Seeking a Sane Society: Nothing is the Same (The Seeking Series Book 2)

by Albert A. Correia

  Both men appeared relieved that he separated them. They depended upon each other. That knowledge quickly shunted aside whatever antipathy they felt at the moment, but neither would back down.

  Silva went back to the sofa and sat down, leaning against the backrest and laying his head on it. Slaughter took his usual seat on the easy chair. He leaned forward. The antagonism he felt toward Silva dissipated, but the agitation over what he heard on the radio made it impossible for him to sit back.

  “Now, Mal,” Venable said when both men were settled in their respective seats, “what has you so upset?”

  “It’s those Catalina yokels. They sank two of our best boats and disabled an important cargo ship. For all I know, it may have sunk by now, too. In the process, they killed seventeen more of our people. We lost six bazookas and at least twenty automatic weapons. Thousands of rounds of ammo we put aboard for our attack on Catalina are now at the bottom of the sea.”

  “They attacked our ships?” Venable asked.

  “No, VeeVee, what they did was worse. The rats set a trap. We went after another one of those boats with canned goods and they were laying for us with bazookas and a bunch of sharpshooters. They blew up the two boats before they had a chance to defend themselves and shot everyone they saw without warning. They also knocked out the engine of the cargo ship and killed five people aboard. McFee and the rest of the crew had to leave the ship dead in the water halfway between Port Hueneme and Catalina. It took them more than half a day to make landfall in two little lifeboats.”

  “Sounds like they’re getting more aggressive,” Venable surmised.

  “McFee said two of the guys who got the drop on him when he went out to collect taxes were part of it. One of them fits the description of the guy who headed up the gang that killed our people when they went out there to knock off the leaders. He’s getting to be a real pain in the butt.”

  “See,” Silva interjected, “I told you we had to get rid of all of those people at Two Harbors. When people start thinking they can do as they please, they become too hard to handle.”

  “You’re right about that, guv. They are way too independent. That’s why I’m going to personally go out there and take charge of the invasion.”

  Startled, Silva sat up. “You’re leaving?”

  “Right away.”

  “Are you moving up the date of the invasion?”

  “Wish I could, but losing those boats, weapons, and men put a dent in our plans. I’m going to have to work people day and night just to build our strength back up to where we were. The invasion will go ahead as we originally planned.”

  “But you’ll be leaving us almost defenseless. Mal, there’s a lot that has to be done here.”

  “Naw, you won’t be defenseless. I only need to take fifty guys from here and fifty from Garcia’s crew down south. I’ll leave more than fifty here. All we’re doing here right now is picking up people for our work crews, anyway. I’ve got a guy in charge of that.”

  “What if we need a meeting of the legislature? We’ll need guards.”

  “Look, guv,” Slaughter said, a note of exasperation beginning to edge his words, “half the guys you had elected are part of the invasion force, and we can’t spare them. Besides, you make all the decisions, anyway.”

  “Appearances, Mal, appearances. It’s a key part of the political process.”

  “In a few weeks we will rid the world of opposition, and then you can do as you please.”

  “Even then it will go over better if it’s passed by the guys people think they voted into office.”

  “Fine, I’ll return your ‘legislators’ as soon as we’ve wiped out those upstarts at Two Harbors. Meantime, our militia is collecting up people around here that we’ll put to work when the time comes.”

  “How many do we have so far?” Venable wanted to know.

  “We’ve picked up twelve and put them in a motel near the freeway,” Slaughter said. He glanced from one to the other, “Just the way you wanted.” He did not intend to let Silva and Venable know about the twenty-four his men locked up at BOC. Those guys would work strictly for him.

  “We haven’t started working the farms yet,” Venable pointed out. “How are you feeding them?”

  “We still have some of the canned goods and packaged foods we got from abandoned grocery stores around this area. Plus, we did capture one of the boats full of supplies headed to Catalina before they started fighting back. Half of that is coming here; the other half will stay out there to feed our navy.”

  “Still,” said Venable. “we keep adding people.” His voice made it clear he was not comfortable with the situation.

  “When we take over Catalina, we’ll get their food,” Slaughter replied. “That’ll last us several months. Not being a survivalist like those people are, I don’t know what else they have, but there will be other good stuff besides food. You know, things like soap making equipment, tools for making home appliances, that sort of thing. We’ll pick up new workers so can start working the farms and whatever little factories we set up as soon as we finish up in Catalina. After that, we’ll never have to worry about food and other necessities again.”

  “Your plan sounds okay,” Venable admitted. His tone of voice, however, did not reflect a high degree of confidence. “As far as it goes, that is,” he continued. “You seem to be working out future issues well enough, but what about the here and now? You’re leaving us in a lurch. What kind of security will we have? Who’s going to be on the radio while you’re gone? That’s our main communications system. We need to know what’s happening at all times.”

  “Now, now. Don’t go getting all paranoid over nothing, VeeVee,” Slaughter said, a small smirk playing on the edge of his lips. “I’ll leave someone in charge of the radio.”

  “VeeVee isn’t paranoid,” Silva cut in. “His concerns are legitimate and are more than about the radio. This is our headquarters. We need someone here who has some authority.”

  “Yeah, well I haven’t found the right guy to make my number one assistant yet,” Slaughter told them. “But, if makes you feel any better, I do have some guys I can trust. I’ll put one of them on the single sideband and make him my chief deputy while I’m gone. I’ll stay close to a radio when I’m out there getting the invasion ready, so we can relay messages back and forth. By the way, it wouldn’t hurt for you two to get on the radio yourselves sometimes so I can talk directly to you. Chief deputies don’t need to know every single detail, if you know what I mean.”

  Silva didn’t reply, but Venable did. “That’s workable; I guess.” He hesitated, and then asked worriedly, “When are you leaving?” Having the big, barrel-chested Slaughter around for protection gave him a feeling of security. He was nervous about this new development and would soon have reason to be even more nervous.

  Slaughter stood. “I’m not much for dillydallying when something needs doing. I’m out of here.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 32

  CAPTAIN Kotchel was waiting in Santa Cruz with Madruga’s friend, Paul Burchett, when Campbell and Madruga arrived. Kotchel watched in fascination as Burchett worked on his major focus.

  Burchett set up headquarters in the building that housed the carousel, a merry-go-round with over seventy hand-carved wooden horses, two Roman chariots, and an organ. The carousel had operated for well over one hundred years before the ravages of war put a stop to it. When the war hit Santa Cruz, shelling damaged the merry-go-round first and marauding gangs damaged it even more when they came through at a later time. Most of the horses were could be repaired.

  Burchett was determined to get the carousel operating again. “It’s a symbol,” he told visitors. “When we hear that organ music and the laughter of children again as they ride the merry-go-round, it will be a sign that society is on its way back.”

  Three onlookers rode those wooden horses, as did their children, and they all agreed that it would be nice to get that thing going once again. Right now,
however, they had more pressing matters on their minds. The resolution of those matters might well determine if Burchett’s vision had a chance of becoming reality.

  Kotchel acknowledged the merit of Burchett’s hopeful view with a quiet, “I can believe that,” but he steered the conversation to the major reason for their meeting. He turned to Campbell and Madruga. “Paul tells me you want to meet with me because of a situation that not only concerns the people in the Central Valley, but those on Catalina as well.”

  “Yes. We have a communications issue. Silva’s men will attack Catalina the day before we have a new election for governor.”

  Kotchel eyed Campbell dubiously, “An election for governor? To start with, I can’t see how you can have an election for governor when we don’t even know if there’s still a state. It doesn’t make sense. As far as I’m concerned, Silva’s claim to be governor is bogus.”

  “We agree with most of what you say,” Campbell acknowledged. “Believe me, no one is more aware of Silva’s phony election,” he added emphatically. “However, in a world where everything is topsy-turvy and a large number of people don’t know where to turn, carpetbaggers like him can look good. If he and his followers get a firm foothold, it will be impossible to get rid of them. That’s why we came up with the plan we have.” He explained what happened to date and how they intended to correct the situation.

  Kotchel’s mind was working as he listened, and he didn’t respond for a full minute after Campbell finished. Then, he said, “You know, that actually sounds like a workable plan. The people on Catalina are self-sufficient but that can’t be said for many on the mainland who survived more by chance than by any real survival skills. They need to look to somebody for temporary leadership until we can figure out what is happening throughout the country.”

  “I’m glad you see it that way,” said Madruga. “Because we want everyone to vote.” He turned to Burchett. “Paul, because of limitations in manpower and methods of communications, we’ve focused on the Central Valley but the people around here are also invited to vote.” Burchett nodded but didn’t respond.

  “What about Silva and his thugs?” Kotchel asked.

  “That,” Campbell said, “is the first part of our communication conundrum. We intend to make this a fair election, and to do so we have to allow them to vote as well. We know they will do everything in their power to stop it, however. Our plan is to wait until a couple of days before the election to tell them about it. They probably won’t be able to marshal up their forces to stop it in that short time period.” He looked around at each of them. “We’re building a defense that should be strong enough to prevent a makeshift offense from stopping the election. The problem is we don’t think we can build one capable of defeating them if they have time to gather their forces.”

  “We received a message a while back that indicated they were sending some of their ‘militia’ members out to participate in the invasion of Catalina,” Kotchel explained. “That’s good for you.”

  “Just before we came here,” Madruga added, “we learned that the head of the militia, a fellow by the name of Malcolm Slaughter, is going out to take personal charge of the invasion. He’s taking fifty men from Tracy with him. They’re also sending fifty from the south.”

  “That makes it more likely they can’t stop your election,” Kotchel said, but something else occurred to him. “Ah, I think I see your quandary. What benefits you, hurts those on Catalina. Bad for me and my men, too, being as we plan on being there to help defend the island.”

  “Exactly,” said Campbell. “The conundrum.”

  Kotchel was not a man to speak before he had his thoughts in order. After a few moments, he said, “My reaction is that you should continue as planned. Tell them two days before the election. It will weaken them.”

  “Weaken them in Tracy, yes, but they’ll be strong in Catalina,” Campbell pointed out.

  “Not as strong as it may first appear. According to our timetable, your election will take place the day after they attack Catalina. If you notify Silva about the election two days before, that will be one day before the attack. Silva will panic and call this fellow Slaughter to try to get as many men sent back to the Central Valley as possible. They can’t get back from Catalina in a day. So, whoever he sends back will have to leave before the invasion.”

  “You can bet that a guy like Slaughter will keep his best men with him for the invasion on Catalina,” Madruga warned. “He’ll send back the dregs.”

  “Better for you,” Kotchel said, “because they’ll be easier for you to deal with and it will still take numbers away from Slaughter and leave him short-handed. He thinks the coast guard cutter will be gone, so he’ll gear up to defeat only the people on land and the submarine. Being as his spy on Catalina told him all that happened at that meeting, he also must know that the submarine only has two torpedoes so he’ll plan accordingly. We’ll be stronger than he thinks.”

  “Will that be enough?” Campbell asked.

  “As with most battles, we won’t know until it’s over,” Kotchel replied.

  “Have you discovered the identity of the spy in Avalon?” Madruga asked.

  “No, but everyone is behaving as if we don’t know there is one, so whomever it is must be feeding disinformation back to Tracy. If you can keep your spy in place and keep Silva from learning about the election until you’re ready, we’ll be a leg up on them.”

  Campbell and Madruga looked at each other worriedly.

  Kotchel didn’t miss much. “What?”

  Campbell told him about the men outside BOC finding his little “newspaper.”

  “Yet, Slaughter left and took fifty men with him,” Kotchel said, mulling it over in his mind. “That could mean that the people at BOC aren’t connected with Silva. If that’s the case, he won’t get wind of it.”

  “Or,” Madruga offered, “they just might not be in regular contact. If they’re connected and decide to talk to each other, Silva will find out before we’re ready.”

  “If so, be sure to call Paul so he can get word to me.”

  “I’m a newspaper man and don’t know much about battle plans. I assume, though, that everyone will have to make a lot of strategic changes if that happens.”

  “Not really,” replied Kotchel. “It will just mean that one of our groups will have more numbers to deal with and the other less. It’s a matter of having sufficient flexibility in our plans.”

  “Flexibility in the plans?” Campbell asked doubtfully.

  “One thing you need to know about battle plans, Mr. Campbell, is that flexibility must always be a basic element. There has been a war or two going on somewhere on earth since the beginning of time. To the best of my knowledge, in all that time, no battle has ever gone exactly as planned.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 33

  DENISE and Hector, the sniper who survived the attack at sea, spent many hours the next two weeks teaching men and women from the Simi Valley how to handle weapons. They stuck mainly to basics, things such as how to load the weapon, how to aim it, and how to squeeze the trigger so that the weapon didn’t jerk off target. They showed everyone how to keep the weapons clean and oiled.

  They were unable to conduct much actual target shooting because of their shortage of ammunition. Each person could shoot only five shots. Two people managed to hit a large target. The others didn’t come close at first, but most got closer with each subsequent shot.

  “They seem to be getting the hang of it,” Hector said to Denise, “but we’ll have to wait and see how they react when they have real people in their sights.”

  She grimaced, recalling how her stomach knotted up when she first shot a man. It didn’t get a great deal easier, but at least she knew she could do what she had to do.

  Zach, Warren, the elder Glen, and the other man who survived the attack on Warren’s boat, showed each of the Simi Valley people the location selected from where they would shoot. They showed everyone how t
o get to upper floor windows or roofs and where to store their ammo at each location. Stacey and Mae spent their time showing the ammo supplier how to get to each location, and they helped prepare a medical station.

  Everything rehearsed repeatedly. No one doubted that they were preparing for a real, very scary, invasion.

  It wasn’t noticeable but while the training was going on, one person from the Two Harbors group was always absent. They searched every house occupied by the Simi Valley group but did not find a radio.

  There was always someone watching Barry Lockman. His complaints continued but he otherwise did nothing to arouse suspicion. Most in his group began to shun him after his outburst at the meeting, so when in training, he stayed close to Sophie and Marcus. When meal times approached, he and Sophie went off to cook. Young Glen Arthur’s leg improved enough so that, at prearranged times, he left the sailboat and kept an eye on the kitchen area. Lockman never left to send messages to the mainland.

  An idea hit the fifteen-year-old a day after his first vigil, so he remained in the area after lunch and searched the entire eating facility. He did not find a radio there, either.

  The Chinese were seldom seen. They slept at the hotel but took their meals in the submarine. There was no need for them to take part in the Avalon training because when the attack came, they would be at sea.

  The twenty-nine children Mur saved were in Avalon during that period, but were kept away from the military training exercises. The teacher stayed with the children and held classes most days in a schoolhouse that wasn’t too badly damaged. Mur remained in his hideaway somewhere in the middle of Catalina Island.

  * * * * *

  Ted West continued his delivery of “newspapers” to people in the north Central Valley countryside for almost two weeks.

  At the same time, Manuel Madruga was involved in several key activities. He made contact with other cities to get word out to them about the election and trained people in Tracy how to shoot. He also prepared a defense for the historic Grand Theater, which they would as the single polling place for the election.