Into the Apocalypse

by William Dunaway

  Now, I’ll answer any questions that you have, if you really want to know but just keep that in mind.”

  She thought for a moment and even had a concerned look on her face, “Yeah, I want to know what is going on, why it’s going on and what’s going to happen.”

  I stared at her for a moment and lifted her hand that was still in mine and kissed it saying, “Ok. We’ll take some time, and I’ll tell you what I think, but I expect you to read it for yourself. That’s one of the problems with the world and even many religions. They don’t check things out for themselves; they just listen to someone else tell them, and that’s why it bounces off half the time. Worse than that, that’s how false beliefs start. People are deceived and manipulated. I’m sure that’s how even cults are started, all because people won’t read the Bible for themselves to see what God really says.

  Just like the tactical training you guys asked for. Oh, we could just tell you what to do, but you won’t retain it unless you go through the paces for yourself. Well, it’s the same with this. I can tell you what I think and tell you what I’ve read, but you need to do a lot of studying for yourself and make up your own mind whether you see it that way.”

  She thought for a moment again and then smiled, “That makes sense to me. You have a deal.”

  I kissed her hand again and let go.

  When we arrived at the house, Mike was just arriving with the jeep. As I was climbing out of the plane Mia said, “Hey, Vince, be careful.”

  I smiled, “You know me.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I’m telling you to be careful.”

  Kim came up to me and kissed me, then gave me a hug and looked at me with a soft look. She didn’t say anything, but she was telling me to be careful also.

  The talk with Mia actually lowered my anger level and brought me back to being a little more rational, but as Mike explained what exactly happened and what the guy that did the shooting had been saying, my rage grew again.

  I pretty well stayed quiet on the way up. Mike was pissed and so was I because we both were feeling the same disgust with people in general. Mike had seen people’s attitudes while serving as a police officer and I felt like I had seen it my whole life.

  As we pulled up to the city hall, community center, lunchroom or convenient store, whatever it was being called now, Mo was standing outside ready to greet me.

  As I climbed out, Mo looked at me with the same disgust that Mike and I had and said, “I thought twice about calling you down here, but with the circumstances, I thought it’d be best. You know what I wanted to do.”

  I nodded my head yes.

  I walked in the door and the people were talking among themselves but stopped when they saw me. I looked at the body, which was now covered with a tablecloth, then I looked at the guy that was being held.

  “Is this the scumball?”

  “He shot him in cold blood. We all saw it happen. What are you going to do to him?” a woman asked.

  “Kill him!” a voice yelled from the back.

  Another woman spoke up, “You can’t just kill him. He needs to go to jail for the rest of his life.”

  More and more mumbling and comments came from the group and I just shook my head, sat down on the front table and just looked at the people. After another minute or two of comments, the crowd went silent and just looked at me, waiting to hear what I was going to do.

  After looking at them for a few moments, I got a fake surprised expression and asked, “Oh! Are you asking me what I’m going to do with him?.....I’m not doing shit with him,….. none of our people are,…. this is your town. I’m not a judge, or the sheriff or a court and like I said, this is your town. Whatever is going to happen to him will be decided by you.” I looked down at the man that pulled the trigger, which was looking up at me with a surprised look and I asked, “What’s this piece of shit’s name?”

  Someone shouted, “Holbert.”

  He was on his knees with his ankles crossed, as Mo had put him in that position so he couldn’t get up easily and try to run.

  “Well, Mr. Holbert, all these people say you shot this man in cold blood. Is that true?”

  He just kept looking down at the floor so I walked up to him and knocked on his head as though I was knocking on a door and repeated the question. Again, he said nothing.

  “Ok, let’s do it a different way. Is there anyone in here who saw something different or can say he didn’t do it?” Most everyone shook their head no.

  I looked at Holbert again, “Well, Mr. Holbert, it looks like you’re as guilty as hell. Can I ask why you shot him?”

  Again, Holbert said nothing but then his wife stood up, “Because you assholes said we had to work and then Wensley told him to shut up. No one talks to him that way.”

  I looked up at the woman, “Who are you?”

  She sat back down and didn’t answer. Someone spoke up, “That’s Sarah Holbert, his wife.”

  I opened my mouth wide and then mouthed the word, “Oh,” while nodding my head up and down.

  After a few moments, I looked at Mo and said in a sarcastic voice, “Well, that explains everything. Mo, why are we holding this man? He was told to shut up. Isn’t that justification to kill a man?” Mo gave me a quick grin.

  I looked back at the crowd in a stronger stern voice said, “People, as far as I’m concerned, you can all go to hell.” Several of them gasped. “You know, when the EMP hit, due to an act of God or fate or chance, whatever you want to call it, my friends made it to our farm. Due to the circumstances, we united our road, and we all started taking care of one another. Because of the signs of the times and just due to common sense, we had stored up some emergency food. We didn’t come up to bother you people or ask you for anything, and none of you came and asked, “Hey, my family is in a bad way, could you give us a meal?” NO! Our first contact with you is when you formed up to attack us and take away the food that we have.

  Now, I know it wasn’t all of you, but I do know that it was some of you, and during your little expedition many of your friends died,” Then with increased anger, I growled, “and one of ours was killed.”

  Then I paused a second to collect myself and continued, “But after all of that, we brought you food, then after some time had gone by we came up here to try and bring you together and join our little community so all of us can survive. The only stipulation was that everyone capable had to contribute, pull guard duty to protect your own community and hunt and fish just like we have to.

  But oh no. What do you mean we have to work? Aren’t you going to take care of us?” I then shook my head from side to side and chuckled.

  A man jumped up saying, “But we were forced to go down and confront you. They threatened to kill us if we didn’t. We didn’t have any food.”

  While nodding my head up and down slightly, I said, “Ok, let’s talk about that. Your city limit sign says that the population of Pine City is 178. So 178 of you allowed four men to take you hostage, take away your guns and food and none of you did anything about it.”

  A woman then spoke up, “Well, some tried, and they were killed. There were several that were killed by Lebowski’s sons.”

  “Did all you confront him as a group or even stand behind those that resisted?”

  Most of the group shook their head no or lowered their head with shame.

  I gave a quick chuckle, “This is what happens when you become sheep. Instead of planning for a possible emergency, even though you had to know the economy was falling apart, you sat on your tails thinking the government would come in and rescue you. Then when someone comes in and tries to be a dictator, you comply and say, “Oh, we better go along with him, or we could get hurt.”

  I laughed again, “Now, you expect us to do your dirty work and clean up the mess. Well, as we said, we’ll help those that can’t help themselves, but that means the elderly and disabled, not those that don’t want to work. Now….”

  Holbert finally looked up and yelled out, �
�Fuck you! You could have shared your food with us. Orville verified that you have a huge garden, ten or fifteen acres and enough food to feed a small army. You could’ve given us some. We were watching out for our own. Orville gave us leadership and fed us, and you guys murdered him and half the other people in town.”

  My anger started boiling over, and I felt like rushing the guy and beating him to death, but instead, in a firm voice and while glaring at Holbert, I asked, “Santiago, how big is our garden?”

  “It’s a normal size garden, not too much larger than some that were here in town.”

  “You’ve seen our food supply, do we have enough to feed much more than we have in our home right now?

  “No. If it wasn’t for hunting and fishing, you would probably be almost out of everything.”

  “Santiago came to us for help as he was worried about his girls. He’s a very good father, and he humbled himself and put his personal pride aside for his children’s sake. Now, Santiago, what was the requirement that I gave you if we let you into our little community?”

  “That I would have to work my butt off alongside the rest of you.”

  “Thank you, Santiago. Now, why don’t you and Mike take Mrs. Holbert there, along with her children and secure them. Wherever you secure them, check to make sure they don’t have any weapons hidden.”

  “I’ll show you where to put them,” a man said.

  “Mike, secure the outside. Make sure no one lets her out. Santiago, you and Sir, what’s your name?”

  “Bob, Bob Evans.”

  “Ok, you and Bob here double check the place for guns or anything. The town is going to have to decide what to do with Mr. Holbert here.”

  She started screaming “What are you going to do with him? You have no right. He’s the only brave person here.” She was then escorted out along with the two children.

  Holbert himself then jumped up and tried to run out but Mo immediately butt-stroked him with his M-16, knocking him to the ground. Mo didn’t hit him as hard as he could’ve as he was still conscious but he was definitely dazed. I walked up in front of the group, “Remember folks, there are no jails, there is no law enforcement that we know of, so it’s up to you. But there is only one sentence that you really have a choice to make.

  Holbert looked up while holding his chin, “Fuck you, Johnson. Billy was right. We should’ve killed you earlier,” he then laughed and said with a smile, “but you’re still going to die. I have more friends than this, and one of these nights they’re going to pay all of you a visit,” then he looked directly at Mo, “And nigger, I’m going to make sure we kill you first. Don’t worry about your women though; we’ll have our fun…….”

  I walked up to him, pulling out my Glock and shot him in the head. A couple of the women in the group screamed, and others gasped, so I looked at them and said with total anger, “This man just threatened my family and I won’t allow anyone to harm any of my family or friends.

  Now, do you know of anyone else that feels the way he did?”

  Everyone looked at me with fear, and many shook their head no. Brandy even had a shocked look on her face. Soon, Mike came running back inside with his weapon raised.

  Mo immediately yelled out, “We’re clear! It’s ok,” and Mike slowly lowered his rifle.

  I paused and blew out a loud breath, trying to calm my anger and frustration.

  After a few more moments I said, “Now, you all need to decide whether you want to be a part of our community or not. Everyone will be treated fairly, and we’ll help those that can’t help themselves. But for the rest, you’ll have to help guard your own community and set up teams to hunt and fish for your own food.

  Now, I know that some of you are shocked by what I just did but understand this. Our society is basically gone. You all have it one hundred times better than those in the cities and maybe even some of the neighboring communities. It’ll be a very long time before any of us get any help, so you need to decide what you’re going to do. We’ll give you fifteen minutes to decide. If you don’t want to live in reality, that’s your choice, and we’re out of here, and we won’t be back. If you decide to get your shit together and you want to be a part of a larger community, ok. But understand, you’ll work if you're able, not for us but with us. Now it’s up to you. But if there’s anyone left in your town that thinks like he did or was even good friends with Orville, you need to let us know now.” I then turned and walked out of the door.

  I walked over to the passenger side of the jeep and flopped down into the seat and shortly Mo, Mike, Brandy, and Wit followed.

  “Are you alright?” Mo asked.

  I looked at him and made a short grunt and shook my head in disgust.

  “I’m sorry guys, I lost my cool in there but I’m so sick of people like this, and I’m not just talking about Holbert but the town itself. All they are is a bunch of sheep and a great representation of what most of the nation was like before all this started happening.”

  Mo laughed, “You don’t have to say you’re sorry to me. I wanted to shoot him the minute it happened, but I thought I should be diplomatic, due to the town’s vote.”

  “Oh, to hell with all of em! If they don’t want to join us, I’m fine with that. To be honest, we’ll probably be better off in the long run if they vote no. I won’t lose any sleep over it, that’s for sure.

  Mike, are you alright with what I did?”

  “NO!”

  I was a bit concerned with my son knowing how I did that, even though he’d been in Iraq and was a cop, and had seen his share of scum in the world; but he was my son.

  I looked at him with a worried look, but then he continued, “Next time you’re going to do something like that, give me a heads up. When I heard the shot, it scared the hell out of me. Why do you think I came running?”

  I chuckled, “Well, it wasn’t exactly planned.”

  He looked at me, “As far as shooting him, the man needed killing. What were we going to do, kick him out of town and have to watch over our shoulders from now on? He got what he deserved.”

  Mike just said it all in a couple of sentences, but I was a bit sad that my son, who I delivered myself, is having to live in this hell.

  Wit was just about to speak when we heard a gunshot. We all raised our weapons and ran to the sound of Santiago saying, “Over here.”

  When we arrived at the house that they had put Holbert's wife and children in, we saw Santiago standing with the .357 magnum, over the body of the Holbert woman next to a butcher type knife and Bob Evans holding his hand over his bloody arm.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “All I know is I was guarding the outside of the house when I heard Bob here yell for help, then the door busted open, I turned, and she was running out the door towards me with that knife over her head. I didn’t have time to do anything but pull out my gun and shoot her or she would’ve had me.”

  Wit looked up, “She’s dead.”

  Brandy came running up with the medical bag, had Bob sit down on the steps and immediately started working on his arm.

  “What happened, Bob?” I asked.

  He was crying, but I could tell it wasn’t due to the pain of the cut. He said, “I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I had them put her in my house as I knew there weren't any guns. Mike was double checking the house for anything else that could be used as a weapon when we heard the gunshot. I told him to go; I’d finish and keep an eye on her. Santiago took the outside of the house, and after a few minutes, she asked me if the kids could lay down and take a nap that they didn’t need to be involved with all of this, so I took her to the bedroom. She put them in bed, so I went back into the living room to double check if everything was secure. The next thing I know is I heard her daughter say, “NO mommy” and I ran in. I looked down at the kids, and their throats were cut. She killed her own children….. Why would she do that?......”

  He then continued, She was looking down at them and was saying, “Now, you k
ids sleep well. Mommy won’t let you suffer anymore.” She then turned with the knife and sliced my arm and went running out the front door.”

  After a long pause, due to being in a bit of shock, I asked, “Where did she get the knife?”

  He looked up at me with an indescribable look and lowered his head in shame, “ I forgot that I put it in the drawer of my bed’s end table for protection. It’s all my fault isn’t it?”

  Wit ran into the house to check on the children and shortly came walking out, almost stumbling down the porch stairs with his head down and as white as a sheet. He then looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and shook his head no.

  We waited for Brandy to finished with Bob, and Wit and Mike went in and covered the children. Two more innocent people to bury. I planned on calling Jake, but when Bob settled down, he said he’d make sure the town took care of it right away.

  Just about the time that Brandy finished up with Bob, Alice Billington came out of the meeting hall and walked up to me and said very humbly, “Mr. Johnson, I wanted to let you know that the townspeople voted unanimously to join with all of you if you still want us.” She paused and then with some shame said, “Also, we wanted to tell you how sorry we were for not telling you guys about the Holberts.”

  I stared at her for a moment and just nodded my head yes.

  “Thank you.” She said gratefully and turned and walked back towards the townspeople to let them know.

  I continued to stare at her for a moment, then stood up and just walked to the jeep while shaking my head and chuckling to myself that the idea that I even wanted them as a limited part of our group.

  Chapter Thirteen

  On the way home, the Jeep was packed. Everyone was basically in their own thoughts trying to figure out how a mother could snap like that and kill her own children. Many of us feel we could of stopped it from happening.

  Mike thought how if he would’ve finished checking the house out, maybe he would’ve found the knife. I thought how, if I would of handled things differently, it wouldn’t have happened. But it was Brandy that said something that made us all realize the truth of it all.