by Chris Hechtl
“The good news is that with the right support we can rig some if not all the apartments to have electricity and maybe water,” Jen said.
“Limited of course. We're rationing both,” a guy said.
“Of course,” Jen said with a small bow.
He nodded. They had worked it out with the Walt. It was going to be tough on their fuel supply though. At least until they got more wind turbines up and running.
“We're working on it folks. Just have patience,” he said. The crowd thinned a bit as people went back to what they were doing. He hugged Jen and then rolled his good shoulder. “Okay, speaking of food, I'm hungry,” he said. He smiled at the couple. “Care to join us?” he asked.
“We ah, already ate,” the pregnant woman said quietly. She looked up at her husband who nodded.
“Did you have doc check you out?” Jen asked. The woman hesitated and then nodded. “Make sure he gives you multi-vitamins. We can't do anything for the cravings, but that will help,” she said.
“We've got them?” the woman asked surprised.
“There was a store packed with stuff like that here,” Shane said amused. “Plus all the stuff we picked up here and there. Plenty to help a glowing woman bring the next generation into the world,” he said.
She smiled and nodded. The husband smiled his thanks and they kept going.
“Think they will still want an apartment?” Jen asked as he took a plate from a waiter. He murmured thanks and then set it down in front of him as he took his seat. She sat across from him.
“I think they will discuss it. It’s natural for people to want their own space. Hell, I had a hell of a time in the barracks. This? This is just as bad. Worse for some who are claustrophobic. I couldn't imagine going through that every day here,” he shook his head.
“We need the space,” she sighed.
“Well, Bob said he's going to have crews for some of the major stuff, but the people who want to live there will have to work for it. That means they'll have to clean and repair the places themselves wherever possible. Its not going to be handed to them all ready to go,” he said.
“I thought he'd balk at that,” she said nodding.
“I can't blame him Jen. And before you ask, no, we're staying right here,” he said, tapping his index finger on the table. “Right here.”
She gave him a searching look and then shrugged. “Are you sure?” she asked.
“I'm sure, I'm sure. I know it stinks. Its crowded. Its home for now. Its safety in numbers, but its at the center of our defenses. Its also close to doc.”
“Okay,” she said nodding.
“Thanks,” he said, taking her hand across the table and squeezing it. She smiled as he used his other hand to pick up the fork.
“Yeast,” she said as he took his first bite. He paused, fork in his mouth to look at her. “We're also making yeast. That's the other thing we have a surplus of. Eric and Eric want more room for the other plants.” She shrugged.
He chewed thoughtfully and then nodded. “I knew that. I offered yeast to the Rancho crew a couple of weeks ago. They didn't bite. Where are the kids?” he asked changing the subject.
“The girls are doing their internships with the animals, I believe. Nick is working with Gabe today I think.”
“Got the place to ourselves?” he asked smiling and giving her an amused leer. She looked around to the crowded restaurant. He followed her eyes and heard and felt her soft sputter of laughter. His smile broadened as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb gently. She blushed again.
Chapter 40
Irma grinned nervously as she nodded to the crew unloading the equipment. “Careful there,” a guy cautioned. The loaders looked at each other and snorted.
“Its not heavy, its just bulky,” one man said.
“True, but its bulky and delicate,” the woman said.
“Are you really a reporter?” Irma asked shyly.
“Aren't you one too dear?” the blond asked.
“Yes,” she shrugged. “A blogger at least. I tried to do a radio set for Jill when she set up our radio station.”
“You did?”
“I suck at it,” she blushed. “I tend to stutter too much when I'm nervous,” she dry washed her hands a little and then firmly clenched them and held them at her sides.
Candace smiled. “You're doing just fine then. Not everyone can go live. It took me a long time to get over my stage fright and to work on my articulation. Sometimes I still crack myself up which usually pisses off the producers.”
“Really?”
“Not everyone's perfect.”
“True,” Irma said with a nod.
“Any trouble with the powers that be here?” she asked as the chopper spooled down.
“No, they are big on free press. Fortunately,” Irma said.
“Is that them now?” Candace asked, nodding to a man and woman coming over.
“No, that's trouble coming over and trying to take credit,” Irma cautioned as the Rubix family came over, ducking under the slowly turning blades. Andy held out a hand to the camera guy who just gave him a look. The guy's hands were full. He shook his head and jerked his chin over his shoulder to Candace and Irma.
“Miss Candace Morgan?” Andy asked, putting on as much charm as he could. “I'm Andy Rubix. This is my wife Kathy,” he said. Kathy smiled.
“Ah, Ben, can you set up?” Candace asked her camera man. The guy grunted and set the case down on a bench and started pulling equipment out.
“Oh are you going to do an interview now?” Kathy asked delighted.
“I would like to get things off on the right foot. Are you part of the welcoming delegation?” she asked, indicating Irma.
The Rubix's looked at Irma like she was something they had scraped off the bottom of their shoe. Irma wrinkled her nose.
“Um...”
“No they aren't,” TJ said coming in behind them. Irma smiled as TJ and Jayne came over. “TJ that's Terra Johnson, this is Jayne Stone and behind her... oh oops, lost her.” She grimaced.
“Sheila got called off at the last minute,” Jayne said with a disarming smile. “I'm the domestic manager for Towngate. TJ here is our harvester coordinator.”
“Ah,” Candace said with a nod. “What do you two do?” she asked looking at Andy and Kathy.
Suddenly the two of them wanted to be anywhere but here. Irma hid a grin.
“Um, we um...”
“Do odd jobs,” Jayne said, eyes flashing a little. “Which you need to get back to doing,” she said pointedly.
“Yeah, um, we'll ah, just be going. Nice meeting you miss Morgan.” Kathy pushed her husband away.
“Problem?” Candace asked when the Rubix's were out of ear shot.
“Yes, former aide to the city council. Now an all around general pain in the ass with delusions of running this place. Rabble rouser. He likes to cause problems.”
“Ouch.”
“Kathy and I go back a ways,” TJ said. “I was a real estate broker like her before the... well, you know,” she said with a helpless shrug.
Candace smiled sympathetically and nodded. “Is the... um....”
“The boss is in the field. He's a lead from the front sort of guy,” TJ said. She nodded to the chopper pilot. “We've got JP gas waiting for you,” she said in his ear. He nodded and gave her a thumbs up as he passed by. Work crews were already moving forward with barrels of fuel.
“Wow, on the ball,” Candace said with a grin, getting out of their way.
“We try to be,” Jayne said nodding to the professionalism of the crew around them. “Let's get you two, three settled in and then we'll give you a tour. I can't promise to be on hand for all of it, but I'll try,” she said.
“Okay,” Candace said, stepping up as they turned to walk. Irma hastily caught up.
“We've got a small but growing IT section and the radio broadcasting team of course. Also we've got limited cell service here. It's not part of the network so
you may need to get one of our phones while you are here,” TJ said.
“Thank you,” Candace said. “I'm looking forward to exploring this place. There are quite a lot of stories I can see from right here,” she said. She admired how well the teams were organized. That was one of the reasons the producers had sent her out here. She had at first thought it was a possible death sentence, both for her and Ben and for their careers. Now things were looking a bit more interesting. On the surface this group was better organized than the ones in LA. “My...”
“We know. I'm glad you're here. You are here for a week you said?” Jayne asked.
“Yes. We brought our own MREs so we won’t be eating your food. Just water. People are touchy about that. Understandably so.”
“That's good. But if you want fresh food you can trade the MREs in for fresh in the mess,” TJ said with a nod. “I'm glad they are setting up a network station in Riverside.”
Candace wrinkled her nose. Riverside was a mess. They definitely didn't have their act together. Here looked a lot more promising. “Well, I'd like to be here if I could. It's a bit better...” Candace paused and straightened as she noted a group of men in military gear moving about. “Organized...” she finished turning to watch them go.
“We can work on it,” Jayne said. “Over lunch.”
“Deal,” Candace said. “Just as long as I can have Jill as a producer and Irma here to write copy for me,” she said, smiling to Irma.
Irma's eyes went wide. She glanced at Jayne hopefully. Jayne snorted.
“I'll write it up and we'll run it past the council.”
“Deal.”
...*...*...*...*...
“Shit man, hear about China and Russia?” a guy said. Shane paused, wiping at his chin. He'd just finished his morning shit, shower and shave before breakfast. The community bathrooms were finally getting into shape; Bob's crew had even added some homey touches here and there with the patterned tile.
Things were really looking up. They had a minor broadcasting network now, food was edible and casualties were down. Jayne was happy about the good press for some reason and the weather had held out with sunny weather for most of the week. All good. Well, they needed the rain but still.
There was a rumor that the Colorado River would be reopened and that water utilities would resume in a few months. That news had hit the grapevine yesterday. He had Gabe tracking it down and seeing how legit it was. It sounded promising.
“What about it man? I was stuck on foot patrol inside.”
“Damn. Well,” the guy leaned closer to his friend. “It looks like the nuts took over the asylum. They nuked their own countries.”
Shane and just about everyone else in the room stopped what they were doing to turn to the talker. He nodded, suddenly aware of everyone's attention.
“Say that again?” Shane said in disbelief.
“Pakistan, China, Russia, and North Korea went nuclear yesterday. We just got the word early this morning. Pakistan and North Korea are pretty ugly too.”
“I guess they didn't think they had anything left to lose,” a guy muttered shaking his head in disbelief. “Are our glorious leaders going to throw in the towel here I wonder?”
“Man, don't say that,” a guy said shaking. “Shit. Just what we need.”
“Hell, I'm more worried about the fallout, and when we're going to get our piece of it. And is it going to kick start a nuclear winter? That's all we need,” someone said, angrily.
“Yeah, how sure are you of this?” Shane demanded, throwing his towel over his shoulder.
“Sure as I can be man,” the informant said. He was one of Bill's night security guards. “I found out from Teri who showed me the video of the news broadcast. Scary shit,” he said.
“E-mail me the video. The entire council if they don't have it already,” Shane ordered.
“Sure, ah sure thing boss,” the guy said nodding. He obviously didn't have his phone with him though since he was dressed in a towel and dripping wet from his recent shower.
“China you said?”
“Yeah, see,” the guy turned and used his hands to explain. “The Chinese and Russians got this idea to protect their cities.”
“They didn't nuke them?”
“No man, what they did is evacuate areas around the city by day then use relatively clean nukes downwind of the cities and away from anything they wanted to keep. They said something about creating no go zones for the aliens.”
“Neutron bombs,” someone said. They turned to the older man stroking his goatee. “If they did it right it might work. Neutron bombs would kill anything alive and do only minor damage to an area. The radiation would be only double normal after a day or so.”
“If they had any, Neutron bombs were illegal,” another guy said.
The goatee guy turned on him with a snort of disdain. The guy spread his hands. The goatee guy shook his head in mock sympathy. “Just because its illegal doesn't mean we don't have it.”
“What did you mean about Pakistan and North Korea?” Shane asked as he got dressed.
The informant looked up. “Oh well, ah, they nuked other areas. Pakistan hit the stanes, Afghanistan, Iran, and part of India. India threatened to retaliate. North Korea was spouting shit about the aliens being a Western plot and they tried to nuke South Korea. But the nukes were knocked down by some anti-air stuff from a destroyer off the coast.”
“Ah,” Shane said pulling his pants up and then buckling them. He sat on the bench to put his socks on and then his boots. He didn't bother blousing his pants since he was going out. He strapped on the shin guards and then got up. “Anything else?”
“No man, not much. I think someone in Iran was threatening to retaliate. Something about an attack on Israel but I'm not sure. I heard someone's using chemical weapons but I'm not sure who. Ukraine or Georgia or something.”
“Why would someone in Atlanta use chemical weapons?” a guy asked as Shane put on an undershirt and then pulled his shirt out of his locker.
“No man, Georgia the country. East Europe,” the informant said rolling his eyes. “Dumb ass redneck,” he joked.
The guy who asked the question flicked him the bird. A few people snorted at that. Shane ignored it as he finished getting dressed.
“Anything else?”
“Not that I know of. They may know more. I haven't checked in like an hour or two.”
“Okay,” Shane said, pulling his Beretta out, checked the mag and safety and then put it into his shoulder harness. He grabbed his vest and remaining gear with one hand as he slammed the locker shut. “Try to keep a lid on this for now. We don't need a panic okay?” he said looking around the room. Men stopped to look at him. He put his hands on his hips. “Seriously folks, just imagine the panic if the rumor mill gets a hold of this and starts blowing it out of proportion. I'll get our people to release the facts as soon as I hit council.”
“Sheep,” a black guy muttered.
“People are people. They panic. We've had enough of that and I don't want a stampede to the exits. Let's keep a lid on it okay?”
“Yeah, uh yes sir,” the responses came back. He nodded and left. He heard them muttering and talking quietly as he exited the dog leg out of the baths.
“Shit,” he muttered looking around. People were looking around, some had gear near them. A few were shooting covert glances at weapons or stocks of food. Not a good sign, people were getting shocky.
He blew out a breath slowly as he made his way through the crowd. He decided to skip breakfast and head to the council. “Gabe,” he said popping his earwig in.
“He's busy, who's this?” a voice answered after a moment.
“This is Six Actual. Tell Gabe and our intel to get a handle on this nuclear situation and report ASAP.”
“Roger. Um, Six Actual, who's that?” the guy said in confusion to someone with him. There was a hissed reply and then the guy cleared his throat and returned his attention to Shane. “Sorry about that
boss, we'll get it done,” he said.
“Roger, out,” Shane said firmly keeping a lid on his temper. It didn't help that he was in a hurry. Damn, damn, damn.
...*...*...*...*...
He got to the council room just as most of the others did. He waved them in and they quietly made it through the choke point door and then turned as a mass to look at him. “Spit it out,” he said turning to Jayne.
“Me?” She asked, hand to her chest. “I was going to ask you!” she said surprised. He sighed.
“In a word its bad. The good news is it's not here, it's there. Or at least good for us not them,” Gabe said as his monitor flicked on. He looked around the room to the group standing around. They turned to him.
“Report,” Shane said.
“That's the problem boss, most of what we're getting is second hand and I'm not sure about some of it. The media isn't either. Them that's still alive I mean. I do know that some nukes went off. China, Russia, and North Korea have been confirmed.”
“Korea?” Jayne asked. Her cousin was serving in the military there. She wasn't sure if he was alive or dead.
“It appears that the North tried to nuke the South in a desperate gamble. An interdiction Destroyer put off the coast managed to intercept the nukes with some sort of laser. Details are sketchy from that point on.”
“Okay,” Jayne said sitting back. Jen rubbed her shoulders gently. She patted her hand.
“Russia used nukes on abandoned areas in Southern Siberia and in the Mongolian Steppes. I think they also used a few nukes in Kazakhstan, but that report has been redressed as a possible plan for tonight.”
“In other words they didn't do it.”
“No idea. We're having a hell of time getting local news, let alone international, even with Morgan's links. I can say we felt the quakes from the nukes, so something happened. There is some EMP damage too. FEMA made some hashed broadcast about it but it was brief.”
“Okay.”
“China,” Gabe paused. “I don't know what they are thinking. Something about neutron bombs and building a fire break around their major cities.”