Glimmer of Hope (Land of Tomorrow Book 1)

Part II, Chapter 8

Nathan and Harold quickly made their way through the winding corridors of the interior of the enormous Kentucky Dam complex. John Downing, the TVA Director, had sent an urgent message saying they needed to come see him immediately. When Nathan tried to put him off, John became nearly frantic and screamed at him that there was nothing more important than what he had to show him. Nathan grabbed Harold and a couple of horses and headed north from the center of the park.

Although John Downing was originally in charge of the entire park as the TVA Director, he had wisely abandoned those duties to focus on what he saw as his most important duty…keeping the dam functioning. This was even more crucial considering that the dam director had disappeared after N-Day, and no one had heard from him since. Nathan knew John did not have the technical expertise, but despite this, was doing a good job.

The Land Between the Lakes Park was a thin strip of land between Kentucky and Barkley Lakes and traveling the distance from the center to the north end took all morning, even on horses. John was not a man to get excited easily, but Nathan wasn’t willing to consume precious gasoline on an unstated problem. They slowly, but steadily, made their way north along The Trace which was the main road running north and south through the park.

"This is bad timing," said Harold. "We have several things on our plate right now that need to be dealt with and oh, by the way, Anderson says we need to get ready for a full scale invasion. John better not be wasting our time."

Nathan had thought the same thing, "I don't think he would do that, he sounded pretty frantic which is rare for him."

"How bad could it be?" asked Harold. "The water flows and electricity comes out the other end. He's probably freaked out over one of those giant catfish getting caught in a turbine or something. We need to get the regiment ready, not this."

Nathan didn't disagree. An attack could come any day now and the regiment wasn't ready. But they were getting there, be it ever so slowly.

The LBL regiment was organized into three companies. Captain Jason Green of Fort Campbell commanded the southern region with the primary responsibility of preparing strong defensive works to the south as quickly as possible, and to defend that border. Captain Jim Meeks commanded the northern region which included the dam and Camp Beaver refugee camp. He also had the task of managing the convicts who worked the iron mine, although many of these quickly saw the light and volunteered to join the regiment.

Sergeant Major Luke Carter had indeed been commissioned as a Captain and placed in charge of the central region with the additional task of training new troops and controlling the small refugee camp to their east. Johnny Robels from Fort Campbell was placed in charge of all headquarters functions in addition to his role as quartermaster for the regiment. Although they needed more troops, more supplies, and more time, Nathan felt they were beginning to get out of dangerous territory.

Harold meanwhile stayed busy improving the quality of life for everyone. LBL was mostly an unpopulated park before N-Day, but now it was the home of nearly one thousand troops and their families. Living quarters needed to be found. Harold decided to build housing areas around old camp grounds because those areas already possessed good roads, electrical hookups, and a clean water supply. Sewage was a problem, but they were working on that. Harold begged, borrowed, and commandeered all the mobile homes, campers, trailers, and houseboats that he could to provide lodging. Although these met the immediate need, it would not be enough come winter, so Harold put everyone he could scrape together building large communal wood cabins that would each probably house eight to ten families. Privacy would be lacking, but they would be warm in the winter. He also directed the other companies to build barracks for their soldiers.