by Lee Bradford
It turned out Earl, a mechanic from Heber Springs, had received a visit from the National Guard shortly after the nukes went off and had been told the fabric of society was about to break down and that a spot inside a local government facility was awaiting them.
Jeb and Allan had similar stories, except each of them lived nearly a hundred miles apart. And like Earl, they were both working-class folks from rural areas. Where their stories parted was at their marital status. Both Jeb and Allan were single and childless. That wasn’t to say the two men didn’t have family somewhere, but with military men standing in their faces and no one sharing their homes, they both said they’d made a quick decision, and one they were starting to regret.
“I was sure the folks in the big cities would be hit worst by the chaos,” Jeb told them. He was squat with an impressive belly and a neck the same width as his head.
Allan nodded. Thinly built with pronounced veins running along his forearms, he looked like the calmest of the three. “I told those army types I was gonna stay, but they tossed me into a truck. Told me they were saving my life. Left my two dogs behind with no one to feed ’em.” His eyes welled up with tears and he blinked them away.
“They may have used kid gloves in my case,” Earl said. “But practically the first thing they done was remove my AR-15 along with both pistols I’d stashed in a bag. Waited till we were halfway there before doing it too. Didn’t leave us any choice but to comply. Wasn’t like we could just up and walk home. Now we’re stuck wearing these damn prison rags. Saw a handful of folks this afternoon who’d even cut their damn pants into shorts, like they were on holiday or something.”
Paul felt a hot flush rise up his neck and into his cheeks.
“Idiots, I tell you,” Jeb threw in.
Buck was seated next to Paul and his eyes fell to his son-in-law’s bare legs. Buck shook his head in disgust before adding his two cents. “With us, they waited till we were here before springing their little trap. I was unconscious at the time with a gunshot wound, but let me assure you if I’d been up, no one woulda taken my guns.” Buck was leaning forward now, his own protruding belly pressed against the edge of the table. In usual style, Buck was taking a shot at Paul for not arguing to bring his guns inside the bunker. It was only a question of time before he laid the entire terrorist attack at Paul’s feet.
“I think the line’s dying down,” Paul cut in, trying to defuse the escalating tension. “Maybe we should get some food.”
“Any of you notice something different about the dining room tonight?” Buck asked the group.
“Come on, Buck,” Paul pleaded. “Don’t do this.”
“I’ll do what I damn please.” He looked at the others seated there. Even with Buck’s raised voice, Earl didn’t seem worried his wife or children might be upset. In fact, they were hanging on Buck’s every word.
“Well, the lights are a touch more romantic,” Jeb offered.
Autumn smiled. “The candles are a nice touch.”
“I’m not talking about the candles. Look around you. We’re sitting in a sea of puke beiges and barf browns, while the upper classes have a section all their own. Mark my words, it won’t be long before civilians are forced to eat during the last sitting, if at all.”
“They have to feed us,” Paul protested.
“Do they? These people have already taken our clothes, our guns, our dignity. It’s bad enough we’ve suffered a devastating attack by a bunch of savages who hate the freedom we stand for. And then to top it off our rights and liberties are stripped away one at a time. I wonder what Emperor Perkins will have to say about this.”
Paul snapped and shouted before he could stop himself. “Stop it, Buck, or you’ll get us thrown out.”
People around them had stopped eating and were staring, some with open mouths, tonight’s dinner on full display. Not far away, Van Buren leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, watching the spectacle for himself.
“Thrown out for speaking my mind?” The look of disbelief on Buck’s face surprised even Paul. “You’re quick to toss away your rights and freedoms and for what? So you can live another day. Is that all it takes, the promise of a warm meal and a roof over your head? Regardless of what you might have heard, this is still the United States of America. I’m not gonna give up on my constitutional rights just yet and I hope the rest of you won’t either.”
The crowd erupted in applause and Buck stood there, just as surprised by their reaction. Earl rose to his feet and whistled loudly.
When Paul looked back, Van Buren was gone and along with him any hope of talking some sense into Buck.
In the old days of sail, a seaman’s greatest fear—apart from fire—was that a cannon would come loose in heavy seas and smash through the hull, sinking the ship. That was the reason they were lashed with heavy rope. It was also the origin of the term ‘loose cannon’. As Paul had come to discover, the Ark was a kind of ship and Buck the cannon threatening to tear from its berth and send them beneath the waves. Ava had ordered Paul to use those heavy ropes to silence his outspoken father-in-law and he had failed.
And yet as frustrated as Paul was with that failure and Buck’s stubbornness, he also recognized the truth in what the old coot was saying. Deciding between a set of sacred principles and the lives of your family wasn’t easy. Paul had hoped in entering the bunker, he would be shielded not only from the radiation, but from the requirement to make those kinds of life-and-death decisions. Not only had he been wrong, fate had a rather sick sense of humor.
Chapter 14
Not long after, Paul was back in their sleeping quarters staring out the window, or at least the digital image of a pasture with rolling hills and dairy cows that passed for one. There was something rather disturbing about it since the chances were good a scene like this would look far different today. Sure, the grass in the field might still be green, but the livestock would be little more than bloated corpses dotting the landscape. Even the predators were likely dead. An entire cycle of life upended. Part of Paul wanted to know just how bad things were out there and another part didn’t think he could face a reality that bleak.
Susan entered the room a moment later.
“Well, it seems Buck’s found himself a new fan club.”
Paul didn’t answer.
“Look,” she said, sitting down next to him. “I know you were trying to talk some sense into my father, but you’ve gotta face the fact that your ‘voice of reason’ approach simply pushes him further to one extreme.”
Paul heard the words Susan was saying. He just couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth.
“He’s no spring chicken, Paul. Folks get set in their ways and the chances are good he won’t have some miraculous change of heart. Maybe it’s time you accept him for who he is.”
At last, Paul turned. “Does your father drive me up the wall? Trust me when I say that’s putting it mildly. Like your new friend Simba, sometimes I wonder if he was genetically engineered—to push my buttons.”
Susan rubbed his back. “Believe me, I know. I’m often left wondering who’s the married couple here, us or the two of you.”
Paul couldn’t help but grin. “He’s too hairy for me.”
They both burst into a fit of laughter, Paul doubling over until the hot tears came streaming down his cheeks. Susan covered her mouth with both hands and quivered. She was self-conscious of her teeth, which was silly because they were beautiful, but those little vulnerabilities made him love her even more.
When they finished, the muscles in Paul’s belly felt like he’d just finished ripping through a hundred crunches. Laughter was part of Mother Nature’s exercise regime. Sometimes letting off steam was the only thing that stood between you and insanity. As he pulled Susan into a hug, his hand running through her fiery red hair, he decided to break his word.
“Buck has a big mouth,” he began and she pulled away and gave him a face. “I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know,�
�� Paul said. “Much to my own surprise, I learned the hard way there are moments when that big mouth and belligerent attitude can come in handy. If it wasn’t for him, we probably wouldn’t have made it to Atlanta in the first place.”
She smiled. “He said the same thing about you.”
That hit Paul like a load of bricks. “Really?”
“Don’t be so surprised. He may not show it, but he thinks more highly of you now. Probably wasn’t more than a day or two ago that he and I spoke and he said there were a few scrapes where your diplomacy and calm manner saved the day. Even admitted if he’d been alone, his mouth would have landed him in a heap of trouble.”
Paul laughed. “I must be dreaming.”
“You’ve gotta understand, Paul, that kind of talk is so hard for Buck. He’d rather swallow molten lead than let himself be vulnerable, especially to you.”
“I get it, I suppose. We’ve got some kind of sibling rivalry thing going on.”
Susan shook her head. “No, you’re wrong. He sees you as a son, Paul. The one he never had.”
“Well, I wish he had the strength to tell me that himself. How odd that he isn’t afraid to knock someone’s head in, or give them a piece of his mind, but when it comes to showing any kind of tender emotion, the guy just crumbles.”
“Are you any better?” Susan asked and her words hit him with the force of a left hook.
He hated when she made so much sense.
She touched his back before getting up and starting to walk away.
“I never told you about my meeting with Ava,” Paul began when she was halfway across the room.
She turned. “I thought you said nothing happened.”
His eyes went back to the digital window and the cows before returning to his wife. “I did and I lied. I was trying to protect you.”
“Protect us from what?” Her arms were crossed now, as though she were getting ready to block a blow. “You don’t think I’ve noticed how beautiful she is?”
Paul sat upright with a start. “What? Oh, for God’s sake, no. You know I had some wild times back in the eighties touring with The Wanderers, but believe me, those days are ancient history. Susan, you’re the only one for me. Besides, hasn’t Buck already lined her up in his sights?”
She smiled weakly. “He’d kill you, you know.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“Forget it, I guess I was just having a moment.”
“Well, we’ve got bigger worries.”
“What did she tell you?”
He drew in a deep breath and held it. “You remember the other day in the mess hall when Buck was shooting off his mouth?”
“Yeah,” she replied, the word drawn out.
“Someone must have reported him to the administration because Ava called me in and insisted I shut him up.”
“Shut him up? What about his right to free speech?”
“Trust me, I said all that, but she went on about how dangerous rumors could be and that if he didn’t stop they’d throw us out of the bunker.”
Her pale, freckled hand clamped over her mouth. “Oh, no, Paul.”
“Believe me, honey. You’re the last one I wanted to burden with this. I’ve been fighting back and forth since that meeting, but after what happened at dinner, I just don’t know what to do.”
“I still don’t fully understand why they’re trying so hard to shut him up.”
“She said it was a morale issue, that talk of the coup d’état and the government coming undone was dangerous.”
Susan nodded. “I guess I can see that, but to threaten to kill people? ’Cause that’s exactly what it would mean, Paul. Make no mistake about it.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I see those radiation readouts glowing red all day long. It’s all I’ve been thinking about.” He pointed to the digital window and the cow pasture almost as proof.
“Then we simply need to come clean and tell him,” Susan said.
“Really?” Paul wasn’t at all convinced. “Don’t you think that’ll just be putting a match to gasoline?”
“Probably, but what other option do we have?”
She fell into the computer chair and shook her head. “Can they really do that, Paul? It’s surely against the law.”
The sardonic laugh came blurting out before he could stifle it back. “What’s to stop them? There aren’t any cops or courts we can appeal to. We’re at their mercy.”
“We should never have come here,” Susan said. She was up and pacing back and forth now.
“If we hadn’t we’d probably be glowing with radioactivity. We were between a rock and a hard place and we made the only decision that made sense. Choosing death is never a viable option.”
Susan stopped and raised her index finger to her lips, a move which puzzled Paul. Was something passing outside in the hallway?
She approached and whispered into his ear. “What if the room is bugged?”
“Okay, now you’re starting to sound like Buck. Of course the room isn’t bugged. There’s nothing worth listening to, Susan, and I’m sure those suits in Ark Three have better things to do with their time. The entire fabric of our country’s on the brink of unraveling.”
Susan paused before her gaze rose and caught his. “What if they’re the ones responsible?”
Chapter 15
Susan’s words were still ringing in Paul’s ears the following day when Paul asked Buck to join him in the park after breakfast. With a, “Sure, why not,” Buck had agreed and followed him for a bite to eat. But even the early-morning crowds gathered in the mess hall, shuffling for seats in their designated areas, couldn’t shake that strange feeling he had.
The very thought that even a faction of the US government had had anything to do with the terrorist attack was too egregious an accusation to take seriously. Susan had thrown it out there the way most of us tend to with wild theories without contemplating the larger implications. Although he hadn’t admitted it at the time, the idea that the rooms were bugged had stuck with him and was the reason why Paul had wanted to speak with Buck in the Park. At least there, nature might provide the sort of privacy they needed.
Not long after they finished eating, Paul and Buck excused themselves and set off for the airlock which led from Ark One into the Park.
“I heard a rumor they might be adding snakes,” Paul said, trying to make polite conversation.
Buck grunted. “I hate snakes.”
“These ones will be genetically modified.”
“Yeah? Well, look where our GMO food got us. Ain’t never a good idea to muck with nature.”
So much for polite conversation, Paul thought as they entered the airlock. It wasn’t as full as the other day even though there were still quite a few people. On their way out of the airlock, another group entered on their way back to Ark One.
In the middle of the green space was a large artificial pond and that was where Paul and Buck were headed.
Along the way, they crossed paths with a man pushing a woman in a wheelchair. Paul had seen them around from time to time during these first few days, noticing they mostly kept to themselves. From what he’d gathered from Susan, they were a young couple, the wife suffering tragically from osteogenesis imperfecta, a disease which made her bones so brittle, a single pat on the back could crush her spine. The illness had reached the point where she could no longer walk and was wheelchair-bound. Paul waved as they passed, the man waving back.
“Hell of a life,” Buck commented before they were out of earshot.
“Geez, you could at least wait till they can’t hear you.”
Buck laughed. “You PC types kill me. You don’t mind one bit making snide remarks behind someone’s back, but God forbid they should hear you.”
“I just don’t see the point in hurting her feelings.”
“But you were thinking the same thing I was, weren’t you?”
Paul wanted to lie, but didn’t. “Maybe I was. A degenerative disease like
that is worse than a death sentence.”
“Lemme tell you, they wouldn’t get much further than a diagnosis before old Buck took matters into his own hands.”
There Buck went, talking in the third person again. “There may be a life lesson in that sort of thing.”
“Yeah, the lesson is, better off dead.”
They stopped along the edge of the water. The artificial sun was still low in the sky. Around them, other civilians were milling about. A few of them stretched out beneath the maple trees. Others rowed on small boats across the pond, smiling or giggling at one another. Buck reached down, scooped up a handful of stones and began tossing them in one at a time. The water made a bloop sound as each one went in.
“You know, it’s a crazy thing to think about given what’s going on out there,” Paul said. “But people here really seem to be enjoying themselves.”
Another stone and another bloop.
“It’s ’cause they’ve let the wool be pulled over their eyes.”
“They should be unhappy?”
“I’m not sure about unhappy, but definitely not nearly so darn complacent. See, that’s the problem with folks. You give ’em comfort and a little distraction and they’re more than happy to hand over every last ounce of their personal responsibility. Safety slaves.”
Paul kicked a small rock into the water and grinned. “Safety slaves. I’ve never heard that before.”
“Course you haven’t. I just made it up. But it’s the truth. You take care of people’s basic needs and they stop asking questions. Grumbling bellies are the first sounds you hear in any revolution. I ain’t saying anything crazy. In the real old days, the Romans spent a ton of money on gladiatorial games to distract the mobs of Rome from rising up. Before all this,” Buck said, waving his hand in a wide arc, “we were pacified with movies, sports and above all else, television. Heck, they didn’t call it the boob tube for nothing.”