The World Cowers

by Boyd Craven III

  John Davis, aka Boss Hogg, stood. He was wearing a dark gray suit that was bursting at the seams, and even in the cool damp subterranean air, he was sweating, possibly from nerves.

  “Sirs and Ma’am,” he said, “I was given the job of Governor of the State to bring about order, to make sure the people were kept fed and clothed, and to re-establish government order. We also became aware of Blake Jackson and his wife’s group of survivors through the radio transmissions. Through listening in and the conversations, we noted their location and planned on talking with them as my Guard went through the areas, rescuing people, obtaining supplies and feeding the hungry and starving folks in our state.

  It was the same job we’d been doing since the crisis happened, but because of the popularity of Mr. Jackson and his lovely wife, I rode myself to meet them. They met us at gunpoint, ambushing me and my men. They disarmed us, blew up my command Humvee and spread dissent within my men, demoralizing them. I had only insisted in helping with relocating survivors and inventorying food for redistribution. Again, the same job I’d been doing since the event happened. I promised them I would be back to enforce the executive order I was given, as pursuant to my job and appointed by the President of the United States of America.

  Sending my men in, they were ambushed, slaughtered and equipment stolen. Later, they would encourage Sgt. Silverman here to defect with his men and equipment and then they blew up my command post at the old school. I fled here to go into hiding until I could regroup - and here we are.”

  “Thank you Mr. Davis, please sit,” Justice Stevens said.

  Davis hesitated a moment, and then took his chair.

  “Since I seem to be representing three of the accused, who would you like to talk to first?” Mr. Cates asked the panel.

  “Although I am curious to hear from Sgt. Silverman directly,” Major Roberts said, “I think for chronological reasons, I’d like to hear from Mr. and Mrs. Jackson first,” he said looking around.

  Blake stood and cleared his throat, and was joined by Sandra a moment later who took his left hand, intertwining her fingers with his. The formerly solitary man felt the weight of their stares and looked around the room. He tried to begin, but just a squeak came out. Lt. Commander Sola motioned him to lean in and he handed Blake a glass of ice water. He took a sip and cleared his throat.

  “Sorry, I’m a little nervous here, Sirs and Ma’am.”

  “That’s fine, go on,” Director Himes said.

  “Since the event happened, all we’ve been doing is trying to survive. We’ve been attacked by criminals who’d been released from jail, on two occasions I think, we’ve rescued a harems worth of women from a group who was using them for sexual slavery… and they were connected to a rogue National Guard unit. Sgt. Smith split from that unit when it was deployed to our area and, being new to Gerard’s command, they became a part of our unit and helped us defeat Gerard and a group of cannibals. We’ve lost men and women along the way. I myself have been shot twice, healed, and helped find survivors…

  Despite what Mr. Davis thought, we were not hoarding stores and stores of food that could feed the city. I simply had enough there to help the people I had with me.”

  “How many people is that?” Sola asked.

  “Almost two hundred,” Sandra said, giving his hand a squeeze.

  There were quiet mutterings amongst the panel who leaned back and discussed things. Even though they were literally just across the table, Blake and Sandra couldn’t make out their words.

  “That takes a tremendous amount of food to feed that many. How were you able to provide so much?” Commander Cates asked.

  Blake took that question to be his so he spoke up first, “Ma’am, when it was just a few of us, and then the Cayhills… we expanded the garden and hunted and trapped a bit. I have a root cellar that I’d keep the root veggies good in for a long while. We kept expanding the gardens. As more people joined the group, we sent out search parties for both food and survivors. Right away, we hit pay dirt on the interstate. We found a food truck that had been left in stalled traffic and brought the supplies back to the Homestead. Later on, as we got more survivors, we did more with training and finding supplies. Sometimes, there are literally rail cars full of food that were left on the train tracks…

  Then there’s living what’s wild and free. In the woods, I can probably name you six or seven nuts found in the Kentucky hills alone. Wild berries, cat tails… asparagus in the spring time… not to mention all the animals that people normally wouldn’t eat. I don’t know how many of you have tried rabbit or squirrel, but I grew up on it. With a group our size, we’d outhunt everything in the area, so we declared open warfare on the wild hogs roaming the farm fields. We eat pork with almost every meal, and there is a lot of it.

  I do regret we had to stop Mr. Davis, and the loss of life of his men, and I will admit, it was me and not Sandra or Mr. Silverman there,”

  “Blake,” Sandra said, almost tearing his hand off, her grip was so tight.

  “But I did not think he was a legitimate person. First off, it is starving times for a lot of people,” Blake said and got nods from all around the table, “I’m not into fat shaming, but look at me. I eat well, probably better than most if truth be told… I’m still about fifteen pounds thinner than I’ve ever been. Mr. Davis on the other hand, reminded me immediately of Jefferson Davis Hogg, and not just because of similar names,” Blake paused to take a sip of water and remove his left hand from Sandra’s grip before she tore him apart.

  His eyes saw Commander Cates gaze and the half smirk on her face, “and, other than Sgt. Silverman here, most of his men were bully-boy thugs. He didn’t have anything resembling a normal looking military force. Heck, his men didn’t even have on the same uniforms, equipment—“

  “I was working with what I was given,” Davis thundered, standing up so quickly his chair went flying behind him, “I was given an order by the President of the United States of—“

  “Sit down and shut up,” Justice Roberts said, his voice overwhelming Davis, “And let him finish his side. Then we can have a discussion, if things remain civil.”

  “As I was saying,” Blake said, taking another sip, “He didn’t look credible. It was after he made threats and we took out his Humvee that we talked with Sgt. Silverman and found out, at least according to them, that they were legit. They’d also brought a refrigerated trailer with them, probably to transport stolen food goods, and it was full of slaughtered beef and pigs. He said it was part of the redistribution of foods and had come from the farms. I’d love for Sgt. Silverman to tell you about that, because he was in fact there for part of those raids… so I sent the bully packing to cry in Greenville.

  But… He sent men against us. We’ve been training, both military and civilian. Again, these weren’t regular troops he sent against us and, if you are coming to peacefully talk or take inventory as he claimed, why did he send what he thought would be an overwhelming force?”

  “Were they killed?” Major Roberts asked.

  “To a man Sir,” Blake said and winced as Sandra grabbed his hand again, “Well, actually we let one go. He told us where they were all at. I think it was that time… was it that time, Honey?” Blake asked.

  “Wait, there was more than one time?” Sola asked.

  “Yes, Sir The next time he sent a sniper team, to murder my pregnant wife here. Then it was APCs… and the final time was a small commando unit who shot my wife up full of tranquilizer and was in the process of kidnapping her when we stopped and killed them. All so Mr. Davis could force me to be arrested and our people scattered into the cities. Probably to die starving like the rest of his folks.”

  “Did you offer to share any of the food?” Commander Cates asked.

  “At their first meeting with us? I didn’t have any to share. I did tell him if he could help me with some mechanics that maybe we could get some old farm equipment up and running before what had already been planted rotted away in far
ms all across the valley,” Blake told her, “As it was, that’s exactly what we ended up doing with Sgt. Silverman.”

  “That’s after you blew up my command post and tried to assassinate me, playing those stupid rock and roll songs on your loud speakers’.” Davis was livid, his color turning almost a purple.

  “Is that true?” Commander Roberts asked.

  “Yes Sir, that’s when I wasn’t getting attacked, snipered at, trying to save my wife from a kidnapping or worrying where this rat was going to attack next. I can’t help people out when I’m fighting for my life. I didn’t think he was legit at first, but even his own men left him. Sir, I’d really like to say this and then I’m done…

  “I didn’t believe he was legit at first. I was wrong. He was, and I was the one who made the decision that led to the escalation after our first meeting. If he was the top man, the representative of what the government I personally had thought crumbled into the ashes… Then I wanted no part of that government. My only regret in shelling him was that he wasn’t killed in the attack. I gave those orders, Sirs and Ma’am.”

  Sandra was shaking visibly, her grip almost crushing.

  “One last question Mr. Jackson, and then you can save what’s left of your hand,” Commander Cates said, “you mentioned that the people would be scattered to the cities to starve to death. What did you mean?”

  “The cities are death traps, from what I’m hearing. There are no good places to hunt, fish, get clean water or grow food. What are those people in the cities doing? The ones that aren’t scraped up and put to work in a FEMA camp? Our folks at the Homestead are all working together. To learn, to work as a community and to survive.”

  “They’re all a bunch of gun nut, military freaks!” Davis exploded.

  “Last warning Governor,” Lt. Commander Sola said, “Or I’ll have you escorted out of here. Sit down and shut up.”

  “You can’t do that! I’m the Governor of the State of Kentucky, appointed by the President of the United States of America. I command the National Guard for the state. I’m the one in charge! I—“

  The woman who’d been sitting beside him stood and smacked him so hard it turned his head. She got up and marched to the door, knocked to get the door open, and left.

  “What was that about?” Blake asked Sandra, not realizing that the room had gone deathly silent.

  “It appears to be another defection,” Sgt. Silverman said, drawing the attention of everyone there.

  “Sgt. Silverman. Would you like to speak on your behalf?” Commander Cates said.

  “Yes Ma’am. I won’t go over everything Mr. Blake there said, because that’s how it happened. I left because I did not feel the leadership was following the course of the constitution that I’d sworn to uphold and protect.”

  “How do you figure?” Davis snarled, still standing.

  “I figure, SIR,” turning to face Davis and making “Sir” sound like an insult, “Because you were going in and having us ransack farms and people who had prepared for something like this.”

  “They were right wing conspiracy nuts! All of them had huge armories of weapons and supplies, which the executive order made illegal…” Davis droned on for a few and missed the fact that Silverman was using his index figure to draw circles in the air by his temple.

  That made the group chuckle and halted the words from Davis.

  “When you go into a farm, you don’t take all the livestock. He had us butcher two milk cows, he had us butcher a sow that was ready to give birth to piglets. One of his mercenary buddies shot their livestock guardian dog—“

  “He was going to attack my men—“

  “You were murdering his family by stealing their food. Now any animal they had left, if any, would die by the coyotes!” Sgt. Silverman boomed, his voice louder than anybody’s in the room.

  He sucked in a deep breath, his chest puffing out, looking like he was hulking up to go after Davis.

  “Gentlemen,” Commander Cates said, calming them, “Go on Sgt. Silverman.”

  “Yes Ma’am. If you kill off a farmers breeding stock, how’s he going to continue to farm them? You use a resource like that over and over until you breed more breeders. You eat the babies—”

  “Yes, I’m familiar with the concept,” Cates said.

  “And the men he had working with us. Dregs. I think he emptied a jail out, handed them guns and told them to march. That’s how poor quality the mercenaries were. I was not out with every food gathering, but I went along with the one where the dog was killed. I had to really think hard, and when I had guns that Mr. and Mrs. Jackson’s group held on me, in my eyes, I realized right then that I was becoming a part of the problem, not a part of the solution. I admit, I deserted my duty, Ma’am and Sirs. I did not however, kill any of the men that were sent after us. Those probably defected as well.”

  “You feel that Mr. Davis was not acting in a lawful manner according to his office, and the trust placed in him by the President of the United States?” Justice Roberts asked, raising one eyebrow.

  “No Sir, not at all.”

  Sandra raised her hand, as if she was in school. All eyes turned towards her and she stood, waiting for the others to take their seats. She was used to people ignoring her because of her small, slender size and elfin features.

  “I too, was a commissioned officer at one time. In all my years, I was told that you can never get in trouble for following orders, unless you were following illegal ones. In this case, not only what Mr. Davis was doing was unconstitutional, but it goes against our basic rights as human beings.”

  “I followed the constitution, I was not breaking the law! I am the law—“

  “That’s enough Mr. Davis! Private First Class Sherman!” Cates yelled.

  Sandra pushed her chair back and faced John Davis, while Martin Cates looked on, eyes wide. It was nothing like any trial he’d ever sat in on.

  “You want to know what else about Mr. Davis? We’ve got some of his men, they grouped up with us just last week. He’s abusing his authority to gain sexual favors from the women staffers and soldiers, and us “right wing conspiracy gun nuts” don’t have half the food hoard that Boss Hogg here has—“

  Davis let out a strangled cry and rushed Sandra. Both Silverman and Blake jumped up in alarm, but Sandra was poetry in motion. She’d not lied and the information was accurate, but she knew Davis was at his breaking point and had deliberately held off to show the panel how out of control and unfit he was. Davis attacking a pregnant woman was not something that anyone but Sandra had predicted.

  He didn’t try to box her, instead he acted like he was going to bum rush her and use his weight to ride her to the ground. Sandra stepped back and delivered a fast chop to the big man’s throat, being careful not to crush his windpipe. A choking and sputtering Davis crashed into Blake and Blake’s chair, spilling Blake into Silverman who also stumbled, hitting the ground.

  Somehow, the big man was up first, and a cursing Blake tried to grab him, but Sandra was already moving out of his reach to give herself some distance.

  “I’ll fucking kill—“ Davis started to say when Sandra snapped a kick into his head, and then used a spinning heel kick to knock him off his feet.

  That was the exact moment that the electronic lock clicked open and PFC Sherman opened the door behind Sandra. It wasn’t his fault, because in a fight things happen so fast, a second is all it takes for a quick action or countermove. Sometimes a lot less. Sherman had gotten inside there as fast as he could, and he saw Governor Davis on his knees coughing and trying to get to his feet. He was reaching for his pistol when he saw Sandra deliver a crushing knee to the Governor’s face.

  He pulled his gun and leveled it at the base of Sandra’s skull.

  “Stand down, son,” Sola barked, the whole room now on their feet.

  “Sir, the Governor—“

  “Stand down son, before I bury you under the brig,” the man’s words were said so low and in a growl, that
Sherman broke eye contact with Sandra to see the expression on the man’s face.

  He swallowed and holstered his weapon.

  “Please get Mr. Davis here medical attention as needed, and then report back to me.” Commander Cates said, her voice high and surprised.

  “Yes Ma’am,” Sherman said, trying to pull the Governor to his feet and not succeeding.

  “I’m the Governor of the—“ Davis sputtered.

  “Oh shut up,” Justice Stevens told him.

  They watched as the Governor struggled to his feet, threating vile things to everyone there. The man who’d stood to speak for him eventually had to help get the man to his feet and the three of them left.

  “Now,” Cates said looking at them, “Since you’ve admitted your guilt in this matter—“

  “Ma’am,” Sandra bolted upright, interrupting, “I can’t let these men take the—“

  “Sit down, Mrs. Jackson. I’ve had enough interruptions for the day. Since guilt has been admitted by the parties involved, I’d like to deliberate with the panel here. Wait here for your escort back to your holding cells.”

  “We’re in the shit now,” Silverman said, watching the five of them get up and leave the room.

  “Can we get out?” Blake asked when they had all left.

  “Locked,” Silverman said checking.

  “Why did you do it?” Sandra asked Blake, her words angry.

  “What?” Blake asked, never before having been the object of her fury.

  “Take the blame for me.”

  Blake looked at his hand and realized that she’d been trying to warn him off, and not that she was nervous.

  “Because you’re my wife and you’re carrying my baby. Chris is my buddy, but you’re his momma.”

  6

  “Damnit Miranda, listen to this.” Martin Cates held the handset up so his wife could listen into Rebel radio.

  She’d been reading old case files from when she’d studied law herself, but this wasn’t a situation that was handled in any law books or any Supreme Court cases she’d studied. She’d met Martin years earlier when she was studying for the bar, they’d fallen in love, married and, when she decided to pursue a career in the military, he’d been supportive. Now, he was a pain in her side, especially regarding the Jackson issue.