Liberty or Tyranny (2 page)

He stopped and looked up at the sky. “Cold front’s coming in tonight. We’re going to have another long, cold winter.” He stepped close and touched her face. “I wasn’t coddling you. I just didn’t think there was any reason for you to see what your bullet did.”

She tried to smile. “I think you’re homesick. This fast life in the big city doesn’t suit you.”

He grunted. “What I’m sick of is the feeling of being overwhelmed by things I can’t change. I tell you this: When the two weeks are up and you’re out of the Army, I’m heading back to my little farm, and you’re going to have to run to keep up with me.”

Deni seemed relieved. “You promise?” She examined his face for a second. “Oh, that’s right; you did promise you would fill in as sheriff for only two weeks.”

Nate looked away at nothing in particular. “Yeah. As if you’d forgotten. I expected you to hold me to that promise when I made it.”

“You bet. This town is trouble, and when government officials in Washington decide to come down here and throw their weight around, it’ll be this town they come to, not some little farm in the sticks. And Donovan isn’t going to be able to stop them. In fact, he’ll be the one they expect to carry out their orders.”

“I don’t want to be in his shoes.” He held her for a second and let her go before she had time to respond. “He made sure you got out of the Army in time. We owe him. But there’s nothing more we can do to help him or these people. Whatever is going to happen will happen whether we’re here in the middle of it or not. We can’t change a bit of it. If Washington wants to get rough, there’s nothing to stop them.”

She looked at him as if she were trying to read past his words. “You’re right, but you can’t help yourself. You’ll still do what you can, no matter how helpless it all is. I just wish you’d listen to your own words and get out of here. Marry me and take Brian and Kendell and Mel and Caroline – if they want to come – and get away before the shitstorm hits.”

Nate felt the cold wind on his face. “The other side of the coin is we’ll be easily outgunned at the farm, and there are still plenty of troublemakers around. The government isn’t our only worries.” His face was expressionless. “And I wouldn’t bet on the government not coming after little farmers. Remember the photos of private gardens they used drones and satellites to get?”

Deni changed the subject. “We could get married sometime before I’m officially released from the Army. It’ll save time, and we could leave the afternoon they let me go.”

For a moment, Deni was the only person on his mind. “If that’s what you want. The wedding is certainly not going to be as fancy as what you deserve.”

“We all deserve better than the life we’ve been living. The human race has had a bad year, but there’s always next year. I’ll be satisfied with us standing in front of a preacher and saying ‘I do.’” Her eyes lit up. “If you want something fancier, you’ll have to pay for it yourself. I don’t have a rich father willing to pay for his daughter’s royal wedding.”

He smiled, but then a thought came to him and the smile vanished.

She noticed. “What?”

“There is someone I need to talk to before we leave town, and it might as well be today. Would you give me a ride?”

Puzzled, she answered, “Sure.”

“Just let me talk to Tyrone and Atticus first.” He ran to the house, where neighborhood men were helping Tyrone and Atticus carry the covered bodies to the pickup Nate had driven to the scene. He conversed with them for less than a minute and ran back to her. “Let’s go. Head for downtown.”

~~~

They came to the old house the mother of the little boy Nate had accidently run over a few months back lived in. “Pull over here,” he said.

Deni stopped the Humvee. “So this is who you need to speak to.” She turned in the seat to face him more squarely. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I just want to apologize.”

“This might be a mistake. I doubt she’s the kind to accept your apology with grace.”

“I owe her that.”

“You don’t owe her a chance to attack you and call you a murderer again. It was an accident. It would’ve happened no matter who was driving. The little boy ran out from between two cars and there was no way anyone could’ve seen him from behind the wheel of that big truck. Brian told me the only reason he saw the boy was because he was on the passenger side and happened to be looking that way when he ran out into the road. If Kendell or Brian had been driving, they would never have seen the little boy either. They’re both a lot shorter than you and would’ve seen even less.”

Nate rubbed his forehead and looked inward. “I wasn’t thinking straight that day.”

“Yeah, you were recovering from a head wound. But if one of the boys was driving it would have changed nothing. The mother should have never let her little boy play in the street.”

“I guess it may do more harm than good.” He looked at the house, half excepting the mother to come charging out the front door with a shotgun in her hands, screaming about how he had murdered her child.

“That’s certainly possible,” Deni said. “Especially if she goes into a rage on you. That would do neither of you any good.”

“I just don’t want her to think I’ve forgotten her little boy, like I just ran over a squirrel or something.”

“I don’t know what she thinks. I do know it’s time for you to let it go.”

His thoughts struggling with his conscience, Nate sat there in silence. He looked down the street, his eyes focusing on nothing in particular. “It’s not something you just let go.” Turning to look at the house one more time, he said, “But you’ve talked me out of bothering her. Take me to Donovan, so I can tell him about the murder and ask why food rations have been cut.”

Deni put the Humvee in gear. “It was nothing more than an accident. If you didn’t feel bad about it, you wouldn’t be you. But it was still an accident.”

He nodded. “Let’s go. It can’t be undone and there are other tragedies to avert – if possible.”

~~~

Deni pulled up to the entrance of the Army FOB (Forward Operations Base) in the middle of what was the county fairground, just outside of the downtown area. Two-ton concrete blocks and anything else that would prevent car bombs and other vehicles from getting within 300 yards of the inner fence had been lined along the outer perimeter. Soldiers armed with M4s kept watch from behind sandbagged guard posts. Every tenth soldier was armed with a squad automatic weapon. The downtown area was looking more like a war zone every day. Most civilians believed it was a sensible response to the many months of lawlessness and the various radical groups that had emerged recently, but a few were becoming more and more uneasy with the Army and what they were learning about the new government in Washington.

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Donovan met them at the security gate. He appeared more harassed than the last time they spoke to him. He motioned with his left arm. “Come on to my office. We need to talk.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Nate said.

Donovan spoke over his shoulder as he stepped into a small building his men had hastily assembled from portable storage containers lifted in by helicopter. The meager bullet-stopping ability of the thin sheet metal had been reinforced with sandbags.

“Your new accommodations aren’t as comfortable as the last place,” Nate observed.

“The threat level has increased.” Donovan sat behind his desk. “The Army and Guard both have been under attack in Miami, Orlando, Atlanta – all over the country.” He motioned to steel folding chairs in front of his desk. “Some of it is radical groups, but in the cities most of it is mob anger at everything government. They just can’t understand why things haven’t gotten better by now.” He leaned forward and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. “They’re hungry. I guess you can’t blame people for not thinking straight after all they’ve been through, but killing soldiers will not be tolerated.” He looked up at them with tired eyes. “To make matters worse, Washington and the Pentagon have become institutions for the insane.”

“Weren’t they always?” Deni quipped.

Nate noticed Donovan’s freckled face was nearly as red as his hair and he appeared to be angry as much as exhausted. “You look like I feel. Except I’m dealing with local idiots.”

Donovan raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, well. Uh.” He looked up at the ceiling for a second, perhaps to get a better grasp on his temper. “The powers that be have stepped up their demands for results and cut food rations to soldiers in the field. I guess they think if we soldiers are hungry we’ll be more willing to get rough with the people and demand they give up ‘their fair share’ of any crops they have raised.” He slumped in his chair. “We’re in the middle of another freakishly cold and long winter and these idiots want me to take what little food the local people have. Doesn’t Washington realize that if people are forced to choose between starving and dying from lead poisoning they’ll choose the latter? What do they want, a damn civil war?”

“I expect that’s exactly what they’re afraid of,” Nate answered. “I bet people have been starving in the cities since not long after the plague hit. Food production and shipments came to a halt surprisingly fast, and city people are a lot less self-sufficient than rural people. I remember the early news reports, before the power went out. All of the stores were empty in less than a week. The level of violence is certainly much higher in the cities, also.”

Deni added, “As all of us have witnessed over the last year, desperate people do desperate things.”

“Well, they’re about to get more desperate around here.” Donovan looked at Deni as he talked. He had something on his mind.

“What?” Deni asked.

He smiled. “Get lost, that’s what. You two get married and get out of town. Head for the sticks. It’s about to hit the fan around here, and there’s no reason for you to be around when it does. You have no official duties, anyway. To hell with the formalities. Turn in the rest of your gear and get out of town before it gets bad.”

“Wow.” Deni’s eyes flashed to Nate and back to Donovan. “They must really be putting pressure on you to send food, no matter how rough you have to get with the locals.”

Donovan grew grim. “Don’t tell me you two haven’t talked about getting out before your two weeks are up. Go ahead. I’ll okay it.”

Deni sat up straight in her chair. “Well, before you get rid of us, tell us what’s going on.”

Donovan rubbed the back of his neck. “Everything I feared Washington would do over the next few months is already in play.” He shook his head. “They just promoted me and already they’re threatening to relieve me of my command if I can’t gather up at least five truckloads of produce and meat within a week.” He threw his arms into the air. “What the hell are a few truckloads of food going to do for the country? The country needs more people willing to get off their ass and work the fields. Forcibly taking food from those who work will discourage others from following their lead. Why bother if you’re going to go hungry anyway?”

“How are they going to get semis up the interstate highways?” Nate asked. “Have they been cleared of all those abandoned vehicles?”

Donovan’s face lightened up a bit. “They tell me the highways will be cleared soon. I doubt it, but that’s what they claim. The Army did get fuel tankers through a while back, but only by using bulldozers to push everything out of the way, clearing one south-bound lane. And that was only between here and Fort Benning. It took months.”

Nate had an idea. “Did they specify what kind of meat and produce?”

Donovan crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “What do you have in mind?”

“We might be able to buy you some time. They’re having problems at the new farm with wild hogs tearing the fields up. Some of the men have built traps and are harvesting a dozen or more hogs a night. They’ve been butchering them and handing out the meat, but I think we can talk them into giving you a few dozen of the older, less palatable boars. The meat is really gamey, but it will fill stomachs. They could also spare some trash fish. It’s edible, but not tasty. As for produce, there’s 500 acres of potatoes being harvested 12 miles east of town. I’m sure you could make a trade with the farmer. Maybe some diesel fuel or something. Also, there are some greenhouse-grown tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, and other stuff, but people will be reluctant to let that go. Production capacity is limited in small greenhouses and this extreme winter cold has limited open field production drastically. An overnight freeze can wipe out a whole crop. Even so, some people have been producing onions in decent amounts. You might get a little of that without resorting to taking it at gunpoint.”

Donovan scribbled on a notepad. “That would help, but it will not hold them for long.”

The expression on Nate’s face changed. “I just remembered the beet farmer southwest of town. Beets are something people will be willing to part with by the truckload, and there’s plenty of it. Beets are easy to grow. You should be able to get several semi loads for a little fuel or something else the family needs.”

Donovan added to his notes. “A few truckloads of beets and hogs may satisfy them well enough I might not have to bother with the other produce much. I might be able to convince them the extreme weather has prevented most other crops from surviving long enough to be harvested. That would be the unfortunate truth, anyway.” Donovan’s face hardened. “But no matter how much time this buys, sooner or later the order to use force will come down.” He shook his head. “I will not order soldiers to rob Americans of food they toiled in the fields for, and I will not order soldiers to fire on peaceful civilians.”