He sat there for a few moments looking me right in the eyes. I didn’t blink, and I know that I was staring a hole right through him.
Finally, he responded, “Mr. Johnson, I can see that you’re hurting and you do care about everyone that’s here. I wouldn’t be bothering you folks if it was just me. I am here because of my daughters. You say you would lay down your life for them and I believe it. Well, I would do the same for my daughters. They are all I have left in this world.” He started tearing up but continued, “I wouldn’t bring my daughters into any situation that would jeopardize their safety. What I’m saying is, if I were up to something, I wouldn’t bring my daughters with me. All I’m hoping for is to find a safe place for both of them. I’m willing to work and I will earn our keep. I don’t expect anything without working for it.” At that moment he broke down crying.
As numb as my heart had been the last few days, seeing a father cry for his children started breaking down the barrier. Then, we both heard all three of the girls laughing. I could see a combined look on his face of both crying and a smile as he heard his children enjoying themselves.
Finally, I broke the momentary silence, “ Santiago, you do understand the risk I’d be taking, don’t you?”
He sadly nodded his head yes.
I looked down scratching my head and rubbing my face. This war inside of me. The Christian side told me to have faith and help this family but my survival side told me not to take the chance. I didn’t believe that he would put his children in jeopardy but look at what terrorists have done in the past. They sacrificed their loved ones for revenge or their cause. No part of me thought he was like that but could I take the chance?
I then asked him, “Where’s Orville Lebowski?”
This question, out of the blue, surprised him.
“I don’t know for sure. I can tell you what people think. They say he ran to a house about one mile north of Pine City.”
“When? The day of battle?”
“Yes. When the people that were there made it back to the town, Lebowski and that Avery fellow was waiting on them at his so-called city hall. He started yelling commands for everyone to regroup and to attack again. The people told him no. He then started threatening everyone and saying he would kill them all and someone threw a club at him. It bounced in front of him but still hit him in the leg. So he pulled out his gun and shot at the crowd, hitting a lady. Everyone paused for a moment, and when they saw she looked dead, they all seemed to lose it and rushed him. Then that Avery fellow shot into the crowd but didn’t hit anyone, so they both took off running to the north, up that gravel road leading out of town. Then several of them carried the lady into the city hall or what’s really an old store to take care of her. She was alive still but died the next day. When everyone found out, they wanted to go find him, and someone said that Billy and Thatcher had a house that they took over about a mile north of town. They thought Orville didn’t know about it, but a man said that he overheard Orville talking about it to Avery about a week earlier. Of course, everyone talked themselves out of going after him after a while. That’s when I took the girls out of there, and for the last two days we’ve been staying in a barn right up the road from the roadblock you picked us up at.”
While listening to him tell the story, I could tell he was giving an honest account of how things happened.
“How many friends and allies does Orville have left in town?”
He chuckled, “None that I know of. By what I was told his hardcore friends were the ones that kept fighting. You guys took care of most of them and the few that were questionable left town to the west. They were scared you were going to hunt them down.”
“You’re sure of this?”
“All I can tell you is the people that are left in town don’t seem to blame you folks. Many of those that are left didn’t go or were forced to go. If you’re asking if you folks need to worry about any type of revenge, I don’t think so. They want revenge on Lebowski and Avery, not you folks. When they took the lady into the store to try to help her, they found so much food stashed away that Orville and his crew were hoarding for themselves. Then when you folks brought up more food and water, they knew you were all good people just trying to defend yourselves.”
I mumbled to myself, “Well, they aren’t the only ones that want revenge.”
I sat there and stared into space for a few moments and came back to the moment, “Ok, let me talk to our group. Why don’t you go watch the kids play while we have a talk.”
He smiled, “Thank you, Mr. Johnson. If you all decide we can stay, I promise you won’t regret it, and if you don’t, I want to thank you for the meal and your kindness.”
I shook his hand and had Tag escort him out.
Kim walked up to me, “Well?”
I think she already knew what I wanted to do but this time I was going to put it up for a vote.
“What do you think?”
She tilted her head while pressing her lips together and then a moment later said, “He sounded sincere to me. I honestly don’t think he’s the kind that would put his children in danger. If he had any ulterior motives, I don’t think he would include the girls. But what does your instinct tell you? You’re the one with that sixth sense.”
“Man, my mind is so jacked up, I don’t know what to think.”
“I don’t believe that. Oh, I know your mind is working you over, but I still think your gut is telling you what you think about the man.” She walked up to me putting her hand on my cheek and looked into my eyes, “Trust your gut. You know what you’re really feeling.”
I got a soft look on my face, smiled and leaned down and kissed her.
“You know, I had planned on telling him, no, just to get his response but once he started talking, I couldn’t do it.” after a short pause I said, “ Keep an eye on him for a minute will you?” I then yelled, “Tag.”
Tag came in, and I asked him what his opinion was.
“He seems like an honest fellow to me. I think he’s scared for his girl's safety and future and he’s hoping that this can be a safe haven for them. He has the hands of someone in construction and roofing. That’s the first thing I looked at. His hands have heavy calluses, and you can see that his thumb has been smashed more than once.”
I laughed, “Very good.”
“After interviewing quite a few applicants you learn what to look for. Give me a few minutes to talk to him, and I’ll find out real quick what he knows.”
“So, if he’s the real deal, you’re for letting them stay?”
He grunted a bit, “Well, I can definitely use the help,” Just about that time, we heard the girl's laughing while running by the back door and he continued, “and as Kim said, that would sure make Lulu happy.”
“Ok, get everyone together, and while we’re in here talking, you go have a talk with him. Find out if he knows his stuff.”
Once everyone got together, we had a long discussion. Jake said that he didn’t know Santiago but had seen him and his crew working on the roof of the house right outside Pine City a day before the EMP was set off. Tag verified that he seemed to know his stuff when it came to construction, and he would love to have his help with the future building projects that we had planned. We discussed reasons to let them stay and reasons not to. The reasons not to allow it were valid but it finally came down to our gut feelings and something Kim finally said, it was the right thing to do. We finally all agreed.
Jake suggested, after getting the other neighbors support, that we have them live at the Jones’s place. Mike brought up the issue that he was for letting them stay but he wasn’t ready to arm them heavily yet and that anyone that lives at the border of our community needed to be trusted 100% and heavily armed.
Red suggested that Wit and him stay at the Jones’ and give Santiago the mobile home. It was a great idea, but I asked them if it would bother them staying in a house that a murder took place. I was really asking Wit, as he saw the murder scene. I co
uld see Wit was seeing it again in his mind and was a little concerned, but he finally stated that it wouldn’t bother him. After triple checking with him, we all agreed.
I asked who was going to clean the place up as it had to be nasty but I was told the Simpsons and Jake had cleaned it up after they recovered the bodies of the Jones. I kept myself out of the loop of things since the battle. After hearing that stuff like this was taken care of, it reminded me of how proud I was of everyone for taking care of business.
Tag took Jake to both the Akers and the Simpsons, which after hearing the facts, had no objection to letting them into the community.
We then called in Santiago. Everyone kept quiet, and I had him sit down.
“Santiago, we’ve discussed the matter between ourselves and some of the other neighbors.” I could see a fearful anticipation on his face. “You do understand that we can only allow people into our community that we can trust 100% and are willing to fight to protect it, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir. I have no objection to using force to protect my family and friends. I just wasn’t going to fight for someone like Lebowski trying to take property from other innocent people.”
“Ok, then you’ll have to make me two promises that I’m going to hold you to, and if you don’t comply, then the deal’s off.
First of all, you're going to have to work your ass off alongside the rest of us. We have a lot of work that never seems to end.”
He nodded his head yes, “That’s not a problem.”
“Don’t agree too quickly before you hear the second thing.”
He looked at me with puzzled anticipation, “Yes?”
“One of the most important things you must promise is that you’ll never call me Sir again. Call me Vince.”
Everyone broke out laughing and started telling him welcome. He got a look of total relief along with having to fight off the tears of joy that came over him. He had found a secure place for his daughters.
We called the girls, and when Santiago told them that they were moving here, both girls and Lulu started celebrating and laughing with the happiness that only children seem to have.
The rest of the day was used to move Wit and Red to the Jones and Santiago and the girls into the mobile home.
Paul, Jake, Tag, and Mike drove Santiago up to the house they were previously staying in while in Pine City to get their clothes and the little bit of personal property that they had brought with them to do the roofing job. A couple of the neighbors came out to thank Paul for the game animals that he had brought up, but most of the residents stayed in their homes.
Jake asked the people that did come out if they were ok. They said with the food that they found that the Lebowski’s had stashed up and with what Paul and the Akers brought up to them, they felt they could make it a while as they still were going to have group meals together.
Mike asked if they could provide a count of how many people were left in town. They acted suspicious of why he wanted to know, but he assured them that we just wanted to know so we could assist them as much as possible in the future. They seemed content with that explanation and said they thought around 50 but they would get an exact count.
The rest of the afternoon everyone took it relatively easy. The girls played most of the day and Santiago set up the mobile home for him and the girls, and Wit and Red finished the move to the Jones’s house. When Wit walked in, he had a flashback of finding them murdered but he was able to put it out of his mind and made peace with it.
Chapter Four
NORAD Headquarters: Outside Colorado Springs, Colorado
“I do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." She repeated.
Barbara Susanne Bentley stood before the federal judge from the District of Colorado. She chose not to swear in on a Bible but instead, she used a book of law. She also took the option of not including the words, “So help me God.” If this had been during normal times and being broadcast on television to millions of Americans, she would’ve included those words. But under the circumstances, she realized that there was no need to put on a show, especially since she personally believed that God was a myth taught by frauds that called themselves ministers.
Barbara Bentley was now the new President of the United States as she was out of the country during the attack on Washington, D.C. She was the Deputy Secretary of Defense and was on a diplomatic mission with the Chinese when America fell under attack. Being the only survivor from our working government, she was in line to become President. She had run for President against President Prescott during the Democratic primary, and at first, she led in all the polls, but when all was said and done, she lost the primary to Prescott.
Bentley and Prescott didn’t like one another, but Prescott felt that due to the “Bentley Machine,” which is what many called the political apparatus that she had behind her, he needed to make peace and put on the appearance of a united party. So, he appointed her, for Deputy Secretary of Defense. He picked that position to belittle her as she had to answer to the Secretary of Defense. It was still a position of prestige and normally a position with some power. He knew though that he was going to be downscaling the military drastically, so he felt giving her that position was almost like poetic justice. She had to act grateful for the position, but just as soon as he started making his cuts to the defense department, it would make her even more insignificant.
It was also ironic as Bentley hated the military. She considered them a necessary evil and thought of soldiers as second-class citizens and she was known for trying to use full bird Colonels like her personal servants.
Of course, she was the dictionary definition of an elitist. She and her husband had been involved in politics all their adult lives. Her husband was a Senator for years until he was involved in a sex scandal and chose to retire. Before she became Deputy Secretary of Defense, she and her husband created the Bentley Foundation that was supposed to benefit the poor, but instead, they used it to become rich as very little of the money went towards the charities.
For the last few years, her health started failing her, which she hid from the public. Only those in her inner circle and her private security force knew about it. Some suspected that she had developed epilepsy, which would cause seizures when she was under stress. Not the kind of seizures where some victims lose control of their muscles but the type where she was unaware of what was going on. Her body was conscious, but her mind was not. There was more than one occasion that television cameras would catch her security staff having to assist her to her limo after a debate or speaking engagement but since the press had become so corrupt and bias, they chose not to report it.
She designated NORAD Headquarters as the temporary Capital. She also used her personal staff as her Presidential staff. She had a meeting with all her staff about new procedures under the current circumstances but then gave them time to settle in and adjust mentally to their new roles.
Oliver Robertson was her Chief of Staff, and he called them in for a short meeting without the President. He would be completely in charge of anything that had to do with the staff or the administration side of everything. During his short meeting, he instructed everyone to run any official business through him, and all personal meetings requested with the president would be made through his office. Oliver was aware of her health problems and wanted to keep as much off her desk as possible.
Bentley designated the newly appointed NORAD Commanding General Robert Berner as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, but the rest of the joint chiefs would have to be named later. Brigadier General Berner was the sudden replacement for General Stanton, who resigned right before the Nuclear attack.
General Berner walked into her office, “Congratulations Madam President. I know with you taking charge; the country is a step closer to working out a solution to the current situation.”
She looked at him with disdain, thinking, “It’s the military that should’ve prevented this in the first place.” “Thank you, General. What word do you have on Korea?”
“Madam President, we have our subs in position to launch a counterattack on your command.”
“Retaliation? What good will that do? According to the briefings I received the last couple of days, South Korea is lost, and much of it will be a wasteland for a long while. I’m not going to get us into another war. Let them have the damn thing.”
Even General Berner couldn’t understand that concept, and he was a big supporter of President Prescott. But instead of saying anything, he just said, “Yes, ma’am.” he waited for the President to say something else, but she didn’t, so he continued, “We also have the situation in Savannah, Georgia. Troops from Ft. Stewart are guarding the docks and awaiting orders.”
She acted flustered, “Well, the first thing I need to do is talk to Chancellor Kohl. This is just one big misunderstanding, and I need to apologize to her for our troop's actions. We’re going to need her assistance and our soldiers taking shots at their troops is not a way to start out a relationship.”
“Ma’am, our troops were just stopping a senseless slaughter by defending our citizens.”
President Bentley gave him a dirty look and then ordered in a harsh tone, “General you are dismissed: as you’re leaving, please ask Sarah to step in here.”
A bit of disbelief went through the General but once again, just responded, “Yes, ma’am. Anything else Madam President?”
She acted distracted for a moment, “What? No! That will be all.”
Sarah Vassar, who was now President Bentley’s chief political advisor walked into the President’s office and could see that Bentley was in one of her silent seizures. She had seen her in it many times in the past when Bentley was under a great deal of stress.
Into the Apocalypse Page 4