by Ira Tabankin
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Captain Black and Jay are standing in front of the farm’s home. They’re studying the houses, discussing what can be done to harden and expand the homes so they survive the coming storm when an all forces alert blasts from the Army’s radios.
Black’s radio officer hands him the warning message. He reads it, shaking his head. He hands the message to Jay.
“It seems John upset ISIS. He kicked over the largest hornet’s nest we’ve seen in a long time. He’s unleashed thousands of hornets on our shores. Unfortunately for us, thousands more are coming here. I suggest we stop working on the houses and quickly pool our people to build delaying defensive positions. Our goal has to be to slow the attackers down and attrit them before they reach us. Major, can you contact General Arthur? We’re going to need his and my people back here ASAP.”
Franco shakes his head. Captain, won’t it take a long time for them to get here, won’t the Army kill them before they reach Tennessee?”
“We’re spread out all over the damn country. There’s not enough of us available to get into position to block them. Even General Arthur doesn’t have sufficient troops. If we build defensive positions in depth, we can slow them down enough to make them pay for every meter of ground they take. If they overwhelm us, we’ll take refuge in the shelter. Jay, I suggest you split your people, have half strengthen your shelter and it’s active and passive defenses, your remaining people should collect as many supplies as possible. I’ll see what I can dig up for heavy weapons to give us more reach.”
Jay frowns,
“Captain, we recently agreed to assist five local towns, we can’t leave them to hang in the wind.”
“Can we pull them in here?”
“We don’t have enough room in the shelter for everyone.”
“Shit, I was afraid of that, can you contact these towns for a combined meeting?”
“Yes, they have radios, we communicate four times a day. When do you want to hold the meeting?”
“Tomorrow, I’ll send my LAVs to pick their leaders up and bring them here.”
“Will do. I hope you have a good plan by this time tomorrow.”
“Me too.”
“Captain, how many are we facing?”
“Over ten thousand have currently landed, there are twenty thousand more on the way.”
“Shit, I’m sorry I asked.”
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The ISIS fighters are attacked every half mile they advance. Three of their freighters are blown up by swarms of RC controlled drones dropping bombs on the loaded decks of the ships. The ship’s decks are filled with war fighting equipment and ammo. The bombs set off a chain reaction exploding the stored equipment. The ships explode like large roman candles. Flames are propelled hundreds of feet vertically into the night sky, lighting up the docks and the surrounding sea. The ISIS commander is concerned he just lost over fifty percent of his supplies and thousands of his troops. The ISIS commander radios Al Afi for reinforcements.
Al Afi is angry over the loss of his three ships, he tells his executive officer to kill the commander and take over the invasion. The ISIS fighters are surprised at the number of armed defenders they encounter. Every tree seems to have someone armed with an AR or shotgun behind it. IEDs kill hundreds of his troops before they’re five miles inland. RC controlled drones drop homemade napalm on the Islamic invaders. The new commander wonders how many people he’ll have left when he finally reaches a town to attack and strip.
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Captain Black knocks on Jay’s study door,
“Jay, got a minute?”
“Of course, what can I do for you?”
“The last few days you’ve seemed to be bothered by something. I agreed to move our planned base across the street. Major Walker is going to use the farm next to mine as the militia’s base. You’ve got additional acreage planted, so what’s wrong? Everyone knows something's bothering you. Everyone’s talking about it. When you’re worried, we all worry. Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you, maybe I can help?”
“Rain?”
“It hasn’t rained in weeks, why are you concerned about rain?”
Jay shakes his head, he looks up at the Captain,
“Sit, I’ll explain a simple lesson I learned after I bought the farm, crops don’t grow without water. Without rain, we’re going to have a very serious problem. I’ve committed to supplying the surrounding towns with food and without rain, the new crops aren’t going to grow which means I’ll have to dig into my reserve to keep my commitment. Once I make a contract, I don’t break it.”
Sitting, Captain Black looks out of the high window,
“I see why you’re worried. Is there anything I can do?”
“Do you know any rain dances? Do you know anyone who can seed the clouds?”
“I don’t know how to do a rain dance, I’ll ask my people, as to seeding the clouds, I think we first need clouds. For some reason, most of the clouds seem to be missing us. How serious is it?”
“If we don’t have rain within the next couple of days, we’re going to lose most of the crops we’ve recently planted. I can only water part of the fields, which I’m already doing. When I bought the irrigation equipment, I didn’t plan on having to irrigate over 1,200 acres on two sides of the street. I was thinking of twenty acres, which isn’t enough to feed my farm families, let alone the surrounding towns.”
“Can we run hoses and water the new plantings?”
“How much hose do you have? We ran out a couple of days ago, I stocked hoses to fight fires, not thinking about having to water the crops. I wasn’t a farmer when I bought the farm. I’ve run out of ideas, I think we’re screwed. God’s laughing at us. I don’t see any clouds; I think my cheating death twice had a price that I wasn’t aware of. I think I’m starting paying that price. I wish my dad would have told me about the gotcha clause.”
“Huh? What was that about your father?”
“Nothing, I was talking to myself. Forget it.”
Captain Black looks at Jay with a strange look on his face, he takes a mouthful of coffee, savoring the rich black liquid.
“How bad is it going to be? I thought you had a couple of years supply of food stored away.”
“I did, for forty people, not for hundreds. I have an agreement with four growing to six local towns, they sent us their people to work the fields, I agreed to pay them with food. I’m already digging into the reserves. I’ve spent the last three days researching how many acres of land it takes to feed a person. I’ve read over twenty articles, I’ve averaged all of the data together, those numbers point to at least two acres are required to support a family, if everything is perfect. If, the crop yields are perfect, if, there are no losses, if we have four growing seasons. Since I don’t count the winter as a growing season, we have three seasons. Hence, each family is going to need three acres. We currently have twelve hundred acres planted, divided by three means in perfect times we can support four hundred families. The problem is there are more than four hundred families relying on us! We’ll soon have agreements with six towns working to expand our acreage in exchange for food. This farm will have to support one thousand families, which means we need three to four thousand acres, not counting you and the Major’s people. My rough estimate is we need to have five to six thousand acres planted in order to have a reserve and to account for losses. I’d like to have ten thousand acres because our yields aren’t perfect, we lose acreage from pests, animals, weather and a long list of other issues, including attackers damaging early growth crops. If you’d like my analysis, I can print it for you.”
Captain Black shakes his head, he gets up to pace Jay’s office, “Shit. I didn’t realize how bad it is.”
“Neither did I until Fred showed me the inventory projections. He fell in love with Office, he makes charts and spreadsheets for everything. I swear he tracks the number of shits he has a day. I hate spreadsheets, yet, he opened my eyes that we’re in trouble. I s
igned agreements without thinking about the land required to fulfill my agreements. I wanted to feed the hungry. I want to help those who tried to feed themselves but failed for a variety of reasons. Three days ago I learned we’re failing because I was stupid and didn’t understand the formula to calculate acreage required to feed a person and the variables which can affect the yields. I don’t know what to do. I’ve been sitting here for three days staring at charts, maps, production schedules, short and long range weather projections. We were so lucky last season that it rained when we needed it, this season we haven’t had any rain.”
“Do you think it’s Global Warming?”
“Captain, I really like and respect you, please don’t piss me off any more than I already am today. Global Warming is bullshit. The climate is always changing, the question is, are the changes manmade? Since the planet has had cycles of warmth and cold all through history, I think we ought to look at the sun and understand the relationship between the sun and the weather. I suspect we’ve missed something very important. I remember in the 1970s when the media and scientists said we’d be in the middle of a new ice age by 2020. Sometime in the 90s, they changed their tune to sing Global Warming. Aren’t the polar ice caps supposed to be gone by now? Isn’t New York City supposed to be underwater already? Where’s the media covering the fact that scientists made up and fudged Global Warming numbers. It’s all a large lie. I’m fed up with it. The President keeps saying Global Warming is our largest problem. We’re being invaded by the Cartel and ISIS. Our money is worthless, over two hundred twenty million are out of a job, we’ve run out of money, we’ve lost the State of Hawaii to the Chinese and the biggest threat to the country is Global Warming? I give up. I think there’s a major problem with the water in D.C. Everyone who goes there ends up acting crazy.”
Laughing so hard that he has trouble catching his breath, Captain Black holds up his hands, saying,
“Stop, please stop. You’re killing me. If you don’t stop, I’ll blow a hole in your wall and let the Global Warming into your office.”
Both men smile and nod at each other. Jay takes a sip of his coffee, he frowns looking at the sludge in his cup.
“Cold?”
“Turns to sludge when it gets cold. Must be all the crap I put in it.”
“I told you, the only way to drink coffee is hot and black.”
“You’re a racist.”
Both men laugh at Jay’s joke. Jay looks at his computer screen; he turns it around so the Captain can see it.
“This is what I don’t understand, It’s still raining all around us. The rainfall in Memphis and Knoxville has been normal, for some reason the storms either go north or south of us. The amount of rain in the state is above normal, it’s not falling where we need it. It’s like something is diverting the storms around us.”
“What can we do about it? We can’t move the farm. I don’t have tanker trucks to bring the water here. We can’t move a river or lake.”
“That’s an interesting idea I hadn’t thought of. We should be able to locate some tanker trucks, we’ll fill them at local lakes and rivers, fill them up and spread the water on the crops. We may have to make a few trips, but it is possible. Shit, I should have looked into this earlier.”
“How much water do we need? A typical small tanker holds three thousand gallons; a large tanker will hold up to eleven thousand gallons.”
“How do you know that? I’ve been sitting here for hours trying to figure out how many gallons a tanker holds, how to transport water from the river or lakes here. Shit, where have you been all morning? You could have saved me hours of research.”
“Try having to fight across a country, everything you’re going to need has to be carried with you. Fuel, water, food, ammo, spare parts, medical supplies, even toilet paper. We have spreadsheets for everything.”
“Damn it, I should have thought of asking you. Of course, you’d have to know all of these things. Did you pass any abandoned tanker trucks on your way here? Did you happen to mark those sites? Do you have the people who can clean and make the tankers serviceable?”
“I’ll have to check with my staff. If we didn’t mark the sites, I suggest the Major and I have our S2s work together on drone searches for tankers. What else do we need?”
“Hoses, pumps and sprinklers, security for the trucks, and mechanics to get the trucks in working order and a supply of parts to keep the trucks operating.”
“I’ll check with the Major and our staffs. We’ll try to get back to you later today.”
“Thanks, the sooner, the better. Time is running out if we’re going to save the current crop. We’re going to need every acre of food and more. When you’re searching for the tanker trucks, keep your eyes open for warehouses and food distribution centers. Many people most likely passed them by, not knowing how food moves from farm to store. Finding one warehouse can feed most of the families for a few months.”
“Will do, remember, I only have twelve people, General Arthur still has my people chasing ISIS.”
“Distribution centers are easy to locate from the air. They’re the only buildings with rows of truck docks. Many will be for nonfood items. Please check all of them you locate, many may be filled with items we could use. I have pickups and bikes; I don’t have tractor trailers or tankers.”
“I’ll see what we can locate.”
“Thanks. I’ll sit here and pray for rain.”
“It can’t hurt.”
“It doesn’t seem to be working either.”
Captain Black leaves to find Major Walker, they have a new mission. While Major Walker is a rank above Captain Black, he’s deferred to the Captain in most decisions. The two have merged their people into a single force. Major Walker became the Captain’s executive officer. Captain Black is thinking, water, there are two lakes and a river close, how dumb can we all be not to have thought about locating a few tanker trucks. I remember someone telling me rice is the staff of life, he was wrong, its water. Without water, there wouldn’t be any rice.
Chapter 23
Fred stands in front of Ricky shaking his head.
“You’ve been here for almost two months; all you’ve managed to clear is a small plot of land less than two hundred feet by two hundred? What the fuck have you been doing? I also don’t see any improvements made to your home. Tell me, why should we be wasting food on you? What value do you bring to the community? I have to waste valuable time coming here every day, we are running low on food and have to waste some on you. What do you do all day?”
“Fred, you don’t understand how hard it is to clear this land. The ground is dry and hard. There was a ton of bushes and crap all over the land that needed to be cleared before it could be made ready to plant anything. All of my muscles hurt. My back is killing me. I’m not a young man, farming is a young man’s vocation. It’s a vocation that relies on heavy equipment or teams of people. The sun is hot, I don’t have enough water, my exposed skin is burned all over. I’m tired all the time, the shack you gave me never cools down, I can’t sleep in it, this isn’t fair treatment. I’d have gotten better treatment in prison.”
“I one hundred percent agree. I think the closest working prison is in Knoxville, I’ll ask the Army to take you there. Feel better? By the way, prisoners today have to work in fields growing food, everyone is short of food. No work, no food. They’re working prisoners eighteen hours a day.”
“That’s not fair, I’ll report you to the ACLU.”
Fred bends over laughing. He can’t stop himself to respond. “ACLU? Good luck getting anyone to listen to your complaints. You could have walked away anytime if this life is so bad, why haven’t you walked away? Please leave! We’ll save food, I won’t have to come out here every day. We’ll save the fuel I use coming to check on you. Please leave. There’s no fence holding you here. Just turn around and leave.”
“If I left, I’ll most likely be captured and killed.”
“Ah, so you think you nee
d protection?”
“Will you give me a gun?”
“You’re the one who always said guns were evil. I wouldn’t want to corrupt your morals. Ricky, do us all a favor. Turn around and leave.”
“It’s not safe out there.”
“No shit! You tried to kill your father-in-law who took you in. He fed you, he protected you, you repaid him by trying to kill him. You’ll be here for a very long time. Any time you think you’re being treated unfairly, turn around and leave. No one will stop you. We want you to go.”
“Jay will send a team after me if I leave. I know you track my every movement.”
