The Shelter, Book 4: The New World

by Ira Tabankin

  Jay stands looking around the room.

  “I understand your concern. I suggest we speak with the commanding General at Redstone. I reached out to him two days ago. He’s agreed to speak to us. If you all agree, I can get him on the radio which we’ve connected to a speaker so everyone can listen to him. Do you trust the word of a two star United States Army General?”

  Slowly people begin to nod their heads.

  “Good. Let’s call him.”

  Jay picks up the radio handset on the table,

  “Todd, please connect us with the General.”

  “He’s on the line, I’m going to connect him to the conference room.”

  The next voice they hear says.

  “Hello, Nashville. This is US Army Major General James Borne. I’m the commanding general at Redstone Arsenal. I understand you’ve been discussing your options with respect to your currency, valuing goods and services. We agree the Federal Reserve is playing games. Let me explain to you what we in Huntsville and the surrounding areas have worked together to accomplish. We’ve created a workable currency, a security force and medical support for everyone who needs it. It’s hard work, it takes everyone to agree to the exchange rates to make them work. We in Huntsville had as I’m sure you have, financial chaos. None of our merchants or people are even trying to sell anything. They have no idea what their goods are worth. The value of everything was guessed at. Even the value of gold and silver was up for debate. Would other parts of the country accept the same value for gold and silver? Could we do trade with other parts of the country? None of us how long is it going to take for the central government to get control of the monetary situation. In order to save Huntsville and the surrounding towns and farms, we realized we needed to have a standardized currency, one everyone could accept. People wanted a currency that was backed by something of real value. We also had to account for the people who held various sums of the existing or previous currencies. We realized we had to find a way to make them whole if everyone was going to buy into our currency.

  We worked with some of the smartest bankers I know to develop a system that was usable in our area and also usable across the rest of the country. I think we developed a very workable system, one that can easily be used as our new national currency. Our currency is backed by and made of precious metals. We post the exchange rates and hourly value of labor. This has enabled us to kick start our economy. When Jay contacted us, we were overjoyed at the prospect of adding your community and other cities in Tennessee to our trading network. We believe we can force the Federal Reserve to return to the gold and silver standard. We hope you will join us. Do you have any questions I can try to answer?”

  One of the representatives asks the question on everyone's mind.

  “General, is it treason to create our own currency?”

  The General laughs,

  “I’m not laughing at you. That’s the question many asked when we introduced the system here. Let me answer your question in the simplest way possible. We’re not creating a new currency, we’re using the gold and silver coins the government issued. Hence, we’re using their own coins. We’ve returned our area to the gold standard.”

  “General, what about people who don’t have any gold or silver, but they have a lot of paper money?”

  “We worked out an exchange rate which we used to swap out their dollars for precious metal coins.”

  The people in the conference room begin to smile at the simplicity of the plan. They decide they like it. One whispers to Jay.

  “Can you mute the radio one moment while we vote?”

  “Sure. General, we’re going to mute you for one minute while we vote.”

  Jay, no problem, I’m standing by. I can have a security force on the road in an hour to meet with your bankers.”

  The room agrees to the plan; with the condition they have time to return home to get their own bankers to buy in.

  “General, we’re basically in agreement. The representatives want to return home to get the buy-in from their local bankers. May I suggest a call with your bankers and ours in three days?”

  “Jay, an excellent idea. I’ll set it up on this end.”

  Jay breaks the radio call.

  “I propose we give each attendee a cart of food and a radio with the understanding we will have a call in three days and another face to face meeting in five days.”

  Every head nods their agreement. Tony picks up the radio handset saying.

  “Fred, arrange the carts of supplies at the back door.”

  He looks at the people in the room,

  “Shall we move to the back door to check your carts?”

  The attendees applaud their appreciation, the leave the conference feeling there is a light at the end of the tunnel. When they exit the back door, they are surprised to find a cart waiting for each town loaded with sacks of flour, rice, beans, sugar, and beef jerky. They are surprised at the gift which will keep them alive for a while longer.

  Chapter 16

  Captain Black and General Arthur cross the Mississippi getting their first look at the West Bank. The river bank is torn apart by the A10 attacks. Bodies and parts of bodies are everywhere. The nine M1 Abrams tanks that sit on the West bank keep their turrets turning so their sensors can scan the area, they use radar, infrared and thermal sights to look for anyone trying to approach their position. Their 120mm cannon is loaded with anti-personnel canister rounds.

  The two officers look at the ruins of West Memphis, which is in Arkansas. The city is a pile of smoking ruins. The skyline is dotted with black ISIS flags. Captain Black looks around; his boots kick various chunks of rubble. He looks at the skyline,

  “It looks like pictures of Germany after World War Two. We didn’t do this. The A10s didn’t hit the city, what the fuck happened? Where are all of the people?”

  General Arthur shakes his head.

  “Let’s keep exploring. I wish the damn feds would admit we’ve been invaded versus sitting in D.C. claiming the Cartel and ISIS are only refugees looking for a better life. It sickens me. I think we're going to have to take matters into our own hands.”

  The two slowly drive their jeep into the city, they see a large number of vultures flying over a high school football stadium. Black points to the birds.

  “My gut is telling me we’re going to find the one thing we don’t want to see in that stadium.”

  “I agree. I have a sour taste in my stomach about this. I think the citizens tried to fight back against the ISIS invaders. Let’s send out patrols to see if we can locate survivors.”

  “I agree.”

  The two officers and the following jeep with four security troops pull up to the high school. Arthur says.

  “Smells of death. We have to go in, my gut doesn’t want to enter the stadium, but I know we have to.”

  “Let’s put on a gas mask before we enter, if we find what I think we're going to, we'll need the filter.”

  They step over the torn down scoreboard, entering the stadium they stop mid-step. Both say, “Oh my God!” In front of them are rows of bodies, many without heads, others shot, some hacked to death. Dead men, women, and children lie in neat rows.

  Black turns his head, he pulls off his gas mask, choking on the strong smell of death, he throws up. He wipes his mouth while looking at the General.

  “That’s a first for me. I’m sorry.”

  “Don't be. It means your human. I think we found the town’s people. My God what a mess! The General turns to his security team, get medics in here to see if anyone is alive.”

  They nod running to the jeep to call for assistance.

  Black begins walking the rows of people, saying.

  “Christians, Jews, Baptists, anyone other than Muslims. This is horrible. I want every troop, either militia or army to see this. Let them see what they’re fighting.”

  Arthur nods his head.

  “Good idea. I’ll get mine started right away.”

  �
�I want our media people to record this and get it posted right away. Maybe by posting it, we can shame the government into action, or at least give towns some warning.”

  Arthur nods his head with tears in his eyes.

  “I pray you’re right, I don’t think this administration will acknowledge this happened. They’ll say we made it up. Post it and make sure it stays up. This is as bad as the German camps in the Second World War.”

  @@@@@

  The President is told of the West Memphis video, he looks at it, slamming the lid closed on his laptop. He throws it across the Oval Office.

  “This is faked! Damn the militia and you say, one of our own Army officers had a hand in posting this video?”

  His Chief of Staff nods,

  “Yes, sir. He's a Special Forces officer.”

  “I want him arrested, court-martialed, found guilty and facing a firing squad. This can't be true. The refugees are harmless, they're looking for our help, they're not here to kill us. It's right wing lies like this that are causing so many problems. Find a way to get this horrible video taken off the air. I want it down within five minutes. Am I clear?”

  “Yes, sir. I'm not sure it's possible to get it removed.”

  “Make it an issue of National Security. I don't care what you say, just get it down before it begins to upset our people.”

  As quickly as the NSA takes the video down, it pops back up on different accounts. The Director of the NSA decides to tell the President they took the video down, truth, and leave it at that. People watching the video are disgusted and angry at the President for lying.

  @@@@@

  Ricky leaves his dump of a trailer; he tries to move around on his bad left foot when Fred pulls up in front of him.

  “Ricky, are you ready to work?”

  “Work? I can barely stand.”

  “Work for food, it’s up to you. No work, no food. I don’t care which way you choose. In fact, I hope you decide not to work and starve to death, that way it will be by your own hands.”

  “What the fuck do you mean, work for food?”

  “Jay’s rules. People who work get fed, lazy people fend for themselves. If you’re ready to work, I have your tools.”

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  “See the fields to your left?”

  “The dense woods?”

  Fred smiles, nodding his head.

  Ricky says,

  “That’s all woods, it’s not a field.”

  “It will be when you're done. Here’s a saw, shovel and ax. Have a good time. Since I don’t plan to drive out here three times a day. Here’s two MREs for you. Make them last, it’s all you’re going to get until tomorrow dinner. When one of us returns, we better see you’ve made progress or you’ll go hungry. Enjoy!”

  Fred laughed as he turned his ATV around and drove towards the castle.

  Ricky looked at the woods and the pile of tools at his feet thinking, this must be some kind of test. No one could clear that mess. It’s overgrown and full of who knows what. I bet they’re just waiting to see what I do. I’ll eat one of the MREs and stack the tools. This had to be a joke. Like telling the new guy in scouts to find a smoke shifter. They know I couldn’t clear that tract of land. He looks up yelling, “Good one Fred, I’m not going to fall for it.”

  John and Todd smile while watching Ricky on the monitor. Todd laughs.

  “He’s going to get pretty hungry.”

  “I figure two days without food and he’ll get the message. If he thinks his wife is going to smuggle food to him, Jay put his foot down and ordered her not to. He told her if she’s caught bringing him food he’ll kick her out and force her to live in the shack with Ricky.”

  John smiles watching the monitor,

  “I know it’s not good to wish ill on anyone, but there is the one person in this community I wish ill. I hope he digs his own hole and climbs in. I figure he’ll try to beg for supplies tomorrow when no MRE is dropped off for him.”

  “Who’s going to check on him tomorrow?”

  “Franco won the lottery.”

  “That ought to be good. I think I’ll record it so I can watch it again and again.”

  @@@@@

  Back in the conference room, Tony leans back in his chair, he looks at the ceiling,

  “Gloomy in here without any windows. Reminds me of a jail cell, no, the last jail cell I was in had windows.”

  “Guess you would know that first hand.”

  “I admit I spent a few nights behind bars, all on trumped up charges, none of them stuck. I was out within two days. I promised myself not to get caught again. I was lucky, I was able to stay out of the brig. Jay, what do you think? Do you think the local bankers will sign on to the deal?”

  “If they don’t, they’ll sink. The only way we’re going to rebuild the damage the fools in D.C. caused is to come together and force changes from the bottom up. My fear is the crazies in D.C. who think everything’s fine will learn what’s going on down here and try to stop us.”

  “How are they going to stop us?”

  Hell, every one of their agencies has an armed force. They could send their armed forces from the DHS, Secret Service, hell, even the Department of Education is militarized now, we’d be quickly outnumbered. If it happens, I hope the militia stands with us.”

  “That’s why you're kissing up to the Major.”

  “Yup. I like the idea of the Army being across the street.”

  “Jay, that’s not what the Captain said. He wants to use the farm for his headquarters.”

  “What he said and what I’m prepared to give are two different things. If the militia and the local towns are on our side, he’ll think twice about doing anything stupid. He’ll accept the offer to move across the street. We’ll offer to help him improve their defenses.”

  “Man, I hope you’re right.”

  Smiling, Jay says, “Me too. Fighting bandits is different from fighting the US Army and the might of the US Federal Government.”

  @@@@@

  The town’s representatives return to their towns with their carts of supplies and the hope of being able to rebuild. Only one of the teams was attacked on the road, four hungry teens tried to steal the supply loaded cart. The town’s people surprised them by showing them the barrels of two 12 gauge shotguns.

  “What do we have here?”

  The teens who had empty guns quickly dropped their weapons and put their hands up.

  “We’re sorry, we didn’t mean you any harm. We are hungry. We saw all of your supplies. You have so much and we have nothing.”

  “How many of you are there?”

  “Six of us total, the three older of us protect the three younger ones.”

  “Go get them, pull up a stone and share our fire and dinner. Where are your parents?”

  “They’re all dead. Highway men or bikers killed them, we escaped into the woods where we’ve been hiding.”

  “Why don’t you come home with us. I’m sure we can find new families for you.”

  “Sir, we’re afraid. The last time someone offered to take us in they tried to rape my younger sister.”

  “We’re not like that. Bring your friends out of the woods. It’s cold tonight, get warm by the fire.”

  The other young and dirty children join the two representatives around the fire. They swallow their meal without chewing it. They tell their story to the amazed reps who are saddened by the story.

  “Come with us to our town. You'll have homes, warmth, and food.”

  The kids quickly agreed, then asked for more food.

  @@@@@

  When the representatives arrived at their homes, they were met by their fellow townspeople who are overjoyed with the cart of food. They ask everyone to meet at their church where they explain what happened at the meeting. Most are excited by the news. A few run out of the church, they return with Confederate Flags yelling, “the time for the South to rise again has come.”

  Many join in t
he celebration agreeing that the economic meltdown is the perfect time for the South to separate from the liberals in the North. Many haven’t forgotten the progressive media telling them they have to stop flying the Confederate Battle Flag. They’re tired of the constant push for gun control and laws blocking their free speech. Many across the South have never forgiven the liberal North for their War of Northern Aggression. They remind each other; the war wasn’t fought over slavery, it was a war over States Rights.

  Signs begin appearing outside churches saying,