Mike paused as Caroline moved toward him and he held his hand up. This was difficult enough. If she came closer, he might not be able to finish. She smiled in her understanding way and stood in silence near her husband.
“I know some of you are asking why I decided to let those people go without punishment. It’s simple… we need to stop the carnage, the stealing, the murders, and the slavery now. Not in another month or year, but now! It will serve no useful purpose other than revenge to hunt them down and kill them. We’ll adopt an attitude of wait and see, for now. If they continue the same kind of activities, we’ll exact a fair administration of justice. They have been warned. They now know that they cannot escape the arm of civil justice. I would rather try to work with them than remain in a constant state of war. We don’t need more deaths.”
“I’ll be meeting with them in a little over a week. We’ll hammer out a fair and workable plan. Sheriff Waters will help, since he will be the Governor of California, as Dan is no longer with us.”
Several people began shouting questions at Mike. The whole bar was awash in conversation. “I know some of you have questions about the amnesty and some of you don’t agree with my decisions in this matter. I don’t have the luxury of a staff of people to help me make these difficult, on-the-spot decisions. A reprieve for the slavers seems like the best choice for everyone here.”
“I promise you this. If the slavers do anything that goes against the laws of man, we will hunt them down and we will exact swift justice. But enough people have died, and I don’t want us to constantly live under wartime conditions.”
“How many of you like war? How many of you are not distraught that Doctor Dan and Sam are dead because of this war? I want it to end now. We’ll wait and see if the slavers are going to work with us or continue to work against us. Are there any more questions?”
The crowd was quiet. What he said made sense. Mike turned to Linda Sienna, “How about a scotch and water?”
“Coming right up!”
Mike downed it quickly and asked for another.
Chapter 21
Reconstruction
THE SLAVERS HAD THEIR OWN meeting before heading to Fitch. They all felt robbed of what they considered their fair share of what was out there. Slasher calmly listened to the various men give their opinions and comments before he addressed the group of thugs.
“I’ve heard your concerns, but listen to me now, because the decision we make today will keep our necks out of a noose later. We can no longer operate as we once did. The lootin’ and shootin’ has ended. It was fun while it lasted, but these farmers have organized. They’ll soon have even more people on their side, and we will never again be able to continue business as usual.”
He paused and looked out at the group of bikers. There were approximately a hundred men and just over a hundred women remaining in their group. The women were not at this meeting, but they had stayed. Not by force, but because they wanted to be there.
“We all know that we want to continue doing what we like doing. Nobody wants it more than I do, but we have to be realistic. If we continue on this path, they will hunt us down and execute us. You don’t have to be too smart to figure that out. So we have to change our tactics.”
He paused again to let his words sink in. “There are towns out there with nobody in them. We will choose one for us to move into. We will do what these farmers are doing and grow our own food.”
The groans and moans were immediate. These people didn’t want to do any of that kind of work. They wanted someone else to do all the work while they played all night and slept all day. Slasher held up his hands in an effort to calm them down. He wasn’t finished explaining.
“What’s the matter with you bozos? Can’t you see what we have here? We have an opportunity to play the game for now and sort of stay within the rules.” He grinned, “and we’ll make sure the rules favor us. We will rule society!”
The cheers and high-fives went up and Slasher knew he was on the right track. He waited for them to calm down before continuing. “The men will continue running the show. The women will work the gardens, cook and clean. If the women don’t like the way we manage things, they can git! It’s time some of you show some backbone and manage your women the way real men do. Make them understand that men are the ones in charge!”
This set them off again. The laughing and cat calls went on for several minutes. Once they settled down again, Slasher began anew. “What we have to do is appear to be like them on the surface, but behind the scenes we will continue business as usual. We’ll appear squeaky clean to those farmers. We’ll buy and sell stolen property. We’ll fence anything and everything. If someone has a grudge to settle, we’ll settle it for them… for a price.”
“If something needs to be twisted, we will twist it. We’ll run for office and become the Sheriffs and Councilmen. We can even run for higher offices, such as Governor. We’ll insert ourselves into politics because that’s where the real power and wealth is. We’ll run things in this state, in every county we can get ourselves positioned. We will rule.”
“We’ll appear legitimate. We’ll become tradesmen, law enforcement officers, judges and lawmakers. We’ll do all those things necessary to get on top of this new world we live in. There is one small catch… we must make them believe we are like them. When they meet with us, they need to think we’ve conformed. We’ll insert ourselves into the system and rule as we did before. Not with brute force this time, but with our brains. If any of you messes things up by going out of the envelope we are setting up here, I will deal with you personally.”
He paused and ran a finger across his neck. “You will die a nasty, painful death. I guarantee it! Screw with the bull, expect the horns.”
There were no cheers, but the smarter ones understood his message and knew that his plan would benefit them all. It would take some time, though, and they would have to be patient to see the results they wanted.
“In about a week, we will be meeting with those farmers. I want everyone who will accompany me to shower, shave and make sure the clothes you wear are unsoiled and neat. We lost a lot of our brothers last week so there should be plenty of clothes available. We must make sure those farmers believe we want to be legitimate.
In the days following the meeting at Fitch, we’ll move back to Wormwood, fix the place up and make sure everything is in working order. Those of you who had a trade will set up shops and begin working that trade. We’ll pick up the trash, make sure our women bathe, and clean up our acts. Believe me when I say, it’ll be worth it down the road. I want to meet with Killer, Skinny, Toothless, Reverend, Pilot and Scooter when we’re done here, so you six stick around.”
“That’s it everyone. Remember my words, because things are going to change… beginning right now.”
The large group began breaking up and people stood around talking, laughing and joking. But they all knew that things were about to change, and those changes wouldn’t be fun.
Two weeks after the battle, the slavers arrived at Fitch on their motorcycles. They were flying a white flag and they looked like a group of stock brokers on a weekend outing. They were clean and their clothing was spotless and devoid of patches. They wore jackets, but not the colors that identified the gang they were affiliated with.
They came unarmed and were escorted to the town hall. The motorcycles, their riders and those who would attend the meeting parked and entered the building.
Once everyone was seated, Sheriff Waters started the meeting. “Let’s all stand, face our country’s flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.”
After everyone recited the Pledge, Sheriff Waters asked each man to stand and introduce himself. Marcie was taking the minutes of the meeting and documented everyone’s name.
“We have had a difficult time these last months trying to protect ourselves from bandits and so called slavers. It’s been a difficult job. The cannibalism we learned of was the most difficult element to face and to d
eal with. The emotional roller coaster has been very telling on our people and is something none of us will ever be able to forget.”
“We are gathered here to try to formulate a new beginning. I will be perfectly honest with all of you – I was opposed to this amnesty. You may or may not know that as Lieutenant Governor, appointed to that office by the new President of the United States, I reported to Governor Daniel Crowley.”
“I now hold the office of Governor of this great state and I will act accordingly. I have listened to Admiral Reynolds and I’m willing to go along with his proposal for now. However, I will insert a warning that you can take back to your group. We will no longer tolerate any deviation from the laws of man pertaining to thievery, murder, rape, pillaging and in particular the heinous crime of cannibalism.”
“If I hear of any such crimes taking place, we will hunt you down and hang you from the nearest tree; fitting punishment for those crimes. From this day forward, there will never be another amnesty granted. This is your one and only chance. I hope this is very clear to you. I will now turn the meeting over to Admiral Mike Reynolds.”
Mike was dressed in his Admiral’s uniform, with ribbons in place, Trident on his chest above the ribbons and jump wings below. He stood at the podium and stared into the crowd. He focused his stare on Slasher and then moved his eyes from one slaver to the next.
“We have lost some good people over this senseless war. We’re still mourning our losses, but we understand there is no gain without the proverbial pain. You have been invited here among us today in peace. You may proceed among us without fear of reprisal. But make no mistake, our offer of peace and amnesty is not a sign of weakness. We will fight if we have to. In war, we are warriors, as ruthless as you are. I think we proved that in the last battle.”
“We welcome a new beginning. Together we can rebuild this great country. We trade with our neighbors and we can live in harmony. You have the opportunity to join us. If any of our own breaks the peace, we will deal with them quickly. It will work both ways. We have agreed to help you get started in the right direction with your new life. We will issue a legal proclamation and the Governor will sign it. You can take your copy with you when you leave.”
“We’ve gathered some livestock to help you get started. Consider it a token of our sincerity to you. We also have some agricultural seeds to help you start your own crops of essentials. We make this same offer to any groups we find who are in need.”
“I hope we don’t live to regret this day. We can be a generous neighbor or a powerful adversary. I’m going against a large voice of the people who only want to see your heads mounted on spikes outside of town. I, too, have lost good friends, so it won’t take much to change my mind. We will honor this peace, and I sincerely hope you will do the same. There will be no other opportunity.”
“I don’t want you to walk away from this meeting feeling you are walking on thin ice. I understand as men that we are all weak in certain ways. But think of this as an opportunity. Working with us will be better than warring with us. You’ll be better off for it and so will we.” It’s time for your chosen leader to speak for your group.
Mike stepped away from the podium, took a seat, and watched as Slasher stepped up to the podium. Most women found him exciting. He had a scar over one eye from a motorcycle accident years ago. His build was moderate at five eleven and 180 pounds. He stood smugly before the crowd but appeared calm and cool as he opened his notes.
“My name is Alvin Cobb. I am aware of the animosity some of you hold against me and my people. I can only reiterate the words that someone spoke long ago, ‘Desperate times make for desperate measures.’ I can’t name the person who said those words, but they exemplify what happened to us. At first, we were convinced the Russians and Chinese were about to descend upon us. We made ourselves ready to repel them as best we could. Then when the Russians and Chinese didn’t come, we started running out of food. We raided and plundered some of the outlying towns.”
“Some people opposed us, so we took what we needed. Bone Breaker captured a few women and made them his personal sex-slaves. One thing led to another and he determined that slavery could get us the things we needed, so he sanctioned it in our society. At the time, it worked well for us; he was our leader.”
“We resorted to cannibalism as a last alternative. Most of the bodies that were eaten were near death anyway. We were desperately afraid of starvation, so we used them as a food source.”
This set the citizens of Fitch, Bishop and Avalon off, and some jumped to their feet, yelling and shaking their fists at the speaker. The tension was escalating, so Mike stood up and outstretched his arms as if he was pushing at an invisible foe. “Give the man the opportunity to tell his story. You don’t have to agree, but please give him the opportunity to tell it.”
The people eventually calmed down, and Alvin waited for the noise to subside before continuing. His tanned features belied the ruthless killer he was. His green eyes stared at the crowd, waiting for the tension to subside.
This was his opportunity to sell himself to this crowd and he wasn’t going to ruin it. “I understand your concerns. There is no way we can undo what took place in the past. But we want to join forces with you for the future. We want to accept your gifts and become productive in this new society. We don’t want charity – we want an equal partnership. We are willing to work with you for the betterment of everyone.”
“I understand your hatred for our former leader, Bone Breaker. I can’t say I blame you. I can only hope you won’t transfer that hate toward those of us who remain. What we did was wrong. I wasn’t strong enough at the time to stop him. I tried to get him to stop the plundering but I wasn’t able to. I had to resort to killing him because it was the only way to stop his reign of terror and move our group to where we want to be… a trade partner, and a partner in peace.”
“We will put aside the violence we practiced under Bone Breaker. He couldn’t see any other way to do things, and I wasn’t able to convince him of his folly. Today we welcome you as friends and neighbors. I ask you to trust us and give us a chance. We won’t let you down. Today is a new day!”
The Sheriff walked to the podium as Slasher finished his speech. “We are willing to give you a final chance. We expect from here on out, that you will be productive neighbors and live within the established rules of a peaceful society. As Governor of California, I declare this meeting adjourned.”
The bikers headed for the door, attempting to exit through the Meeting Room. One woman screamed out at the bikers as they departed. “You may have fooled the rest of these people, but you haven’t fooled me. I curse you and your followers! You killed my children and my husband. I will never believe you’re anything but the scum of the earth!”
Slasher didn’t say anything. He simply looked at the woman, turned and walked out of the building. He walked outside and mounted his motorcycle. Four of the men who came with him stayed to drive the trucks with the animals, food and seeds bestowed upon them by the townspeople.
His thoughts were filled with hate and he vowed to himself to make the insolent woman pay for her outburst. He knew he had to remain patient, for now.
Slasher, if nothing else, was a patient man.
Chapter 22
Wormwood
SLASHER KNEW HE HAD to keep his looters and shooters in check. He would have to be innovative in his thinking to control these brutes. It was a tall order.
He knew most of the townspeople at the meeting didn’t believe his group of brigands would go straight and stop looting and terrorizing. Slavery was lucrative and hard to give up. Slasher had no illusion that the farmers would exercise their threat of retaliation if they heard about any further raids or about towns being captured.
The solution was simple in idea, but would be difficult in execution. He had to come up with a way to raid the smaller towns and capture the people without alerting those at Fitch and Avalon.
There would need to be
careful planning; once his boys could no longer roam free and do as they pleased, the group might fracture. Some might strike out on their own, resulting in too many leaders, each with their own agenda. There would probably be power struggles leading to bloodshed, and the groups might all collapse. The rivalry was too intense not to result in an uprising from within. He had to maintain order and personal control over these cutthroats from the beginning.
He decided to take over a small town that had been abandoned after the plague and set up his own small system of control. He would make it a legitimate place of commerce and appease the farmers until he could eventually conquer them from within.
Small steps would lead to big accomplishments. Once he established the town, he would send out his best boys to notify Avalon and Fitch. That should legitimize his town government.
He would be the Mayor, of course. And he would institute an armed police force and a judicial system. He would appoint his lieutenants to run various segments of the town. This was a pie that could be sliced many ways. Each man would have a snippet of control. That should appease them and keep them under his wing.
It was a perfect stepping stone to propel him into the driver’s seat of absolute power. Eventually, he would aim for the Presidency of the United States of America. It would take a few years, but he was patient. He thought, first the town, then the State, and then the White House… or whatever it was these day.
Slasher called a meeting with his key people.
“Boys, we’re about to set sail on the path of success. Our city will encompass all the land and the residents near it. With our own government in place, we’ll control everything. We’ll collect taxes for everything except breathing. It’s still theft, but on a scale higher than looting and shooting. If we’re going to continue thieving, let’s do it legitimately, the way the politicians did it to us before the war.” Several of the chuckled at that.
Avalon: Beyond the Retreat (The Avalon Series Book 2) Page 19
