"Third, the government in Washington has mostly collapsed. The President, cabinet, their friends and family are all in their underground bunkers eating steak and watching videos. We paid the taxes, which built those bunkers and paid for all those frozen steaks and videos. Having such foresight makes you proud to be American.
"What does all that mean? For the time being, it means you are on your own. You are now responsible for your own safety. The military is no longer functional, at least at the local level. The police are no longer functional at any level. In short, the world has changed. It's not your father's America. Maybe it is your great, great, grandfather's America. But, you are on your own. I said 'for now,' because at some time in the future, the government will run out of steaks and come out of their bunkers looking for more. The military will run out of steaks and run off their ships and submarines and out of their bunkers looking for food. They will all come to you with all their big guns and ask you for your steaks, in the national interest. You will be able to contribute any food you may have saved to help rebuild our civilization. And you'll do it, not because of all those big guns, but because you're proud to be American.
"Last, all the services we take for granted are gone. All the businesses we take for granted are gone. I've been ordering a pizza every night for the last week through the internet and nobody has brought me one. I'm starving to death, literally.
"The gun in my hand is made in America and so are the bullets in it. It's a reliable piece of hardware built by reliable Americans and I'm glad I bought it with money I worked hard for, in America. It's the American way.
"Before I take my next step, I want to explain to my loyal listeners, if indeed any of you are still alive. My six-year-old daughter contacted the virus five days ago and suffered a horrible death. So alive and bubbly one day and dead the next. We had tried so long to have children and…." The sobbing over the airwaves soon gave way to a crackling voice. "Yesterday my wife of twenty years died in my arms. I haven't shown any signs of the virus, but I can't live without my reasons for living and in a world that is so full of death and starvation. So the next sound you hear will be evidence that I can't handle this. It's just too much for me, but I am, as always and forever, proud to have been American. But to be honest, folks. It's over. Good luck."
John, George and Fred both sat dead still as they heard the sound of the gunfire.
* * *
John passed Cho on his daily trip to survey the perimeter of the property, to make sure no unwanted guests had breached their security.
"John, I still not like friend Carla."
It wasn't hard for John to see that Cho was angry, not jealous. The hardness in her voice was unmistakable.
"Any new reason or just the same old reason."
"She never work. Play with children all day. Teaching she say. Play, I say. Never time for work. Eat plenty, but no work. We not make good decision with her. Need think again."
John had been coming to the same conclusion, but it was especially sharp and pointed coming from Cho. "What you mean is I didn't make a good decision, right?"
"No, we all vote. I vote against. Masako vote against. We make good decision. Everybody else make bad decision. Not just John."
Trying to keep the peace, John replied, "I'm glad I wasn't alone in that. I would feel bad. OK, I'll talk to her and try some of my underused management skills."
"No need management skill. Need red-hot poker in ass."
"OK. I'll remember that. What about Isaac?"
"Not do much. Waste of space, as George say. I ask him to work in garden. He lazy. Work only half as much as Cho. Eat more, work less. Need two red-hot pokers."
"I'll talk to him, too."
"Take poker and torch. They get idea."
The compound was secure for now. As John walked toward the greenhouse, his mind was muddled with the conversation he had with Cho. He had allowed himself to be taken in by someone from his past, someone who used trickery to obtain what she wanted in the past and she had used it to buy a free ride for her and her family. Any other time he wouldn't begrudge people food, let alone two small children, but Cho was right. Carla's family had to pull their weight. Schooling was secondary, at this point in time. Survival was the necessity. He made a mental note to talk with them as soon as possible. His mind once again turned to the problems of security and how they might obtain more food. He didn't notice Fred until he heard his own name.
"What are you thinking about, John? You looked out of it."
John shook his head, trying to free himself of the extraneous matter before answering. "Security, Fred. That and food are my two biggest worries. I've been remembering those thieves on the motorcycles. They came here on the highway. If we had blocked the road, then they might not have come here. Carla and Isaac too."
"If we blocked the road, it would be obvious that we're here. That we had something worth taking."
"I still believe it's a good idea. That way if someone attacks, they would have to use horses. We could knock down a few trees. Make it look like Mother Nature blocked it."
"Motorcycles or ATV's. Wouldn't slow them down much. Plus, it would make it difficult for us to go out when we wanted to. If we find a big stash of something, it would be difficult to take the truck. Or if we had to bug out it would be more difficult. No offense, but I still keep a bug-out bag."
"Maybe you're right. I've been trying to minimize the use of diesel fuel. Save it for a rainy day. We haven't found any supplies of diesel or gasoline lately. With all the stations around, many gallons should be left."
"The refineries were the first to go, and then when their storage was empty, the local depots went dry. Then, all the local stations were tapped out."
"What if we took a pump and went to some of these stations and dropped in a stick to see if any was remaining? What if the power failed before they were tapped out? We could pump out what was left."
"It'll go on the list, near the top."
* * *
That evening, after dinner, John decided that he couldn't put it off any longer. He had to have a talk with Carla and Isaac. It was a warm evening with a half moon shedding light on the path. When he walked up to their cabin, they were sitting on the front porch.
"Hello, folks. How'd you like dinner? Marceau is a great cook, isn't she?"
Carla scrunched up her face. "It's OK. I'd prefer some simple home cooking, some time."
"Marceau isn't the queen of the kitchen. Any night you want to prepare the dinner, let us know. I'm sure Marceau would like a day off. She hasn't had a day off since we've been here."
"Oh, yes, I'm sure she would," said Carla.
John looked at her with sadness. She complained about the food and then refused to do anything to help. To make matters worse, she made a snarky remark that sounded like Marceau was trying to avoid work. This wasn't going to be easy. They didn't cover dealing with lazy people in summer camp.
"I'm glad you came. We have something we want to talk to you about."
"OK, shoot."
As she talked, Carla gestured toward the cabin. "As you know, we have four people in our family and we have the same size cabin as the others, who only have one or two in theirs. It isn't fair."
"It's a two-bedroom cabin. What would you suggest?"
"We should have the big bedroom in the upstairs of the lodge and the other one upstairs for the kids. The one we're using for storage. We could move the storage to one of the spare cabins. It's fair, since we have four people."
"I'm glad you mentioned that."
She leaned forward. "So you agree?"
"Not quite. Several of the others have pointed out that you aren't doing your fair share of the work."
"Now wait," said Isaac, quick to jump in taking the defensive, "Carla has to care for the children. That takes time."
"Carla takes care of her own children and rarely, if ever, does any work which helps the rest of us. At the same time, you aren't doing that much work in the g
arden, either. You four eat for four and produce the work of less than one. We really do need to make some changes."
"What exactly are you saying?" said Carla, squirming in her seat.
John breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, thinking, I just said it. Why is this so difficult? "We aren't on vacation. It's not the same as when you came here with your family, before. You paid your way back then. You're not paying your way now. Our purpose is not enjoyment or education, it's survival."
"The children need to learn. They are our future."
"They are our future in twenty years. But, if we don't make it to next year, what good is investing in that future?"
"That's ridiculous. We must take care of the children."
"You can quote all the mindless aphorisms you want, but what I said is still true. If we're not alive tomorrow, then we won't be alive in twenty years. You can quote that whenever you like. If we don't work to survive now, we won't be here in two months. Our priority is survival and not education. Those times are gone. Over. Finished. It's a new world. A harsh world, but it's not the old world. You can't just skate by any more. Either of you."
"John, you are being horrible."
"Yeah, John. You're carried away with all this survival stuff. You're scaring the kids. Back when I played football, we had steak every night. You're feeding us rice and beans when you do feed us. It's just not enough. Even when I was selling cars, the janitor ate better than this."
John felt his anger coming to the surface. He held his temper and willed himself to be calm. Going out of control would help no one. "Isaac, you're not listening. The world had changed. You don't go to work to sell cars any more. I'm being practical and you two are not. You do your assigned work during the day and teach at night. And Isaac, you just have to work harder. This is not a game. It's real. We all have to do our best or none of us will survive. You have to work at least as hard as Cho. I'm sorry. If things are better next year, then Carla, maybe you can have some time off during the day, but we will shortly be into harvest season and food will not only have to be harvested, but also cooked and properly stored. That takes time and work. If we waste anything because it wasn't picked or cooked or canned in time, we won't make it through the winter. It's a question of survival, pure and simple."
Carla put her head in her hands and started to cry. "It's not fair. It's not."
"Yeah, John. We didn't start this panic. It's not our fault."
John felt his blood pressure rising. His face was hot. His heart was beating in his ears. He had to convince them to change. Maybe telling them about the others' hardships. "It's not my fault either, Isaac. The others worked before you came here. Fred and George sold everything they had at a discount and then spent all their money buying things to help us survive. Elspeth, Tom and Harry too. Cho, Marceau and Pierre gave up their country. What did you give up? You were starving when you showed up at the gate. You only came here because you had nowhere else to go. You brought us nothing but a car that was barely running and out of gas. We took you in and fed you. We gave you a roof over your head and beds to sleep in. You took it all without hesitation and without making an honest effort to fit in or do your share. You said you would do anything, but you haven't done anything. You're just going to have to do better. Much better."
Carla grasped Isaac's arm, showing her white knuckles. "Isaac. We should go. They don't want us."
Isaac unclenched her hand from his arm as he finally realized they were fighting a losing battle. John was not going to change his mind. "Calm down, Carla. It's his place. We should do what he says." Looking at John, he said, "We'll do better."
Chapter 32 - Power Failure
It was a good morning for it to be the end of the world as he knew it. John stood in the kitchen, looking out the back window, as the sun peeked over the highest mountain in the distance and small wisps of white clouds lingered in the sky. Could have been a beautiful day for a nice ride in the country, if only gas were available. Could have been a beautiful day for tourists lining the country roads, if only those tourists were still alive. John walked out onto the back porch, thinking that life was going to be even harder. He saw George, sitting on the edge of the small porch, whittling a branch.
"Nice morning. Not as hot or humid as it has been. Quiet too. What's up, George?"
"Quiet as a Texas prairie at the break of day. Power's out. Went out last night. The inverters and batteries are takin' care of things until the sun rises. I told most of the others not to use any hair dryers or electric irons this morning. Elspeth said if she had an iron, she would throw it out, just for the cause."
"Always the life of the party." John leaned against the house, admiring the sunrise.
"You say that a lot. There's more to that little filly than you been tellin' us."
"Not too much. As you know, she's fond of alcohol. In almost any form, but she prefers bourbon. She used to drink until she was totally blitzed and then she would dance on the tabletops. Often."
"Still does that, pardner. No change there. Puts on quite a nice performance with those short dresses of hers. Good looking filly."
John moseyed over to steps and sat down beside George. "Now is different. Believe it or not. Now, she wears underwear. No matter what she says, I suppose, Tom has tamed her a bit."
"Ah. I'm beginnin' to understand. I can see how that would liven up a dull party. Might even add a little zing to a Texas party."
"Always did. So, is the power is out forever? Or will it come back?"
"The local radio station is out. Most of the stations around the country have gone out the last couple days. They'll all be out soon. The power plants are shuttin' down. Nobody comin' to work, from what I've heard on the amateur radio. Like they said on that TV news show. Half the people are dyin' and the other half are partyin'. Back in Texas, people used to go through hurricanes that way. Drunk as a skunk. One bar on Galveston Bay used to keep servin' when the water was knee high at the bar. They was just scared and that's how they made it through."
John felt lucky that they had prepared for this, but were they completely prepared? He thought that they probably weren't.
"The only people with power will be people with solar panels or with generators. Those people with generators can be spotted by the noise and will be easy targets. Those in search of food will think that anyone who had enough money and who thought ahead enough to buy a generator would have thought ahead enough and had enough money to stash away lots of food. I wonder how much fuel they have for those generators."
"No natural gas pipelines around here. I checked. Even if there was, the gas wouldn't last forever. Sooner or later, a compressor would go out and nobody would be around to fix it. A few people with gas wells on their property might last a while. Months. A year if they knew what they were doin' and shut off their supply to the world. And if they stocked up on food. But none of those are around here. So, the generators have to be run by propane or gasoline or diesel. Maybe some farmers had some on hand. I read about a guy runnin' a car engine with wood. Had to refuel twice a day. Could make a generator like that. It would take some work. Steel equipment, pipe, weldin'. A bit dangerous. Carbon monoxide."
"We can save all that for winter time. We should line up a bunch of projects to do during the cold weather."
"Sure. I'll make a list. If anybody has a big propane tank, their generator might last a month. With gasoline or diesel, until they run out of fuel. A few days or a few weeks. Anyway, they'll be targets because of the noise, like you said. We should make sure we cover the windows at night. Not only sound, but light will attract varmints too. Especially the two legged variety. I'll give everybody some black plastic sheet to cover their windows. We should turn off all outdoor lights. Make sure we turn off indoor lights before openin' doors. That sorta' thing. My daddy told me about being in England during the big one. Dubya dubya two. Cars had their headlights blacked out. I'll make up a list of rules and give everybody a copy. I'll pass it by you first."
>
"Was anybody upset about the electricity?"
"Pierre asked about hot water. I told him the same thing. Wait until noon. Back when we got the electric panels, we got some solar thermal panels too. One on the roof of each cabin. Several on the roof of the lodge. Fred helped me hook 'em up to the hot water system a month ago. Electric water heater was a backup. We should have plenty of hot water, but not until the sun rises. If we have some cloudy days, we all might start smellin' bad."
"I saw those panels. I just thought they were electric panels. So, we've been eco-friendly and I didn't even know it."
"Yep," said George with a smile. "We coulda been braggin' to the neighbors all this time."
* * *
Just after breakfast, Tom walked into the lodge, carrying a black garbage bag. He placed it beside the sofa and then collapsed into the soft fabric of the sofa. John sat in the opposite recliner.
"Tom, how did it go, any problems? Are you just getting back home?" John began to worry. Tom looked haggard. What had he been doing? John hadn't asked Tom to do anything.
"I've been up all night. I feel horrible. We found a discount store about ten miles away. It had been looted pretty badly, but most of the shoe department was still intact. We grabbed over a hundred pairs of shoes, took them into the woods in garbage bags, and camouflaged them. Then we made two trips in the Demon to retrieve them all." He rummaged through the bag and pulled out a pair of steel-toed work shoes. "These'll come in handy. What do you think?"
John raised the tongue of the brown work shoe and looked inside. "Hey, just my size, too. Thanks."
Tom replaced the shoe and closed the bag, setting it back on the floor, before continuing his story. "This bag is all your size. You have a narrow foot. Nobody else could wear them. We made one big mistake. I'll never do that again."
The Weak Shall Die: Complete Collection (Four Volume Set) Page 33
