The E.M.P. Chronicles (Book 2): A Life Without Power

by McTatey, Zayden (Oz)

  “Surprise, surprise, surprise,” Naomi said smiling.

  Oz smiled back and continued, “Where were we? Oh yeah, companion planting. Green beans and corn grow well side-by-side. The green beans will grow up the stalks of the corn. It prevents us from having to build trellises. The green beans also provide nitrogen to the corn which is a nitrogen hog. You can plant onions and carrots next to each other. The onions repel the carrot fly. You can plant carrots and tomatoes together. Carrots hate the heat and as the tomatoes grow taller they shade the carrots. There’re also things to avoid planting side-by-side like tomatoes and corn. Corn is often attacked by corn earworms which will destroy both.”

  They continued planting the seeds according to the layout Oz created.

  “Before we go inside, I have to tell you there’s much to learn,” Oz stated. “I still have much to teach you about companion planting. I just touched the tip of the iceberg.

  “You’ll need to learn how to correctly harvest fruit and vegetables. Sounds easy. Just pick them, right? Nope! More to it than that. You’ll also need to learn how to save the seeds from the fruits and vegetables so that we can use them next year.

  “Finally, I’ll have to teach you how to preserve the food so we can eat it throughout the year. Going forward, most of our food will come from what we grow and hunt. We’ll use food preservation techniques that range from blanching, pressure canning, hot water baths, and salting, to storing food in our root cellar.”

  With the seeds planted and watered, they headed back to the cabin ready for their next assignment and learning opportunity.

  23

  SECURITY BREACH

  It had only been five days since the families had been reunited at the cabin when Brian was outside working alone and noticed unfamiliar movement near the cabin. At first glance, he didn’t give it much thought but then quickly realized that something was not right. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he listened to the voice in his head.

  Brian pushed his headset button and said, “Tango 1 to all family members, check in.”

  “Zulu 1, I have Zulu 2, and Zulu 5 with me,” Oz responded.

  “Zulu 4 in the LP/OP with Stacey,” Cali said.

  “Bravo 1 is with Bravo 2 checking the tripwires,” Naomi replied.

  “Tango 2 is in the garden,” Elizabeth responded.

  “Tango 3 is cutting wood on the north side of the cabin. I have Max with me,” Luke said.

  “Zulu 3 is on security detail on the north side of the cabin,” BJ said.

  “We have a breach of the cabin,” Brian said as he grabbed his Springfield™ XDM . “Zulu 1, approach from the west side for entry. Tango 2, approach the cabin from the east and watch the outside of the cabin. Zulu 2, approach the cabin from the south and watch the outside. Bravo 1, check the outer perimeter to make sure there aren’t others. Zulu 1, when you’re in position, check in. I’ll enter from the east side of the cabin.”

  Within a minute Brian heard, “Zulu 1 in position.”

  “Enter the cabin in 3, 2, 1,” Brian said.

  Both men entered from their respective locations and immediately took cover. Brian stopped to listen for noises but heard nothing. Oz could hear faint sounds coming from the medical facility area.

  “Tango 1, noises in the medical facility,” Oz affirmed. “We’ll enter at the same time. Once I’m inside, I’ll cover my right and when you enter, you cover your right. We don’t want to shoot one another,” Oz said.

  Before Brian could get in position, a young man burst through the door running full speed in his direction. With a gun in his hand and a backpack over his shoulders, the man fired two rounds at Brian catching him off guard. One of the rounds missed but the second one hit him in the middle of the chest. Brian immediately fell to the ground and yelled in sheer pain grasping at his chest as if he were trying to remove the bullet. Within seconds, Brian’s eyes closed.

  The young man kept running and jumped over Brian’s body. At the same time, Oz forced the east medical facility door open in pursuit. Oz looked down at Brian and then up at the running man. He had to make a decision: help Brian or stop the intruder. Oz immediately stopped and knelt to the ground at Brian’s side. He would not let his friend die.

  The young man forced the east cabin door open and, once through, ran for the tree line. Elizabeth carefully looked through her sight and fired three rounds four feet in front of the man. Nicki fired three rounds to the man’s side.

  “You’re in a crossfire!” Elizabeth yelled. “Those were warning shots. The next ones won’t be.”

  “Drop the gun now!” Nicki yelled. “Three, two—” The man dropped the gun before she counted down to one. “Hands on top of your head interlaced,” she continued.

  The man complied.

  “Now, drop to your knees, lie flat on the ground, and cross your legs,” Elizabeth said as she slowly approached him with her AR-15 shouldered and ready to fire. Within seconds Nicki was by her side.

  With Elizabeth covering the man, Nicki took the backpack off and was ready to pat him down; but before she did, she stopped. With a look Elizabeth had never seen before, Nicki pulled out her knife and placed it in the middle of his shirt to cut it away.

  “You move, you die,” Nicki said.

  She was frustrated and scared and there was no way she would miss any weapon of any type on this man. To make matters worse, before this intruder came running out the door, both women heard shots and assumed Oz or Brian was dead. As she patted him down, she found a Glock™ hidden in his waistband. She placed the gun in a safe condition and threw it behind her. She then had him remove his boots, finding a concealed knife. She walked behind him and placed the end of her AR-15 in the middle of his back.

  “Pants off now,” Nicki demanded.

  The young man turned pale. He was visibly shaking but complied and took his pants off.

  Nicki did a full body search of the nearly naked man and said, “Good, no more weapons unless you would like me to check in the only other place you could hide one.”

  “No, ma’am, no weapons there,” the young man said as his heart pounded.

  OZ UNBUTTONED BRIAN’S camouflage top and was relieved to see that the Level IV trauma plate had stopped the round. Although it saved Brian’s life, Oz knew it hurt like hell.

  “Brian, Brian!” Elizabeth yelled in fear as she ran through the door and saw Oz hovering over him.

  “He’ll be fine,” Oz said as he looked up at Elizabeth. “The chest plate stopped the bullet. He’s bruised and when he wakes up, he’ll be pissed, but he’ll be fine.”

  Oz helped Elizabeth carry Brian to the medical facility where they laid him on the table.

  “Go help Nicki. I’ll take care of Brian,” Elizabeth insisted.

  “10-4,” Oz said and then hugged her.

  AS OZ WALKED outside, he could see that Nicki had the intruder face down on the ground in his underwear. He looked around and saw a Glock™ and knife on the ground. The man’s clothes were strewn all over the ground.

  “Brian’s okay,” Oz said. “The chest plate stopped the bullet.”

  “It could have been you, you know,” Nicki answered as she stared at the figure on the ground. “He could have killed you.”

  “I’m fine and so is Brian,” Oz said as he turned his attention to the man on the ground.

  Oz approached the man and told him to place his hands behind his back.

  He complied.

  Oz zip-tied the man’s wrists together with one tie before placing a second zip tie around his hands for additional security.

  OZ DID NOT say a word and opened the backpack the man had been carrying. Oz was not surprised when he found it full of medical supplies taken from their facility. He opened a smaller pocket on the outside and found a wallet. Oz took the wallet out, opened it, and found a driver’s license. The license read Damion Walters, 5’9”, 165 pounds, date of birth: 4/20/1999, address 345 Round Drive, Tumbling Shoals, AR. Oz compared the picture
on the license to the young man in front of him. It was the same person.

  “Damion,” Oz said. “If you needed help you should have asked.”

  Damion said nothing and looked defiantly at Oz.

  Oz walked around to face Damion and knelt in front of him. “No need to say a word because I don’t care,” he asserted. “You really should have asked first. Now we have to decide what to do with you.”

  Nicki and Oz helped Damion to his feet.

  “Time for us to determine his fate,” Oz exclaimed as they walked him toward the cabin.

  24

  A FAMILY TRIAL

  Damion was placed in the basement and both his hands and feet were zip-tied. He would be constantly monitored and fed three meals a day with four-bathroom breaks per day. He would be held involuntarily but would not be treated unfairly until the family determined the sentence for his actions.

  “Oz,” Brian said. “We can’t afford to keep a 24/7 watch on him. We need to quickly decide what to do with him.”

  “I agree,” Oz replied. “It’s not going to be easy. Quick thoughts are that if we let him go, he may be part of a larger group. We know what that means! Not to mention, the longer we keep him here the longer we waste precious resources on security and food. We can’t afford to waste either.”

  “Family meeting?” Brian asked.

  “Family meeting,” Oz responded.

  THE FAMILY MEETING started as usual. They all gathered in the common dining room area and sat around a table that could accommodate 20 people. Roll call was a standard opening procedure and the only ones missing were those on security detail. Stacey, still being somewhat unfamiliar to the families, would not be given a vote and would not participate in the discussions. With everyone accounted for, the meeting began.

  “We captured Damion Walters of Tumbling Shoals, Arkansas,” Oz began. “First and foremost, the most important point to understand is that he shot and nearly killed Brian. Had Brian not been wearing a Level IV vest, he would have died. We call that attempted murder. Secondly, Damion had a rather large supply of our medical supplies in his backpack.”

  Oz paused for a few seconds to let everyone absorb these facts.

  “So simply put, what do we do with him?” he asked the group.

  “We can’t keep feeding him and further deplete our food supply,” Brian asserted. “We’re resource constrained and can’t keep guarding him around the clock. We’re wasting resources that could be used elsewhere. Before we decide what we do with him, I’m asking each of you to think it through.

  “Here are a few questions to ask yourself: What if he’s part of a larger group, tells them, and they attack us? What if he waits in the tree line and from a distance starts taking each and every one of us out? We already know he’s capable of violence and even killing.”

  “He needs to be held accountable for his actions,” Luke declared abruptly. “An eye for an eye.”

  “Luke, are you saying death?” Cali asked. “If so, I’m not in agreement. Punishment is one thing, death is another.”

  “Let the punishment fit the crime, big sister,” Randall stated.

  “Who talked to him and what did he say?” Elizabeth asked. “Did he tell anybody why he did what he did?”

  “When Oz questioned him, he refused to answer, Nicki interjected. “Brian tried as well and nothing. Not one word. He just stared at both of them.”

  “What has the world turned into? Cali said sounding upset. “We are now judge and jury. None of us were prepared for this.”

  “Cali, it’s an issue we have to deal with,” Oz said as sympathetically as possible. “We can’t avoid it. We didn’t ask for this nor did we want it. It was brought to us and as hard as it is, we have to resolve it.”

  Oz hugged his daughter before turning back to the group.

  “Let’s cut to the chase,” Oz said and continued, “Let’s not vote on whether a trial is needed or not because we all know it’s not. We know the facts. Let’s keep it simple and vote on guilt or innocence.”

  Oz knew that having some form of justice would be important. As he looked around the room, he could see that Cali and Nicki were struggling with the decision they would soon have to make. He realized they needed a formal process that resembled the justice system of days gone by, but instead of taking months or years, it had to happen in minutes. For them, it had to be a process that involved discussions and ultimately a vote of some sort.

  “We’re all judge and jury,” he said. “Everyone gets a vote.”

  “Fair enough,” Brian replied.

  Oz stood at the head of the table and said, “Raise your hand if you feel that Damion is innocent and should walk free.”

  Nobody raised their hand leading Oz to ask the second question, “Raise your hand if you feel Damion is guilty of shooting Brian and guilty of stealing our supplies.”

  Except for Connie who was not present because she was caring for Lloyd, all family members raised their hands and it was unanimous.

  “Now,” Oz said as he looked at each and every family member. “Punishment is what you deem appropriate for the crime of attempted murder and theft. Punishment can range from letting him go, so as long as we understand the consequences, to death, once again, as long as we understand those consequences.”

  “I recommend we each write a punishment down and anonymously place them in the bowl in the center of the table,” Brian suggested. “If we do it any other way it will end up in hurt and blame. We can’t do that. We need to stick together as a family. Oz can then randomly read them once everyone has voted.”

  “All in favor of this process raise your hand,” Oz asked.

  All family members raised their hand.

  Elizabeth handed each family member a piece of paper and pen and said, “Let’s take some time to think about the decision each of us will make. It’s a big decision. Meet back here in 30 minutes.”

  Oz and Brian didn’t leave the table, and within a matter of seconds, each had placed their recommendation in the bowl. Luke spent several minutes thinking before placing his vote in the bowl.

  ELIZABETH WENT TO her room and sat silently as she struggled with the decision. The only thing that kept coming back to her was the Ten Commandants, and, more specifically, Thou shalt not murder. She clearly understood that Damion didn’t commit murder, but his intent was to kill.

  “Does the Bible treat committing murder the same as intending to commit murder,” she thought.

  As she read the Bible further, she found comfort, but in her heart, she felt that death was too harsh a punishment and silently muttered, “But what other punishment would fit the crime and, more importantly protect the family?”

  NICKI THOUGHT LOGICALLY and knew that death was not an option. She was a nurse and as such her role was to protect life. She knew something had to be done but it would not be death. Yet she was conflicted. The conflict arose when she couldn’t rationalize the fact that had Cali, Randall, or BJ been in the cabin, they could have been killed.

  BJ, CALI, AND RANDALL went into the medical facility where they could be alone. They were siblings and they were close. They were used to having open discussions and they felt they should make this decision together.

  Twenty minutes later, the three came out and each placed their paper in the bowl. Although Oz was confident, they had each voted their conscious, Oz could see that Cali was crying and upset. He grabbed her in a big hug and told her that he loved her. Nicki came over and hugged them both before herself beginning to cry.

  EVERYBODY RETURNED TO the table and all the votes were accounted for and placed in the bowl. Oz walked away from Cali, grabbed the bowl, and as best as he could, mixed up the papers.

  As he stared into the bowl, it hit him hard that the ink on the paper held the fate of Damion, and the ink had been placed there by his family.

  “How could it come to this?” he asked himself.

  25

  DAMION'S FATE

  Oz grabbed the
first vote and read the writing out loud, “Branding.”

  Everyone looked around and Oz presumed by the looks on their face that branding was a suitable option yet no one had really thought of it, or so he thought.

  He grabbed a second piece of paper and said, “Death.”

  Everyone gasped, and when Oz looked at the family members, they were all looking down.

  “Branding,” Oz said as he read the third vote.

  “Death,” Oz stated slowly as he read the fourth vote.

  “It’s blank,” Oz said as he picked up what should have been the fifth vote. “Whoever submitted this vote voted with their heart and should know it’s okay.”

  “Castration,” Oz stated as he read the sixth vote.

  “Death,” Oz said as he read the seventh vote to the family.

  Everyone looked in horror as they knew death would most likely be the outcome.

  “The final vote,” Oz said as he picked up the last piece of paper and read, “Branding.”

  He took a minute to understand what had just happened and summarized, “We have 3 votes for death, 3 votes for branding, 1 vote for castration, and one abstention.”

  “We have three choices as I see it,” Brian said standing to address everyone. “The first choice is for the person who submitted the blank vote to vote. There is no shame in any decision he or she makes or even if they remain silent. Second, we all re-vote on ‘death’ or ‘branding’ only, or third, we re-vote until we have a unanimous decision.”

  With her hands clasped together, Nicki stood up to address the family.

  “I feel strongly that if death is to be the punishment it should be unanimous,” she began. “I can tell you that I, for one, will not vote for ‘death’ which means, at least in my book, it’s off the table.”

  “Would you still have that opinion if it was your child or Oz who was shot?” Elizabeth exclaimed looking at Nicki.

  “I don’t honestly know,” Nicki replied. “But we’re medical professionals. You and Brian are doctors. I’m a nurse. We save lives, not take them.”