by Lopez, Rob
26
They came from Marion. They came from Lake James. They came from Sunnyview, Pittman Hill and the other communities where the raiders had kidnapped women. The only no-show was Black Mountain, which felt it was big enough to look after itself and wasn’t interested in allying on equal terms with small groups it was barely aware of. But the rest came.
Wary of tricks, they came armed to the teeth and crowded out the railroad museum at Old Fort. Sitting with Scott and Doug on the only chairs available, Rick tried to control the tempestuous meeting.
“I don’t care how many folks you’ve got to feed,” said a man from Lake James. “If I see you fishing down there, you’ll get a bullet in the ass.”
“The lake’s big enough to feed all of us,” said Farah, interpreting for Lou.
“The hell it is. Damned lake’s nearly been fished out.”
“Well, you seemed to find plenty for your raider friends.”
“You watch your mouth, bitch. They weren’t no friends of mine.”
“You call her a bitch one more time and I’ll plant my fist on your expletive chops.”
The man from Lake James looked from Farah to Lou. “How in hell am I supposed to know who I’m talking to? The ventriloquist or the dummy?”
“Okay, that’s enough,” barked Rick. “We’re not here to sort out your feuds.”
“Why don’t we take this outside and I’ll show you who’s the dummy,” signed Lou with a menacing glare.
“Enough! This is a meeting to work out how we can help each other.”
“If he’s fixing for a fight, he’ll get one,” said the Lake James guy.
“There’ll be no fighting on my watch,” said Rick. “If you’d have teamed up against the raiders, you wouldn’t have been in such a mess, and that’s the point of this summit.”
“These guys couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag,” said Scott derisively.
Rick turned to him. “That ain’t helping.”
“I’m just saying. They’d rather pull each other’s hair and stick their tongues out until the next bunch of raiders comes along to screw them in the ass.”
Doug stood up as if to distance himself from the two soldiers. “Folks, you all know me. We’ve had our differences and we’ve had our traumas. I’m just saying it’ll be better if we can all get along, because we really need each other. We’re all vulnerable, but from here on in, there’s no need for any community to be alone. Who knows what threats there are out in the mountains or in the woods? Isn’t it better to know that, if something happens, we can count on friends to help us out? Just because we beat one group of raiders, doesn’t mean there might not be more.”
“We got raiders right here in this room,” called out a voice. “Like the Kavanaghs.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” replied another voice, presumably one of the Kavanaghs.
“You took our hog. That’s a federal offense.”
“That hog was running free. And if it’s a federal offense, which it ain’t, why don’t you call the FBI? There’s an old phone in the cabinet right there. Stick it up your ass so they can hear you good.”
“Ha! That’s right,” said a third voice. “Because he’s talking out of his butt.”
“That’s what he meant, numbnuts,” said a fourth.
“Well it wasn’t that clear, so I wanted to explain.”
“Don’t.”
Rick sighed and rolled his eyes. “Can we get back to the matter in hand?”
“Folks, please listen to him,” said Doug. “Without this gentleman, those raiders would still be at large, kidnapping your women and blackmailing you for supplies. You know how brutal they were. This is the first break we’ve managed to catch. Let’s not waste it.”
One man stepped forward from the group. Rail-thin, he had an eye patch and leaned on a walking stick. “You say these raiders are gone, now?” he asked, lifting his chin to speak.
“They are,” said Rick. “The ones from Round Knob, anyway.”
“And do you know of any others?”
“No, sir, I’m not aware of any others. Yet.”
“Then I don’t see the need for any alliance. I mean, if some of these folks are getting attacked, they’re welcome to come and ask for help. But I draw the line at being obligated to help. We’ve got our own interests to consider, and sending our boys out to die for someone else’s benefit doesn’t strike me as a smart move. And considering some of these people are at each other’s throats already, what are we supposed to do if they’re fighting each other? Help them both? No, this is just a fanciful idea.”
“Obviously, we’ve got to improve relations between you all. For that, we need dialogue.”
“I get all the dialogue I want back home.”
“The roads are clear. There’s no reason not to communicate with each other more. We establish trading connections and get to know everyone better. It might seem right now that we’ve all got our own corners to fight, but we’ll soon see we’ve got needs in common. And the common is best defended jointly.”
“By trade, I suppose you mean that rat-faced weasel you’ve been sending to barter junk. I don’t need any of that crap. But the thing about trade, you see, is you give something and you get something back. If I’m going to be in some kind of alliance, and I send my boys to risk their neck for somebody else, I want to know what I get in return. And I don’t just mean thanks.”
“What you get in return is security. You’ve got to look at the bigger picture here.”
“The way I see it, you just want to be the boss of us all,” called a voice.
“That’s not it,” said Rick.
“You’re asking for more than we can give,” signed Lou.
“You just want us to rescue your ass when them raiders you chased off come back to give you hurt,” said another.
“Come on, people,” implored Doug. “Isn’t it the Christian thing to help a brother in need?”
“You ain’t no Christian, voodoo man. I remember you from when you ran that store selling wampum and shit. Hell, you ain’t even a real Indian.”
“I am, but what are you?”
“An American. I defend my home.”
“Sure, you’ve been doing a great job of that,” remarked Scott, bored of the proceedings.
“Sorry, you got something to say to me, old man?”
Rick stepped in before Scott could reply. “Easy now. Let’s remember what we’re here for.”
“I remember coming because I was curious,” said someone.
“Yeah, and I’m done being curious,” said another.
Gradually, people started to leave.
“How about we fix another meeting?” said Doug. “To give people enough time to think about Rick’s proposal.”
Nobody listened. Lou was among the last to leave, and he signed a final message for Rick:
“We appreciate what you’ve done, but you’re wasting your time with these people.”
They left and Rick stared at the empty room.
Scott tried to console him. “Probably wouldn’t have worked anyway,” he said.
“Might have worked if they were reasonable people,” said Doug. “I guess the winter weeded out the reasonable ones and left us with the hard cases.”
“They didn’t need to be reasonable,” said Rick, still staring. “They just needed to see the bigger picture.”
“That’s only in your head,” said Scott. “It’s plain to see people don’t think like you. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t have the skill to convince people to do what they don’t want to do. Not peacefully anyway.”
“I know I’m no diplomat. It’s just … well, it’s obvious to me what needs to be done, and I don’t understand why others don’t see it.”
“We spent too long in the army, surrounded by guys who thought like us. It ain’t like that now.”
“There were plenty of goofballs in the army.”
“Okay. Too long running A-Teams then. Sp
ecial Forces is a whole different world.”
“That isn’t it. I’m just …” Rick massaged his face. “I don’t know. I think I just want to quit.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” said Doug. “You’ve achieved a lot, so look on the bright side. Things are better now than before.”
Rick stood up. “According to Packy, I’m a pessimist, so I don’t do the whole positive waves thing.”
“You don’t have to. We still have the Bergen Mountain militia. They’ll stand by you.”
*
The defenders of the town of Black Mountain watched as the lone, half-naked figure walked slowly toward them up Highway 70, waving his army shirt above his head. The sun burned off the mists that rose from the Swannanoa River and clung to the wooded hills. Rifle scopes zoomed in on the figure, checking him for weapons, but the man with the sagging, hairy chest, and more body fat than the apocalypse warranted, appeared to pose no direct threat, though he walked with the confidence of a man with an army behind him. The defenders stayed low, wary of hidden snipers, but the highway stretched empty into the distance.
Major Connors, still waving his shirt, halted a few yards short of the barricade. “Who’s your chief honcho?” he said.
Connors was escorted to the mayor’s office and led inside. Seated behind a desk was a bearded man with dark, hollow eyes. Behind him stood some guy in a rent-a-cop uniform, wielding a shotgun. An elderly gentleman wearing an old army uniform with ribbons on his chest occupied an adjoining desk.
“I take it you’re the mayor?” said Connors to the bearded guy.
“Not really, he …” began the man.
“Yeah, yeah,” interjected Connors. “He died, then the guy who succeeded him died, now it’s you. I’ve heard it before. Whatever. Let’s cut to the chase. I’m Major Connors, U.S. army,” he cut a glance to the elderly gentleman, “serving, not retired, and I’m here as a representative of the state government in Asheville.”
“State doesn’t operate out of Asheville,” said the bearded man.
“It does now,” said Connors. “May I take a seat?”
The bearded man, eyeing Connors warily, indicated a chair.
Connors sat down and put his shirt on. “Now,” he said, buttoning it up, “it seems we have a situation here.”
“I don’t see that it’s much of a situation,” said the bearded man. “You people in Asheville run your own town, and we run ours.”
“You fired upon state representatives.”
“We fired on a bunch of armed civilians who refused to take heed of our warnings.”
“And you unlawfully detained two of our militia.”
“We arrested two idiots who thought they could threaten every man at the barricade.”
“Your opinion of who those people are doesn’t actually matter, so I don’t accept your excuses. You have been shown letters of state authority, you have willfully assaulted agents of the state and you have kidnapped, without due authority, two of those agents. Under the law as it stands, that makes you guilty of treason.”
“Bullshit.”
“No doubt you wish it was. But the law doesn’t care what you think.”
The bearded man leaned forward. “We don’t recognize your authority, and a few handwritten notes won’t change that. State government operates out of Raleigh, and we’ve heard nothing from them since the solar flare. I don’t think we ever will. An armed mob that turns up on our doorstep demanding weapons and taxes will get the same treatment as every other gang out there. My primary responsibility is to the people of this town. If whoever’s in charge in Asheville wants to negotiate with us for some assistance, that’s fine. But they don’t get to dictate to us.”
“I understand that you have secured, and appropriated, the Burnett Reservoir.”
“It’s an important water source.”
“Indeed it is. For a lot of people in Buncombe County, not just yourselves. I understand that you threatened the county director of Asheville, telling him you would cut off Asheville’s water supply if he didn’t comply to something.”
“Hey, he was threatening us, demanding we take in refugees from his city. I told him we were in no position to be able to do that. Cutting the water supply was the best way of ending things peaceful-like.”
“I agree with you, there. But see, this isn’t the county director doing the asking now. This is the state governor, and he is mandated to raise a militia for emergency use, with federal assistance from personnel like myself. He’s your boss, and he’s not demanding that you do anything that would threaten the safety of either you or your town. In fact, he’s very concerned about the lives of everyone under his responsibility, because he’s that kind of guy. He’s also not above understanding the need for a little sovereignty. All he’s asking is a survey of your weapons, so he knows whom he can count on in the defense of our state, and a minimal tax for the benefit of all the people in the state, should they require assistance. I mean, if you don’t produce much, you won’t pay much tax. And if things go bad for you this winter, we’ll be there to help. It’s not that unreasonable.”
“I told you, we don’t recognize your authority, no matter how much you sugar-coat it. And we don’t appreciate being threatened by force of arms.”
“I haven’t threatened you yet,” said Connors, “but if I do, you’ll be in serious trouble, because my men are trained and well armed.”
The elderly gentleman in the old uniform pitched in: “So are our boys, and you’d be advised not to try anything.”
Connors turned to him. “I would, would I?”
“That you would. Take note: these young men and women are the finest that I’ve ever trained. They’re dedicated to their country and their homeland, and they are prepared to give their lives for the cause. We have military vets in our ranks with the same dedication and the skills to pass on, and they don’t like to be pushed around. None of us do. I don’t know what kind of people you’ve had to deal with so far, but I promise you, you’ll rue the day you tried to take us on, because we’re dedicated to freedom.”
“Sounds like a lot of dedication. Say, it’s getting pretty warm in this office. Can someone get me a glass of water, piped from your excellent reservoir?”
The trio exchanged glances, wondering if this was some kind of trick. Rent-a-cop left to go to the bathroom. When he came back, he remained in the doorway, glaring at Connors.
“Oh yeah,” said Connors nonchalantly, “about that reservoir. It’s now under the control of the state militia, and you’ve been cut off for your intransigence.” He turned to the elderly gentleman with a smile. “We’ve got vets too. In fact, I don’t imagine there’s a single group in this fine land of ours that doesn’t have at least one vet in their ranks. We kind of get around. Mind you, some vets are worth more than others. And the defenses you organized for the small group you left to guard the reservoir … well, let’s just say they weren’t all that effective.”
Connors pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. “Now let me see if some of these names are familiar to you: Avery Johnson, Rebecca Thorpe, Peter Grant, Emily … Rathbone, I think it says here. Bud Clark, Seely Eisenhower, ah, what the hell, I’ll let you read it. It’s a long list.”
He handed it over to the gentleman, who read the names with increasing annoyance.
“Fifteen in all,” said Connors. “College kids, mostly.”
“What have you done with them?” demanded the gentleman.
“Nothing. They’re all fine and in protective custody. Seems they weren’t prepared for a night raid on their positions, but, wisely, they chose to surrender. Smart kids. Took a little tear gas, of course, but it all ended well. Oh, there’s another five we bagged from a patrol in the woods, and another couple from some other place. They’re all on the list. Guess you don’t need to worry where they are any more. If you were worried at all, that is.”
Connors turned back to the bearded guy. “You’re not dealing with amateurs, now. W
e’ve been lenient with you, so far, but I’m not sugar-coating it anymore. You will release the two militia members you have detained, and you will allow us into the town to conduct a proper inspection of your weapons and resources. Only fully automatic weapons will be confiscated, but the rest you can keep, upon registration. After that, your boys and girls get to come home safe. I can’t say fairer than that. Should you resist, however, and should you be tempted to detain me, then my men have their orders. We have heavy weapons, we have done a thorough reconnaissance of your defenses and troop numbers, we have four platoons positioned at various locations around the town, and if we have to attack, we will prevail, and you three gentlemen will be held directly responsible for any loss of life, either from our side or yours. And you will be charged with treason, for which the penalty under existing emergency laws is death. You will be given a trial, of course, but I think the evidence will speak for itself.” Connors leaned back and folded his arms. “Pick your next move very, very carefully. Your lives will depend on it.”
27
“Do you think he’ll have the guts to do it?” said Lauren, leaning on the deck rail. Down below, Packy conversed with Chuck by the lake.
“Do what?” said April, sorting through a collection of baby clothes.
“Talk to Dee.”
“I don’t see that he’s interested. Packy’s obsessed with money, cars and himself.”
“There’s not a lot of use for money these days.”
“Well, whatever passes for money. He just wants stuff, and a chance to goof around.”
Dee drifted through the compound like a lost ghost. As she moved farther from him, Packy quit his conversation with Chuck and nonchalantly moved on a parallel path to Dee. When she stopped to draw water from the creek, Packy halted to begin a conversation with someone splitting logs.
“That’s what he wants us to think,” said Lauren. “But I suspect there’s more to Packy than meets the eye. Deep down, he’s a sensitive guy.”
“Packy? Sensitive?” April snorted derisively. “Every time he opens his mouth, he pisses someone off.”
Dee moved away from the creek with her water and Packy abruptly ceased his conversation with the wood splitter, who was none too pleased at being interrupted, and moved to find someone else to talk to, always in Dee’s shadow.
