by Cooper, DJ
Matt pulled Jim aside and shook his hand and wished them luck. When Jim entered the house Rose was already digging into the boxes and was exclaiming that they’d given them chocolate, toilet paper, and other things.
Jim just shook his head in disgust. He, too, was not happy with her. That would be the last time any of them would see Jim or Rose. A few weeks later when they went to check on them there were no residents at the cul-de-sac. It seemed everyone had left.
Chapter 12
“Amanda Talks”
“The reason why the world lacks unity and lies broken and in heaps is because man is disunited with himself.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
October 16th
As the weeks progressed, a nice fall garden was coming in and everyone was getting along well. The duties list had worked out beautifully and their little group was becoming like a well-oiled machine.
The men began working on the training schedules for everyone and practicing security scenarios. Even the children that were over 6 were learning to shoot. It tickled Dylan and he said it was his job to protect Ariel. They hadn’t heard anything more from George’s gang but they knew he was out there. They felt like it was not if but when he came back and they needed to be ready.
Amanda finally began to tell them about her ordeal. She said she didn’t know how long it had been before they’d found her or the last time George and his gang had come by demanding payment for the protection. She said that she told them she had nothing left. They’d already taken nearly all her food and valuables before the lights even went out.
The evening of the attack she was eating her last can of green beans when George and two of his guys came bursting into her home demanding more payment.
“I told them that they’d already taken everything.” Crying, she continued, “They searched my whole house and then told me that I would need to find other ways to pay.”
Amanda told the group she knew right then that they had bad intentions. She said George told her that women had something they could pay that made them special. Amanda continued. “I was instantly terrified because I knew what he meant by special.”
Pausing to compose herself she went on, “One of them started taking off his gear when George slapped him. It was shocking that the guy stood and took it while he was yelling at him. He said that he knew the rules on new whores and that he had to test out the merchandise first.”
Still sobbing she recounted the tale. “I ran to the bathroom and locked the door but they broke it in and dragged me into the bedroom.” Sobbing harder, she continued, “I fought them. They kept hitting me. George grabbed the front of my tee shirt and ripped it open. Then the other thugs helped him tear my clothes off.” Gasping and choking on the mixture of tears and snot running over her lips, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. She looked at them with horror in her eyes, almost begging for understanding. “They all just stood there watching without any emotion while the others took their turn.” She sat and cried for a little bit, then looked up at Janice with puffy red eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks. “It was awful and it felt like an eternity. An eternity in Hell that would never end.”
Through the sobs she relayed the rest. At first, she’d fought them with all her strength and even bit George’s ear. She told them that doing so had only gotten her a beating, tied up, and gagged. When they were done with her George told her they would see her next week. He told her to take care of herself and to clean up and make sure she was presentable before then and maybe someone would bring her some food.
“I was so scared I went and hid in the closet. I’d been hiding in that closet until your guys found me. I was afraid they were coming to get their turns and that is why I fought them when they tried to get me out of the closet.” Anger replaced fear and confusion. “I hate them. I hate them all.” Through gritted teeth she finished her tale. “I will kill each and every one of those bastards.”
The women were horrified at what she had been through. They realized that they needed to worry about this and prepare the women in the group to defend themselves. The men were outraged and vowed to make George pay for how he was preying on the community.
***
Herb enjoyed going down the road to Arthur’s house where he was able to learn a lot about ham radios from Arthur. He heard that a real militia group was keeping things in check around town, assisting the local law enforcement as well. They often discussed the news and thought that might be why they’d not heard from George.
Arthur opted to bring Herb home in his old pickup today. He wanted to talk to them. Shaking hands with Matt and Sam, Arthur told them that some of the information coming over the ham was spotty. What was coming in was reports that Isis had been in cahoots with, or were funded by, those from OPEC and other forces. Grabbing a cup and holding it out to Janice he’d hoped for a good cuppa joe. Looking to the others in the barn he continued, “These fanatics change with whatever dollar is paying them, they are just a small cog in the grand scheme of things.” Taking a long swig from his cup, he said, “Ahhhh this is some magical stuff. I ran out a few days ago.”
Refilling the cup he continued his news updates. “The reports are that there was a plan to crush the US on multiple fronts from some of its foreign enemies. Some of what I’ve been catching say that it’s been discovered that there were even factions of this plan inside our own government…stretching all the way up to the presidency.” Taking another quick gulp before continuing he looked up from his cup. “When they realized that they’d been discovered there was a coup within the government that had both succeeded and failed on various levels. It split our entire government and the military as well.”
The group sat silently listening as Arthur shared what he’d learned. “When it was discovered that Russia was backing the militants there was a limited exchange of nuclear weapons. Moscow is gone as are some mostly military targets on both sides. North Korea fired on US targets almost immediately. The US retaliated with full force and left North Korea completely decimated.”
All of this came as a shock. No one thought it was a worldwide issue.
Arthur said, “There’s more. China was hanging in there but they are without power. The US sent them a little present in the form of an EMP. China was complicit in what was going on and we were not going to let them come through this unscathed. At this point, most of the world is without power for one reason or another, and all of the oil producers in the Middle East are nearly crippled.”
Just like the newscast that everyone remembered watching shortly before the collapse. The news seemed somehow surreal.
Arthur gave a somber look. “There’s more and this is local. The Isis factions operating here in the US are still beheading people and wreaking havoc wherever they go. Local militias are taking them out all over the country. There were more of them than we could have even thought possible. It was quickly realized that they’ve been infiltrating us for years.”
Janice brought him another cup of coffee while he continued. “Gangs mostly run the cities and stay pretty close to them but they have been venturing further and further out of the cities for supplies. Most surviving residents that were not in the gangs have been relocated to the FEMA camps. They went on in willingly long before the gangs took over. It seems Ebola is rampant in both the cities and the camps. The gangs are unorganized and have spent most of their time killing one another in turf wars or plundering outlying areas.”
Matt and Sam had a meeting to go to with the militia leader that evening and were looking forward to speaking with him. It felt good to find some allies and from what they’d just learned from Arthur, they were going to need them.
Over the past few weeks there had been some spotty reports of Ebola but nothing was confirmed. There were some small indications of a total collapse surrounding the banking system as well as a few snippets of issues with Isis and gangs. These things were nothing they’d not expected to hear. It was already a given that it would be some ti
me before things got anywhere near normal. Until now though, they had no idea how widespread the chaos was.
They headed to the meeting before dinner. Matt, Sam, Frank, and Loel were the ones to go and meet with the Militia leader. What Matt liked most about this invitation was that they met at the sheriff’s office. This gave them a sense of security and affirmation in knowing that they had indeed been working with local law enforcement.
The drive to town was surreal. No lights anywhere reminded them that the power was gone everywhere. A few houses were burned to the ground as if there was no attempt to put out the flames. “I wonder what happened,” Matt mused.
Sam shrugged and shook his head. A small spire of smoke rose over the next hill reminding them that life was still churning around them.
Once they arrived at the edge of town the reality of what was going on hit hard. A few people milled around and their look was hollow. The country store was open with a sign that said:
NO CASH – ONLY ACCEPTING
GOLD OR SILVER
&
BARTER ITEMS
The scene was normal yet not. While the store was open and a few other things were going on, the appearance of tents in the park was the most noticeable difference. A whole community had sprung up with campfires and people sitting about their small homesteads. What they were waiting for Matt and the others could only guess.
Pulling up the street to the police station they saw an array of vehicles. The sheriff car was there along with one of the local police. A military tan hummer looked as though it might be National Guard. They walked into the station unsure of what the outcome of the meeting would be.
After all the introductions were made, Matt shook hands with Ryan Fowler who was the head of the state-wide militia.
“I am very glad to meet you. It’s been a little rough for of some of us.”
The first thing Ryan wanted to know about was also the first thing the guys had wanted to discuss with him, George, and his gang!
Sam filled him in on the “payments” they were exacting and told him about Amanda’s ordeal.
Ryan acknowledged that it was not an unfamiliar story. “At least three other women have told similar ones and are now housed inside the protected areas.”
He asked if the group was subjected to any run-ins with him personally. Matt explained how they’d previously attended some of his meetings and said, “I think we all decided that they were just not our cup of tea.”
“That is exactly why we asked you to this meeting. We’d hoped that you might be able to shed a little light on just who we are dealing with.”
The four chuckled about it when Loel scoffed. Although it was still a very serious matter, Loel commented on who he was. “If you ask Dez she will tell you he is a pontificating, egotistical, couch commando.”
Matt reached out and shoved him as the others snorted. “We had a run in with him a week or so ago. He thought he’d come up to our place to exact his payment. He was summarily denied and told not to return; however, I know he’ll be back at some point.”
Ryan agreed. “With all the pressure we’ve been putting on him here in town he’s been having a pretty tough time getting what he wants. The more areas we secure, the further out they have to go to get their payments.”
They all nodded in agreement as Ryan continued, “We know he is on the south side of town somewhere but we just can’t seem to find where they are holed up.”
Matt and Loel looked at each other with a knowing look and Ryan asked what they knew. Loel said, “One of the guys that were in the group had a place out that way. It was very secluded and nestled into a mountain. I don’t know the exact location but I bet we can get you close.”
Ryan turned to the sheriff and asked for a local map. They cleared the desk and laid it out with each man leaning in to assess the areas.
They began pouring over the maps, pointing out landmarks and talking. Matt tried to remember the road they went up to get there the one time he’d attended one of their FTX outings.
Frank had been there a couple of times but also couldn’t remember the exact location; never actually ever having driven it. They narrowed it down to an area where three roads intersected but could not remember anything more. Frank volunteered to go out to that location with the sheriff and some militia guys to see if anything jogged his memory.
The sheriff knew the area and said, “It can only be a few locations. I know most of the people out that way.”
Ryan asked if he could come up to the house and meet the group. He also offered to look over their layout and see if he could help with their security. He explained that he also wanted to know where they were located.
Matt looked a little skeptical but nodded to him. “Sure, that would be a tremendous help. I also think it would be good for you to meet everyone.”
Matt and Loel both thanked him, saying that they would appreciate the help. Ryan said that they would come tomorrow and afterward Frank could go with them to see if they could find the location of George’s gang.
Matt, Sam, and Loel shook everyone’s hand. The sheriff looked to Ryan. “I know where Matt lives.” Looking at Matt he said, “I’ll bring them tomorrow around noon?”
“Sounds good, see you then.”
Frank had taken his own truck because he wanted to check on Sarah’s cousin who lived in town and said he would meet them back at the house. On the way back the three of them chatted about getting rid of George and his gang and were a little more encouraged than they were after they heard Arthur’s tale earlier in the day.
Chapter 13
“Visitors”
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. Let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Rebecca was doing well and had shown decent knowledge in herbal medicine. Her and Charleigh hit it off immediately and already had a nice herb garden going out on the porch. The weather was getting cooler and they wanted to find a way to keep some things growing as Tawny and Sam had done with cold frames they’d built over the garden. They were discussing it when Matt and the others came in from their meeting and asked the guys if they had any ideas.
Matt said, “We have a huge roll of heavy plastic sheeting. Let me see about getting the porch enclosed like a solarium.”
Passing by them as though it were not even a thought he continued, “I’d thought about this before the current issues and it might also provide a barrier to help the house stay warm.” The girls were excited about the idea and thanked him. He looked at them and asked if they could do it tomorrow. The guys agreed to put it at the top of the project list for the next day.
Tawny came in to see how the meeting went and hearing that project list for tomorrow was being discussed came over and chimed in. “You know decent showering would be nice.”
They all looked at her like some epiphany had struck. They asked, “What did you have in mind?”
She started by explaining that both houses had electric hot water heaters.
Dez said, “Yeah, we know, and the cold showers really suck.”
Herb spoke up saying, “Well, since we know now that there will be no power for a while I think we can use some of the same ideas that we had for solar heat only adapting the same principle and applying it to the hot water heater tanks.”
Jeremy immediately picked up on this and excitedly added to the discussion. “You know, that might just work. We can pull the tank itself out of each of them and mount them on the roof using the sun to heat them. I am sure we can somehow rig this up.”
He began to pace the room thinking and saying to no one, “It will have to be gravity fed but I think it can be done. I will see what I can come up with for some nice hot showers and get to work on it in the morning.”
He looked at Herb. “First thing?”
Herb agreed, nodding yes. “First thing.”
&nbs
p; While they continued planning for tomorrow’s activities, Connor came in from his watch and told them a group of 5 people was walking up the road. He wanted Matt or Dez to come and check them out. Dez said she would go and headed out with Connor. When they got to the blind at the corner of the yard, Toni handed Dez the binoculars.
She looked through the glass and after a moment, smiled and said, “I know a couple of them.”
Connor started to rise but Dez grabbed his arm saying, “Wait, something is wrong. Stay down and radio up to base Get Matt on the radio. I need to have him look at this.”
Connor did as she asked and handed her the mic. She asked Matt if he could see the group from the house yet and he said he could.
He said, “I agree something is wrong. Gary and Kimber know not to approach like this.”
They were friends of Matt and Dez from Danville and had been in discussions with them about coming there if stuff went bad. They knew that if they came and all was good that there would be a yellow ribbon on the tree and they would wear a yellow bandana. If things were not ok they agreed to wear red bandanas. It is where they got the idea to use the signal at the cul-de-sac.
Gary had a red bandana on his head and this told Matt and Dez something was wrong. They leapt into action getting the group into defensive positions with most of them out of sight while some would still look like they were doing their normal activities.
Dez instructed Toni and Connor to remain in place and let them pass up to the house while she crept back to Matt. As they approached, they could see that it was two guys and a girl walking with them. None looked particularly threatening. They just looked like teenagers.
Dez said, “They don’t look so imposing.”
Matt looked at her. Nodding, they both said, “Looks can be deceiving.”