The Shelter: The Aftermath

by Ira Tabankin

  “Holy crap. I never expected to have to fight Russians in our backyards. Todd, did you pick up any information what they were after?”

  “I ran the auto-translation SW John had installed, I heard them talk about killing us so they could take over our homes and the farm. They planned to make our homes theirs.”

  “Oh shit, I wonder if there are more of them running around the country. That’s all we need, financial meltdown, a crazy President who’s trying to get himself named as Emperor of the World, crazed mobs of people stripping the land and now Russians. I wonder what else can go wrong.”

  Todd smiles saying, “We haven’t been invaded by aliens yet.”

  “Want to bet? We all think Ricky’s an alien.”

  “You win this round.”

  @@@@@

  Ricky is free from his confinement, since the girls who entered the shelter during the storm took over his cell. He walks around the shelter smiling, everyone is depressed, they’re going to be easy to turn against Jay. If I play this right, I can replace Jay as the leader and take over Jay’s castle. I heard Lacy say Jay might not make it. We’ll move back to our homes and spread Jay’s wealth to the needy. We’ll increase our numbers and be able to spread equality to the entire area. I’m finally in a position to put an end to Jay’s far right wing extremist position and show everyone the right way to live, none of this super rich shit. Everyone will have what they need based upon their needs. Jay’s got enough supplies and money hidden someplace to support thousands. I can show everyone the right way to live. This is my best chance. With Jay, Tony and John out of the picture, there’s no one to stop me. I can free the two girls we captured, they’ll be good PR to help convince any others we encounter when we exit this dumb shelter. I think the only roadblock is going to be Todd. I need to find a way to make him persona-non-grata with everyone here. All it’s going to take is spreading a little BS here and there to make people think he’s not trustworthy, they’ll do the rest for me.

  @@@@@

  Captain Black’s company rolls up the hill taking the Russian’s by surprise. “Well, what do we have here? Sergeant, why don’t you convince these nice young men to bare their souls, because where I’m standing it looks like we’ve got a Russian invasion on USA soil. Or at least we’ve got ourselves some good old boys who forgot to speak southern English and are cursing in Russian. I’m sure our President would love to know we just captured some Russian Spetsnaz, this might even be cause for a nuclear first strike on their Motherland.”

  The Russian corporal replies, “Captain, maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement. I see no need to tell your President anything. It would get very messy for the entire world. You fire nuclear missiles at the Rodina, she will have to respond, then the little yellow bastards will join the party. I tell you, nothing good will come from this. We make a deal, yes?”

  Captain Black sits on the front of his LAV, “Tell me, what type of deal you have in mind?”

  “Captain, we have gold, silver, jewels, surely we can reach an agreement. You forget you ever saw us, we disappear and we forget we were ever here. See, as you say a win, win. Yes?”

  “Where did you get the gold and silver from?”

  “This is between us, yes?”

  “Of course.” Said a smiling Captain Black, who knew his conversation was being recorded.

  Laughing the Russian tries to speak, but he’s laughing too hard, he’s about to step away from his spot when the sergeant says, “I wouldn’t take another step, there are mines and trip wires all around you.”

  “Yes, I know. Thank you.”

  “Please continue your story, then I’ll show you the way out of the minefield.”

  “We made a post on the internet, we sell guns to your Tea Party, we sell them AR15s and ammo, thousands of weapons.”

  “Why did you sell the Tea Party weapons?”

  Laughing, the Russian responds, “This is good part, we sell them their own weapons to fight you, funny, yes?”

  “You armed American citizens to start a civil war?”

  “Da, you very fast learner.”

  “Captain, if you know there are mines here, how did you reach us?”

  The Sergeant holds up two boxes, one on a long handle, with a flat panel at the other end, “Ground penetrating radar.”

  “You Americans have too many toys. We have to do this the old fashioned way. If we know there are mines, we look for them with our knives. We didn’t know about the mines until it was too late. We lose our captain and his best friend our political officer to these damned mines. Now we are stuck here. Then you come to save us.”

  “Whoever planted them laid them in a nice interlocking pattern, nasty little mines aren’t they? We dug a couple up. They appeared to be very deadly. I’m sure the residents here are happy to know they were very deadly.”

  “They not yours?”

  “No, who were you fighting?”

  “Owners of farm. They fight like trapped scorpions, they sting very bad, kill most of our team.”

  “Where are these owners of the farm?”

  The Russian continues laughing “That, American Captain is a good question. We do not know. We fight them, we kill some, they kill many of us. Then boom, many mines explode, many smoke grenades, we chase and discover we are in a minefield. Many of my friends are blown apart. We chased them, then we have lost them. I have no idea where they are. As you say, magic, one minute here, next gone. Poof, gone like dust in wind. Captain, to be honest, we have no idea where they went. Maybe they have a secret elevator or something?”

  “Really? That’s an interesting thought.”

  Captain Black turns his head to his sergeant.

  “Sergeant, why don’t you take a couple of men and disarm our guests. Then show them the safe path out of the mine field. Make sure they don’t get lonely.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Gentlemen, my men are going to zip tie your wrists behind your backs and do a careful search for weapons. When they approach you, please hand them your rifle, your sidearm, your primary knife, your backup knife, and your back up back up knife. I’ve dealt with your kind before. If any of you try to overpower my men, we’ll kill you here and now. If we kill you, I have less paperwork to complete. So understand, I’d like to kill you versus filling out paperwork.”

  The sergeant laughs, “You don’t know how much the captain hates paperwork.”

  @@@@@

  The Chairman of Bank of America, the world’s twelfth largest bank looks around the conference table at his Board of Directors, “That’s it? We’re out of cash? What about the new currency?”

  “Sir, speaking for operations, the Treasury Department informed us large shipments of the new currency have been stolen by the Tea Party and militias. Sir, we’re out of the new currency and per the President’s Executive order, we’re not allowed to distribute the old currency.”

  “So, you’re saying we’re cashless?”

  “Sir, we have plenty of assets, we’re just cash poor. We have no cash on hand. We have lines of angry customers demanding we convert their currency per the President’s speech. Our branches are swamped. I’m afraid it could get nasty if we tell them we’re out of cash.”

  “Can we borrow some from the Fed?”

  “No sir, they don’t have any either. They told us, the Tea Party raid stole all of the cash destined for our area. They expect to be caught up in six or eight weeks.” Said the Executive Vice President for operations.

  The Chairman looked around the table, “Has anyone thought to call any of the other banks?”

  The Executive Vice President of Operations shakes his head, “Sir, they all called us asking if they could borrow from us.”

  “The entire banking system is out of cash on the first day of the conversion?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’ll call the President. Let’s reconvene in two hours.”

  The Board files out of the conference room depressed. A couple of di
rectors look down on the street, they see lines of people waiting for their turn to use the bank’s ATM machines and a line that goes around the bank in the headquarters ground floor. One of the directors is talking to himself under his breath, “This isn’t good, we can’t wait six to eight weeks for cash, the people aren’t going to wait a day. It’s only a matter of time before tempers erupt into riots. If we’re not careful, it will be the largest riot in the country’s history. The Tea Party screwed the country into the ground this time. This could end up destroying the country. The people already aren’t happy with the conversion tax. Without cash to convert and the President not delaying the deadline, we’re going to see a mass upheaval, there’s a real chance the government could be overthrown. I think it’s time to pick up the wife and get on the boat and sail to greener seas. This is going to suck. The cities will explode, I don’t want to be here when it happens”. He’s interrupted by another Board member, “What do you think?”

  “About?”

  “The current situation, the lack of cash and all that.”

  “I think the entire country is going to fall apart.”

  “Don’t be so dark, everything will quickly settle down. The people will understand and quickly settle down. You’ll see. Are you coming back for the meeting?”

  “Wish I could, but I have another appointment, one I can’t get out of.”

  “Well, then, good luck, will we see you next month?”

  “Of course, I’m looking forward to our next meeting.” He thought, I’m not returning until things settle down, which might be months or more likely years. I’m happy I started stocking my boat two months ago with supplies. If I’m lucky, my wife won’t want to leave and either Anne or Sue, maybe both will want to go on a long vacation. I think the city is going to explode very soon.

  Chapter 3

  After spending fifteen hours in back to back surgeries, Doctor Basco walks out of the makeshift surgical center to get something to eat. He’s looking forward to a large mug of fresh hot coffee before he returns to check on Jay. He sits in a corner sipping his coffee while trying to relax. Fred enters the cafeteria, seeing the doctor, he looks at the doctor who waves him over. Fred sits across from him, asking, “How are you doing?”

  “Tired but fine. All three of our surgical patients are in recovery, Tony and John will be fine. Both turned out to be minor surgeries. Tony needed a cast on his arm because a bullet cracked a bone. John is awake and driving the nurse crazy, we expect him to release himself by the time I return. If he hasn’t, I’ll either sedate him or kick him out.”

  “Will John be okay?”

  “Yes, it’s not the first time either’s been shot. We found at least three other gunshot scars on John’s upper body. All minor. We told him we’d let him go if he promised to stay in his room or the security center.”

  “How’s Tony?”

  “He’s a hard SOB. He’s in good spirits, which is good. We don’t want to cross him.”

  Fred smiles, thinking, Great news, we can use both of them back at work ASAP, our small community needs to see them back at work and walking around. It’ll help morale. “That only leaves Jay.”

  Doctor Basco, looks at Fred, he leans forward and lowers his voice to a whisper, “Fred, he’s not good. Tony and John got hit with FMJ bullets, whatever hit Jay broke apart when the bullets broke through his armor. There was fragments of the bullets and his vest inside him. We lost him twice on the table. I’ve put him in a drug-induced coma to let his body stabilize. We have to go back in to control his internal bleeding.”

  Fred pauses, “Doc, will he make it?”

  “Fred, it’s in God’s hands, we’ve done all we can for him.”

  “Jay invited almost everyone he and Tony thought we’d need to join us in the shelter, for some reason, a man of God either wasn’t invited or didn’t make it. It’s our one major weakness. We don’t have someone to lead us in prayer.”

  “You don’t need anyone to lead you, everyone can pray on their own, or everyone can get together and silently pray. I have the nurse watching Jay, one of us will be with him the next 48 hours.”

  “I don’t have to remind you, he’s our soul and leader and I’m not sure how everyone will react or even make it without him. You have to find a way to save him.”

  “Fred, please, we’ve heard the same story from everyone. We had to tell Lacy to get some sleep or we’d remove her. She was starting to get in the way of our care for him.”

  “Please, for all of our sakes find a way to perform a miracle.”

  “Fred, miracles aren’t usually something we handle. Believe me, we understand how important he is to all of us. We’re doing everything we can for him.”

  “Please enjoy your break, can you let me know any change of his condition?”

  “Of course, will you do me a favor?”

  “Anything.”

  “Help Lacy.”

  “Of course, I knew she needed help. I sent Cheri to stay with her.”

  “Good, she shouldn’t be alone.”

  @@@@@

  People who are able to exchange their currency for the new quickly learn that the new currency dissolves in water, the ink runs, coloring their hands and clothing. The dye left millions holding worthless paper, they’re furious they exchanged their hard earned cash for worthless soggy paper, which can’t buy them a cup of coffee. People’s complaints to news media are withheld. The stories are ‘spiked’, the press is under orders from the White House not to report any negative stories about the exchange of currency. Stores hang signs saying they won’t accept the new currency, they worry something will spill on the paper bills, rending it useless. With much of the countries infrastructure in ruins, computer networks are down as is over 65% of the world’s electrical grid. Credit and debit cards are worthless without functional networks. Barter has replaced currency for many businesses, some start to accept gold and silver coins for their inventory. Goods changed price many times each day as the demand and supply swayed back and forth as sellers judged the market demand for what they had left in inventory. Average people sell or trade everything they can spare to stay alive since deliveries have stopped. America finally found the cure for obesity, lack of deliveries, no restaurants, and empty shelves went a long way to curbing America’s weight problem.

  @@@@@

  The President’s mind drifts while he’s in a meeting with his cabinet, He’s listening to the Secretary of the Treasury thinking, the damn Republicans must have damaged the printing presses or changed the ink. The Chairman of BOA told me the Tea Party and local militias stole the entire shipment of new currency we earmarked for the West Coast. I wish I could have them all arrested. I’m fighting the Chinese and the right, I think the right is a larger threat to the country. I’ll issue orders to have their leaders arrested for interfering with the currency exchange. I had a brilliant idea to change our currency. We get to charge the fools to convert their life savings, helping cover our cash shortages without having to print additional dollars, increasing inflation. If we collect enough, I’ll be able to restart entitlement payments enabling me, under martial law, to stay in office for life. Every time I think we’ve passed the last hurdle, the Tea Party or their allies in the Republican Party stir up problems deepening our crises. I wonder if I can outlaw them.

  “Mr. Secretary, I have one question.”

  “Of course Mr. President.”

  “How the hell did the Tea Party cause us to run out of cash on the first day of the conversion?”

  “Sir, it’s very complicated, our experts came up with an amount of cash they projected was going to be required. We put it in our report to you, the report came back marked ‘rejected, too expensive’. We, therefore, reduced the amount of cash we supplied. We asked the banks to limit how much each customer could convert every day, we ran commercials and wanted to put up billboards reminding everyone there was a limit on how much they could convert each day. We ran into a problem with no one accepting
our bid to place billboards, we didn’t expect the gas shortage to be as bad as it turned out to be. Then the damn right wing nut jobs began storming banks demanding their right to exchange all of their funds. We had a run on the banks caused by the right. They refused to work with us, they stirred up panic across the country. Their crazy talk radio hosts told their listeners we lacked sufficient currency to convert their funds, they told their listeners the new currency was nothing but a tax shell game. Had they stayed on the sidelines, everything would have worked perfectly.”

  The Secretary of the EPA stood, “Mr. President, the right is also protesting us closing down the fracking sector. Once the King of Saudi lowered the cost of their oil, it made no sense for us to continue the risk of polluting our own water supply. I issued orders shutting down all fracking. We’re going to be saving the environment.”