Only by Blood and Suffering: Regaining Lost Freedom

by LaVoy Finicum

  For a rural region to survive it would need to have some geographical isolation from the streams of refugees that would flee from failing cities. That area would also have to have means of food production without depending on the power grid. That meant free flowing irrigation water. If that area had energy producing capacity, a capacity that could be brought back on-line with minimal effort after an EMP strike, that region could rise to power from the rubble of a collapsing world. A man who controlled that type of an area, and could place other strong men in similar districts, could build a power base.

  The military needed power and food to sustain itself. Food, energy, and military might were going to reshape the world. Zackary Williams had many connections both in the military world and in the world of finances. His photographic memory made it easy for him to master a number of key languages which increased his ability to make and maintain those important connections throughout the world.

  The power brokers of this Society depended upon their gold to buy and control men like him. They were physically weak and used their wealth to buy their power. They would soon find that their gold would buy them very little. The loyalty of those who surrounded these power brokers was not as faithful as they might believe. Those at the top would find themselves betrayed in the end.

  Most of the nuclear arsenal in the world was now depleted. China and Russia had now turned on America and were depleting much of their conventional military might fighting with her.

  The Society had helped to stir this pot until it had boiled over. As it boiled over they kept their assets out of the fire. Those assets were their mercenary armies, energy, and food. With mercenaries being loyal only to the highest pay, it was good that they controlled the gold. Now they needed to control energy and food.

  Once the timing was right, they would pull all the strings of their web that they had spun throughout the world and grab great power.

  The unlikely town of Kanab, Utah, happened to be an important puzzle piece. Long Valley, to its north, could produce the food to sustain Kanab; that is, once the small communities in Long Valley were brought under control. To the east of Kanab was the Glenn Canyon Dam. Lake Powell was a huge reserve of hydropower. Hydroelectricity was some of the earliest and simplest forms of energy. The dam could be one of the first sources of power to come back on-line.

  Next to the dam was the Navajo Generating Plant. A great coal fired power plant. That would take more time and effort to bring on-line but together, the dam and the plant were tremendous sources of energy. Just south of Kanab, in the small town of Fredonia, was an oil refinery. Environmentalists and governmental regulations had shut it down.

  The environmentalist thought that they had won a victory when it shut down. They too were ignorant and useful pawns as they sought to save the world. The real fact was that it needed to be taken off line temporarily to keep it from being a target. In its proper order, it too would be brought back on-line to be fed by the rich oil fields of southern Utah.

  The Society had made sure that certain places would be off limits to a nuclear attack or not a profitable target for an attack. There were other places in the country that had good power production but they were geographically and demographically not in good locations. These were free to be hit or left to fall by themselves.

  Fall by themselves they would when hunger hit these areas. In highly populated districts, hunger would be like kicking a red anthill, the swarming masses could not be controlled. That was another reason this area was key.

  This area had an extremely low population density. To its south lay the Grand Canyon, a great natural barrier against refugees from central and southern Arizona. To the west was a mountain range and desert that formed a barrier against California and Nevada refugees.

  There were several other key power producing regions that were similar to this one. In these areas, Zackary had been successful in placing other loyal agents, under the umbrella of DHS, along with the needed resources and protections.

  One of them he had been in communication with just an hour ago. It was where the Snake River came out of the Saw Tooth Mountains in Idaho. In what was known as Magic Valley were dams which provided hydropower and gravity flow irrigation.

  In the puzzle pieces of this new emerging order, the tremendous food producing capacity of this region was more valuable than even the power production. Because of the great value of that area, he had almost chosen to handle it himself. It was because of his personal understanding of this area that he had come to southern Utah. He was a man who seldom ever second guessed himself, but…

  It troubled Zackary that, even with the human resources and assets that he had placed in Magic Valley, they were having challenges. The big challenge in that region, as with everywhere, was to control the populace. Even though it was rural, the population density was still much greater than here and they were already having trouble with the local farmers. Once he had this district buttoned down and running smoothly he would go to Magic Valley.

  He had selected other areas for the Society, in this country and others, each for their specific resource producing capacity. The common factor with each of his selections was the low population numbers. It was time to put the final pieces of this woven web in place. Once the whole puzzle was assembled it would portray a bold and daring picture.

  While the Nation had been consumed in sports, entertainment, and pornography, this Society had been preparing for a reshaping of world power. There were two events that had been planned as the catalyst to finish that “remolding to their heart’s desires.”6

  The collapse of the world’s reserve currency, the dollar.

  A nuclear “first strike” against America.

  * * *

  It had taken Zackary only 14 days to get the nucleus of his military force organized and up to speed. The following two weeks his agents had continued to train and deploy this force in the town. It had all been prearranged, preplanned, with strategic foresight. All existing law enforcement was already under the control of Homeland Security which meant it was under his control but that was not his starting nucleus. The prison had the readymade army. That is why he had DHS preposition the secured containers at the prisons.

  Each container was EMP proof with communication and military equipment to outfit two hundred men. The communication equipment was vital to the plan and he had two containers placed at the Kane County Correctional facility. The prison housed over three hundred men but only a third of them were of the sort that Zackary could use. He had previously reviewed all inmates’ files and knew who he wanted. He needed men that were violent and physically strong.

  He had driven to the prison before sunrise the morning after the attack. He had been able to drive because his white SUV, with the dark tinted windows, was hardened, which meant the vehicle’s electronics could withstand the electromagnetic pulse from the nuclear attack. Five other white SUVs had arrived soon after him. They were driven by the five men he trusted. These he had planted in different agencies in the local area. They were the best of the men he had recruited and groomed over the years. These were his lieutenants. They had been on many of his black ops teams. These were the ones that would help him put order to this quarter.

  It only took an hour to pull out the 125 men he wanted and dress them out in full military uniforms. Before the inmates were allowed to join they were required to swear an oath of loyalty. This oath was supposed to be an oath of loyalty to the “continuity of government.”7 That was the proper protocol but Zackary Williams made it an oath of loyalty to him. Violation of that oath was death.

  When given the choice to remain in a prison with no food or water, or take the oath, they were only too eager to join. They each were given an M-4 rifle with empty magazines. To start with, only his lieutenants would need to have loaded weapons. The appearance of force was all that was necessary, at first, to exert control in the town.

  Once dressed out, the inmates were divided into five platoons of 25 men each, a
platoon for each of his five lieutenants. In the early morning they were marched into town. It was not to either of the banks that they went. It was to the grocery stores. Two platoons to Glazier’s Market and two to Honey’s Market. The last platoon went to the center of town, to the old Mormon church building that had been newly restored to its original condition.

  With another sip of his coffee, Zackary looked down upon the old church across the street. The church was his new command and control center. It was a beautiful building with wide steps leading from the street up to the main floor. The bottom half of the building was of cut sandstone with thick red brick walls on top of the sandstone. The walls offered great ballistic and fire resistance qualities. In a world that now traveled at foot speed, its location was prime—the junction of Center and Main.

  The new state of the art city buildings had been built next to the building Zackary was standing on. It was now a dark and unpleasant place in which the city officials had to work.. It still had running water but the building had few windows to the outside. With no electricity, the rooms were dark and had no heating, cooling or ventilation. On the other hand, the old church was built before electricity. High arching windows gave it great light. Every room had windows to the outside. In summer the windows could be opened and allow a cross breeze to pass through the whole building. The town had few two story-buildings and where Zackary stood he could look down on most of the town. He liked looking down on the common man.

  Timing and speed were crucial in keeping ahead of the population at large. If the people ever united against him he could not withstand them with his small, but growing force. Divide and conquer. He had successfully allied a third of the community to his side. He played his personal popularity to his advantage, and with promises of providing security, had won their support. A third of the community sat on the fence, not sure if the promises he made could be fulfilled. They also were slow to submit to the idea that he was the legitimate leading governmental official. By law he was. Under the NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act,8 and by executive order he was. During a national crisis they both were in force, making him the chief executive in this part of the country.

  The remaining third were suspicious and it would not be long before they began to oppose him. It was time to deal with this third. He had waited, watched and felt the pulse of the community till the time was right. It took only thirty days for the stress and shortage of food to make the ground fertile for the deception.

  In his hand that did not hold his coffee cup, was the list of this third. The list contained names of heads of households along with names and numbers of occupants.

  The delusion that people had privacy made him laugh. The ability of NSA, the National Security Agency,9 to data mine, collate, and organize the personal information of the populace was a modern marvel. All the people had been vetted, and put into categories.

  There was a category to recruit from. There was a category to demonize as the ones standing in the way of food and security. There was a category of those that could be made to be viewed as an unproductive drain on the critical and very limited resources—t he old, the crippled, and the mentally limited. There were many other useful lists of information with cross sections of all the people in the region.

  NSA was an important part of making this whole thing work. Zackary held a dossier on everyone in the vicinity. He had the National Security Agency provide the dossier for him long before the attack. He had simply given NSA the parameters that he wanted searched and compiled. The parameters for the first list, the list that he called the “Troubled Ones,” were:

  Those who had bought three or more guns in the last five years and had no criminal or drug use history.

  Anyone who had bought an assault rifle with no criminal or drug use history.

  Those who may not have bought guns but had bought more than five hundred rounds of ammunition in the last five years and had no criminal or drug use history.

  Those who, in the last two years, had visited web sites deemed anti-government.

  Those whose food purchases in the last five years were in greater amounts than needed for the household size. (Seizing those food resources would be critical.)

  Those who were registered Libertarians.

  Those who were members of the Tea Party.

  People whose phone calls had been flagged. (It was not just the metadata10 that NSA had been gathering from all their phone calls, it was the actual call itself.)

  For NSA’s huge data mining facility in central Utah, this was an easy feat. The ability for the facility to collect all electronic communications was a known fact. What people didn’t understand was its ability to sort, collate and organize that information.

  Because most people used debit or credit cards, the facility could calculate the food purchase against the number of occupants in a home and tell how much food was stored up. It could then fold this information into any other chosen parameters.

  Not only did they know great details about almost everyone in the United States, they were able, from the pattern of that information, to predict much of a person’s future behaviors.

  The second list NSA put together for him he called “The Useless Ones.”

  •The old

  •The ill

  •The lame

  •The blind

  •Those on medications

  •The mentally limited

  These must not be allowed to use up any precious resources.

  The third list he called his “Recruiting List.”

  Those on this list could not be on the first two lists.

  •Those who were young to middle age and in good health.

  •Those who consumed drugs and alcohol coupled with high amounts of pornography.

  •Those who did not have extra food on hand.

  •Any who had bought a gun or ammo and did have a criminal history.

  •Any with violent histories.

  •Those who were on government welfare.

  •Those who did not have a history of visiting anti-government web sites.

  •Those who consumed liberal news media and web sites.

  •Any who were members of any socialistic organizations.

  The last list he simply called “The Servants.”

  This list had on it all those who had the technical, vocational or practical skills that he would soon need.

  The stores had only enough food on hand to feed the town of 10,000 for three days. But it could feed 500 for sixty days. Hence, part of the reason for the lists.

  The protocol he had set for this region called for four-hundred men in uniform. That is why the four platoons had secured the grocery stores. The food was for recruiting and buying the loyalties of the ones they wanted—the strong that had few morals and community leaders who believed in a strong central government.

  Now was his day, now was his time. It was a time for the strong to rule the common man, the simple man. This experiment of a free republic, of people being equal under the law, was a failure. The law of force would now be restored. The anomaly of America would be driven back and put in line with the vast history of the world, the history that demanded that the weak serve the strong.

  Zackary Williams swallowed the last of his coffee. It was time to button up the “troubled ones” in Kanab. He needed to do that before he moved on the town of Page and gathered out the human resources that he was going to need in order to bring the hydropower of the dam back on-line.

  As he turned away from the edge of the roof, the thought of Jake Bonham crossed his mind. He smiled to himself. It was a smile that was often found on his face whenever he faced a challenge—the beginning of a football game, the start of some black ops, or just before he engaged in combat. Zackary thrived on challenges, or more accurately, he thrived on crushing opposition.

  He knew Jake Bonham well and had not been surprised when he stood up at the town council meeting in Orderville. It was that show of backbone that had given
courage and solidarity to the farmers and ranchers in Long Valley. He would need to crush Jake Bonham and the spirit of independence that he was helping to foster in the food producers. Food was the kingpin. Without control of the food production everything else would fall apart.

  Jake Bonham would be a worthy opponent if Jake was still standing when he returned from Page. In a counterproductive hope, he wanted to lock horns with him. But, that would mean that his lieutenant and the small army would have failed in eradicating the cowboy and subjugating Long Valley.

  Zackary smiled again. The anticipation of physical combat whetted his appetite; at the same time, he did not underestimate the seriousness of the situation. The tactical advantage of the Bonham ranch with its geographical location could not be denied. It could not be better poised to control, hinder, or stop all together, the flow of any resources out of the valley.

  “I would like to cross swords with you, Jake Bonham,” he spoke into the chill of the morning.

  _____________________

  1. U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Felix Frankfurter, “The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes.” 1882–1965

  2. Barack Obama, April 11, 2008, “…And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them…”

  3. Fabian Society, a society that seeks to implement socialism by degrees within a parliamentary type of government. Their symbolism is that of a turtle and the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Above their symbols on their stained glass window of their headquarter reads, “Remold it nearer to the heart’s desire!” Which comes from Omar Khayyam, “Dear love, couldst thou and I with fate conspire to grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, would we not shatter it to bits and then remold it nearer to the heart’s desire?

  4. Department of Homeland Security is purchasing over 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. That is enough ammo to sustain a hot war in America for more than 20 years at the rate it was expended in the Iraq war.