A long Lonely Road Box Set 3
Page 37
He looked at me and said, “You’re Walker, aren’t you?” I said, “Well yes, I guess I’m guilty of that.” He said, “Did you really burn Vegas to the ground?” I laughed and said, “No, just half of it.” And he laughed. I added we started on LA but decided to let the rats finish the job but we did kill thousands of gang bangers. He nodded at that and said, “About time!”
Finally he asked what I really wanted. I said, “I told you, surrender.” He looked around and said, “I see no army, my people say they only saw about thirty men and some women, and you want me to surrender?” I said that yes, I did want him to surrender. He was having trouble grasping it so I changed tactics. I invited him to come over to the trees and take a sit, and I told the officers in charge to bring their troops to the shade. When we got there some of my people brought out bottled water and some munchies. We had folding chairs and a table set up. After we were settled I waved a hand and the girls joined us. They looked wildly beautiful all painted up and their long hair in ponytails. They weren’t wearing jackets so their other assets complimented their shoulder holsters and 1011’s. They sure know how to put on a show. They settled into chairs and smiled at the General. I introduced them as my wives and company officers. The General was less than impressed.
He asked where we had come in from so I told him. He asked how we got here so fast, and I told him. He was shocked; he couldn’t believe we had jumped in at night. I assured him we did in fact do so. He said there was no way an army big enough to do what we had done could get here so fast and make a combat jump. I looked at Sandy and said, “Well Captain, how many men under your command?” She said, “Fifteen or so, John.” I looked at May, who said about the same. Now General Confused was confused. He even stuttered when he said, “Thirty men? You’re telling me you took out the compound with thirty men?” I said, “Well, I had two women too.” He just slumped in his chair and said, “You took out a whole company of my best troops with 30 people?”
I said, “Those were your best troops? Smoking pot, drinking on patrol? Two people on duty in the gatehouse? Everybody else sleeping?” I told him he best surrender before I sent the girls to deal with his army. He was less than appreciative of the comment but I was getting tired of this shit, so I simply told him either hesurrender his troops or the next airburst was going to be over his troop compound. That got his attention but I wasn’t done. I explained why we were here, why we intended to stop their dreams of expanding their control over the rest of us and that we were living free and weren’t changing. He honestly didn’t get it. He said there had to be control, and somebody had to be in charge. When I asked why, he was stumped. He said, “Well, because that’s what makes things work.”
I gave up and called the senior officer of the troops we had taken and asked him to please go and tell the General’s staff to join us, plus the leaders of the city. He looked kind of funny and said, “You mean just me?” I said, “Well, take whomever you want to if it makes you feel better.” It’s fun to fuck with people. He didn’t get it, he was looking for the guards who were taking him. I told him to get going and he walked off looking confused. I told one of his sergeants to go with him so he wouldn’t get lost. He laughed and headed off to help the helpless.
I thought about it and then told the rest of the prisoners that we were going back to the compound. They were free to go and to please inform the General’s staff and other guests where we would be. They headed out, as did we. We took the general with us back to the compound. We arrived to find the gate house guarded by two of my people who informed me that the cooks had been located and chow was being prepared in the troop’s mess hall. I wasn’t planning to take them into the bunker/shelter.
We had coffee while we waited, and one of my troopers asked what I planned for the dead. I told him to get some of the congress critters to start hauling them to a distant building and when that was done to torch it. He left and the General looked at me like I was less than human and he was right. I had been dealing with trash for so long it had made me a bit coarse. I sent out the order to hold on the whole thing. I had noticed some of the former prisoners had stayed with us to see what was happening, so I sent for a couple of them. I told them to take a vehicle, return to the city and bring back a lowboy with a dozer ASAP. They both said, “Yes, Sir” and were gone. Interesting, they had some training but needed a lot more.
It took a couple of hours for the Generals staff to arrive along with the civilian leaders of the city. After they were settled, I informed them as to who I was, why I was here and that there was a new sheriff in town. Now, one thing that never changes is that there is always somebody who thinks he or she has a better plan and just like the dip shit Attorney General in Utah one or more of these asshats thought they had it over on the hicks from the sticks.
Sandy and May were sitting on either side of me, and while being beautiful and wild-looking they looked like hot chicks playing army. While I was talking I was watching the ones standing behind the ones sitting and while I couldn’t spot the ones charged with eliminating me for the troublesome dickhead I am, I had not one second’s doubt that my little Spartans had already spotted them.
I explained that there was going to be no takeover of the country by them or anybody else and that their congress critters were, as of this morning, out of office for good and that these good folks could go about their business of surviving along with the rest of us. If they worked at it they would come to be happier with their new lives. I explained that we would be leaving very soon, but that if they ever tried to pull the shit they pulled in Springfield again I would burn their city to the ground with no warning. I told them we believed in freedom for all; the freedom to live as they want as long as it doesn’t involve trying to force others to live the same way.
One of the city leaders said, “But there needs to be order, there needs to be some controls over people or they will just do what they want!” I could see he was a big part of the problem and asked what his title was; he said he was the head commissar appointed by the Congress. I just shook my head. I asked if they were living in Russia or America. There was no such title in America and as of now he was out of a job! Well, he didn’t like that one bit but he liked it less when I had him taken away to join the congress critters.
Before he could be moved from the table he screamed that he had enough of this shit and two of the wall hangers behind him twitched and died. I swear these two are really witches, they seem to know just who and when to shoot. Everybody in the room was shaking their heads to stop the ringing. It took me a moment to notice the commissar was not in his chair. I stood up and found him on the floor with two holes in his chest. They looked at me and shrugged. I just shook my head. He wasn’t armed, but if your gonna sit and order murder you best be prepared to pay a price. He did. His two straphangers were also dead. My two wives are the sweetest, warmest, most loving, sexiest, hottest babes around…when they aren’t shooting people, which they do very well and very often, when needed. I knew somebody was gonna try it and die. I had no doubt. Hell, I hadn’t even moved. I knew they would be done and filing their nails before I got my hand on my gun.
The rest of the leadership of the city were shocked, all but one. He was sitting very still and calm and when I looked at him he shrugged and said, “I told him it wasn’t a smart move, but he was so enthralled with the power he couldn’t see the game was over.” The man talking was a longtime resident and former mayor of Richmond who, while having been displaced by the so-called Commissar, had remained as a member of the city council. I asked him what he thought we should do with the whole mess. He said if we could refrain from burning the place down he could handle getting things back on the right track. He said for the first year they had done very well, but then the “Congress” had crawled out of their hole and took over with the help of their military who had been in charge of the protection of the underground complex. Unfortunately, they had plenty of locals who were enthralled with the idea of power.
Sandy called me a lightweight wimp, May said Marines were pussies, I shook my head, and Charley sighed. The general looked confused. As soon as they were all inside and seated I told them who we were, why we were there and what was going on.
The Mayor was with us and I explained he was now in charge of them and they were no longer military but were instead police officers under control of the city council. The General jumped on that and said I had no such authority. Sandy took her .45 out, laid it on the table and just looked at him. He shut up.
I had to reach these people before we left or it was just gonna start all over, so I ordered drinks served and after a while I started talking about what had taken place in the time since the EMP. What we had all seen, done and how we survived. I told about how we lived (not where) and how our lives were now compared to before. I said this was real freedom; freedom to just live, no bosses, no Government, no taxes. Just people living happy and comfortable thru the efforts of their own work. I told them about the wars we fought, the people we had saved and the ones we hanged.
When I was done, I asked if I missed anything and May spoke up about the lifestyle- the beauty of people doing what they wanted, the communal eating area where anybody was welcome, grab a plate, don’t step on the little ones and share your cookies with the babies. She got them laughing when she talked of V and the squirrel. She told about the rock pile and how our friends who wanted to do it, built it.
She told about the hobbit homes, the communal gardens, the boys who protected the gardens from the rabbit invaders and about rabbit stew night with hot bread and real butter. She told of the cold room full of beer and the reefer room where the meat was stored…all done by people who worked together for the common good, no leaders except John who never led anything except a path to the brownies and the occasional fight. That got some surprised looks.
When she was done Sandy said, “Now can you see why we will not allow you or anybody to interfere with the lives we have built? We love our life, we love everything so much that we have come here to tell you to stop with the whole ‘Government in charge’ shit and that if it means killing every son of a bitch here, I am happy to start right now.”
Yep, if May was the velvet glove, Sandy was the iron fist in it. I looked at the men in front of us and I could see them looking at things in a different light. I could see some weren’t buying it and knew someplace down the road they were gonna get killed over it, but that was not my problem. I did look them in the eye and tell them I could see they weren’t buying it and that it was gonna get them killed. The others looked at the ones I was speaking to and they knew who to watch.
I asked the Mayor if he had any words for them. He said as of now they were to lose the black clothes- the army look was out. He and the new city council would appoint the men in charge of the new police force and they would set the standards of the department. I told him I was done and that we were leaving as soon as our transport was ready to pick us up. I had told the C-130 to go off-load the rest of the blivits of fuel and to come back as soon as possible. We figured tomorrow morning at the soonest.
One of the Colonels sitting at the table asked what was to become of the Congressmen. I told him they were out of office, were going to live elsewhere and what they would be doing for a living. He smiled and said he thought that was fine. He then said if nobody had any objections he was resigning as of right now and was going to gather his family and tools to work with and was heading West as soon as possible. Several others said they were too, and left.
The ones left were lost-looking. I asked if they didn’t have homes someplace. Family they wondered about? It dawned on them that they were free to…go and slowly in twos and threes they left the room. Soon it was just the General and a few of the higher ranking officers left. I asked them what they were going to do. It was obvious they hadn’t a clue; they had lived in their secure bubble so long they couldn’t imagine anything else.
One offered up that he had been in the Army so long that he had no idea of what else to be or do. He looked at the Mayor and said if he would have him he would like to join the police force in any position. The Mayor said he would meet with him later. The general said, “Well, I’m not convinced you can do this and I intend to see to it that you are stopped.” I shook my head and told a couple of my men to search him and place him with the congressmen; he could go with them since he loved their style so much. He was now a very unhappy man.
I said I was done and it was now the Mayor’s job to bring some order to the whole mess, but not a “New Order”, if he got my drift, and he did. After they were all gone I found the girls had taken over a large very nice room that was meant for one of the elite. It had all we needed- a big bed and a big shower. Charley had already found a room and was asleep, I assumed. After a long hot shower I barely remembered hitting the sack. I remember the girls were all giggly over Beth’s news and were on elbows talking over me. I was too tired to notice. When I woke up it was to somebody knocking on the door. They were sound asleep, so I had to untangle from the pile, went to the door and opened it a crack. It was the communications man saying the C-130 was going to be here in an hour. I headed for the shower and for once enjoyed it alone for a whole two minutes. I can’t complain, they are fun to shower with.
We grabbed a bite and headed for the airport on the edge of the city. We just made it in time to see the big bird setting down on the runway. They followed the flag car to where we stood, turned and shut her down, the ramp dropped and the crew trotted off. I thanked them for a good show the day before, drawing big smiles. They asked what I had planned and I laid it out for them. They were laughing by the time I was done. It was simple. They were taking the former leaders to Texas where they would join different communities to become members of them with all the rights as anybody else; the right to get up and work all day, the right to eat and the right (if needed) to defend the community from bad people. They weren’t gonna be happy, but they were gonna be alive, at least for now. They were about to learn that rank hath no privileges in the new America.
I did feel a bit hypocritical in the sense that I didn’t do much at home, but not because of being special. It was more that the gardeners, after watching me chop weeds, asked me to please restrict my gardening to eating the veggies. The wood cutters took the chain saw away from me and said go warm myself by the fire. The rock workers just banned me from anywhere near them when they were moving heavy blocks. They all liked me but they said I was dangerous. I smiled and thought maybe I was smarter than them.
So I pulled guard duty on the Brownie pans, and the rabbit stew pot, and I was in charge of naptime with the babies who weren’t babies anymore. So I had jobs, just not like everybody else. On second thought, maybe I was working too hard and needed a nap.
It was funny when the first load of former “leaders” had been taken to their former homes and allowed to get some clothes, meaning useful clothes. There wasn’t one pair of work boots among them; lots of high-dollar new athletic shoes, no works pants, lots of sweats and workout clothes- all new. There were coats that looked great in a big city, but for working outdoors not so much. But they were all still in shock. I did inform them where they were going and that they were perfectly safe and once at their final destination were free to leave and go where they wanted.
They weren’t impressed with the web seating of the plane, since it was geared for troop moving; no first class, no private jet… life was sure gonna be different. I waited until they were seated and told them exactly what was going to happen. They were going to be in a ‘work or starve’ world, much different from their privileged life befo
re.
One of them shouted that I had no right to do this to them. I asked him if he had the right to plan the murder of several hundred people simply because they were doing well without the help of him and his bunch. He wasn’t convinced, so I added that my first plan had been to fire bomb their compound, but I decided on mercy and he should not piss me off. When he started to open his mouth his wife slammed him upside the head and said, “Shut up, you despicable son of a bitch!” She asked why she had to be sent into slavery just because of him. I reminded her that she wasn’t objecting to him until it affected her comfort.
I headed down the ramp and it went up. We had ten of our people onboard to handle any problems. They would land at the home base for the plane crew and from there they would be transferred to their new homes. They would not be mistreated and would be given time to acclimate to their new life style and as stated could walk away at any time. I wondered how many would make it.
One more load tomorrow and they were gone and we were next! I wanted to get back to Beth and our new little one(s). I wanted to go home but I was also thinking about something else. I would speak of it tonight with Charley and the girls. For now we headed back to the compound shelter. We arrived to find a big feed waiting and enjoyed just being with our people.