United States Of Apocalypse (25 page)

“
T
he fire started
in the yellow barn,” John said. “It spread across the dry grass of the field and set the other barn on fire. This was not an accident.”

Herbert looked at the group of men, women, and children watching.

Tee and Darlene were standing off to the side, exhausted after spending the last hour with everyone else dousing the flames and managing finally to contain the blaze.

Several men were still going through the debris to salvage what they could and make sure the fire didn’t start up again.

John leaned his rifle on his shoulder and stared at the group of survivors. “I think we have a rat in our midst, someone who likes to play with fire.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Herbert said calmly, but he looked pissed to Darlene.

This was too close and could’ve been so much worse.

Tee cleared his throat, all eyes on him. He put hands on hips and scanned the crowd. “I know some of you don’t know me. Heck, I don’t really see a familiar face, if we’re being honest. No friends. No family. Not one of you knows me well, and no one knew me from Adam before all this began. But I think tragedy makes us all closer, and in the few weeks or days we’ve been struggling with this, I know one thing is certain: We’re all in it together.” He pointed at an elderly woman with two small children gripping her thighs. “I know you never expected to take on the responsibility of those two, and I know you wouldn’t trade it for the world now. We’ve all had to adjust and sacrifice and do things we weren’t proud of to stay alive. I get it.” Tee looked up to the sky and put his hands in the air. “The Good Lord knows I’ve made enough mistakes. I own up to them. I welcome learning from them too.”

Darlene could see John was getting antsy, wobbling from foot to foot as he scanned the crowd. She knew he was having none of Tee’s speech and was busy looking for a sign from someone they’d lit the fire.

Tee was pacing now. “This is the Brinker farm. Mister Herbert and his lovely wife, Pheebz, own this gorgeous piece of property. Did they close it off from the world and let us all die? No. They took us in. Gave us a spot on their lawn to set up camp. Let us use their water and shared some of their food. They didn’t have to. They could’ve turned us away and told us to go back to the rock we crawled out from under. But they didn’t, because they are good people.” Tee stopped pacing and wagged a finger. “I ask...no, I implore...whoever did this is not welcome wherever I am welcome. I would never speak for our gracious hosts, but I don’t think what happened here tonight was an accident, and I think evil hearts breed evil intentions. If you’ve done this, I feel sorry for you. I also feel responsible and ashamed because I led you to this oasis in the middle of this troubling world. End of Days is here, my friends. Whether you believe or not, it won’t change anything. I ask each of you to look deep inside and think about what you see. And the person or persons who did this will get their just rewards. Mark my words.”

Darlene hoped it didn’t come to street justice from John or anyone else if someone was accused or confessed to the crime. Right now, she was scared for multiple reasons.

The smell of the burnt wood hung in the air, and a few people coughed as the wind shifted and blew the smoke at the group.

Herbert stared at his smoldering property and sighed loudly. He folded his arms over his chest before bowing his head.

John looked at Darlene with anger in his eyes, but it wasn’t directed at her. It was a general feeling they both shared right now. When she didn’t look away, John approached.

“We let these people into our safety net, and this is how they repay us,” John said.

“It’s not all of them. It could only be one or two bad apples,” Darlene said, trying to calm John but hearing how hollow her own words were right now.

“One is too many. I think we need to have a private meeting with Herbert and let him know we only have one recourse,” John said.

“And what is that?”

“We tell them to go fend for themselves,” John said.

“Herbert would never do it. And you know why? Because it’s wrong, that’s why. You’ll condemn all of them to death because of the actions of one of their number?”

“How do you know it’s only one of them? What if they are all together in this? What if every man and woman with a rifle is planning on killing us in our sleep tonight? You don’t know and neither do I. But I do know we will never survive as long as there are those who would betray us, and do it while breaking bread with us every meal,” John said.

“You’re acting crazy,” Darlene said, but she half-believed it. His words stung and might be morally repulsive, but he was right. They were no longer safe on the farm. The bad guys had come too close for comfort.

John had gotten loud, and now Darlene looked around. All eyes were on them. They’d heard most of the conversation and definitely the tail end of his short speech.

For his own part, John stood tall and Darlene could see he met every accusing stare before they eventually turned away.

“We have a problem,” Darlene said simply when the silence became unbearable.

Tee nodded but didn’t say anything.

Herbert clapped his hands. “This night is getting too long for more radical speeches. We double the watch tonight and pair up together. I don’t want anyone in the tree stand or out by the road alone. Same for the porch and the foot patrols. Anyone have a problem with it?”

“I’ll go around and pick the men and women who are good with a weapon and haven’t had too many guard duties lately. I’ll make up a list in the morning we’ll all be happy with,” Tee said. He turned to Herbert. “Sorry. If that’s alright with you.”

“Of course. We could use the help, and you know these folks better than I do. Everyone get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day and a new set of challenges,” Herbert said. He motioned for Tee to join him, and the two walked over to John and Darlene.

“Let’s take a walk,” Herbert said. The four went to the front porch.

Herbert was staring at Tee when he spoke, and Darlene realized she and John were there as witnesses if something went wrong. Did Herbert not trust Tee?

“You brought these people with you,” Herbert said.

Tee put his head down. “I swear, I’ve had no problems with anyone up until this point. I’m hoping it was an accident.”

“They destroyed two of my barns, and it could’ve been much worse. People could have died. We lost a lot of our supplies and lumber,” Herbert said.

Darlene left unsaid what she was thinking: Herbert’s nephews had previously almost set the farm on fire. Why wasn’t he blaming them, or at least bringing it up? She hoped he would in private, and it was so much more troubling to think a family member might be to blame than someone new in camp.

“It makes no sense. If they wanted to do damage, why burn things they will need themselves? It would’ve made more sense to steal everything and hide it in the woods,” Tee said.

“We need to watch our backs. We’re targets,” John said.

“I agree. When you make up the guard duty roster, make sure you pair us together. I don’t want to be next to the wrong guy or gal,” Herbert said. “We’ll have time tomorrow to sit down again and revisit our defenses and decide what we’ll need to do.”

Tee nodded. “I’m really sorry. I had no idea or I would’ve taken them to another farm. I’m sure there are a few abandoned at this point, especially with the maniacs running the town. I’m just glad no one was hurt or worse.”

“I want the tree,” John said.

Herbert glanced at Darlene. “I think the tree and the road are our biggest spots right now. We’ll have eyes on the back and front of the property. I’ll go up with you tonight, John.”

“I’ll go,” Tee said quickly.

Herbert smiled and shook his head. “No thanks. I can get up there. I used to all the time. One night won’t kill me, and I need to do more. I’ll take tonight with John in the tree. It will do me good to see the back end of what we’re working with, anyway. I’m sure I’ll regret it in the morning.”

“We’ll take the road,” Darlene said and pointed at Tee.

“Just make sure you pair off people who aren’t friends for the other spots. I’d hate to think we’re putting the arsonists together to start another fire if they get a chance,” John said.

“I will do it randomly tonight and then really give it a good look tomorrow,” Tee said.

“Hey, you need to come look at this,” a man said as he came around the corner.

“What is it?” Herbert asked.

“We found a body in the rubble. It looks like someone was killed. The fire was set to destroy the evidence, maybe.”

Herbert smacked the porch railing with his hand. “Now what?”

They began walking back around the house to the remnants of the barn.

Darlene didn’t know if she could take any more of this excitement.

She had no idea what tomorrow would bring.

S
o many people
wanted to see the news that Herbert finally turned on the TV and put it next to the window so everyone could crowd the porch and front of the house to at least hear the horrific events unfolding.

Darlene leaned against the side of the house and cried, and she wasn’t the only one.

“This isn’t real,” someone in the crowd said. “Turn the channel. This station always puts on inflammatory rhetoric.”

“It’s on all the channels,” Herbert said loudly and put his hands up. “We all need to prepare, not only for basic survival but for protecting what little we have left. The enemy is at our back door and we need to fight. We need to protect all the children we’re sworn to watch over, the next generation of Americans.”

“We can’t do this alone.” John walked up next to Herbert. “And we’ll need to retake the town. Maybe try to make peace with the Sawyer clan, because this will affect all of us now.”

Darlene couldn’t say anything, she was staring at the newsfeed and wondering what was happening.

The enemy had landed on their shores. And they still didn’t know exactly who the enemy was, although it looked like North Korea and some of their allies had made their bold move and were winning.

San Diego, Miami, and New York City were under attack, and reports were still coming in about parachuting armed men dropping in all over the country. There were scattered reports of warships docked on the Alaskan coast bearing Russian markings, and an unconfirmed report alleged North Korean units coming in from Canada. The Mexican border had been obliterated, and an unknown army seemed to be marching into California and spreading into the lower states unopposed.

The attack had been so swift and coordinated it had taken America by surprise. Not all of our troops had been pulled back, and most back in the country were detained with domestic rioting and looting.

Herbert looked at Darlene and John. “Tomorrow I’ll go over to the Sawyer compound. I’m sure they’ve circled the wagons at Dusty’s farm because it would be the easiest to defend. I’ll have a talk with whoever is in charge. Most likely Buck Sawyer, who is the most unstable but next in line. He’s also the loudest, so I’m sure he got everyone worked up into a frenzy about wiping us out.”

“No way are you going over there. They’ll hang you as payback for Dusty’s death no matter what deal you strike. I’ll go,” John said.

“I’ll go with you,” Darlene said.

Herbert leaned closer to the pair, glancing around to make sure everyone was still watching the news. “I need one of you here. I don’t trust too many, to be honest. There is definitely a traitor in our midst, but we haven’t found him or her yet. It might be more than one. We don’t know. I need someone to watch my back.”

“Understandable. I’ll stick around, but tonight the three of us need to do the main patrolling. It was nice to take a break and sleep for more than four hours at a time, but this new development might push the Sawyer clan to be even more desperate. They might want to take our weapons next,” Darlene said.

She couldn’t believe this had just gotten ten times worse, and it was already bad to begin with. They were vastly outnumbered, food was going to dwindle quickly, and a bunch of tents on a lawn wasn’t much protection.

She didn’t think they could survive an attack from the redneck Sawyer family. How would they last more than a few minutes against a North Korean unit?

Add in the internal sabotage, and they wouldn’t last long at all.

Darlene thought of something. “Do you think the killer/arsonist is working for the Sawyers or just someone trying to eliminate a few people so there’s more for them in the end?”

“I don’t know. It could be both, right? I do know I don’t feel safe. I woke so many times in the three hours of sleep I got that Pheebz finally told me to go sleep in the living room. And when I got on the couch, every creak and noise in the house kept me awake. I finally got up and made coffee, which we’re almost out of now,” Herbert said.

Darlene was about to mention the Boyette farm but stopped herself. She had made note Herbert had kept it to himself, never mentioning Terri in hiding there. They hadn’t discussed it, but she knew it was the ace up his sleeve. If something happened, they could retreat to the farm, but not with someone hurtful in their midst.

“At some point, we need to do something about the crazies running the town, too. We can’t fight a war on three fronts. It would be nice to think, with the invasion, the other two sides will be too busy watching their own backs to come after us, but we can’t count on it,” John said.

“How long before they reach us?” Tee asked.

They turned back to the television, but the news had already begun showing the same previous segments. After twenty minutes of watching the initial reports, a live roundtable of quasi-experts began a panel about the invasion, talking in big words and not really saying much.

“What should we do?” someone asked from the crowd.

Tee looked at Herbert, who waved for Tee to address the question. Tee was the
de facto
leader of the survivors, even though they were all living on Herbert’s farm. Darlene figured at some point one of the men would have to stop being so nice to the other and take the lead to avoid confusion. Right now, the two of them leading was working.

“We dig in and we protect this land.” Tee turned to Herbert like he had an idea. “If it’s alright with Mister Brinker, I think we literally dig some trenches. We clear out the rest of the bushes and trees all around the property. We need a killing field.”

A few of the people groaned.

Tee put up his hands. “I’m sorry for using such a crude description, but it is appropriate. This isn’t a joke, people. We’re under attack by foreigners who will kill all of us. Or worse. I’m not going to sugarcoat any of this. As it stands, we’re not a big city, and we have no hope to have a military or police rescue. We’re on our own. But we have one thing the North Koreans or Cubans or whoever else is attacking us don’t have: pride in the United States of America.” He turned to Herbert. “You have an American flag?”

Herbert nodded. “I’m a proud Marine. With all of this going on, I stopped raising the flag.” He pointed at the flagpole on the other side of the driveway. “But I guess we need it now more than ever, right?”

A few people clapped and more joined in, cheering as Herbert went inside and retrieved the American flag and slipped into Marine mode, raising the flag and saluting it.

Several men, whom Darlene guessed were also former military, stepped up in a straight line and saluted with Herbert.

Darlene began to cry again, but this time it was because of pride and joy at seeing everyone working together. This was what everyone needed: to feel like part of something, and hopefully, work together for a common cause.

She hoped whoever was working against them would slip out in the middle of the night or change their minds about hurting the collective.

They still had no idea who was torched in the fire; all they knew was that it was a male. Unfortunately, no one had stepped up to say they knew the man.

The burial had been early this morning at first light and almost an afterthought. And that was before more bad news had broken.

Darlene watched John sit down in one of the chairs on the porch and close his eyes, deep in thought. She could only guess what was going through his head right now.

She didn’t want to know.