by John Grit
“I will not do that!”
“Then come with us.”
“They’ll find me.”
“Your chances are a lot better hiding from them than taking them on in a fight. There must be a lot of deserters with the way things are. You’ll just be one of many. I doubt he’s going to expend much resources looking for you. I expect he wants soldiers with a conscience out of his way. He’ll consider you good riddance.”
She held onto him for support. “That might be a good reason to stay and help the other soldiers stop him. Donovan’s a good man. I’m telling you most of the people I serve with will not follow illegal or immoral orders. Donovan can send a report up the chain of command, informing them Hewitt is off his rocker.”
“And what if Hewitt is following orders straight out of Washington? Some have been trying to disarm the American people since the 1930s. Now, with more lawlessness than ever, they have a real excuse and a country under martial law to make it stick. You know the soldiers you serve with…how many will be on your side and how many on his? I mean when it comes down to life or death. Think about it. How are you going to know until the moment comes when each of them must decide on their own? That’s not the time to learn who’s who.”
Deni shivered. “I know. And if Hewitt isn’t acting on his own and Washington has ordered all guns confiscated, I fear the result.”
“Yes. Blood will run in the streets. Anyone still living today is alive because of their guns and their ability to use them. They’re not going to give them up and trust the same government that has been absent all this time to suddenly start protecting them. If he’s following orders from Washington, things are going to get a lot worse, not just around here, but all over the country. And not many are going to allow anyone to corral them into a ghetto, where they’ll be completely dependent on a government that’s proven itself unreliable.”
Deni put her forehead against Nate’s chest. “I’ll be branded with a dishonorable discharge the rest of my life.”
Nate pulled away, so he could see her face and try to read her emotions. “Unless you were planning on making a career for yourself in the Army, I doubt it’ll do much harm to your future under the circumstances. Don’t look now, but there isn’t much government or even society left.” Nate looked over at Brian for a second, who sat in the pickup and talked to Kendell. “From what I’ve seen, we’ll both be dead before things are anything like they were before the plague.”
Deni stepped back. The look on her face told Nate she had made her decision. “There’s a little food in the Hummer, and some ammo. We better throw it on your truck and get the hell out of here.”
Chapter 4
Nate found a way around the roadblock by using several Jeep trails and backwoods dirt roads. The sandy trails were slow going, but they made it to Mrs. MacKay’s farm by mid-afternoon, and only got stuck in the sand twice, making use of shovels they had in the truck to dig out.
Nate stopped in the dirt road in front of the gate and stood in the open, so those on guard duty could recognize him. Two men appeared from behind trees, one opened the gate while the other kept his rifle ready. Nate knew there were more armed men and women hiding in the woods, since he had helped to design their security measures. A tractor equipped with a front end loader had been used to push up dirt and logs, creating a barrier to vehicles and requiring any raiders to either crash through the reinforced gate or come in on foot – another suggestion of Nate’s. The work had used up a lot of precious diesel fuel, but the extra security was worth it.
A man named Eugene seemed glad to see Nate. “Heard you got shot.” He gave Nate’s bandaged head a quick glance. “I see you’re back on your feet. People around here will be happy to hear that. Uh, except Slim. He’s on the warpath over you breaking his jaw.” Eugene’s eyes lingered on Deni and her uniform. She stood in the back, behind the cab, her carbine slung on her shoulder, so she wouldn’t appear to be a threat. “We’re watching him, but you might have trouble. I’d be careful. He’s not the kind to forgive.”
Nate said, “Thanks for the warning, but I don’t understand why you keep someone like him around.”
Eugene grunted and swatted at a fly. “Many of us agree with you. He may be kicked out of the group soon, now that he’s almost healed up from that broken jaw you gave him. Sending him away while he was injured would’ve been a death sentence.”
Nate shrugged. “It’s none of my concern, as long as he stays away from me.” He walked back to the truck. “I’m not planning on staying around much longer anyway. That town gave me enough of big city life.”
Eugene canted his head and stared at Nate. “That town ain’t exactly a big city. I hope you’re kidding about leaving us. We need you around here.”
“People mean danger. I risked my son’s life for people I barely knew. That was a mistake. My main concern is Brian. And as long as Kendell is with me, I’m responsible for him, too.” Nate slid behind the wheel and put the truck in gear.
Deni took notice of the security measures as they traveled the long drive. Any attacker who got past the first guards at the road would face another ring of armed men and women before they got to the buildings, and then there were more rifles waiting. Her eyes widened when she saw the large home and the outbuildings. A brick building that once housed many racing horses stood one hundred yards from the home. The few horses left were being used for farm work. Expensive racing horses worth hundreds of thousands, even millions, before the plague, were put to use pulling makeshift plows the maintenance man (who was a decent welder) had fabricated out of scrap steel. The horses had it relatively easy for the time being, though. When the diesel fuel ran out or the tractor broke down, they would have to do all the heavy work around the farm.
They were met by three more armed men standing in front of the house. A teen boy went inside. Twenty seconds later, he emerged with Mrs. MacKay. She gave Nate, Brian, and Kendell a warm welcome. “Ramiro tells me you had a lot of excitement in town. Are you well enough to help us complete the security measures you suggested?”
“I’ll help while I’m here,” Nate said. “But I won’t be staying long. There’s trouble coming from the Army. They’ve got a mad officer in town, and he’s talking of disarming the people and gathering everyone up to put them in a downtown ghetto. He’s not calling it that, of course, but that’s what it’ll amount to. People will lose their right to come and go as they please and will be completely dependent on the Army for all necessities. I sure don’t want any part of it, and I’m certain few do. There’s going to be trouble.”
“As in violence?” MacKay asked.
“I don’t see it any other way,” Nate answered. “He spoke of hanging people in front of the church and arresting anyone caught with a gun after a ten-day grace period.”
MacKay turned her attention to Deni. “And her? She looks like a soldier.”
“She’s a good friend.” Nate motioned with his hand. “Deni, this is Mrs. MacKay.”
The two shook hands. Deni wasted no time. “Nate probably should’ve warned you about the danger of Col. Hewett sending soldiers here. He plans to disarm everyone in the area, not just in town.” She saw the reaction of her words on everyone around her. “A group this large isn’t likely to escape his notice. Someday soon, they’ll come for you.”
“Well, we can’t take on the U.S. Army, and we can’t pack up and leave,” Mrs. MacKay said. “Where would we go? How could we feed ourselves without this farm? And if we did run and hide, where could we hide that they couldn’t find us? Where could we run that they couldn’t follow? Someone’s going to have to get in contact with this man’s superiors and stop him. It’s the only way out of this.”
Mrs. MacKay’s stoic reaction surprised Nate. “For all we know, his orders may have come straight from Washington. We have no idea what kind of government we have now, or who is in charge. There have been no elections that I know of, so we may have a dictator running the country. Who knows?” He turned to Deni. “Do you
know anything about what’s going on in Washington?”
She started to speak but Mrs. MacKay interrupted. “The four of you must be starving and exhausted. Why don’t you come inside and rest? We’ll talk about this later.”
“Okay,” Nate said. “I am tired.” Actually, his head was still spinning, but not as much as in the morning, when he first woke. “But there isn’t all that much time. They’ll be here in a few weeks for certain.”
“Until then,” Mrs. MacKay said, “we need to appeal to higher authorities. We have had contact with the National Guard by HAM radio. Maybe we can explain to them what’s going on and get something done that way.”
“That’s a good idea,” Nate said. He was pleased to hear the group had been in contact with the ANG. “They certainly have communications with Washington and the regular Army. If we can convince them this Col. Hewitt is nuts, they’ll order a junior officer to relieve him of his duties and send a replacement.”
“See,” Mrs. MacKay looked around at the growing crowd of nervous people. “Everything will be worked out.” She turned to Nate. “Let’s go inside and I’ll ask someone to prepare you an early meal.”
~~~
After the four had eaten, mostly beans and rice, Mrs. MacKay asked Deni and Nate to her office. “We need to talk,” she said.
“You guys stay by the truck and keep out of trouble,” Nate told Brian and Kendell.
Brian headed for the front door. “We don’t have time to look for trouble; we’re always too busy dealing with the trouble that comes looking for us.”
Kendell added, “You got that right. At least there ain’t any hungry wild dogs around here. And hopefully, no one is gonna take a shot at us.”
“I hate shooting dogs,” Brian lamented. “But I hate being chewed up and eaten even more.”
Mrs. MacKay closed the door to her office. “I didn’t want to talk about our troubles with the Army in front of the people. They were becoming frightened.” She sat at her desk. “Do you have any suggestions on how to handle the problem?”
“I think you came up with the best idea yourself.” Nate’s gaze met Deni’s. “What do you think?”
“Well, we should take the radio twenty miles from here before transmitting with it. Hewitt’s bound to have soldiers listening to radio traffic, and we don’t want them to DF the frequency.”
“Yeah.” Nate rubbed his chin and turned to Mrs. MacKay. “She’s talking about them using radio direction-finding equipment to locate your signal. Also, whoever transmits the message had better be careful not to provide any clues as to who and where. One mention of your name or farm, and they’ll be down on us quick. People in that town know of you. In fact, the town marshal knows you and Ramiro personally. The Army will question people to get info on whoever is transmitting to the Guard. If he learns we’re calling him nuts and trying to have him relieved of duty, there’s no telling how he might react.”
“Well,” Mrs. MacKay thought for a second, “do you think you could get an officer in the National Guard to come to you, so you could talk in person?”
“I doubt it,” Nate answered. “They’re busy, and they’re low on fuel the last I heard.”
Deni had an idea. “Maybe if we ask them to bring Caroline to us. Mel told me that Col. Greene had agreed to spare a chopper and crew to bring her back to the bunker after she had recovered.”
“Col. Greene is my friend Mel’s commanding Officer,” Nate explained. “I think Deni is right. He seemed like the kind who keeps his promise, and he told me he would have Caroline back as soon as she was well.”
Mrs. MacKay stood. “Good. We’ll give that a try. I would feel better if you two went with one or two of my people and helped them set up the radio and went over what to say over the airwaves. You can rest today and leave early tomorrow.”
Nate thought of suggesting they not wait, but decided he needed the time to further recover. He felt as if he would fall on his face at any moment.
~~~
Austin Stinson and his daughter Renee arrived at sunrise. They came from another surviving group of refugees twenty miles away, where people had squatted on another farm. The owners had died in the plague and they could not see starving while they let an empty farm go to waste. While eating breakfast, Austin offered to go with Nate and Deni and help set up the radio.
It was then Nate decided to leave Brian at the farm while he went with the others. Taking notice of how happy Brian and Renee were to see each other again, he asked, “Brian, why don’t you stay here to help in the vegetable fields? Kendell, you might as well stay also. You guys can weed the fields or harvest vegetables.”
Brian sat his glass of water down. “Are you sure? You might run into trouble.”
Nate came back with, “I’ll have a professional soldier with me. The three of us should be able to handle anything we run into.”
“Yeah, she would be more useful in a fight than Kendell and me. I have to admit that.”
Deni chuckled. “I promise I’ll take care of your dad for you and make sure he gets back home before midnight.”
Brian smiled impishly. “If you two are going on a date, you should leave Mr. Stinson here.”
Deni chose her words diplomatically. “Col. Hewitt and many of his soldiers would recognize my voice and your father’s too, so we won’t be able to talk on the radio. Mr. Stinson told me he has never met Hewitt or any of the soldiers, so he’ll be the one who does the talking over the airwaves.”
“But it’s going to mess up your date,” Brian quipped.
“Enough of that now,” Nate warned. “You’re being disrespectful to Deni.”
Renee couldn’t quite stop herself from laughing.
Brian turned red for a second. “Oh, I forgot she has a fiancé.” He lifted his eyes from his plate to Deni. “Did you ever find him?”
Deni clenched her jaw and swallowed. It was her turn to look down at her plate. “I’ve been told he died in the plague. So my efforts to try to get to him were in vain. He was already dead.”
“Sorry,” Brian said. Everyone at the table turned somber.
Ramiro and his wife Olga crossed their chests.
“If I had known, I wouldn’t have been joking like that,” Brian said. “I’m sorry.” He got up from the table. “I might as well get to work out in the fields.”
Deni reached out for him when he tried to pass on her side of the table. She stood and gave him a hug. “I’ve known for a long time now and had plenty of time to deal with it. You didn’t cause me any pain.” She let him go. “So don’t feel bad about it. Just forget it.”
“Take your rifle with you,” Nate said. “And be careful while I’m gone. You and Kendell watch out for each other.”
Kendell got up from the table. “I’m through eating. I might as well go with him and get to work also.”
Austin cleared his throat. “We need to get moving, don’t you think?”
Nate spoke to Mrs. MacKay. “If everything goes well, we’ll see you late afternoon, or sooner.”
Austin gave his daughter a pat on the shoulder as he went by. “Be good and listen to what Mrs. MacKay tells you.”
She nodded. “Be careful.”
They loaded the radio on the seat of one of the few pickups still running, along with a spool of wire for the antenna. One of Ramiro’s men provided them with a fully charged 12 volt battery to power it with. Fortunately, the pickup was a four-wheel-drive. They were planning on traveling by back roads and Jeep trails to avoid contact with military patrols and would need four-wheel-drive for traction in the sand and mud. Another reason they were going to travel back roads was to make it more difficult to deduce where they came from if the point of their broadcast was located by military radio direction finding equipment. Col. Hewitt was bound to be pissed when he found out they were trying to get him relieved of duty for being mentally unsound, and they didn’t want him ordering an airstrike or raid on the farm. The normal checks and balances of government and milit
ary went out the window when the plague killed most of the human population. They couldn’t afford to take chances. The penalty could be death for dozens of people.
Chapter 5
Sitting in the truck, they inched along a narrow Jeep trail, overhanging limbs scraping paint off the truck in places and rust off where the paint had been long gone, all terrain tires spinning in the sand. Austin turned to go around a windfall that partially blocked the trail, the engine whining in first gear. A gunshot rang out from fifty yards to their left, and a bullet shattered the left mirror, sending shards of glass into Austin’s face. Fortunately for him, he wore sunglasses and no damage was done to his eyes. He stomped the pedal, and the truck surged forward, throwing two fishtails of sand high into the air.
Nate yelled, “Stop! We have to bail and run into the woods.”
Austin finally realized what Nate said and slammed on the brakes. Deni and Nate bailed out the right side, while Austin jumped out the left, landing on his stomach and fast-crawling to cover.
Nate lay on his belly in brush. He saw Deni lying twenty yards to his right, also on her belly, eyes wide, searching for danger. He scanned the woods for telltale movement. The towering gloom of the virgin forest seemed dark, even in midday. He was alerted by a frantic crashing through a patch of brush where the sun’s tentacles managed to reach the ground and its warm rays brightened the leaves of undergrowth in a freckling pattern. Raising his rifle, aiming loosely at an opening, more of a tunnel through the brush, a natural firing lane just ahead of the rushing movement that he could only see as a blur, he squeezed off a well-timed shot.
A scream, obviously a feminine voice, echoed in the dark gloom. Somewhere behind the wall of green, lay a wounded girl or woman. Nate instantly regretted pulling the trigger. His body felt one hundred times heavier when he pulled himself up from the ground to work his way to her, dreading what he would find.
Deni flanked him, moving silently and staying in the darkest shadows of the forest, as Nate did the same.
