Liberty or Tyranny

by John Grit

  “I understand. We have a long night ahead of us up here in Washington too. I’ll get back with you as soon as possible.”

  ~~~

  General Myers got back on the satellite phone and explained the new developments to Col. Donovan. “I have no idea what precipitated the sudden 180-degree turn in Washington. I have theories but won’t mention them now. Anyway, we’ll forget the matter of your objection to illegal orders and offering your resignation. You have new orders now, and I expect you to carry them out. Remember, we only have six months to show results. I’m hoping that conditions will be so improved that the president will extend those six months to a year.”

  Donovan kept his surging emotions under control. “Yes sir.”

  “Good. Unless something drastic comes up again, I expect your reports to go up the normal chain of command from now on. I’m glad you’ll be staying with us.”

  Donovan smiled as they ended their conversation. He stepped out of this office and rushed to the communications room. “Call all patrols in. They are ordered to convey their apologies to any civilian they meet along the way for violating their constitutional rights and explain to them that it was all a mistake and that it is safe for them to go back to their homes. No soldiers will bother them.” He turned to several sergeants who had overheard. “I want every off-duty noncom and officer standing in front of HQ at 1800 hours to receive new orders.”

  Sergeant Quint Bartow walked in. Smiling, he asked, “Does that mean your ass is out of the sling?”

  Donovan answered, “I guess so, since we’ve been ordered to stop terrorizing the innocent people of this county and start feeding and protecting them. The Williams family and the other two are no longer wanted in Washington.”

  “Great.” Bartow raised both eyebrows. “Now how do we get word to them? They may be in Georgia before they even know they’re not wanted anymore. And the thing is the people here need some kind of local law enforcement besides the heavy hand of the Army. Those guys were damn sure better than nothing, even the kid.”

  “Good question,” Donovan said. “But I don’t have an answer.” He rushed outside to look when he heard a Black Hawk coming in to land. He yelled for Bartow to join him outside.

  Donovan watched soldiers spill out of the helicopter, running bent over, carrying their heavy combat loads. Though the Black Hawk was over 100 yards away, he had to yell above the noise. “I’ve been told the spooks were called off hours ago. I don’t believe it. Not yet. Pass the word. Tell all the patrols heading out to check for any sign the CIA is still working the area. I want to know the minute there is anything new.”

  Bartow yelled above the noise, “Yes sir.”

  Donovan thought for a moment, then spoke again. “Radio Lieutenant Herzing at the farm on the lake and tell him he’ll be getting more manpower and equipment sometime tomorrow. This long winter has to end sometime. The civilians need to be ready to plant every inch of that land as soon as they deem it safe to do so. There can’t be too many more freezing nights left for this year. If there is, we must be entering another Ice Age.”

  “Yes sir. I doubt that.” He raised an eyebrow. “If that’s the case, it would probably finish off the human race.”

  Ignoring the sergeant’s last comment, Donovan added, “Get a few teams to reach out to other farmers in the area and see what we can do for them. I know they need more fuel, but what else can we do? Whenever soldiers have contact with civilians, I want them to ask about criminal activity and what their most pressing needs are. If they say they need protection, we’ll have to give it to them by placing a team on location until the troublemakers are IDed and apprehended. That’s it for now.”

  “Do you want me to wait until the officers are given your orders at 1800 hours?”

  Donovan shook his head. “No. Get on it right now. We can’t wait until then. Just fill them in on your activities after the meeting, so they’ll know what you’ve accomplished so far and not duplicate your efforts. If any officer gets on your case before then, just tell them you’re following my orders and they’ll be filled in at the meeting.”

  “Yes sir.” Bartow rushed into HQ to begin his many tasks.

  ~~~

  Two weeks later.

  Nate looked at the measly small pile of food sitting on a log: a small bag of rice and another of beans. “Well people, that’s all we have left.” He looked at the others who were all sitting in a circle looking at him. He half smiled. “Unless one of you is holding out.”

  Only Brian had anything to say. “Nope.”

  “That settles it,” Deni said. “One or two of us will have to risk going to Mel’s retreat or the farm. We have no choice.”

  Atticus scratched at his gray beard. “I’d just the same die of lead poisoning as starve.”

  “I vote with Atticus,” Tyrone said. “Except I think we might as well all go together, instead of just Nate and Deni.” He looked at Deni. “I’m sure that’s what you meant when you said one or two of us. But I think we should all go.”

  “Yeah,” Brian said. “That is if I get a vote.” He looked at Nate.

  Nate stood and turned his back to all of them, looking out into the swamp. He rested his hand on his holstered pistol, thinking. A few seconds later, he faced them and said, “We haven’t heard any aircraft lately, no gunfire, not a single soldier or even a boot track. There’s no sign that they’re hunting us anymore.”

  “I think you’ve already made your decision,” Deni said. “But will it be just the two of us or everyone?”

  “We’ll all go,” Nate answered. “But you and I’ll leave the others several miles back and go in slow and easy. We’ll check on Mel’s bunker and cave first. If we find no sign the soldiers have been there, you and I’ll go on to the farm and check it out, moving in slow and easy. We see so much as a boot track we’ll turn around and get the hell out of there. The food at Mel’s place will get us by for a while.”

  “I sure wish we could move back home,” Brian said. “Looks like it’s starting to warm up now. We could get a good crop in if we get seeds in the ground soon.”

  “You’re not the only one that’s homesick, Brian.” Tyrone glanced at Atticus. “This living in the woods shit is hard on me and Atticus both.”

  “Yeah, I’m too old for this.” Atticus had a gleam in his eye as he looked at the others. “But I’m not complaining. I can take it if you kids can.”

  “That settles it then.” Nate snatched up his rifle where it leaned against a nearby tree. “I’ll check the squirrel snares and gather them up. Hopefully we’ll have a few squirrels to eat before we go.”

  Brian sighed. “Damn. I sure hope this is the last time we have to eat game meat. Right now I feel like it would be worth taking on the whole damn U.S. Army to get a little decent food.”

  Atticus chuckled quietly, sure not to make too much noise. “I think you’ll change your mind if there really are soldiers waiting for us there.”

  “Maybe.” Brian pulled his pack close to him and started putting lighter items in the bottom of the main compartment. “Let’s get packed while Dad’s gone. I don’t hold out much hope for his snares. He’s likely to come back with no squirrels at all.”

  Tyrone stood and checked the safety on his rifle. “Go ahead and pack. Someone should be standing guard, even if we haven’t seen any soldiers lately.”

  ~~~

  Casper Tanner, 72 years old and showing every year of it, stood next to his tractor, waiting for the sunrise to bring enough light he could see well enough to start plowing 200 acres of the massive 1200-acre field. Looking to the east over the newly plowed field of black peat, rich in nutrients and waiting to grow many kinds of vegetables, his chest swelled with pride over his part in the building of this farm. A 28,000 acre stretch of land was a state wilderness preserve next to Lake Jackson. The farm had come to be known as Lake Jackson Farm, or just the Lake Farm. It was the third such farm built in North Florida with the help of the U.S. Army and National Guard,
as well as local citizens. The last two were modeled after the first one that Nate and Second Lieutenant Colby Jacobson, among many others, had designed and built and was already producing food for hungry people.

  Lieutenant Jacobson walked up and stood beside him. “No frost. That makes ten mornings in a row.” He looked at the old farmer. “What do you think, Cap?”

  Casper’s face wrinkled even more. He spoke without looking at the lieutenant. “I think we should’ve started planting several weeks ago. It’ll take a while for the seeds to sprout, so even if we get another frost or two, it probably won’t hurt nothin’. A little cold’ll harden the sprouts some. But then again, a hard freeze’ll kill ‘em.” He took his straw hat off and scratched his bald head. “Once we get the seeds in the ground, we got to keep them moist, and that ain’t goin’ to be easy without pumps and a real irrigation system. This here primitive system that works by gravity feed from the lake is better than nothin’, but we really do need to have some kind of sprinkler system and pumps to pressurize it. If we can’t keep the seeds moist, they ain’t comin’ up and those that do’ll be stunted and produce little to nothin’.”

  Jacobson smiled at the farmer’s backcountry accent. “We’re working on it. Got a couple big pumps coming in soon. But we’re going to be short on diesel fuel for a while. Remember, there’s other farms besides this one.”

  “Oh, I ain’t forgot that,” Cap said. “Ain’t the first time I had to make do when I didn’t have much to work with. Come hell or high water, we’ll feed some people. I can promise that. Can’t promise much else. But I can promise that. No way am I goin’ to let that Nate Williams guy down south of here outdo me. Get back out of my way. It’s time for me to crawl up on this rig and get to work.”

  Lieutenant Jacobson smiled and rushed back to the little building made of scrap plywood that was his office, headquarters, radio room, and home away from home. A large olive drab canvas tent stood 50 yards behind the building. The men who served under him slept there. Its duplicate stood 50 yards further back. It served as the mess hall. Surrounding the plywood building and tents were six sandbagged machine gun nests. More soldiers patrolled the perimeter of the entire farm, and at least two guards were kept at the gate 24 hours a day. They hadn’t had any trouble with terrorists lately, but they couldn’t afford to take the chance with lax security.

  ~~~

  The American people’s rage over recent revelations stood ready to boil over. It had become common knowledge that President Capinos and the CIA were responsible for drumming up trouble in an effort to destabilize the country further and give Capinos an excuse to grab more power and remove more constitutional limits to government. A tidal wave of demand for a real national election had grown to a fever pitch, and almost everyone knew that if that election didn’t take place soon, there was going to be trouble. The fieriest rhetoric usually came out of the mouths of those who believed the military was with the people. Those who were not so sure, were more restrained out of concern for their safety, but were just as determined to see real national elections by the end of the year.

  Reestablishing law and order was still a long way off, and brigands roamed the land almost at will. Occasionally, though, they ran afoul of armed civilians, the National Guard, or the Army. Someone in Washington had decided that the Marines would operate mostly west of the Mississippi, and the Navy and Air Force would concentrate on defending the country from outside threats. The rest of the country was the Army and National Guard’s responsibility. The Coast Guard did what it could wherever it could, especially in Alaska. Hawaii had been left nearly devoid of human life. Early in the onslaught of the plague, world-traveling tourists brought the deadly disease to the islands, and it devastated the population there even more than on the continent of North America. No federal official had dared even set foot on Puerto Rico in over a year. A fly-over told them it was nearly devoid of life. A few Americans thought it would be the place to flee from the plague, not realizing tourists had brought the deadly disease there early on. With business and pleasure travelers jetting around the world, there was no refuge from the plague, except the most remote areas, where there were no airports and no roads. Alaskans living in the bush stopped coming into town for supplies and had to rely completely on hunting and fishing. Their already rugged lives became a constant struggle to survive.

  Mexico, south to Costa Rica, were hit hard by the plague, leaving few alive. Only those who lived deep in the jungles of South America, away from any contact with the outside world, had been spared. They too, had been forced to isolate themselves even more and live off the land completely, the same as those in the Alaskan bush.

  No one in government seemed to have any idea if the plague had been a product of nature or if it had been a doomsday weapon produced in some laboratory. Opinions and guesses were plentiful, but solid information was impossible to find. Not only had the U.S. Government not yet come to any conclusion on the source of the plague, other than the fact it started in Israel, the UK, France, Germany, and other allies of the U.S., Washington had nothing to say on the subject. Rumors were plentiful, and varied from reasonable to fantasies from the Twilight Zone. If it had been a terrorist attack with intentions of harming only the U.S. and its allies, their plan had backfired, killing almost everyone on the face of the earth. But then, that too could have been their intention. A doomsday weapon. A weaponized disease designed to wipe out the human race. After all, there were people just that crazy. Speculation abounded, but facts were few.

  Chapter 15

  Nate purposely led the group into the rougher country north of Mel’s bunker. Mel’s cave wasn’t the only one in the area, and he knew exactly where one was that would be perfect for the others to hide in while Deni and he went on to scout the area around Mel’s bunker for any sign of danger. Caves were generally not a good place to hide, as there was no exit in most cases. If an enemy discovered you, the cave would become a grave. But Nate was most worried about aircraft equipped with forward looking infrared, or FLIR. Their heat signature would not be detected in a cave.

  “Take your time. Don’t rush it,” Brian admonished his father. “If they have a trap set, it might not be so easy to see on first glance.”

  “That’s good advice,” Nate said, his rough voice echoing in the cave. “Everyone stay back from the entrance while we’re gone and be as quiet as possible.”

  Deni hid any worries she might have had behind a smile. “If everything goes well, we’ll be back by nightfall with our packs full of food.”

  “Just be careful, and you’ll be all right,” Brian said.

  Tyrone and Atticus wished them both luck, as they slipped out of the cave entrance.

  With their packs empty of everything but a little water and ammunition, Nate and Deni slipped into the woods light on their feet. Unlike most of Florida, this area was hilly and marred by deep ravines that slowed their progress. Sinkholes and springs were also common, as were limestone outcroppings that had to be climbed over or skirted around. While keeping their eyes and ears on full alert for danger in the woods, they also listened for aircraft in the sky. Their enemy had all the advantages. Their only shield was stealth.

  The two stayed back in the shade of tall pines as they navigated around a large sinkhole. Both scrutinized the mud at the water’s edge for any boot tracks. To their relief, they found none. Nate noticed something in the clear water. A stone in a peculiar shape. His mind wasn’t really on the puzzle it presented, since he was more concerned with walking into an ambush than such trivial matters, but it flashed in his mind that he had just seen a fossilized mastodon tooth. He didn’t bother mentioning it to Deni. They had more important things to worry about. He hoped that some day in the future during more pleasant times, he would mention what he saw in the clear water and perhaps make a joke about it. At the moment, his main concern was living long enough to experience those more pleasant times.

  Because of the necessity of stealth, their progress was slo
w, and morning grew into afternoon before they were within half a mile of Mel’s bunker. Nate motioned for Deni to come closer. He whispered, “Stay back ten yards. We’re going to be moving extremely slow from now on.”

  Deni nodded. “Slow it is. We’ve got nothing but time.”

  As they made their timorous progress, the tree shadows all around them grew longer and the warmth of the afternoon faded along with the light. The dying sunless afternoon found the couple peering through brush and out into the small clearing around Mel’s bunker. They had yet to find any sign that a human being had been in the area lately, not a single boot track. Still, they didn’t let their guard down and stayed in the darkening shadows of the tall forest, skirting around the clearing and heading for the cave.

  The tree Nate and Brian had planted so long ago was still alive and had grown to a height of five feet, completely hiding the entrance. Anyone walking by would never have noticed the olive drab painted steel door behind it.

  Though it appeared safe, they did not move in and approach the cave entrance until they had circled around the entire area and found no sign of danger.

  Keeping his voice low, Nate said, “You overwatch while I go on in. I don’t want to expose myself in the clearing until I’m over by that big pine.” He pointed. “When I come out of the cave, I’ll head over in the other direction towards that big rock and enter the woods that way. There’s no point in me coming straight to you and focusing their attention on your position.”

  “Okay,” Deni said. “There’s no harm in being extra careful, even though we’re pretty sure there’s no one out here.”

  Nate touched her face lightly, as if he were thanking her for not giving him any grief for keeping her out of danger as much as possible while exposing himself to any sniper who might be waiting for him to walk into the clearing. “If all goes well, I’ll take your pack and return to the cave for another load.”