Cry Havoc

by A. American

  Daniel went to the van and grabbed a handful of napkins, handing them to Teague. “You really need to leave her alone. She’s going to hurt you.”

  With his head tilted back and the napkins pressed to his nose, he replied, “She already did.”

  “Should have learned sooner,” Bob offered.

  “I think I’ve got it now.”

  “Good!” Christy shouted from the tent.

  Teague retired to the van to nurse his nose. Bob bid a good night and went to the van with Gene, who helped him get up into his reclined seat. Daniel settled into one of the camp chairs for a long night on watch. But staying awake wasn’t hard, as there was a lot on his mind. Not to mention, the chorus of frogs from the pond was in full crescendo. After a couple of hours, he got up and walked over to the edge of the pond. He stood listening to the ruckus the frogs were calling out in all their number.

  He watched the stars as they moved overhead. With the power out, the nation was dark, and celestial formations he’d only previously seen while in the mountains were clearly visible tonight, as well as others he’d never seen. Daniel stood for a long time just looking up into the sky. His mind drifted back to the physics classes in college and the explanation of the universe and the fact it was supposedly still expanding. The thought of all that vastness out there made him feel small and insignificant. The troubles here on this small part of this one small planet seemed so infinitesimal.

  But that thought actually gave him heart in some strange way. The fact that, as big as the problems facing them seemed, they wouldn’t even warrant a footnote in the history of the universe. How many other worlds are out there right now? he thought. He remembered reading somewhere once that everything that happened here on Earth had already happened on another planet and would still happen on others in the future.

  He was about to return to the van when there was a change in things. He more felt it than anything, and it took him a few minutes to figure out what it was. Light. Where the hell is that coming from? He asked himself as he looked around. It wasn’t a direct source, but suddenly there was light. Walking out to the edge of the pond, he looked around. Off to the north there was a very definite glow in the sky. What the hell?

  “Teague, wake up.” Daniel said as he gently shook his cousin.

  After the second rousing, Teague bolted up, fumbling for his carbine. “What? What is it?”

  Daniel held a finger to his lips. “Shhh, come here. I want to show you something.”

  Teague collected his carbine and pulled his boots on. “What is it?”

  “Just come on. You’ll see.”

  Teague followed him out to the pond. Daniel stopped near the edge of the small waterhole and looked at Teague as if to say, see? Teague looked around, “What? What am I supposed to see?”

  Daniel pointed up at the northern horizon. “See the light.”

  Teague was scratching his head. “Yeah. I do now.” He yawned big and asked, “What’s that way?”

  “I think Jackson, Mississippi is over there.”

  “You got your phone?” Teague asked.

  Daniel pulled it out of his back pocket. “Yeah, why?”

  Teague pointed at the phone. “See if Jackson is on that list of relief cities.”

  Daniel scrolled through the long list of cities on the message from earlier. After a moment, he said. “Yeah, here it is.”

  Teague nodded. “Makes sense then. They’re turning the power back on to those cities.”

  “But why did they kill it in the first place?”

  Rubbing his face, Teague said. “Well, after three days, any fresh food in people’s fridges has gone bad. They’ve also probably run out of cash, and the stores are certainly empty. So they swoop in to save the day. Save everyone from the crisis they created.”

  Daniel thought about it for a moment. “I see what you’re saying. But I don’t think the government did this.”

  “Of course you don’t. You suffer from normalcy bias. You don’t want to see it. Don’t want to see what’s right in front of you.”

  “I don’t suffer from anything. I just don’t think the government would do this kind of thing.”

  Teague laughed as he stretched. “Why wouldn’t they? Do you keep track of Treasury auctions?” Daniel shook his head. “Of course you don’t.”

  “And I suppose you do?” Daniel shot back.

  “I know you think I’m a dumbass, but yes, I do. The recent auctions have had very little demand. If they can’t sell bonds, they can’t create money out of thin air. If they can’t create money, they can’t spend it. Just the interest on the debt is almost everything the Treasury was collecting. So it’s kind of convenient that this happens now.”

  Daniel’s wheels were turning now. “They could declare the debt null and void because of this.”

  Teague pointed at him. “Winner, winner chicken dinner! And that will cause issues all over the world. How much do you want to bet that the cash they’re handing out in those relief centers is some new dollar.”

  The thought shocked Daniel. He hadn’t even considered the possibility of a new dollar. “That would also mean all the money everyone has is worthless.”

  “Starting to see the big picture now?”

  “Wow. I never really thought about it all like this, the big picture, you know.”

  Teague slung his carbine over his shoulder. “I have been for years. I’ve been expecting it. Was really curious why it took so long. We saw the writing on the wall.”

  Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Is that the same we that carried out that action in Michigan?”

  Without skipping a beat, Teague replied, “Yes. Same ones. We’ve been planning for this for a long time. The thing in Michigan wasn’t really part of the plan though. It was just an opportunity that presented itself. We had to make a statement at that time. And I’m paying the price now. We were set up and ready. Now I’m here, with you, with nothing.”

  “It just seems so surreal.”

  Teague patted Daniel on the back. “Go get some sleep, buddy. I’ll stay up the rest of the night.”

  Daniel went to the tent. Christy was sleeping softly and he tried not to disturb her. Getting into his sleeping bag, Daniel lay there for some time. His mind was spinning. There was so much to think about. But eventually the fatigue of the day overcame him and he nodded off.

  Once again, Daniel woke to the aroma of coffee. He was surprised not to see Christy. She was already up. He pulled on his boots and climbed out of the tent. Everyone was up as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

  “Why didn’t you guys wake me up?” He asked.

  Christy smiled. “You needed the sleep.”

  Gene was sitting by the small folding table. Its top was covered with canned food and other assorted food items. Daniel flopped into a chair as Christy handed him a cup.

  “We have a problem.” Bob said.

  “What?” Daniel asked.

  Bob pointed at the table. “That’s all the food we have left. Plus, we’re nearly out of water.”

  Daniel looked at the table. “Well, water isn’t a problem. I have a filter. We can refill the jugs we have. But I don’t know what to do about the food.”

  “We can hunt,” Teague suggested.

  “We don’t have that kind of time,” Bob replied.

  “So what do we do?” Christy asked.

  “One meal a day. We’re not too far away. We’ll just have to make it work,” Daniel said.

  “I don’t like to be hungry,” Gene said with a frown.

  Bob laughed. “Tighten your belt, ole friend.” Gene wrinkled his nose at the statement. “All we have to do is get across Louisiana and we’re there. We’re almost out of Mississippi. We could be there today.”

  Gene lo
oked at the table of food. “We better be.”

  Christy got up and went to the table. “Don’t worry, Gene. I’ll fix us something before we get on the road.”

  That offered Gene a little relief. He sat back and smiled. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll go fill our water jugs,” Daniel said.

  “I’ll help,” Teague offered as Daniel collected the empty one gallon jugs.

  Daniel looked at him. “Dude, you look like shit.”

  Teague glared at Christy. “Yeah, well someone gave me two black eyes.”

  Christy was working a can opener on a can and didn’t look up to reply. “Bet you don’t stick your nose in places it shouldn’t be anymore.”

  Teague reached up and touched his very tender nose, but said nothing in reply. Instead he collected a couple of jugs and followed Daniel.

  They went out to the pond and looked for a place where they could get to the water. Finding it, Daniel knelt down with his Katadyn Hiker Pro filter and dropped the intake into the brown water. It bobbed in the grass-filled water as he unwrapped the discharge tube. He’d replaced the original one with a longer piece. The one that came with it was ridiculously short.

  Teague held the discharge tube in the jug as Daniel pumped. It didn’t take long to fill the first one. Teague capped it and held it up. The water was a light brown in color. Teague’s face contorted. “That looks like shit.”

  Daniel laughed as he uncapped the next jug. “It’ll be alright. There’s tannic acid in the water. It won’t hurt you.”

  “Acid?” Teague asked.

  “Comes from decaying vegetation.”

  “And you can drink it?”

  Daniel nodded. “Yeah. But if you drink lots of it, I mean like a steady diet, it can turn your hair and fingernails yellow.”

  “What?”

  Daniel laughed. “You’re not going to drink that much. I promise. Besides, when you make coffee it turns the water brown.”

  “Yeah, but that’s coffee! Not rotted shit!”

  They filled the rest of the jugs and headed back to the group. Christy had a pot sitting on Daniel’s Whisper Lite stove. He’d selected it because it was multi-fuel and could burn any of several different fuels. It was a little heavier than others, and not as efficient as say a Jet Boil, but he felt the versatility was a worthy tradeoff.

  Bob, being a bachelor, lived on quick and easy-to-prepare foods. To that end, he’d stocked his pantry with things like Dinty Moore Beef Stew and Sweet Sue chicken and dumplings. There were three cans of each of these, and the group had saved them. But as today was hopefully the last day on the road, Christy was heating the chicken and dumplings.

  Daniel looked into the pot that was ridiculously large compared to the small stove. “Man, that smells good.”

  Gene was sitting at the small table with a bowl in front of him and spoon in his hand. “Yes it does. Is it ready yet?”

  Christy laughed. “Hang on, Gene. It’ll be better if it’s hot.”

  Gene nodded. “Make it so, Number One.”

  Daniel chuckled. “You a Star Trek fan, Gene?”

  “Star Trek, Star Wars, Star Gate, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Love them all.”

  Christy smiled. “You’re just full of surprises, Gene.” She held out her hand. “Give me your bowl.” He quickly handed it over and she spooned some out for him, then served the rest of the group.

  After their unconventional breakfast, they loaded the van and got back on the road. While waiting for Gene to close the gate behind them, Daniel looked at Bob. “Alright, which way?”

  Bob had the atlas in his lap. “Well, we have the Mississippi River in front of us. There aren’t that many bridges, and most of them are in larger cities. I just don’t think that’s a good idea. The closest one to us, not in a major city, is in Greenville, which is north/north-west of here. If we cross there, then we’ll be in Arkansas, which might actually be a good thing.”

  “Lead the way,” Daniel said. Bob pointed left and Daniel pulled out.

  The trip to Greenville was a long and winding trip. It took them through small towns with names like Bovina, Redwood and Foote. It was also surprisingly uneventful.

  “You guys notice how many more cars on the road today?” Teague shouted from the rear of the van.

  “Yeah,” Daniel shouted back. “And it looks like all of them are headed to Jackson, or at least that direction.”

  “Makes sense.” Bob said. “They’re all headed out to get themselves some government stash money.”

  Christy climbed up between the front seats. “You know, I’m really surprised we’ve done this as easily as we have.”

  Bob shook out a smoke and lit it, more to annoy her than anything else. That and the fact that a cigarette in his hand was his natural state. “You forgetting about the two dead men?” he asked.

  Christy scowled at him. “No, I’m not. But we’ve really not had that much trouble considering how far we’ve gone. I really didn’t expect to make it this far. When we started, it seemed like so far to go.”

  “We ain’t there yet.” Bob said. He asked for one of the water jugs. Christy handed one up to him. Bob looked at the off-color water, then at Daniel. “What the hell did you do, piss in these?”

  Daniel smiled. “No. Just yours.”

  Bob eyed the jug with no small degree of suspicion. “This looks like shit.”

  Daniel laughed. “That’s what’s wrong with our country. Everyone is so used to everything being perfect. It ain’t going to hurt you. Drink it.”

  Bob spun the cap off and held the jug out to Daniel. “You drink it.”

  He took the jug, turned it up and took a long pull. With his cheeks full of water that dripped down his chin, he looked at Bob and swished it around before swallowing. “See, it ain’t going to hurt you,” and handed it back.

  Bob looked down into the opening and gritted his teeth. He took a cautionary sip at first, smacking his lips to taste the brown-tinted water. Deciding it was safe, or maybe that he was just thirsty, he took a long drink. After capping the jug and handing it back to Christy, he said, “That has an odd taste. If I get the shits, it’s your ass.”

  Daniel howled and slapped the steering wheel. “It’s surface water. You get the shits and it’s your ass, Bob!”

  At the Swiftwater Baptist Church, Bob told Daniel to take a left. The bridge was just down the road now. If they could make it over the river, they would be home free. There were no other large obstacles in their way. On either side of the road was empty farm land they could see all the way across. Bob was getting worried, the bridge was a natural choke point and he just knew there would be a roadblock and possibly vehicle searches. He told Daniel to pull over.

  “Why?” Daniel asked.

  “Just pull over.”

  Daniel slowed the van to a stop on the shoulder of the road along a dusty field. Bob got out, so Daniel killed the engine and climbed out with everyone else.

  “What’s up, Bob?” Gene asked.

  Bob leaned against the front of the van and pointed at the causeway leading up to the bridge. “I’m worried about that bridge. Perfect place to stop and search vehicles.”

  “Wish we had some binoculars.” Daniel said.

  “We have something a little better.” Gene said as he opened the driver’s door and leaned in. He came back out with the laptop they had brought along from Bob’s house. “I spent some time the other night messing with this while everyone was asleep. It took a while, but I found the camera utility on one of my thumb drives and installed it.” He opened the laptop and clicked on an icon.

  A window opened on the screen, and after a moment, the image of the road in front of them filled it. Using the mouse pad, Gene manipulated some buttons in the screen and the image began
to move. “I put this together in case we had to drive in the dark. But these cameras have a 30x optical zoom, plus some digital. We should be able to see if there is anything up there.”

  As the image moved around on the screen, Bob smiled. “God I love you, Gene.”

  Without looking up from the computer, Gene replied, “The answer is still no.”

  “Oh, I have my spotting scope too!” Daniel shouted as he returned to the van.

  The group crowded around as Gene moved the camera view to the bridge, then started to zoom in. As the magnification grew, the bridge came into much closer view. There was a line of cars, maybe a dozen, on the bridge. Then they saw the black MRAP with its blue lights flashing.

  “Shit. That’s what I was afraid of. If we get searched, we’re screwed,” Bob lamented.

  “Is there anywhere we can hide the guns?” Christy asked, knowing as they all did what the issue was.

  Bob looked at Gene and raised an eyebrow. Gene looked into the open side door of the van. Gene rubbed his whiskers. “I don’t know. There isn’t much in the way of options.”

  Daniel had set the scope up on a tripod. He was looking at the bridge when he replied, “Yeah there is,” as he went to the rear of the van. He took out the small tool kit he stored in the pocket in one of the doors and walked around to the front. Kneeling down, he opened the kit. “You remember how I told you I didn’t have my guns anymore?”

  Bob smiled. “Yes. And I knew you were lying.”

  Christy looked at him, confused. “What do you mean? You said you sold them.”

  Taking out a small Allen wrench, he looked up at her. “That’s what I told you. But there was no way I was selling my guns.” He took a small screw out from the bottom of one of the caps on the end of his bumper. Reaching up into the large steel square tube he pulled out a piece of tightly wrapped foam. Setting it on the ground, he carefully untied it and unrolled the foam to reveal a disassembled AR and a Glock pistol.