Chapter 15
As evening began to cloak the little valley, the skies fading to a faint pink, Clarence and Jared walked back to the house, where they looked forward to a meal. It didn’t have to be hot, just a meal would do nowadays. Stephani also left her post on the hillside and came in with the men. As Jared was walking, he caught a glimpse of Crank and suddenly realized he hadn’t seen Devon in three days.
Turning to Stephani, Jared asked, “Where the heck is Devon?”
“Dunno.” She shrugged. “Haven’t seen him in a few days. I think he disappeared the day you two started all the pole cutting.”
Jared frowned. He was used to the teen taking off, but three days was enough to worry Jared. “Let me know if you see him, will ya?”
Stephani nodded, then headed inside the house. Jared stood and took one last scan of the hills, wondering if the teen was laid up somewhere watching him right now. When Jared turned back to the house, he realized Essie wasn’t on post as she’d been the day before. Jared shrugged, internally chalking the girl’s absence up to being corralled by Shannon for school studies.
That evening the group sat in Clarence’s living room after eating. Jared and Clarence were exhausted and literally fell into the cushions of two different stuffed chairs. Essie approached Jared, then turned to show him what she called a half-up fishtail braid Shannon had expertly woven into her hair.
“That looks great, Ess,” Jared said as he marveled at how Shannon got the girl’s hair to do what he was looking at while Shannon sat studying Jared, waiting for him to lay out the upcoming day’s activities. Jared could feel the woman’s stare and knew he would have to speak on the matter, but he was tired to the point of needing some very real time off from life.
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have that luxury anytime soon. The show must go on, he knew. John would have said something a bit edgier, but the show must go on was all Jared could come up with. When Essie was satisfied Jared approved of her hair, she returned to a small coffee table, where she was in the middle of assembling a puzzle, which when finished would picture Mount Rushmore National Memorial, complete with the Blue Angels rocketing across the monument’s top.
Jared glanced up to the kitchen table, where Stephani was cleaning her pistol while Suzy sat next to her, reading the first Harry Potter book. Jared briefly wondered why the girl was only now reading this bit of literature. After all, hadn’t it been required reading in middle schools before the solar flare? Bonnie sat at one end of the same couch where Shannon stared at Jared from, and still there was no Devon. Jared drew a deep breath and blew out through his mouth, causing everyone to look at him. Well, now is as good a time as ever, Jared thought to himself.
“About tomorrow—some of you need to leave and wait this out.” Jared didn’t wait for Stephani to interject. “Me, Clarence and Stephani are going to set up a little thing I’ll just call an anticipatory ambush.” Jared shot Stephani a quizzical look to confirm she was on board. Her determined return stare told him she was.
Jared and Clarence hadn’t talked about how the following day would be handled, triggering Clarence to slowly raise his hand like he was in elementary school. “A what?”
“Listen,” Jared said, the fatigue evident not only in his body language, but his voice as well, “I for one am not okay with just killing whoever comes tomorrow. I propose we leave Clarence to make contact with the men when they arrive, and he can tell them they will no longer be taking what is rightfully his and not theirs. If they leave, we stand down on any shooting. If they attempt force, then we fight back, but only if they initiate force first.”
No one spoke for a full ten seconds until Shannon’s soft voice broke the quiet. “I think that is a thoughtful plan, Jared. It gives everyone a choice in being a decent human.”
“That’s what I’m aiming for, Shannon. These men will be Americans—like us. If we were to gun them down, I would live the rest of my life wondering if they might have been virtuous people in an unvirtuous situation.”
Heads in the room nodded as Jared received what he’d hoped for, their approval of a softer first approach. If the men in the Humvees used force to take from Clarence, well then, they’d get the sharp end of the stick. Jared agonized internally about the possibility of perpetuating violence on the military men the following day, but deep down he knew it was entirely up to the other side whether bullets flew or remained chambered.
“Shannon, you and Essie can take Bonnie and Suzy back up to where we were under those trees when the Humvees first passed us. Wait there until we come get you. Clarence will stay here at the house and make contact with the men. Stephani will be on the hill behind the house with a horse saddled and ready to go, but out of sight over the top of the hill. I will have a horse, but I’m going to be in the creek up the road a little.”
Jared glanced around the room, making sure everyone was on board with him so far. When he discerned the group’s intense looks, he knew they were absorbing everything he was laying out, and continued his briefing.
“Clarence will wave his hands over his head as a signal if these guys threaten him, and then we go,” Jared said flatly. “If we see them use force on Clarence, we go. Stephani will fire first since she is on the house side, which I assume will be the side they contact you on,” Jared mused, looking at Clarence for confirmation, which he got in the form of a small nod.
“If for some reason the show is moved to the creek side, then I will assume first-shot responsibilities,” Jared continued. “If it gets to the point of shooting and Stephani is the first shooter, they will likely fall back to cover on my side, and I can clean up whoever is left,” Jared stated, finishing the ambush brief, then waiting for the questions. When no one asked a single question, Jared breathed an inward sigh of relief and relaxed back into the chair’s cushions.
After Jared consummated the plan, the reality of what they were about to do began to sink in. Jared had never initiated any level of violence without someone’s life hanging in the balance. Now with this quickly thrown together anticipatory ambush, he felt like he was involved in taking the initiative to kill other Americans, and this gently tugged at his conscience. He wanted to talk more about the moral dilemma he felt, but knew it wouldn’t change a thing.
The fact was, if the people from the base in Stockton were allowed to take from the people surviving in the hills and on farms, they were essentially killing these people the same as if they’d flown in, fast-roped down, and shot everyone dead. Jared struggled with the quandary of knowing what they were about to do was the right thing, even though it felt a little wrong. Before he fell asleep that evening, Jared concluded the feeling of wrong came from the connective tissue he still felt to the world of old, which Jared was fine having.
Placing real value on human life was how he’d lived his life before the event, and thankfully he still maintained many of those same values. Jared was well aware of the fact that being inordinately tethered to the old ways was a surefire way to end up dead, but he relented in this case, being perfectly happy to have his present ethos buoyed by his past. If the men came and forced his hand, then they would have a fight, and Jared could deal with the emotional aftermath once the dust settled.
What he hoped for, but knew would not happen, was that the soldiers would come, Clarence would tell them to go pound sand, and they would leave. Carnegie would become enraged and send his top guys back in the helicopter, and Jared could destroy the machine. This was a child’s view of current affairs, Jared knew—tomorrow there would be a fight, and men would die. It was all part of the world’s transformation, a shedding of the skin so to speak.
The following morning, Jared was up, dressed, and wearing body armor, along with all the weapons he carried, before the sun shone a single ray from the eastern horizon. Jared woke the rest of the people in the house, urging everyone to get dressed and get moving. Clarence pulled on his clothes and headed straight to the barn to ready the horses that would carry his family, Shanno
n and Essie away from the potential kill zone. Jared finished readying his gear before meeting Clarence in the barn along with Stephani, where together Jared and Stephani saddled their own mounts.
“We should get into place as soon as possible,” Jared pressed the two as they checked cinches and ensured bridles were properly in place. The animals sensed the electricity in the air, created by their human handlers, yet had no idea what was afoot, which in turn manifested itself into nervous horse energy. The result of which was stamping hooves and sudden, erratic jerking heads in only the manner a horse does.
The trio finished up, then led the animals out of the barn and into the dark, cold front yard area. Jared scanned the surrounding terrain, seeing only the shadowy silhouettes of the hills, and wished the slope on the south side of the property were closer. The mound Stephani would be posted on was a mere one hundred and fifty yards from the rear of the house. If Jared moved to the hills opposite Stephani, he’d have a five-to-six-hundred-yard shot if things got rowdy later in the day. At that distance, his shooting translated into little more than suppression fire.
Today Jared knew he would be much more exposed shooting from the creek bed, and if his position were bludgeoned with machine-gun fire, compelling him to run on horseback, he would at some point be required to leave the safety of the creek in order to put distance between himself and anyone trailing him. Leaving the safety of the creek bed would leave Jared out in the open. Additionally, he could not remain in the creek bed long without leading a pursuing force directly to Shannon, Essie, and Clarence’s family. At least Stephani could drop down the back side of the hill and simply disappear.
Jared swore quietly under his breath as he agonized about the fact that he’d failed to scout the creek for any tactical advantages the terrain might have to offer him. For the millionth time since the solar flare, Jared experienced a wave of anxiety caused by feeling overwhelmed and being underwhelming. There were so many things he didn’t have the experience to overcome that he feared one day this lack of proprietorship in the new world would lead to his demise.
Jared’s destructive train of thought was thankfully interrupted when Shannon, Essie and Bonnie exited the house with Suzy in tow. All of them looked half asleep still, and suddenly, Jared was very thankful Shannon wasn’t involved in the shooting part of his plan. Bonnie went to Clarence, and the two hugged, speaking softly as Suzy approached, folding herself into the couple’s embrace. Shannon walked straight to Stephani and gave the other woman a hug, telling her to be careful with a warm smile. Stephani tousled Essie’s hair and smiled back reassuringly after Shannon released her. Next Shannon turned to Jared, rose on her tiptoes, and planted a full-mouthed kiss on his lips.
“We’ll be waiting for you,” was all she said before grabbing Essie and tossing her up into the saddle.
Jared was elated to have been kissed, but also embarrassed, as the ice-cold fingers of fear slid down his spine. The kiss was warm, and it had been good, but it also felt like it might have been his last, and this he could have done without.
By late morning Jared was growing impatient with what he was terming tardy tax collectors. The morning was cold like most this time of year in Northern California, but Jared was dressed for it, and he’d become accustomed to being miserable more than he was being comfortable. Out of boredom, he used his binoculars to search for Stephani, but couldn’t find her. After a while he gave up and returned his focus to the dirt road leading from the east to Clarence’s residence.
Nearly an hour later, the unmistakable sound of diesel engines could be heard approaching from the east. Jared’s pulse quickened along with a tightening in his chest as he brought the optics to his face, searching for the source of the noise. It took all of three seconds to spot the two Humvees lumbering up the dirt road. In tow of the second Humvee was Clarence’s horse trailer the soldiers had used the previous week to haul away the cow, goat and chickens.
There was zero doubt in Jared’s mind the military men intended to relieve Clarence of additional assets, which helped quash any lingering reservations he might have felt about doing them harm. Even in hard times, men and women had the power of choice, and if these men chose to perpetrate wrong, then that would be their chosen path in life. Both Humvees stopped directly in front of the house, and eight men exited the Humvees. Two of the men walked toward the front of the house, but stopped as Clarence came out. The rest of the men seemed content to stretch their legs and wait to see what the boss would ask of them after he was done conversing with the civilian. None of the soldiers seemed to be exercising any level of tactical decorum as if their uniforms, trucks and weapons constituted some unquestionable authority that no commoner would dare stand up to.
Clarence was unarmed except for a pistol concealed under his flannel shirt. The two men who approached the house didn’t seem concerned in the least with Clarence, who appeared to them like every other inert human they were taking advantage of. Clarence stepped off the porch and met the men on the dirt drive. Jared watched as one of the military men gesticulated toward the barn and then the surrounding property. Clarence just shook his head as he went back and forth with the man. Jared could not hear what the men were saying, but could tell by both men’s body language the military man wasn’t getting what he wanted from Clarence.
The military man and Clarence argued back and forth for a full two minutes before the military man dismissively waved Clarence off, turned, and shouted orders to the men behind him. Four men immediately set off in the direction of the barn while Jared stared transfixed at Clarence, waiting for the man’s signal. Clarence hesitated for a split second before he began shouting—and waving his arms above his head at the soldiers heading toward his barn. When Jared saw Clarence’s arms waving above his head, signaling the soldiers’ ill intent, it almost came as a relief to the tension he felt bottled up in his overwrought nervous system.
Stephani watched the entire exchange through the sights of her rifle, safety off, with her slender unmanicured finger hovering close to the trigger. The image of what had happened not so long ago when Dwight was killed haunted her even now. She was ashamed for how ineffectual she had been that day. If she’d been honest with herself, Dwight’s death was one of those things that was going to happen no matter what any of them had done. It was plain old bad luck and that was it, but Stephani was going to make sure today her actions couldn’t be called into question in the event something went wonky. At the end of the day, the only blood on her hands would be the blood of men who took advantage of the weaker. Stephani hovered the sights on a nameless soldier below her, and her finger slid into the trigger well and pulled.
Jared jumped at the suddenness of Stephani’s shots. Jeez, Clarence hadn’t even got his arms fully extended and the guy who’d issued the orders was dead, thought Jared as he gathered himself. More deafening shots rang out from Stephani’s position, knocking a second military man to the ground. Jared saw the four men who had been ordered to the barn were now running for the opposite side of the Humvees, which would expose them to Jared’s field of fire. Jared waited a second; then as the men slid to the ground behind the first Humvee, Jared opened up on them from a distance of not more than one hundred yards. The results were catastrophic for the men in uniform as they were ripped to shreds before being able to process the fact that they’d been expertly herded into a new kill zone.
Even though Jared was not a newcomer to violence, he was still shocked whenever it happened, and now he stared wide eyed at what he’d just done to four men clad in United States of America military uniforms. The starting of the second Humvee served to refocus Jared’s mind on the task at hand as he realized one of the two surviving men was trying to escape in the second Humvee while Jared hadn’t the foggiest idea where the second survivor was. This gap in information was quickly cleared when the revving Humvee launched backward and to one side, jackknifing the horse trailer and snapping the hitch clean from its moorings at the Humvee’s bumper. When the shoot
ing had started, the remaining survivor somehow crawled under the second Humvee.
Now as his fellow comrade reversed the large military vehicle back, the man’s legs were run over, leaving him lying in the open, screaming in pain and panic as Clarence advanced on the broken man, his arm extended, pistol grasped tightly in his hand. Jared could hear the Humvee transition from reverse to drive as its driver slammed the gearshift forward and stomped the gas pedal as if his life depended on it. Before the wheels could find purchase in the soft dirt, Jared heard three rapid-fire shots as Clarence fired on the downed man with the broken legs, hitting him once in the shoulder, once in the foot, and missing the man altogether with the wild third shot.
Clarence’s own additions to the man’s wound count did nothing to quell the man’s hysterical shrieking, which sickened Jared. Jared, like most people, was ill prepared by horror films made before the solar flare to process the real sound of a man or woman dying horribly, which was exactly what was happening right there in Clarence’s front yard. Between the Humvee’s roaring engine and the howls of the horribly wounded man, Jared’s mind was on overload. The wheels on the Humvee caught, and the cumbersome vehicle rumbled out of the yard and back down the dirt road in the same direction it came, leaving behind the downed and still-screaming soldier. Jared thought briefly about firing on the retreating vehicle, but decided a returning survivor would ensure a visit by a more determined and airborne asset.
The Jared Chronicles | Book 3 | Chains of Tyranny Page 14