Devastation

by Paul Kirk

  “This is base, over.”

  “Georgie reports his glimpse was of a large green and shiny helicopter. Repeat, large green and shiny. Possibly military. Not a two-seater. Over.”

  “Base copies. Commander enroute. Over.”

  “Roger that.”

  A large fit man with heavily muscled shoulders and a thick head of jet-black hair jogged down from the Summit Garrison with three equally large men beside him. All were dressed in polished uniforms of green and blue, neatly pressed. Jacob lagged a step behind, nipping at their heels, still talking animatedly. At the gate stair platform, the men climbed fast, walking single file across the narrow platform. Georgie kept focused on Masontown, ignoring the noise behind him. He’d hoped to catch another sighting of the helicopter. That is, until his father spoke.

  “Son, no games here.” The voice was that of a stern commander, one used to facts, but with a tone of patience and tolerance. Georgie dropped from his toehold on the gate and faced his father, taking his eyes away from the binoculars. He noticed that all gate guards and two of the three men with his father were scanning the skies.

  “No, sir. Jacob and I saw it.”

  “Which direction was it traveling?”

  “From the north. A bit northwest.”

  “Fast?”

  “Only caught a glimpse. Jacob saw more.”

  All heads turned to Jacob, standing small, but excited behind them.

  “Jacob?”

  Desperately wanting to show more than speak, Jacob clamored up onto the wall, placing his toes into the small shooting slits cut into the steel. Comfortably able to see above the gate, he pointed toward Masontown.

  “It was big, Daddy. Real big! Even from here!”

  “Jacob!”

  Jacob flinched at the power in his father’s voice, calming instantly. “I said slow down. Now, I’ll say it once more. Slow down and provide a clear report!”

  “Yes, sir, daddy. The helicopter was shiny. One spin thingee on top. Had words on the side. Words in a circle, like this…” Jacob drew a large circle in the air with his hands.

  “What they say?”

  “I don’t know, daddy, sir.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Numbers. HMX-1. I think…”

  “I see. Thank you, son. Anything else? You, Georgie?”

  “No sir, that’s it.”

  Commander Bastin studied the skies, smiling. “Seems we got a bit of excitement for a Tuesday. Evan, instruct base to send an update to the radio stringers to alert General Harmon.”

  “Yes, sir.” Evan squeezed his way past the men, jogging toward the stairs. He was already on his radio.

  “Should we send some men to check it out using a truck, sir?” asked Keenan McLoy, his second in command who stood by his side. His eyes remained glued to his binoculars, focused on the Masontown area below.

  “Too far. Not sure we can waste the gas for a trip like that.”

  “Sure, sir?”

  “Well, no, I’m not sure. What do you recommend, major?”

  “Then let's send two squads out on horses. Fully armed and provisioned for three days travel. Tell them to make haste and drop riders line-of-sight to maintain radio com. Make it clear that they’re to ride hard to see how close they can get, but to be covert.”

  “I agree. See to it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Major?”

  “Sir?”

  “If the radio link gets too thin, have the team stop progress at the final four men. I want them traveling together until they've made contact. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Go with them, Keenan. I know you want to.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Can I go, Dad?”

  Commander Bastin studied Georgie in the bright afternoon sun. Gangly and intense, his son was probably ready to be placed with a junior field team on just such a helicopter search mission. But, parental protectiveness kept intruding.

  “No, Georgie. In a few years.”

  “But…” The commander’s withering stare made Georgie swallow further protest.

  Commander Bastin turned to Major Keenan McLoy. “Take Evan with you, he needs the field experience, major.”

  “Sir. Yes, sir.” Keenan left with haste and anticipation.

  Commander Bastin tugged his trousers at the knees and squatted down to face his son. “Georgie, You’ve got an important assignment right now. I want you to man this gate for the next four hours and try to catch further sight of the helicopter. You’ll do nothing else, but find me another view of what you got us into, am I clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Carry on.”

  "What about me, daddy?" asked Jacob.

  The commander studied his youngest son. "Here Jacob, use my binoculars to help your brother relocate that helicopter you found." The commander gently pulled his binoculars from around his neck and handed them to Jacob.

  Reverently, Jacob took hold of the binoculars. "Okay, daddy...sir." The binoculars looked huge in his hands.

  "You drop them, son, and I'll have your head on a platter. They were Pup-Pups." The commander smiled to lessen the serious tone that came natural to him. As it was, the binoculars were prime Nikon 10x42 and given to him by his father only ten years ago during their last moose hunting trip together. He was quite fond of them, but knew of Jacob's clear attachment to them.

  "I won't, sir."

  "See that you don't...private." He patted Jacob on the shoulder and squeezed Georgie's shoulder as he passed in his return to the command center.

  CHAPTER 10.12-A Ghost Town

  “Del, let me be blunt—you’ve got an angry and well-equipped army from Cleveland bearing down on Perryopolis.” Connor paused and glanced at John McLeod and Captain Daubney, before focusing on the commander. “They have at least 5000 men, armed to the teeth, mobile, and they’re not very nice guys.”

  Del Re didn’t answer, but stared incredulous. Connor thought he might not have understood him.

  "They're a massive hoard of malicious deviants," volunteered John McLeod.

  "Nice description, John," said Captain Daubney, "A bit overdone, but nice."

  “Anyway, Del," said Connor, "they could be here in four or five hours. They have horsemen, I'm talking over 200 cavalry, and at least 160 men set up in Pride Brigades, as they like to call themselves, of forty men each." He sought Captain Daubney's confirmation of this fact to help explain the situation to the commander.

  Captain Daubney nodded. "That's right, commander."

  Connor continued. "They have over fifty armored pickup trucks with a driver and man riding shotgun, some dirt bikes, and four-wheelers and they have enough weapons to blow through this town like it’s soft butter.”

  The commander paced a few steps away and returned to stand near the table. Stubbornly, he tensed his jaw muscles. “I don’t believe it,” said Del.

  “Del, I’m sorry to spring this on ya.”

  “Can we defend against them? We have 180 people here and all of ‘em—even the children—are capable of shooting pretty well.”

  “You can’t defend against them, Del. Not that you and your town are afraid to defend your own turf, but these guys are armed much better than what you guys seem to be. Unless I’m missing something. They got RPGs, fifty cals, and probably a whole host of other explosives and grenades. Put simply, Del, you should hide well away from here. Evacuate your people to safety. All of them. And come back when they’re gone and hope they haven’t destroyed your town.”

  “Mac, are you sure we can’t defend against them. I know my guys won’t want to leave this place.”

  “You can’t, Del. This army’s run by a sick fuck named Phoenix Justice. Trust me, he’ll plow through your town and he’ll kill all the men and enslave all the women. He’ll take whatever’s worth anything and burn the rest.”

  “You say we have four or five hours?”

  “Maybe a little longer, but to be on the s
afe side, yeah. You should figure on only four hours from now. Make sure anything valuable is hidden away and your people are gone.”

  “Sonofabitch,” said Del matter-of-factly.

  “I’m hoping you have a contingency plan in place for a bug out. Do you?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Whatta ya mean?”

  “We got a cave—a small opening in a mountainside that’s about three-quarter mile from here. It goes into the mountain about 300 feet and it’s very defensible. You can only enter it single file. Even if somebody were to block us in, there’s a second exit—it’s a little dicey, but hidden much better.”

  “That’s great, Del.”

  “There’s enough room there for all of us and it’s stocked for a two week stay.”

  “Is that where you keep your ale?” asked John.

  “Now, how the hell did you know that?”

  “It makes sense, Del. It’s cool. It’s secure. It’s away from damaging light."

  Connor jumped in. "Listen—you need to issue orders to evacuate. Tell ‘em all to take only what they value and can effectively carry in their hands. There can be no easily visible trail and there’s no time to waste. Personally, I don’t think Phoenix will waste his time destroying much of anything here—he’s in too much of a hurry to locate my team. It’d take time for him to burn anything and he probably doesn’t want to invest the time.”

  “This is our home, Mac.”

  “And that army’s pure fucking evil, Del. I’m sorry—I am. We’ll help you out for the next three or four hours, but we’ll need to leave at that point.”

  “So, Mac, he's after you guys?”

  “Yep.”

  “So you brought ‘em here?”

  “Yeah, Del, I did. And I’m real sorry about that, but it wasn’t intentional. Next year—or maybe the year after—they woulda came here anyway. Or somebody else woulda knocked on your gate with hundreds of men. And, if we would have avoided this town, you wouldn’t have had any warning about them.”

  “Thanks, Mac. I sure appreciate your warning.”

  “Screw that, Del—I don’t have time for sarcasm.”

  Del Re checked his anger. He sensed the effort that Connor was making to convey the situational status.

  “Okay, Mac. I’m sorry. You’re right, we should clear out. It’d be nice to stay and defend this place, though. It’s our home.”

  “That might sound good on paper, but it’s better to walk away and avoid this fight to live for another day.”

  “Why they coming for you, Mac?”

  “We pissed ‘em off in Cleveland. You see, they were trying to kidnap the president and steal her helicopter.”

  “Really?” asked Del.

  “Yeah. In fact, we had a certain women with us and Phoenix was probably trying to kidnap her, too,” interjected Captain Daubney. A fury crept into his voice when recalling the surprise attack.

  “So, we definitely still have a president?” asked Del.

  “Yes, we do. Her name is Colonel Hannah Starkes,” chimed in Captain Daubney.

  “I see.” Del Re took the information at face value. Nodding to himself, he came to a decision. He went to the door and opened it, stepping onto the porch. With a quick hand motion, he waved Josh and Russ onto the porch. When they were within hearing range, he yelled.

  "Josh, bring Matty back here, pronto! He's over at Dr. Reilly's"

  "Yes, sir!" said Josh, turning quickly toward Dr. Reilly's quarters.

  "Russ, find Tina for me! She's over at the bakery probably talking to Big Momma."

  "Yes, sir, right away."

  Commander Del Re reentered the command post and approached the three men. "Give me a few minutes, Connor. I need Matty and Tina."

  "Sure thing, Del."

  "In the meantime, where's this president now? Why's she not with you? What's the deal?"

  "We're set to rendezvous with her shortly."

  "Where?"

  "At an undisclosed location, Del," said Connor. His soft tone suggested he was not simply giving the commander a hard time, but rather, was hesitant to provide him any more specifics.

  The commander stared at him hard for a few seconds. "I see."

  "Del..."

  The commander raised his hand while shaking his head. "No, I understand. You're protecting your men and the president. You don't think we can pull it off and I might be captured and relay the info."

  "Del, I would—"

  "No. You're right. But, obviously it's south of here, probably Uniontown. Probably the high school."

  Matty, the commander’s second in command, came in the door in a rush. "Sir? Dr. Reilly will be here shortly. What's going on?"

  The commander filled him in on the hostile army coming their way and the timeframe involved. He outlined the town's response; as he finished, Tina entered.

  She was concerned. "Honey? Del?"

  "Hold on a sec, sweetie." The commander turned to his second in command. “Matty, see to it that people are moving to leave this place like a ghost town. Make sure everyone knows how time sensitive this evac is. Got it?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll start right away.”

  “You’re in charge of all the gold, silver, and other tradeables. You’ll handle that, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. Make sure Big Mama takes her yeast cultures with her. I don’t wanta hear about how she can’t make her bread and I especially don’t wanta hear that we can’t make ale or whiskey.”

  “Understood, sir. I’ll see to it personally.”

  “Go, Matty. Go.”

  Matty turned for the door, but Connor stopped him. “Hold on a sec, Matty.”

  “Yes?” he asked.

  “Tell your people that no one is to stay in this town. No one!”

  “Why’s that?” asked Del.

  “No last stand guards. No one to give them trouble. No one to try to make their life difficult. This army is less likely to do any damage if you leave the way clear for them to blow right through.”

  “I hear you, Mac, but why are you so insistent?”

  “If they find even one of you, you can say goodbye to your hideout. I know you think it’s impenetrable, but they’d remember where it is and if they came back this way, they’d wait you out. You’d either starve to death or they’d pick you off one by one when you came out.”

  Angry, Del Re's face reddened and he walked to the front store window to gain better control of his emotions. He came to a decision. “Aw, fuck it. It’s only things sittin’ out there—material shit. We can rebuild anything they destroy. It’s more important that nobody dies. My people are too important to me.”

  “That’s good thinking, Del.”

  “Matty?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Do what the man says. I mean it. No heroics. We need to let this storm pass and live to fight another day.”

  “Yes, sir,” answered Matty, somewhat disappointed.

  “I’m not kidding, Matty. This is a real as it gets. If anyone stays back and gets captured, we’re totally screwed. Just one man, women or child could get us all killed.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  “Make sure everyone bugs out. I want head counts every thirty minutes.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll see to it.”

  “Okay, go. Go now.” The man left quickly and everyone in the room overheard him in the street, calling for several men to carry out his orders.

  Tina walked over to where Del was standing and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turned at her touch and smiled grimly.

  “Honey, we got a very nasty army coming our way. I'll fill you in. In the meantime, please make sure that all the children have everything they need before we bug out. Make sure Betty helps you grab all the first-aid supplies.”

  “I will.”

  “Pam needs to gather the books and hide them in the vaults.”

  McLeod’s ears perked up at the mention of books. “You have vaults
of books, Del?”

  “Yeah, John. Why doesn’t that surprise me that you would be interested in books? We've stashed a few fire-proof safes around—they’re very well hidden and only five people know the combinations.”

  “Oh, man, what I’d give for an in-depth review of your collection.”

  “I knew you’d understand, John.”

  “Understand what, Del?”

  “With your expertise in psychology.”

  “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

  “After the Sickness hit, I started analyzing the ‘big picture’. You know, the behavior of men after a serious devastation. How would they react? What would be the general attitude of men? I came to the conclusion it would be about five years before clusters of small armies would begin to show up—most of ‘em not very well intentioned.”

  “That’s nicely thought out, Del. You continue to impress me.”

  Tina walked to the front window and turned immediately to pace back. She was becoming visibly more agitated and the commander noticed.

  “We’re gonna be okay, Tina,” said Del.

  She remained skeptical, but nodded. “Okay, Del. I’m gonna go help the others prepare."

  “Captain Daubney,” said Connor, “why don’t you go along and help out where it’s needed. Organize the men to ensure this town’s packed and ready to go.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  "Del, you'll have to release the animals you have immediately or better yet, have a few men take them far away from here as best they can."

  "Good point. That's right."

  "I'll let Matty know about that, sir,"

  "Okay. Good, captain. Anyone of ours who needs the dentist should stay back—we have a few hours.”

  “You sure, sir?”

  “Yeah, captain, I’m sure.”

  “Alright, sir.” The captain left to attend to his orders.

  “We need to make sure there’s no panic among these people, Mac,” said McLeod.

  “That’s a good point, John. Del, can your people handle this on such short notice?”

  “Yeah, Mac, we’ve trained for it.”

  “You've prepped for this?”

  “Yeah. I make ‘em do it full tilt twice a year. We take a day training and, as a reward, we have a feast the following day. People have come to enjoy it—not for the training, but for the afterparty. Once a month, we practice emergency defense. That’s where we assign a person to nearly every elevated window and see how long it takes them to guard the window with a weapon and ammunition. We got it down to about five and a half minutes.”