No Normal Day (21 page)

“
Sir,
we are to search, clear and rescue. We are removing all surviving
citizens to a government camp. And we are removing the dead bodies,
due to disease.”

Jason
looked without a blink at the other soldier. “Is this true,
soldier?”

“
Yes-sir”

“
And
what if the citizens do not wish to be removed?” said
Jason.

“
Sir,
we have orders to accomplish this goal. The citizens will be safe and
fed and have shelter. It is not safe out here now.” The soldier
was standing at attention.

“
And
where is this camp, soldier?” asked
Jason.

“
It's
about two hours south, sir. Closer to the military base.”

Jason
moved his hand to his .45. Lee has the AR at his side. Jason said,
“Soldiers, I want you to lower your weapons and I need to have
a talk with you.” The two soldiers did lower their guns.

Jack
watched in fascination and listened to as much as he could make out.
He saw his son-in-law take the bag off of his shoulder. Lee had his
finger on the trigger of the AR. Actually, the four of them seemed to
be laughing. Jason unzipped the bag and Jack saw two bottles of his
whiskey and two cartons of cigarettes being handed to the relaxed
soldiers.
Mu-ther Roachin' Son of a bitch
!
The kid is
giving away my whiskey.
Jack was smiled, though. The soldier with
the paint can, turned and sprayed a big red X on the door of Casa
Dos. They all walked like best buddies, over to Jack and Beth's and
marked that door. The soldiers got in their truck, motioned to the
body trucks and they moved on a little farther. Jason and Lee stood
at the end of the hedges. Lee motioned for Jack to stay down. His
knees were not working again and he plopped down in the corner. They
sadly watched the body bags come out of the Carpenter's. In less than
45 minutes, they could no longer hear the engines. The military was
gone, not a shot was fired. Jason and Lee gave Jack a hand up, they
tapped the entry code rap and Eric opened the garage door.
“Oh-my-god...are they gone...wha-at?” Eric stammered.

Jack
shook his head and said, “Well, you won't believe
this
story. But, first we have to go in and tell everyone to relax. Beth
will not won't want to miss the tale. And I need a drink...that is,
if I have a drink” he gave Jason a scathing look but patted him
on the back.

Everyone
piled out of their hiding places and gathered in the common room.
Beth brought Jack that drink. It was about two hours until dark and
the first of the night watches. So, there was time for Jack to tell
the story of his smart and heroic son-in-laws. Stories had become a
favorite of the family. Sometimes
before
memories and
sometimes, new and exciting tales of their life now in the
after.
In a world without TV and all the other gadgets that had been taken
for granted, your entertainment expectations change greatly. All were
clustered around and looked at Jack with interest. There was the
usual amazement, questions and laughter that accompanied a tale. When
the story was told they dispersed to their duties, chatting about the
events of the day, one on one. The fires were lit, dinner was
started. The kids moved to the yard in the last of the day light,
restless from their afternoon of confinement. Big Dog and Little Dog
traipsed around behind them. The owners of the first watch prepared
to start their vigil.

David
was walking the perimeter, he felt so sad. Jason told him that Shawna
and her brother were not taken away.
But, where could
they
be? What happened to them?”
He had been sneaking some extra
food to them. He knew they were barely surviving. He had been trying
to work up his courage to ask if they could join the compound. He
knew his Gram's giving heart but he did understand that they already
had a lot of people to protect and feed. He had been so impressed
that Shawna and her brother survived this long, all alone. He truly
did not think he could be that strong. He was so grateful for this
family. Lost in his thoughts, he stopped as he heard something.

It
was just a whisper, “David? Are you there, David?”

David
rushed to one of the little hatches and opened it, “Shawna, is
that you?”

She
located where his voice came from and moved to the hatch. She placed
her fingers on the opening and David touched them. He could see the
pretty features of her face, soft in the light of the moon.
Had
she been crying?
Her brother stood right behind her, looking
around nervously.

She
said, “We hid in the woods. I don't want to go to that camp.
Are the soldiers gone?”

“
They
are gone. Shawna, come around to the big garage door. I will let you
in.”

David
ran, speaking to Lee who was sitting on the patio as he dashed by,
“Cover my spot for a minute, Lee”.

David
let Shawna and her brother in and secured the door. He led her in the
house, to Gram. Beth grabbed them both, “You poor darlin's”.
David breathed a huge sigh of relief. He already knew, Shawna and
brother would not be leaving the compound. As Beth fretted and fussed
over the two, David gave Shawna a smile and returned to his post.

Humans
do need companionship, family, partners...it is just natural to them.
The compound had grown to 21 inhabitants now. Shawna's brother was
welcomed in to the boys space. They all just seemed to like calling
him Brother, so his name never really came up. Shawna asked to stay
in the little trailer which she thought was perfect. No one knows for
sure, was Brother gay? He and Dane become close friends and no one
bothered to ask any questions. After all, friendships were very
important. Matt and Cody now both turned 19, were unattached.
However, the friends on the lake and some of the survivor groups that
the family stayed in contact with and bartered with, those groups had
girls among them that were in the age range of Matt and Cody. As time
goes by, five years or more age difference, means very little. Even
though, neither young man had formed any real attachments, it was
great for them to have friends and perhaps eventually
girlfriends,
still in their world.

Through
the network of survivors and from contact on occasion on the ham
radio with more distant groups, they had formed a somewhat accurate
picture of what happened that caused the turning upside down of this
world. It was possible that a natural occurrence, such as a solar
flare was the cause. It was more likely that a man made event took
place, an explosion at a very high altitude, not near enough to the
earth to nuke us, sufficient to cause the death of the power grid and
everything electrical on most of our planet. All modern nations
suffered the same apocalyptic consequences as America. A few isolated
and more backward areas on earth were of course, not nearly as
devastated. They were living more primitive and basic lives before
the event.

It
would be years, before anything resembling the Before World would
return. It was said that the event set back progress a hundred years.
The knowledge was still here, in a few survivors. However, the
resources and people to clean up the mess, restore and rebuild were
just not here. It would be a very long and slow process, maybe years,
even decades. The dangers of these times were not gone. Perhaps they
had diminished a small amount. Thousands, millions had perished
because they had no idea how to survive or just gave up. And there
was the decay and disease. Multitudes of the evil and decadent,
finally died from their own stupidity, caught by their own mean
actions. Jack didn't worry about the military returning now. Their
resources and the US government's resources were gone. The physical
condition of the world would deteriorate much more before a new world
grew from the ruins. More evil would certainly rise up. These
original survivors would continue to protect and provide for the
communities that they built into safe havens. They, were the hope and
the citizens of this present world. Not unlike the first pilgrims to
set foot on American soil, they would build a new society from
scratch. They could adapt and persevere.

Beth
and Jack know that their years to live in this world were not
endless. They were oddly content, at peace with the fact that they
had saved their family and even a few others. Pleased that these
people of their compound had developed the skills and the strength to
survive and maybe even prosper in this After World. Each days work
was hard. But there was a bonding, a new found tolerance and respect
for the many diverse personalities of each other. The dependence on
each other had brought moments of great joy. As another day ended,
the two of them lay down to sleep, their hands entwined. Jack raised
on his elbow, his face above hers, he looked into her eyes in the
moonlight from the window. She placed a palm on each side of his face
and brought him to her, for a kiss. They parted and smiled, “Just
another normal day,” whispered Beth.