The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (10 page)

There was also
a second large metal shed filled with LP freezers and refrigerators with
simple, manual controls.  The freezers were filled to capacity with frozen
foods.  Later they could be filled with fish and butchered meat as needed. 

Julio had built
several well protected look out posts and snipers nests around the property. 
They were essentially pill boxes with small rooms that were almost impossible
to see even if you were right next to them.  He set them up with ventilation
and small propane heaters as well.  He wished he had it this good on his last
tour in Afghanistan. 

One of the last
projects to be completed was a 20' X 30' metal building that they insulated and
filled with mats and folding chairs and tables to use as a commons room and
training hall.  It wasn't anywhere near as nice as Jim's old dojo, but it would
work.

The larger
mobile home had become their headquarters and community center.  A satellite
dish had been installed and they were monitoring the news closely on both
television and over the internet.  Denise called everyone currently on property
in for a quick meeting.

“Everyone
listen!  The news reports have the flu spreading through Europe and Israel like
wildfire and the fatalities have started.  There are now cases throughout Asia,
and we’re starting to see cases in large cities here in the States.  It’s
happening.”

Rob said, “I
would have liked a couple of more days.  Let’s get on the sat phones and call everyone
in.”

A few hours
later, everyone was there but Julie and Helen.  They had gotten the message and
called to say they were running some final errands and would be back after, but
they had not made it back yet.  Susan was starting to worry when, just after
dark, Helen’s rig came up the driveway pulling yet another fifth wheel and
Julie followed in a two toned light green/darker green 1970’s GMC motor home.

Rob rushed out
to give Julie the chewing out of her life, but stopped short when he saw that
the vehicle was loaded with young women.  “What the hell?!” 

Susan said,
"Gentlemen, it's the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle."

Will walked up
behind her singing, "There she was just a-walkin' down the street, singin'
'Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do.'"

Rob glared at
both of them.

Susan looked at
him and said, "What?  You don't remember
Stripes
?"

Helen looked
sheepish walking up to Rob, but Julie was defiant.  “Dad, you remember my
friend Samantha from high school?”  An attractive young Filipina stepped out of
the SUV and waved, then four other girls of various ethnicities got out of the motor
home.  “They’re all from NAU and don’t have family in the area. Here are our
other friends, Jamie, Rebecca, Angie, and Pia.” 

Susan grabbed
Rob’s arm gently and said, “Rob, of course we have room.”  To the girls she
said, “This is our ranch and you’re absolutely welcome here.  Julie’s dad was just
surprised.  Let’s get you inside and we’ll talk about things and I can answer
any questions.” 

Susan explained
the situation and the ground rules.  All of the girls agreed and asked to
stay.  They were given satellite phones to call home, but were asked not to
give away information about the location of the place, difficult as that would
be.  Jim told them that they should warn their families about the danger of the
flu.

Rob was still annoyed
a few hours later but more about the surprise than with the addition of a few
extra people. 
At least it will keep the boys busy,
he thought. 
Matt
and Luke certainly won’t be bored.

DECEMBER
20
^th

The next
morning’s breakfast was once again delicious.  When Jim commented on it, Will
laughed and said, “Didn’t you know?  Frank’s wife, Rita, is a chef.   Who do
you think was making the decisions on stoves and food supplies to stock this
last week?”   Jim just laughed.  Things were looking better.

Everyone
attended the meeting after breakfast.  Rob started it.  “Good morning,
everyone.  I’d like to welcome our new crew:  Angie, Pia, Samantha, Jamie, and
Rebecca.   They’re from NAU and will be a welcome addition to our group." 

The girls
waved. 

"Sam is a
journalism and photography major and has asked for permission to document our
little project here, so if no one minds?"  There were a few chuckles here
and there, but no complaints.  Samantha was already snapping shots on her
digital camera.

“For the first
order of business, we’ve elected Jim as mayor of Paradise Village.”

Jim looked up
from his coffee.  “What?”

“Congratulations,
Jim!  We’ll come up with a sash and a top hat for you later.”  There were
cheers and laughs at this. He looked back at Samantha and asked, "Did you
get that?"  She gave him a thumbs up sign. 

Jim stood. 
“Well, I like the sound of Paradise Village.  Thank you.”

Rob continued, “Here’s
the short version.  The weaponized bird flu is here in the States.  With the
way it was released, it had to be a coordinated attack.  There will be
counterstrike against the Middle East and China.  We need to take the threat of
EMP and radiation seriously as things will get out of hand. 

“From here on
out, no one enters the property without a ten day quarantine.  Anyone choosing
to leave won’t be allowed back on.  Any off property missions will be intended
to avoid contact with other people at all costs.  It’s not negotiable at this
time.   Does anyone have a problem with that?” He paused.  “Good.  Let’s get on
with it.  Ann?”

Ann stepped up
and continued the meeting.  “Our top order of business is closing off the entrance
road to the village and finishing up the root cellars to double as fallout
shelters.  Secondary will be wrapping up any remaining EMP protection that we
need to do.  Assignments are posted on the bulletin board now.  If you wrap up
early, find something else to help with."

Rob said,
"Alright folks, it’s crunch time.   Any questions?  Okay, let’s hit it.”

It took a few
minutes for everyone to check their assignments and clear the room.  Matt and
Luke took the bulldozer down to the far end of the dirt road and shortly had a
ten foot embankment covering the entrance to the dirt road from the state
highway.  It wouldn’t stop someone who was determined, but it should slow them
down.  They also removed Jim’s signs for the ranch and the mailbox by the
road. 

Matt nailed “No
Trespassing” signs to trees along the dirt road while Luke put the bulldozer
back in its garage next to the excavator.  Once that was done, they went to
help with the other projects.

The root
cellars had been dug into a hill with the floor sloping upward.  The trenches
had been expanded to 10 feet deep and 10 feet wide and 30 feet long and
reinforced cement walls had already been completed a couple of weeks before, so
the work group installed six inch pipes for ventilation then spanned the
trenches with 20 foot logs that were at least a foot in diameter.  The logs
were covered with thick plastic liner and covered with cement and soil to match
the surrounding hill.  The final tasks were to place filters and fans for the
ventilation system, conceal the vent pipes, and put in thick wooden doors. 

Inspecting the site,
Rob said to Jim, “It’s good work, but you know we’re still screwed if there’s
serious radiation.”

“Between you
and me, I’m actually more worried about forest fires.  If the flu is as bad as
it sounds, there won’t be anyone doing firefighting missions.  Life could go
south in a hurry. We can clear cut some firebreaks and build another shelter
for the animals.  Beyond that, I’m not sure what to other than to evacuate
quickly if the time comes.”

Rob grimaced
and said, “I just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“I just want
you to know that I’m not crazy about this new reality that we’re moving into. 
I kind of liked my life before.”

“Me, too,
buddy.  Me, too.  But did you notice that we probably have a year’s supply of
beer?”

“Okay, so maybe
it’s not all bad.”

Julian’s voice
blurted out of their radios, “Boss, we have a couple of visitors on dirt
bikes.” 

Jim said, “I’ll
take care of it. You cover me.”

Jim took the
truck down the dirt road and stopped at the end.  He put on a surgical mask, and
black mechanics’ gloves, even though he felt that the risk was small.  He also
left his radio broadcasting, knowing that Julio and Dave were listening.   

When he got to
the end of the road, he got out of the truck.  It was two men who looked like
meth heads to Jim.  He noticed the bulge of a badly concealed pistol on one of
them right away.  “Can I help you guys?”

The one with
the pistol stayed back while the other stepped up and said, “We were just
wondering why you closed the road off.  That’s pretty fucked up, man.” 

Jim looked him
over and said, “It’s a private road and that didn’t seem to stop you.  I’d
recommend that you two go home and avoid other people until this flu thing
sorts itself out.”

“I have a
better idea.  How about we…”

“How about you two
leave now and don’t ever come back onto my property again?”

The two men
stepped forward aggressively and the second reached for his weapon. Both of
their heads exploded at the same time.  Jim stood there for a moment, and shook
his head.  It wasn't the first time he'd seen gunshot wounds to the head, but
it was the first he'd seen that happen in front of him.  He climbed into the
truck and drove it back to the village.  Dave was already moving the tractor out
of its shed.  Within 45 minutes, the bikes and bodies were buried 8 feet down
and the tractor was on its way back to the garage. 

Jim worked on
solo projects for the rest of the day, disturbed by the morning event.  He knew
those two would have been trouble, but it bothered him to see things dealt with
so violently. 
I tried to give them a chance.  If they had jumped back on
the bikes and left, it would have been the end of it. 
The gut jarring
awful thing was that he knew it wouldn’t be the last time.

When he went to
dinner that evening, he noticed that the mood was grim.  Matt almost ran up to
him, “Uncle Jim!  The President was on and said that we were hit with a
bio-weapon attack and that we took out China and North Korea with kinetic
energy weapons and nukes.  The Israelis nuked Iran, too." 

Jim frowned.
“Sounds like your dad nailed it all the way round.”

Once everyone
was there except for the two on guard duty, Frank gave a quick briefing.  “We’ve
been monitoring news, CDC, law enforcement, and military intelligence as
available.  The short of it is that cities are now under martial law and all
unnecessary travel is forbidden.  The Muslims were effective in spreading the
virus to most of the major cities in the US and Europe, so there’s not any chance
of the virus being contained.

“We know that
China altered the virus and passed it to Iran to disseminate.  That means that
they did have a vaccine, so we will be able to develop one, too.  CDC expects
six months to a year. 

“From here on
out, the largest factor in survival will be to avoid other people, but all
estimates have people trying to flee the cities spreading it all over the rest
of the country in a relatively short time. So far, the virus is killing 87% of
its victims.”

The room was
silent.  Rob stood and took over.  “As many of you know, we had an incident
this morning with a couple of locals.  They were armed and wouldn’t leave.  It
was dealt with quickly once it was clear that they intended to be trouble now
and in the future. “

Rob allowed a
moment for it to sink in before continuing.  “It’s time for me to brief you a
little more about our mission before we go further.  As you know, the
government has been ineffective to the point of paralysis for years now because
of ideological partisan infighting.  We knew this biological attack was coming
and could have shut it down.  The political leadership tried to prevent the
preparations we were able to make at DoD, even while they stockpiled for
themselves.  Fortunately, we were able to work around them by following the
letter of their instructions and not the intent.

“The Department
of Defense leadership developed a covert plan in case of this situation.  Hundreds
of small groups, just like this one, have gone to ground in rural areas all
over the country.  Our instructions are to dig in and wait for the vaccine. 
Once it’s developed, we will be distributing it and reestablishing rule of law
in our assigned areas.   That means we will also be dealing with any local
fools playing warlord.

“Military bases
were locked down as of two weeks ago, so most should survive intact, if we’re
lucky.  There should be military support available when the time comes. 

“For now, we’ll
be functioning as a small village.  Later we’ll be more like the Peace Corps,
except with machine guns.”

“I’m in charge
of the federal mission.  Jim is in charge of the village. 

“What I need
everyone to understand is that there is a purpose to what you are doing.  You will
be ensuring the survival of the United States and we need all of you
desperately.” 

“The next step
is to make sure everything is secured for an EMP.  We can expect to get hit in
the next day to two and a high atmosphere detonation is almost certain.  Make
sure that the cages are closed and that all of your electronics are shielded
and off.  All of the generators need to be unplugged and in their cages.  We’ll
leave news on in here on a small TV, but that's it.  We’ll be monitoring
radiation levels from here on out.   Two long blasts of the air horn is your
signal to get the hell into the shelter.  Everyone got that?”  Most nodded, but
a few just looked shell shocked.