Shortage (Best Laid Plans Book 2)

by Nathan Jones

  They dealt with the captured members of Razor's gang the next day, just as Mayor Tillman had promised they would. Chauncey radioed Price first thing in the morning asking about bringing the prisoners down to them for justice, but after some debate between the Price city government and the FETF coordinators they'd come back and insisted that, while they were accepting all newly arrived refugees, criminals were another matter.

  Between that and the residual ill will Price had for Aspen Hill after their refusal to help the refugees, either their own or those gathering in the massive camp outside the county seat, the result had been that Chauncey was told they'd have to deal with the prisoners on their own. When the retired teacher pressed for details about just what exactly that entailed the people on the other end had effectively washed their hands of the issue and signed off.

  Which meant Catherine's fears that the town might have to resort to executions were realized. The new Mayor announced trials soon afterwards and the town agreed on Hubert Peterson, one of the two remaining councilmen, as judge. Bert was one of the oldest people in town, who'd retired to a simple life after a long career as a lawyer. He also had a reasonable temperament and had a reputation for weighing the facts fairly, and most agreed he was a good pick for the job.

  The trials were fairly straightforward. Witnesses were gathered to testify against each individual member of Razor's gang, from among both the townspeople and the refugees, about any crimes they'd seen that man commit either during the attack or at any point after arriving in the refugee camp. The witness standards were fairly rigorous, since the intended sentence was death by firing squad and the crimes had to be severe enough to warrant it.

  It turned out that wasn't an issue. Every single man they'd captured had been involved in Razor's attack and had attempted or carried out rape or murder, and for most there were also plenty of refugee witnesses to similar crimes out in the camp. It only took a few hours for Bert to settle on a guilty verdict and a sentence of execution for every single prisoner except Al, the man Lewis and Trev had captured a month ago who'd been sitting in prison beneath town hall all this time. Al was sentenced to exile.

  Although Matt still had reservations about the executions, if it was going to happen he couldn't justify asking others to do it while he stood by and watched. So he joined a dozen other men in the firing squad while the prisoners were lined up against a wall a short distance away.

  Scott Tillman had stocked a few boxes of blanks in his store before the attack, and as he passed out rifles in the appropriate caliber he assured them that half the guns would be loaded with live ammo and half with the blanks. Matt knew that was fairly standard practice in firing squads, to help the consciences of those doing what had to be done, but even so the thought that he might end up with blanks was a bit reassuring.

  He'd had too much of killing the day before.

  Once the task was complete he discovered his leg was at the ends of its strength. He felt a bit guilty being unable to help with the shoveling for the graves, both the mass graves for the attackers and the individual graves for the townspeople who'd lost their lives, but even if those who cared about him had allowed him to do something that would certainly reopen his wound he could admit to himself that physically he wasn't up to it.

  One bright note was that one of the refugees who'd been working for Razor assured him that even though the man had cut dozens of people with the weapon he was also obsessive about keeping it clean. Matt hoped that meant his chances of infection were lower, although he did feel feverish for the next few days.

  After talking it over with Sam and his family Matt sought out Catherine before the funerals for the citizens of Aspen Hill that evening and told her he would take the job leading the town's defenses. His leg wasn't up to anything active, but with the help of the new Mayor and a few others, including a similarly wounded Carl Raymond who was off his feet, Matt organized the construction of new roadblocks, planned patrol routes, and began organizing volunteers into shifts for both.

  It turned out there were far more volunteers now than there had been back when the town had seen to its own defense before Ferris came. Not only were the residents of Aspen Hill much more invested in defending their town after the attack but the remaining refugees seemed serious about policing their own to prevent someone like Razor from forming another gang. Matt had hundreds of volunteers to work with, most of whom had some experience with firearms.

  While he couldn't go out and about he could carry out interviews for everyone applying, which he did with the help of Chauncey Watson and Scott Tillman. The other two men only thought interviews necessary for refugee applicants, but Matt insisted he wanted to speak to everyone, both out of fairness as well as pragmatism. They'd be entrusting these people with firearms from the storehouse, after all.

  Although for that Matt had to coordinate with Catherine about the use of the weapons: finding food was as important as the town's defense, in some ways even more important. From the first day the new Mayor armed as many people who were good with a rifle and could be spared from defending the town as she could find and sent them out in hunting parties, with equal numbers of townspeople and refugees.

  In the last week a few parties had already returned with deer and elk down from the mountains to escape the snowstorms, and one sent word back that they'd found a small herd of sheep unattended in the higher foothills and were bringing them down.

  Between that and some of the livestock Ferris had gathered but never got around to butchering the town wasn't going hungry, although portions had to be spread thin among so many people. True to her word Catherine had returned a lot of that livestock to their rightful owners, but any that remained unclaimed or were donated to the town provided a vital boost to Aspen Hill's perilously low stores. Matt and his family counted themselves among those that needed that assistance, although he assured Catherine that he'd repay the food once they could get at the cache.

  Until then they weren't going hungry, and busy as Matt was with organizing the town's defenses his worried thoughts constantly turned to his dad, who they hadn't heard from since he disappeared the night of Ferris's first inspection. He was asking the people he sent out on patrols to keep a special eye out, but so far there'd been no luck.

  Even more worrisome, the patrols reported sightings of some of Razor's gang who'd escaped after the attack roaming the area outside of town. Matt had considered forming a group to go out and track the bandits, but he wasn't in any condition to lead it and when he ran the idea by the Mayor and a few others they decided after a bit of debate that the town should just focus on defense until things had settled down.

  Which left him no choice but to worry and hope that his dad would find a way safely back home.

  The seventh day after the attack put them on the day before Thanksgiving, and Matt finally decided his leg was healed up enough that he could start following the patrol routes to personally check them out and see if he could recommend any adjustments.

  Sam was watching the boys while Terry and April were out. Sometimes it was April watching while Sam helped Terry with the sick and wounded, and on busier days they both went while Matt's mom watched her grandsons.

  After the attack Matt had argued that Sam was still recovering from her beating at the hands of the looters and needed to rest. But he didn't really have a leg to stand on considering that he was pushing himself hard with his own duties defending the town even though . . . he didn't have a leg to stand on.

  Sam had staunchly brushed aside his objections and insisted on helping. At least the physical signs of her injuries had disappeared after a few days, aside from lingering bruises, and he could reassure himself that she was doing just as well as she claimed.

  Before setting out Matt kissed Sam goodbye and hugged his nephews, leaving them waving on the porch as he strode out of the yard. His first stop that morning was to the storehouse, which now also doubled as a more permanent clinic where Terry and whoever was assisting him waite
d ready to treat those in need of medical care.

  It was a decent setup in a way, since now that April's family had moved into their parents' house even when Terry was off duty resting he was still only a block away if someone really needed him. Matt didn't envy his brother-in-law that sort of burden of responsibility, although he supposed he had responsibilities of his own now.

  Matt had come to get his sutures removed, as well as to ask whether an extended walk was all right. He'd healed up well over the last week and was now moving around with barely any twinges of pain as his leg got stronger, so he thought it would be. Terry agreed, although reluctantly.

  The storehouse seemed oddly deserted now that Catherine had moved back to the town hall to run the city from there. But there were still guards to watch over the supplies, at the moment Scott Tillman, Tam Raymond, and Chauncey and Rick Watson.

  Matt thought Rick had developed sort of a hero complex after watching him bust out of the back of the store like a crazy person. Matt considered himself lucky he hadn't been shot or had his face smashed in with a sledgehammer, but the slightly younger man didn't see it that way.

  Chauncey's son came over to chat while Matt was having his sutures removed, as well as to gawk at the wound caused by the gang leader's famous razor. Since he was there Matt decided to get some updates on what Rick's dad was learning about the outside world on the radio.

  It turned out there was some fresh news to share there. For one thing Ferris's decision to cut and run from Aspen Hill hadn't been sanctioned by his superiors in Price. They hadn't even realized the administrator and his soldiers had left until Chauncey called in asking what to do about the prisoners the morning after the attack.

  Whatever blowup they'd had over that news when they heard it from Chauncey they'd kept to themselves all last week. It was only last night while the town's radio operator was giving a followup report on how they'd dealt with the criminals that he realized the topic had shifted to Ferris's departure, and the FETF agents down in Price were subtly grilling him about why the man had left.

  They should have known why he was gone if they'd given him the order to leave, and after a bit of questioning of his own the retired teacher was finally told that Ferris was acting off script. Since the coordinators down in Price didn't know why he'd left they obviously didn't know where he'd gone or what he planned.

  In the last week they'd tried to find those answers on their own with no luck, which was why the FETF in Price finally decided to closely question Chauncey over the radio about Ferris's activities in the town over the last month.

  Although the retired teacher was on the receiving end of the questions he was able to learn quite a bit from what he was asked. For one thing it sounded like while Ferris was overseeing Aspen Hill the administrator had gone far beyond his authority in numerous ways, including confiscation of food storage below the two weeks mark, confiscation of other valuables, allowing his soldiers to form romantic relationships with women from the town and refugee camp and turning a blind eye to less legitimate forms of companionship, using lack of compliance as an excuse to deny access to the ration line, and everything to do with his informal deal with Razor.

  Ferris's authority had also only been meant to extend to relief efforts and coordinating with the town on keeping the peace. The fact that Ferris had completely taken over running Aspen Hill and formed his own little dictatorship on top of all his other infractions made the FETF coordinators down in the county seat very, very displeased.

  The long and short of it was that they wanted to know where he and his soldiers had gone, and according to the retired teacher were communicating with every radio operator in Carbon, Sanpete, and Emery counties looking for him, and sending feelers even farther.

  Terry shook his head when Rick finished. “We thought FETF was just overstepping their authority in general, but Ferris was playing by his own rules the entire time. Why didn't we ever think to ask anyone about what he was doing?”

  Matt shrugged. “He was in charge, and he was FETF. Also Turner and Anderson both got behind him. Besides, even if he went way overboard it's not like FETF is all that great either. We know that from personal experience. We saw what we expected from them so we didn't question it.” He turned back to Rick, wincing slightly as another suture was pulled. “Any other news?”

  It turned out there was. And while the news about Ferris had more to do with Aspen Hill the next thing Rick had to share was more pressing and much, much worse.

  Apparently the massive refugee camp just north of Price had been suffering major problems with starvation, finding clean water, poor sanitation, and crime, and for all their efforts the FETF coordinators there couldn't seem to provide any relief. The supplies they'd brought when they arrived were long since gone, leaving them to deal with an impossible situation. Sort of like the situation in Aspen Hill on a much larger scale.

  Unfortunately because of the poor conditions sickness had broken out in the camp. The local and FETF doctors had identified it as some type of flu, but whether it was a mild strain preying on the already weakened people in camp or a more virulent strain that had been brought by some group of refugees or possibly even the relief convoy itself, no one could say.

  What couldn't be denied was that dozens of people had already succumbed to the flu and it had spread to hundreds of people. All efforts at containment had failed, and was probably impossible now because many people were fleeing the camp to escape before falling ill themselves, some inadvertently spreading the virus with them.

  Price had closed off the town as best they could, forbidding refugees or even FETF coordinators and soldiers from entering. Thus far the flu hadn't spread to them, but it was anyone's guess whether things would stay that way.

  What concerned Matt was that some of the infected might find their way up to Aspen Hill. Surprisingly, considering all the refugees' bitter complaints and maligning of “townies” when they'd been on the other side of the situation, now that they were part of the town they seemed happy to get behind the idea of closing the borders.

  Only the new Mayor wasn't having any of it. She insisted that any refugees who agreed to keep the peace and fend for themselves were welcome, same as the refugees in the camp had been. More mouths to feed would mean more deaths when everyone was struggling to feed themselves, but she'd staunchly held to the position that if any incoming refugees wanted to make a go of it they could. As long as they were willing to accept that no help was coming for them and they had to take responsibility for their own survival, and breaking the rules meant being turned out in the cold.

  Catherine was holding to her ironclad stance on protecting each individual's personal property from theft, either from other individuals or from the town itself. Some of the refugees hadn't been quite as enthusiastic about getting behind that resolution, oddly enough. But she'd made good on her threat to exile anyone caught stealing, making sure the patrols and people manning the roadblocks knew the faces and names of those who were now longer welcome in town, and after the first few days thefts had gone down quite a bit. Mandy was one of the many exiled in the first few days, but as time passed fewer and fewer thefts had been reported.

  He supposed it helped that nobody really had anything to steal.

  Catherine had managed to convince everyone of her point of view about open borders, so even though the patrols were back in rotation they were there to protect against attack, not turn anyone away. Only now, with this news of flu, maybe they'd have to change that stance after all. Matt's duty was to protect the town, and while you couldn't shoot a virus you could certainly keep it from getting anywhere close.

  He'd have to argue that point with the Mayor, but until then he'd also need to warn everyone on the roster about the danger of coming too close to possibly infected refugees, and advise them to keep anyone coming from the south or east away from town.

  Terry finished removing the last of the sutures, then probed the forming scar thoughtfully with his fingers to
check for signs of deep seated infection. Last of all he swabbed the entire area with rubbing alcohol and wrapped it in a clean bandage. “You're sure you want to go walking around on it so soon?” his brother-in-law asked as he stood.

  Matt stood as well, ignoring the twinge. “I accepted the job to protect the town. It's about time I started doing it.” He turned to Rick. “You've been on the western patrol route, right?” The younger man nodded. “Think they can spare you here so you can take me along it?”

  “Sure,” Rick said, looking eager at the chance to get out. “Let's grab a radio so we can let Pete and Evan know we'll be crashing their party so they don't accidentally shoot us.”

  Young as he was Pete Childress had proven a good man on patrols ever since he'd joined the Watson brothers helping Lewis and Trev on the northern border way at the beginning. He was careful and methodical about searching for anything out of the ordinary, diligent about checking in on the radio, and seemed nearly tireless. Evan, a refugee with a wife and son, Matt didn't know as much about.

  Hopefully he'd get a chance to get to know all the new faces, townspeople and refugee alike. Matt followed Rick over to where the radios were charging. “How's the power holding up?” he asked.

  Chauncey, seated behind the checkout counter listening on the radio with his shotgun propped under the counter, answered for his son. “Great. Lewis's solar panels are top notch, and he took good care of them. He had an efficient system going with them too, complete with batteries, so it's a good thing Ferris ripped it out whole to install in here.”

  He held out a radio and Matt clipped it to his belt, noticing as he did that there weren't many to spare: the town was using almost all of them for patrols, roadblocks, and to coordinate with the Mayor's office at town hall. That could be a problem if the equipment started to break. He'd have to make sure everyone using the radios knew to be careful and practice proper maintenance.