life, aren’t you sir?”
“You only live once, and these are troubled times. You have to enjoy where you can.”
“That almost sounded serious,” Jane said.
“I was serious,” Frank said, “and yes, I’m really enjoying us.”
“Oh, shoot, I forgot to call Sarah,” Jane said. She pulled out her phone and dialed as Frank was feeding Lucy and Mr. Wonderful.
“Sarah? It’s mom.”
“Hi, mom,” Sarah said.
“Where are you, honey?”
“We only got to Boise before they called off the evacuation. We've been hanging out with my roommate’s cousin. I think we’re going back to Portland pretty soon.”
“That’s good, sweetie,” Jane said. “I’m relieved. We were worried about you making the drive here, with the way things are.”
“When are you and dad going home?”
“We don’t know for sure. There are still a lot of problems in Arizona, and the southeastern border of California is still sealed up, from what we’ve heard. When we do go back, we’ll probably come down from the north.”
