The Shelter, Book 4: The New World

by Ira Tabankin

  “My God, it looks like a war zone, abandoned cars, and trucks, many are burned to their frames, decomposing bodies, all of the windows are broken, broken supplies and sheets of plywood everywhere. Even the chain-link fence is torn down. It looks like a major battle was fought here.”

  “Most likely everyday people fighting over whatever supplies were left. Let’s go very slowly, there’s no telling if anyone is still inside.”

  Their question is answered by two small rounds hitting the parking lot in front of them. Tony grabs his Thompson submachine gun while Fred drives.

  “Slowly, there’s someone in the store, the gun sounded like a 22. We have no idea how many may be hiding inside the store.”

  “I’m with you. I don’t want to get hit again. Twice was enough. Do you see anything?”

  “No. I was thinking of spraying a few rounds from the Thompson to see if we scare who’s ever inside out.”

  “It’s worth a try. All they could do is shoot back. Why don’t we stop? The three of us will cover you from behind the truck.”

  “On the count of three.”

  Tony uses the truck’s door for cover, he fires ten rounds into the store. The sound of the large 45 caliber rounds firing surprises the town’s people. Tony’s rewarded with a dirty white towel being hung out of the broken front window.

  “Come out with your hands up and no one will get hurt.”

  Four teenage girls and one man in his early twenties exit the store. All are dirty and wearing rags for clothing. The young man yells,

  “Don’t hurt them. They’re my sisters and cousins, I was trying to protect them. I left my gun in the store.”

  “Is there anyone else in the store?”

  “No, just us. We’ve been living there for a few months.”

  “What have you been eating?”

  “Whatever I can catch or kill, there’s a small town over the hill, we’ve slipped in at night and taken some chickens and two cats.”

  One of the town’s people whispers, “That solves one mystery.”

  Tony yells back.

  “You can put your hands down. I’m going to approach you. I’m bringing water and some food.”

  “Mister, water we have, food we’re short of.”

  Tony lays some MREs midway between them.

  “Take these. We’ll talk after you’ve had something to eat.”

  Fred asks, “Why are we waiting?”

  “Let them gain a little trust of us. We’ll take them home and make sure they have a roof over their heads and some new clothes.”

  Fred nods. Five minutes later the boy yells, “Come on over, we’re not going to harm you. My name’s Jerry. My sisters are Rose, and Sally, my cousin, Tuesday.”

  Fred says, “I can guess what day of the week you were born on.”

  “You’d be wrong; I was born on a Friday. I have no idea why my parents named me Tuesday. Our parents are dead, they died a few weeks after the dollar collapsed. A large biker gang killed them, we hid in the woods until we found the store.”

  The group of teens leads the team into the store where a small corner has been made into a living area. Fred’s surprised,

  “You have lights?”

  “Battery powered. The store has thousands of batteries. Also tons of bottled water. We’ve been doing okay. Most people see the mess outside and go by without looking in here.”

  Tony says, “We’re looking for PVC pipe.”

  “Yeah, a lot of it out back, all sizes. We didn’t have any use for them, so we left them alone. Lots of building stuff there.”

  “Would you like to come back with us?”

  “Are you going to split us up?”

  “No, you can stay together. And before you ask, we respect women, we’re not going to touch you. You can go to school, meet other’s your age and get something new to wear.”

  The teens smile and nod yes. Fred and the town’s people are loading the pickup with pipe. Tony looks at the truck saying.

  “We’re not going to have enough room for all of us, the kids and the pipe to get home.”

  Fred says, “I found a rental truck back here. It won’t start. We can try to jump it.”

  The jump start kicks the rental over, Fred smiles, “Half a tank of gas, more than enough to get home and back to pick up another load.”

  Tony returns Fred’s smile. Why don’t you take the pickup, pipe and the kids home, the town’s people and I will look around and follow in a couple of hours. Tony locates the pumps, four generators and he loads as many packaged batteries as he can. He leaves a man behind to inventory other useable items promising to return in two days. He tells him to stay in the teens makeshift home. He’s armed with an AR for protection and a six-inch knife.

  Fred returns to the farm surprised to see most of the people missing. He pulls up to the front gate asking the guard.

  “Where is everyone? I didn’t see anyone in the fields when I drove by.”

  “Jay moved almost everyone to the lake. We’re clearing the land to plant crops around the lake.”

  “I busted my ass for nothing? I’ve got a ton of pipe and some new additions, Tony’s coming with another truck and more pipe.”

  “Ask Jay. You’ll find him by the lake, look for a new wooden building. You can get there via a dirt road Franco cut yesterday.”

  “I’ll be damned. I go away for a few days and all hell's broken out.”

  The guard unlocks the gate for Fred. He finds the new dirt road which he uses to drive to the lake. The four teens look around in amazement. They point to Jay's castle asking.

  “Mr. Fred, is that a real castle?”

  “Yes, it is. It belongs to Jay and Lacy, you’re going to meet them in about an hour. Hold on, this road is very rough and bumpy, I’d hate to lose one of you now that we’re so close to safety.”

  @@@@@

  Jay watches the clearing from the quickly built construction building. He’s happy now that he’s finally doing something. He’s watching the tractors and two bulldozers quickly clear the land around the lake. The phone on the shelf next to him rings.

  “Jay here.”

  “Jay, front gate guard. Fred’s back with a load of pipe and he said some new additions to our family. I sent him to you.”

  “You said Fred, no Tony?”

  “No, Fred said he’s coming in a truck they found.”

  “Thanks, I hope they found a tanker.”

  “I’ll let you know when Tony arrives.”

  “Jay out.”

  Jay’s heart is even happier, Fred is safely back with pipe and new people.

  Jay hears Fred before he sees him. He hears the pickup bouncing on the unfinished road. Jay goes outside to meet Fred. He’s surprised to see a teen in the back of the pickup and three squeezed inside with Fred.

  “I never know what you’re going to return with. Lost sheep?”

  “Four of them plus a lot of pipe, Tony’s bringing more. We want to go back and make another couple of supply runs.”

  “There’s a lot left we can use? That’s a surprise.”

  “For us too, but there is.”

  “Great news. I’ll call Lacy over to meet the lost sheep.”

  Lacy’s overjoyed to meet the new kids. She bundles them into an SUV and drives them to the castle to get them a shower and some new clothes.

  Fred fills in Jay on what they saw on their excursion while four people unload the pipe.

  Chapter 26

  The more Washington tries to squeeze the states to drop the Huntsville plan, the stronger they hold on to their coins. The President decides to mobilize a secret service strike force to arrest the leaders in Huntsville forcing them to drop their currency plan. The President orders the secret service commander to make sure they publicly arrest the bankers and any other community leaders they discover. He wants them brought back to D.C. to stand trial and be made an example to the other states and towns. He thinks making an example of them will stop others from trying
something similar.

  The secret service has been ordered to travel over land to make their trip very public. Their route will take them out of D.C. on Route 66 for seventy miles until they reach Interstate 81 South which they’ll take for over 365 miles into Tennessee where they’ll turn west on Interstate 40 for 53 miles, which they’ll take through Knoxville where they’ll turn South on Interstate 75 for 83 miles. They’ll cross into Alabama on route 72 which after 73 miles will lead them to the Huntsville Airport. The entire trip is over 700 miles which before the market crash could take them a little over eighteen hours in their armored vehicles. The commander is turned down from flying as the President wants to make the journey a show of force through the south.

  The Senior Agent in Charge asks the President,

  “Sir, I respectively request a handful of C17s to fly us to Huntsville. The road conditions aren’t very good, we’ll be passing through Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama, none which are large fans of the Federal Government. We have no idea what opposition we may face or how far the Cartel and ISIS have traveled into these Southern states.”

  “No one’s going to oppose you. You’re my representatives enforcing the law of the land. I want the people to see and fear the government’s power. They have to learn to put their Bibles away and follow my rules. And remember, the rumors of ISIS and the Cartel infiltrating our country are false, they are lies by the Tea Party to incite civil disobedience.”

  “Sir, what are our Rules of Engagement if we’re attacked?”

  “Commander, we both know you’re not going to be attacked. I don’t want to give you a blanket open-ended ROE, I don’t want another Ruby Ridge on my hands. I want you to show the flag and enforce our laws. If you run into trouble, call me. We’ll discuss the situation and reach an agreement on how you should respond.”

  “Sir, with all due respect, there most likely won’t be time for us to call and discuss the situation if we come under attack.”

  “Commander, call if you can’t figure out what to do. By the way, I’m sending three embedded reporters with you. I want the rest of the country to see first-hand how we deal with traitors.”

  “Sir, I don’t think that’s a very good idea. We have no idea what we’re going to run into or the welcome we’re going to receive when we reach Huntsville.”

  “They go! Am I clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The Senior Agent in Charge looks at the three young reporters, all are dressed in camo pants and white shirts which says PRESS on the back in bright red letters. He thinks; that is going to make a juicy target. I bet none make it there and back. Hell, I don’t know if I’ll make it there and home. 700 God damned miles through the mountains of Virginia and Tennessee. What could go wrong? Hell, what can go right? I have a very bad feeling in my stomach about this mission.

  He salutes the President as he leaves the Oval office. He exits the White House telling his people, “Load up, we’re leaving in five minutes.”

  The media proudly posts images of the convoy leaving Washington. They announce the embedded reporters are going to post videos and images from their route so the people can come out and cheer the convoy as it heads south to arrest the traitors. The many militias in Virginia, Georgia and the TFM exchange information and agree to work together to stop the Secret Service from reaching Huntsville. They agree to appoint one officer to lead the mission to stop the Secret Service. General Arthur in a unanimous vote is appointed the overall commander of the combined militia forces to give the secret service a warm welcome to the South. Hundreds of pickup trucks and SUVs with the Confederate Battle Flag waving rush to meet General Arthur, who is planning where the best ambush sites are. Many of the militia members are excited to, in their opinion, drive the Yankees out of the South before they can cause additional damage. The leaders in Huntsville meet at the Arsenal where the Army is laying out their plans to defend the city and surrounding communities.

  The pressure on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line is building to an explosive level. General Arthur takes up command in an old Hampton Motel located east of Interstate 81 South and a few miles south of Roanoke, Virginia. He’s made the conference room into a command room. The walls are covered with maps and six large monitors hang on the wall. The Militias took over every room in the motel, they brought in their own server rack to run their computers. Men and women wearing different camo colored uniforms run in and out of the conference room twenty-four hours a day. General Arthur studies the map on one side of a 65-inch monitor which is displaying in real time the location of the secret service convoy. The General says:

  “They average forty-five MPH; they stop every twenty miles so the men can stretch their legs. I suggest we hit them when they enter these sharp ‘S’ curves, they will have to slow down to twenty-five MPH. The freeway winds through the mountains. We can hide in the mountains and fire down on their convoy. We’ll hold the upper ground and have the element of surprise on our side. We’ll hit the first and last vehicles trapping the rest of them in between. If we get the timing right, they’ll never know what hit them.”

  The men and women in the conference room smile and nod at the General. He looks around the room. “Let me tell you something. I have no qualms about running this attack. However, if we go forward, we’ll be crossing a line that won’t be easy to retreat from. The President will send the Army and the Air Force after us. He won’t stop until he tracks us all down. The last time this happened, it tore the country apart. I want each and every one of you to stand, look me in the eye and tell me you’re one hundred percent committed.”

  The General looks at each member in the room, one by one, each stands, snaps to attention and says,

  “Sir, I confirm I am willing to give my life for freedom, and to make America Great Again.”

  When the last person has confirmed their pledge, General Arthur smiles, he salutes the room saying,

  “Unleash the dogs of war and may God have mercy on our souls.”

  “YES, SIR.”

  @@@@@

  Jay is happy to see Fred and his truckload of pipe. Fred looks at the activity at the lake,

  “Wow! You guys have kicked ass. I can’t believe you’ve made such progress. Do we still need the pipe?”

  “Yes, this land won’t feed twelve hundred people. I want some of us to begin laying the pipe to the farm. We don’t have enough pipe in this load. I figure given, 5,280 feet per mile, times three equals, 15,840 feet, each section of pipe is 5 feet, that means we need at least 3,168 sections of pipe. Did they have that many?”

  Fred shakes his head, “Not even close, maybe one thousand sections. That’s going to leave us two thousand plus short. We’re not going to make it.”

  Jay walks in a circle thinking of the problem, he looks at the lake and at Fred,

  “Wasn’t one of your sons a civil engineer?”

  “Yes, my oldest studied civil engineering, but he never practiced it, why?’

  “Ask your son to figure out the height of the lake and the farm, maybe we can lay the pipe and a drainage ditch lined with concrete that will run downhill from the lake to the farm. If I remember my schooling all we need is a couple of inches per yard or something and the water will flow to the lowest level. Once at the farms, we can cut irrigation ditches.”

  “Shit, that’s going to take too long and it’s a ton of work, we’ll lose the crops.”

  “Do you have any other ideas? If so, I’m all ears.”

  Fred looks at the lake and the road to the farm. “The road runs uphill, not down.”

  “We’ll use the bulldozer to cut through the hill, we’ll have to work around the clock if we’re going to have a chance to water the crops this season.”

  “I’ll get someone on it. When will this land be planted?”

  “Tonight, we’re pumping water from the lake and spraying the fields. No matter what happens, this season won’t be a total loss.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Me
too, or we’re all going to be hungry this winter.”

  The team works in shifts, twenty-four hours a day until they cut through the hill. Jay smiles saying to himself, “Three long weeks. The crops are in the ground, sprouts are breaking the surface, the eleven hundred sections of pipe are laid, the water channel is cut, tomorrow we’ll line it with concrete. If the calculations are correct, we’ll have water within two weeks. I can go home and rest. I’m starting to feel my age, I’m looking forward to a shower and sleeping for eight uninterrupted hours.”