Dystopia Box Set [Books 1-4]

by Cooper, DJ

  John shook his head and said, “Because I have a small farm and a while back, I read someplace about the plans in the event of an emergency they would be looking to the farms to supply the camps.”

  Mark replied, “Do you really think they will?”

  John said, “I do.”

  Mark asked, “Why then did you only hide a few guns and your hiking stuff, and not everything?”

  John replied, “Because they know I have guns and other things, if I hid it all they would look further and find the stuff I hid besides this.”

  Mark asked, “Do you think we have anything to worry about? I know you talk about this stuff all the time, but I never really believed it.”

  John replied, “I hope not, but it is better to be safe than sorry. Mark, do not speak of this to anyone, I don’t know who might say something if they come looking and I believe the less the girls know the better off we are for now.”

  Mark agreed that was a good idea and told him he would not say anything. They walked back to the house chatting about other things to be done tomorrow when Amy came running out of the house with John’s cell phone. Shouting, she came running over, “It is Matt; he says he needs to talk to you right away.”

  John took the phone saying,

  “Hey there guy, what’s up?’

  Matt wanted to know about his family and Matty; John assured him they were fine. Telling him, he had been checking on them and went over and got Matty along with Kimmie and Jenny when it all started. He told him his parents were fine too.

  Mark could overhear parts of the conversation, but not what was said, only that Matt’s tone was urgent, and although he couldn’t hear what he was saying this made him feel anxious. John just kept making affirmative responses, “uh huh, uh huh.”

  John said, “Ok theah guy, I will tell the others and we will prepare to head out as soon as possible. Would you like to talk to your dad? He’s right here.”

  A pause marked the response and John said, “Ok, I will try and let you know when we are on our way, here’s your dad.”

  John handed the phone to Mark who said, “Matt, are you ok? How’s Dez?” There was a pause while Matt spoke and Mark replied,

  “Yes I understand, we will make it son don’t worry. We are all in good hands with John, he seems to have things pretty well together.” He stood nodding while Matt spoke, “I will, we love you too.”

  Mark ended the call and handed the phone to John. John asked him,

  “Matt tell you what we had to do?’

  Mark said, “Yes, and I agree with him. The girls will likely give us a hard time but I know Matty will be thrilled.”

  John told Mark, “I think we should try and leave as soon as possible. I don’t know what we are going to run into out there.”

  Mark agreed saying, “I also think we should get out some maps and check on some possible routes around the cities. After the news this morning I fear it might not be possible to get near them.”

  John agreed and told him he had already marked out some routes on the maps and they could go over them and revisit the options, they agreed they would wait before they told the girls what the plan was.

  John asked Mark, “Do you think we should tell them we are headed to Matt and Dez’s place? Or maybe not till the last second just in case we do get some visitors. We don’t need any attention drawn to our leaving.”

  Mark agreed this was the best idea, especially given all the grief Rita had already caused and that Amy will likely not care for the idea of a road trip.

  It was only five o’clock so John decided he would head to town to see if he could find anything left in the stores they might need for the trip. He took Rita and Kimmie with him to keep Rita and Amy apart.

  When they got to town there was a roadblock with what looked like the National Guard standing in the road. As they approached, they were signalled to stop. John rolled down his window and asked,

  “Is there a problem here?”

  The guardsman asked, “Where are you going?”

  John replied, “We were going into the grocery store to pick up a few things.”

  The guardsman said, “The grocery store has been closed do you have any other business in town?”

  John said, “I have a friend I was hoping to check up on. Ben, he lives over the pharmacy.”

  The guardsman responded, “All residents of the affected town have been relocated to the refugee camp in Devons. If you have no other business here, do you require assistance? I can have a truck follow you to pick up the residents for the refugee camp if you are unable to care for yourselves.”

  John looked shocked and said, “No sir, we are fine, the ladies here just wanted some chocolate is all. Can I turn around right here?”

  The guardsman consulted with another who scurried off to a tent nearby, looking to John and saying,

  “I need to see your license, sir.”

  While fishing it out of his pocket John asked, “Is everything ok? We didn’t know this area was cordoned off.”

  The guardsman looked at his license and made a note on a clipboard saying, “You’re fine, we just wanted to know who would still be in the area. Travel is restricted during this period of Martial Law.”

  John was shocked; he had not heard anything about the declaration of Martial Law. He looked at the guardsman and asked,

  “Can we go home now?”

  The guardsman was preparing to let them go when the other one came back with a man in a suit. The suit looked like it was big on the man, who was older with a slight limp. He walked determined with his dark eyes piercing the windows of the truck clearly assessing any threats. The man approached the truck and wanted to know what kind of supplies they had at the farm. John told them just the usual farm stuff, explaining he was basically a hobby farm not one of the big farmers.

  The man said, “Sir, we will need to come and take an inventory to assess what may be needed for the refugee camp. You’re free to go, someone will come by tomorrow.”

  Before John could object the man turned and walked away. John started to say something to the guardsman who put his hand up to be silent and waved them to leave. John looked at the guardsman who shook his head “no” looking in the direction of the suited man, as if to say that it was not a good idea to object. Tipping his head sideways, and motioning silently, suggesting, for them to leave quickly.

  On the way back to the farm John was agitated and was cursing under his breath at how they thought they could just do anything they want, and who do they think they are?

  Kimmie interrupted his cursing asking, “John, is something wrong?”

  John looked at the girls who both had looks of fear in their expressions. He had not realized that they had no clue what this meant.

  He softened his look and tone, saying, “Kimmie, this is not good at all. Do either of you know what this could all mean?”

  Both girls shook their heads “No.”

  John said, “When we get back to the house we are all going to talk about this. I don’t want you to worry about it right now, but there are some things we will all have to be aware of and think about.”

  They drove back to the house in silence, John was deep in his thoughts and both girls were watching the houses go by.

  Turning into the driveway John said, “Kimmie, will you get some coffee going and Rita can you please gather everyone to the table? I will explain what some of the things that are bothering me about all this are then, Ok?”

  Both girls nodded and upon exiting the truck each went to the task that John had asked of them. John sought out Mark, who was in the large barn tending to some of the animals.

  Mark saw him headed for him at a trot and yelled out, “Hey John, what’s up?”

  John walked up to him, saying, “I think we have some trouble coming, we need to sit down with everyone and have a talk. Let’s go inside.”

  Mark followed John inside where everyone was sitting around chatting with Kimmie and Rita. The girls
had already told of their encounter with the strange man in a suit.

  Mark and John came in and Amy asked, “What’s going on?”

  John said, “I see you girls are pretty much up to speed on what happened in town. The guardsman said the area was under martial law and while I don’t know what agency the man in the suit was with I have a pretty good idea.”

  Mark asked, “Do you think it is FEMA?”

  John replied, “That’s exactly what I am thinking.”

  Renee asked, “Is it true they want to come out here for stuff?”

  John said, “The guy said he wanted to take an inventory of what we had here.”

  Jenny said, “I don’t understand why?”

  John said, “They think they can just commandeer whatever supplies they think they need for the refugee camps.”

  Kimmie asked, “What is a refugee camp? Is it for the bad people who made the mess in town?”

  John said, “No, they put all the people from town in the camp.”

  Mark sighed, saying, “John you’ve been saying stuff about this for years. Is this what you were talking about when you talked about FEMA camps?”

  John nodded his head saying, “This is very bad, think about this, it has only been a couple of days and, other than the banks not reopening everything feels fine, right? If they had a place to house all the residents of the town capable of handling it, when did they build such a thing?” Why would they want to house American citizens in it instead of the criminals who messed up town? Why not just bring aid to the town instead of herding everyone off to a camp?”

  There was absolute silence as John continued, “I think we have to assume they know something we don’t. When they come tomorrow, if they ask, all of you were here for our harvest weekend. If they want to know why you are still here, you tell them when the banks did not reopen we decided to extend it because of the trouble in town. I don’t think they will check yet so if they want to know we are all family here.”

  Rita said, “Won’t we be safer in the camps?”

  John looked at her and as gently as he could and explained, “It is not a camp that wants to help you. They say they do, but what they really want is to control you. In all likelihood they would put Matty in a kid’s tent and make you work all day for the camp.

  I have some friends who were able to get some of the information about what was planned for these years ago. The plans they have for the majority of the people are not good Rita. Please for Matty’s sake take my word for it. I promise you it will be better and safer with us.”

  While Rita had a look of doubt, she knew that John would protect Matty with his life.

  After dinner a text came through from Matt saying that he would have additions to the group and they would use the code words. He acknowledged the text and organized a watch for the evening, either for them or any threats. Mark would take the first watch and everyone went to bed.

  Mark was tired; it was almost midnight when he thought he saw movement in the tree line. Not sure if he was seeing things because of fatigue or if there was something out there, he strained to see the area where the movement had been. There it was! He had seen something! Creeping into the bedroom, he quietly woke John explaining there was movement in the tree line. John quickly got up and fished his night vision scope from under the bed. They quietly made their way over to the window where Mark pointed in the direction where he had seen movement.

  John trained the scope in the area and could see two people crouched beside the rock wall. John watched silently as they made their way up the drive, scanning the area looking for the rest of them. He assumed it was the group Matt had texted about, but didn’t want to take any chances.

  Mark took over watching them while John slipped out the back door. He crept over to a position across the driveway from them and crouched behind a large pine tree. Once in position he called out,

  “Stop right there.”

  A female voice called back, “John, is that you?”

  John replied, “What do you want here?”

  The female responded, “John, its Morgan and Kevin.”

  John stepped slightly from behind the tree saying, “Move into the light so I can see you.”

  The two figures moved up to where the bright outdoor light was shining, and waited for John to approach. As he approached, he recognized them. A little perplexed at why they were there he asked,

  “Morgan, why have you come here?” Morgan replied, “The city is bad John, I didn’t know where else to go.”

  John was not exactly comfortable with them just showing up. He knew Morgan but only because she had accompanied Matt over to visit on a few of his trips up to see Matty. He felt it was strange that they had come to his place.

  He asked, “Have you heard from Matt?”

  She said, “Yes, two days ago.”

  The guy with her got a strange look on his face that John could not interpret and asked him,

  “Is there something wrong?”

  He replied, “No, I just didn’t know she had spoken to Matt.”

  John asked, “How do you know Matt?”

  Kevin replied, “We’ve been friends for years, this is my wife, Morgan.”

  John asked him, “Why did you come here?”

  He said, “Morgan told me we had to come here.”

  John didn’t like the way this all felt and had a sinking feeling that something was not as it seemed. He told them to come inside and they would talk about it. When they went inside Mark immediately recognized Kevin and hugged him. John felt a little more at ease, but did not know how it could be that he had never met Kevin, yet Morgan had come with Matt on a number of occasions. Something still felt off to him, but he trusted Mark.

  They got Kevin and Morgan a bedroll on the floor and promised to figure out something better in the morning. John sent Mark to bed and opted to take the next watch. The rest of the night was quiet, but John was bothered by the appearance of their new guests.

  Chapter 7

  “The Others “

  “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.”

  -Adolph Hitler

  With all the confusion and telephone issues, it was difficult to get ahold of the family. Toni was distraught and the anxiety mounted that they would not make it to them. When the call came in, it was like a miracle.

  Danny said, “Jeremy, I’m so glad we got ahold of you.”

  Jeremy could be heard over the speaker phone, shouting, he said, “Danny? Danny is that you?”

  Danny replied, “Yeah man, I’m sure glad to hear your voice.”

  Jeremy with relief said, “Same here guy, how’s it been going for you?”

  Danny replied “Not good, not good at all. A few days ago, after the banks didn’t reopen riots began almost immediately. The National Guard came in and shot a lot of people and started putting people in a camp at the old Fort Devons. Remember, we talked about that?”

  Jeremy said, “Yea, I knew Devon's would end up a FEMA camp or something.”

  Danny continued, “Well, we got out of the house, I took Mom, Melinda, Dickie, Jules, Georgia and Nancy up to the old cabin. The one at that pond we used to go fishing at.”

  Jeremy was just saying, “uh huh.”

  Danny continued, “I went back to the house to get some clothes and stuff, but the FEMA people had mostly cleaned it out. Man, I gotta tell ya we left just in time. I saw them dragging the neighbors out of their house in cuffs, it is bad here!”

  Danny paused a minute taking a deep breath, “We have had lots of fish to eat but not much else. Nancy left last night to go to the camp; she insisted they just wanted to help us. I followed her and watched the camp a while. I gotta say guy, no one wants to end up there! They had the people working like slaves and they were under armed guard. Why would a relief camp have guards watching the people? They looked like prisoners not refugees.”

  Jeremy said, “Ok Danny this is what I need you to do. Matt’s
friend John is coming down with some of Matt’s family. I need you to get to John’s place. He lives out in Auburn; his place is on Sandy Lane.”

  Danny could hear Matt in the background say, “He needs the code word; when he gets there, he needs to say Hannity, John will reply with foxtrot, to be replied with Matt. This will tell John that I sent them.”

  Jeremy repeated the information to Danny and said, “Danny, it is important you get there tonight!” Danny said he understood and would get them ready to go now and thanked him. I’m going to give the phone back to Toni now, but you need to get there right away.”

  Danny replied, “Thanks guy we’ll head out tonight.”

  Toni said hi to everyone and assured her mom she was ok and that once they got there they would be too. She said her goodbye’s and hung up.

  Danny hung up the phone and noticed his mom was crying. He walked over to her and hugging her said,

  “Don’t worry mom, Toni is in good hands Dez would do anything to keep them safe and you know that. We will get there.”

  Laurie sniffled and said, “I know, I know, Dez has always taken good care of all you kids. You and Jeremy have talked about this before. Let’s get things ready to go.”

  Danny like Jeremy was tall and thin, which was deceiving for many. They were both wiry and excellent shots. They even looked alike with the dark hair and dark eyes. Danny had liked Jeremy since he first started dating his sister Toni. Dez, Jeremy’s mom took to the whole Reed family like they were all one big family. Danny knew they would be safe once they got there.

  The small group began to gather what little things they had managed to salvage before they had to flee the house. It was around ten miles to John’s house and with the girls it would be a long night.

  There were only the six of them Danny and Laurie Reed, Toni’s brother and mother. Melinda Saunders, Danny’s girlfriend and friends of Destiny Dickie and Jules Miller with their thirteen year old daughter Georgia.

  Dickie seemed like he was ex-military, He was originally from the UK, He had moved to the states fifteen years ago. Danny was happy they had been sent to check on them before it all started, Dickie had a British DPM Bergan backpack and a fair amount of useful things including a number of firearms and good amount of ammo.