by Cooper, DJ
The gang members that were guarding the supplies began to fire into the woods wildly, they’d had no idea what caused the truck to halt but instinctively just fired. Not even close to hitting the militia that now surrounded them. They’d exhausted much of their ammo and now stood reloading when the order for attack was given and they descended. Both supply trucks were guarded by these ruthless men who would not surrender and again began firing in all directions after the order to surrender was shouted. Tawny took aim on one that was barking out orders from the back of the lead truck. She sucked in a breath of air and held it as she slowly pulled the trigger. Thwap, the round struck him dead center of his throat, ending his orders abruptly. The man next to him watched wide eyed as he slumped into a heap on the ground beside the truck. The next round silently struck his chest before he could move to escape. It only took a few more rounds before the others retreated, the supplies were confiscated. Still on the same trucks they were taken to the staging area. The convoy was haphazardly guarded and easily overwhelmed even as the gang fired back at them in their retreat. The rounds falling short of any target.
The assault on the far side of the camp worked to draw the guards away and kept their attention firing on the fence line. They called in one reinforcement cry after another to ward off the assault. Aaron and his men were able to easily overpower the single guard left in each refugee tent. Listening on ole Shultzie’s radio they could hear the men at the fence line calling for more men and knew they were in the clear to make a run for the fence. They quickly shuffled the inhabitants of the tents out a hole they’d made on the back of each of the tents. Sending them a few at a time they made for the fence where the rescue team was waiting and hurriedly shuffling them off to the busses. The plan was to get the refugees to safety before the firing on the other side of the compound was to be ended.
Those on the recon mission became cornered and could not get out of the building. Ryan gave the order to intensify the firing on the fence line to maintain the distraction. Word came that the men were caught in a crossfire just inside the building. Ryan, Sam, and Dickie moved in to get them out.
Ryan could be heard over the radio with gunfire ordering the others to circle around to gain more perspective. A momentary buzzing blocked the airwaves and a single word interrupted the communications in a strange robotic voice. “… reset.”
Dez was listening to the fight and barely registered the interruption or the word, she stood looking stressed staring at the radio. A woman from the Richmond militia family stepped over and touched her shoulder. “Not to worry missy, Ryan is a shrewd fighter, they’ll be ok.”
Dez looked at her shocked and almost indignant, but softened her look when Ryan came back on telling Sam and Dickie to take up positions across the lawn and she knew they were all ok.
He could see from a place of cover that this allowed them a clear shot to take out the man at the door. Clearing the way for the escape of their friends. Each team made its way back to the rally point the losses and injuries were minimal.
The busses began to arrive, and with them the fighters. Dez ran to Jeremy hugging him before the others. When she got to Ryan she began to reach out for a hug but stopped short offering him her hand. “You, I’m still mad at.”
“Awww c’mon Dez, you’re not fully recovered yet.”
Smiling at him she punched his arm saying, “I’m just being bitchy. I know and I’m sorry for being a bitch earlier. It was hard to watch my son and friends fight without me.” Looking at him with a tear. “Thanks for all you do to help us.”
“Awww shucks ma’am, twert nothin’.” Ryan grinned as he stood still holding Dez’s hand.
Jeremy rolled his eyes and scoffed as he hugged his mom again and headed for the processing tent to fetch Aaron.
Ryan and Dez laughed and headed to the command center for debriefing. Cory came across the ham radio asking if anyone else had heard the strange voice. Dez nodded as did the radio operator, looking at Ryan who looked confused. “You heard it here?”
“Yea, we did. I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was part of the static.”
The radio operator called out to Cory acknowledging they had, but not just on the hams, even the walkies.
Cory asked Ryan to meet him when they returned and to bring Arthur. Ryan nodded to the radio operator who relayed the message.
Dez looked at him pleadingly, she wanted to know what was going on but didn’t want to fight with him again today.
Ryan smiled a little, “You will be coming along? Won’t you?”
Dez grinned, “Indeed.”
Chapter 14
Community
While we can remember the past, we cannot write the future. Only our children, the future of our community, can do that.
-Jonathan Sacks
When they’d gone to meet with Cory and Arthur about the strange signal Arthur said it was almost as if their own communications had been jammed for that brief few seconds. They were all perplexed and thought maybe it was a glitch or that they’d picked up a rogue transmission from a satellite. It was not considered anything of concern and they moved on to other topics. Arthur managed to pick up some intel from China that said there were missiles fired on them causing widespread devastation. Cory reported similar things from Russian and UK hams. Ryan asked, “Are we in some kind of world war?”
Arthur told him nothing was clear, they weren’t picking up anything from their own government. Roger stood by silently listening, only watching. Ryan turned to him and asked him his thoughts.
“I can’t be sure of anything, all we have are the papers we brought and those from Rita and Rich. I’m sure that while these offer some idea of what is going on within our own country they don’t say anything about the rest of the world.”
Dez nodded and asked, “Do you think that it’s just gotten out of control?”
“Frankly, none of this makes any sense.”
“How do you mean?” She asked.
“Think about it, if you wanted to take over the financial system of a country or even the government itself, would you destroy that country or even risk annilation by attacking major nuclear superpowers?” The others stood by staring blankly at him. “Something just isn’t right in this whole situation. We really need to find out what’s going on. There’s a great possibly we need to start making some preparations for what may come next.”
Ryan tilted his head looking at him. “Whatcha thinking?”
“Ray and I have some contacts in Texas, it’s likely they might have some info but would never be caught on the airwaves. I think we need to go meet up with them.”
Dez nodded in agreement putting her finger up to make a point. “You do, however, need to remain in contact with us.”
“Agreed.”
They left Arthur’s place and headed back to town.
Aaron and his two children returned to the farm with Dez and the others. His wife had been sent to the quarantine tent and could not be rescued. Two days after Aaron returned she was hauled off to what they called the death tent. She’d refused to work or cooperate and was becoming an itch the guards no longer wanted to scratch. Aaron knew, the day she was sent there that he would never see her again. While they’d struggled before and were planning on a divorce, a lot had changed since then. Aaron was sad inside, but he knew he had to be strong for his children.
The next day he had to return to the infirmary to have the tattoo removed. They were up in the air as how to do it because they were very limited with their facilities. Due to the radioactive nature of the tattoo it was making its bearer sick. Causing radiation sickness, many were very ill. When he went in for the removal he was lucky because his was on his forearm. Others were not as fortunate, theirs were positioned on their neck causing far more problems faster. Not all of the refugees were tattooed. It was only for those that left the confines of the camp. The doctor asked Aaron to be the first one to have the removal done, as his was on his arm and presumably less dan
gerous. He numbed the area and simply shaved off the skin as one would the peel of a carrot. A thin layer of skin and the tattoo rolled off his arm. It was bandaged, and he was sent back to the farm to return in five days’ time. They had radiation detectors and used them to determine if there was any residual radioactivity associated with the area. In every case they were still showing minute particles with residual traces of radioactivity. Again, the area was numbed and this time the scab was removed, pulling out the last of the tattoo with it. 5 days later the checks revealed no residual radioactivity and the bearers were already beginning to show signs of improvement.
The doctor approached Ryan, “ I really can't understand why they would use such materials. They had to know it would eventually make all who bore it ill and would even cause death.”
“These people were deemed expendable.” He turned to look at the doctor. “They were planning to kill them off as well, so this would… presumably in a relatively brief time make them too weak to rise up.”
“I'm going to guess that most of the gang members who were first tattooed have already begun to lose their hair and are showing signs of advanced radiation sickness.”
“This could work in our favor.”
“How do you mean?”
“These are the people they’re using to do their dirty work, and while they’re deemed expendable, the life expectancy is short. I don't think that they're planning on a prolonged battle or a war .”
“I'd have to agree there.”
Ryan stood looking around at all those who’d had tattoos removed. Some were still weak and sickly. Looking back to the doctor he questioned. “Are they gonna be OK?”
“Oh… I'd say most of them will recover. There are a couple of them that I’m a little concerned about, but the biggest concern is the long-term effects of the radiation poisoning.”
“Long-term effects?”
“Yes, there's a chance that a few years down the road some develop cancer.”
Ryan stood with his hand on his chin looking about the room at the men and women who’d had the tattoos removed. “Have you told them?”
“No. They've been through enough, I didn't see the need to bring up something that may, or may not, be an issue in years to come. We’ll cross that bridge when it arrives.”
The refugees on the incoming buses bound for the camp that was stopped with the supply convoy were housed in Richmond for quarantine. After their quarantine period was over they were to be found living spaces in the community if they chose to stay. Those they rescued from the camp who went to London with Ryan were housed in town. They found space in vacant houses and the school gymnasium. Only Aaron and the children went on to the farm.
Roger and Ray had left for Texas only five days ago and had already reached their destination. They promised to return when they got the information sorted out. With them they took both sets of papers, but only after Ryan had made copies of them. There was no way they were letting go of the information just in case they didn’t make it to Texas or worse, were captured.
Dez moved from the loft in the barn to an enclosed area off the kitchen section because of her injuries. Charleigh, Connor and Ariel joined her to help with her needs. Jeremy and Toni decided it would be best to stay near the family as well, so they too moved down below, opening the entire loft for others. Loel, Rebecca, their three kids, along with Aaron and his two took their places in the loft area. The new accommodations put many of the younger children in the loft area with the exception of Matty and Ariel allowing for more adult time in the evening when the children were sent to bed. Joseph and Georgia were a little older at twelve, but they were still to watch over Matty and Ariel in the evenings.
The weather was cold for the Kentucky hills dipping into the upper thirties, low forties at night but the days could rise into the sixties making the January weather feel almost balmy to the northerners. Cold frames were still in use for some of the winter hearty crops, but the biggest task was the tilling of the main garden area. They wouldn’t be able to plant for months but it would take some work to dislodge the sod and prepare the soil. The chickens and goats were fine in the pens that Mark and John had built them. The community was growing in its ability to be self-sustaining, but it still needed to trade for other goods.
As the weeks passed, life seemed to settle into a routine. Winter would soon be over, and they planned for spring planting. Trading began with the surrounding neighbors. The group had foreseen many needs and stocked a number of needed items but one of the most popular was Tawny’s honey mead. Bringing them to the realization that they would need much more honey. Danny and Loel were busy building bee hives in preparation for the spring when the bees would swarm. Laurie, Janice and Julie were fast becoming friends and discovering some of the wild root edibles on their hikes and making note of areas of berries and other useful medicinal plants.
Dez sat in the sun watching as the community buzzed about her, marveling at how they’d come together and created this family. Rita and Rich had come in feeling like outsiders and were now taking on jobs of their own while Aaron just fell right back into the security detail with Jeremy. The kids all played in the yard of the barn while Charleigh and Toni watched over them like mother hens.
Amy who’d been shot in the leg and was also being forced to remain in the kids area doing small tasks that didn’t require she be up on her leg. Both her and Dez were nearly healed but the shot had left her with a limp. Dez looked over at her and smiled. “I’m so glad you and John are here.”
Amy looked back at her like she’d said something strange. She smiled and nodded saying, “I don’t think we could have made it in the north. It is I that is glad he had you as a friend.”
Dez looked away saying nothing. Amy realizing that John was Matt’s friend stuttered. “I ma… mean, ummm.”
Dez looked at her and smiled, “It’s ok, I know what you meant. He’s been gone nearly two months now and I’m honestly not really upset. I’m glad to have all of you here.” Pointing to the garden area where Rita and Rich were working. “See there? Rita would never have been a valued person in my life before now, nor you and John. All things happen for a reason and I believe that you all are the reason. I’ve found out many things about many people that I’d had no idea about. What’s happened is terrible but I’m grateful for the chance to get to know everyone on a more visceral level.”
Amy started to speak, “Yea but Matt…”
Dez winked at her. “I’ve known about Matt for some time now. He was never going to be a permanent fixture in my life although he tried to wrangle my money and property away. I think I’d always known he was only here for what he thought he could gain.”
Amy looked sad as Dez continued. “I’m really not that upset. Well, besides being shot. That kinda sucked, but I’d always expected he’d leave once he found out there was no money for him.”
“Really? Wow, doesn’t it make you mad about Morgan?”
“Well, yeah… I will admit I had no idea about that. I had no clue he was going up to see her and not Matty.”
“John and I didn’t really see him when he came up except the days he brought Matty to visit. When Morgan killed Kevin we couldn’t believe this was someone he was involved with.”
“Yea, well.. it is what it is I guess. I’m ready to just move forward and keep this clan safe and thriving.”
“Clan, I like that. We’ll call ourselves Clan Destiny. It’s your land after all.”
Dez thought a minute and nodded with a slight smile. “Clan Laurel from the heart of Laurel.”
Amy giggled with her and asked, “Why Laurel?”
It was my grandmother’s dream to have the family together on one farm. This land here sits between the two ridges with the bump in in the center. Both ridges come close together at the bottom where the stream flows out. From the aerial view it looks like a heart. I’d already named it ‘The Heart of Laurel’ after her.”
Amy smiled at her repeating as thoug
h she were a Viking, “I am Amy of the Clan Laurel from the land of the Heart.”
She and Dez giggled about it for a few minutes and continued making funny sayings up. Both sat enjoying the view, The Heart of Laurel was a family and working together to thrive.
Watching as Danny and Julie came walking over Dez waved to them and smiled. Even if tomorrow brought more gangs, today they were all happy. Danny walked up and asked if he could talk to Dez. Amy excused herself making up some excuse for needing more iced tea, that was actually lukewarm tea but still tasted refreshing.
Dez motioned for them to sit and asked, “What’s up guy?”
He looked at his feet shuffling in the dirt. “ummmm…”
“C’mon, spit it out.”
“Can you help us with my mom and Janice?”
Looking to Julie and back to Danny, Dez asked, “Why would you need my help?”
“Because they’re gonna be pissed.”
“Well, I can’t help if I don’t know why.” She said expectantly.
Julie nudged him and he fidgeted a bit before saying, “Julie and I wanna get married…”
“Oh?”
“Next week.”
“You don’t say. And why so soon?”
“We just wanna.”
“I see. So, what do you need me for, go talk to your mom and Janice. You’re both adults.”
“Well, they’ll insist we wait till spring or something.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“We just don’t wanna, ok?” He stood and walked to the other side with his arms crossed back to Dez.
She looked at Julie and her gaze softened as she spoke. “Would you care to enlighten me?”
Julie looked down and shook her head.
“Well neither of you have convinced me of a reason to talk to Laurie and Janice. It seems to me your minds are made up and you don’t need my help.” She said with a slight grin, knowing there was more to this sudden fierce need to wed. Pointing to the hillside where they were descending she said, “There they are, why not head on over and get it all settled.”