Dark Grid

by David C. Waldron

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to keep all the generating capacity in one place and simply re-energize the town?” Sheri asked.

  “Probably, but the problem is that there were already a number of folks with generators, alternators, and battery banks in their houses. These folks wanted to be ‘off the grid man’”, Pete said in a fairly passable Tommy Chong impersonation. “Short of killing half the town, which would probably royally piss off the other half, centralizing the power right off the bat wasn’t going to happen. We could probably convince them to do it now, with two of us who know what we’re talking about.”

  “You were always better at dealing with people than I was. You were the one that got everyone up out of the dam, even got me to help get Cathy up the stairs. I didn’t even think about that. All we’d have to do is disconnect the town from the rest of the world, electrically, at the other side of any substations that feed us, and depending on the amount of power necessary, simply plug the generators into the line.”

  “They’d have to be wired right, and they’d need to go through some step up transformers, but I’m sure they haven’t all been destroyed. Shoot, for the size we’re talking, we could make ones that would last long enough to get some manufacturing going to build real ones.”

  “So, do you have any light bulbs floating around here? As long as this isn’t a double throw switch it should be off. You can save the lantern batteries.”

  “Just a second, let me look. I was more concerned with the fridge and the A/C, I haven’t looked for bulbs.” The first place he looked was over the fridge, which held cookbooks and a number of pieces of elementary school art class pottery. Next was over the stove. Why is it that people always store their light bulbs over the stove?

  “Bingo, 40, 60 and 75 watt. That’s probably a 60 watt-max fixture, three bulbs. Sheri, please scoot away from the switch, dear. I know we’ve been having a wonderful evening so far, but I’m not stupid and I’m sure you remember that I smacked you on the back of the head and kidnapped you this afternoon.”

  “Fair enough, but in all honesty, the odds weren’t high enough for a kill, so I was just going to let it ride.”

  “And here we were getting along so well. So much for letting my guard down. Now I have to weigh everything I do against the potential for instantaneous death.”

  “I didn’t say it had to be instantaneous, Pete.”

  “Ok, this is really going downhill fast. Truce, or at least a cease-fire, ninety seconds while I screw in the freakin’ light bulbs?”

  “Truce, sorry. My head still hurts in all honesty, and I am still a little sore at being kidnapped.”

  “Ok, squint your eyes and try the switch,” Pete said as he got down off the kitchen chair.

  Sheri did, and to her immense pleasure, there were now 180 watts of soft-white electric light in the kitchen. “We’ve got electricity at the base, but we don’t have a huge infrastructure yet. There are so many little projects that take up everyone’s time; it’s taking forever to get things completed. We have megawatts of generating capacity and nothing to run off of it, but we don’t want to just move in and take over a town somewhere that already has an infrastructure.”

  “You gotta weigh your options. You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. Someone is going to have to be in charge in each of those little places out there. It’s admirable that the folks at the Armory didn’t just try to take over Nashville, but you’ve seen what happened to Nashville over the last couple of weeks.”

  “If you’ve been listening on the CB, you know that’s happening all over, too. They couldn’t have held it together there with the force they had, so getting out was smart. Starting over was smart. Starting from scratch, maybe not so smart.”

  “I guess that remains to be seen.”

  “Yeah, I guess it does. Moving on then, it looks like your dinner is done. Wish I’d known that’s how those things worked. Yes the Chicken Chow Mein is edible cold, but just,” Pete shivered for effect.

  Apparently Pete was trying extra hard not to be a prick, to be human, trying to be, Oh My Word, ON A DATE! It struck Sheri almost like a physical blow, but one that she had to try not to laugh at lest he get the wrong idea. Yes, he’d been making a joke but she didn’t want him thinking he was making any headway either. He really was that stupid!

  “They tell me that’s what the Tabasco sauce is for. I guess if you don’t need it for one meal you hold onto it in case you need it for another one. With enough of the stuff you’re supposed to be able to eat anything.” Keep him talking and keep it neutral. Don’t smile and no more joking. No more being friendly. He’s the enemy, Sheri!

  “Well, there are only about four more days’ worth in the backpacks,”

  Rucksacks moron.

  “and there’s a decent first aid kit in each one too. Is your head really still hurting, do you need something for it?”

  Yeah, like I’m going to let you give me something to knock me out. The only reason I’m drinking this water and eating this food is because I broke the seal on both, freak show. “I’m actually fine, I was just being pissy.” Calling him names in her head was good for her own frame of mind, but she was going to have to watch it before she slipped; some of the names she was thinking were already coming too easily.

  “Well, I’ll leave you to your dinner then. Give me a holler if you need anything.” With that Pete got up and left. He might be stupid but apparently he could take a hint and had picked up on her change in attitude. What was he on, anyway? She’d seen metronomes that swung back and forth less frequently.

  I wonder how he’d react if I yelled for him and told him I needed to be let go and dropped off back where he kidnapped me. Probably not a good idea, the man really didn’t seem very stable.

  Knowing that the group had picked up Keeler and policed the site, including securing the M-16s and the ammo that had been in the Humvee, actually raised Sheri’s spirits quite a bit. She wondered whether or not someone had been watching the site so they could try to follow Pete back. It was possible, even likely, that they had. There were some former Rangers in the Guard. Then again they might not have, and Sheri didn’t want to get her hopes up. She still needed to proceed as though rescue, if it was coming at all, was a ways off.

  “I wonder if the radio was still on?” Sheri asked herself out loud.

  …

  Corporal Pine saw the frequency light for Sheri’s radio blink and switched immediately back to the delayed feed and started recording. He grabbed a portable radio to call the First Sergeant and let her know that Sheri’s radio had ‘something’ making noise around it again. “First Sergeant, Ms. Hines’ radio is broadcasting again. It looks like someone is back at the site and moving things around. OW! Son-of-a…Sorry, Top, whoever it is just picked up her radio and either dropped it or threw it into their car.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute, as soon as I find Chuck.”

  Chuck was lying on the cot in his tent looking up at nothing when Mallory called from outside. “Come on in First Sergeant. I’m decent, or at least dressed.”

  Mallory ducked in but held the flap open, “I need you in the communications tent, someone’s at the site and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but I want to play the tape for you to be sure it’s Pete and then listen to see if he’s come back. They also moved Sheri’s radio, and Corporal Pine said it sounded like they tossed it into their car. If they did, they are going to take it with them.” Mallory’s eyes glittered.

  “What are we waiting for, let’s go,” Chuck was up and gesturing Mallory out of the tent. “C’mon woman, move!”

  Mallory grinned as they jogged to the communications tent. This might be one of the shortest abductions on record, she thought. “Any update, Pine?”

  “Car’s started and heading back, radio is definitely in the car. Sounds like they grabbed the rucks from the back as well. Good thing we cleared out the M-16s and the ammo.”

  “Good deal, keep the reco
rding going and bring up the one from earlier today, please. I need Chuck to verify Pete’s voice.”

  It only took a few seconds, as that recording was a shortcut right now. Within a few seconds Chuck was nodding his head, “Yeah, that’s Pete.”

  “Ok, go ahead and stop it,” Mallory started to say.

  “No, don’t, I want to hear the rest.” Chuck interrupted.

  Mallory nodded at the interruption, since Pine was not going to just take it on Chuck’s say-so.When it was over, Chuck didn’t say anything, he just nodded his head one time.

  “Have they said anything yet, whoever they are?” Mallory asked

  “Just some muttering. One second.” Pine played back the most recent recording.

  “That’s Pete. He truly is that stupid; he came back himself. How dumb can one man be and still be alive?” Chuck asked.

  “Pine, call Bowersock, please. Have him meet me in the command tent soonest,” then she and Chuck left.

  …

  “Sooner than we had hoped or planned, but not necessarily a bad thing, not by a long shot. I’m glad we literally sent them out right away. Since we know what frequency her radio was on, we can just wait until they stop and triangulate on that frequency broadcast. It’ll take a couple of minutes, assuming the battery holds out in the unit. It’s got to be getting weak.” KB finished up.

  Corporal Pine added, “I did notice that it was a little weaker than it had been this afternoon, but the newer radios go into standby when they are locked in send mode and haven’t heard anything above a certain threshold for ten minutes.” He had been relieved early at Mallory’s request and had joined them in the command tent.

  “We know they weren’t more than fifteen miles away when they contacted us originally, since they used a CB. If we assume they did so from their current home location, his drive time should narrow down their possible hidey holes.” They had a map laid out with all the possible towns marked and the most likely candidates based on size highlighted.

  “Realistically, there’re only a half a dozen places he could have gone into and declared himself ‘Supreme Overlord’ for the duration of the current crisis. Everywhere else is too small and would have probably shot him on sight when he pulled that crap, or too big for someone like him to bully into submission.” KB mused.

  “Unfortunately we can’t go storming into a half a dozen places hoping the five that haven’t done anything wrong will give us a mulligan. We aren’t Pete, we have to remember that. Everyone, we have to remember that. We moved out here into the middle of the woods and are building a town from the ground up instead of invading somewhere because we aren’t Pete. People are coming to us, in some cases literally, because we aren’t Pete.” Mallory stopped.

  “You’re right Top,” KB said. “But one thing I’ve learned, and it’s never been proven wrong, is that you don’t try to reason with a rabid dog. You put it down in the street, then you bury it and move on.”

  “We’ve been lucky all the way ‘round so far. We haven’t had a drinking problem, a theft problem, an abuse problem, or any sexual crimes of any kind. We’ve also only been here together for a little over five weeks. At some point crime is going to infest this little corner of heaven where everyone farts rainbows, and it won’t be because of some puissant tin dictator wannabe. It’ll be because of unrequited love inside the camp, or someone sets up a still and gets drunk, or someone wants to be the “block mom” this week, or one of a hundred different things for each person here.”

  KB looked around the tent and then went on, “Pete’s not the problem, he’s a symptom. I had a neighbor once who said ‘Everything would be so much better if everybody would stop fighting and just get along.’ I told her ‘But I can’t stand you. There, there’s only two of us and your plan’s already shot to hell, now what are you gonna do?’ People will devolve without rules, so we need to put those rules in place, and prove we have the ability and the willingness to enforce those rules.”

  “Pete has broken those rules, both the old set and the new. If Pete was Army, UCMJ Article 134 provides for a maximum penalty of confinement for life without the eligibility of parole. I can’t speak to the civil side of the law, but I’m sure that if we read it we could take letter of the law and put him away for 15-25 years with no parole. The question is do we have the will to do so? We’ve had a hell of a lot of will up to this point, but that was mixed in with survival mode and the search for the next batch of chocolate chip cookies. There’s more at stake here though, and that’s what Karen, Rachael, and Sheri have been up into the wee hours of the morning trying to figure out for us.”

  “A society of Laws, where men and women can protect themselves but not harass others, where the ‘Castle Doctrine’ will be in full effect. A Civil Society that also provides for the individual to protect themselves and take matters into their own hands, properly as necessary. BUT, we can’t do anything until we find out where he’s heading. How does the car sound, Pine?”

  “Pretty good timing KB, sounds like he’s winding down now. He’s on paved roads, which is probably a good thing. I’ve heard a few other cars.” Pine held up his hand for quiet, and wrote down a number on a pad of paper ‘15321’. “He just pulled in and stopped. He was talking to himself under his breath like he’s not real used to the address yet. ‘Fifteen-three-twenty-one’.

  Chuck slowly ghosted to the back of the tent to let the people who knew how to plan get their jobs done. He wasn’t going to miss this for the world though, and he wasn’t going be any further from the door than he needed to be.

  Mallory glanced over at him as he was watching the semi-madness in the command tent. She was trying to convey a sense of accomplishment and control, what she got back from him was ‘just get me what I need’. Odd, that.

  “Still broadcasting. Looks like we’re picking it up on three remotes and us, almost due east of us, about thirteen miles. Up I-40 and off a couple of side roads. Of course, a brand new little town called ‘Gratefille’. How do these people live long enough to reproduce?!?” Pine was disgusted. “I do not have specifics on the layout of the town address-wise.”

  “Jackson, Halstead, you two pick one team each to go in both ends of town at first light. Find and extract Sheri with minimal collateral damage.” Mallory ordered.

  “Pete?” Halstead asked.

  “I don’t recall giving any specific order regarding any individual other than Sheri.”

  “Roger.”

  Tomorrow is too long, it’s too long, I can’t wait that long, she can’t wait that long. He could move. He could kill her. Stop it! Chuck was losing it. Get it under control man. Face calm, breathing regular, exhale. “I hate it, but it sounds like you have it under control. I’m just in the way, Mal, I’m gonna take off. G’night.”

  “Take it easy, Chuck, it’ll be alright,” Mallory said as he left.

  Oh, I know it’ll be alright, I just need my map. GPS don’t fail me now. He walked back to his tent--thankfully they were all raised and on wood floors now--and grabbed the radio and the map. He already had his sidearm with a full magazine and one in the chamber with two extra magazines on his belt. He headed over to his truck with a water bottle, climbed in, and made sure that he was all strapped in and ready before he put the keys in. That way there was less likelihood of the dinging of the keys in the ignition catching someone’s attention before it was too late.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chuck had his truck started, in gear, and moving before anyone realized he was going somewhere. Nobody was forbidden to leave, but usually people had a good idea of when and where people were headed. Anyway, nobody went out alone, especially not at night.

  Fifteen seconds later Mallory came running to the lot swearing, and not under her breath. “I am so gonna draft him when he gets back, just so I can throw him in the brig!”

  She ran into KB and Halstead on her way back to the command tent. “Chuck just took off. I’m not taking odds on whether or not Sheri will be back
here before morning because I hate to lose. We’re still planning the Op though.” Mallory said.

  …

  Chuck used the GPS to plug in the number portion of the address in the town and it came up with a single street address. He had an eleven minute drive if the thing could be believed. They were just on the other side of the Park for crying out loud. Pete, you are a real piece of work. Twisted, rusting, scrap metal--but a piece of work, nonetheless. A few minutes out his radio squawked at him. He was tempted not to answer, but really didn’t want to have to ignore it for the next ten minutes.

  “This is Charlie one, go ahead, over.”

  “Chuck, please turn around.” Mallory paused, and then remembered to say “Over.” It was a testament to how pissed she was that she forgot in the first place.

  “Negative, I read you Lima Charlie but am unable to comply, over.”

  “Explain, over.”

  “Mallory, find Joel and Rachael and ask them what I said this afternoon, over.”

  “You said ‘you were gonna kill that worthless piece of crap’ and I told you that you would need to stand in line. You weren’t speaking figuratively were you Chuck, uh, over.” Rachael asked. Mallory had already pulled them into the communications tent.

  “No, I wasn’t. I think I saw that Joel had caught it, but didn’t say anything. Pete gave up his rights to be a member of a society, our society, a while ago, and he died this afternoon--he just hasn’t stopped breathing.”

  “Mallory, he’s a rabid dog, just like KB said. No matter how nice he acts, you don’t let him get close enough to lick your hand because he’s gonna bite. He can’t be fixed, he’s sick. I’m going to get Sheri back. I’m sorry, I can’t wait until tomorrow morning, and I don’t think she can either. I’m sure that by now he’s told her that he’s gone back to the Humvee and scrounged for food and toys. She may be hoping for a rescue, may be planning for one. She may not be, too, but I’d rather that she under-plan and we, I, over-deliver.