Caroline wanted to be sure there were no complications or unforeseen problems with her. Fitch and Avalon had adopted a policy of humanitarian help to all strangers. No one was ever refused food or medical treatment. The only exception to this rule was the slavers. It hadn’t been determined yet if these two were slavers.
At the sheriff’s office several people were gathered around waiting for the sheriff and Mike to arrive. They were happy to see Caroline. She was the doctor for many of them, and they liked her. They all sat down around a large conference table.
Mike addressed the group,
“Look, all we really know is that this is a man and a woman, and that they seemed to be in poor shape. But that doesn’t mean anything. It could all be a front to put us off guard.”
Many of the people in the room murmured amongst themselves before Mike continued. When he had their attention, he moved forward.
“We should send out a couple of people to search them and then give them a ride back here. The woman appears to be pregnant and a ride instead of that long walk would be more prudent.”
The sheriff interjected,
“I second that. Let’s do it. Bill, Sherman, and Lefty can come with me. Mike you drive the other squad car. The rest of you wait here. We’ll be back in about a half-hour. Let’s go.”
They walked outside, got in the cars, and headed to the outskirts of Fitch and toward Avalon. As they approached the couple, they stopped both cars about fifty feet away and everyone got out of the vehicles. The man and woman smiled and waved at the group. Mike found that odd, most people would be scared, if not a little hesitant, at approaching strangers, badge or not. The sheriff, Bill, Sherman, Lefty, and Mike walked toward the couple with their handguns out and held down toward the ground in case they needed them quickly. Despite the evidence of the drawn weapons, the couple continued to smile. That wasn’t normal at all!
“I’m Sheriff Bob Waters,”
He stepped forward.
“If you will allow us, we would like to search you. That’s for our protection and yours. Then we’ll offer you some assistance. Is that okay?”
Both travelers nodded in the affirmative and stood steadfast as they were searched thoroughly. Once the search was completed the sheriff motioned to one of the vehicles.
“Please get into the car.”
They did as they were instructed, and they all headed to Fitch. They stopped at the sheriff’s office, and once inside, they stepped into the conference room and sat down at the table. Some of the people positioned chairs that were stacked up against the wall and scooted them closer to the group.
The sheriff spoke first,
“Where have you come from?”
“We have been walking from the ocean, a place south of the Oregon-California border called Ukiah. We were on a fishing vacation when the war broke out. We have more or less been living off the land since. My wife is pregnant, and we decided to head inland to find a safe place where she could have the baby. My name is Stan Dunn, and this is my wife Millie.”
Caroline spoke up,
“Are either of you hungry or need something to drink?” They both said yes at the same time and it caused them to laugh.
Caroline got up and left the room. In a few minutes she came back with fried chicken, fresh fruit, biscuits, and a large thermos full of sweet fruit juice.
“Help yourself.”
They ate greedily.
They were way too non-afraid or intimidated about this whole thing, not at all nervous. It troubled Mike.
◆◆◆
The radio crackled to life at the armory. The Reading, California National Guard was calling.
The lieutenant on the other end spoke into the microphone.
“We have captured two spies posing as a man and wife. They arrived moments ago and asked to be allowed to be let into the community. They had a story to tell and we thought you might want to hear about it.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
“Roger that. Apparently, the slaver leader, a man by the name of Bone Breaker, has come to realize that an assault on any towns of any significant size cannot be won by brute force. So, they have reverted to stealth. They are trying to penetrate several towns with their spies to ingratiate themselves through a ruse. They are counting on the mercy of the townspeople to grant them access. In about three months, they plan to open up the gates to their cohorts for a takeover. This particular couple happens to know about the couple going to Fitch. I thought you should know immediately.”
“Thank you, General Stone—Out.”
The next radio message was to the sheriff’s office, Marcy received the message and took the sheriff off to the side and explained the situation to him. The sheriff grabbed Mike by an elbow and directed him away from the people crowded around the man and woman.
Mike shook his head in acknowledgment and walked back to the group. He was formulating a plan. Later, when everyone was back at their station and jobs, Mike, Caroline, the sheriff, along with a few others including General Stone had a meeting.
“Okay everyone,”
The sheriff quietly addressed the group,
“We already know what some of the plan is. I think we should allow those two to believe we are buying into their scheme and not let on that we suspect anything. We must know where they are, what they’re doing, everyplace they go, and what they see. We must not reveal our security defenses to them under any circumstances. In particular, the sentry towers and the concrete defenses at both ends of town, and the rotation of personnel; it all needs to be kept under wraps.”
Mike spoke,
“If we treat them with kindness, perhaps we can turn them to our side, but don’t count on it. Caroline will give them medical care and we’ll feed and house them. We’ll assign them an empty house to live in with someone living in front, on each side, and behind them. They will never wander around freely. Twenty-four hours a day someone will watch the house in rotating shifts outside. They won’t be able to sneak away, even in the dead of night, without us knowing about it.”
He made eye contact with each of them,
“We’ll make it a friendly coincidence when they step out of their house that others are moving about at just the same time. A lot can happen in three months.”
Marcy had another idea.
“We need to assign them jobs. I think she could work in the hospital and he could work at the airport with the others cutting the grass and maintaining the runway. That way they would be around other people all day long and wouldn’t grow suspicious about us. In the meantime, we could bug the house on the inside and see what intel we can gather.”
A murmur of agreement went through the small group. They discussed their options and came to an understanding of how to proceed.
They would install the equipment above the house using low-level FM bugs, listening devices designed to pick up even the smallest sound and transmit to a receiver up to fifty feet away from the house and would be monitored inside two of the houses and the sheriff’s office.
◆◆◆
Slasher began implementing another phase of his plan, organizing groups of thirty-five men and twenty-five women. Each group was outfitted with everything it would take for them to be on the road for two weeks or a little more. They loaded their trucks and motorcycles, took an inventory of weapons, ammo, food, cooking equipment, spare parts for the motorcycles, extra gas, and sleeping accessories.
Each group would travel to a specific place, determine what their contingency plans would be, and the distances they would travel. They cleared these plans with Bone Breaker. It was a necessity that irritated Slasher immensely. He knew his plans were very well thought out and it rubbed him the wrong way, period. Having to get approval from anyone was an enormous irritation; especially from someone with the IQ of a doorknob.
For the time being, however, that was the way it had to be. He didn’t like it, but he was smart enough to realize that this was not the time to be making w
aves. It was better to let the big guy become a bigger target for when the time was right. Patience was, in his own estimation, his greatest ally.
After Bone Breaker approved the plans, they waited several days until his group began to move out. One group proceeded down the beach highway to see if they could discover what happened to the missing group. Most of them speculated the plague had gotten them; the group had orders to travel the same route and, hopefully, come back with some answers. They were anxious to know what happened to the earlier group.
The small community of Weed, along with many small residential districts in between, was to be explored and evaluated for conquest. Another group proceeded toward Susanville and another made their way down Highway 11 toward San Francisco. One of the bands was assigned the route that led to Yuba City and Napa since both were on the list to be scouted. Placerville was the final destination of the last group.
In all, two-hundred-ten men and one-hundred-fifty women moved out to their destinations when the time came. They didn’t plan on attacking any of the principal locations during this part of the plan, unless they ran into “easy pickings” but instead, to simply observe and see what intelligence they could gather to further map out a strategy that might deliver those areas into submission at a later time.
They contemplated surrounding a few areas for siege, or perhaps conduct sneak attacks here and there and then immediately draw back to a position of safety. Other ideas were considered, such as keeping what had already been put into place, with their spies in a large group, and then taking over later by stealth and subterfuge. That was the safest and easiest of the plans.
As the groups traveled the highways heading for their respective destinations, hundreds of small out of the way towns were discovered. Burney, Chester, Sierra Ville, and Quincy were along the way toward Bishop. They stopped in Concord and the smaller communities one-by-one, winning the easy ones and losing a few that appeared easy but were fortified too well to take over. The outlaws weren’t interested in a prolonged firefight. They wanted easy pickings, so they moved on from the harder fights that weren’t worth losing gang members over.
The town of Castellon fell easily. When the outlaws approached the small town, the people scurried away like rabbits. There were perhaps twenty people, mostly middle-aged, and no children. There were no sentries anywhere and the entrance to the small town was wide open.
These people had set up a number of innovations that were functioning. A small waterwheel mill was being used as an alternate method for producing electricity, operating a grinding wheel that crushed corn and other food into meal. It also connected straps to gears to run a saw for cutting trees into usable lumber.
Only a few of the people were armed, and the town was set ablaze before the criminals moved on. Other than the adults who would be treated as slaves, the haul in this place was minimal. There were no firearms to be stolen, since the townspeople were pacifists and did not believe in firearms.
It was a choice that doomed them since they were unable to defend themselves from these barbarians.
The slavers moved on toward the south.
Chapter 17
The Unraveling
After the meeting, the representatives for Fitch and Avalon had a good idea as to what the slavers were planning. It was really quite brilliant. The thugs were on a mission to divide and conquer communities from within.
Their easy pickings from unarmed victims were about used up, so their only remaining option was to attack the small groups of armed citizens standing their ground. The best way to win that war, however, was using their Trojan horse routine. They would have to overtake and ravage the smaller towns to obtain the rations, arms, and other provisions they would need to continue up the food chain.
Since they didn’t know the size of the slavers group, or the amount of arms and supplies they had at their disposal, the people of Avalon and Fitch found it prudent and in the best interest of everyone to plan for the worst, and hope for the best. The number one priority would be to locate and consolidate survivors, arms, and supplies throughout the surrounding area in the shortest time possible. This was why the slavers all pulled out those months ago.
Once this was done, they would be able to determine key strongholds that were needed to be moved and to fortify the surrounding areas. They instituted a system of rapid communication throughout the small communities to preclude any surprises attacks to the towns. It was the best they had to offer. Most stragglers hid at the approach of any aircraft and it was difficult to coax them out of hiding.
There wasn’t time to meet with every small group, so they developed a plan to drop leaflets from the air, and then return in an attempt to land and speak with the people in charge. The work was tedious, and the use of valuable gas was prodding some to question if the effort was worthwhile.
Mike and the sheriff conducted many forays to see what they could pull together. The first one was to Fitch. Around four-hundred people were present when Mike took the stage. The two spies were off on a small job away from the gathering. They were accompanied by several people in a ruse search for an apple orchard. The pregnant woman was along more or less for the ride. She sat in one of the horse-drawn wagons and waited for the search party to return.
“Here’s the deal,”
Mike spoke loud enough for all to hear,
“We want everyone to be aware of what we’re doing. It is our intent to find and stay in touch with as many people as we can throughout the entire state. Imagine we are fishermen, casting our nets and hoping to bring in a good catch.”
He stopped talking and looked into the crowd.
“The survivors out there are struggling to make it from one day to the next and they are important to all of us. It is imperative we find as many people as possible to ensure our safety, their safety, and the safety of the state as a whole. It would be nice to band together and defend just one location, but that’s not practical, so the next best option is to reach out and give guidance to make sure everyone can be the kind of citizen-soldier we are at Avalon and Fitch.
“My duty, as an official member of what is left of our military, and I am acting in that capacity as an admiral, along with General Randall as the man in charge of the National Guard in California, and Beth, who you all know is head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the West Coast, is to make every effort to bring our people, wherever they are, into a cohesive citizen army for our mutual protection.”
Those present started shouting and clapping in agreement.
Mike waited for them to quiet before continuing.
“We are sending out as many people as we can spare to inform the others out there and make sure they understand our plan; and you are the first to hear it. We know the slavers are going to try to attack us. When they think they can get into a position where they can win. Unlike us, they don’t know how to grow their own food and have no capacity to build anything. They’re simply thugs. Preying on the weak, taking whatever, they can from people who don’t have the ability to protect or defend themselves. We’re going to put a stop to that once and for all.”
Mike looked into the crowd of people, and he allowed his eyes to stop and dwell on some of their faces, he wanted them to know that what he was saying was beneficial to everybody, not just Avalon, and not just for Fitch, it was for all them. They were going to reach out and bring into the fold as many citizens as they could, and they were going to train them to become fighters, citizen-soldiers.
“The slavers are sweeping down on the helpless, taking whatever, they want, leaving utter destruction, disaster, and sorrow in their wake. We’re going to make every effort to stop them, permanently!”
The crowd erupted, and yells of agreement filled the air. Many of those present had lost loved ones to the slavers.
“We will act on mutual consent of ‘We the people,’ and we’re ready for some sweet revenge.”
Mike continued.
“Let’s not make war strictly out
of vengeance. That concept will generate an attitude that will surely get out of hand. We will prevail, but not without lawful consideration. We are not a mob. We are citizen-soldiers. We will deliver justice to those brigands. We will act on mutual consent always of, ‘We the people.’”
More shouts and whistles erupted. When they settled down, he continued,
“Tomorrow we’re gonna begin to deliver our message to all points south, east, and west. We’ll send our people to any group that needs our expertise. We’re not going out to protect these people. We are however, going to teach them everything we can. They will have to fight their own battles and protect themselves. If they aren’t capable of defending themselves, now, for whatever reason, we’ll encourage them to join other groups and group up, but they will be left on their own. We don’t have the resources or the manpower to spread out to defend any single group. If we did that, we would leave someone, us, vulnerable to attack. What we can do is arm them, and train them in basic protection. We can show them how to build defensive fortifications and offer any aid we can spare.”
Once the discussion was over the group broke up. Everyone knew someone they could trust. Someone they could talk to about the new plan. The next day, several motorized hang gliders, and gyro-copters headed out for designated locations. Three of those aircraft saw motorcycle gangs headed in the same direction. They appeared to be in groups of almost forty men and some women, but it wasn’t possible to make an exact count.
The aircraft continued on ahead of the motorcycles to their respective destinations. When they landed, they were able to warn the residents of what was coming, so that those residents would be able to form a defense against the gangs.
In every case, whenever the bikers came up against a group that was prepared to fight, the outlaws moved on in search of easier pickings.
Each group was presented with the plan from Avalon and Fitch. To train, to arm themselves, or to be left alone, was their decision. Representatives from Bishop and other outlying groups were ready to listen and offer their input.
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