by Sean Liscom
“Can I ask you a personal question?” I wanted to redirect the conversation before an awkwardness could develop.
“Sure.”
“How did you go from being a cop to President? That’s a pretty good leap as far as career choices go.”
“No shit,” she muttered and took another swig of beer. “The night of the pulse, I was working the streets of downtown Austin. I’d just pulled over a drunk driver when, BAM, lights go out. Squad car’s dead. Radio’s dead. Everything was dead.”
“Me being me, I continued with the stop and arrested the guy. Once I had him in the back of my car, I realized that I’d kind of put myself in a predicament. No way to get the dude to jail and no way to call for another car. So, I did what came naturally. I started marching this guy up the street. I was gonna walk him all the way back to the station.”
“It didn’t take me too long to figure that the problem was a whole lot bigger than a dead car and radio. I ended up cutting the guy loose and I double timed it back to the station. Through the course of the night, about three dozen officers made their way in.”
“We spent the better part of the next three days trying to spread the word about the Red Cross shelters that were set up and trying to help people get there. At this point, people were still fairly calm. Scared, but calm. There were a few skirmishes between us and some of the local thugs, but it hadn’t started to get really bad yet.”
“By the fourth night, that all changed, drastically. It had turned into open season between us and the turds of the city. Sad thing was, civilians were caught in the crossfire. We suffered a few losses, the thugs suffered even more, but those poor civilians had no clue what to do.”
“It was the fifth night when I started rounding up armed citizens and forming armed resistance groups. I was using combat vets and other cops as my squad leaders and we took the fight to the gang bangers. Now we had the numbers advantage and we took full advantage of it.”
“By the seventh night, we’d beat the shit out of ‘em and sent ‘em packing. That left me in charge of about 1800 people. I shifted our focus to holding what we had and scavenging food and water. Anything we could use to survive. After a month had gone by, our numbers swelled to almost 4000 people. Naturally, we had to expand our territory in the constant search for supplies,” she paused for another drink before continuing.
“It was all a big blur, to be honest, but we held on and kept growing in numbers. We’d taken over most of the downtown area and were sending parties out to the suburbs, ranches and farms to bring in more and more food. Through it all, and I’m not really sure how, I was named as the leader.”
“It was rough, pure hell, but we kept going. We weren’t the only ones though. There were groups like ours popping up far and wide. Before you know it, we’d made some alliances and forged some trading pacts. We’d actually settled into a life that was beginning to work for us. Sure, there were some setbacks and the usual crap, but we stuck it out.”
“It was just about six months in when the government stooges showed up from back east. They were talking about the new government being setup in Philadelphia and how they were going to cure all of our problems, all the usual bullshit they spew. When they showed up in Austin and started their crap, I told ‘em to pound sand. We weren’t having any part of it. When they “insisted”, we ran ‘em out of town at gunpoint.”
“When they continued to harass us and other communities, I banded everyone together and we ran them clean out of the state. When we hit the Louisiana line, I told them folks to never, ever set foot in the state of Texas again. If they did, they’d be shot on sight. One of them got all high and mighty and started back and forth across the marker for the border. God forgive me for what I did, but that douchebag had it coming. After about the tenth time of him landing on Texas soil, I shot his arrogant ass.”
“Didn’t kill him, but that boy ain’t never gonna walk right again. It didn’t take long for word to get around about what happened after that. It was a couple of weeks later when word started to spread that the state government was trying to get its shit together over in Dallas. Several of the alliance leaders elected me to go over there and see just what the hell they were up to. So, like a dumbass, I did.”
“It took me about 2.8 seconds of being in Dallas to realize that it was nothing but a bunch of old school oil tycoons patting themselves on the back for surviving the apocalypse. I wasn’t havin any of that crap, so I went back to the alliance leaders and told them what was happening.”
“Another week goes by when the alliance comes to me, yet again. They tell me that they have held a “Special Election” and the results were a landslide in my favor. I was the leader of the alliance. I told ‘em no and then I told them hell no! All the while, those jackasses in Dallas were STILL patting themselves on the back.”
“Over the course of the next month and a half or so, the wannabe state government fell flat on its face and died. They may have survived the end of the world but, they couldn’t survive each other. Next thing I know, I’ve got National Guard troops coming to ME for orders. I’ve got Mayors and constables from all over the damn state coming to ME wanting to know what I wanted them to do!”
“I don’t know when or how it happened, but I ended up giving advice to people from all over. Then it happened, someone remembered that Texas was its own country before it joined the union and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t off to the races then! By the time it was said and done, I’d managed, unwittingly, to get myself elected President of the Republic of Texas!”
“Don’t ask me how it happened, Jason. It wasn’t my intention, not even close. All I wanted to do by that point was find myself a plot of land, get a cow and a horse and retire. I wanted nothing to do with being President, but I couldn’t keep my nose in my own damn business and here I am,” she held up her beer bottle in a mock toast.
“So, is Texas still its own country trying to annex the other states, or?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t let Texas leave the Union. No way in hell that was going to happen. We picked up where the government in Philadelphia couldn’t get anything done. They still don’t recognize me as President, and they refuse to recognize Austin as the seat of power. All the while, they still look like the proverbial monkey with a football over there. So, turnabout's fair play, we don’t recognize any of their attempts at authority.”
“Are things that bad, back east, I mean?”
“They ain’t doing as well as we are. Too much political infighting going on. Where our first step was to throw out all the politicians, they were running around trying to find them and get them to come back to work. They are now busy writing all new laws and they have thrown out the original constitution in favor of their version of it. I’ve actually seen it and let me tell you; it’s horrifying! Where we are trying to return the power to the people, they are busy taking it away. For them, it’s all about the almighty government knowing what’s best for everyone.”
“Sad thing is; the people of the eastern states are done with it and moving west. They don’t want to be told they have to move into the cities so the government can take care of them. They want to farm their land, run their herds and do what it takes to help their families and neighbors, not be coddled. Most of the people I’ve met, they are fiercely independent folks.”
“You guys ready to eat?” Megan asked as she came back into the kitchen.
“Ma’am, I’ve been sitting here smelling your food for 30 minutes and if I don’t get to taste it soon, I’ll just die. It smells heavenly!” Jane beat me to the answer.
“Are Braden and the girls joining us?” I asked.
“No, they are making great progress on their little project and asked if I could bring their dinner to them,” Megan replied as she made her way to the table with the corn on the cob.
“Oh? That’s great news!” I said.
“Yeah, poor guy has been stumped for weeks now but your sisters seemed to have energized him,” she headed back into the ki
tchen and I heard the front door open. A moment later Jill took her seat next to me.
“Everything good?” I asked.
“Yeah, Sam’s just gonna run a couple of tests and get back to me. She said maybe ten or fifteen minutes and she’d have the results,” I detected an edge to her voice that wasn’t there when she left.
“She coming over here or do we have to go over there?”
“Um, I told her to bring the results over here….” I saw her and Megan share a quick look when she returned with the roast. Jill picked up her napkin and dumped her silverware onto the floor. I leaned down to help her pick it up and could see her hands trembling. Something was wrong.
She quickly sat back up when Megan arrived with the side plate of potatoes, corn, peas and green beans that had cooked with the roast. Jill looked terrified. Her eyes were darting about, she kept pursing her lips and her hands were quivering.
“What’s the matter, babe?”
“It’s nothing. Just a couple tests.... I’m late....” her voice trailed off when Megan put her hands-on Jill’s shoulders.
“Late? For what?”
“Breath, Jill. Everything will be fine,” Megan said soothingly. When the front door opened again, Jill nearly jumped out of her seat. Samantha came into the dining room holding something behind her back. There was a pleading look in Jill’s eyes I’d never seen before.
“Sam?” she said just above a whisper.
“I ran the test three times for good measure. I got the same results all three times,” the young doctor said.
“And?” her voice was almost inaudible.
“Well, sometime in May, you two will be parents. Congratulations! Jill’s pregnant!” Samantha announced and held up the three positive pregnancy test strips.
Do I even need to say it again? Can this day get any weirder?
CHAPTER 14
Monday, September 4th, 2017
What a bazaar day that was, I thought to myself. After a lot of congratulations and pats on the back, after a fine meal and more conversation with the President, Jill and I finally retired sometime after midnight. The President of the United States was sleeping in my basement and my pregnant wife was curled up with me in our bed. My pregnant wife.... That was going to take some getting used to. I smiled a private smile.
I was still too amped up to sleep, so I just laid there, trying to take it all in. At first, I was terrified that something was really wrong with Jill. When Sam broke the news, I was terrified at the prospect of being a father. That terror quickly turned to elation. First, my wife, the love of my life wasn’t sick and second, she was going to have my child.
We’d never really had that conversation. Hell, we’d been way too busy to have a lot of conversations. I realized just how much of a saint Jill had been when it came to dealing with my schedule. All of the late nights and gun fights, as she had said, had to have taken a toll on her but she never once faltered in standing next to me. She had been my rock. It was high time I returned the favor.
“You still awake?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah,” I said. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked at me. The moonlight coming through the window illuminated her eyes and cast soft shadows on her face.
“Are you okay with this?”
“Babe, I’m more than okay with this! I’m ecstatic!”
“Are you sure?”
“Hon, this is fantastic news, I couldn’t be happier!” I reassured her and pulled her closer. “Are you okay with it?”
“Yes, but I’m scared.”
“Scared?”
“More like terrified.... I’ve often thought about it, I figured that it’d happen someday.... I guess someday is finally here.”
“We never really got to talk about this, did we?” I asked.
“No and that’s why I’m so scared…… I just need to know that you’re okay with all this. It’s a lot to take in and I know you’ve already got a lot on your plate with your father and all….”
“Babe, the situation with my father will resolve itself, one way or another. If I’ve learned anything since all of this started, it’s that there will always be something or someone trying to throw a wrench in our plans. You are the one who got me to realize that there is nothing I can do to control him. Instead, we have to look to people like Dan and Miranda or Darren and Amber, even Jessica and Jake, people who have carried on with their lives. They’ve had children or are about to have children. It’s happening all over Elko.”
“We can’t wait for the world to be a better place. We have to take what we are given and, at the very least, make our little corner of it better. None of our tomorrows are guaranteed and we have to live for each day we are blessed with. We have to make ourselves happy and we have to do what’s good for us, what’s healthy for us. Luke, Tara, and this baby, our baby, they are all going to be a part of that. This, right here,” I said as I rubbed her flat stomach. “This is what brings me joy. You bring me joy….” I brushed the hair away from her face. There was a small smile that was growing larger by the second and then she started to giggle.
“What’s so funny?”
“I guess we were in the right place at the right time!” she blurted out and broke into full on laughter. It was infectious and soon I was laughing too.
Monday, September 4th, 2017
Deep Springs, California.
Since waking up in Tonopah, Melissa was trying to sort out what exactly happened in the security shack. The last thing she could remember was Wilcox and Ruiz coming in and attempting to subdue her. She’d broken free and was reaching for the button for the alarm klaxon when there had been a blow to the back of her head. The next thing she knew, she was in Tonopah, Nevada.
Since leaving there, she had done as instructed and stayed silent. She was, however, paying attention. South on Highway 95 through Goldfield to the junction of Highway 266. West on 266 through Lida, Nevada. Follow it until you get to Highway 168. Highway 168 took a southerly direction and a little after 11pm, they pulled into a place called Deep Springs.
When Jack first turned off the main highway and pointed the Jeep up the long driveway, she thought they were stopping at a ranch or farm. In the light cast from the nearly full moon, she could see fields on either side of the road and a grove of trees became visible ahead.
It didn’t take her long to realize the driveway ended in a big circle with buildings lining the outer ring and a large patch of dead grass in the center. In the middle, stood a flagpole with a tattered American flag rustling slightly in the breeze.
Jack stopped the Jeep in front of the steps of the largest building, Ruiz and Wilcox got out and vanished into the shadows. Both returned 10 minutes later and announced that the buildings were clear. Jack shut the Jeep off, climbed out and stuffed the keys in his pants pocket.
“C’mon, Mel. We’re stopping here,” he announced.
“What is this place?” Melissa asked, not moving from her seat.
“It’s where we’re going to get some shut-eye, let’s go.”
“You owe me some answers, Jack. Where the hell are we?” she persisted.
“I owe you NOTHING!” he barked. “Get your ass out of the Jeep before I have Wilcox and Ruiz remove you from it!”
“They can....” she stopped mid-sentence when Jack pulled his .45 from his hip and leveled at her.
“You remember the little talk we had earlier? The one about doing what you’re told? I said get out of the Jeep, now!” without further question, she did as she was told. This was a side of her Uncle Jack she didn’t even know existed and it scared her, bad. The menacing look in his eyes told her that he WOULD pull the trigger if she didn’t comply with his demand.
“Happy now?” she asked as she walked around to his side of the Jeep.
“Quit trying to be a smartass,” he started for the front door of the biggest building in the center of the ring.
“I’m not being a smartass!” she said as she fell in behind him.
“I’m not scared,” she followed him through the front door.
“Oh yes you are and you know what? You should be.”
Monday, September 4th, 2017
The Ranch.
“You know how hard it is to find real coffee these days?” President Jane Dixon asked from my dining room table. Jill and I had come downstairs a little after 8am. We’d made our way into the kitchen following the scent of freshly brewed coffee. Jill started to pour herself a cup but hesitated. She then returned the decanter to its place and opted for water instead.
“There’s a running joke around here; as long as we got coffee, we can deal with the end of the world,” I chuckled.
“Then, here’s to always having plenty on hand!” she raised her mug in a mock toast.
“That shouldn’t be a problem anymore. We worked out a trade deal with the cartels before we left Vegas,” I pulled out my chair and sat down at the table.
“It’s funny, when they were pushing drugs and illegal immigration, they were our sworn enemies. Now, they’re trade partners,” she shook her head.
“Well, I guess times and people change,” I replied. Jill pulled out her chair and sat next to me.
“Like your father?” Jane asked, suddenly changing the subject on me.
“Yeah. Like my father.”
“Ya know, Jason. I got to thinking about it this morning.... Something’s not making sense to me.”
“Which part?”
“You told me yesterday he had escaped after you had him detained. He left here with two of his men and abducted one of your team leaders, right?”
“Yeah?”
“If this bunker, this ARK, is as impenetrable as you say it is, just how does he plan on an assault with three people and a hostage?” she sat up and put her elbows on the table.
“Supposedly he knows how to unlock the door if it’s not already open.”
“Still.... They have a security force, at least I’d assume they would. What’s he going to do, waltz right in and tell ‘em to stick their hands in the air and surrender?”