by Cooper, DJ
A woman said, “That’s right. We couldn’t get any money out of the bank. They never opened back up.”
Rich replied, “You’re right, and they never intended to reopen them. Not even the people at the banks knew this. The purpose was to stop the fall in the finances and roll out a new system. Keeping those on top who were already there and making the public subservient to the system. The terrorists were both foreign fighters brought in as refugees and domestic ones trained right here in our own country. They were paid and promised all manner of goodies to commit small-scale attacks and cause civil unrest.”
Doc said, “And, here is where it gets good.”
Rich nodded before continuing, after a thoughtful pause he continued, “What they didn’t expect was that these fanatics had an agenda of their own. They had no intention of being controlled, they went fully off the reservation and not only planned but executed the biggest attack on US soil since the Revolutionary War. They completely took out the power grid. I’m not sure if everyone knew this, but our grid was pretty antiquated. Basically, nine major substations could bring down the entire grid. Well, they orchestrated attacks on hundreds of them, large and small. Crippling this country’s electrical infrastructure for years to come.”
There were many gasps and mumbles as he continued, “Those behind all of this lost control and would not be left standing with their own interests at risk. The scorched earth policy still holds true for some, and with this was implemented.”
The angry man asked, “What is scorched earth?”
In essence, it has been used for millennia but more recently comes from Sherman’s policy of burning whatever could not be taken during the civil war. The point of it is to leave nothing for the enemy to use while advancing or withdrawing from an area. In this case, the policy was to level the playing field. They would not be invaded and have their plan to basically dominate the world be undone by what they concluded was terrorists paid by our enemies to take us out in an epic double cross. After the grid attack, the US launched hundreds of nuclear missiles aimed at various countries and places around the world. Detonated high in the atmosphere these could cause significant and widespread electromagnetic damage to electrical systems. Not to be outdone and with their scorched earth policy, they detonated literally hundreds of them. Fortunately, the radiation will not affect us, but they wanted to make sure other countries could not invade. North Korea was hit with a ground burst and completely destroyed. I guess no one wanted that madman running around in the aftermath.”
The man stood and asked, “So what does this mean to us?”
Keith stood up saying, “Basically? It means we are on our own. There will be no rescue or recovery. As a matter of fact, we will be bringing these papers and the others gathered to some guys that have more information.” Looking at me, he continued, “Two men who left Auburn, Massachusetts with Rita’s group have more information and will coordinate from their location once we reach them.”
I looked at him saying, “We? Are you coming with us?”
He nodded saying, “Yes, me and my son Joseph will be joining you.”
I asked Rich, “Will there be room?”
Doc looked at me saying, “I was waiting until you felt better to tell you, but Joshua and I will be staying here with Lia and her family.”
“Wow.” I said, “Take a short nap, and the whole world goes to hell.”
Rich laughed, followed by everyone else. It was just what the mood needed. At that point, most of the information was out, and people were milling around talking about plans moving forward. I just sat there thinking to myself. I desperately wanted to get on the road to see my son.
Keith came over and asked me if I would like more to drink. I looked up at him, handing him my cup without a word. He nodded and headed for the fire to refill it. Returning with it, the smell was that of some kind of cappuccino. A sweet, nutty odor captured my senses in the steam rising as I sipped. With a curious look, I asked, “What is it?”
He grinned and said, ‘A treat, just for you, enjoy.”
Sitting and sipping my sweet, steamy blast from the past, I was content for a moment to relax with this decadent pleasure. Leg propped up, arm in a sling and thoughts of when we would be leaving to complete the trip to Kentucky consumed my attention. I’d hardly noticed Lia sitting beside me. Looking over at her, I said, “How are things with you? Your family doing ok?”
She nodded and had a look like a cat that just ate the canary. I asked, “What’s up?” laughing, I said, “I can see you have something to tell me.”
She nodded, gave a little giggle and said, “Josh kissed me.”
I smiled at her, saying, “See? And you were worried he wouldn’t like you?”
She said, “We’ve been talking a lot, and they are going to stay with us.”
I said, “I know, Doc told me.”
She asked, “Are you upset that we won’t be coming with you?”
I smiled and said, “Not to worry little one, I have a feeling we will meet again.”
She leaned in and hugged me with such enthusiasm I gasped when she forgot about my arm and squeezed it. Stepping back in horror she asked, “Did I hurt you?”
Lying, I said, “No, I was just happy for the hug.”
She smiled, turned and trotted back over to where Joshua was sitting. He looked at me and winked. I winked back. The day we got here I mentioned to him how pretty Lia was and said he should see if she would like to hang out. I guess my little matchmaking ploy worked.
I was feeling tired already and sat quietly watching the fire. I must have nodded off because I didn’t know Rich had returned. I woke to him lifting me off the chair. I asked him, “Where are we going?”
He said, “You need to rest.”
I tried to protest, but he would not hear of it saying, “We leave for Kentucky at dawn, you need to rest up for the trip.”
I smiled at him saying, “We have coffee in those totes, we should get some out for the morning coffee.”
I was so excited; I could barely contain myself. At last, we would be on our way to my son. Thoughts and questions ran through my head, “Was he ok? How long would it take? Will he even recognize me with my new hair?” Soon I was fast asleep, while all around me preparations for the evacuation of the area were underway. No one would be remaining at this location. It was thought that it was compromised, because of the burning of the medical building. The others figured that those behind it didn’t want others to be able to use the supplies.
Before dawn Rich was softly touching my hair. He kissed me on the forehead whispering, “It’s time, Mrs. Davidson.”
I’d not heard myself referred to in this way yet. Looking at the ring on my finger, I smiled, saying, “Good morning Mr. Davidson.”
He helped me sit up and handed me a hot cup of coffee, kissing me softly as he left, saying, “I’ll be back in a little bit.” Reaching for him I said, “The warehouse, tell the others so they can get supplies.”
He smiled at me and said that the two days I was resting from the attack the others were already gathering supplies from it.
Preparing to leave, the camp was buzzing with life. I couldn’t stand just sitting in the tent on this damn cot. I’d had enough of tent sitting for one lifetime. Finishing the sweet caffeinated goodness, I decided it was time to get with it. Struggling to get up, the damn leg was aching. Rich came in just as I wobbled and caught me before I could come crashing to the ground. He brought me a handful of pills and some water, instructing me to take them, saying, “There are some signs of infection going on with your leg. These are antibiotics. Take them, and we will get ready to go.”
Hoisting me into the back of the truck with Joseph, I sat with my leg propped up through the center of the front seats. Joseph was a happy kid asking if I would like to play go fish. I told him I would love to later, but that I was uncomfortable with all the moving and could we wait until we were settled into the trip a little.
Keith look
ed back at him saying, “Hey there buddy, do you think for now you could help keeping watch on your side of the truck?”
This gave the young man a boost of confidence, and he took his task seriously, watching intently out the window, occasionally glancing out the rear.
Keith asked Rich about the planned trip. Rich replied, “I want to travel down into Kentucky from West Virginia. Ohio River crossings are few and far between, and I’m worried these might come at a price we are not willing to pay.”
Keith nodded saying, “Agreed. We will still have some areas that might have issues with rivers. The Kentucky River is no small task either.”
Rich nodded and said, “One river at a time my friend, one at a time.”
Keith grunted, asking, “Exactly, where are we going?”
I said, “We need to get to Richmond, I know John was looking for the Militia group there.”
“Ok.” Keith said, rustling the maps around, “Richmond it is.”
Rich said, “Let’s try and avoid river crossings and other areas that might present a bottleneck. This might take a while, unlike back in the days of GPS and open road this might have been a five-hour trip, but now? Who knows?”
Chapter 13
“The Longest Mile”
“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You much travel it by yourself. It is not far. It is within reach. Perhaps you have been on it since you were worn, and did not know. Perhaps it is everywhere – on water and land.
-Walt Whitman
The first few hours of the trip was uneventful, not really seeing any signs of anyone. Occasionally we would smell the distinctive odor of fire. That oaky pungent smell of a good hardwood fire. It wasn’t until we reached a small town called Clay that we saw our first people. When we approached the outskirts of town, there was a guarded outpost with a gate. We were instructed to stop and approached cautiously. They asked us where we were going and Rich explained that we were on our way to Kentucky. Taking mostly surface roads to avoid any highway issues.
The men instructed us to pull into a parking lot adjacent to the little makeshift guard shack and wait. We were all on edge and sat with guns ready, waiting for the instructions from these people. I didn’t feel like they were a threat, but more so just trying to stay safe themselves.
It was not long before a man came over followed by a young woman with two small children. They couldn’t have been more than six and eight years old. They looked like they had seen more than their share of hardship since the beginning of this. It made me feel sad for them. The man said, “They need to get to a group near Huntington, we can offer you passage to the next town, papers to show at each town for passage, and fuel if you will take them.”
Rich looked at us; I nodded yes as did Keith, he turned to the man and said, “The passage through the area will help us considerably, I don’t know how much fuel we could really use, but topping it off would be great.”
Keith said, “How about I ride in the back for a while?”
Rich looked back to me, then looked at him and said, “How about you drive for a while and I ride shotty, Rita can sit up front, and the woman and kids can be in the back?”
Joseph said, “Maybe they will want to play fish with me?”
Keith laughed and said, “That works, let’s do this and get back on the road.”
The young lady’s name was Kiera, and her children were Chantelle and Jonny. Her father lived near Huntington and was waiting for them to arrive. She had been in Pittsburgh when all of the troubles began and spent the whole time traveling to try and reach her family. Her husband was in the military, and she was not sure if he would ever return from Iraq or even if he was alive. As she told us about herself, I felt sad for the little girl who cried for her father when the mother mentioned him.
It took us a little more than four hours to reach a small town south of Huntington called Centerville. This was nearly at the Kentucky border and brought us much closer to our destination. It was getting to be later in the afternoon, and we were advised to remain in Centerville for the night. They had a little old country doctor there who looked at my injuries and told us that there was some infection. He checked the antibiotics I had and decided I needed something different. I accepted what we had for antibiotics in trade for Cephalexin, saying, “These will work better for this, what you have here seems to be a bacterial infection. You will need to take the largest dose. I’ll write it down for you.” Looking at me, he said, “And don’t you miss any, take them all. You hear?”
I agreed and thanked him. They had a sheltered area set up at the school with soup and places to rest. We were given an area off to the side of the gym to rest and eat. Rich and the men of the area looked at what we had and needed. They found some good swapping could be done and set to figuring out a good barter for things. We soon found they lacked in medical supplies. Desperately, in fact. But we had actually very little food, and guns without ammo. As we’d been traveling from place to place, we continuously picked up things, many of which we did not need.
Rich made a trade of food for some medical supplies, a .22 rifle and 20 gauge shotgun for 9.mm, .223, and 12 gauge rounds. Boxes and boxes of it. We had no shells for the two guns, and they needed them for the women in their area. Overall we gained some much-needed ammo, food a couple cases of bottled water, and a pair of crutches for me.
I slept well that night; they made a bed for me with extra padding and a very warm blanket. I woke feeling better and extra hungry. I smelled it…That rich almost skunky odor of strong coffee! These people had coffee! I was determined to find a cup when suddenly, one appeared. Little Chantelle brought me a steaming hot cup of coffee and a big smile. After accepting the cup, she gave me a big hug. It was good we could help this small family, and they were good to us in return.
One thing we found along this journey was that there were indeed many people just like us, trying to make our way through this mess and retain our humanity in the process.
After a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, beans, potatoes, and biscuits and another cup of coffee, we headed to the Kentucky border. A truck with three men in it escorted us to the bridge across the river and gave the word to let us pass.
Once we were into Kentucky, the mood changed in the vehicle. It was nearly giddy with excitement. Keith checked the maps and found the route the men at the bridge said was fairly safe. They told us to avoid highway 64. Explaining that a gang out of Lexington had it patrolled and they were a bad bunch.
Rich talked to them and found out they had the same circle with two arrows tattoo; only theirs had a star inside the circle above the arrows to the left. We found this curious and still wondered what this meant. They had to be somehow connected.
Some of the roads were blocked, and there were two bridges out over smaller creeks that slowed our travel, but we made Richmond, Kentucky by nightfall. Met on the outskirts of town by some men who wore an insignia III%, they approached us with masks on and asked us the reason we were there.
From the back of the truck, I said, “I’m Rita, I was traveling with John and Amy to meet Destiny Walters, can you help us find them?”
The man did not approach the vehicle which made us nervous but asked, “You know Dez?”
I said, “Yes, can you help us get to them?”
He said, “Pull over into this parking lot.” Motioning to the left, he continued, “Just wait here, I’ll be back shortly.”
The other man watched us, he jogged across the street to his own truck and picked up what looked like a mic to a CB Radio.
Returning to the truck, he stood back still. This made us all a little uncomfortable still. He asked, “Have you had contact with others in the last twenty-one days?”
Rich said, “Yes, we have.”
The man said, “Hold on.”
Jogging back to the truck again he got on the radio, Rich looked in at us and said, “We’re ok, they are worried about quarantine.”
I looked at him, saying,
“Quarantine?”
He continued, “Ebola, it is still out there as we know full well. They are going to quarantine us.”
Panicked, I said, “For how long? What about Matty?”
He reached behind the seat and took my hand and said, “We are here my love, they are trying to protect him from this. We have to do what they say.”
The man returned and holding the mask across his face, he’d put gloves on and handed Rich a walkie talkie saying, “We will communicate with this, keep your windows rolled up and do not exit the vehicle without permission. Do you understand?” We nodded, and he continued, saying, “Does anyone need to go?”
Rich asked, “Go?”
“Yes.” The man said, “Go to the bathroom? We will not be stopping until we reach Ryan and the quarantine center. You will be quarantined until we are sure there is no risk of Ebola.”
We all decided to use the makeshift outhouse, which was little more than a bucket with a bag in it, once the last person had gone, we had to tie the bag and leave it in the bucket. Getting back into the truck we did as we were instructed and rolled up the windows. The ride to London was over an hour, and we were greeted with the same caution. There was a small medical center there. We were escorted by a nurse and doctor both in NBC suits to a room where we would wait to be processed and decontaminated.
We sat in the room for a short time when someone came in, also in the white NBC suit. He reached for Rich’s hand saying, “I’m Ryan, I’m the area commander for the three percent.”
Keith looked confused, saying, “What is a three percent?”
