Displacement Day

CHAPTER 16 - Things Get Worse

         Chloe drove right to the Public SafetyCenter to report. They hadn't talked much on the way back, mostlyabout that water collection gadget and the crab things. Chloe washappy they had not met any of those birds or worms downthere. Darren had to agree.

When they reached the Public Safety Center, Darren saw it was the busiest he'd ever seen it."Iris, what's going on?" Iris looked at him and made a drinking gesture. Chloe parked in the first available spot. "I think I'll stay in here Darren." "Okay, babe." Darren knew a lack of water couldn't be the only problem. But that meant things were even worse than he feared. He walked over to Iris, hoping to get more information. "How bad is the water situation now?" "Bad. The water at the hospital's nearly gone. They put out what containers they have to catch water. It won't be enough. What are we going to do? The only wells in town got cut off when we came here." "I don't know what we can do." He went inside, assuming that Charlie would be there, and he was. This was his first time seeing anyone in cuffs in the offices. A young man in t-shirt and jeans stood in front of a desk, handcuffed behind the back. Charlie looked up from whatever he was writing. "We found this one siphoning gas off an abandoned car." "Well, aside from the water situation, there's something else." "Well, the water situation and the cholera situation are both pretty bad." Darren walked closer. "We drove south to see about that town Cat mentioned. Everyone who went that way is probably dead now." Charlie hesitated for a second the stood up. "Don't fucking move Rodney." Another of the volunteer cops, Darren forgot the name, was there holding a shotgun. Rodney wasn't going to run.**** Charlie led the way into the office then closed the door. "Tell me what happened." Darren did so. "And you're sure some of the locals were in that truck?" Darren nodded. "Well, the good news is we can't be sure everyone who headed down there is dead. The bad news is, we can't help anyone who might be alive." "You know the news about water and civilization out there is going to drive more people to leave, right? Probably soon. Chloe and I would go, but we both know what things are like." "Well, what can we do? Distribute memos telling people...oh yeah." "That's what I would do. Oh, and we learned something the town can use, or actually Chloe did." He described the water collection set-up. "We both drank some of the water about four hours ago. Fingers crossed it was okay." "Round up a couple of the volunteers and maybe a couple of civilians. Build a few of those things." Darren hoped they'd have time.**** Charlie ended up alone at the southeast end of town, where he'd quickly chatted with a couple of folks about the security situation and about batteries. He figured no one had any they would give up, but he had to ask. He had paused at the end of a road to survey the area when something moved. It just barely registered. For an instance it seemed like nothing, then there were two more movements. Something, or a group of things were moving out there.Then, near the end of a road, movement in the desert made him freeze, then duck behind a tree. Three people were out there, and they seemed to be moving in a crouch hustling from thorn bushes to another patch. They were too far away to make out details but all three seemed to be armed with bows. "Charlie, I see three people crouching among the bushes and rocks about 150 yards from the end of Highway 12." "And?" Charlie switched off the safety on the shotgun and watched. He was concealed by a tree trunk, he hoped. "All three were carrying bows and trying to stay out of sight." "Keep an eye on them. I'll be down soon." One of the people looked his way. If the person saw Darren, he or she didn't react. Maybe they simply didn't care much about being seen. They all disappeared, probably huddled up behind a thorn bushes and grass. This patch of vegetation was generous, by desert standards, about the size of small house. He watched the area for further movement, half-way convinced the people weren't dangerous. The sound of a car engine distracted him as Charlie pulled up. He stopped in front of a driveway almost 300 feet away. Darren waved and looked back at the group's hiding place. He could hear Charlie approaching and pointed at the latest hiding place. "Can you tell if they're locals?" "They don't seem to be." He and Charlie watched the desert for a couple of minutes. "I should go out there. We should go out there." Darren frowned. "We don't know whose out there or why and there are two of us." "You're being paranoid Darren. We're worried about animals, not desert nomads." "If we go out there, let's at least be quiet and use the terrain for cover." Charlie smirked at him. "I was in the Army to you know." Darren wanted to lead anyway, so he went first, moving in a crouch to low spot in the desert where he crouched. Charlie knelt beside him. The people were either trying hard to avoid making noise, or they'd kept moving. Darren moved again, going to the edge of the bushes where he'd seen movement. Charlie joined him, then they went around to the "back" of the little oasis. Darren only had an instant to register what he was seeing. A men dressed in loose brown clothing loosed an arrow at him. Darren ducked a little, but the arrow flew within about a foot of his right arm. He thought he heard two or three voices just out of sight behind the rocks and grass. Charlie was quicker to respond, firing at the person. The bullet hit a rock near to his left. Darren fired as the person jumped out of sight. With no other cover or concealment in sight, Darren retreated behind the bushes. The voices and all other noise had stopped. He could just hear yelling in town, maybe a quarter mile away. "Can you see or hear anything?" Charlie shook his head. "But I bet they headed that way?" He indicated the direction the man had jumped just before being shot at. Darren thought that made sense. "Do we go after them?" He nodded. Then he looked down at his radio. "Shit, there aren't any reinforcements we can call." "So, it has to be us then." Without waiting, Darren proceeded due west. The ground sank a little to his right and flattened out – the edge of the salt lake probably. He stuck to the sugar sand and grass where at least some cover was possible. He still couldn't see any movement or hear any talking. When he looked back, he saw Charlie was right behind. "If we're lucky we can flank them or cut off their escape route." It was too late. Three figures, all in brown, ran diagonally away from them, crouching low to get some cover from the rough terrain. Darren stood up to shoot. The little group was about 300 feet away and moving fast, so Darren wasn't surprised that he missed. Charlie had raised his gun but didn't fire. "I'm calling this in." Darren kept watching the desert while Charlie talked at whomever. He heard Mike, and another voice. But he wasn't sure who that was. "Well, Charlie, we know Cat wasn't lying about nomads wandering the desert. I guess so anyway."**** About two minutes after the call, Darren heard a siren. A loud siren. He saw lights at about the same time. Another engine sound accompanied the sound of the police cruiser. It was a big V-8 pickup. It was Shawn in the patrol car and Mike and Iris in the big truck. Shawn hopped out of the car with his AR-15 in one hand. Mike and Iris got out, Iris holding her Glock and Mike toting a lever-action rifle.Darren and Charlie headed toward them, guns drawn and eyes on the desert. "How much of a head start do they have?""Hold on there, Desert Rat. We can't afford to have anyone get shot out here."Shawn looked crestfallen, like his first girlfriend just dumped him."Let's focus on defense. And let's be glad all we saw were compound bows.""Compound bows?" Iris and Charlie both looked puzzled."Well, yeah, I saw those pulley wheels on two of the bows.""Charlie, we need to round up everyone with a gun and figure out what to do about this."Charlie nodded. "Let's all spread the word then. Militia meeting just after sunset in here." The sun would go down in about an hour, so they had very little time.**** It was probably about 7 PM when Charlie called the meeting to order. He seemed to be delaying, though he wouldn't say so. Darren and anyone else with sense would be pleased with the turnout of 19 men and 4 women, given the short notice and difficult circumstances. All 23 had brought guns, but only two had AR-15s. The rest were a mix of pistols, shotguns, and hunting rifles. For a rural Tennessee town, that didn't seem like much firepower. Anyway, this group and the seven-person police force looked like it. Except it wasn't. Pastor Drummond walked in, carrying a semi-auto shotgun and wearing an automatic pistol on his hip. "Hello Darren. Hello Charlie." Charlie made a few announcements and introductions. Then, Darren described his recent Ridgeway south. "So, on the bright side we have a method to harvest water." That news brought some positive sounding murmurs in the crowd. "So, we want to work on those tomorrow. For now, we need to focus on security. I know things have gotten kind of rough. And there is news from the south. I won't sugar coat anything, but our situation just got worse." He went on to summarize yesterday's little foray into the salt flats and environs. "What about the rest of the people who headed south?" Several people nodded at that question. "How do we know there isn't a real town a little further south?" Darren had the same question, but he didn't want to say anything. At this point, he guessed the Ridgeway was almost impossible until the collected more water and found more food. "Evacuating the town is impossible. This other town is about 90 miles south. There is no water and almost no food. Even if the natives and the wildlife weren't dangerous, most people who tried to walk would die. We have to secure the town and do whatever we can to get more food and water." Darren paused there, knowing he probably stepped on Charlie's territory. Charlie took right over. "We still have access to water at an oasis about a mile and a half from here. It was a small pond and the water still needs to be treated. But, at the very least we can redouble our efforts to pump out the water." "Screw pumping it out. Let's just head up there with whatever we can carry." It sounded like two people not one speaking up, but Darren was distracted, thinking about defense. Anyway, the speaker or speakers were right. Charlie took over to explain how they'd like to beef up security. Firstly, they needed more people to patrol the town at night. Darren agreed with that. Then, Charlie mentioned watching the borders of the town. They'd want people with long guns for that. "And binoculars," Darren added. Charlie nodded and went on. The hospital, Freddie's, and the Public Safety Center would be priorities for security in town." Darren wasn't sure about that. So, he raised his hand to interrupt. Charlie acknowledged him. "I just wanted to mention that we need batteries, D and C cells, and portable radios, good ones." No one in the group spoke up. Darren wasn't expecting an immediate response anyway. "But," Charlie said, "border security needs to be our first priority considering what happened yesterday and the day before." Some people in the room murmured in agreement. "Fine, we'll do it. Everyone assemble as soon as possible after sunrise with whatever containers you can carry, or push on a cart. We'll get what we can." Darren scowled at that. He'd rather see them pump water and use it for the vital purposes. But, given the water situation maybe it was too late.**** The water recovery mission went off well, Charlie reported. Nineteen people showed up, with a wide range of water containers. It took about three hours, but they ultimately got all of the water they needed and returned to town. But, not without incident. Shawn and Mike were providing security. They both reported encounters, a dog-like thing in one case and a one of the demonic birds in another. Neither animal had come close enough to be worth shooting at, but the encounters did scare some of the civilians. A couple of people seem to have learned about the fruit or they were desperate, so they picked some. "How much was left though?" Charlie shrugged. "I took a quick look, and probably not much. Some of the fruits had broken open. I guess they were ripe." "And how much water did they leave?" "Lots. We only took 100 gallons or so today. The water level hardly went down." "That reminds me of the hose and the water tank. We need to secure them more carefully now." Charlie nodded. "Ideas?" "I'd put someone near the water tank and pump at all times." "How hard will it be to pull it back by hand when the tank is full?' "It probably weighs 400 pounds plus whatever 200 gallons of water weighs." Darren did some quick calculating. "I'll assemble 10 or 11 people and we'll haul it back tomorrow." "We have other priorities Darren. And we do have gas we need." "I think it would be safer to pull that tank into town versus leaving it out there overnight. Think about, we don't have enough people with any relevant training to guard everything that needs guarding." "True, but we can remove the tank in a couple of days if we need to. We're going to leave it alone." Darren thought about going after the thing himself. Chloe and his police duties, lack of gas, lack of phone service all together made the idea dead in the sand. "We need to get the water tank tonight. Seriously. Didn't you hear us talking about the nomads to the north and the south?" "Yes, and we're going to defend both the town and the water supply." Wayne raised a hand, even though most of the room could see him shaking his head. "Cat told me we should focus on resources we have in town, forget about claiming things..." "We don't care what Cat was telling people. Look where that got people before?" Wayne looked puzzled. "We, Chloe and I, found bodies and two wrecked vehicles out on the salt flats south of town. God knows what happened to the people who went north. "Maybe Cat's got it right." Darren didn't see who said that. A few of the militia were looking down at the ground. **** Darren and Chloe both woke up just after sunrise, which was their new habit. Darren had meant to convince her that they need to move away from the edge of town, but last night he'd been pretty distracted by Chloe. They decided to use the last of the good bath soap and more water than they should have. And, one thing led to another. A nice side effect of that series of events was that she might be more open to his idea. Someone knocked on the door. "Who is it?" No one answered. Chloe walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. "No one's there." She opened the door. Darren could see a white plastic bag sitting on the floor. "Hey, someone left us food, and a note." Darren hurried to the door when he heard about food. "Who sent the note?" He looked over her shoulder. The writer had decided to remain anonymous. The note was in neat cursive letters: "Consider this a sort of payment for services rendered." The bad light made it hard to read and hard to see exactly what was in the bag, probably potatoes though. Chloe grabbed the bag and closed the door. "I'll put in on the coffee table." Here, the light was better. Darren could confirm his first guess. The bag contained four small potatoes, a book of matches, and two baggies filled trail mix, and two baggies filled with what looked like beef jerky. "Holy shit! This is great." "After three days of bread, peanut butter, and those little alien fruits, the trail mix was amazing. The beef jerky was even better. They each had just a little of that. "So, what's on the schedule today babe? I'm finishing my water thing, I think." She pointed at the collection of wires and plastic she'd collected. "Chloe, do you think we should even stay here?" "Why would we leave?" Then Darren remembered that he had never mentioned there little militia meeting and security discussion. "Well, we've had more and more people encountering hostile locals and dangerous animals. Someone probably got killed overnight and we haven't found out yet." "Well, we have security here." She nodded in the direction of the closet where Darren stored the shotgun. "Can't we do something here?" "I don't think so Chloe. The desert is only 200 yards away, and we've seen people with weapons almost everywhere around the town. There have been more of those animal encounters. We've been keeping records.
Chloe was silent for a time, a long time to Darren. "Why didn't you tell me about this stuff as soon as you knew about it!" "I did. I don't know why I never put the big picture together for you." "Because you thought I couldn't handle the bad news!" Now it was Darren's turn to pause and think. Chloe was essentially correct here. While she was a cool customer most of the time, she'd never dealt with any situation this scary before. Neither of them had, but Darren had some training and experience that helped him manage. "Fine. You're right. But if I told you, what could you have done anyway?" She turned away and looked out the window. From where Darren stood it looked like a normal day, he had forgotten what day. It didn't matter any more. "I need to check in." Darren got the radio and turned it on, to find a low batter indicator. He went in the bedroom to give Chloe some space and time. "Charlie, what's the word." Charlie was on the radio at once. "We lost the water tank overnight." "What?" "Two of the new guys went out there, and it had been hacked up. The hose was also cut up." "How much water is left in that pond." "I didn't ask."**** Robert sighed when he pulled up to the hastily created parking lot for a press conference. He'd heard about it and saw himself being forced to provide security or traffic control. On the way, he'd taken a minute to wonder about this event. In eleven days since most of a town disappeared, the Governor was finally paying the county a visit. He'd made a couple of statements on television, but Robert ignored them. The little improvised stage was done, the flags were up, and some VIPs seem to have arrived. Three man and two women were on or about the impromptu stage. A couple of television news were parked across the street. Even though the press conference was almost an hour away, a few citizens had shown up, or perhaps they were also journalists. Either way, Robert only cared about setting up shop about 100 yards from the little parking lot to direct traffic. This position made it unlikely he'd be able to hear whatever the Governor may have said, but he assumed it would be something useless. Cars were going by still. He'd have to coordinate with a few other deputies to regulate traffic, but it would be easy enough. At this point they were only 200 or so yards from the edge of the new desert. He looked back at the stage where three workers he hadn't see before were putting up a vinyl or canvas backdrop depicting the state seal and motto. A fourth worker brought a couple of folding chairs onto the stage. Did this indicate multiple speakers? He thought so. Maybe the esteemed Governor wanted his wife and the Lieutenant Governor here, to highlight the seriousness with which he was supposedly taking this bizarre event. Routine traffic control took up most of the next hour. One middle-aged lady in an "America First" sweatshirt asked about aliens. Robert quickly and truthfully said he did not have a clue and you'll have to show your press pass or turn around and leave. She chose to turn around and leave. During the speech he had to stay by his cruiser and watch people. No more cars approached the area in the minutes leading up to the event. Before Robert could reflect on how the VIPs would arrive, two black limos approached. Each driver flashed ID as they slowed down and passed. The press conference began almost 20 minutes late, leaving a gaggle of at least 60 reporters and state employees looking bored. Robert halfway hoped one of those hyena-like things would show up and make things exciting.