HOSHOKU_IN THE APOCALYPSE, A HERO RISES

by Vincent Fields

  CHAPTER 19: DIARY ENTRY

  The day has come that many thought never possible. I went to bed last night taking the security of our nation for granted. I awoke this morning to find society crumbling. Many of my friends and co-workers died this very day. I had a criminal held custody in my care today that I ended up killing. I did not come to this decision lightly. I have dealt with evil men before during my time in the Marines. I have had to extract information from terrorists. There is a difference between a man who takes criminal actions out of desperation and one who hurts others for his own perverted enjoyment. The man whose life I took today was a truly evil man, and in my heart I know the world is a better place for it. Still, I have to ask myself if I did the right thing. Who am I to be judge and juror over another man’s life? Had he been in my custody merely a day earlier, he would most likely be sitting in a jail cell right now. But oh, what a change this day has made. I wonder what my mother would have said.

  The local, militia-like group of criminals that he belonged to undoubtedly needs to be stopped, and time is of the essence. I have always tried to play by the rules and be “a good cop”. I am supposed to be an officer of the law and always do “the right thing.” Exactly what that is, isn’t always so clear though. This is no mere localized emergency in which the rest of the country can respond and help us out; like if it were an earthquake, hurricane, flood or forest fire. This is affecting everyone in the country… in the world… all at the same time. I do not expect a quick recovery or a return to normalcy anytime soon. Who’s free to come to our aid? We’re on our own. Those of us remaining will have to band together and show people that there is still hope; that we don’t have to resort to a lawless society ruled by power-hungry thugs.

  In my heart I want to make my father proud, to honor the life lessons on goodness and morality that he taught me. I believe in the Bushido code and I want to follow. I cannot deny what I feel within my very being, coursing through the blood in my veins… the same blood that pumped through my ancestors who were undoubtedly heroic. I know that I must rise up and face the evil that has reared its ugly head today, and defeat it by any means necessary… ANY means necessary. To do this I will likely have to resort to things that a “good cop” normally wouldn’t do. I hope I do not disgrace my father’s memory or that of any of my ancestors; but I know that the rules have changed and I have already changed with them. If fear that to hesitation would lead to death. Those who have not experienced true war often cannot understand this. Where will the courts and judges be to prosecute the criminals of today and tomorrow? What of the prisons to hold them? I can see the entire criminal justice system falling apart, starting this very day. Evil men will have to be dealt with swiftly and harshly; to do otherwise would only empower them. They are like a cancer that must be plucked out of an otherwise healthy body; for they only do harm. I am empowered and able to do so, along with help from my fellow officers and like-minded people. As Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” I will do whatever is necessary to ensure that doesn’t happen. In my heart, I do not believe I am making an immoral choice. I could never do that.

  While I do not know what tomorrow holds, I am unwilling to sit idly by and let events unfold without doing whatever I can to ensure a good future for my friends, coworkers, and the citizens I have sworn to serve and protect. A strong criminal force is taking advantage of the events that are unfolding today locally, and I feel confident that if someone doesn’t do something about it, they will prevail. That someone is me.

  I am reminded of some words my father wrote and had hanging on the dojo wall as I grew up. Each time I read it I draw deeper meaning and inspiration from it.

  Imagine what your life shall become.

  Who decides your success or failure?

  What is this thing called reality?

  How can I fulfill my desires in the face of such harsh opposition?

  Who drives the coach deciding my destiny?

  Only my imaginary masters.

  But should I grasp the reigns whipping the beasts,

  my destiny would be of my own choosing.

  A stubborn dedication lies within every heart,

  always hidden until ones’ will demands its presence.

  Beyond the dreams, through pursuit of aspirations.

  The struggle to desires must be welcomed.

  Make your life what it shall become.

  YOU decide your success or failure.

  Reality is what you decide it to be,

  only if your dreaming with open eyes.

  I do indeed dream of a better future, and my eyes are wide open. I am determined to take action… righteous action, to bring it about. May God help me and direct my path.

  - Takamura Graves

  CHAPTER 20: MAJOR MEDINA

  3:35AM, Day 2 of the new world

  After finding out Gunner’s plans from Ghost, Tak went to his com center where Amy sat on duty reading a magazine at the desk. She looked at him curiously “What is it Tak?” “Amy, I have just discovered plans by the Sons of Freedom to attack the National Guard Armory today at 11AM. I’ve tried calling them but calls aren’t going through. I’m going to go alert them and see if I can enlist some of their help in stopping the Sons. I just wanted to give you a head’s up before I leave.” She thought about it and said “How good is your intel?” “I’m pretty confident it’s accurate Amy. If they get the weapons and munitions stored at the Armory, it would be disastrous.” She reached out and grabbed his hand and pulled herself up, saying “I’m going with you.” He started to protest but she stopped him before he could “You know I’m better at negotiations and dealing with the public than anyone else in the department. We’re just going out to talk; I’ll be fine.” He held up the back of the fingers of his right hand and softly touched her cheek as he looked into her eyes, trying to think of some way to tell her to stay here and take it easy. He knew she could use more rest, but the fire in her eyes told him that she wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Well… OK, suit up. I expect today’s events will be crucial for the future of the area, one way or the other.”

  20 minutes later they took off in his Jeep towards the armory. They didn’t say much on the way, as the city seemed different than usual. A weight of dread hung over Marion like a dark, foreboding thundercloud. They passed by at least a dozen wrecks that hadn’t been cleaned up with a few still on fire; left to burn out on their own. For the most part the city seemed like a ghost town with several fires burning out of control. Folks seemed to know it wasn’t safe to be out. Several stores stood open with broken windows; obviously having been looted earlier in the day. Once they pulled up to the armory Tak hit his lights and sirens. After about 30 seconds, two desert camo clad soldiers emerged from the building; both wearing plate carriers and sidearms with one of them carrying an M-16 A2 service rifle slung over his chest, pointing down.

  Tak turned off his lights and sirens and he and Amy exited the jeep. The soldier with the rifle was a young, wiry, white Private First Class with a nametag above his left chest pocket that read “WRIGHT”. The soldier in front of him was a mid-20’s muscular black Sergeant with a small moustache whose nametag read “ALLEN”. Both men wore low brimmed military covers atop their high and tight haircuts. Sergeant Allen said “Mornin’ officers. What brings you here at this hour?” Tak said “Good morning Sergeant. I need to speak with the Commanding Officer of the Armory immediately. It is about a time-sensitive matter of extreme importance.” Allen looked at him seriously and said “Hold on sir, let me go wake him.” He turned around and jogged back inside. A couple minutes later he returned and said “Come with me officers. The major will see you.” Tak and Amy followed the Sergeant through the main entrance and into the facility until they got to a large office with a sign on the door that read;

  US NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY: MARION ILLINOIS

  COMMANDING OFFICER

  MAJOR MEDINA


  Sergeant Allen knocked and a gruff voice from somewhere deeper on the other side answered “Come on in”. He opened the door and Tak and Amy walked in the Major’s office. Several plaques and pictures of the Major in combat gear with other soldiers in foreign locations adorned the walls. A large metal desk was in the center of the room with a row of four metal chairs in front of it and a large office chair behind it. A door was open on the left side of the room that led into what appeared to be the Major’s private sleeping quarters; which he was emerging out of. The Major was a short stocky man, thick with muscle and of Hispanic descent. He had a sharp high and tight haircut and military tattoos adorned his arms. He wore a green army t-shirt and running shorts. He rubbed his eyes sleepily as he walked up to stand in front of the officers. He said “This better be pretty damn important to wake me at this hour.” Tak replied; it is sir. I have good intel of an impending attack by a large gang of raiding criminals on this Armory at 11AM this morning. They intend to kill everyone here and take weapons, explosives, vehicles, and anything else of value they may find.” The major stepped back and looked at Tak’s face a bit closer. He looked at his nametag and said “Graves huh? Wasn’t your dad Charles?” Tak replied “Yes sir, he ran a local MMA dojo.” The major replied “Ya, I knew him. I trained with him several years ago for a couple years before I got transferred out of country. He really knew what he was doing. I still teach my men some of the things he taught me. OK, have a seat and give me the details son”.

  Over the next hour Tak and Amy caught the major up on the whole situation. At first hewas reluctant to offer the officers his military weaponry and explosives, but Amy played a crucial role in convincing him to lend them assistance, since they would be fighting for the Armory soldier’s lives after all. In the end the major offered up what he could. While he lacked much manpower since most of the soldiers had not shown up for duty, he had some good weaponry. They all left the major’s office and went down to the secure armory. After going through a set of thick sliding grills and being let into the armory’s vault-like door by the soldier stationed inside of it, they entered the actual bunker where the weapons and munitions were kept. Rows of black rifles and pistols hung in racks on the walls of a room that stretched out a good 100 feet before them, lit by florescent lights above the long isle in the middle. Inside of large metal cabinets were grenades of various types. Claymore mine filled another metal box. Tak felt like a kid in a candy store. The major said “We have one AT-4 anti-tank rocket weapons system left over from our last training that we didn’t get around to firing. You shoot it once and throw it away. I only have a dozen fragmentation grenades I can spare, but I can give you a whole crate of 50 white phosphorus grenades, if they would be of any use to you.” He walked over to another set of racks that held light machine guns. On it were a dozen M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon machine guns with Trijicon ACOG scopes mounted on them. Tak looked at the major and smiled. Major Medina chuckled and said “We’re pretty short staffed here at the Armory, but I can probably round up a couple volunteers to go with you to fire the AT-4 and one of the SAW’s if you’d like.” Tak nodded “Yes sir, I’d appreciate their help.”

  20 minutes later Tak’s jeep and an Army Humvee with the two volunteers were loaded full of equipment. All in all he’d gotten three M-249 SAW machine guns, almost 5,000 rounds of linked 5.56 ammo, a dozen fragmentation grenades, 50 white phosphorus grenades, one incendiary grenade, one AT-4 weapons system, 20 gallons of gasoline and two soldiers on loan who had volunteered to help them. As they drove back to his place he reached over and grabbed Amy’s hand and said “I think we’re going to be ok.” She smiled as butterflies seemed to move in her stomach.

  CHAPTER 21: PLANNING

  8AM: Day 2 of the new world

  Several police sat around Tak’s rectangular wooden table kitchen table this morning. They were drinking coffee and, stereotypically, eating doughnuts that sergeant Naff had brought from the local bakery. Tak had oatmeal and sliced fruit there for himself. DeYoung was at the left most end with his bandaged leg resting up on a chair. He wore gym shorts and a police academy t-shirt. Naff, Stotlar, Botha, Lewis, Hoyt, Sergeant Allen, PFC Wright and Tak sat around the table. Amy Braxton sat drinking Gatorade in a comfortable office chair in front of the com center against the right wall of the room behind Tak; her left shoulder freshly bandaged. She had put Tak’s jogging pants and tank top shirt back on, obviously not having any intention of leaving the house. She was feeling a little better but was still weak from the loss of blood. She monitored the com center but was half turned towards the kitchen table so she could still participate in the discussion with the others. Several family members of the various officers were waiting outside while they conducted this meeting. After some small talk over breakfast and the introductions of the two soldiers to the officers, Tak got down to business.

  “Folks, as you all likely know, phone calls aren’t going through most of the time since everything started going to hell yesterday. Amy and I have been in radio communication with officers from several local police departments, and it’s not looking good out there. They each have their hands full with their own emergencies. Apparently half a dozen nearby PD’s were also bombed yesterday afternoon. I have learned that this was a coordinated attack by the Sons of Freedom, who you all are somewhat familiar with. I had a meeting with a Major Medina from the local National Guard Armory early this morning. He has given us quite a bit of useful weaponry and loaned these two soldiers to us for the remainder of the day; which I am very thankful to them for volunteering to do so. Now, after the events of yesterday, it’s just the eight of us officers remaining of our entire force. The citizens of our city are in desperate need of law enforcement officers right now. Braxton and DeYoung will stay here and work the com center in shifts. They’ll be trying to reach any active or reserve officers who might still be out there. That leaves six of us to protect the entire city; an impossible task. These soldiers will be assisting us throughout the remainder of today. That doesn’t mean we’ll give up and do nothing. I think bringing your families here was a good move, because you wouldn’t be able to do your jobs properly if you were worrying about their immediate safety. We’ll have a group talk with all of them after this meeting is over. For now, know that each of you have my sincere respect. Unlike several officers and soldiers who didn’t even show up to work when this crisis began, you all stood up for those you know are in need. I salute each of you for that.”

  They all listened carefully and nodded in agreement. Tak continued, “Your families can stay in the bunkhouse out back, the dojo, and my pole barn. There are welcome to come in here as well to use the kitchen and bathroom. There is another restroom in the barn, and plenty of space in the other buildings for them to set up cots and sleeping bags. The whole place is connected to a solar backup system, so if the power grid goes down, which I suspect it will, we’ll have to conserve the energy we use. I have unlimited water fed from two wells. There is a large garden that provides us plenty of fruits and vegetables. The basement is stocked with enough canned food to last us all several months. What’s mine is yours; but if you can add to our supply from your own that would be great.”

  Amy spoke up and said, “Tak; my parents have an old motorhome nearby that they don’t use. They are in Florida now so if we need it we could use it here. A family could live comfortably in it. Do you have 30 amp service we could plug it into?” Tak replied, “That’s a great idea Amy. Yep, there is a power box on a pole barn exterior wall it can plug into. We can run a hose to the RV as well for fresh water. We’ll go get it in a day or two once we deal with some more pressing issues.”