The Event Series (Book 2): The Gospel According to Matthew, Margo & Lance

by Thomas Larson

  May 22nd

  (Margo) Rain today, so we pretty much stayed in. It was warm. Spent the day reading, the “library” is kind a small, but I found a book of short stories by assorted authors. They were mostly sci-fi. It was interesting; there were a number of references to The Three laws of Robotics, 1.) they can’t hurt humans, 2.) they can’t let humans get hurt, and 3.) they can’t let themselves be hurt, unless it would violate the first two rules. It is strange that the Hunters never seemed to act under those programming rules, just a thought.

  (Matt) It was a good day for the crops, or if you were a duck, but not much else. I spent some time talking with Tanya about the idea that Keith had about a rescue mission to Stanwix.

  “It would be dangerous” she said. “But those poor people, they are living in Hell.”

  “True, but are we right in sticking our nose in to this?”

  I got the stare, and knew what her take on it was. We needed to help them out. And really, she is right.

  I will talk to Keith tonight, after dinner and maybe broach the subject at the Fire Pit tonight, although it may be an indoor event tonight.

  (Lance) No outdoor stuff today other than running to the dining hall. I wonder why we don’t use umbrellas.

  Code and Margo brought back a report from the horse farm yesterday. I guess things are going well there. Horses could be really good for getting out on some scavenger runs. It would ease our fuel needs. We are still good with propane, but diesel is getting more and more scare and gasoline is pretty much a thing of the past. If we can save the diesel for the helicopter that would be great, although even at that, we only have a few long flights left.

  The other thing that Margo and Code did was to bring back a couple of mountain bikes. Why we had not thought of that earlier, I guess we were so busy thinking about other things we just never got around to it.

  Matt was kind of quiet at the evening fire tonight, we sat in the dining room because of the rain; there is something on his mind.

  May 23rd

  (Margo) Had the crap scared out of me this morning on the run, and it got ugly, I am still ticked off about it. Lucy and I headed out like we usually do and were chugging along on the run. As we came around a corner in the path a camouflaged figure jumped out into the middle of the path. I freaked and Lucy when into attack mode, she had it on its back quicker than lightening.

  “Wait, wait, it’s me, I’m a good guy” squealed the SWAT boy.

  “Lucy, stop!” I screamed, and she did. Wow, surprised me and LJ, the camouflaged guy on the ground.

  “What are you doing asshole?” I asked, I was ticked.

  LJ, still on the ground looked up and mumbled, “Training”.

  “Good job, training for what?”

  “Sorry ma’am, its classified”, he said, hoisting himself off the ground.

  “Classified? Seriously, and you can’t tell me because I am a spy?”

  “Ron said that the Earther people are….. well, I can’t tell, maybe you can ask him”

  I was pissed before; I think livid comes to mind now. Lucy and I jog back to camp and I found Ron out in the middle of the campground.

  “What the fuck are you doing? And why the fuck are the ‘Earthers’ as you call us not being told about it?” I screamed.

  Ron was caught off guard and stood dumbfounded.

  The Major who was walking across the grounds walked over and could see how absolutely angry I was, looked at Ron. “Well, it would seem a question is in front of you Ron, what is your answer.”

  “I, I, we, oh crap, I guess we need to talk, let’s get everyone together.” Ron said, head down looking at this feet. He was clearly caught between a rock and a hard place.

  “Yeah, it is obvious to me that we have a problem, Margo, go ring the bell, let’s have a pow-wow” said the Major.

  The bell, it is the dinner bell, warning bell if we get raided and in general, a signal that something is up and we all need to get to the flagpole area ASAP. One ding for dinner, two dings for meeting, and three dings if there is a big problem. I dinged twice.

  About 10 minutes later everyone was gathered, LJ looking a little embarrassed and Ron was giving him a look that could kill. The Major started out the discussion.

  “Margo and Ron had a little falling out a few minutes ago, and it would seem there is a story behind it. Ron, do you care to share?”

  Ron, clearly uncomfortable, stepped forward, “I have been training some of us military type guys for a mission. Margo was running with her dog, and LJ scared her. That is it.”

  “Wait, what!” I screamed, “You forgot the part about the Earthers, as your asshole minion called us, what about that part?”

  “I, ah, er, ….” But before he could finish Keith stepped into the middle of the circle and began.

  “I think I am more to blame here than Ron.” He turned toward Matt, and said “Matt, you remember the other day when I was talking to you about going back to Stanwix?”

  “Yes, and I understood why, and kind of agree it should be done.” Matt replied, sounding a little confused.

  “Well, I also approached Ron with the idea, and the Major, and The Three. I hate seeing what my friends have been put through, and wanted to try to get a group of us together try to liberate them,” he started.

  “I wanted to have enough of you on board to make it work, I am going back one way or the other, with Pam, and I had hoped a few of you would join in to even the odds,” he added, talking to the whole tribe now.

  Matt spoke, “Tanya and I had already decided that we would go along and help. We know the area, a little, and saw what the militia guys had done to Marcus, your friend. We were on board.”

  Ron, still feeling foolish mumbled, “We were on board from day one, Keith explained it to us, and well, our God would want us to fight, it is part of the Tribulation, and Womack, a tool of the devil.”

  Right about then Teckla and Tay rode up, wow, they rode up, on horses!

  “We were out riding when we heard the bell, got here as quick as we could,” said Teckla, “What is going on?”

  A recap was given to them and after a couple of moments of thinking Teckla asked, “Is this group a threat to us? And how many of the militia guys are there?”

  Matt, who had been to Stanwix said that he had seen about 8 to 10 militia guys, and that he was not sure if they had followed or tried to follow him and Tanya after they shot Womack, their head guy. He added that they had met a couple of people along the way, Chris and Helen and they kind of knew the direction in which he and Tanya had been heading, so the answer was, maybe a threat.

  Charlene jumped in here, and the discussion took a detour. “I think we can talk about helping Keith out. I think that we should, but it needs to be done right. But I am more concerned about this Earthers versus Ron God thing. That’s not right and it will do more harm to this group than any attack by outsiders. We are one community, and we cannot have that bullshit.”

  All eyes were on Ron, he looked around like a cornered rat, and at this point in my mind, and he was. He had left us once, ran away to hang with another group, now this, I have to wonder where his head is at.

  “Look, I, it’s just that, see,” stammered Ron.

  “Ron, stop, just stop,” Exclaimed Fred, “You have been kind of a bully on this, and it is time to stop.”

  Ron just stood there in silence, I am not sure if it was anger, or remorse, or what, but he was red, and shaking, then finally, “I am sorry, I am, I wanted to help, I wanted to do God’s work, like Matt used to do. I wanted to be a crusader, God’s flaming sword. But, but I am not God’s hand, I am shit, a foolish little boy trying to play big. I think even now, Matt, you’re still that hand. ”

  Shock rippled thought the group, Ron crashed, and I actually felt bad for him, still don’t completely trust him, but felt bad for him. I think the killer move came next when Matt and Tanya walked over to him, and gave him a hug. Wow, now that was some wicked compassion.

>   The Major looked at Keith and said, “I think we can help you out, but we need to think this through and plan it well. We have time, and can do this right.

  Lance coughed and shook his head. “Maybe not as much time as we might like, I picked up something on the Sat-Comm yesterday on one of the frequencies. There was a signal from a group, they were looking for information about other groups, aggressive groups in the upstate NY area, I didn’t respond, but if they hit up the Pittsburgh or some other station that knows we exist, we could be in trouble.”

  “Well, I think that kind of decides it. Major, if you would lead the war council, we need to get moving on a plan.” Said Charlene; “Matt, Fred, you help the Major out. Keep Tanya and me informed. I am appointing Teckla as the third member of The Three until we can have an election. Ron, you understand, you messed up big time and we can’t have that kind of shit going on in the running of the camp.”

  “I understand,” Ron said, quietly.

  “I would still like him and LJ in on the planning of this, he messed up, but they both have skills to bring to the table”, said the Major.

  “Are you sure on this?” asked Charlene.

  “Ma’am, I agree with the Major,” added Matt.

  After the group broke up there was buzz, lots of buzz. I am not sure where this will go, or what part I will play in it, but I think it is time to clean and check my Barrett, he may be needed again.

  (Lance) Well, that was a shit storm for sure. It is amazing how quickly things can get out of hand. I did not see that whole God v Earth thing coming, I don’t think anyone did.

  What can I do to help out in this upcoming battle, what can I bring to the table so to speak. I certainly am not a warrior; not like Del, or Code, or Margo. I can’t shoot for shit, but even a mouse may have a few tricks.

  (Matt) I felt bad for Ron, it had to be a terrible blow to be beaten down like that. I can only imagine.

  I think we each have our motives for going after the militia guys. Mine, it’s the right thing to do, the people there need our help, and our compassion. I am good with that.

  Keith, I think that his motive is part vengeance and part saving those he knows who are still there, I am not sure I agree with the vengeance part, but the rest I am good with.

  Ron, wow, I am not sure at all, part might be his need for action, part might be ego, and part might be that he feels it is the right thing. But most of all I think his motive was as he said; he wanted to be the hand of God.

  I have come to understand, it’s not only the action that needs to be considered but the intent. There are times that you need to do acts that aren’t nice. There are times when killing is necessary, but it is all in the intent, was the intent noble and just, and was there no way to solve the issue with compassion and understanding, if so; you are justified in your actions.

  May 24th

  (Margo) I was not invited to the planning meeting this morning, so Code and I kind of slept in, and just had cleaned up when there was a knock at the door. I opened it.

  “Hey Asshole, what do you want!” I said, it was LJ, and I was still angry at him. I could see the hair on the back of Lucy standing up. She was ready, if I gave the word.

  “Look, I deserve that, and I want to apologize, I was a jerk. I brought this for your dog.” He offered a bone. “And well, I, Langley and me are going for a run in a little bit and wanted to know if you three would like to join us.”

  Code who was standing behind me said, “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

  I turned and glared at him.

  He continued, “We are going to be in a bad place soon and we need to know and trust each other, this is a good place for us to start.”

  He was right, and really, LJ has been productive, and except for the little thing the other day he played well with us. I guess we, I guess I need to try to put that behind us. Funny, I think that’s what Tom would have told me to do.

  “Yeah, okay, flagpole in 10 minutes”, I grumbled. I am gonna teach this guy about runs, push him until he drops, he is old and slow.

  Sadly, I had forgotten that when we ran, we didn’t carry stuff with us other than a bottle of water and our sidearm. LJ, that “old guy” used to run with a 30 pound pack on his back, and his rifle. He didn’t have that stuff with him today and it quickly became clear he was in better shape than I thought. After about 30 minutes I had to concede that he was not the fluffy old marshmallow I had figured.

  “You kind of remind me of your Dad”, LJ gasped while chugging along.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, “You worked with Tom?”

  “Yeah, back in the day we were on the SWAT Team together. I was on the tactical side and he was commander of the negotiators. When it came to the team, he worked hard to make the two sides work together. He defended his side, the negotiators, fiercely when some of the tactical guys would bitch. But he also defended the TAC guys when it went the other way.”

  “He never talked much about it. I knew he did some special stuff for the police.” I was also huffing and puffing, we had left Langley and Code behind, or maybe they let us run ahead so that we could talk.

  “Maybe when this is all over you and me and Langley can sit down and I can tell you a little more about him, his work. He was a good guy, respected.”

  I was kind of stunned, “yeah, yeah that would be good, I would like that.” Despite that stiff exterior I had a better feeling about LJ as we ran.

  When we were settling in for the night Code asked me how the run with LJ was.

  “You two let us run ahead didn’t you, you could have kept up.”

  “Yep, busted. It was Langley’s idea actually, but if you, we are all going to work through this raid, we need to be on the same page.” He said, a little red-faced.

  (Lance) I was about to bring up a couple of maps the area around Stanwix using an old GPS program that had stored data on one of the lap tops. I could print it and we could use that to get started at planning the assault of the fort.

  Smoke, we may need smoke to cover some of our movements. I checked with the Major, there is some back in the rail yard at Hinsdale. I talked to Del and we are going to take a ride up there tomorrow and see what we can find. Maybe there are some other items that we can use in that warehouse, things that we had not considered before. We need to stop thinking ‘first world’ and start going ‘native’, guerilla warfare, improvised weapons. Wow, is this me?

  (Matt) Planning is off to a good start, we all have a few ideas of what to do and how to approach the problem. The biggest issue is that there is only one entrance to the fort. It’s the gate that faces south. We need to get through that gate and that could be difficult. The easiest thing would be to take the helicopter and just do an aerial assault. But that is too risky, maybe if we had a couple of Gatling guns on the side doors, but we don’t.

  Ron and Keith think the best course would be to try to lure as many of Womack’s men outside the walls as possible and just gun them down from there. It is a little brutal, and really, I wonder how that would work. If I were Womack I would hardly leave my place of safety to confront someone. No, there had to be something better.

  The Major says we’re in too much of a rush; we need to think, inventory our resources and think this through. I agree.

  We all got copies of the map, hand drawn, but it gives us something to play with, only Keith, Pam, Tanya and I have seen the actual lay out.

  May 25th

  (Margo) A day of pow-wows by the war council, Matt, Keith, Ron, the Major and a couple of others, Stephen was in there briefly, and so were Lance and Nick. Huh, it was kind of funny, Lance walked behind and to the side of Nick, not next to him. What is up with that?

  After lunch, Lance asked Code and me to join him and Del, they were making a run up to the warehouse in Hinsdale for some army stuff. He didn’t go into much detail, but I guess there are some things there that we can use.

  It was an easy and quick run up there; Lance knew what he wanted an
d even where it was. He gathered a few helmets, some flak jackets that the soldiers used to wear and some smoke grenades. We had already cleared out the food and ammo, so we were good to go within about 30 minutes.

  We had a fire tonight, but it was a small group. Tanya led it because Matt was still working with the war council.

  She is very different in a lot of ways from Matt; I mean they both believe in the same things, but she sort of sells it more from a Mother Earth rather than a Father Sky perspective. I think that there is a difference in men and women, it is like men are from the sky, and women are from Earth. She communicates, encourages you differently than Matt does. I can’t really explain it, it just feels different.

  (Lance) Nick and I were called into the planning group for a bit today. I followed Master into the meeting in the proper position of respect. Nick mostly listened, occasionally shaking his head in agreement.

  I shared what I thought about trying to run the attack. Did I ever mention that I was really into some of the on-line war games back when I was, Captain Emo? That was where I originally got the nickname from, it was my gaming handle.

  “One of the things that I can do is to try to make some smoke bombs to give us cover if we do an assault.” I offered.

  “Good idea, but if I remember, we had some at the warehouse in Hinsdale, that would work better, if you could make the run,” answered the Major.

  “On it”, I feel good, I am part of this, I may not be a proven warrior, in real battle, but I am part of this.

  As Nick and I left the council he stopped me, “Well done.” He smiled, “Well done.”

  I asked Del to make the trip with me and she suggested we take Margo and Code too, good idea. As we drove I told them what I knew, which was not much, we were going to try to do this with minimal fighting, that is the basic plan, but there are a lot of subtleties that I don’t know.

  (Matt) We spent most of the day having Keith lay out the inside of the fort for us to show what we would be facing, and a perspective in distances and safe approaches.