The Ark of Asylum (The Ark Series Book 1)

by Kotrous, Scott

  John jumps off the high rise and kisses his family as they all walk out. When they get back to the house, he has Adam contact ATF agent Smith and inform him of their decision to go to court; the agent is not very pleased.

  Chapter 8

  Peter lies in the red rock dirt at a shooting range in the foothills just outside of Denver with his rifle pointed at his target. He wipes the sweat from his brow as the relentless sun beats down on his back, making things even more uncomfortable. Two hours of target practice and Peter is about to explode. He doesn’t understand why his father makes him go to target practice twice a week, but out of respect for his father, he does it without argument. Peter takes a deep breath and holds it as he aims down his sight and pulls the trigger, punching a perfect hole directly in the bulls-eye.

  He admires his shot and cranes his neck to look for his father. “Am I done yet? It’s really hot out.”

  His dad is still sitting on the bench, reading his newspaper and drinking his coffee. He replies while crossing his arms, “Just a couple more shots and you’re done, then a little bit of handgun practice and you’re done for the day. Okay?”

  Peter turns his head, trying to hide his frustration. He pulls the trigger twice, hitting the bulls-eye just millimeters apart. “There. I’m done.” He gets up and dusts the dirt off his clothes.

  His dad looks up from his paper and looks at him and the target with both admiration and ambivalence as he shakes his head. “You know, son, I only make you do this for your own good. Practice makes perfect, and you’re getting to be a much better shot because of it. I just wish you took as much interest in this as you do your video games.”

  Peter looks at his dad and turns his head to look at his near perfect target. “Sure, Dad, getting better, whatever you say, Pop. Can we just go to the handgun range so we can get this over with and go home?”

  “I won’t make you stay for long, just forty-five minutes or so, alright? Then you’re done. I promise.” He takes his son’s rifle from him and wipes it down and puts it back into the case, something he usually makes Peter do, but perhaps he has decided to pick his battles and just take care of it.

  “Alright, let’s go, son. Grab the handgun case. I got your rifle, and like I said, not even an hour and you’re done. Deal?”

  “Sure, Dad, I’ll just meet you over at the range. I need to use the bathroom first.” After handing his case to his dad, they give each other a nod and walk in different directions. An hour later and with nothing but decent target shots, Peter puts the gun down, pulls off his hearing protection, and looks at his dad.

  “Now, can we go?”

  Simon tries to hide the slight grin on his face by shaking his head and looking at his watch. “You know, you’re going to make a damn fine soldier some day if you choose to go into the military. If I had been half as good a shot as you, I probably would have been a scout sniper, but instead I chose the more boring military career. You have pure talent with a sniper rifle, son, something most men in the armed forces could only dream of. And you know I never want to pressure you into going into the military, but—”

  “Yeah, I know, Dad. You’ve made it very clear to me my entire life what you want me to do with my life, so can we please just go now!” Peter says while containing his displeasure. His dad just nods his head and says nothing as he grabs the rifle case and walks toward the car with Peter close behind.

  Fifteen minutes later they pull up to their house in Golden. Peter jumps out of the car, not saying a word, and walks into the house and most likely up to his bedroom. Simon sits in the car for a second but then gets out and unloads the gear. After putting the guns away in the bunker, he walks upstairs and knocks on Peter’s bedroom door. Peter yells to come in, and Simon opens the door.

  “Hey, great job today by the way, and ah, well hey, tomorrow I can really use your help doing some inventory in the bunker. It’s been a while since we’ve done it, so we need to go through and check all the expiration dates on everything. Okay?” Peter just nods and doesn’t turn around as his PlayStation gets done loading Call of Duty. He puts his headset on and ignores his father.

  Simon watches his son ignore him for just a moment. “Alright then. I’ll see you tomorrow at o’ six hundred. Have a good night, son.” He closes the door and stands there for a minute wanting desperately to open it again and say something, but he has nothing to say. Ever since his wife, Peter’s mother, passed away, his son has become more and more distant from him. And with most of Peter’s childhood spent away from home because of military duties, he and his son just never really got to know each other. He hangs his head and walks downstairs to the kitchen and grabs a beer out of the fridge then walks into the living room and turns on the TV.

  The next day Peter walks through the open steel hatch door where his father is already inside with a clipboard and a pen. “Well, good morning, son, nice of you to join me. How did you sleep?”

  Peter replies while trying to appear awake, “Fine, so where do you want me to start?”

  “Ah yeah, I’m working on ordinance right now so if you want to start with provisions and N.B.C. filters, just checking the dates and quantity that would be great, and grab a clipboard.” Peter doesn’t say a word as he grabs a clipboard and walks over to the bottled water and freeze-dried food and starts checking.

  An hour later, Peter finally says something. “Dad, why do we do this? I mean, ever since I was a kid we’ve always had to come down here and do this, which to me just seems like a waste of time.”

  His dad stops writing on his clipboard and sets it down not about to waste a chance to communicate with his son. “You already know why we do this, son. I’ve explained it to you many times. It’s better to—”

  “To be safe than sorry, yeah I know; I’ve heard it a million times. But nothing bad ever happens, Dad, and we’re not at war with anyone, so why bother?”

  His dad looks at him, sits halfway on the table, and then lets out a sigh. “We’re not at war, and nothing bad ever happens? Son, you’re sixteen now, so I don’t have to hold back and sugarcoat things as much as I used to, so I’m just going to tell you how it is. Son, this country is attacked almost every day by foreign and domestic terrorists. People die every day because of the sick and demented individuals that attack our way of living on a continual basis in attempts to scare us and keep us living in fear.”

  “Seems like they’re doing a pretty good job,” Peter mumbles under his breath but loud enough for his dad to hear.

  “You know, son, you can joke all you want, but the fact is that it’s only a matter of time before this country is attacked in such a way that it will alter our way of life forever. Now when that happens, there will be two types of people in this world, the prepared and the unprepared, and those who are unprepared will most likely perish. Those who are prepared are the ones who will survive and who will be the ones who will be responsible for rebuilding our society. Now, I realize you have very limited knowledge of how bad things really are in this county and how much worse they are most likely going to get. Maybe if you stopped playing that damn video game once in a while and watched the news you would get a better understanding of just how bad things really are.”

  Peter crosses his arms, looking perturbed. “I don’t play video games all the time!”

  Simon starts to move closer to his son. “But since you don’t choose to open your eyes to reality and you keep your nose stuck in front of a television, I will be the one who educates you on how things really are out there.”

  He explains how when he was overseas working for the military, he was in a branch of the Army that dealt with biological and chemical weapons. When the Marines would go into an area like in Afghanistan or Iraq, they would clear the area of any hostiles. Afterward, they would send his unit in if they found any chemical or biological weapons or schematics or anything that resembled that nature.

  “Practically every house, compound, and building had some kind of preparation for various ki
nds of chemical or biological weapons, almost every one. And it wasn’t just a bunch of amateur stuff we were finding; it was professionally made, extremely dangerous weapons of mass destruction on a level of compaction that society could never comprehend.”

  "Peter lifts his head up from resting on his chest and wonders out loud if that was possible. His dad sits down on the table near him, admitting that he may have exaggerated a little but hopes he still got the point. Simon drops the clipboard on the table and confesses that was about the time he decided to retire from the military and focus on home life and on Peter and his mother. He just knew that someday, and someday probably very soon, this country would be attacked in a way that they would not be prepared for, in a way that would devastate it. “I decided then and there that we were not going to be one of the unprepared, and that I was going to do everything in my power to prepare this family for the inevitable, the apocalypse, if you may.” Simon explains that that is why he makes him go to target practice and teaches him to hunt and why he taught him survival training, so he is as best prepared as he can be, trained very similarly to how the military trains, a training on how to survive, how to live.

  Peter just stares at his dad, dumbfounded, and says, “Okay, I get it. You made your point, and I’ll never ask that question again.”

  Simon exhales and looks at the ground, shaking his head. “I’m sorry to be so blunt with you, but I can’t sugarcoat things anymore. Things are bad out there, son, real bad, and they’re only going to get worse. But just know that I have your best interests at heart, and you know how much I love you. So I just want to make sure nothing happens to you, and that you’re the best trained and educated that you can be for a wet-behind-the-ears teenager.” He smiles and puts his hand on Peter’s shoulder.

  “I appreciate everything you do for me, Dad. Don’t ever doubt that for a second. And thank you for explaining that better because I’ve always had a hard time understanding why we do all of this. And why you make me go through all the things that I do when most kids’ dads just go to baseball games with their sons and go fishing with them. But I guess they’ll be the ones who are unprepared when the time comes, huh? But you know, maybe once in a while we can go to a baseball game or go fishing or something that normal kids do with their dads, you know? It couldn’t hurt.”

  “You’re absolutely right, son. Maybe I’ve been too hard on you, and maybe you just need to be a kid once in a while. But I guess that’s why you like playing those video games so much. It makes you feel like just a normal kid playing with your friends.”

  “Something like that, Dad, but hey I’m all done doing the inventory on the things you asked me to do. Where do you want me to start next?”

  “Nowhere, son. I can finish up. Go on and have some fun, and thanks for your help and for listening to your crazy old man.”

  “You’re not crazy, Dad, just well prepared, and someday I know I’ll thank you for it.” Peter sets down the clipboard and darts out of the bunker and up to his bedroom.

  Chapter 9

  Maggie closes her laptop after finishing her test just a little bit sooner than everyone else, she notices. Her mind is still racing from such a stressful exam, yet she feels confident that she did well. After the rest of her classmates finish up, everyone is released from class, and Maggie walks to her house in Boulder, eventually joined by both of her roommates. A mile later, she parts ways with Heather, who has an errand to do, but Kristie follows her into their house.

  Maggie’s boyfriend Eric and his two friends, Nate and Todd, are crashed on the couch, smoking weed out of a bong while playing Call of Duty on a PlayStation. Maggie walks into the living room, waving her hand in front of her face and coughing,

  “Can you guys please do that at your house—”

  “—Oh, don’t worry. We do!” Nate laughs as he blows out his hit of Sour Diesel.

  “—and not in mine!” Maggie finishes.

  The other guys chuckle a little as Eric jumps up off the couch and gives her a quick kiss. “Hey, beautiful, sorry about the guys here and us smoking weed, and yes we should be using the Vaporizer, but I also wasn’t expecting you home for a couple of hours.”

  “Clearly,” Maggie responds as Kristie walks by them and sits down next to Nate. She bumps into him, thus making him miss his shot and get killed.

  “Aw, come on, dude. You just made me get shot!” He throws up his hands and looks at Kristie and then gives her a light kiss.

  Kristie playfully pushes him back. “Please don’t call me ‘dude.’ You know I hate it when—”

  Todd gets mad and abruptly turns around and interrupts Kristie then looks right at Nate. “Come on, dude! We’re getting our asses kicked. Let’s pick it up, and stop dying!”

  “I’m not trying to! I’m just really stoned, and Kris just messed me up, so chill. And it’s just a video game, ya nerd!” Nate yells back.

  As they continue to argue, Maggie grabs Eric’s hand. “Can I talk to you for a second?” She leads him into the kitchen and then turns around and faces him. “You guys gotta go. I have more exams to study for, so you guys can’t stay. Alright?”

  Eric gets close and presses her up against the island. “What! Oh, come on, babe. We’ll be quiet. I promise we won’t bother you.”

  Maggie pushes him back and walks over to the refrigerator. “Hell no. You said that last time, and your jackass friends bothered me all night hollering at that stupidass videogame, so no way.”

  “Alright, fine. We’ll leave.” He drops his head and shakes it. “Just in a little bit, okay? Thanks, hon.”

  Maggie takes a bottle of Acai juice from the refrigerator and takes a sip to dodge his attempted kiss. She then walks into the living room and sits on the far end of the couch.

  Eric walks in and sits right next to her and says to everyone, “Maggie’s kicking us out in a little bit you guys, just so you know.”

  Todd turns toward them. “Oh, come on, Maggie. That’s so weak! We’ll behave. Please don’t make us leave. We live in a shithole; your place is so nice.”

  “Thanks a lot, Eric. Jerk,” Maggie says as she punches him in the arm.

  “Hey, I’m just keeping it real, babe. Is that not what you said?” Eric rubs his arm in the hopes of gaining a little sympathy.

  “Sorry, guys, but I have a huge exam tomorrow, and I have to study, and last time I let you guys stay, you disrupted my concentration numerous times. So sorry, but you can only stay for a little while longer.” Maggie takes another sip of her juice and slumps further into the couch.

  Nate tosses his controller on the coffee table. “We will, Maggie, and sorry about last time. I know how premed exams go; they’re brutal. Hell, I’m just glad that someone is taking interest in their studies. I wouldn’t want to make whoever flips the bill on this place mad. How do you afford such a nice place anyway?”

  “Her crazy, rich-ass uncle bought it for her. This place has like a bomb shelter and everything. It’s sick, dude! ” Eric said.

  “Damn! Your uncle pays for this crib? That’s crazy. Who is he? Bill Gates or something?” Todd looks around the room.

  “No, he’s—” Maggie abruptly stops as Eric cuts her off.

  “Dude, her uncle is that uber-rich dude in the news lately, John Angelite. You know the guy that bought a mountain and basically built NORAD out of it? You know who I’m talkin’ about?”

  Nate replies, “No shit? You mean to tell me your uncle’s the guy who built that mountain paradise the feds have been trying to get into for like months now?”

  Maggie fakes a smile. “Yep, that’s my uncle and my entire family along with a couple of hundred other people, who are almost overrun by the ATF to be precise.”

  “Isn’t that part of what we’re protesting tomorrow at Occupy?” Kristie asks.

  Nate takes a sip of water and hands the glass to Kristie. “Kind of, babe. That and a ton of other issues are all part of the Anonymous-slash-Occupy protest in Denver tomorrow . . . Well, there and in ev
ery other state that legalized marijuana. You know how this damn new Republican president is clamping down on the states that legalized pot and enforcing federal law? Arresting and shutting down legal cannabis users and dispensaries? Tomorrow’s actually supposed to be the largest mass nationwide protest in U.S. history.”

  Todd shakes his head. “Such bullshit.”

  Nate nods his head in agreement. “But we’re also protesting the standard protest issues like the skyrocketing unemployment rate, corporate greed, police brutality, and of course a corrupt government that basically wants to someday inject us all with microchips!”

  Kristie looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Microchips? Whatever. You’re such a moron sometimes!”

  Nate gives Kristie the same look in return and replies, “Haven’t you ever seen the Zeitgeist movies?”

  Todd turns toward the group and throws his arms up. “Stop fighting, you two! Hey, anyway, I heard that something like over half the population is supposed to occupy every major city in the country. And we’re going to be there!”

  Kristie shakes her head while she throws a pretzel at Todd. “You are such an idiot. Half the population is not going to show up for a protest, and I‘m pretty sure you’ve officially smoked yourself retarded.” Kristie waits for a response from Todd, but he just laughs as he picks the pretzel off his shirt and pops it in his mouth.

  “That was funny . . . but no, dude, seriously, didn’t you hear? Almost every police department in the country is out of tear gas because of all the protests that have gone on lately. Seems like there are more now than ever. But anyway, ah, oh yeah, they have to use some kind of new tear gas that’s supposed to be like ten times stronger and covers a much larger area than the usual stuff. Hey, didn’t Eric say you have a bomb shelter in this place? Can we check it out? It may have some gas masks we could borrow!” Todd bites down on the pretzel and almost chokes when he jumps out of his chair.