Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation (31 page)

Laura       School Mistress

Harlan     Radio Controller

Steven      Librarian / Curator

Jenny       Valley Historian / Census

Alan         Head of Farming &
Livestock

Many of
these were not leadership posts per se, instead being areas of responsibility.
While the primary needs of the settlement were identified and met with the old
system, it did result in some confusion and a few problems.

The new
order would be more structured and clear cut. At the top, with complete
dictatorial powers, were the two consuls who had the right to veto each other,
at least theoretically. This remained me and Briana. My primary
responsibilities were external affairs, scavenging, and defense. Briana’s area
of focus remained internal affairs, along with law and order. While others had
authority over their work areas and could establish standards of behavior or
applicable regulations, only we could make actual laws.

The
departments, which would cover the majority of our needs, and to which all able
bodied adults were assigned, consist of:

Militia

Food Stores & Community Dining

Material Stores

Farming & Ranching

Construction

Education

History & Culture

Originally,
the armory was connected with the material stores. This has now changed with
responsibility being assigned to the militia. The mechanics and pilots are also
loosely attached to the militia, primarily for organizational purposes. The
militia itself remains generally the same. There is a core group of full timers
and large subset of part time reserves who would leave their other departments
in time of need.

As to my
earlier comment regarding everyone being in a department, what this means is
that we still require all who are capable to work. No one is permitted to sit
back and do nothing. Those who try learn the hard way that we will make them
contribute with outright refusal resulting in exile. Between the zombies and
raiders and all the other little dangers in our world, we simply cannot allow
any to leech off the community.

Everyone
is assigned a general duty, almost always in the area requested. Neither Briana
nor I see any point in pissing people off by making them do work they hate.
Individuals move about frequently, and we encourage such things as a means to
quickly spread expertise. However, if some particular task is required, it will
be taken care of. During a crisis there are no “it’s not my job” comments.

Heading
up our departments of labor are the following:

Lizzy         Militia Captain (head of
valley security)

Renee        Militia Captain (head of
special operations)

Steph         Director of Food Stores
& Community Dining

Bruce         Director of Material
Stores

Alan           Director of Farming &
Ranching

Randall      Director of Construction

Laura         Director of Education

Steven        Director of History &
Culture

The
militia is technically under my overall command, but with all my other duties,
it is necessary to leave most of the day to day work in the hands of
subordinates. These are Renee and Lizzy. It was Lizzy who suggested I place
Renee on a par with her due to Renee being the best we have at special
operations. The woman excels at this, and it would be a mistake to not take
advantage of her skills.

Originally,
Steven, our resident PhD in history, handled our little museum, which
admittedly consists mostly of rows of storehouses stuffed with paintings,
statues, and historical artifacts we’d recovered. Meanwhile, Jenny dealt with
our record keeping and the census. These duties have been unified in the
Department of History & Culture. Jenny remains a top official and is still
keeping track of who is living in the Black Hills, marriages, deaths, births,
and so on.

These
directors and the two militia captains also serve a role similar to the old
executive branch cabinet. They provide reports to Briana and me and give their
advice and point out any issues that might arise. These individuals are also the
first step when someone has a problem, preventing many from rushing straight to
Briana.

We next
decided to elect a council. To hold office the person must be:

1)   A permanent resident of the Black
Hills.

2)   Nineteen years of age or greater.

3)   Not currently in the stockade.

4)   Not currently a consul, director,
or militia captain.

The
nineteen years of age was an arbitrary selection based on the fact that we have
a lot more young people than old. Since we tended to kill or exile those guilty
of significant crimes, there was no need to put in a restriction against
convicted felons. Still, we couldn’t have somebody who was locked up trying to
run for office. It would simply look bad.

The
Black Hills Council would represent the people and could propose changes to
existing laws or suggest new ones. They did not have any direct power beyond
this, although that was expected to change. At some point we would reunite
fully with the American government over on the islands. There was no telling
when this would be – they really like keeping us autonomous for whatever reason
– but it would happen. When it did, there would be a return to proper
representative democracy. In the meantime, I saw no reason to avoid a slow
shift back to that particular mindset.

We went
ahead and redid our laws as well, the few we’ve bothered to formalize. I’m
going to list the key ones along with the various punishments for the purpose
of enlightenment. We did receive some complaints from Hawaii concerning our
draconian tendencies, but the autonomy thing works both ways. Until
reunification happens, we get to do what we want. Also, these enjoy majority
approval, and when I say majority I don’t mean fifty one percent. We are
talking eighty percent or more of our population.

As to
crimes against a person, we have the following:

Murder & Attempted Murder     Death

Rape & Attempted Rape             Death

Serious Assault                           Stockade
or Flogging or Exile

Repeated Minor Assault              Stockade
or Flogging or Exile

Minor Assault                             Stockade
or Flogging

Self-defense
is an absolute right and serves as an absolute defense against the crimes of
murder, rape, and assault. I will point out that in traditional law assault was
verbal and battery was physical. We eliminated the distinction. Threatening to
bash someone is no different from actually doing so. Also, for the major crimes
of murder and rape, we do not care if the criminal succeeds or fails. Being
incompetent is no defense. There are more detailed definitions in our actual
book of laws of course, although I won’t be including these in my narration.

For
crimes against property, we have:

Theft against the State               Stockade
or Flogging or Exile

Theft against a Person               Stockade
or Flogging or Exile

Destruction of Property            Stockade
or Flogging or Exile

Theft
against the state would include such crimes as stealing guns from the armory or
food from the communal stores. Against a person refers to private property. We
don’t have different levels based on the value of the item taken. Rather, we
look at how wanton the act was and how often the perpetrator has previously misbehaved
when deciding on the appropriate penalty.

For children
who steal, there is a special children’s stockade that was built the prior
summer. It has a tiny, dark room lined with bars and a dirt floor. Ten or
fifteen minutes in there followed by the warning that they will return if they
do it again seemed to work at first. Unfortunately, a tiny subset of kids
consider a visit fun and exciting, as opposed to frightening. Worse, this
attitude is spreading. Since our scaring them straight tactic is falling apart,
there will soon be a renovation that turns the children’s stockade into a
playground. We’ll then have to return to the earlier policy of yelling at
delinquents and ordering their parents to deal with it.

The last
major category is treasonous activity:

Treason                                      Death

Intentional Endangerment         Death
or Exile

Treason
is defined as helping those breathers who are our enemies. There are no formal
declarations of war, so enemies are any who seek to do us harm. The raiders and
The Brotherhood fall in this category. By the way, some may have noted that I
never capitalize raiders. The reason for this apparent discrepancy is that we
coined the term raiders ourselves. On the other hand, The Brotherhood was an
official name they gave themselves. Also, the raiders, being miserable
assholes, don’t deserve anything more.

Endangering
the community covers such crimes as not keeping watch when you are supposed to
and allowing zombies to gain entrance into the Black Hills. With things the way
they are, there has to be some sort of penalty, and it needs to be severe.

*
* *

Nothing
else of note happened until the day before we were to leave for Hawaii. Briana
was in the house with Asher packing, unpacking, selecting new items, repacking.
It was making me crazy, so I grabbed Mary and went hunting. Briana was paying
just enough attention to insist I take the twins along. What is up with the
twins having to follow me everywhere? Yes, I was leaving the Black Hills, and
for them to accompany me when I was outside was standard operating procedure,
but I was only going a few miles. The constant worry was pissing me off. No
arguing with a pregnant woman though. I was too much of a wuss to even try.

“I say
shoot the big one,” suggested Mary.

“They’re
all big,” I pointed out.

“Make
sure it’s a boy too. You shouldn’t shoot girls.”

“What
about the one on that slight rise?”

The
bison in question was huge, large enough to provide Steph’s kitchens with
plenty of steaks, stew meat, and whatnot. The hide, while not a proper winter robe
that could be made into a rug or bedspread, would still be useful. Leather was
always in demand, and we’d get plenty of thick strips from this beast.

“He
looks sort of sad. I think the one on the left would be better.”

Peering
through the scope of my sniper rifle, I could not discern any difference
between the two animals.

“Left it
is.”

I slowly
exhaled and pulled the trigger. The bison jerked and tumbled as the fifty
caliber bullet blasted through its skull, turning the brain into goop.

“Yay!
And you didn’t miss either.”

I
pinched Mary’s arm. “Let’s go take a look.”

Bison
were an interesting study. There were only a small number of purebreds in the
area, mostly around Yellowstone. However, hundreds of regional farms and
ranches once held tens of thousands of bison / cattle hybrids, which look
virtually identical to real bison. These animals had spread and multiplied,
often mingling with herds of cattle. There wasn’t much interbreeding in the
wild, far as we could tell, but it had been observed. More importantly, the
limited number of pure bison was interacting with the hybrids, and those were
definitely getting together. It wouldn’t be long before the original species
was gone forever.

Off to
the side, Dale lifted his shotgun and dropped a goose that had taken flight.
Tara retrieved the bird and placed it in a canvas sack which she put in the
back of the pickup we had taken. As much as I like driving my Jeep, you really
can’t use it to haul game.

“It’s
pretty big, Dad. You notice how it takes like a hundred times longer to cut
them up than it does to catch one in the first place?”

“Be even
longer if I’d forgotten the bone saw.”

She
crinkled her nose.

“I know
it’s hard work, but we’re away from Briana’s insanity. That has to count for
something.”

“I’m
telling her you said that.”

“No, you
won’t.”

“I
might. You never know.”

“You
won’t,” I reiterated.

Neither
of the twins came to help with the carcass – I can’t blame them there – instead
focusing on bringing down any birds that came within range.

“Dad, I
have a serious question.”

“What’s
that?”

I
dragged my knife across the bison’s belly, slicing through the skin.

She
hesitated briefly. “Is it okay if I date Michael, formally I mean, instead of
us just hanging out a lot?”