The crowd went wild and everyone started moving. While it was a rush, it wasn’t unruly. There was no real pushing or shoving. I looked at the band and motioned for them to start playing. They quickly dove into Shackles and Chains with a young lady joining in on vocals. I left the stage and walked back to the trucks with Mel. She tugged my hand as we walked.
“Good job,” she said.
“Eh. Had to say something.”
Back at the tables, the pizza distribution was going surprisingly smoothly. Probably because Sarge had organized the Guardsmen into a cordon the people had to walk through to get a slice. It was an impressive show of force that prevented any disorder. People in line craned their necks, trying to get a look. They talked animatedly about the thought of pizza and wondered out loud how we did it.
As Mel and I made our way back, many people shook my hand or offered thanks. Some with a simple nod, others with a slap on my back. I didn’t want the attention though. That wasn’t why I did what I did. I quickly made my way back to the trucks, to be separated from the masses.
Everyone was busy, cutting the pies into small pieces about three inches square. I stood beside Sarge and watched as Jess and Fred handed it out as fast as they could. Mary and Miss Kay were likewise working as fast as they could. I looked at Sarge. “Looks like you were wrong.”
He grunted. “It ain’t over yet.”
I laughed and shook my head. I grabbed a box with half a pizza in it and handed it to Mel. “Can you take this up to the band? I want to make sure they get some for what they’re doing.”
Taking it, she said, “Sure.”
As the crowd moved through in orderly fashion, I heard Jess say something that caught my ear. Up to this point everyone was satisfied and thankful for their single piece of pizza. “You can only have one.” I heard her say, then she added, “They have to come get their own.”
Looking over, I saw Albert, Hyatt’s toady. I nudged Sarge and nodded at the man. We both walked over to back up Jess. Seeing us, Albert’s face soured. “Why can’t I get enough for our people?”
“You heard the deal. Get in line to get a piece. We’re not letting anyone carry off more for someone else,” I said.
“It only makes sense to allow people to take some back to others in their group. It’ll make this whole thing easier, faster,” Albert said.
Sarge stepped up. “You tell Porky to waddle his fat ass over here if he wants some. One piece, per person, period.” Begrudgingly, Albert took his piece and wandered off. Sarge was shaking his head and looked at me. “We should have shot those dickheads. They’re going to be nothing but trouble.”
I nodded. “Probably. But they haven’t done anything yet to justify it. We’ve taken their guns, there isn’t much they can do.”
The handout continued without issue. But we were starting to run out, some would certainly go without. Once we were down to the last few boxes, Hyatt came walking through the crowd with a number of his people. He bypassed the line and walked directly to the head, drawing a number of comments from those in line.
Seeing him, I asked, “What do you want?”
“Albert said I had to come personally to get my share. So I came to get it.”
I pointed to the line still snaking its way through the park. “You have to get in line like everyone else.”
Hyatt waved his hands. “This is ridiculous. I already sent my man! So I’ve already been in line!”
The crowd was getting irritated and began to shout and shake fists. Hyatt could singlehandedly turn what’s been a very peaceful event into a damn riot. Sarge looked at him. “Back of the line, Porky.” Sarge’s comment was greeted with shouts from those in line. “Yeah, back of the line, asshole!”
Hyatt looked at the remaining few boxes and then down the line. Incredulously, he shouted, “There isn’t enough! If I go to the back of the line, I won’t get any!”
“You won’t be the only one. A bunch of these folks won’t get a piece. But that’s the way it works. When there’s more demand than supply, the supply runs out.” I said.
Hyatt stamped his foot. “This is unjust! This isn’t right! How can you promise these people food, and then not provide it?”
Sarge looked at two of the nearest Guardsmen. “Get this sack of shit out of here.”
The two men quickly moved in on Hyatt. Using their rifles, they began to push him away from the table to cheers from the crowd. Naturally, Hyatt protested and whined, but it was to no avail. The two soldiers pushed him to the back of the line where he then stomped off.
Sarge was shaking his head. “We need to kill that fucker. Mark my words. We need to kill him.”
I sighed. “You may be right. He’s going to be nothing but trouble.”
Ted was standing beside Sarge. He grunted. “I’ll do it. Let me and Mikey take ‘em out one night. It’ll be fun.”
Glancing sideways at Ted, I said, “Not yet.”
Fred looked back at us. “Guys, this is the last one.” She was holding a pizza box.
I nodded. “Give it out and we’ll tell everyone.”
I asked Aric to go tell the Guardsmen monitoring the line that we were out so they could start to disperse the line. Mike and Ted moved out as well and started delivering the bad news. While there were some complaints, hurt feelings more than anything, everyone behaved and those still in line broke up and drifted back to their places in the park.
The band was still playing and things were settling down. Shane approached me and said they’d planned for a big bonfire and were about to light it. While everyone was getting their food, they’d brought in wood and made a huge pile in front of the band shell. I told him it was a good idea; it would get people back into the party mood. I asked where Sean was and he said he was at the fire pit.
Sarge stepped up. “Go get him and anyone helping you and bring them over here real quick. He nodded and ran off. I asked Sarge what was up. He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the MRAP. “We’ve got a couple of pies in the truck still. I wanted to make sure those guys got a piece.”
As we were talking, Sheffield and Livingston walked up. Sheffield looked around the park and nodded. “This was a hell of an idea, Morgan. Good job.”
“Did you guys get any pizza?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, we left it for these folks.”
“Come over here and get a piece. You guys deserve it just as much,” Sarge said.
Livingston looked with surprise. “Thought it was all gone.”
“It is. We held a couple back for the folks working hard here tonight.”
Shane and Sean returned with a couple of men that helped them. Shane pointed at the two men. “These guys worked for the city. They strung all the lights and are helping get the fire ready.”
I pointed to the back of the truck. “Get yourselves a slice. We appreciate the efforts guys.”
The two men thanked me and grabbed their share before heading back to the fire pit. Sheffield and Livingston grabbed a piece and were eating it when I noticed Hyatt again. He was off the side of the park, in the shadows glaring at us. I could almost hear him saying, you said it was all gone. Shaking my head, I turned back to the park as the fire was lit to cheers from the crowd.
I left Sarge and the guys to talk. Mel and I went out looking for Little Bit. We found her near the fire. The kid loved fire, like a moth to a flame. She was with a group of other children doing a ring-around-the-rosy around the fire as the band played. Everyone was happy. A carefree feeling swept over the park as people danced and carried on. The band kept rolling; and as the night wore on, others showed up with instruments. From time to time, someone would go up on the stage and give one of the folks up there a break.
Late in the evening, a competition of dueling banjos broke out between several players
. The crowd really got into it and hooted and howled as the strings got faster and faster. The fire roared and the music filled the air. It was a truly great night. Looking at my watch, I saw it was getting on close to midnight and told Mel I wanted to go listen to the radio to try and catch the nightly broadcast.
I left her by the fire with Little Bit and went to find Sarge. He was still at the truck with Sheffield and Livingston. I pulled the little radio from my vest and turned it on. Sarge looked at me and asked, “Time for the radio show?”
I nodded. “Yeah, they should be on any time now.”
Livingston pointed at the radio. “That what you’ve been listening to them on?”
Holding it up, I laughed. “Yeah. It ain’t much, but it works.”
We moved around to the other side of the truck to block some of the sound from the band. It wasn’t long before the little radio crackled to life.
Good evening fellow Patriots. You’re listening to John Jacob Schmidt coming to you from the Radio Free Redoubt. Broadcasting to all of you in occupied territory and those outside the wire. Bringing you the news you need in these trying times. We have a recording we’re going to play for you tonight that’s chilling. We here in the redoubt are working to confirm this information. Be warned, what you’re about to hear has serious implications for all of us.
A man’s voice that was obviously recorded began to play. It sounded like a radio conversation.
There’s smoke coming over the horizon. Thick black columns of it! We’ve even seen contrails from what must be rockets.
Another voice asked, Where are you?”
Cape Hatteras. This has been going on all day! I can only imagine what’s going on out there.
Must be the Navy going at it with someone. The other voice said.
Yeah, but who?
I’ve heard the Russians and Chinese were coming. They must be trying to stop them.
There’s another one! Another rocket just crossed the horizon!
Do you see any planes?
No, it’s far off. Can’t even hear anything.
This ain’t good. Ain’t good at all.
With that, the recording stopped, and John came back on the radio. Folks, if this is the Navy in ship to ship battle with Chinese or Russian forces, we are in real trouble.
We traded looks around. It was sobering news. To think we just got things settled down and we could be facing a much, much larger issue now was disheartening. I thought about what that possible future could look like as the broadcast continued.
Here at the Redoubt we’re trying to verify this recording, but our preliminary findings are that it is indeed credible. Our contacts inside the DOD have been out of touch, and this only reinforces the fact they have their hands full. We’ve talked about this very scenario in previous broadcasts and it looks as though they are coming to pass.
If you haven’t prepared yourself, your family and community for what’s coming, you need to do it now. Because folks, it looks like time is running out. We are about to be in the fight for our lives. We’re cutting tonight’s broadcast short to give everyone more time to prepare.
A woman’s voice came on next. Good evening Patriots, standby for a message….. To our patriots under the Birch tree. To our patriots under the Birch tree. 27807 96664 40629 12071 50393 15323 15996 16341 32069 35757 19073 82868 24366 72726 77987 09349 50907 87851 15215 34264.
When the coded message stopped, Toby Keith’s song “American Soldier” started. Speaking over the intro, John said, Now we’re all American soldiers.”
At some point Cecil showed up. I realized he was there when he said, “I’ll decode this later.”
Looking at him, I asked, “When did you show up?”
He smiled. “I been around.”
Sarge asked, “You think you have the one-time pad for this?”
“I’ll go through my stack of them and see.”
Sheffield looked at Sarge. “Can you try and make contact with folks up the chain? You seem to have better luck than I do.”
Sarge leaned back on the truck. “Fawcett was just here. You heard what he had to say. We know this is coming; and from the sounds of that broadcast, it’s already started.” He looked around at all of us. “The question is, what are we going to do about it”
Shaking my head, I started to walk away. Sarge called out to me, “Where the hell are you going?”
Looking back, I said, “This sounds like a military issue. I’m going to be with my family while I have the time. From the sounds of what we just heard, things are about to change.” I looked out across the park where people still danced and the music played. “There’s nothing I can do about it tonight. So for tonight, just for one night, I’m going to pretend things are just fine.” I saw Little Bit dancing around the fire with Mel. “Right now there’s a couple of ladies over there I want to spend some quality time with. Enjoy it while you can, guys. The only day we’re guaranteed is yesterday.”
With that, I walked across the park, leaving them to think about it. We’ve had enough worry. Enough fighting. Tonight wasn’t about that. I came up behind Little Bit and scooped her off the ground. She laughed and kicked and I plopped her back on her feet. Taylor was standing on the side of the fire watching everyone run and dance. I grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the swirling circle of bodies.
As we made our way around the fire, I grabbed all of the girls by the hand, pulling them out. When I pulled Fred out, she dragged Aric with her. Mary did likewise with Thad when I dragged her out. Making another pass, I pulled Jess out. She resisted, saying she couldn’t dance, to which I replied, “Me neither!” As I passed Doc, I grabbed him and tried to pull him out, but he planted his heels and wouldn’t budge. So Instead, I pushed Jess into him, that was good enough.
I found Mel in the crowd and we danced through the swirling bodies. Seeing Miss Kay off to the side, I guided us over to her. Leaning in, I pointed at Sarge. “Go over and get that old man out there!”
Kay blushed. “Oh, I couldn’t.”
Mel grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him. “Yes you can. Go get him!”
Kay laughed and covered her mouth. Looking back over her shoulder, she shrugged and started off in his direction. Mel and I went back into the circle and bumped into Gina and Dylan. We laughed and traded partners and made a pass around the fire. Before long, everyone was changing up, and we all found ourselves dancing with people we didn’t even know. The fun was infectious and much needed.
The band quickly got into it as well, calling out to change partners. It was during one of those changes that I turned to see Kay and the old man. I smiled and held out my hand. “Mind if I cut in?” I asked.
“I do!” Sarge barked. “Find your own. This one’s mine.” Kay blushed and smiled and the two of them disappeared into the crowd again. I couldn’t help but smile at them. It’d taken long enough, but seeing that proved this was the greatest night I’d experienced in a long time. I went off to find Mel again, who I would dance with until the sun started to come up. Come what may tomorrow, I was going to enjoy this night, every last minute of it.
Avenging Home Page 31