The Ark of Asylum (The Ark Series Book 1) (7 page)

“Well, it’s not that simple, and that’s what we need to discuss,” he says while turning away and crossing his arms and outstretched legs.

“What are you talking about? It’s exactly that simple. There is nothing to discuss. You’re going to let them in, and that’s final!”

“We do need to discuss this because I don’t want to let them in!” John says with confidence as he uncrosses his legs.

“Are you nuts? Why the hell wouldn’t you let them in? Don’t you remember what happened in Texas in the nineties with that cult leader? They pretty much killed everyone! Is that what you want, John, for them to come in here and kill everyone? Why the hell wouldn’t you let them in!” Kate starts to yell but quickly lowers her voice, remembering her kids are playing close by.

John gets all worked up, spinning toward her and throwing his arms up. “Of course that’s not what I want, but it’s just not that clear an answer! Mainly because it’s just wrong, downright wrong! We’re doing nothing wrong here, and it’s just not right that they should impose on our civil liberties and step foot on our land, damn it! And of course I don’t want to put our family or any person in this town in danger! But we gave them what they wanted by sending out some prototypes, and we’ve cooperated with them, and now they just want more! If we let them in and onto our land, then where does it end, Kate? You think they’re just going to go away? Of course not! They will soon want to put men here and probably a small post so they can monitor everything we do! They will impose their rules and regulations on everything we do with total disregard to any and all progress and advancements we’ve made in technology and health care! And I’m not even talking about the research you’re getting close to doing, which I might add, would never happen with them here!”

He grabs her hands again and tries to gently pull her toward him. “Don’t you see, honey? They have been doing this to people in not just this country but other countries as well and for decades. All with no regard for privacy, freedom, or even our basic human rights for that matter! Don’t you see, babe? It’s not that easy, so please just calm down and think about this. Our whole way of life will change if we give into their demands. Listen, we have forty-eight hours to decide, and I plan on having a town meeting tomorrow and discussing this with everyone and putting it to a vote. Okay?”

Kate only shakes her head. She’s still so furious at her husband that she can only look away and toward the kids with tears rolling down her face. Unable to say much more than to agree with having a vote, she wipes her tears and gets up and walks down to the kids. John sits there and just mumbles “damn it” over and over again as he shakes his head and stares off at his family. He is right about this. He is. He sees Kate hug the children in a group, trying not to show how upset she is. John goes inside.

* * *

The next day a town meeting is held, and almost every adult is gathered in the Ark’s auditorium. With the little that is known, the chatter is at an unusually high level. John walks into the room and up to the podium, and his family and Adam file in behind. John gets everyone’s attention by speaking louder into the mic for everyone to quiet down so they can get started.

When he begins to explain to the crowd that they’ve been visited by the ATF and that they’re demanding they are let in to tour the facilities, the crowd chatter begins again, so John waits. He asks everyone to quiet down again but without success. After patiently waiting, he decides to remind them of their large security force with an even larger arsenal of weapons. He educates the unaware of their modifications and how they’ve already sent over some prototypes but that it wasn’t good enough.

John holds up one of the rifles and shows the crowd. He demonstrates how they work, which impresses the crowd. But before they put it up to a vote, he wants to bring up some points that were already made.

The first point he makes is the obvious: If they just let them inside the gates to take a look around, then hopefully they’ll just leave. He is quick to follow up with how it just isn’t that simple and if they choose to go that route, they will most likely be heading down a path that will mean a never-ending government presence in their community. Their peaceful town could be turned into the towns and areas that they all moved away from, and that they could be subjected to rules, regulations, and laws that aren’t conducive with how they live. John reminds them that when he started this community, it was so they could live their lives freely, in peace, and only ruled by ten simple rules. He adds in how well they are working and the fact that they have absolutely no crime.

John looks around the room at all the faces on him. He wants to assure everyone that he wouldn’t be putting them in harm’s way by not allowing them to step foot on their land. He assures them that even though they have enough men and firepower to protect them, by no means does he want to start a war with the government. That’s why he’s gathered everyone, so they could vote on what should be done. He notes that he cherishes each of their opinions, and since this affects the entire town, he felt it was fair they put it to a vote.

John looks around, hoping he did his best to explain it to everyone, looking for some kind of reassuring look from anyone as they chatter away. He quiets everyone down by making one last suggestion as a possibility. What he suggests is using his high-powered lawyers to throw as much red tape at them as possible so that the outcome would be hung up in courts for so long that maybe they would just lose interest, give up, and go home.

Immediately, he reminds them that it could just be a short-term solution, and it would probably just prolong the inevitable. But he wants to make it clear that he just isn’t ready to let these men step foot on their land.

After that, the crowd erupts in agreement and starts shouting and cheering. Through the noise, someone yells that they agree full-heartedly and they don’t want them on their land either. Everyone eventually comes to an agreement to use the lawyers and take the democratic approach, arguing in court rather than starting a conflict with the ATF.

John shakes his head and says, “Well, alright then. It’s settled. I’ll get every lawyer I have on my payroll and then some and take these assholes to court! The ATF gave us until tomorrow to make a decision, so I will be sure and inform them of our decision and make sure they don’t do anything stupid and try to break down the front gate or something. Well, alright then. Thank you all for coming, and in the mean time, just try to keep a low profile when out in the open. We don’t want some hothead taking a shot at anyone because they’re pissed off they’re not getting their way and can’t come in. And I will be sure to inform you all of any developments in the future. Thank you again and good night!”

John jumps off the high rise and kisses his family as they all walk out. When they get back to the house, he has Adam contact ATF agent Smith and inform him of their decision to go to court; the agent is not very pleased.

Peter lies in the red rock dirt at a shooting range in the foothills just outside of Denver with his rifle pointed at his target. He wipes the sweat from his brow as the relentless sun beats down on his back, making things even more uncomfortable. Two hours of target practice and Peter is about to explode. He doesn’t understand why his father makes him go to target practice twice a week, but out of respect for his father, he does it without argument. Peter takes a deep breath and holds it as he aims down his sight and pulls the trigger, punching a perfect hole directly in the bulls-eye.

He admires his shot and cranes his neck to look for his father. “Am I done yet? It’s really hot out.”

His dad is still sitting on the bench, reading his newspaper and drinking his coffee. He replies while crossing his arms, “Just a couple more shots and you’re done, then a little bit of handgun practice and you’re done for the day. Okay?”

Peter turns his head, trying to hide his frustration. He pulls the trigger twice, hitting the bulls-eye just millimeters apart. “There. I’m done.” He gets up and dusts the dirt off his clothes.

His dad looks up from his paper and looks at him and the target with both admiration and ambivalence as he shakes his head. “You know, son, I only make you do this for your own good. Practice makes perfect, and you’re getting to be a much better shot because of it. I just wish you took as much interest in this as you do your video games.”

Peter looks at his dad and turns his head to look at his near perfect target. “Sure, Dad, getting better, whatever you say, Pop. Can we just go to the handgun range so we can get this over with and go home?”

“I won’t make you stay for long, just forty-five minutes or so, alright? Then you’re done. I promise.” He takes his son’s rifle from him and wipes it down and puts it back into the case, something he usually makes Peter do, but perhaps he has decided to pick his battles and just take care of it.

“Alright, let’s go, son. Grab the handgun case. I got your rifle, and like I said, not even an hour and you’re done. Deal?”

“Sure, Dad, I’ll just meet you over at the range. I need to use the bathroom first.” After handing his case to his dad, they give each other a nod and walk in different directions. An hour later and with nothing but decent target shots, Peter puts the gun down, pulls off his hearing protection, and looks at his dad.

“Now, can we go?”

Simon tries to hide the slight grin on his face by shaking his head and looking at his watch. “You know, you’re going to make a damn fine soldier some day if you choose to go into the military. If I had been half as good a shot as you, I probably would have been a scout sniper, but instead I chose the more boring military career. You have pure talent with a sniper rifle, son, something most men in the armed forces could only dream of. And you know I never want to pressure you into going into the military, but—”

“Yeah, I know, Dad. You’ve made it very clear to me my entire life what you want me to do with
my
life, so can we please just go now!” Peter says while containing his displeasure. His dad just nods his head and says nothing as he grabs the rifle case and walks toward the car with Peter close behind.

Fifteen minutes later they pull up to their house in Golden. Peter jumps out of the car, not saying a word, and walks into the house and most likely up to his bedroom. Simon sits in the car for a second but then gets out and unloads the gear. After putting the guns away in the bunker, he walks upstairs and knocks on Peter’s bedroom door. Peter yells to come in, and Simon opens the door.

“Hey, great job today by the way, and ah, well hey, tomorrow I can really use your help doing some inventory in the bunker. It’s been a while since we’ve done it, so we need to go through and check all the expiration dates on everything. Okay?” Peter just nods and doesn’t turn around as his PlayStation gets done loading
Call of Duty
. He puts his headset on and ignores his father.

Simon watches his son ignore him for just a moment. “Alright then. I’ll see you tomorrow at o’ six hundred. Have a good night, son.” He closes the door and stands there for a minute wanting desperately to open it again and say something, but he has nothing to say. Ever since his wife, Peter’s mother, passed away, his son has become more and more distant from him. And with most of Peter’s childhood spent away from home because of military duties, he and his son just never really got to know each other. He hangs his head and walks downstairs to the kitchen and grabs a beer out of the fridge then walks into the living room and turns on the TV.

The next day Peter walks through the open steel hatch door where his father is already inside with a clipboard and a pen. “Well, good morning, son, nice of you to join me. How did you sleep?”

Peter replies while trying to appear awake, “Fine, so where do you want me to start?”

“Ah yeah, I’m working on ordinance right now so if you want to start with provisions and N.B.C. filters, just checking the dates and quantity that would be great, and grab a clipboard.” Peter doesn’t say a word as he grabs a clipboard and walks over to the bottled water and freeze-dried food and starts checking.

An hour later, Peter finally says something. “Dad, why do we do this? I mean, ever since I was a kid we’ve always had to come down here and do this, which to me just seems like a waste of time.”

His dad stops writing on his clipboard and sets it down not about to waste a chance to communicate with his son. “You already know why we do this, son. I’ve explained it to you many times. It’s better to—”

“To be safe than sorry, yeah I know; I’ve heard it a million times. But nothing bad ever happens, Dad, and we’re not at war with anyone, so why bother?”

His dad looks at him, sits halfway on the table, and then lets out a sigh. “We’re not at war, and nothing bad ever happens? Son, you’re sixteen now, so I don’t have to hold back and sugarcoat things as much as I used to, so I’m just going to tell you how it is. Son, this country is attacked almost every day by foreign and domestic terrorists. People die every day because of the sick and demented individuals that attack our way of living on a continual basis in attempts to scare us and keep us living in fear.”

“Seems like they’re doing a pretty good job,” Peter mumbles under his breath but loud enough for his dad to hear.

“You know, son, you can joke all you want, but the fact is that it’s only a matter of time before this country is attacked in such a way that it will alter our way of life forever. Now when that happens, there will be two types of people in this world, the prepared and the unprepared, and those who are unprepared will most likely perish. Those who are prepared are the ones who will survive and who will be the ones who will be responsible for rebuilding our society. Now, I realize you have very limited knowledge of how bad things really are in this county and how much worse they are most likely going to get. Maybe if you stopped playing that damn video game once in a while and watched the news you would get a better understanding of just how bad things really are.”

Peter crosses his arms, looking perturbed. “I don’t play video games all the time!”

Simon starts to move closer to his son. “But since you don’t choose to open your eyes to reality and you keep your nose stuck in front of a television, I will be the one who educates you on how things really are out there.”

He explains how when he was overseas working for the military, he was in a branch of the Army that dealt with biological and chemical weapons. When the Marines would go into an area like in Afghanistan or Iraq, they would clear the area of any hostiles. Afterward, they would send his unit in if they found any chemical or biological weapons or schematics or anything that resembled that nature.

“Practically every house, compound, and building had some kind of preparation for various kinds of chemical or biological weapons, almost every one. And it wasn’t just a bunch of amateur stuff we were finding; it was professionally made, extremely dangerous weapons of mass destruction on a level of compaction that society could never comprehend.”

"Peter lifts his head up from resting on his chest and wonders out loud if that was possible. His dad sits down on the table near him, admitting that he may have exaggerated a little but hopes he still got the point. Simon drops the clipboard on the table and confesses that was about the time he decided to retire from the military and focus on home life and on Peter and his mother. He just knew that someday, and someday probably very soon, this country would be attacked in a way that they would not be prepared for, in a way that would devastate it. “I decided then and there that we were not going to be one of the unprepared, and that I was going to do everything in my power to prepare this family for the inevitable, the apocalypse, if you may.” Simon explains that that is why he makes him go to target practice and teaches him to hunt and why he taught him survival training, so he is as best prepared as he can be, trained very similarly to how the military trains, a training on how to survive, how to live.

Peter just stares at his dad, dumbfounded, and says, “Okay, I get it. You made your point, and I’ll never ask that question again.”

Simon exhales and looks at the ground, shaking his head. “I’m sorry to be so blunt with you, but I can’t sugarcoat things anymore. Things are bad out there, son, real bad, and they’re only going to get worse. But just know that I have your best interests at heart, and you know how much I love you. So I just want to make sure nothing happens to you, and that you’re the best trained and educated that you can be for a wet-behind-the-ears teenager.” He smiles and puts his hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“I appreciate everything you do for me, Dad. Don’t ever doubt that for a second. And thank you for explaining that better because I’ve always had a hard time understanding why we do all of this. And why you make me go through all the things that I do when most kids’ dads just go to baseball games with their sons and go fishing with them. But I guess they’ll be the ones who are unprepared when the time comes, huh? But you know, maybe once in a while we can go to a baseball game or go fishing or something that normal kids do with their dads, you know? It couldn’t hurt.”

“You’re absolutely right, son. Maybe I’ve been too hard on you, and maybe you just need to be a kid once in a while. But I guess that’s why you like playing those video games so much. It makes you feel like just a normal kid playing with your friends.”

“Something like that, Dad, but hey I’m all done doing the inventory on the things you asked me to do. Where do you want me to start next?”

“Nowhere, son. I can finish up. Go on and have some fun, and thanks for your help and for listening to your crazy old man.”

“You’re not crazy, Dad, just well prepared, and someday I know I’ll thank you for it.” Peter sets down the clipboard and darts out of the bunker and up to his bedroom.