Seeking a Sane Society: Nothing is the Same (The Seeking Series Book 2)

by Albert A. Correia

  The Americans in the room went quiet and looked each other over. Captain Wang translated the conversation in a soft voice. His crewmembers looked around at the Americans in open wonder.

  Zach stood. “To me, it’s a question that has but one possible answer. I certainly plan on defending my family and myself. Who stands with me?”

  His family immediately stood. The woman who spoke earlier stood a second later. Then, slowly, all the Americans at the tables except Barry Lockman and Sophia stood. She kept her eyes on the floor. All in the front of the room except Marcus were already standing. He glanced at Barry and then he, too, stood.

  Captain Wang stood and asked, “Is the invitation open to us?”

  “It is,” said Zach.

  The Chinese officer made a crisp statement to his men and they jumped to their feet. All were smiling.

  “Very good,” Zach stated, looking around the room. “We will need to work up a plan to repel those devils and keep us safe. That’s going to take a lot of teamwork. Okay, everyone take your seats and let’s make our plans.”

  All except Zach and Kotchel sat down.

  Angry, Lockman stood up. He took Sophie’s hand and spoke for all to hear. “Let’s get out of here while these bloodthirsty fools plot against the government.”

  She remained seated. “Barry, I’m staying.

  “You want to fight against your government?”

  “They’re going to go over the survival plans after the defense discussion. That’s important to us, and I need to stay to hear it.”

  He let his irritation show by putting his tongue against the roof of his mouth, then quickly opening it. The sound of the wet tongue separating from the upper part of his mouth came out as something between a tsk and a cluck. It was not the sound he was aiming for. He jerked his hand away as though hers was too hot to handle. He spun angrily around and stormed out of the room.

  * * * * *

  “That looks good,” West said. He handed the one-page “newspaper” over to Madruga.

  Madruga read it and handed it to Campbell. “I like it. It’s short and to the point. Print up a couple of thousand and we’ll get them distributed.”

  “That’s too many,” Campbell said. “This is one instance where we don’t want to have any laying around for an unplanned audience to pick find. We have to keep this from Silva and his thugs until a day or two before the election. I’ll print just enough for the people we want to reach.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Madruga said. “But I’m not sure how many I’ll need. Give me five hundred to start and I’ll come back for more as I need them.”

  “I’ll need three hundred,” West said. “I’ll deliver them first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Be careful,” Madruga advised. “Slaughter has people in trucks and SUVs patrolling most of the roads. I think they’re already starting to pick up their future workers.”

  “I’ll stay off roads as much as possible,” West told him. “I’m taking wire cutters with me to cut down barbed wire fences.”

  “Ah, you’re taking your four-wheel drive pickup,” said Madruga. “Good idea.”

  “I’m going one better than that,” West bragged. “I’m taking Stroker, my Palomino.”

  Campbell shook his head and chuckled. “Delivery by horseback. Who could have guessed that the Pony Express would ride again?”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 23

  THE people of Avalon decided upon their defense strategy quickly. They would deploy two of the bazookas Zach had captured the previous day to each side of Avalon Bay and place a twenty-four-hour watch at each location. Three persons guarded each watch post, working four hours on duty and eight hours off.

  Some people would have to learn how to fire the bazookas. Glen and Zach Arthur had combat experience with them so they would assume control of the weapons when the battle began. Everyone who learned to fire would also learn how to be loaders to slip the rocket shell into the back of the “stovepipe” barrel that sat upon the shooter’s shoulder. That way, they would be right there to replace a shooter if they need to.

  All the men had fired a weapon at one time or another, but all needed training for the kind of shooting they would be doing during battle. All but two of the women agreed to learn to shoot. One woman who preferred not to fire a weapon was previously a nurse and would serve as “medical officer” for the group. Captain Kotchel said the medical officer aboard the cutter would send all the medical supplies ashore that he could spare. They made the other woman, Sophie, “supply officer.” She would take ammo to the shooters as needed.

  Kotchel had a map of Avalon that they used to lay out positions for the defenders. At Zach’s suggestion, they kept the positions in a more or less straight line instead of positioning people all around the perimeter of the curved beach.

  “That way,” he explained, “everyone will shoot out toward the ocean, and no one will be hit by friendly fire.”

  “This will give me a head start when I get to Two Harbors to help them set up their perimeter,” said the coast guard officer. “Harry Peckham is a very good leader with great survival skills, but he’s not a military man.”

  “There are some ex-military in the group, though,” Zach pointed out. “I saw one of them shoot. And Harry listens to reason. There should be no problem getting things organized.”

  “I’m counting on that. It’s going to be a little bit more difficult there with two coasts to protect and few buildings to use for cover. There is one other issue. There are fifteen children there. I see you only have one, and she’s a little older. What I’m going to. . . ”

  “I need to stop you there, Captain,” Zach cut in. “There are twenty-nine more.”

  Kotchel eyed him questioningly. “Twenty-nine more what?”

  “Children. And a lot are eight or under.” Zach explained how the children came to be living in the interior of Catalina with Murray Abrams.

  “Under our current circumstances, it seems like they are better off staying where they are now,” Marcus stated. “Can he keep them for another month?”

  “He had enough food and other necessities to last for months on his own,” Zach said, “but having an extra thirty people has depleted his supplies.”

  “We had to get out in a hurry and brought almost nothing with us,” Marcus said. “Now, we’re going to be in training for war, and we aren’t even sure how we’re going to feed ourselves.”

  “There’s enough food in our boat to tide over thirty-six people until they can produce their own,” Warren said. “We brought seeds to help them get started.”

  “We have seeds,” said a woman who was part of the two couples who chose houses side-by-side. “The four of us grow most of our own vegetables.”

  “Feeding all the new people who have come to Two Harbors, and taking what we did out of storage to bring to Avalon, we’re getting tight on supplies, too,” Warren said. “However, we’re not going to let children starve. I’m sure I speak for our group when I say that they can come to the Isthmus, and we’ll find a way.”

  “I thought that would be your attitude, Warren,” Zach said, “and I’m sure that the others at Two Harbors will agree. I’ve given it some thought, though, and I think it would be better for them to stay here in Avalon. We have a lot more facilities, and they are familiar with the town. They’ve had enough upheaval. If I have to, I will make a trip to the mainland to find food. When I was around Santa Maria several days ago, I saw many stalled trucks. Some of them might have canned goods and other nonperishable items we can use.”

  “Zach,” Marcus said, “there are starving people over there. They will have taken it all.”

  “A lot of it, yes, but the hoodlums steal from others instead of looking for themselves, and many are too frightened to go out hunting. There must still be some.”

  “As it happens,” Kotchel cut in. “We got word yesterday that there were some abandoned trucks on a back road between Fillmore and Santa Paula
. I sent some men to look, and they found that three of the trucks were loaded with canned goods. They took them to the base and my plan was to drop some off here, some at Two Harbors, and the rest up north. I planned to send two boats with the goods to Catalina, but I’ll send three to feed the extra mouths. We have a limited number of boats and people available, so they will come out at different times. The first, though, is already on its way to Avalon.”

  “That sounds fine, Captain,” Marcus said, “but the kids will be here during the attack.”

  “Any chance Mur will agree to take them back to his retreat when the shooting starts?”

  “I’m sure he will,” Zach said, but I planned to recruit him for our little army. He’s a crack shot. I’m sure the school teacher who’s with them will take care of them.”

  “That should do it,” said Kotchel.

  “Did you say you’re going north?” Warren asked. “Why?”

  “To the best of our knowledge, we’re the only United States ship alive on this coast. We need to keep watch on everything from here to the Canadian border. We’ll be leaving as soon as we have things set up for the defense of Two Harbors.”

  “How long will you be gone?” Marcus asked.

  “About three weeks. We plan to be back before Silva’s men attack. While we’re visiting abandoned military facilities, we’ll be looking for more heavy weapons that we can bring back to bolster your defenses.”

  “That will be a real help,” Zach said. He glanced over at Captain Wang. The Chinese officer listened to the conversation and translated key thoughts to his men but otherwise remained silent.

  “Wang, do you have anything to add?”

  “Only that we will be of service in whatever way we can,” said Wang.

  “That service has been spectacular in the past,” Zach said. “You saved us more than once, and with them coming at us from the sea, it is good to know you are with us.”

  “There is one thing that you should know.”

  “Yes?”

  “We have only two torpedoes left.”

  * * * * *

  An hour later, Slaughter once again put down the single sideband receiver and walked over to Silva and Venable. “We got our first report from our ‘plant’ in Catalina, and the intel is important. He gave the two men an accurate account of what took place at the meeting in the Avalon hotel.

  “I get four key points out of this,” said Silva. “First, they believe we will attack Avalon as well as Two Harbors. We’ll keep them in the dark, and they will waste a lot of manpower and ammo guarding the town. Second, that submarine can only sink two of our boats, so if we send a sufficient number of them, losing two won’t materially affect our attack. Third, some boats are heading there with food. We need to ambush them.

  “Fourth, and most important, we know that for the next three weeks they will be vulnerable. Mal, you need to speed up the timetable. We have to attack before the cutter returns.”

  “I’ll get hold of McFee and light a fire under him,” Slaughter said. “First thing he needs to do is hijack the boats with food, but that will take time away from building up his forces.” He thought for a minute. “Just to be sure we have enough troops for what’s on the agenda, I’m going to add some from here and have Garcia add a few from down south. With what McFee puts together, we’ll have plenty and can knock out Two Harbors in less than a day.

  I’ll arrange it so we attack two weeks and five days from now. After we finish off Two Harbors, we’ll set up an ambush for the cutter when it returns a day or two later. After that, capturing the people at Avalon, and anywhere else, will be a piece of cake. Before the month is out, things will be just as we planned. We’ll control both land and sea.

  * * * * *

  Mary put another note under the trash bin. She felt something there, and pulled out the last note she had left. She opened it to be sure. The men weren’t picking up her messages. Where were they? Were they still alive?

  She could think of nothing else to do with the notes, so she replaced the first one under the bin and put the other on top of it. As she walked back to the Tracy Inn, she mulled over the advisability of continuing this dangerous game. Should she keep risking her life if it was for naught? Maybe not, but the men were. If they were alive, anyway.

  By God, she decided, they are not dead! I’m going to keep doing this as long as they do.

  She sped up her pace a little but came to an abrupt stop a second later.

  She fervently blessed herself, then walked on with unfaltering verve.

  Chapter 24

  CAMPBELL and Madruga had dinner with West, his wife, and their two sons.

  Both sons were in their mid twenties and unmarried. They lived at the ranch when the bombs dropped around the world and guarded it ever since. Both planned to vote at the election and thought it was cool that they could take weapons to the polls.

  “This will be one time,” said the youngest, “when no one will tell me how to vote.”

  The newsman and police chief spent the night at the ranch. Madruga was single, and Campbell’s wife was in the mountains near Truckee looking after her parents. With a small spread of vegetable crops and sheep, they probably thought they were looking after her.

  After a hearty breakfast – the Wests believed in maintaining their strength at all times – West saddled Stroker. He then shoved his 30-30 carbine into its scabbard under the left side of the saddle and loaded three hundred newspapers in one side of a saddlebag. The other side had enough bread, cheese, salami, and beans to last him for several days. He then slipped a heavy pair of wire cutters in with the newspapers.

  When he was ready, he led his Palomino over to where Madruga and Campbell sat in the chief’s car. They waited until the rancher’s two sons completed their morning perimeter check. Although they had dogs that would raise enough ruckus to awaken the dead if there were intruders, the two young men checked every building several times a day. They soon completed their inspection and reported to their father that all the stock and equipment were accounted for.

  A little before seven-thirty a.m., West donned a straw hat with a brim wide enough to shade him from the sun and went on his way. He headed east through a field that had produced green beans only months before, but was now barren.

  Madruga turned onto the main road as he left the ranch’s entrance and headed to Tracy. A car parked on a side road pulled out as they passed but stopped when the occupants saw who was driving.

  Madruga watched them, but didn’t stop to roust them.

  “They’re out early for a bunch of two-bit criminals,” he observed. “Silva must be serious.”

  “Dick is crazy as a loon and crooked as a pretzel, but he does have a heck of a work ethic,” Campbell noted. “He stayed up day and night putting some of his hair-brained schemes together. That slick attorney of his is the same, so I’m sure they put a similar kind of guy in charge of their so-called ‘militia.’ Our pseudo governor was underestimated before because he’s nuts, but we have to be careful not to fall into that trap.”

  “Yeah. Remember, I’ve known him as long as you, so I’m not taking my eye off him.”

  They were in town and on their way to the newspaper office within fifteen minutes. Madruga dropped Campbell off at his office, then backed up to the doughnut shop and went through the shop to the parking lot. He found the notes under the bin and read them, and then immediately went to his car and drove back to the newspaper office.

  * * * * *

  Mary watched the bin off and on from the back lobby door. She always held her mop, with the bucket at her feet. She returned to the door for the fifth time just before Madruga arrived to pick up the notes. She looked around and breathed a sigh of relief. One of the guards in the lobby looked at her curiously. She smiled and said, “The water in my mop bucket is dirty, and I can’t decide what to do with it. Do you think the parking lot is the best place to dump it?”

  “Whada I know about dumpin’ dirty mop buckets? Do
whadever ya think’s best, ya crazy broad.” Mary hurried out to the parking lot. She set the bucket and mop behind the trash bin and walked quickly to the doughnut shop. She arrived at the front door just as Madruga was entering the newspaper office. Her first impulse was to go there to be sure they understood her messages but realized that would take too much time. The guard already seemed suspicious and would notice a prolonged absence.

  She gasped in fear when she saw he had moved to the back door and was watching her as she walked back to the bin. An idea hit her. She picked up the bucket and mop and walked back to the doughnut shop. She opened the door to the bathroom located near the rear door. The smell almost overwhelmed her, but she dumped the water from the bucket into the toilet. She tried to flush it but there was no water. She took the empty bucket back to the bin, picked up the mop, and walked back to the Tracy Inn.

  “I thought you was gonna dump that bucket in the parking lot.”

  “I was,” she replied, “but then I thought, my goodness, there’s no one over there in the doughnut shop, so I used their bathroom. It was close by, and it isn’t good to mop with dirty water, so I had this bucket to empty, and I thought, well. . . ”

  “Okay, okay, I don’t need yer whole blasted life story,” he interrupted, putting up a hand to quiet her. “I get the picture, but it seems like it’d be easier to use a bathroom here.”

  “We’re running short on water,” she explained, “so I decided, well, being as we need to conserve, I would just. . . ”

  He cut in. “They got more over there?”

  She sighed. “Well, I went to all that trouble and it turns out they don’t have any water at all,” she admitted plaintively, “so I had to come back and. . . ”

  He again put up his hand to stop her from talking any more. He shook his head and offered his opinion to nobody in particular as he walked away. “Dumb broad.”