The White House ordered two thousand members of the Texas National Guard to prepare an assault on the park. This order was followed by a stand down order from the Texas governor, who was then himself placed under arrest and custody by Homeland Security authorities by order of the President of the United States. The ranking general of the Texas National Guard also refused to comply with the assault order, and he too was relieved of duty and placed under arrest. During this time, no reporting of the conflict was being done by any Mainstream Media organizations. The only information to reach the public was by various Internet blogs and alternative news radio programs.
One by one those too were silenced by federal government authorities until for nearly two weeks, no word was heard from those inside the trailer park, or any word on the status of the Texas Resistance. Nothing was said of the conflict by government officials or law enforcement. Everything had gone strangely silent.
On July 7th, 2016, family members attempting to make their way into the park found all roadblocks had been lifted and no sign of any military or Homeland Security personnel. The road to the trailer park was clear, though when they arrived at the park’s location, only a few remnants it had ever existed remained. The earth was newly dug, the smell of explosives still hung in the air, but for the most part, the entirety of the park and the thousands who had fled to safety behind its barriers, were no more.
It would be the same pattern utilized repeatedly by the federal government against any other pockets of resistance as the nation transitioned from the United States into merely another member of the New United Nations. Secure the location, cut off communication, and, in order to avoid the conflict of military or law enforcement personnel refusing to engage against citizens as had happened in Texas, simply send in the drones to eliminate those resisting the mandates, and then bury any evidence of their existence under the earth. The lesson was one quickly learned by all citizens of America – resistance against Federal, and soon after, New United Nations’ authority…was futile.
An hour later, as I made the walk to room 4A I couldn’t help but feel just a bit of nervousness creep into me – Bear was an imposing man, and made little effort to lessen his naturally dominant physicality. Helping people feel at ease did not appear to be a high priority for him. That said, I had witnessed his gentle and protective nature around his wife and children – ample evidence that underneath his gruff exterior was a simple father and husband who wanted nothing more than to protect his family.
The door to Room 4A was open, and I could see Bear’s massive frame seated on one of the beds inside the room. Hearing my approaching steps he stood up and opened the door fully, nodding to another bed opposite the one he had been sitting on. A couple of toys were on the floor of the room, and a small framed portrait of the Tedlow family was hung on a wall next to the bed Bear once again sat down on.
The big man cleared his throat and folded his hands in front of him.
“Uh…I don’t talk to people much, but Clancy thinks my story might help you with your…your own description of things up here. The story, or whatever you’re calling it. So, if you want to ask me some questions, go ahead and do it.”
Inwardly I smiled as I realized the incredibly large and imposing man sitting across from me was nervous.
“First, let me say thank you, Mr. Tedlow for giving me the opportunity to speak with you.”
“Just call me Bear…been called that for a long time. Since high school. And as far as talking with you…that was Clancy’s idea. Not mine, so…you can thank her.”
“Ok…I’ll be sure to do that, Bear. I would like to record this – is that ok?”
Bear shrugged.
“Sure – whatever.”
“Ok then - let’s start with your full name, age, and where you were born.”
“Walter Tedlow. I’m forty-eight years old…born in Marlon, Texas. Small town. A…a good place to grow up.”
“Did you have any brothers and sisters?”
“No…only child.”
“Tell me about your parents.”
Bear raised his head to look up at me, then lowered his head again, his gaze falling onto the floor.
“Dad and Mom ran a little coffee shop in town. It was successful enough that we never wanted for anything, and me being the only child, I had my share of being spoiled I suppose. Dad also volunteered as an assistant football coach at the high school. He had played some college ball. Was a pretty big guy too – like me.”
“Was he the one who introduced you to the game?”
For the first time, I saw a small smile break across Bear’s face.
“Yeah…Dad loved football. He wasn’t much of a talker…except around football. Coaching it or watching it, football took him out of his shell. It gave us a bond I guess…a connection between father and son. Him and me would play catch…watch the games on television after we got home from church…and I’d watch him coaching on Friday nights. Home games, away games…Mom and me went to them all. Me and her would talk all the way to the games and then we’d both watch Dad coaching on the sidelines. By the time I was no more than five I knew I was going to play football too…never a doubt about it. And it helped I kept growing…Mom would always joke I was eating them out of house and home. I got taller, bigger and by 8th grade I was already becoming known in town for being one hell of a ball player. They had me running the ball on offense back then, and playing the line on defense. As much as I liked scoring touchdowns…I loved tackling people even more. So by the time I was a freshman in high school, my focus was on being the best defensive player I could. Laying a hit on someone…I loved it.”
“So you had a loving, supportive home?”
“Oh hell, yeah…the best. Now Dad, he could be tough on me. Didn’t say much around the house…outside of football, and if I messed up, he would come down on me pretty hard. Mom was the peace maker between us as I got older…I could always talk to her. With Dad…you know as a boy gets older they’ll test their parents. Kind of a push and pull thing…and I would test Dad and piss him off and he’d push back…but overall…we got along. And when I started playing high school ball and he was one of my coaches, it worked out. I was worried going in that it would cause more stress between us but he always kept that separation between being my coach and being my dad…and he helped to make me a better player. And…and a better man.
“High school football...what a great time. Friday night football in Texas – you felt like a god out on that field. And I was good. I’m not saying that to brag, just how it was. By my sophomore year I was defensive captain…had recruiters calling the home, coming to the games. But Dad and Mom kept me grounded - always emphasized my education. I remember my junior year I was already about six foot six by then and about two hundred seventy pounds. There was this pro scout who stopped by the house. He talked to us for almost an hour and then at the very end he suggested I didn’t need to go to college – that I could go pro right out of high school. My dad literally picked the guy up by his collar and walked him out to the car. I was going to college and that was that. My parents always told me that an education had to part of the deal or else I’d just be another idiot cashing big checks and blowing the money and then when it was time to be a father myself, I wouldn’t have the common sense to do it right.”
There was a pause in the conversation, and I sensed Bear fighting to control emotions that were now beginning to re-surface.
“Both of your parents are now deceased, correct?”
Bear’s hands rubbed the temple area on each side of his head, as his eyes continued to stare down at the floor.
“Yeah…Dad went first. Mom…she went about five years later. It got…it got messy between them toward the end. That last year before Dad was gone. None of us really knew what…what he was doing. Or why. Not then. We understood later…he was right about it all. But…at the time we just thought he had gone crazy.”
“You’re talking about the Texas Resistance, right?�
�
“Yeah, the resistance. That was…it was my sixth season in the pros, was playing for my second team – Dallas. A few years earlier my dad started to…he was always going on about the government. There had been a bunch of lawsuits against football. Some injuries…people were talking about banning the game. That talk had been going on for about ten years before that…I remember when I was playing high school football there was some talk about it. Well, by 2013 that talk started getting more serious and my dad was very upset over it – Congress was looking into it. So we had at that time the whole gun restriction movement going on…then the football ban…my parents’ coffee house business was getting fined by the IRS because they were being told they had screwed up with the new healthcare regulations. Just a bunch of stuff came down on my parents’ heads all at once. And I was off playing pro ball…so I wasn’t really around. I didn’t realize how angry my dad was getting until…until later.
“It was early 2015 when Congress passed some idiotic bill on required safety for high school sports – and soon after that football was banned for all minors. It was called too dangerous. There were some schools that ignored the ban the next year…there was an athletic director in California who was arrested and sentenced to nine months. That was the first time I heard the term “re-education facility”. That was also…I got to spend the holidays at home that year because I was coming off knee surgery – tore an ACL the third game of the season. Dad was…they were closing the coffee shop by then due to the IRS fines. Had to lay off twenty-two employees right before Christmas. That had Mom upset – but Dad was the one who was getting scary pissed. The school where he coached at dropped football, and people were starting to talk about home visits by government officials looking for illegal firearms. Now, this is Texas where owning a gun is…it’s like owning a stove, or a microwave. And my dad, we’re at the dinner table that night and he’s going on and on about how the government is coming for us. How it’s turning into some kind of one-world organization. He seemed really volatile…really angry. And then he was pointing at me and saying how the NFL was going to be banned too…that he had read that Congress was about to shut it down just like they shut down high school football. That they were going to take away my ability to use my God-given talent to make a living.”
‘So you didn’t agree with him then…about the growth of government power, the gun grabs, all of that?”
Bear stood up from the bed and bent from side to side, stretching his back.
“Mind if I stand? Got a bad back.”
Without waiting for me to answer, Bear continued his story.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t agree with my dad. It was more…I wasn’t really paying much attention. I was a guy in his 20’s making a couple million dollars a year playing pro football and having a blast. I thought the football ban in high schools was stupid, didn’t like the idea of the government taking away people’s guns, was sad to see my parents’ business close down…but I figured I could take care of them anyways. That they deserved some time off and I could give that to them, so what was the big deal?”
“And that’s how you put it to your dad – what’s the big deal?”
“Sorta. I told him I didn’t think it was really that bad - that he was taking things too personally.”
‘And how did he react to that?”
“He blew up, basically told me I had blinders on. Kept saying how it wasn’t America anymore. That the country was gone…the president was pushing us into a one-world organization where we no longer had control over our own lives as American citizens. He told me to stop listening to the Mainstream Media. He was listening to some Internet radio program with a couple women who he said were explaining how everything was really happening. He walked out of the house after dinner. Mom said he was going for these long walks more and more. That’s when she showed me the guns. All the guns he had picked up over the last few months back then.”
“Guns? What kind of guns?”
“All kinds…we always had a couple guns in the house since I was a kid. A basic 12 gauge he used for duck hunting with friends…and a little 22 rifle him and me used to do target practice with. We weren’t into guns all that much as a family…just those two guns. Mom took me into the shed…we had this little ten by ten shed in the backyard…she opened up that shed and showed me all the guns. Must have been about twenty of them in there. Handguns, rifles, a few more shotguns, all hanging from the walls…and boxes and boxes of ammo. That’s when I really started to think my dad was losing it. Becoming way too paranoid. I asked Mom if she felt safe and she said yes – he never threatened her. Dad was just…he just kept saying how it wasn’t America and the government was destroying everything. Just swallowing everyone and everything up.”
“Did your mom agree with your dad on any of those feelings? Toward the government?”
“Maybe a bit…she just wasn’t aggressive like he was. I know it broke her heart to have to close the coffee shop and lay off the employees. Some of them were like family…had been with them for a lot of years. She didn’t like all those guns though…she was worried that Dad was taking things too far. He would tell her it was to protect their home…that every gun in that shed was a legal firearm, that he had every right under the Constitution to own them.”
“So what happened then – after the holidays?”
“I was back on the road with the team, I’d check in with Mom every week or so. She would say they were doing fine…but I could tell something wasn’t right. Then I got a call…it was very early in the morning. Mom was crying, said Dad had gone off to join some anti-government group calling itself the Texas Resistance. I had already heard the name from some news reports, the media was calling it a white power group.”
“Was it?”
Bear scowled at the question.
“No. White power…my dad would never be involved in something like that. That was just media propaganda so that people wouldn’t be upset when the resistance was wiped out by the government. Most of the original members were actually hunting rights advocates…people who were getting harassed by government officials about their guns. By then, in the cities…Dallas, Houston, the urban areas…the gun bans were being enforced. People were getting fined and imprisoned. Out in the rural areas, the enforcement was just getting started but the people outside the cities weren’t so willing to comply. Eventually word got out there was this trailer park outside Waco…the owner there was telling people to bring their guns and live there for free. That they were all going to tell the government to go to hell. Dad had tried to get Mom to come with him…he said the city of Marlon wasn’t safe for them anymore. That he was being watched – they both were. Mom stayed, Dad left.”
“What did you do then?”
“Played football…made some calls. Had a guy working in the Marlon police department I went to school with…asked him if he knew anything about the Texas Resistance…told him my dad was mixed up in it. He told me…I remember exactly how he put it…told me that my dad was already a dead man. That all those people in that trailer park were not going to come out of that alive…the Feds had taken over the response. Then…it was not even a full twenty four hours later…I’m getting called into the front office…the general manager is telling me they’re letting me go. They’d pay out the remainder of my contract and that’s it…I was told to clean out my locker immediately.”
“Just like that?”
Bear nodded.
“Yeah – just like that. I asked why of course, asked to have my union rep intervene. They told me it was out of their hands. The union wanted nothing to do with me…that if I wasn’t out of there by the end of the day I would be arrested for trespassing. Later I got a call from the coach…he said two people from DHS…Homeland Security… had come in a couple days earlier and then I was dropped from the team. The next I’m at home, still in shock, and I get a knock at my door and there’s two guys from DHS. They are both armed, and ask to come in. I say yes and they s
it me down and start asking all these questions about my dad and mom. Ask me if I’ve spoken to my dad, if we have any other homes he might be staying at, asking me about what type of guns he has…if my mom knew how to fire a gun…it was question after question. They finished up and left, but then I started noticing a car parked outside my place all the time - black sedan, government plates. So I’m getting more and more paranoid. I go to see my mom. I’m there for about twenty minutes, look out the window. There’s the car again parked outside. Same car. I ask my mom about it. She said she was noticing the same thing - like she was being followed.
“Few weeks later I start hearing about how the authorities are shutting down that trailer park my dad is supposed to be at. So I drive out there to see what is going on. They turn me back – they got the place surrounded ten miles out…must have been a hundred military people on that road easy. The day after I tried to go out there, the same two guys from DHS are at my home again…asking what I was up to. Why I made the trip. Day after that I get a visit from an IRS agent telling me they suspect me of owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes. I call my mom and she tells me she got a visit from the IRS too. Same thing – told her she and my dad owe taxes. I could tell…tell things were closing in on us. All of us.”
Military Fiction: THE MAC WALKER COLLECTION: A special ops military fiction collection... Page 86