by Jeff Ping
Chapter 13
Mayor Marshall started organizing our group of settlements and townships. At a meeting in Wasco the representatives of the various communities wrote a Federation charter with the intent of organizing the various communities into a federation.
One of the first orders of business was to get a working communications network in place. In the process of searching the mountain communities we had located several individuals that had worked for the telephone company as linemen. It had been their job to keep the lines in the mountainous rural areas repaired and functional. They were finally able to get a functional telephone network between Jennyville and the mountain survivor communities.
Many of the small hydro power plants were either reactivated or were in the process of being reactivated. This allowed for more than sufficient electrical power to meet our growing requirements. The EPA no longer existed but the environment was doing just fine by itself for now.
The days of restoring the natural habitats were put on hold in favor of the survival of mankind. In a world of thousands of people instead of billions of people the world could have a breather and could heal itself before we overburdened it again. Hopefully, we would choose to protect the environment as we went this time.
Even though most of the modern world's technology was lost at this point, we strove to improve our lot. It would be a long hard struggle just to maintain the bare essentials we needed to survive for years to come.
At one of the first meetings of the Federation council a fledgling telephone company presented a plan to the representatives to reestablish telephone service to all of the communities. Their plan called for initially reworking the existing old runs of telephone lines. They said they would make direct runs of telephone wires from one community operator to another directly.
Their plan was to daisy chain each of the community's operator switchboards to the next in line. The major problem with this method was that redundancy would not be possible. If a telephone line went down in a storm or a fire, the link between point A and point B would be broke.
This would then cause a whole community or group of communities to be isolated until the broken lines were repaired. But it did assure the fastest method of establishing a working telephone network.
Multiple lines would have to wait until all communities were at least able to communicate with other communities. The representatives from each community had voted and approved to establish a government sponsored Telephone Company.
But after four more years of living in this new world we finally had telephone service between the seven mountain communities and Haven and all of the communities in the valley from Haven to Wasco.
A telephone line to Edwards AFB was currently under construction and then we planned to link the three small communities surrounding Los Angeles.
One of our biggest problems, was the modern telephone grid had relied on computers to aid in the sorting and routing of calls. This equipment wasn't compatible with the 1910 era system we were forced into implementing.
Reproducing the old style equipment required slow deliberate disassembling and reproducing of the old equipment by hand. Things that had been produced by the thousands by manufacturing plants now had to be produced by semi-skilled craftsmen.
Sponsorship from the Federation aided the new telephone company in several ways. Recruiting the people with the knowledge base was greatly improved due to a larger population pool. Armed guards were sent to accompany the planners to retrieve the equipment, tools, or supplies required to implement a plan.
The idea of a project gaining support from the governing bodies for a plan or idea necessitated the creation of a sponsorship committee. The committee was not an approving body for all plans, but its approval for government sponsorship would make the execution of any plan much easier and safer to implement.
During the following years several individuals or groups of individuals presented their ideas for forming small companies that could fill particular or needed niches in our new world. Some ideas were rejected and some gained support from the committee. Everything from construction crews, roadwork crews to crop harvesters in the agricultural areas.
Other than the obvious need for these services was the advantage of protection of these groups.
A lone farmer just couldn't harvest all of the crops our growing population required.
It was much more convenient and effective to dispatch a guard detail to travel with a planting crew and a harvesting crew for a few weeks than to send armed men to protect every farmer or his family working weeks on a dozen different farms spread over twenty two thousand square miles.
Lone farmers working small farms still existed but many times they had to rely on themselves and neighbors for protection against wandering lone Zombies or large roving groups of Zombies.
Our ability to protect the various residents of our expanding confederacy as well as our Farms, Oil fields, and refinery workers had stretched our manpower to the limit.
Currently, anyone, both girls and boys reaching their sixteenth year, was considered an adult and expected to perform three years of service in the capacity of a crew worker or to perform two years of militia duty. This had caused a great deal of discussion and concern on the part of the various settlements. But in the end, they all considered sixteen years the age of emancipation of parental rights.
The implementation of mandatory service was a necessity for the good of the communities as well as giving the young people a chance to meet and interact with others their own age outside of their own Hamlets.
The government that we had fallen back to was one of strong states (or settlement) rights. Within the area of a City State influence the local councils were allowed to make their laws, but in the outlying area the FCS law prevailed.
It is confusing to describe but it worked for us. Also, the people residing in the mountain outpost didn't feel that they were being dictated to enforce or obey laws that were wanted or required for flatlanders and vice versa. Each district had laws that were structured to meet the requirements and needs of their municipality.
There had been only three or four cases where Sheriff Tom Walker had been called upon to dispatch FCS marshals to other settlements. The marshals would settle inter-town disputes and implement justice or remove a tyrant that was enforcing their own laws upon a settlement or area. The only absolute condition of the FCS was the formation and training of a state militia. An areas militia was required to answer the call to arms when the FCS representatives issued one.
In our next year lots of things had improved or at least changed. Ralph and Elizabeth had become closer after their trip to the Delano Oil Fields. Either Ralph was in Wasco living with Elizabeth or she was in Jennyville living in his apartment.
Jenny and Rob were glad to see Ralph finally getting on with his life and were glad he had found someone. Rob and Jennie's kids called Elizabeth Auntie and she enjoyed being around Ralph's family. She especially enjoyed the kids.
We were thriving and continuing to crawl back toward a well-lit if not bright future. There are a total of fifteen separate communities in our little confederation of townships now. The various townships and outposts are operating as self-contained sovereignties.
Half of the Federation communities are located in isolated mountain locations. Several outposts such as the Delano Oil Fields the Alcatraz Fishing Station and the Limestone quarries as well as the large farm cooperatives of the central valley operate as protectorates of the larger settlements.
The next two years were tumultuous ones for our alliance of communities. An aircraft crash in the spring of last year resulted in the death of the pilot James Winston, a Wasco resident. Also perishing in the crash was Mayor Lex Marshall of Wasco, and Mayor Fred Hauer of Haven. Mayor Fred had presided over the various forms of government in Haven. Mayor Marshall had held tight to the reins of Wasco. Both men had held their offices since the Zombie plague started and would really be missed.
Both Mayor Fred and Mayor Marshall had been instrumental in the forming of our confederacy. Mayor Marshall saw a need for a united alliance with a common currency based on stored grain. Where as the world before the Zombies had operated on the gold standard Mayor Fred used to laughingly call ours the flour standard. Because the most valuable item in this new world was food and bartering flour and grain was how most settlements survived.
Although James Winston would be missed by his friends, comrades and family, Mayor Lex Marshall and Mayor Fred would be missed by the very Federation itself. Mayor Lex Marshall and Mayor Fred had seen the need to combine our resources and information as being vital to our survival. These two individuals were the true founding fathers of our Federation. They also adapted and recorded our standard legal system and basic laws adapted to fit our current circumstances.
Due to the dangers of our current world, both of these Mayors had identified individuals they would choose as their successors. Mayor Marshall of Wasco had named Elizabeth Doyle as his designated replacement and Mayor Fred of Haven had named Ralph Mason as his.
These recommendations had initially caused an up roar because Ralph and Elizabeth were occasional cohabitants. Many people felt that their close relationship might cause them to abdicate or surrender one settlements best interest to the benefit of the other. Conflict of interest concerns.
Elizabeth had successfully assured Wasco that she would represent Wasco fairly. Ralph Mason's approach had been to say, "To hell with you all, I don't need the job. And you can pick whoever you want for that thankless job."
In the end, the majority of both communities had followed the recommendations of both Lex and Fred and Ralph and Elizabeth had accepted the positions.
Ralph had been one of Mayor Fred's closest confidants and advisers, and on occasion the iron fist of Mayor Fred's government. Ralphs transition into the position of mayor appeared to go smoothly. Elizabeth on the other hand had a bumpy start.
Despite her approval as Mayor in a general election, several individuals who had been unhappy with some of Mayor Marshall's decisions and his selection of Elizabeth as his replacement, had taken up arms and demanded a change. Their primary demand was for a governing council instead of rule by mayor. All of the changes they were demanding were never clearly defined. I'm sure the appointment of themselves as the governing council was primary in their mind.
Their mistake was in arming themselves to enforce their demands onto the community. They seriously misjudged Mayor Elizabeth's resolve and authority. Elizabeth ordered the Sheriff to arrest the protest leaders. There was a shooting when the sheriff tried to make the arrest.
Before peace was restored and normalcy returned, two deputies were wounded, five of the insurgents were killed and three protesters were arrested. After a trial the three protesters were convicted of armed insurrection and sentenced to exile.
Elizabeth Doyle had moved into the mayor's quarters in the Wasco City Hall. Ralph had moved back to Haven after having lived in Jennyville full time over the last five years.
Elizabeth and Ralph had long ago recognized that they were attracted to and clung to each other in their joint grief and hatred of the Zombies.
The night Before Elizabeth accepted the position of Mayor; she did so knowing that they would never share a bed again.
Ralph no longer had a house in Haven because he had given his original home in Haven to Wally Miller. After Bobby and Betty were killed by Zombies and Ralph had decided to leave Haven. When Ralph returned he gave his house and possessions to Wally and moved to Jennyville.
So now, Ralph decided to have new living quarters constructed in the community center as the official Mayors quarters.
Construction of the new quarters wasn't a problem. There were plenty of able bodied construction workers and most were located in Jennyville just a fifteen minute drive to Haven.
Rob had offered refuge to most of the construction crew that had been holding out at the old Sacramento power plant site. In order to accommodate Jennyville's growing population Rob had needed their help to expand Jennyville. And then in order to house the personnel and students for the make shift university Ralph established.
Rob had continued to build Jennyville until it was the largest and most fortified community in the confederation. Jennyville was the place that you went when you had a construction job your community couldn't handle.
These days' construction crews from Jennyville were called upon to ply their trade wherever building was required. There was always something to be built or students to train in the various building trades.
Ralph's idea of preserving the knowledge of the few trained survivors had led to not only the university but a large trade's apprenticeship center. Under the tutelage of Gus Adler, a pilot training school in Jennyville was built.
Gus said that he had always promised himself to retire while he was still young enough to enjoy retirement. So, six months ago he retired when he turned seventy five, and passed the school on to Jack Duncan, my adopted son. At age twenty, Jack was young for the leadership of the pilot training school, but Gus said he was the most natural pilot he had trained in years.
My family and I had relocated from the mountain community of Appleton to a heavily fortified area on the old Edwards AFB. Ralph, Rob, and I had worked a construction crew for six months designing and building heavily reinforced barrier walls around the Base Exchange, the shipment staging warehouses, and the auxiliary airstrip. And had constructed heavily fortified living quarters for my family and the workers needed to maintain and operate the supply depot. Construction crews had continued to fortify various areas on the base including the auxiliary airstrip and hangers.
I had two garbage trucks modified for use as Zombie killing machines. The vehicles were heavily armored and reinforced for running down Zombies. The trucks had scoop buckets that were attached to the front of each.
As Zombies were killed or disabled, the driver would scoop them up and deposit the Zombies into their compactors. The crushed Zombie bodies were then dumped into pits that had been dug on the far side of the base. Using the now plentiful fuel, thanks to the success of the Delano oil fields, we would burn them.
During the six months that had been required for construction the base had been totally cleared of Zombies. The perimeter fences would keep all but an extremely large group from reentering the base. All of the inhabited areas were also secured or were in the process of being secured by barrier walls. Any Zombies encountered currently were normally of the slow moving type. Newly infected fast Zombies were extremely rare these days.