Dystopia Box Set [Books 1-4]

by Cooper, DJ

  She nodded and said, “Ok.”

  He said, “Go, now! Pack a bag, oh… and forget the nail polish.”

  Rita did as she was told but did not look happy about it, she complained as they were getting into John’s truck that he didn’t have to be such an asshole. John just glared at her, he was not going to argue with her in front of Matty.

  As they started to leave, he remembered Kimmie and Jenny, they were Matt’s cousins. They were only eighteen and twenty but had gotten an apartment on the other side of the same community that Rita and Matty lived in. John drove across the parking lot, he felt he needed to check on the girls. He didn’t know to what end, but they were not what one would call financially savvy and would not have seen the banking issues and saved some money.

  As he pulled into the lot where parking was designated for their building, he saw Kimmie trying to fight off two teenagers who were taking her groceries out of her trunk. John stepped out of the truck Glock in hand and yelled out,

  ”Hey! You, drop the bags!”

  The teen that was closest to him could see the gun in his hand and immediately dropped the bags, but the other one flipped him off as he rounded the corner of the building with his plunder. John smacked the one that stopped in the back of the head and told him to go home.

  Kimmie was crying when John approached her and had a long scratch running down her forearm that was bleeding. He motioned for Rita to come help him, but she sat crossing her arms in defiance, she hated Kimmie and would have no part in helping her. He walked up to the truck and told Matty to come with him that he needed him to help. He sneered at Rita telling her to make sure to keep the truck safe.

  She looked horrified and said, “You aren’t leaving me here alone, are you?”

  John replied, “No, you didn’t want to come help, you’re choosing to stay. We’ll be right back.”

  John and Matty took Kimmie up to her apartment to find Jenny in bed sleeping. He ordered her to get up and start packing a bag for each of them, while he began to bandage Kimmie's arm. Looking over he could see Jenny adding lingerie and dresses and gasped, snapping at her he yelled for Matty to come show her what to pack.

  Jenny began to cry, saying, “What’s wrong, John why are you yelling at me?”

  John stopped what he was doing, he hadn’t realized he was so harsh with her. She was sleeping and had no idea what was going on.

  John walked over and hugged her saying, “I’m sorry Jenny, and I didn’t mean to be so harsh. Things are not going good in the neighborhood and I want you and Kimmie to come with me for now.”

  She nodded and asked what she was to pack, John told her to have Matty help her that he would know what she should pack for each of them.

  The girls grabbed the food Kimmie had just bought along with the feminine products from the bathroom. As he was watching John realized he had not stocked such items for Amy. Hurrying the girls out he said he had to make a stop at a store on the way. All the girls in the truck whined it was too crazy and they were scared. John and Matty looked at each other, Matty rolling his eyes.

  Matty would be ten in October, he was small for his age but very quick with the wit. Matty was a good looking boy with dark hair and dark eyes and could win you with a smile.

  John remembered hearing Matt say that he had been hoping to get him to grow over the summers and vacations he got to spend with him. It was hard because he was always fighting with Dez, Matt’s girlfriend, about not wanting to eat what she cooked.

  Matt and John had talked on many occasions about how Matty treated Dez and believed it was Rita’s doing. John admired Dez because she put up with Matty’s attitude and was always good with him. He silently wondered how he would get through even a day without smacking the daylights out of Rita for all the trouble she had caused them, and the certain problems she will make for him before this was all over.

  Making numerous stops along the way, John was able to get a large amount of both tampons and feminine napkins for all the ladies. He also picked up a number of jars of both peanut butter and jelly because that was one of Matty’s favorite things to eat. He also got more saltines because they would last better than bread for him.

  When they arrived at the house, Amy was standing out front waving to John. He knew this was not like her and worried something was wrong. Hopping out of the truck and practically sprinting to where she was, he looked quickly in all directions before speaking. Panting, he said,

  “What’s wrong? Are you OK?”

  She said, “Of course I am silly, I just wanted to tell you to park on the other side of my car because Mark and Renee are going to be here in a few minutes.”

  John sighed, saying, “Oh good, I’m glad they decided to come right away.” Amy looked at him quizzically asking,

  “Why honey, what is going on?”

  She began to feel alarmed and looking toward the truck she noticed Rita getting out. With daggers in her eyes, she looked at John and said,

  “And what is that doing here?”

  John told her to relax, that it was a necessary evil for the sake of Matty and he would explain later.

  Chapter 5

  “The End is now the Beginning”

  “War is a way of shattering to pieces… materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable and… too intelligent

  -George Orwell

  The small group sat around the table after dinner chatting and drinking coffee with various conversations going on, Kimmie was playing cards with Matty while Jenny stared at the TV.

  John rose and started speaking, “We need to get the sleeping arrangements worked out.”

  Before he could finish speaking Rita said she was not comfortable and wanted the room for her and Matty, which John quickly vetoed.

  They had a guest bedroom and two sleeper sofas; he assigned Mark and Renee the guest room. Rita would have the full size sofa while Kimmie and Jenny would share the queen. He handed out pillows, comforters and sheets and showed them how to open the sofas.

  Matty frowned, saying, “Do I have to sleep on the floor?”

  Rita scowled at John, “I guess you’re just a kid, you can handle the floor.”

  She had an uncanny knack for saying exactly the wrong thing. John, giving Rita a disgusted look went to Matty knelt down smiled at him a devious smile saying,

  “Bud, you get the best bed in the house.”

  He looked over glaring at Rita with a look of victory, as he led Matty to an area in the far corner, where he unwound a hammock and attached the loose end to a hook on the opposite wall. Matty giggled with excitement exclaiming,

  “This is the best bed ever! Thank you Uncle John.”

  Hugging John tightly he ran and scrambled into his hammock and immediately got it swinging.

  John and Amy wished everyone a good night’s sleep and said they would discuss things in the morning. After everyone had settled in Kimmie got up and went over to Rita’s bed. She sat on the edge of the bed as Rita rolled away from her. Kimmie had heard her quietly crying and come over; she tried to act like she felt bad for Rita. No one liked her, no one really ever had. She had a miserable disposition and was always saying horrible things about Matt. She hated Dez and tried at every turn to make Matty hate her. Kimmie had been subjected to her harsh words on more than one occasion, so even she did not know why she went to comfort her.

  She asked her what was wrong, trying to sound kind. Rita snapped back,

  “What do you care?”

  Kimmie’s tone got sharp when she said, “You know what? I don’t, forget it. I just thought you might like to talk about it. Good Night!”

  Rita rolled over slightly and said in almost a whisper, “Why do you talk to me? With everything that is going on, why did John even bring me with him?”

  Kimmie looked at her quizzically saying, “Because you are Matty’s mother, and whether we like it or not he needs his mother and would not have left without you. You really don’t matter, but for
him it has to be don’t you understand anything?”

  Rita began to speak when Kimmie cut her off. “You could give people a try and instead of being a perpetual bitch try being kind to another person. I came over to see if you needed to talk and you snapped at me. Rita no one hates you, they hate the way you act.”

  Rita sniffled and said, “I know… I know I do it too but it just comes out. I was mean to Matt but all of you really have no idea what really happened, you would only listen to him.”

  Kimmie reached out and touched her arm saying, “Just try not to be so bitchy, and maybe you will make it through this.”

  Rita felt a horrible fear, but nodded and thanked Kimmie for the chat and saying, “I will try and I know John is just trying to keep us safe. You have been kind and I haven’t, I’m sorry Kimmie. I really am.” Kimmie smiled a little and headed for her bed. The smile left Rita feeling uneasy, it was a crooked smile with some kind of knowing look in her eyes.

  She had hated Kimmie because of a lie she had told Matt about her. Kimmie never liked her and tried to break them up so she told Matt that Rita had cheated on him. The truth eventually came out, but not before Rita had found out many ugly secrets and lies about their whole relationship. She hated anyone associated with Matt and didn’t trust any of them. She wanted to keep Matty as far away from them as possible and acted like a bitch to do it.

  The next day they everyone was to stay at the small farm except John, who wanted to see if things had calmed and the banks had opened. He exited the long drive, not seeing anything out of the ordinary he headed for town. He drove slowly trying to establish some kind of indication of the state of things, as he entered the town square he found himself staring at something that looked like a scene from a movie. Auburn was a smaller town on the outskirts of Worchester keeping them for the most part away from the city issues. It was a quiet town like one might see on a New England postcard. When he saw that most of the store windows on Main Street lay in shards on the sidewalk, he was in a kind of shock. A car was burning in the square while two others were on their sides. There were a few people walking around trying to gather up things with looks of shock or disbelief as well.

  Making a left onto Second Avenue would bring him to the police station and hopefully some answers. He carefully drove along, dodging debris, trying not to damage things that were strewn in the road, when he noticed Ole Ben. Ben was, as near as John could tell, the oldest guy on earth. He was a stout man with a deep laugh and prickly whiskers. John remembered as a kid every time Ben would see them he would give them “whisker burn” as John called it. He pulled over to talk to Ole Ben asking,

  “Ben, what happened here?”

  Ben looked up at John and waved saying, “Hey there young man, we had a bit of a ruckus around here last night I guess.”

  John asked, “Do you know who did all this?”

  Ben nodded with a look of sadness said, “Young’uns, some of them gang types. There were about fifteen or twenty of them, rolled in here last night. Hollering from their car windows and throwing things like it was one of them crazy parties they like. They broke all the store windows and took all kinds of stuff.” John shook his head in disbelief and asked,

  “Did the police catch them all?”

  Ben shook his head saying, “No, they took shots at the police cars, had them pinned down a while. Then they jumped into their cars and hauled ass outta here.”

  John waved saying, “I’m going to head on over to the station and see if I can find anything out.”

  Ben waved back and said, “Careful, I don’t know if they are still lurking around or if they headed back to the city.”

  John made his way to the police station. He noticed as he was pulling into the lot that a number of the police cars had bullet holes in them. All of this seemed surreal; it had only been two days since the banks had not reopened. John entered the police station apprehensively, not sure what he would find.

  An officer at the front desk asked him, “Can I help you?”

  John replied, “I was hoping to find out what happened here.”

  The officer shaking his head said, “There was a group of looters that came through here last night, raising hell all over town.”

  John asked, “Was anyone hurt?”

  The officer shook his head “No” and asked, “Are you a resident of Auburn?”

  John said, “Yes, I live about 5 miles up Sandy Lane.”

  The officer asked, “Was there any trouble out that way?”

  John said, “No, it was quiet.”

  The officer nodded and just grunted saying, “Listen, you should make sure to keep your doors locked, I don’t think we have seen the last of this bunch.”

  John didn’t want to give away any details about his location or supplies so he thanked the officer and headed home. When he got there Amy was in tears, while Kimmie had been trying to comfort her. John asked,

  “What’s wrong?”

  Kimmie said, “Its ok, she and Rita had some words is all.”

  John was fuming mad and started for the house, when Renee stopped him saying,

  “No, John we all handled it. Amy just needs a bit to calm down is all, she’s fine.”

  John looked back at Amy and she nodded in agreement. Everyone went inside to hear the news about town. Renee made some coffee while John began to explain to them what had happened in town. Everyone sat gasping with horror on their faces and Amy began to cry again. John eased everyone’s fears telling them they were safe where they were and not to worry. Deep down though John knew that was not true, they would eventually move out further and further. Looking at his group he knew keeping everyone safe for any time would be impossible. Mark could shoot, but was the only other person who was trained to use a firearm; the ladies had never even touched a gun before. He went to bed that night with heavy thoughts and fears for them all in the future.

  Chapter 6

  “Welcome Friends”

  “Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”

  -Thomas Jefferson

  September 20th

  The group sat around the television, having coffee and watching the news. It was shocking that the country had completely gone to chaos in only three short days. It seemed that the bigger cities like Los Angeles and New York were in chaos. Most, if not all larger cities in the country had plunged into riots and looting.

  John told everyone that they were to remain inside unless he or Mark was with them. He issued Mark a Glock 9mm for a sidearm and Mark already had his 20 gauge. The girls were all talking when John interrupted them saying,

  “Listen up ladies, I know none of you have ever handled a gun but you’re going to have to learn to at some point. Right now is not the time because we don’t want to go making gun shots for people to find us. It will have to be something you are going to need to get comfortable with.”

  Rita immediately started complaining her and Matty would do so such thing.

  To which John said, “You will when the time comes I guaran-damn-tee it.”

  Most of the day was spent doing minor chores and milling about the house. John was outside listening to NPR taking care of chickens when something struck him.

  The radio mentioned a small snippet about FEMA setting up camps to help house the refugees from the cities. It said they would be going door to door to requisition needed supplies in areas where much of the looting had occurred.

  John hurried to the house and without saying a word to anyone he went to his closet and gathered all of his bug out gear and a number of guns. He sent Mark to the storage cabinet and told him to take out all but one box for the .9mm guns and to bring along his 20 gauge. He said nothing to the ladies, but shot Renee a look that he hoped she would understand meant to keep them all there.


  The two men went out into the large barn where John slid a large feed trough out of the way revealing a trap door. This had been an old cistern that John had uncovered and kept dry for use as a root cellar. They placed all the firearms, ammunition and emergency bug out gear inside the old root cellar. John gathered up some of the antique tools he had hanging on the walls and placed them inside as well.

  Mark never said a word but looked at him quizzically. John looked at him and put his finger up to say shhhh. They moved the feed trough back and covered the area with hay. When they had come out of the barn Rita was standing next to the truck demanding to know what was going on. John looked at Mark and said to her,

  “I was a little concerned about space in the house so to open up some closet space I moved all my hunting stuff out here.”

  Rita replied, “Well, I don’t want Matty getting into any of those guns, are you sure they are locked up?”

  John said, “Sure, come take a look.”

  He went to the side of the house where a mud room was located but no longer accessed the house. He unlocked the door to show her inside saying,

  “I like the idea of keeping these locked up.”

  She snorted in disgust from the odor coming from a few of the hides inside and turned and headed for the house. She stopped and turned, looking from John to Mark asking,

  “What was going on in the barn?”

  Mark quickly replied, “That dang goat kicked over the water bucket again.”

  Rita looking satisfied said, “Oh, well, that’s all just gross.”

  John and Mark lingered to lock up the mud room, Mark motioned John to the field for the goats and said,

  “Ok John, out with it, what was that all about?”

  John replied, “I heard on the radio about FEMA taking stuff for refugee camps and I wanted to get some stuff tucked away.”

  Mark looked confused and asked, “why would you think they would come take our stuff?’