Cities on Fire

by A J Newman

  “Great idea.”

  An hour later a pickup arrived with seven of the fence building team.

  “Friends, we have found a treasure trove of heavy equipment that runs. I want you to shuttle all of it back to the Horseshoe for our use, and the extra will be used for trade. I’ll show you how to drive the equipment.”

  Several of the men laughed, one replied, “We all worked in construction at one time or the other over the years. This is a cake walk.”

  They fired up the dump trucks and one semi, and seven loads were on their way. The pickup followed them to bring them back to the TVA building for the second wave. They made three trips before all of the rolling stock had been delivered. The equipment was spread around to several of the farms, and the entire community was shocked to see the large trucks roll up and deliver the equipment.

  Both scavenging teams ended their day successfully and were back home safely before dark. Harold’s team did not get back in time to make the trade; however, Bob and several of the community loaded trade food into the boats and traded for 4 - ARs, 6 – 9mm pistols, 3 – 12 Gauge shotguns and a couple of .22 LR Ruger American Rifles with scopes. They also received 1,000 - .223, 1,000 – 9mm, 250 – 12 Gauge, and 5,000 - .22 LR bullets. The trade cost them three boat loads of can goods, medical supplies, and two walkie-talkies. They got a better deal than they deserved since the gun shop owner had more guns than he could possibly need and very little food.

  The council met at Bob’s house that evening, and the ladies brought potluck for dinner. They ate outside on the front porch and sat on several picnic tables. Their routine was to pray before every meal and another before every meeting. Bob brought the meeting to order and said, “This has been a very successful day for our community and my family. My Grand Daughter Missy is recovering very well; I have my family with me, and our scavenging teams brought home the bacon with the bulldozers and guns. We have half of the fence strung and now have the equipment to construct fortifications that are more permanent.

  I must also say that we are way ahead of any reasonable timeframe for getting prepared to survive. Most people don’t know the world died two days ago and here we are building a small country. Great job everyone.”

  Will, Maddie, and Missy sat together a few feet from the meeting and listened intently. Will heard all of the great news but had a frown on his face. He sat there until halfway through the meeting building up the courage to challenge the adults on a fly in the ointment. Will raised his hand and waved it at his Papaw.

  “Yes Will, can this wait until the meeting is over?”

  “No, sir. With what you just said I have two very important topics for the meeting.”

  “Shoot.”

  “The one that just came up is that you apparently didn’t think that us younger people have any say or contributions to make to the meeting. Please think that over before answering. The three of us have traveled from Northern Kentucky to get here and had to kill several people to protect ourselves. Second and most important, Papaw, the community has violated one of the major rules of post – apocalyptic survival according to my mentor, Bob Karr.”

  “Bob got a serious look on his face and replied, “Go on son.”

  “We are bragging about our major accomplishments, two battles, one conflict with the local police, and bringing a dozen large earth moving machines to our community…”

  Bob stopped him and said, “Holy shit. You’re right. We brought attention to ourselves. Someone or some group noticed every move we made today. We need to be prepared for an attack. Thanks, Will. We are so focused on getting stuff for our survival that we may have placed our families in jeopardy.”

  That was an eye opener for the group. They discussed the ramifications in detail and asked Bob to appoint a team to put an improved plan together for a low-key effort that yields the same results.

  “Will I didn’t answer the first issue. You are correct. We adults sometimes don’t include teens in meetings and decision-making. Teens will be expected to work as hard as adults, fight and kill beside adults and yes, die beside adults making this community survive and prosper. I don’t have an answer now, but you are right to question this as early in this game as possible. I recommend that anyone any age can attend the council meeting and will be allowed to make suggestions regardless of their age.”

  Everyone agreed, and Betty Lou added this new rule to the charter.

  “Now as far as serving on the leadership council, I feel that age is not important. Leadership, wisdom, experience and common sense are what are needed. That means to me that anyone can be nominated to join the council and everyone above 12 years old gets to vote on additions or subtractions to the council. I also think the council should not be larger than seven members.”

  There was a vote on what Bob recommended, and all of it passed with a yes vote of over 80 percent. A few people didn’t think that 13-year-olds should vote; however, they were okay with 13-year-olds fighting and dying to protect their asses.

  Betty Lou gave an update on her two assignments. She started with the next targets to scavenge and then read each person’s name and skills. She then asked for corrections or additions.

  Jane volunteered to assist Betty Lou in the administrative work and was given the perpetual inventory system for the supplies. Jane was given a shoebox with index cards and a pencil.

  Maddie raised her hand and said, “I have a couple of ideas on trading with our neighbors for things we need, and that would greatly help them without hurting us. The first is that we can trade the use of some of the earth moving equipment and tractors to local people for trade goods or part of their crops. We could even plow and harvest other community’s crops for a share of the crops. We can rent a few of the ATVs to our neighbors for gas or diesel. I’m still brainstorming, but those are the first ideas.”

  Bob laughed and said, “I like it. Try to make friends of all of our neighbors and make ourselves necessary for their survival. Harold I would like you and Maddie to get three volunteers to start a trading team to figure out how to start a trading system that helps us improve our security and builds a friendship with the communities around us.”

  Will raised his hand and spoke. He said, “This might fly in the face of what was just said, but I strongly believe that we must actively determine any and all threats to the community and neutralize them as soon as possible.”

  Greg’s wife asked, “Do you mean go out and kill people?”

  “Yes, we should kill anyone who we are certain is a threat to this community. I don’t mean someone who doesn’t like us. I mean biker gangs, drug gangs, and criminals. Those scumbags won’t work and will have to rob other people to survive.”

  Jane added, “Will is correct. My biggest fear is a fifty man MC Club rolls down the road with guns blazing. They could easily get most of those weak minded people above Dixon Springs to join them in attacking us.”

  Bob saw this wasn’t a popular topic so he punted, “Jack, I need you to look into this and give us what we should do to prepare for such a situation.”

  Will and Jane left the meeting very frustrated.

  ✼

  Chapter 9

  Day Three – A Long Lonely Road

  They slept in until 7:00 am and woke up to find a large breakfast of country ham, fried eggs, hash browns, and pancakes. One of the hostage women helped prepare the breakfast and Jo pitched in to help clean up and wash the dishes before they left. The woman gave them a big piece of country ham and a dozen fried apple pies for the road.

  The man fired up a large tractor with a large loader and told them to place their stroller and supplies in the loader and climb in the loader with their stuff so he could take them back up to the road.

  Jo said, “Thanks, but we can walk.”

  “Jo, my plan is to drive you about 15 miles in the direction you were traveling so I could help you make up for lost time.”

  “That’s different. Bill climb in the bucket.”

 
; They rode in the bucket for about an hour and a half when the man stopped and lowered the loader to the ground.

  “We covered about 20 miles. That should help you get back on schedule.”

  Jo gave him a hug, and they began their journey well fed, fresh, and eager to head south. The tractor turned around and was soon out of sight. They had run for a while before either of them spoke.

  “We are actually ahead of our schedule now. Stopping to help those people helped us,” Jo said.

  “I’m glad we stopped to help, but it did show me that we have to have wisdom in choosing when to help and when to walk away. We could have been killed last night.”

  “Hon, they only had two rifles, and we had surprise on our side. I wouldn’t have got you into that scrape if I weren’t sure of the outcome. My only worry was that one or more of the hostages might have been killed.”

  “I’ll trust your judgment on the criminals and police work if you trust mine on the medical stuff,” replied Bill.

  “That’s a deal. See we make a great team.”

  “We made a great team last night.”

  “I’m blushing.”

  “Run faster, I need to get that off my mind before I beg you to stop.”

  Jo was happy that Bill and she had made up and were actually acting as if they were in love again. He was kind and considerate as he was before the Walt situation.

  “Hon, I’m worried about the kids and your Mom. Do you think they have made it to Dad’s place yet?”

  “Darling my Mom can take care of herself. She taught me most of what I know and can be one tough bitch if needed.”

  “Jo, I’ve never seen that side of her. She was always the socialite that threw big parties at their mansion and hung out at the Club playing golf and tennis with the elite.”

  “That was Dad’s world. Mom was a simple farm girl who was a cop when Dad chased her down and married her. She had only been on the job for a year when she broke the case of the Senator’s campaign manager taking bribes from the Russian government to influence the vote on the Ukraine. There wasn’t enough evidence to convict the Senator, but I know the bastard was guilty.”

  They had run for a while before Jo said,” We have nine hours of daylight left, and we need to be more careful as we run. I will stop at the top of each hill and use the binoculars to scan for danger. Keep an eye out for people, and if necessary we’ll head into the woods to walk around any large groups of people.”

  “Good plan, but the stroller will be a bitch to carry; however, I don’t want to have a gang like the one last night get the drop on us.”

  Bill caught Jo’s attention and pointed up ahead to several bodies in the middle of the road.

  “Look, there are three young boys.”

  They cautiously walked up to the boys and saw that two had been shot in the head. Bill rolled the third one over to see if he was alive and the boy moaned. Bill propped the boy’s head up and gave him some water. The boy had been shot three times in the chest and once in the leg. It was a miracle he was still alive.

  “What happened? Who shot you?”

  “We were riding our bicycles, and some men jumped out and pointed a gun at us. They wanted our bikes, food, and water. Demarcus went all macho on them and tried to take the gun from the guy. They struggled, and he shot Demarcus and didn’t stop until he shot all of us. I’m going to die aren’t I?”

  Bill looked at the wounds and replied, “Yes, son, you are going to die.”

  “I’ve been good all of my life, but this morning we stole those bikes from an older lady and a bunch of kids. They were sleeping, and we needed the bikes. One woke up and hit Gil on the head. I’m so sorry for that.”

  The boy’s head flopped over, and he died. Jo walked over to a bike that was a few feet away. The bike had a bent wheel and several spokes torn loose. She stared at the bike for a few seconds and started to cry.

  “Honey, what’s wrong?”

  “That’s my bike. That bastard stole those bikes from Mom and the kids. I’m glad those people killed the lousy sons a bitches.”

  They ran for several hours without talking until Jo heard barking off to the side of the road. They were ready for a break, so she led Bill off the road, dropped her backpack, and picked up her AR. She walked into the woods with Bill right behind her. They only made it a few feet when she saw a large German Shepard sitting by a brush pile. He saw them, wagged his tail, and jumped up and down. He couldn’t come to them because his leash was caught on a limb in the brush pile.

  Jo slowly approached, and the dog licked her hand. She untangled the leash and unhooked it from the dog. He jumped up on his hind legs, placed his paws on her shoulder, and licked her face.

  Bill poured some water into his cupped palm, and the dog lapped it up and begged for more. While Bill gave more water to the dog, Jo looked for something to pour water into for him. She found a large plastic drink cup, cut it down to about four inches tall, and gave it to Bill.

  “I’ll bet the poor thing hasn’t had anything to eat for a couple of days. He was probably chasing a rabbit when his leash got caught on that limb.”

  Jo found a can of Spam in the stroller and cut a thick slice for the dog. He wolfed it down and whimpered for more. She fed the entire can full to him a slice at a time.

  “His collar has a brass plate that says Max and a number to call if he gets lost. I’ll bet his owner is somewhere dead out on this road.”

  “Well, he can catch rabbits now and get to the water. Our job is done. Let’s get back on the road before we stiffen up,” Bill added.

  Max heard a noise in the brush and took off. He went crashing through the woods barking at whatever he was chasing. They went back onto the road and headed south again.

  Jo looked over at Bill and said, “That felt good helping that dog. I hope a kind person helps our kids get home.”

  Jo and Bill took Highway 249 South out of Glasgow and ended the day covering 40 miles. They were only 20 miles as the crow flies from Bob’s house. They had turned off Highway 249 onto Highway 261 and were going to camp in the woods when Bill noticed that over half of the houses appeared to be deserted.

  This proved to be wrong. They checked the first three houses, and people shot at them. The fourth house was empty, and it had a large in-ground pool. A swim and a bath sounded great to Jo. They watched the place for over thirty minutes and then peeked into several windows before declaring the place empty. Jo tried the doors and found they were all locked; however, the guesthouse beside the pool was unlocked and was a small apartment with a bed and small kitchen.

  They ate a quick meal, swam for an hour after dark, and then slipped into bed as tired as they were the night before. They were sound asleep when Jo woke up and heard a low growl outside the open window. She woke Bill, dressed, and grabbed her AR before peeking out the window. She could barely make out the German Shepard below the window. He growled a low growl again then lunged at a shadow barking as he ran.

  Jo stepped outside with Bill at her heels. There were a flash and a gunshot. Jo shot one of the shadows and heard Max continue to growl.

  “Get your fuckin’ dog off me. Help, he’s killing me!”

  Jo turned her flashlight on to find Max had a man’s arm in his mouth and was standing on the man’s chest. She searched around and found another man in a prison jumpsuit dead on the ground.

  “Why did you try to rob us?”

  “This is my house. You were robbing me.”

  “So when did prison jumpsuits get so fashionable asshole?”

  “Screw you bitch. Get this dog off me, and I’ll show you who’s an asshole. The man reached for his pistol with his free hand.”

  “Max, attack.”

  Max dropped the man’s arm and bit down into his neck shaking the man like a rag doll. The man went limp as blood squirted from his neck.

  “Max, heal.”

  Max walked over to Jo and sat at attention beside her right foot. He licked his lips and looked up
at her as to say, “What’s next boss. I killed the bad person.”

  “What just happened? The dog killed that man.”

  “Good boy. Good Max. Max must be a highly trained Police or security dog. He just kept that man from shooting one of us. Come on in Max. You can sleep in the house.”

  Max balked and laid down on the front porch. He started eating something, and Jo went to him to see what he was eating.

  “Max caught that rabbit. We now have a guard dog. Let’s go back to sleep. It’s 3:00 am.”

  “Do you think it’s safe?”

  “I think we have a new watchdog. Go to sleep and Max will watch over us.”

  Jo lay still while Bill fell asleep. When she was sure he was asleep, she quietly dressed and walked out on the porch. There was a low growl, and then she heard Max’s tail thumping the porch as his tail wagged. Jo sat down beside Max and stroked his back for a while before noticing the dead men off to the side. She dragged them around to the back of the guesthouse and left them to rot.

  She then went to the back door. She picked the lock using two hairpins and was quickly inside the house. She didn’t think of this as robbery since the house was abandoned at the end of the world. The house was very nice and obviously belonged to one of the richer people in the area. She searched for weapons, ammo, and food. She took several bottles of orange juice, canned meat, a loaf of bread, and a package of candy bars from the kitchen. She searched the master bedroom and was embarrassed by the sex toys in one of the nightstands.

  She found a Ruger LCP .380 with a box of ammo in the other nightstand and tucked it into her waistband. She borrowed a pillowcase to hold her booty until she could store it in the stroller. She bypassed money, jewels, and other valuables since that would be stealing.

  She locked the door and stored the booty in the stroller and her backpack except for a couple of cans of tuna, the loaf of bread and the orange juice. She went back to the guesthouse and woke Bill up with a kiss.