by Ira Tabankin
“No more northern interference.”
“The South will rise again.”
“Dixie Rules.”
“It’s a Southern thing to be free.”
One waves a Confederate flag with “Bringing Freedom Since 1861.” written across it.
Those sitting in the pews hear the commotion outside.
Their preacher looks outside, he shakes his head, turning to his congregation he quietly asks,
“Are you suggesting another civil war? Remember how many lives were lost in the last war of Northern Aggression. We can’t afford that again. The South paid very dearly for the last war, it took us more than fifty years to recover. Some believe we never recovered. A civil war today will be much different; the US military is the world’s strongest. We won't be fighting citizen soldiers; we'll be fighting the military who have conquered countries in one hundred hours.”
One man stands up, he looks at his preacher and his friends and neighbors. He takes a deep breath, knowing the next words he says are most likely the most important words he ever speaks. He walks into the aisle, he walks to the front of the church, standing in front of the preacher saying,
“This is our only chance to break the yoke of government slavery. We have to use this opportunity to fulfill our density. If we don’t, they will close our churches, they will try to remove God from our lives, just as they’re doing in our schools. I’ve made my decision. I will die for my freedoms and I’ll die to keep God in my life. I won’t accept being told praying might offend someone. I'm tired of being told what I can eat, or I can't be trusted to own a gun. I'm tired of paying more than 35% of what I earn so it can be given to people who don't want to work, or illegals the government invites into our country while they do everything possible to change the country I love. I for one, have had enough. I say the time has come for the South to rise again.”
The church becomes silent while everyone thinks over what they’ve just heard. Soon, the lone man turns to face his friends sitting in the pews, he begins singing, he’s quickly followed by two, ten, twenty until the entire church is singing “Dixie.”
Chapter 17
Captain Black receives orders from the Pentagon to return to central Tennessee. He sends images of the massacre with the suggestion he be allowed to work with the militia to hunt down and kill the ISIS terrorists. He feels his request will be approved, he even orders his people to prepare for search and destroy teams to locate and terminate all ISIS terrorists. After walking through the stadium, seeing the murdered town’s people, his people, and the militia want revenge. Captain Black stands in front of the troops next to General Arthur. Both senior officers' faces show their determination to get revenge for the murder of the town. Before they can begin, a messenger hands the Captain a sealed form containing orders from the Pentagon. The Captain steps off the makeshift stage to read the orders. He doesn’t believe what he sees. He reads them twice before handing the message slip to General Arthur for his thoughts.
“They’re ordering you to return? They’re saying there is no ISIS problem. The President wants your head for posting a phony video. I don’t believe these orders. Didn’t you send them the pictures from the stadium?”
“I did. I sent them an eight-page after action report with over fifty photos. They’re saying this must have been a local gang trying to make it look like ISIS did it to cause problems between us and the Muslim refugees. Some are accusing me of making up the entire thing. I learned I may be court-martialed for posting the video. They say they spoke to the President of CAIR (COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS) who promised them, none of the one hundred thousand refugees are militant. I'm getting blamed for creating problems by posting the video.”
“What do they say about ISIS?”
“General, they say there aren’t any credible threats from ISIS in the CONUS.”
“What are you going to do? If you return to Nashville, you will be leaving the terrorists free to kill more citizens.”
“I think I’m going to take my personal staff back with me and leave the rest of my people with you. After you track down these monsters, kill every one of them. Then bring my people to me at the farm north of Nashville. Here are the GPS coordinates.”
General Arthur smiles, he pats the younger man on the back.
“Captain, I’m very proud of you. I’m proud to lead your people to revenge these poor citizens of West Memphis. We’ll make them pay in blood. I promise you, I won’t stop until all of those responsible are dead. I will do everything I can to prevent another American town from suffering the same fate as West Memphis.”
“General, thank you. Let’s address our people.”
The two offices return to the stage. A sergeant major yells,
“ATTENHUT!”
Captain Black looks at the people lined up in front of him, his heart swells with the pride he feels for them.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the US Army and TFM Militia. On behalf of the Federal Government, I want to thank all of you for your service. I want us to commit together, we will avenge the atrocities we found in the stadium.”
The troops yell their approval.
“The General and I have some very important news. First of all, I have been ordered back to complete our base in Central Tennessee, I’m taking my HQ staff with me. I’m asking the rest of my fine troops to serve under General Arthur who will continue to hunt the ISIS terrorists who murdered the citizens of West Memphis. We want to stop them before they can repeat their murder spree in other towns. I know I can trust you to follow the General’s orders. We aren’t Army or Militia. This great country we all love was founded by everyday men and women picking up their rifles and muskets. They fought and defeated the world’s greatest military. Together we can clear the streets and fields of the invasion of Islamic terrorists in our beloved country. Are you ready to be these lost souls voice for justice? Are you ready to kill the disease sweeping our country? Are you ready to save your fellow citizen’s lives?”
The assembled troops stomp their feet and yell YES. Captain Black turns to face General Arthur.
“Sir, the men and women of the First Special Forces Battalion are at your command.”
“Captain, I’ll see you soon.”
The General returns Captain Black’s salute.
The troops cheer.
Captain Black tells his twelve-person HQ platoon,
“Make sure each of you has a full combat load and the LAVs are fully loaded. I'm not sure what we'll run into on our way back to Nashville.”
As they turn East Captain Black wonders if ISIS attacked the farm, he’s worried since he hasn’t heard from Staff Sergeant Johnson in over a week. His radio operator reminds him the mountains between them and the farm most likely blocked the radio transmission. The Captain doesn’t care about the excuses, he looks at his driver,
“Sarge, kick it in the ass, I want to be at the farm within two days. I have a bad taste in my mouth. I have a feeling something really bad is happening or already happened at the shelter. I don’t want to arrive to find our friends dead, lined up in neat rows like at the stadium.”
“Yes, sir. We removed the governors, we’ll be able to make 60MPH. The only issue we’ll face is the condition of the roads and any action we encounter along the way.”
“I want the fifty and the thermal sights manned twenty-four hours a day.”
“Already taken care of. Anything that shows up on the thermal sights will be investigated.”
“Good, let’s go. I want to find out what happened to Sergeant Johnson.”
“We’re going; I've got the pedal to the metal. Sir, do you think the General will find the ISIS murderers?”
“He’ll find them and believe me, they are going to need all the help their Allah can give them. General Arthur is going to crush any he finds. He’s pissed. I learned a long time ago, never piss off a Marine General Officer. They have a very long memory and the ability to strike back with overwhelming force at th
e time of their choosing. I can think of no better officer I'd want to see leading our people against ISIS.”
“Captain, I can’t believe we’re fighting these people on our own streets.”
“Sarge, I’m surprised at you. Don’t you know these poor people are ‘all children or widows, they have no place to go’? They only want a safe place to live their lives. We have to have compassion and show these poor people love. Once they see we love them, they will be fine.”
“Captain, love them?”
“Oh yes, love them. I love them to death. I love them enough to share my 5.56 rounds with them. You know how much I love my rounds. They have to be very special for me to share my brass with them.”
The Sergeant laughs so hard the vehicle swerves on the road.
“Sarge, don’t kill me before we get to the farm and maybe have to go into combat with only twelve of us. I’d hate to die before I had a chance to send some ISIS terrorists to hell, or get court martialed for having a hand in posting the video from the stadium. I was told we didn't see what we saw.”
“That's pure bullshit. I took the video and stills, I was there. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Sarge, I know I can count on you.”
“Yes, sir. You can. Sir, do you really think something’s happened at the farm?”
“I do. I know Sergeant Johnson if he couldn’t reach us on the radio he would have sent a runner to us on a motorcycle. Keep your eyes open. I don’t want to drive by one of our people stuck on the side of the road or in the middle of a firefight.”
“Sir, won’t happen, we have the scout vehicle in front of us. If someone is there, they’ll find them.”
“Do we have radio contact with the scouts?”
“Yes, sir. We do comms checks every fifteen minutes.”
“Good, I hate surprises. Sarge, tell the two LAVs behind us to spread out so any attack on one can’t take out the others. The mountains are perfect places for an ambush.”
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Four of the five surrounding towns quickly agree to join the consortium with the farm and other communities. They also agree to accept the new currency of gold and silver coins. The towns hold a vote to accept the values as decided in Huntsville. When the votes were counted, 90% of the people agreed to accept the value table. They decided to send their representatives back to the farm to discuss the next steps. Two of the towns want to propose floating the concept of using the current confusion to secede and reform the Confederate States of America.
Five days after the initial meeting, the town’s representatives again meet in Jay’s conference room. Jay, Tony, and Lacy welcomed everyone to the Castle. They offered them rooms to spend the night and time to freshen up before the meeting. Everyone thanked Lacy for her hospitality. They agreed to meet for dinner in the backyard surrounding the recently repaired pool.
At 7:00 PM, the representatives arrived at the pool to find Jay, Lacy, Tony and his wife Nancy waiting for them sitting next to the barbecue. The representatives smelled the smoke, smiling, one of them asked,
“Steak?”
Lacy nodded, adding,
“Plus fresh salad and baked potatoes. We have a choice of wine, beer, and soft drinks.”
“You have beer?” asked two shocks reps.
Lacy smiled nodding yes.
Jay pointed to empty chairs.
“Take a seat, relax, the steaks will be ready in about ten minutes, beer and wine is in the coolers.”
Everyone smiles feeling relaxed. One of the reps looks around.
“Are we safe from attack here?”
Jay laughs,
“Yes, we’ve had a number of attacks, we have cameras all over the area, we have a fighting trench, the lawn is filled with hunting traps and land mines which is why we asked you not to wander off the driveway.”
The reps look around, most are very surprised seeing people walk around wearing battle vests and carrying assault rifles.
“Whey are so many people armed?”
“We have a quick reaction team on call 24/7, they’re always armed. They’re our first line of defense. When the cameras see someone trying to attack us, our security people sound an alarm, the action team takes up position in the trench, that gives the rest of us time to grab our arms and help them.”
“You said everyone is armed?”
“Everyone over the age of fifteen. We have different types of weapons, including fully automatic weapons and machine guns. We’ve been able to fight off attacks five to eight times our numbers. When the numbers are too high, we retreat into our shelter. We wait for the attackers to either calm down, make camp or move into our homes. In the middle of the night when they’re not expecting anything, we surface and attack them.”
“I’d hate to have to fight you.”
“Which is why we’ve asked you to join us. There’s strength in numbers. We want to move our defensive line twenty to thirty miles from here. A circle that large will cover all of your towns. I think we can support each other. I have a large farm, you need food, we need numbers and space. We can help arm your people, together we can make it very difficult for anyone to attack any of our towns. An attack on one will be an attack on all of us. We’ll be able to apply overwhelming force against anyone who dares attack us.”
The town’s rep’s smile and nod.
“Jay, we’ve discussed it and want to work together, we agree there’s strength in numbers.”
“That’s excellent news. Have you guys thought about the idea from Huntsville?”
Four of the towns say they agree to the idea of a new currency backed by gold and silver with an agreed upon labor value. The last town, who sent their entire governing council shakes their heads in disapproval. Their leader stands to say,
“We believe adopting a local currency is the same as counterfeiting. That’s a violation of federal law. It will bring the secret service down on us. Fighting bandits is one thing, starting a fight with the Feds is another. We believe it’s a fight we can’t win. One we shouldn’t start. We can’t go along with the starting a local currency. We’ve also decided if the rest of you decide to move forward, we’re going to find a way to contact the secret service to report your crime. We want them on our side, not kicking in our doors in the middle of the night.”
They sat back, folded their arms across their chests with smug smiles on their faces. They nodded while looking at each other. Their looks dared anyone to oppose them.
Jay, Tony, and the other representatives looked at them. Tony asked.
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes, we believe it’s very dangerous and criminal to make our own money. We believe it will cause more problems than it could solve.”
Tony shakes his head,
“Maybe I wasn’t clear. We aren’t creating our own currency. The government minted gold and silver coins, we’re saying we use them as everyday currency. The Fed’s new dollars have no value. We’re discussing using the coins minted by the US mint as our currency.”
“Nope, that’s still counterfeit. We don’t believe those coins were meant to be legal tender. They were made for people to collect them.”
“What are your thoughts about supplying labor to help clear our fields?”
“Not going to happen. Our people don’t do manual labor.”
Tony shakes his head,
“I don’t see that we have anything to discuss. You could have just sent us a message. I don’t see any reason for you people to delay your trip home. We don’t seem to have anything we can agree on. We’re sorry you wasted your time coming back.”
The ruling council looks at everyone else with surprised looks on their faces. They don’t understand what’s going on. They thought they had a solid plan and offered an excellent counter proposal.
“Does that mean no steak dinner?”
Jay smiles saying,
“There’s no reason for me to feed you if we’re not going to reach an agreement. Tony will escort you t
o your room while you pack and start your journey home.”
“Wait! It’s going to be dark soon. It’s not safe to be out after sundown. We have twelve miles to go.”
“Then, you better get a start on your journey. If you jog the entire way home, you won’t be too late.”
One of the council members turns very pale, he begins shaking, he asks,
“Isn’t there any way we can meet in the middle?”
“What do you have we might need? Where’s your added value to our project?”
“We have program management; we have people who are experts at filling the various government forms you're going to need to file before you begin clearing the additional land. We can perform the environmental reports. We can write the proposal to your town council to expand your farm. We’re sure your town council will require a set of to scale drawings, we have people who do this sort of stuff all the time. We can bring a lot of value to your project.”
