He paused and waited for additional comments from the Vice President. Everyone was fixated on him. He decided to continue.
“The General told me that they are planning to disperse a few men to the suburbs, too. They are hoping to contain the violence and keep the marauders from looting personal properties. But it remains a plan for now. He said they do not have enough men to man both the city and the suburbs,” he said.
A faint smile registered on Vice President’s lips. Senator Peters turned his eyes back to her.
“That’s good. If the scarcity of food and water is becoming an issue in the city, sending out army troops to the suburbs and neighboring counties might actually be a good thing for us,” said Vice President Christie. Everyone in the room look puzzled.
“The executive order states that the government has the right to confiscate supplies from the farmers. It is a valid option right now with the rate of depletion of basic supplies in the city. A lot of people are starved,” she noted.
“But how will the military make that happen? No doubt, there will be resistance from the farmers and their families,” pointed out one cabinet member.
“The military can use force if needed. That is part of the deal,” she said coyly. “In fact, the military can get the farmers to work for food supply if deemed necessary.”
“That’s inhumane!” exclaimed Senator Lee. He slammed his fist onto the conference table as he stood up. It created a resounding thud throughout the quiet room.
“We cannot force these people to work for the government. It’s exploitation of their human rights,” said Senator Lee. Senator Peters looked on amused at the irony of the situation they are in. A week ago, Senator Lee pushed for the implementation of Martial Law. And now, here he is voicing his opposition at its consequences.
“Senator Lee,it is part of the deal when we implement Martial Law. We are not here to discuss human rights -they don’t exist in Martial Law,” she said coldly.
Senator Lee wanted to respond. He dropped his jaw, unable to say anything to respond to the Vice President.
She looked away from Senator Lee and faced the cabinet members. Addressing them, she said, “These farmers were against the administration to begin with. They had been opposing the government’s policies and called us deaf and blind to their needs. And to be honest, I’ve grown sick of it! The situation presents a good opportunity for us to make use of them to feed our constituents.”
Silence pervaded the room. Vice President Christie looked and asked around for more updates. No one responded. Most had kept their heads low, as if trying to bury their heads onto the table.
Only Senator Peters kept his head up the whole time during the meeting. But he never spoke a word. He merely observed.
“I guess that’s it for now, if no one else is going to present a report. I will let you know if we need to meet again,” she said as she handed documents to her assistant. The assistant in turn handed her the phone, saying that someone from the military would like to speak to her.
***
Chapter 22 – A Woman Scorned
At the Millington Naval Air Station, the General received reports about the whereabouts of Anthony, as well as two of his companions in the duty – Craig and Walter. All of them were hospital staffs at the Southcrest Community Hospital. They also used to serve in the army.
Jessica relayed the information on their current location. She opted to go with the army instead of staying at the farm. She knew it was a lot safer at the base. Meanwhile, Anthony felt like he could not leave his friends behind.
For days since she left Anthony’s side, Jessica was overwhelmed with guilt about her decision. She wondered if she had been too selfish. She knew that she could not have survived it without the folks from Southcrest.
But she was overcome by fear and worry. She could not keep on living that way –always in hiding and running away from the thing that she feared. Darla, too, felt secure in their current refuge. They knew that no one would be able to hurt or steal from them there.
One afternoon at the base, the colonel ran into Jessica. He brought her over to the side so they can speak and catch up in private.
“I thought you were with them at the farm. Capt. Ellis told me that you opted to come with them,” he asked.
“Yes, I did,” she calmly replied.
“What is this about?” he probed.
“No, there is nothing more to it,” she shook vehemently denied his suspicions. “I just felt more secure around here. I cannot live that kind of life anymore,” she said.
“I’ve heard you talked to the General. What did he ask you?”
“Just some basic information, you know,” she said innocently.
“Like what?”
“Why is it important to you anyway?” Jessica is starting to feel aggravated by his questions.
He quickly pulled her aside. “Aww!” was all Jessica could say as the colonel gripped her tightly on the wrist.
“I need to know what information you’ve shared with the General,” he repeated his question.
“He just asked me where I came from and what we’ve been doing,” she said.
“Is that all?”
“Yes!”
“Anthony, Walter and Benjamin are professionals from a community hospital. Anthony and Walter, those two used to serve in the army,” he whispered.
She looked clueless. “I don’t follow…” she said.
“In the event of Martial Law, all government personnel must report back to their duties. And that includes doctors and hospital staffs, like Anthony and the rest,” he said with affirmation.
Jessica’s jaw almost dropped to the ground. “I… I… I… didn’t know,” she said, teary eyed again. The colonel gave her a foreboding look.
“What have I done?” she said, finally breaking into tears.
“I haven’t had the chance to tell you about it. I never expected that you would separate yourself from the group,” the colonel said.
Jessica temporarily stopped her crying. She was wiping tears with the back of her hand.
“How are they holding up over there?” he asked.
“The trip to the farm went fine. But I don’t know how they are doing anymore,” she said. “When we got there, the army helped chase after some strangers breaking into the farm house. Hopefully, that was the last,” she said. Her voice curled a bit as she spoke because she was fighting back tears.
“That would be wishful thinking right now,” said the colonel.
“You think?” she asked, worried.
“Of course!” he said with affirmation in his voice. “This is just the beginning, Jessica.”
She felt all the more scared. A part of her did not want to believe the colonel. But he seemed so sure of his words.
That night, as she went to bed, Jessica could not stop thinking of Anthony. Is he safe? Are they having a good night’s sleep? Will they see each other again?
Her obsession for Anthony kept growing as she kept thinking of him. She longed to be with him, to talk to him. She wanted to see his face. But after abandoning him and betraying their plans, she was worried that he won’t be able to forgive her. Is he even thinking of me over there? Was he worried too?
Jessica could only laugh at the irony of her situation. She separated herself from Anthony and the rest of the group to have peace of mind. But despite of her security, she still did not have that peace she longed for.
***
Chapter 23 – The Militia
It was a quiet spring day at the farm. The sun was up and casting its streaks down the farm. The Taylor family was up and about doing its usual round of chores. Even the refugees from Southcrest had their hands filled, too. Everyone in the farm had an assigned chore and they all committed to it. It was previously agreed upon if the new refugees were to continue staying at the farm.
The Byrons went back to their uncle’s farm house. The father fixed the door and everything else was in good shape. Hence, they dec
ided to move back as the Taylor family’s farm house is starting to get too crowded with the folks from Southcrest staying with them. They also installed bunkers to fend off any intruders, or at least to alert them in the presence of threats.
Back at the Taylor farm house, they were nearly done with the morning chores. There was not much left to do around the farm after that. Justin spent those idle moments playing football with his father. They used to play baseball a lot. But since he used his bat as a weapon, he has kept it hidden for that purpose.
That particular morning, Justin invited his father to play football in the yard. A few minutes into playing catch, Justin spotted a group of marauders emerge from the woods from a few blocks away. There were three men and a woman.
“Dad!” he yelled in terror. Justin froze momentarily, eyeing the group of marauders headed towards the farm house.
This prompted Benjamin to look towards where Justin fixated his eyes. “Oh no…” he said upon spotting the source of terror in Justin’s eyes.
“Come on!” he grabbed his son by the wrist, forcing him back inside the farm house. They careened towards the farm house to alert the others of what they saw. Walter met them by the door as they were about to go inside.
“What’s the hurry?” Walter asked, curious.
“There are marauders again. We spotted them a few blocks away making their way out of the woods. I think they’re headed here,” said Benjamin.
Walter’s eyes widened in shock but said, “Go ahead alert them. I’ll get my weapon and get Victoria somewhere safe”.
“Grab your weapons! We have intruders headed this way!” Benjamin declared as he entered the kitchen and saw Aaron and Michelle there.
Aaron quickly got up his seat and went to the room where he was hiding his weapon. Benjamin grabbed Michelle by the shoulder, “find Mary and the kids, and go hide to the basement.” Michelle looked frightened but nodded anyway.
Grandpa Taylor noticed the scuffling and asked what it was about. When Benjamin informed him of the oncoming threat, he quickly gathered them together in the kitchen to plan. All of them stepped out carrying a weapon. Anthony, too, was assigned his own weapon courtesy of Aaron. It was a .45 semi-automatic compact pistol.
The marauders were already near the gate when they got out into the yard. At first they looked determined to continue inside the farm house’s compound. But Aaron stepped in front with a warning.
“Go on! Try to make your way into that gate. We will not hesitate to shoot any intruders around here,” warned Aaron, his weapon aimed at them.
This caused the group of men to back out. They carried weapons, too. But all they had were melee weapons from items they had scavenged in the city. They carried no guns.
As soon as Aaron saw that they had no pistol with them, he kept stepping forward. Meanwhile, the marauders were slowly backing up too.
“Move!” he scoffed at them. This startled the marauders, prompting them to run away as fast as they could.
“Well, that was quick,” Anthony chimed in.
“We cannot let our guards down,” reminded Benjamin. “We got lucky this time. Justin saw them before they had broken in.”
“I think it might be a good idea for someone to guard the farm house during day time as well. These thugs aren’t scared even in broad daylight,” added Aaron.
“That’d be a good idea,” seconded Walter.
“Yeah, and we don’t know how many of them will try to attack us next time,” said Grandpa Taylor. “It worked out perfectly that there were only a few of them. We need to be ready to face a larger group next time.”
They all nodded in agreement.
The men dispersed and went back to their chores. Benjamin volunteered to serve as the lookout. They wanted to make sure that the thugs will not return.
The thugs were running towards north from the Taylor’s farm house in an effort to escape their defense. They were supposed to go somewhere else to find other properties to loot. However, one of the men spotted another farm house, just a few meters away from the Taylor’s. It was the Byron’s farm house.
They devised another plan to try to break into the home. There was a bunker at the gate but they insisted to go in. The Byron patriarch was notified of the intruders as they try to break into the bunker.
When the Byron patriarch heard the noise, he quickly grabbed the semi-automatic Beretta M1923 from the room. The weapon was Grandpa Taylor’s. He let the Byrons borrow it so they will have means of protecting themselves since they moved out from the Taylor farm house.
He sneaked into a window at one of the bedrooms. He aimed a shot at one of the thugs. His hands trembled while aiming his shot as he was feeling the tension of the situation. Plus, he had little experience with guns. The last time he fired a weapon was during his teens while target shooting with his uncle.
He pulled the trigger but missed his aim. However, the shot startled the marauders. They went scrambling again. Some of them run away to escape upon hearing the first shot. Meanwhile, Benjamin heard the gun shot, too. He alerted the others about the possibility that the marauders tried to break into the Byrons instead. They rushed to get to the Byrons’ aid.
When they got to the Byrons, they caught some of the marauders attempting to escape. The Byron patriarch also met them by the gate to inform them about what happened. Aaron faked a shot and this made them run faster in fright. They even dropped some of their weapons.
Benjamin went ahead and picked those weapons up. “We could make use of these,” he said.
They retracted back to their respective homes. But a few miles away, when the marauders were in a safe distance from them, they huddled together. All of them were frustrated that they were unable to take any supplies at all. But they were desperate and determined.
“We need to go back and come up with an even better plan,” said one of them.
“I agree. They put up such a tight defense. It only means they are protecting something,” added another.
The group agreed to return some other time.
Later that day, Benjamin returned to his post at the yard. He volunteered to guard the farm house to ensure that the marauders do not return after their failed attempt to break in earlier. He reclined on his seat. He sat there for the next hour and there appeared to be no sign of the marauders.
He dozed off a little bit. Suddenly, he was startled out of his nap when he heard scuffling noises. He could not see clearly from afar, but he was certain that a group of bikers were heading their way. He stood up to examine them more closely.
“Aaron! Walter!” he called them out for reinforcement.
Both men were out to the front door as quickly as possible. Anthony was followed them there.
“Could it be them?” Aaron asked squinting his eyes to see the faces of the men riding in bikes.
Benjamin did not respond. But his eyes never left the men in the bike, who are inching closer to them with each passing minute.
“Hold on,” said Walter. Both Benjamin and Aaron turned to him. As they got closer to the gate, they saw the men riding in bikes were waving the American flag.
“Yes! I know them, don’t shoot,” said Walter. He then made his way to the gate and welcomed the men in bikes. Aaron and Benjamin hesitantly followed.
“This is Chris,” Walter introduced his friend to them. They shook each other’s hands. “He is the friend from the militia who I was talking about. He is the leader of this group,” he added.
“Nice to meet you,” Benjamin said as they exchanged pleasantries.
“How bad is the situation around here? The city is in a pretty bad state,” Chris remarked.
“It’s pretty bad. Actually, we just had a run-in a while ago. We managed to chase them off before they tried to break into our home,” Aaron said.
Chris shook his head with a look of surprise and amusement in his eyes.
They welcomed the militia members inside. For now, the Taylors can rest assured that they have more me
n to defend the farm house. They continued to work in shifts when guarding the farm house at nighttime to ensure that they can defend themselves from intruders. They also agreed that at least one of them guard the farm house at daytime.
***
Chapter 24 – Digging In
The Second Amendment: A Novel On Surviving The Coming Collapse Page 13