Those Who Remain: A Postapocalyptic Novel (The New World Book 7)

by G. Michael Hopf

  Fortunately for them, it was open.

  The point man gave his squad a series of hand gestures signaling where each would go once they got inside.

  With everyone ready, the point man counted down on his fingers from three, two, one. He pushed the door open and entered the house.

  “Room right.” The point man turned.

  “Room left,” the second man in the stick called out.

  One by one they raced in and took rooms.

  Clear, clear, clear, was the word Gordon heard most.

  Gordon let the Marines do their thing. He strolled through the secured rooms, looking for any intelligence that could help.

  “I’ve got a body in the main room,” a Marine called out.

  Gordon hurried to the room. He slowed his pace, when he saw it was Jacques.

  John ran in behind Gordon. “Who would’ve thought?”

  Gordon remained silent and approached the desk with caution. “Everyone look around. This room could be rigged. Look for trips, anything suspicious.”

  Jacques sat in the chair of his desk. His head was back with a single bullet wound in the forehead.

  “There’s no gun anywhere,” Gordon said examining the scene.

  “Hmm, one of his men took him out.” John shrugged.

  Shocked to find Jacques dead, Gordon’s glow from the success of the operation was gone. He’d wanted to be the one to kill him. He’d wanted to exact revenge, but someone took that away from him.

  The lieutenant came in and said, “House is secure, no other bodies.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Gordon said.

  “What should we do with the body?” the lieutenant asked.

  “Just leave it. Don’t touch anything,” Gordon said and walked away.

  ***

  John found Gordon on the wooden back deck of the house.

  “It’s time to extract, you ready?” John asked.

  “This lake is huge, look at it,” Gordon said.

  John walked up beside him and said, “You good?”

  “Yeah, it’s just that this was all so anticlimactic. I’m not sure if that’s the word, but you work so hard to get something, and when it’s over, you kind of don’t know what else to do.”

  John put his hand on his shoulder and said, “We’re not done just yet. There’s still Elizabeth and her cohorts.”

  “She’s easy to deal with. I’m not worried.”

  “You’re wrong, buddy. That video the reporter shot of you taking out those scumbags will come back to bite you, trust me.”

  “Everything will be fine, trust me,” Gordon said.

  “Why so confident?” John asked.

  Gordon gave John a smile and replied, “When a man has friends like you, there’s nothing that can hurt you.”

  MARCH 14, 2016

  “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

  South of Joseph, Oregon, Republic of Cascadia

  A single tear streaked down Lexi’s flush cheek. Death was no stranger to her. Losing Carrie had been tough, an emotional tsunami that she never thought would happen again, until Katie died. Her pragmatic side questioned the depth of emotion she was feeling. How could Katie’s death affect me so? I didn’t know her that long. While she understood the pain of losing Katie, she cared for her, it was just the intensity of the loss that was inexplicable.

  Until the baby was born, she’d be alone once more. Yes, she had Beau and Frenchie, but their companionship wasn’t the same.

  She looked at the freshly dug graves and shook her head in disbelief. Is this my destiny? Am I cursed to find people with whom I’ll build trust and friendship only to have it taken away? Is standing over the graves of friends something I’ll have to endure until I’m in the ground myself? If it wasn’t, it sure felt like it was.

  She reached in her pocket and pulled out the brown knitted cap Katie had made for the baby and put it on top of the grave marker and said, “I’ll miss you, Katie.”

  Using her sleeve, she wiped the tear away and turned her back to the graves. “You two ready?” she asked the dogs who sat patiently waiting.

  Beau walked over to her and nuzzled his nose into her hand.

  Lexi scratched his head and said, “You’re a good boy.”

  Hearing Lexi sweet-talk Beau, Frenchie bounded over happily.

  “You’re a sweet girl,” Lexi said as she petted her. She stood up and looked down the driveway towards the road. “Shall we?” Lexi picked up her pack and slipped it on over her tactical vest. She slung her rifle and together they walked towards the road.

  They reached the end of the driveway and Lexi paused. The driveway dead-ended into a state highway that ran north and south. Directly across, a country road led away west towards the mountains.

  There she was standing at a literal crossroads. Behind her was the house where she had thought about staying but just couldn’t do it. Right led north to Washington State and Canada beyond that. South took her to California and beyond, and the road across would lead her over the mountains and towards the coast.

  “Where should we go?” she asked the dogs. “Maybe we should go to Crescent to see how John is doing or we can go north and head into Idaho and visit the Van Zandts. We do have an open invite,” she said looking right. Lexi chewed on her lip and looked left. “We could always go back to California. Maybe we can go find Carrie and bury her properly.”

  Her mind raced. All she knew for sure was she couldn’t stay. “You guys aren’t any help,” Lexi joked.

  A warm breeze swept over her just as the sun broke through the gray cloud cover. She looked up and smiled.

  She took a step right and stopped. She looked over her shoulder to the south. “That breeze felt good and I can go for warmer weather,” she said and turned around and took several steps south before stopping again.

  An idea suddenly popped in her head. She looked down at the dogs and asked, “You guys like the water? I do. How about we head to the coast, huh?”

  The dogs just stood looking around.

  She took a few steps to head west when once more she paused as her self-doubt again took over. “Just make up your mind, Lexi,” she said out loud.

  Katie’s voice sounded in her head.

  Lexi took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She searched her thoughts with hopes that something would come to her, but nothing did.

  Beau barked and tore across the road with Frenchie right on his heels.

  She opened her eyes to see them bounding up and down in the tall grasses of a large field. “Typical.” She laughed. As she watched them race back and forth, cutting swathes through the grass, she got an idea that she knew was the best.

  She walked across the road and looked at the massive field. It spanned from the roads and went south and west until it stopped at the base of the mountains. “That’s it. I’ll go to the coast but I’ll make my own path there.”

  With confidence, she took the first steps in the new chapter of her life.

  ***

  As Lexi traveled along her path, she’d find adventure, more heartbreak, deal out justice, protect the innocent and again find love, but those stories have yet to be told.

  MARCH 21, 2016

  “There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.” – Ben Jonson

  New Meadows, Idaho, Republic of Cascadia

  Elizabeth couldn’t believe her luck. She had finally been able to pull the ultimate long game against Gordon, which would lead to his stepping down and endorsing her for president. Her moment was almost upon her and she was thrilled.

  When Gordon had called to say he’d meet her, she didn’t resist his call to have it in a secret location. Of course, she didn’t want her scheme to ever be known, so when he suggested the house in New Meadows where that first family was discovered murdered, she thought it the perfect place.

  Upon turning into the driveway, she saw Gordon standing there. As agre
ed, he was alone, but that was where her trust stopped. She didn’t dare come to a meeting like this armed with the information she had alone, especially a meeting with Gordon. His ruthless reputation had gotten him in trouble, but she refused to fall victim to it.

  Seeing Elizabeth wasn’t alone, Gordon raised his arms and shrugged his shoulders in a sign he was annoyed by her incessant scheming.

  Elizabeth got out and walked up to Gordon.

  “I should have known you’d go back on your word,” Gordon said.

  Out of earshot, she said, “Don’t worry, neither guard knows why I’m here.”

  This, of course, was another lie and Gordon knew it.

  “Shall we get to this, then?” Gordon said and pointed to the house.

  She looked around him at the house. “Ah, no. Let’s just stay out here. It looks creepy, and to be frank, I don’t trust you.”

  “Elizabeth, if I wanted you dead before, you’d be dead,” Gordon said.

  “I’ve heard from some that you were much nicer before all of this,” Elizabeth said.

  “Well, people change.”

  “Not to the extreme I’ve heard you have. Stressful times only bring out the person we really are, and I guess you’re no different than Jacques and Conner and other sociopaths that have risen to leadership roles.”

  Gordon sighed loudly and asked, “Can we get on with this? I have to get home for dinner.”

  “So the deal is, in exchange for the multimedia files I have on you committing atrocities, murder, and torture, you’ll agree to step down immediately and support my ascending to the presidency of the council, and when we’ve drafted our constitution, you’ll actively support my candidacy for presidency of the republic.”

  Gordon folded his arms and said, “Let me think.”

  “Theatrics, really, I expected more out of you,” Elizabeth scoffed.

  “I just have a slight change to the terms.”

  “What?”

  “It appears I’m not the only person who got recorded doing and saying things. You see, after that meeting, the one where you suggested I imbed a PR person, I sensed you were up to something. I wanted to know what that was, so I had Gunny wire your office and the council chambers.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

  “You’re not the only one who thinks ahead, Madam Chairperson.”

  “You’ve got nothing on me,” Elizabeth snapped.

  Gordon removed a small digital recorder from his pocket, pressed play and held it up to her ear.

  As she listened to her recorded scheme to dismantle many of the constitutional proposals for free markets, taxation, privacy and private property, she turned as white as a ghost.

  “I’m not sure how popular a candidate for president you’d be if this got out. Most people support the idea of a constitutional republic; they don’t want to see a so-called people’s republic similar to…what were your words? Cuba and Venezuela. I mean, who would use those two countries as models of progress?” Gordon asked as he mocked her.

  Elizabeth lunged to try to grab the recorder.

  Gordon deflected and laughed. “Here are my terms. I’ll give you this in exchange for your recordings and we both go about our lives. We’ll hold something over each other—it’s kinda like mutually assured destruction. You don’t fuck with me, I won’t fuck with you.”

  “How dare you! You’re despicable!” she shouted.

  “I’m despicable? So you do it to me and you’re righteous?” Gordon laughed.

  “You’re going to destroy this country. You’re reckless and…and not fit to lead us. I was justified in what I did.”

  “And I suppose you’re the pinnacle of what is right and good.”

  “I’m a good person!” she yelled.

  Her driver stepped out of the vehicle.

  Gordon looked over her shoulder at him and warned, “Tell fatso there to get back in the truck or I’ll kill him.”

  Elizabeth suddenly thought that with Gordon being alone she could finally take him out for good.

  Seeing the wheels turn in her head, Gordon said, “And don’t get the idea that now is a good time to kill me.” Gordon raised his hand. Seconds later red dots appeared and floated over Elizabeth.

  She recoiled at the sight of the three red dots that hovered over her heart. She turned and ordered, “Get back in the vehicle. I’m fine.”

  Gordon whistled.

  The red dots disappeared.

  “I’m not the smartest guy around, but I’m not a fool, and I’ve sacrificed too much to be hoodwinked by someone like you,” Gordon said.

  “I want every copy,” Elizabeth demanded.

  “I want the same courtesy, all your files for all of mine. It’s a clean deal and we go about our lives like I said.”

  “Fine.”

  “Did you bring at least one copy of my files for this right now?” Gordon asked.

  Elizabeth opened her coat and removed a large envelope. “Here.”

  Gordon gave her the recorder. “I’ll want any other copies by tomorrow,” he insisted.

  “I only have one other set,” she said.

  “Let’s meet here tomorrow, same time, and do the exchange.”

  “No, we meet in a public place. The library, we meet there,” Elizabeth said.

  “Okay.”

  Elizabeth turned and walked away. She felt flush and had to fight not to faint.

  Gordon, however, felt empowered.

  When her vehicle left, Gordon pulled his phone out and pressed the call button.

  “Go for Gunny.”

  “Gordon here, I want eyes on Elizabeth and everyone else in her inner circle immediately,” Gordon ordered.

  “Roger that,” Gunny said and hung up.

  Gordon pocketed the phone and looked south towards the towering mountains. He reflected on something that Elizabeth had said concerning how much he had changed. He wanted to find fault with her declaration but it was true. He wasn’t the same man he was before the lights went out, even just after. Yes, he had many similarities with that person but he wasn’t that man anymore. It could be said he had become the sum of all the tyrants he had fought. The thing was he was content with being that man now. It wasn’t about him, it was about his nation. He had fought to create it and wasn’t going to see it snuffed out in its infancy. He had and would continue to do what was necessary to ensure his fledgling republic survived long enough to become strong enough not to need his more extreme measures.

  Many leaders before him searched for a legacy. For him his legacy was the existence of the republic itself. So if the wolves are scratching at the door, he’d keep standing guard and cutting them down. No one would be able to convince him he was wrong. Just as there was no honor in poverty, there was no righteousness in failing to protect liberty from those who would seek to destroy it.

  MARCH 22, 2016

  “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln

  McCall, Idaho, Republic of Cascadia

  “Hurry, please,” Elizabeth said and hung up the phone. She carefully walked through the darkened halls of her house until she reached the living room. She felt comfort in the darkness, as it hid her from the dangers that she felt lurked outside.

  Time felt like it was crawling by. Seconds seemed like minutes. “Where are you?” she said out loud, looking down at the glow of her watch and noticing only four minutes had gone by. He said he’d be ten, so six more minutes. I should go get my things. Yes, that will kill a few minutes, she thought to herself and got up to go back to her bedroom.

  Back through the darkened halls she went, using only the glow of the satellite phone screen to guide her. Inside her bedroom, she grabbed her small tote bag and hurried back to the front room to wait.

  A loud crash came from the backyard.

  Her heart jumped. She walked to the kitchen entry and listened. Must have been an animal, she thought. She looked down at her watch. Oh no
, he’s late. Where are you? her mind screamed.

  She rushed back to the front room, knelt on the couch and pushed the curtains aside, but she couldn’t see a thing.

  “Where are you?” she said under her breath.

  Another noise came from the back, but this time it sounded like it was on the deck. She steadied her breathing and listened.

  Several more sounds came and it was from the back deck.

  Is that footsteps? she asked herself. Her heart was racing. Is he really coming to kill me?

  “Where the hell are you?” she asked loudly, her voice trembling.

  Headlights cut across the house.

  He’s here, he’s here.

  Elizabeth grabbed her bag and went to the front door.

  Again, noises came from the back, but she didn’t care, she was going out the front.

  She tossed open the front door and ran out. She bounded off the front deck and across the snow-covered lawn to the street where the SUV was parked.

  She glanced back and thought she had seen a shadow moving, but she wasn’t sure. She grabbed the frozen door handle of the rear right door and flung it open. Without looking she jumped in and slammed the door shut. “Go, hurry, someone is at my house. I think they’re trying to hurt me, maybe even kill me.”

  The SUV sped off.

  Elizabeth sighed with heavy relief and sank into the thick but chilly leather seat.

  She began to wonder if everyone else was also able to get out. This was their moment to leave McCall, head back to Olympia and form an opposition to Gordon and his followers. He was dangerous and couldn’t be allowed to take power.

  Her vehicle sped through town, but when it came to the sharp left turn in downtown, it went right instead.

  “What are you doing? We’re heading north. What the hell are you doing?” she complained.

  The SUV sped up.

  “Stop, you’re going the wrong way!” she screamed.

  Fear gripped her suddenly.

  “Who are you?”