Read Dystopia: The Long Road Online
Authors: DJ Cooper
“Danny?”
Danny took his hand and said, “Yes, are you John?”
John nodded and asked, “Where are the rest of your people?”
Danny told him of their night and how the girls were sleeping in the woods as he pointed to where they were. John asked, “Do you have good cover?”
Danny nodded yes and asked, “Why?”
John explained about the FEMA guy and said they would be coming by. He wanted them to remain under cover and wait until after they had come so he didn’t have to explain them. Danny heartily agreed, saying he had enough of those guys. John gave him a look with raised eyebrows that meant he wanted to hear about that at some point.
He told him he would send someone out with some breakfast and drinks in a few minutes and admonished that they were to not break cover for any reason. Danny acknowledged him saying,
“Thank you John.”
John shook his hand and said, “We will talk later.”
Danny made his way back to where the others were and explained to Dickie what John wanted them to do. They woke the girls and told them they had arrived, but that they had to wait until later to go to the house, and that John was sending out some food and water for them.
“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”
-Aung San Suu Kyi
September 22
nd
John went into the house and asked Amy to prepare a large breakfast quickly and package it to go while getting the meal ready for everyone. Mark and Amy were the only ones up so far and he told them to not tell the others. He instructed Mark to quietly make it look like he was taking leftovers or something to the barn for the animals and to bring it to the fence line and call for Danny. John looked at Mark saying,
“Don’t linger just tell him we will come for them when the timing is right. Then go straight to the barn and feed the goats make sure there is plenty of hay on the floors.”
Mark said, “Ok, gotcha.” Nodding his head in understanding that he was to make sure the trap door was well covered.
Amy may not have been the outdoorsy type but she could sure cook. She prepared a large breakfast for everyone with sausages and bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, pan fries with corn muffins. She did as John had instructed carefully wrapping up about half of it and placing it into a pail she kept by the sink for the animal scraps. She added some butter, strawberry jam and a loaf of bread that she had baked the day before. She gathered some sugar and a small carafe of milk and put it into a separate pail with a large jug of coffee. She nodded to Mark that the food was ready to go and tossed some scrap lettuce leaves on top of each to cover their contents. With a heavy sigh, she said, “Mark, will you take these out to the animals and compost for me. I can’t believe how quickly they fill these days.” Mark immediately got up to take them, saying, “Sure, no problem.”
As he was going toward the door Matty jumped up and said, “I wanna come Papa.” Mark looked at Amy who said, “Not this time young man, I need a strong man here to help get these dishes down from this high cabinet.” Matty kicked at the floor and said, “Yes, Ma’am” as he walked over to where the dishes were.
Mark did as John had instructed and reminded them to remain under cover and to rest if they could. Mark then told Danny, “Just stay quiet and someone will come to get you later.” Danny thanked him for the food, as he smelled the hot food his eyes beamed with excitement and he hurried back to their hiding place. Mark returned to the barn and was spreading the hay when John came in saying,
“Everything set?”
Mark said, “Yep, but I don’t think they have had a hot meal in days. Why are we leaving them out there, it is looking like some kind of weather is coming in?”
John replied, “I don’t want any questions about them if that man in the suit comes a calling like he said he would.”
Mark said, “Ahhhh, Yes that is smart. Do you think they will really come?”
John told him he wasn’t sure, but they would all be leaving by nightfall anyway and didn’t want to take any chances. They returned to the house for breakfast with John reminding him that the less people that knew, the less chance of something being inadvertently disclosed. Mark agreed and gave him a pat on the back saying,
“Thank you John, for everything. I fear we would all be in one of those refugee camps already if it were not for your foresight.”
John just shrugged it off like it was no big deal. They came in exclaiming how wonderful the food smelled and took their places at the table.
It was not long after breakfast when the man in the suit arrived. There was a loud banging on the door and someone shouting, “Open up we have orders to collect provisions for the refugee camps.” John was surprised, he had been told they only wanted to inventory what resources were out here. He opened the door to see the man in the suit standing with a clipboard looking like he owned the place.
John was instantly irritated and asked him what their intentions were. The man in the suit shoved past him, demanding to know the names of all in residence. John tried to object, but was restrained at the door by the guardsman. John looked at him; it was the same one from the roadblock. The guardsman looked at John raising his eyebrows and throwing a quick glance in the direction of the man in the suit.
The man took down the names and asked where they lived and why they were there. They all stuck to the story they had prepared and said they were all family.
The man instructed the guardsmen to take all of the livestock and feed in the barn and to leave them a week’s worth of food according to the number in residence. John started to object when the man in the suit quickly turned to him and said,
“This is martial law; you will comply or be taken to the refugee camp as well. We don’t need any trouble makers.”
John decided to play dumb and asked, “So we can expect that the grocery stores will be open next week?”
The man in the suit replied, “Of course, this is just a temporary measure to assist in the efforts to get things under control. You will be compensated when it is all over.”
John knew better and said, “Oh, Ok… I didn’t know how we were going to eat after the week. I want to do anything I can to help my townsfolk.”
The guardsman who had been restraining him, let him go and gave him an almost imperceptible nod. This man had John wondering what it was that was going on. As the trucks were pulling out with their bounty the guardsman who had restrained him offered his hand to shake. John took it and shook, but quickly realized the man was passing him a note. John thanked them for the information about things and turned and went back in closing the door.
Mark was at the window watching as they pulled away, making sure they did not leave anyone behind to watch them. It seemed they didn’t bother to leave a watch so they must have bought the act. But John was sure they would be checking on their story and knew they had to go today.
John looked at the note from the guardsman and in shock, he read it,
“You need to escape, this is not what it seems. If you leave by the Upper Granite Road, I will be on that post tonight and let you through. Stay far away from all cities. There are many of us, but trust no-one.”
John knew already that once the government came for their supplies, it was time to go. He was thankful for the help of the guardsman. It was good to know there were some who would do the right thing.
Mark asked him if he should go get the others, John thought for a moment and told him to hold on for a bit just to make sure also saying,
“I want to be sure we are not being watched. We need to look like we are trying to salvage what is left of the garden and do the chores like bring in the wood and such. I want Amy to watch the tree line for anyone while we all do these things.”
Mark agreed it was a good idea and they all began to do the chores assigned. Amy was watching and about an hour and half after they started this watch she saw something. She tapped Rita and sent her to go tell John that lunch was ready and to do it loudly. Rita did as Amy had instructed and everyone began to come inside.
John asked Amy what she saw and she pointed to the place where she had seen someone. John looked and could see him peering at the house from behind a tree. They all took turns watching the man and after about another hour he waved to someone and left.
Once they were sure he was gone Mark went to get the other group, calling out to Danny to bring everyone to the house and to do so quickly. Danny told them to gather everything up in a hurry that it was time. They quickly packed up the small camp and made their way to the house in a trot.
Everyone was gathered inside the house when John returned from what he had hoped would appear to be checking the mail. He had gone to the end of the driveway to make sure the man who had been watching was gone, using the guise of checking for mail.
After a brief introduction of the newcomers John began to speak saying,
“I know everyone has questions, but save it and listen carefully to what I am about to tell you. We don’t have much time and we need to move on this quickly.”
All eyes were on John as he spoke, “That man that came here today is not offering assistance. They are also not the good guys.”
Mark coughed saying, “Well, I think we gathered that the good guys don’t come and steal your things.”
John nodded and continued, “We need to leave here and we need to do it tonight.” He reached into his pocket and produced the note the guardsman had given him. He passed it over to Mark to show everyone as he continued,
“We have some help but this window of opportunity may not last long. We need to gather all we can and load up the vehicles and prepare to leave. Now we have Mark’s truck and mine, Amy’s car and the old mustang in the garage. The trucks will hold most of the things, but each vehicle needs to have a variety of things in it just in case any vehicle may be lost.”
Amy handed him a cup of coffee and he took a long drink and continued, “I need you ladies to gather all the things inside the house that would be useful like you would be going on a campout and place them in the dining room. All medical supplies and food as well, The guys need to come help me gather what is outside, please do so quickly it will be dark in a few hours and we need to leave just after dark.”
Everyone started talking at once wondering what was going on. They all saw the note and knew it was bad, but didn’t understand what it had all meant. Danny spoke up saying,
“I saw what they are calling the refugee camps or aid stations. It is not what they tell you it is. They have people inside a fence line with guards and not for protection either. They are not watching the perimeter of the camp, but the people inside it. The barbed wire faces inward, not out and the people inside are made to work like slaves.”
They all gasped and had questions for Danny who said, “I’m sure we will see more, but John is right we need to move quickly.”
Danny, Dickie and Kevin followed John and Mark to the door to help with the supplies outside, while inside the girls did as John had asked and began to gather things into the dining room.
As they were walking to the barn Danny asked John,
“What will we be needing out here? I thought the FEMA guys took everything?”
Mark and John gave each other a knowing look and John said, “Not everything.”
Danny seemed unsure of what the look was but nodded at John. While they walked to the chicken pen John grabbed some shovels, which made Danny and Dickie glance at one another. When they got to the corner of the pen John handed out shovels and told them where to dig. It wasn’t long before they hit the tops of the barrels. When John began pulling out the cache of items Danny whistled saying,
“This is amazing! You really prepared.”
John nodded and said, “I could see what was coming down so I hid a few things here and there.”
Danny looked at him a sideways look saying, “Here and there?”
John winked, “Well, ya don’t wanna put all yer eggs in one basket you know.”
They all laughed and finished loading the contents of the barrels into the truck and moved over to the barn to empty the things from the old cistern, while John went to the stump. Once everything was loaded into the truck they went back to the house and began distributing things between the vehicles, except the mustang. John told them he wanted a lead car with very little supplies in it as a scout car telling them,
“If something happens and we run into something this car can be abandoned and we won’t lose any supplies.
Mark asked, “Do you think it could get that bad?”
Danny was nodding his head and said, “I already saw some shit Mark, I think John is right, we should be cautious.”
They had equally distributed things into each truck as well as some into Amy’s car and the Mustang. The car would carry the kids and stay in the middle of their little convoy. John and Mark wanted to ride in the lead with the mustang but Amy vetoed that saying they wanted at least one guy in each vehicle, and that whoever could shoot the best should be distributed as shotgun to each as well.
John was shocked, thinking about how Amy was only interested in doing her nails and extraneous fluff as he would call it.
He looked at her and said, “Where did that come from?”
She said, “Where did what come from?”
He said, “All that shit hits the fan wisdom?”
She smiled at him, saying, “While you may not have realized it, I heard the things you said. I can fix a car or chop wood… doesn’t mean I wanted to, that is what guys are for.” She let out a tiny giggle as she turned to walk back to the house. John just stood dumbfounded and shook his head, going back to what he was doing with a boyish grin.
They tried to put things in each vehicle that if a vehicle were lost they would not be without things and could still cook and eat as well as other things they would need to do along the way. Once the task was done, they all sat in the dining room for their vehicle assignments. Amy had already drawn up the assignments and began telling everyone where they were to ride.