by Muga, D. M.
He looks across the parking lot to see a man in plaid holding the side of his head with Steven Reilly walking behind him, with his gun drawn. Alexander smiles and shakes his head as the two men make their way to the stockades. When they reach the stockades, Steven puts his right foot into the back of the man’s left leg, forcing him to the ground.
“Looks like their story checks out and this piece of shit got these two thrown into the stockades to cover his own ass.” Steven blurts out.
Alexander hears more shouts from the Supermarket and turns to see two Deputies running over toward them.
“Steven.” Alexander says and points. “Looks like we have company.”
“Let them come, Alexander. We’ll get this whole thing sorted out.” Steven replies as the two Deputies come within ten feet of them and draw their service weapons.
“Put down your weapons!” A Deputy yells.
Steven looks over to the Deputies, smiling at them, then holsters his sidearm. “Deputy Bradley! Could I have a moment of your time, please?!”
“Mr. Reilly?! What exactly is going on here?!” Todd Bradley responds and holsters his service weapon and gestures for his partner to do the same. “Gomez, you remember Steven Reilly from the MS13 battle, right?”
His partner, Joseph Gomez nods. “Yup, sure do. What’s going on here Mr. Reilly? And Alexander, right?”
Alexander nods to the Deputy. “Yes, officer. Nice to see you again.”
With all of their weapons away and the man that sells potatoes and pork on the ground, Steven opens his mouth. “Deputies. It seems that we have a wrongful punishment going on here.”
“Is that so?” Todd Bradley asks.
Alexander nods. “Yes, Officer Bradley. The two young people were looking for work to trade for food. This gentleman on the ground made some vulgar insinuations to the young lady, Briana, there. He then proceeded to hit her, which elicited Christian here to tackle the man.” Alexander gestures to Christian. “He had a gun and they didn’t. He also accused them of being thieves and threw some of his food at their feet to solidify his claims.”
“That fucking bitch spit in my face!” The man on the floor yelled.
Without pause, Steven pulls his revolver from his hip, flips it around and pistol whips the man.
The man yelps in pain and then goes silent. Alexander sees Deputy Todd Bradley and Joseph Gomez just shake their heads and grin slightly.
Alexander continues. “One of your fellow Deputies didn't do his due diligence… which led to these two being in the stockades for the last day, with yesterday still being one of our more rainy ones.”
Todd looks around. “Now that you mention it… where’s Lisandro? He’s supposed to be keeping watch on these two.”
“He left at sunrise.” Christian blurts out.
Steven nods. “That’s right, Todd… I mean Deputy Bradley. If Lisandro’s one of yours, he left his post which ended up with this young lady getting bruised up from people throwing rocks at these two.”
Todd looks to the man on the ground and then to Christian and Briana. “Is this true?”
“I ain’t saying shit. I want a fucking lawyer!” The man on the ground blurts out.
Todd chuckles. “Never mind. That confirms it.” Todd reaches down for his radio. “Deputy Ramirez. This is Bradley. Come in. Over.”
After a short silence, the radio crackles to life. “Uh, this is Ramirez. Over.”
Todd speaks into the radio. “Deputy Ramirez, I advise reporting to your post immediately. Over.”
Todd pulls a ring of keys from his hip. “While we wait for Ramirez, why don’t we get this situation sorted out.” Todd walks over to the stockades and begins to unlock the young man and woman.
Once Christian and Brianna are out of the stockades, Briana hobbles over to Steven and wraps him in a hug. “Thank you so very much!” She pecks him on the cheek and before Alexander realizes it, he’s wrapped up in a hug from the young woman. “Thank you too! So very much!” She pecks him on the cheek, too.
Christian walks wearily up to Steven and extends his hand. “Thank you, sir.”
Steven shakes his hand and smiles. “Name’s Steven Reilly, young man.”
Christian nods and walks over to Alexander and shakes his hand too. “Thank you. Sorry for being an ass.”
“Not a problem, Christian. I understand completely.” Alexander shakes his hand and responds.
Alexander looks at the man on the ground. “What about him, Deputy Bradley.”
Todd turns to Alexander “Wrongful accusations can often be worse than the actual crimes. Wrongful accusations and downright lying about good people have ruined people's lives in the past.” Todd looks at the man and walks over to him. “So, he’ll be taking their place and will be there for the 24 hours.”
“What!? Fuck that shit!” The man yells and goes to get up.
But Steven is too quick for him, pistol whipping him once again. Steven then grabs him by the collar and forces him into one of the recently opened stockades, closing it over his neck and wrists.
“Todd…” Steven smiles. “Officer Bradley, I mean. Would you be so kind?”
“Sure thing Steven… I mean Mr. Reilly.” Todd smiles and walks over to secure the lock on the stockade.
Todd turns to the two young people. “Now, so that you two don’t get the itch for retribution. How about you go take what you want from this liar’s stand. Gomez, would you mind walking them over there, so that there’s no incident.”
“What!? No! That’s my food! You can’t just take it from me!” The man in the stockade yells.
Todd laughs at him. “You are lucky that’s all I do to you. Pull that shit again and I’ll execute you myself. Not only did you try to get this young woman to have sex with you in trade for food, you lied and got them put into stockades. Hell, I’m still thinking of putting a bullet in your brain, right now!”
The man goes silent and Alexander sees a puddle begin to drip down from his pant leg. Alexander turns to Todd, but before Alexander can protest the escalation of the situation, Todd winks at him.
Alexander nods, understanding Todd was simply trying to scare the crap out of the man, only being successful in scaring the piss out of him.
“Gomez, you good?” Todd asks his partner.
“Good to go. We'll be back in a few... Come on you two, let’s get you two some food.” Gomez guides the two toward the Supermarket. Halfway there, the young woman stops and turns. “Thanks again!” She nudges her reluctant boyfriend and then he shouts. “Thank you!”
Once the three of them are in the Supermarket, a patrol car comes racing into the parking lot. It stops about twenty feet from the stockades, and a Deputy exits the car, striding over to the four men.
He stops within a few feet of Todd. “Just what the fuck is going on here, Todd?!”
In a swift motion, Todd strikes the Deputy in the nose, sending him to the ground. Deputy Ramirez reaches for his service weapon, but Todd already has his drawn.
Alexander instinctively reaches for his but decides to leave it on his hip. He looks over to Steven and he’s at the same stance.
“So, let me get this straight, Ramirez...” Todd says as he looks down at the other Deputy that he’s holding at gunpoint.
The man looks stunned and very confused, with his nose bleeding all over his face.
“You locked up two innocent people, without getting their stories straight. Then you abandoned your post, which led to rocks getting thrown at them. Then you come back, as if you didn’t do shit wrong. Did I get that about right?!” Todd snaps at the man on the ground.
“Shit, Todd! I think you broke my nose!” Deputy Ramirez whines. “How was I supposed to fucking know? And I only left for a little while!”
“A little while! It’s 10:45 and you left at sunrise! You are fucking lucky your dumbass isn’t in there next to that piece of shit! And it’s your damn job to find out what’s going on! That’s what we do!” Todd yells at his fellow
Deputy.
“What the fuck ever, Todd! Fuck them and fuck you!” Deputy Ramirez yells at him.
Alexander watches as it’s now Todd that pistol whips someone, with that someone being Deputy Ramirez.
I’m pretty sure I know where this is going… Alexander thinks to himself.
Todd then reaches for the man’s gun and tosses it to the side. He grabs him by his collar and shoves him forward, toward the stockades. The man tries to resist, but Alexander and Steven come to his aid, each of them grabbing an arm.
After a little bit of a struggle, Deputy Ramirez is in a stockade, with it locked and secured.
“You can’t fucking do this! I'm a fucking Deputy Sheriff.” Ramirez yells.
“We’ll just have to see what Sheriff Patterson has to say about all of this.” Todd replies. He pulls out his radio. “Sheriff Patterson, this is Deputy Bradley. Come in. Over.”
After a short pause, the radio crackles back to life. “Go for Sheriff Patterson, Bradley. Over.”
“Sheriff. We have an issue that needs your attention, up by the Post Office at the Lake Arrowhead Village Marketplace. Over.” Todd responds into the radio.
The Sheriff replies. “Roger that. I’m down in the lower section of the same Marketplace, talking to a bunch of the locals and some of the newer residents. I’m on my way up to you. Over.”
“Copy.” Todd replies back.
Todd puts his radio away and looks at Steven and himself. “Thanks for all of the help with this matter, Mr. Reilly and Alexander.
The two of them nod in sync. “Not a problem. Deputy Bradley.” Alexander replies.
“I’ll handle the rest. You two go about what you all came out here to do.” Todd answers.
Before Alexander can offer to stick around, Steven interrupts. “Sure thing, Deputy Bradley. If you need anything, we’ll be at the old Bank of America… I’ve been wanting to take a look, since it’s now a gun shop and a bank... Come on Alexander. Let’s let the fine Deputy handle his official business.”
Steven starts to walk toward the lower part of the Village where the Bank/Gun Store is.
Alexander looks to Todd before following him. “Have a good day.”
Todd smiles at him. “You too, Alexander. Tell Ben and Eileen I said hello, please.”
Alexander nods. “Will do.” Alexander strides off to catch up with Steven.
Once he does, Steven looks over to him. “That’s some in-house shit that we do not want to be a part of. Best to let them handle their own.” Steven says to Alexander.
“If you say so, Steven... then it’s likely the case.” Alexander responds as they head down toward the Bank/Gun Store that was once a Bank of America branch in the Lake Arrowhead Village Marketplace.
As they are walking across the parking lot, the ground begins to tremble. “Another one?” Steven asks.
After the Earth stops shaking, Alexander looks over to Steven. “It would seem so, and with more likely to come…”
3
Eileen Rivera
After spending the morning shopping in the Lake Drive Marketplace, Eileen and Ben traveled to the home of Todd and Jamie in the early afternoon. Eileen had noticed how disappointed Ben was when he found Todd to be at work. Jamie had explained that he was patrolling the Lake Arrowhead Village Marketplace for the day.
As it turns out, Lake Arrowhead had set up a much larger Marketplace than they had in the town of Crestline. Lake Arrowhead had turned into the hub of the mountain region, with a good portion of Big Bear being cut off by the Blue Hole Radius.
This was the main discussion over lunch at the Bradley Home between Jamie, Eileen, Ben, and even Jamie’s daughter Claire, who was only six years old. The four of them had sat down to eat sandwiches and fruit for lunch on this warm Saturday.
Eileen found herself smiling at Ben, making jokes with the little girl, while their discussions encompassed their new world and what had changed since they had “woken” up.
“Claire? What did the fish say when he swam into a wall?” Ben asked the little girl.
“Ouch?” The little girl questions.
Ben smiles. “Close Claire. He said Dam.”
“I don’t get it.” Claire replies.
Ben erupts into laughter at his own joke. “It’s because he swam into a dam, sweetie.”
Really!? Dad jokes?!
“Benjamin!” Eileen snaps at him. “don't teach that sweet little girl such words! I’m sorry, Jamie.” She apologizes to Jamie and laughs.
Jamie laughs. “Oh no need to apologize. She hears far worse from her father and many more dad jokes than that. That’s the first time I heard that one though, Ben. I’ll have to pass it on to Todd.”
Ben smiles. “My brother and I bought a whole book of dad jokes for our father. We liked it so much that we each bought our own copy. I still remember quite a few of them.”
“You would, Ben… wouldn’t you. Dad jokes… really?” Eileen smiles and shakes her head.
“Uncle Ben?” Claire chimes in.
“Yes, little Claire?” Ben responds.
“Did you feel the earthquake this morning?” She asks him.
“Yes, Claire. We did. We were in the hardware store when it happened. It was just a little one though.” Ben replies.
“It may have been a little one, but it feels like we have been having quite a few in the last couple of months. Since all of this started actually.” Jamie responds.
“Mommy? Are there going to be more of them? I don’t like those earthquakes…” Claire asks her mother.
“I’m not sure dear.” Jamie replies, obviously worried about the trend of small earthquakes over the last couple of months.
“Claire, my very good friend says there’ll be more and that it’s normal… given our circumstances. You never know, we may wind up with beachfront property in this new world of ours.” Ben smiles at the little girl. “Have you ever seen the beach, little Claire?”
The girl's eyes light up, but Eileen interrupts before she can respond. “Ben! Don’t go scaring little girls.” She turns her attention to Claire. “Don’t worry about the quakes, kiddo. And don’t let your mean Uncle Ben scare you. Our good and very smart friend, Alexander, says it should eventually go back to normal.”
Kiddo? Did I just say kiddo? Eileen thinks to herself and is instantly brought back to the memory of her father.
He used to call her kiddo, even when she was an adult.
Eileen feels pain with the memory of her father dying because of greedy people. He had protected her, as fathers should do... but had paid the ultimate price in the process. Despite it being close to two months ago, it still felt like it was yesterday. Some days were harder than others, but this was a good memory mixed in the sorrow of her loss.
Kiddo.
She smiles lightly at the thought of her father, and the world before the Blue Hole Radius 1,410 years ago, now.
She’s brought back to the present, by the little girl gleaming with excitement. “I want to go to the beach! Mommy! Can we go to the beach!?” The little girl shouts.
Jamie looks over at Ben. “Look what you started, Ben… thanks.”
Ben chuckles and pats the little girl on the head. “I’ll talk to your mom and dad, little Claire. Maybe soon we can spend a day at the lake.”
“Okay! Thanks Uncle Ben!” Claire replies.
Eileen catches Jamie narrow her eyes toward Ben. “You better make it happen, Ben. She has a sharp memory, and she’ll never let me hear the end of it.”
Ben puts his hands in the air in self-defense. “Hey! I think it would be a great idea to spend a day at the lake once it gets warmer. I think it’d be good for all of us.”
Eileen looks at Ben, sitting across from her. He’s really good with kids. And a day at the lake does sound nice. Aside from the business with that teenage girl a couple weeks ago, and the few robberies… it has been pretty quiet.
“I think it’s supposed to be warming up for a while now. The rain may be be
hind us for some time now. It’s June, for goodness sake.” Eileen adds.
Ben nods. “I can get Alexander’s opinion on the weather situation. Considering how much has changed with our weather and everything.”
Jamie thinks about it then replies. “It does sound nice. Maybe we can go tomorrow or Monday. The more that I think about it, the better it sounds.”
“Oh Mommy! Can we go to the Bear Lake!?” Claire asks her mother.
“You mean Big Bear Lake, sweetie… and no we can’t.” Jamie responds with a frown of concern.
“Why not, Mommy!? That’s the one we usually go to!” Claire asks.
Eileen notices Jamie pauses, not sure of what to say.
Eileen interjects. “Claire”
The little girl focuses her attention on her. Eileen can see those deep brown eyes, wanting to know everything about everything, but not knowing where to start, she smiles at the little girl.
“Well sometimes, lakes dry up over time. And since the last time you and your parents went to that lake… it got a big crack in the lake and the water went away.” She explains to the little girl.
The little girl frowns.
“Don’t worry though, there are still plenty of other lakes up here. In fact, there’s Lake Gregory right down the way from here!” She adds.
The little girl brightens up, forgetting about Big Bear Lake. “Oh yeah! I remember!”
The adults at the table grew quiet, likely all of them thinking about the drained lake in Big Bear.
After the Blue Hole Radius had caught up with the rest of the world’s time, the Earth had changed. Alexander had explained that it had to do with the tectonic plates and the buildup of the last 1,410 years. A good part of California resides on a tectonic plate boundary, between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.
With the Blue Hole Radius reaching a depth of six miles, it was not deep enough to go below the plate boundaries. However, it was enough to create issues along the fault lines, both minor and major fault lines.