Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus)

by James Litherland

  He stared straight ahead while the tram glided along, trying to think of lunch. He had too much on his mind to be particularly hungry, but he knew he’d have to eat something somewhere if he didn’t want to be fainting on the job after he got back.

  The pasta last night had been delicious, but that would be too far to travel, even if Crystal were there to cook for him. Which she wouldn’t be.

  Crystal wasn’t needed full-time at his mother’s house, so she had taken a second part-time position, which she left for late in the morning and then returned from late in the afternoon. Though there was no apparent need, she’d managed to prevail upon David’s mother to live in their home now. He’d only found that out after he’d announced his own intention to move back in.

  He wrenched his thoughts away from that awkward subject and tried to see how far the tram had traveled so far. He risked a casual glance around. Rossiter remained onboard, and they were just coming up to the Community Hall station. The sergeant stayed onboard as the tram pulled away.

  David managed to stay alert and keep his mind from wandering again for another ten minutes or so as they traveled through the residential area where he and his mother and Crystal now lived in the same house. The tram stopped just before the main thoroughfare. Rossiter jumped off, and David realized where the man had to be headed.

  He had often walked down here in the mornings to meet Ken not far from this very same tram stop, across from the Guard Headquarters. He sighed as he slid off his seat and onto the sidewalk. A simple explanation after all.

  He strolled toward the building thinking fast. He surely couldn’t just walk into the place without a good reason. He needed an explanation that would hold up, even if they turned him away, so it would be best to tell the truth. Or what he could of the truth.

  David found a guard with a clipboard waiting in the lobby and walked straight up to the man, asking his own question before he was addressed. “Is Sgt. Rossiter here?”

  The guard looked David up and down thoroughly. “And you are?”

  “David Belue. I head the work crew out beyond the perimeter wall, and the sergeant is in charge of the guard detail assigned to us.”

  The guard nodded to himself. “The sergeant got in only a couple minutes ago, but he’s in with Colonel Gray. He can’t be disturbed.” The man frowned at David. “He could be a long time. You could wait here—or you could just go back to work and talk to the sergeant when he returns.”

  David paused as if he were considering his options. “If Sgt. Rossiter actually stayed around for a while, I wouldn’t have had to come looking for him.” It seemed the sergeant had come here on legitimate business—now David needed to make sure his own actions appeared justified. “He’s always taking off for hours at a time.”

  The guard looked annoyed. “Does your detail stay?” He didn’t even wait for David’s nod. “Then what are you complaining about? Sgt. Rossiter has other duties, so cut the man some slack.”

  David tried to look penitent, which wasn’t hard because he was truly sorry. Now he had his reasonable explanation for the sergeant’s absences and felt the fool. Satisfied in his own mind, he’d best leave now—and start thinking again about what to do for lunch. He’d turned to go when he heard his name called.

  “Mr. Belue.”

  David turned to see Lt. Henson coming down the hallway. The guard also turned and saluted.

  “He came to see Sgt. Rossiter, sir.” He looked as if he wanted to say more, but whatever it was on the tip of the man’s tongue, he refrained.

  The lieutenant smiled at David. “And of course Rossiter’s too busy right now. Since you’ve come all this way, though, why not let me stand you lunch? Unless you’ve already eaten?”

  David shook his head and stifled a sigh of relief. Another problem solved. Even if the food wasn’t any good, he could then head back to work with all this behind him. “It’d be an honor, Lieutenant.”

  Henson turned to head back down the hall and David followed. He thought it best to continue with his previous explanation. “I feel silly. I never considered that Sgt. Rossiter might have other duties to keep him busy. I was just getting fed up with him hardly ever sticking around.”

  Henson grinned. “Oh, Colonel Gray uses the sergeant as a general dogsbody. He has the man running errands half the day.”

  They came to a pair of wide double doors standing open, and Lt. Henson motioned David to enter. “Welcome to the Officers’ Mess.” He caught David’s look. “Just a cafeteria, but we’re all ex-military, so we call it what we want.”

  David nodded. “Is that why you and Ken both call him ‘Colonel’, while my mom calls him ‘Chief’?”

  Henson went to stand at the back of the line. “Chief of External Security is his technical rank, but he was a colonel with the Army National Guard. So all of us veterans give him his military rank.”

  David followed along behind, grabbing a plastic tray and a large bowl of stew. Beef and vegetables. “I see we haven’t quite run out of supplies yet.”

  Henson took a basket of bread to add to his tray and nodded. “There’s not much of the fresh stuff left. But I understand there are enough frozen and canned stores to last through half the winter.”

  Half the winter? That didn’t sound good. David moved a basket of the fresh baked rolls onto his own tray and continued down the line. “Gray was in the National Guard? Not Florida’s?”

  Henson nodded while he used his FURCS pad to pay for their meals. “Yes, as it happens.”

  “Then the colonel probably knows a lot about how they might attack us.” David paused while the lieutenant looked around for a table. “If Governor Roberts retains control of the Guard and does try to attack the compound.” David followed Henson to a table in the corner, away from the general hubbub.

  After they sat, the lieutenant waited a moment before answering. “I suppose he could be helpful. If he wanted.”

  David stopped the spoonful of stew headed toward his mouth for a moment, then tried to digest the stew and Henson’s words at the same time. His suspicions were returning.

  But the lieutenant had already moved on. “You ever consider transferring here? You’d make a good guard. There’d be a lot of tough training, though.”

  David shook his head. “I’d heard they wanted to start training more guards to defend the compound. Ken even took me to the firing range the other evening to show me how to a handle a gun safely. Tried to teach me how to shoot and hit the target.” David raised one side of his mouth between bites. “I think a couple of times I actually managed to hit the white part—out on the edge of the paper.”

  “Well, it takes lots and lots of practice. You can’t expect to start off as a marksman.”

  “I hardly have the time, and if I did I’d be trying to get in as much of my classes as I could. Most of the other students seem to be finding more time for their studies.” And how much do they work?

  Lt. Henson left the subject there and focused on his food, but David had more serious matters pressing upon his mind. He tried to order his thoughts while he ate.

  Gray had been a colonel in the Florida National Guard, which had to be considered the enemy at the moment. According to the lieutenant though, the colonel wasn’t being helpful. David knew that from the beginning Gray had left taking care of the compound defense to Henson without seeming to lift a finger himself.

  That could be incompetence, or just plain laziness. Surely the director and everyone in authority had to know about Gray’s history. They’d certainly understand if there were a problem with the colonel, and they’d have done something about it. But they might not know about Sgt. Rossiter.

  Know what? That the sergeant spent a lot of his time fiddling with his device out in the buffer zone, or running errands for Chief Gray, didn’t amount to actual evidence of anything.

  David could tell his mother what he’d seen and heard, but it would be better if he’d something more concrete. Maybe he could pursue that now. Afte
r he finished chewing a hunk of bread, he described Rossiter’s behavior to the lieutenant.

  “Ken said you might be able to find a spot where you could connect to an outside cell tower. My mom said it’s unlikely, though, because the fence’s electrical field interferes with reception.”

  David remembered the conversation last night over supper. Everyone knew communication with the outside had been shut down—the FURCSnet restricted phone, internet and satellite. Few people knew that only the director and David’s mother had the access codes to alter those restrictions. He had asked his mom if she couldn’t make an exception for Ken to call and check on his wife and kids, and she’d refused to even consider it.

  “Though she admitted that theoretically someone might be able to find a spot where a call could get through. I thought Rossiter might be trying just that. Of course, he might want to talk with his family. That would be understandable.”

  At least Henson had listened to David without laughing, or looking at him like he was a fool. He waited a long moment before he responded. “Sgt. Rossiter doesn’t have any family to speak of. I think you’d have to be pretty desperate, to go to all that trouble trying to contact someone, but I don’t know of anyone who’d mean that much to the sergeant.” The lieutenant looked at David. “You’re thinking it’s possible Rossiter’s trying to contact the governor’s people on the outside? He could be trying to get a message out to them, I suppose.”

  “Maybe there’s a way we can find out.”

  Henson shook his head. “I don’t know how. The question I have in mind is this—if Rossiter is trying to do something, is he acting on his own? Or is it on someone else’s behalf?”

  David nodded and lowered his voice. “You’re talking about Chief Gray.”

  “The sergeant is a soldier, after all, and used to taking orders. Even if he is doing something untoward, which there’s no evidence of, he could be just following instructions.” Henson frowned. “I know you don’t like Rossiter, but does he strike you as an independent operator?”

  David shook his head. “All these errands Gray has the sergeant running. They might be anything.” And the potential implications were frightening.

  “It’s only speculation. There’s not the slightest bit of evidence to support any of this.” The lieutenant heaved a sigh. “And if Gray were colluding with the enemy, we’d be in real serious trouble. He has command of the entire defense. If he chose to use it. So let’s hope this is all in your imagination.”

  David admitted that he was prejudiced against the sergeant, so it would be best not to jump to any conclusions when there was no evidence. He considered what Henson had just said, though. Colonel Gray could order the guards to open the gates and the fence, and they’d probably just stand by while the tanks rolled in.

  David sighed. “Let’s hope. We’d be up a creek without a paddle, as we used to say back home.”

  The lieutenant’s smile was grim as he responded, “And it’s already pouring down rain.” Henson shook his head and looked down at the remains of his meal. “Or maybe we’re just worrying too much.”

  It seemed to David that Henson wasn’t going to take it any further himself. Though he wondered if the lieutenant would just follow orders, the way he’d said. He thought Henson was one military man who would balk. He hoped so. He himself needed to do more than hope, though.

  “Thanks for dinner. It was good.” David picked up his tray and started to leave, but before he went he turned back to the lieutenant. “If I can find some evidence, I will.”

  He could talk to Ken or his mother about his suspicions, and either of them would at least listen to him, the way Henson had. But it was all supposition, and without any evidence neither would likely be able to act. David could not just sit on his hands, though.

  He cogitated all the way back to base camp, and he couldn’t see any alternative but to investigate on his own. At least until he found something to substantiate his suspicions.

  Chapter 6

  Bit of a Dust-Up

  6:55 p.m. Saturday, December 7th

  KAT jogged up the wide steps outside the Community Hall, feeling great back in her old teal uniform. She welcomed the windbreaker on this cold, crisp night, but she held her brand new cap in her hand. To show off her brand new bob.

  She’d arrived at the studio early this morning, before her mother, and promised Stacy a favor—in return for cutting her hair to order and not mentioning it to Caroline. She had been delighted when her mother had come in asking who had done her hair and demanding to know why she hadn’t let Stacy do it. She imagined the hairdresser got a quiet chuckle out of it as well.

  Kat sailed in through one of the open doors and into the lobby. Despite being opened up and having fans circulating the air, the large crowd was making the place feel stuffy. Many mingled in the lobby. She found many more had already crammed themselves into the main hall, generating a lot of body heat while they waited. Here it had become stuffy and warm, and would no doubt get a lot worse.

  Still, she kept her windbreaker on and donned her cap, with reluctance—though she understood why Tony had wanted a uniformed presence. She even agreed with his reasoning. He hoped to deter things from getting out of hand, and he’d stationed officers all around the hall—but instead of having them in their proper uniforms, he’d ordered them to wear the teal safety aide outfits. He thought that would be less intimidating at what was supposed to be a civil discussion. Kat just hoped that’s what it turned out to be.

  She looked to the front of the room and saw the long table set up on the speaking platform, and her father and Ms. Belue already in their seats on one end. At the other end, both chairs remained empty, but two people stood behind the chairs in quiet conversation. She recognized the one as the academic dean for the FURC. The other looked vaguely familiar, but she only knew him as a prominent member of the Community Council. She couldn’t remember his name, but it had been on this morning’s alerts notification memo.

  Of course, the center seat also sat empty. Caroline was to be the purportedly objective party that moderated this meeting, and she liked to make an entrance. Kat suspected her mother was in a back room waiting for everyone to be waiting on her. She snorted at the thought. Then she remembered her new haircut wasn’t the only reason she was feeling light as air.

  She spotted Tony leaning against the wall at the back of the room behind the speakers, and she started making her way through the crowd. She circled around the platform to get where she could talk to him. Nothing would look strange about that. And while she’d been assigned to cover the back of the crowd near the entrance, the meeting wasn’t even scheduled to start for a couple of minutes, and these things never began on time anyway.

  She gestured at the door behind Tony that had been left ajar. “Caroline back there?”

  Tony nodded. “If you want a word with her, better make it quick, then get back to your post. Care’s in the first room on the right.”

  Kat smiled as she breezed past him through the doorway, down the short corridor and into the room indicated. Her mother had appropriated it to use as a green room, to prepare herself. Susan stood just inside like a statue. The capable woman had been made a full security officer—this was her first real assignment.

  Caroline looked up from her tiny mirror to see Kat entering the room, and complained. “Couldn’t you have assigned an officer to me who was more congenial? Or is there such a person in Security?”

  Kat grinned. “We should have assigned Hope. The two of you could’ve had a nice little chat. But she’s not an officer, so that wouldn’t have been appropriate for someone of your status.”

  Her mother simply nodded, surely finding that explanation pleasing. “Under the circumstances, I do appreciate the protection. Though your father is the one putting himself at risk.”

  Kat sighed. She didn’t want to come straight out and agree with her mother, though. “I don’t understand people. We were already fairly isolated here, but that b
ecomes a little more definite, and people can’t wait to start complaining about it. So far, life hasn’t really changed all that much, but people are really getting angry.” If Caroline understood other people the way she seemed to, maybe she could shed some light on their behavior.

  Her mother shook her head. “It’s not about the reality in people’s lives, it’s about perception. Psychology. They start wanting to do things they aren’t allowed to do, precisely because they can’t.”

  Kat shook her own head. That made no sense to her, though it clearly made sense to Caroline. She turned to Susan. “Could you give us a minute?”

  Susan gave a pointed looked at her watch and slipped out the door. Kat understood that to be a warning about the time and not a message that Susan would return in a prompt minute.

  “Mother, I’m going to have to work for Security full-time. Everything’s getting worse out there, and they need me to work more hours, and I need to be fresh for the job. So I won’t be at the Media Centre next week.” Or ever again.

  Caroline started to splutter. “But, Katherine. We need the time—”

  “To bond, I know. We agreed.” Kat tried for a rueful frown. “I agree. But we don’t really get to be alone, to get to know each other. And you’re always so busy. It’s just not working out, Mother.”

  Caroline opened her mouth to object, but Kat put up a hand to stop her.

  “What I think, Mother, is that I should move out of the student dorms and into father’s house with you. Then we’ll have the opportunity for plenty of mother-daughter bonding.” Though Kat didn’t intend to spend much time at home.

  Caroline’s mouth inched into a tiny smile. “It is a cute outfit, dear.”