Survival Rules Series (Book 2): Rules of Conflict

by Hunt, Jack

  “Hello everyone. I know this is a troubling time and you all have concerns. I do too. I am a mother of three and just like you, I’m faced with the same questions. All I can do is reassure you that you are in good hands. Those here in your city are working tirelessly to ensure that you are safe, warm and protected. I would just like to address a few things. As we don’t have power, and with no end in sight, it’s important that we consider the increase in accidents, and things like hypothermia and frostbite.”

  An elderly man asked, “What? It’s June. You think this is going to last into winter?”

  “I hope not but we have to be prepared for that. Winter or not, without power many of you won’t be able to heat your homes. In which case I would advise you to limit the amount of time you are outside. Throw on extra clothing, check in on your neighbors. There are those in our community who are bedridden, in wheelchairs or just too old to get out. As much as you are concerned for your own safety, I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that we should be mindful of our neighbor. So make a plan to check in on them. If you don’t have a flashlight, you can use candles but please do not leave them unattended, and of course I don’t have to remind you to keep items that burn at least three feet away from fireplaces, wood stoves or space heaters running on generators.”

  “I don’t have a generator,” a woman said.

  “I was just getting to that,” Heather said. “We understand you don’t but we have had a number of generous people here in the community willing to donate gas and solar generators. They will initially be distributed to the hospital, and the local high school where we will be offering shelter, supplies and assistance on a case-by-case basis. Now because of the outage you will be well aware that retail businesses, grocery stores, gas stations, ATMs, banks and other services will not be available so we understand this has created issues. If you are without food and water at this time please see Jeremiah at the back. We want you to be mindful of food spoilage and water contamination. It’s advised that you keep your freezer and refrigerator closed, only use generators outdoors and away from windows and please do not use a gas stove in an attempt to heat your home. We don’t want people to die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Also, in preparation for the power coming back on, please disconnect all appliances and electronics so you can avoid electric surges.”

  “So you do anticipate it coming back on?” Someone asked.

  “We are optimistic,” she said. Corey looked at the chief and he dropped his chin. They were lying out of their asses. Optimistic. People wouldn’t hang on their words forever. The sooner they understood the gravity of the situation, the sooner they would be able to prepare for the worst.

  Heather looked down at the sheet of paper in front of her. She’d probably grabbed it out of a filing cabinet. The advice she was handing out was standard protocol for any town. She cleared her throat. The crowd grumbled. “Be aware that any food in your fridge should stay cold for at least four hours. Freezer items will stay frozen for around 48 hours, from there you can use coolers with ice and monitor with a thermometer.”

  “Jesus, Hudgens, where did you dig up this lady?”

  Laughter erupted before the tone went sour again. “Lady, we are on day five. I think we are past the four-hour mark, don’t you think?” an angry-looking man said. “Tell us something we don’t know.”

  “I’ll second that,” another man said. “We are wasting our time here.”

  Hudgens stepped up and intervened. “People. I would ask you show a little restraint. Heather here just wants to make sure we covered everything. If it doesn’t apply to you, then bear with us. We will get to the information that you need to know.”

  That’s when things started to get out of control.

  “We don’t have all day, Hudgens. I want to know how the hell the fire department is going to put out fires?”

  “And I want to know who will investigate our son being beaten up?”

  “And…”

  Hudgens raised a hand. “Please. People. Enough. I know you are struggling. Let Heather finish.”

  Heather returned to her position and stared out at the heated crowd. Corey observed those who might be a threat, his mind wondering if any more of the inmates had made it to Whitefish. Were they here among them?

  “So just to repeat. Do not use generators, camp stoves or charcoal grills indoors. And if you have a neighbor in need, bring them to the community housing at the school.”

  “What about RDD?” a woman asked. Corey’s eyes drifted across the room to a familiar face. What was her name? He remembered she’d attended one of his father’s survival workshops.

  “RDD? What is that?” Heather asked.

  The woman laughed pushing her way through the crowd. “If I have to explain, it’s too late. What kind of protection does the city have against radiological dispersion devices? Bombs with radioactive material for those here who don’t know what I’m talking about.”

  That was when the name came to him. Denise Jenkins. Loud, brash, but more than capable of taking care of herself. He recalled his father asking for his help at one of the workshops and seeing her there. She was spouting all this religious jargon about how the world would end when the heavens opened and the trumpet sounded. His father didn’t appreciate it but for a while he held his tongue as she was a paying customer. Eventually he kicked her out of his workshop because she spoke out of line one too many times.

  “Well, um...” Heather looked off towards the mayor.

  “You are kidding me, right?” Denise asked.

  Again, Hudgens stepped up to the megaphone. “The city has the resources to handle such an event.”

  “Is that so? Then why weren’t emergency supply kits handed out? Or are families here expected to have already created them?” Ted pulled at his shirt looking uncomfortable. She continued, “I’m sure these people here would have loved to have known about the two kinds of shelters — blast and fallout. But let me guess, they already know?” She was baiting them. Denise turned and threw the question out. “Who here has a blast shelter? Fallout?”

  No one raised a hand, then she spotted Corey. “C’mon, Corey, I know your old man has one, and I’m sure you have.” He couldn’t believe it. It was the worst situation he could have imagined. His father had one up at the cabin, and he had designed a small one at his home but those were for their eyes only. Sure, his father had created one years ago at the house that had been foreclosed, and people along his street knew about it thanks to their mother, but that had taught them a valuable lesson — don’t tell anyone. Deny, his father would say. Except Corey wasn’t in the business of lying but that didn’t mean he had to agree. Everyone was looking at him. He had no other choice but to speak up and clarify, in the hopes of alleviating fears and shifting the attention away from himself.

  “Denise, settle down,” Hudgens said.

  Corey squeezed his way through to the front even as the chief glared at him.

  “You’re right, my father used to have one,” he said. “And you are right, if this blackout was caused by a nuclear blast, a fallout shelter could be of use. A run-of-the-mill blast shelter wouldn’t as that often can’t withstand a direct hit from a nuclear explosion. But are we dealing with that? Do you see anyone suffering from radiation poisoning?”

  Denise looked around. She knew the symptoms — weakness, bleeding from the nose, mouth and rectum, bruising, dehydration, fever, diarrhea, fainting, confusion, hair loss, inflammation.

  “That’s right. No. Though if it was, chances are the blast was too far away for us to be affected.”

  Denise scowled at him. “Yeah? Then what is it?”

  “Sir, if you would…”

  “Hudgens, how about you settle down and let this man talk? We want to hear what he has to say,” a man said from the back of the room.

  The mayor swallowed and backed up.

  Corey continued. “All we can do is speculate. That’s all any of us can do right now. But I know it hit
the West Coast first and spread because our uncle in Vegas heavily monitors these kinds of things. But based on what I’m seeing, it appears to be some kind of blackout warfare.”

  “Blackout what?” someone asked.

  “It’s a new form of warfare that Russia, China and Iran are capable of unleashing. A super EMP that is carried out at a high altitude could essentially produce no blast damage or immediate harmful effects to us, but it would unleash EMP waves that would damage electronics and bring down the power grid. It gives adversaries a way to kill millions from the long-term effects. Now again it could be the result of a solar flare or a cyber-attack.”

  “How though? How would they get something like that past our country’s defenses?”

  “It can be done through a lot of ways, satellites, long or medium-range missiles, short-range missiles from a freighter, cruise missiles, jets or a commercial jetliner, hell, even a meteorological balloon.”

  “So it would send out an electronic wave?”

  “For thousands of miles. Again though, I’m basing this on what I’m seeing. We have not heard from the government so it’s hard to know. Right now we have to deal with the matter at hand.”

  “He’s right,” a voice said across the room. Corey turned. It was his father. The crowd parted and he walked through them glancing at curious faces and nodding a few times to those that respected him. Far more had called him crazy, as Noah had been while creating the ark, but here they were speechless. “In fact did you know that the U.S. is working on a missile that could black out Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabi without any blast damage?” People didn’t say anything. “We all know that China and the U.S. have been in conflict over Taiwan. Believe me, Beijing has what is needed to create a blackout strike on the lower 48 states, disrupt military command, knock out communication and silence the U.S. before we can blink an eye. But again, this event we are experiencing could be many things combined. But as my son has said, it doesn’t matter, does it? As knowing this doesn’t put food on your table, protect your loved ones or keep you warm at night, am I right?”

  He walked over to Corey and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’d like to say I told you, but I told you.” He grinned and Corey could tell he was lapping this up. He should have known he wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to rub it in their faces. “And in answer to your question, Denise. Yes, I have had a bunker for many years, as have many others in this town. The question is where is it? No one in their right mind would announce it. And even if you knew, what use are they now that we are five days in?” he said to the crowd. “My advice, listen to the mayor, keep your opinions to yourself, and maybe you will survive this.” He turned his attention to Hudgens. “Besides, there are more pressing matters facing us. On the way here, I saw ten homes on fire. You might want to get on top of that.”

  The fire marshal perked up, rose and quickly exited a side door, and at least a dozen bystanders made their way out of the room to check that it wasn’t theirs. His father smirked as if finding pleasure in the demise of the meeting. What was he playing at? Corey wasn’t sure but he was glad he’d shown up, if only to deflect attention away from him and validate the gravity of the situation.

  3

  The nurse gasped as Gabriel strangled her with his bare hands. He dragged her down to the ground and before she could alert security, he watched the life fade in her eyes. For the past forty-eight hours his men had observed the town of Whitefish. Five days into the blackout and he was surprised they still hadn’t established roadblocks. Civilians could come and go as they wished. Using this to their advantage they’d taken detailed notes on what was in operation, how many cops were patrolling and the vehicles being used. They’d even browsed through the high school that was now being used as the emergency operations center.

  It had felt odd to move among the free in civilian clothes. The looming thought that cops would swoop in and arrest them on sight soon vanished when they passed one doing his rounds. The officer looked directly at Gabriel, gave a nod and continued on without a word. To say he hadn’t held his breath in that brief exchange would have been a lie. He was certain mugshots would have been distributed by now but people were too concerned with their own survival. How quickly things could change.

  Able to identify those who had pursued them in Glacier National Park, he now had a singular goal — punishment for his brother Marcus’ death. Even though it was a small town, and it could have taken weeks to find those responsible, he’d managed to find one in the local hospital. The unlucky individual might have gone unnoticed had it not been for Hauser. Before he was killed, Hauser had said that at least one of their pursuers was injured and there was a good chance he was at the general hospital. Without anything to lose, Gabriel went out on a limb to verify. Hauser was right. They’d found the dark-haired man in one of the rooms, hooked up to a heart monitor and sleeping. Gabriel was about to enter when a nurse holding a clipboard told them that visiting hours were over and that they would need to check back later. Torres kept an eye on the corridor while he dragged her into a supply room and strangled her. He stuffed her body in a cramped closet full of mops and buckets before joining Torres outside in the hall.

  “All good?”

  “So far,” Torres said glancing both ways.

  They strolled back into the room. Torres closed the door and then shut the blinds before Gabriel approached the bed. The rest of his men were in town starting fires. He figured a distraction would keep law enforcement at bay. The hospital only had a few security guards and they weren’t exactly a threat.

  Before taking a chair, he looked around the cramped room. It wasn’t luxury. There was a simple bed with a bathroom across from it. He walked around the room, keeping an eye on sleeping beauty. On a coat rack was a brown jacket. Gabriel fished into it and found a wallet. He opened it, pulled out his ID and a lovely picture of his family. He then spotted a card inside for Calvary Chapel. He snorted and placed it down on a chair.

  He took a chair and dragged it over, bringing it close to the bed. He fished into his pocket, took out a cigarette and lit it before giving the bed a nudge with his foot. At first there was no reaction. He did it again. This time the man began to stir, his eyelids flickered. One more hard kick and he jolted awake. “What the—?”

  “Well hello there,” Gabriel said. “They must have you on some heavy meds.”

  He turned and looked at him, his eyes widening in horror.

  “But you’re… You’re dead.”

  Gabriel let the cigarette hang from the corner of his mouth. Smoke spiraled up into his eye as he took a few drags on it and pulled it away from his lips. “You wish.” He leaned forward.

  “But I saw you with my own eyes. You were dead.”

  Gabriel rolled his lower lip under his upper teeth and squinted before saying, “That was my brother.” It took a second for the penny to drop but when it did fear washed over him. The man pressed the red button near his hand multiple times. Click. Click. Click.

  “Won’t do you much use,” Gabriel replied gesturing with his head towards the wall where he’d unplugged it.

  “Nurse! Nur—”

  Before he could get out the second word, Gabriel lunged at him, clasping his hand over his mouth and getting close to his ear. “Shhh! Don’t be selfish now. There are others trying to sleep.” He wiggled beneath his hand. Gabriel brought the cigarette up to his eye. The man’s nostrils flared. He was itching to stub it out and the thought crossed his mind but instead he dropped it into a glass of water on the bedside table. “Now I’m going to take away my hand from your mouth and I don’t want you shouting again. You understand?”

  He nodded. As soon as he released his hand, the man cried out. Gabriel pulled a knife and pressed the edge hard into his throat, holding it tightly so he understood. “What. Did I. Just say?”

  “Not to shout.”

  Gabriel gave a nod. “Last chance,” he said pulling the knife away. He waited for a second expecting him to do it again bu
t this time he complied. Gabriel glanced at Torres to make sure they were still in the clear. Torres lifted one of the slats on the blinds, waited a few seconds then gave him the thumbs-up. “Okay, let’s try this again. What’s your name?”

  He already knew it but he wanted to toy with him.

  “Terry Murdoch.”

  “Well Terry, how about you give me your version of the events that led up to the death of my brother? Take your time and don’t leave any detail out.”

  Terry’s eyes bounced between them. A brief moment of hesitation and then he brought them up to speed. For the most part it was similar to Hauser’s version except it was missing a few important facts.

  After that Terry said, “You killed a friend of ours.” As if that was going to justify his reasons for killing.

  “And so that gave you a right to kill five of mine?”

  “It gave us a right to defend ourselves.”

  “Defend?” He laughed leaning back in his chair, touching the tip of the blade against his finger and rotating it. “I think you have it backwards, my friend. Defense was what happened when your pal went for his gun up at that cabin. Now I couldn’t let that happen, now could I? But from what I heard, it was your group that shot three of our men before they even had a chance to go for their rifles. That sounds like an ambush to me. Cold blooded in fact.” He cocked his head to one side. “I’m pretty sure there is a law against that.”

  Terry swallowed hard, his hands trembling.

  Gabriel let out a chuckle and leaned forward and tapped him on the hand. “Don’t worry, Terry, you’re in luck. No one is going to send you away to jail. Strangely enough, the law isn’t anywhere to be found. In fact, right now they are probably chasing their tail, putting out fires.”

  Torres snorted.