Remnants of the Day- The Lost Years Page 7

  “Looking for the power company’s phone number.”

  “Doesn’t matter, phones are down too,” Collins said.

  “No service?” she said grabbing her cell phone and finding it wasn’t coming on. “I just charge this stupid thing.” Then she picked up the land line phone that the church kept. The ring tone wasn’t on. “What the hell.”

  “That’s inappropriate talk for a lady,” Collins said suddenly regretting that he just pointed out he was older than her.

  “That’s not the worst that comes out,” she said sounding annoyed.

  Collins thought about things going in her mouth.

  Isabel walked out of the room. Collins was a person that always made her uneasy. He was creepy and she didn’t like how he looked at her. During the service she would catch him looking at her. Undressing her with his eyes as she sang with the praise band. There were others she wished would do that, but he was not one of them. The guy was a weasel and she didn’t like him in anyway.

  She found her dad in the basement using a flash light to look through the fuse box.

  “I don’t know what it is. Everything looks fine,” he said turning around hearing his daughter walking up behind him.

  “Dad, Collins is here,” she said with an annoying tone in her voice.

  “Well, tell him I’m on my way,” the Reverend said.

  “He creeps me out,” she said.

  “He’s harmless. He’s one of our best attendants. You know he has a crush on you?” The Reverend said.

  “It’s not a crush, I get a chill when he looks at me.”

  “Be nice and go keep him company.”

  She stormed out of the basement and went up the stares. She didn’t go back to the office and instead went to the daycare room.

  The Reverend arrived in the office a few minutes later and found Collins alone.

  “Hello,” the Reverend said as they shook hands.

  Collins explained how his car wouldn’t start and the phone didn’t work. The Reverend tried starting his car, then the church van, and as a last resort Isabel’s car. Nothing worked.

  “This is the work of Satan,” the Reverend said as he failed with the last vehicle. “We can set you up in one of the spare rooms in the church for the night. We can see if anything changes in the morning.”

  Collins eventually never left the church with no way to get home. Even if he did get home he didn’t know what he would do with no way to pick up food or a working phone to contact the outside world. He was stuck in town until the power came back on. What nobody realized was that was never going to happen.

  Chapter 8

  “What do you mean you lost him?”

  Isaac knew this was coming after the man who had been robbing their operations got away from him. He ran to his bike and tried to follow the man he suspected as the thief. The locals talked about a young white boy that kept to himself and owned a full size van. When he ran, Isaac knew it was the man they had been looking for.

  “Nobody ever gets away from you,” Isaac’s boss was upset to say the least. “What the hell have you been doing with my time and money. You start some shit with the Dark Knights on the south side. Then you come here and say you lost him. How the hell does that happen?”

  “He’s good,” Isaac had no excuses.

  “Better than you? Is that what you are telling me?” The large muscular man sat down at his desk in the bike shop. “Well then you better find him because if you’re telling me this clown is better than you I want to hire him.”

  “I’ll get him,” Isaac said.

  “Well maybe it doesn’t matter now,” his boss said.

  “Why?”

  “You see this?” his boss picked up the remote and the television turned on. The screen came to life and showed a mushroom cloud at the center.

  “What’s this?” Isaac said.

  “Could be opportunity. The only people who are bigger crooks than us have just been wiped off the planet.”

  “Is this real?” Isaac looked at the screen and saw the Fox news logo on the bottom corner.

  “No joke. Somebody nuked those bastards. Long over due if you ask me. But if they aren’t in power now,” Isaac’s boss relaxed back in the seat. “Forget this guy. I think we have a chance to own this city.”

  “What do you need me to do?”

  Isaac’s job was to keep an eye on the local police. The gang knew that the police department kept their own supply of gasoline. The gang was also interested in the weapons that were kept there. Isaac brought up the national guard and a few men were sent to check out the local post. Security was lacking. Chain link fence and barbwire was the only thing keeping Humvees, supply trucks, and tanker trucks from being driven out of the yard.

  “This is a joke,” one of the men said. Checking out the post from the cemetery located next to it.

  A week after the Day was when the power went out. The motorcycles still ran but most of the other vehicles didn’t. The mechanics were frustrated at what happened.

  “Looks like the electronics are fried.” One of the mechanics said looking at a fuse box with blown fuses and wires that were smoking. “This is a mess.”

  “Can we fix these?” Dustin, the owner of the shop said.

  “I would have to tear out all of the electronics and I’m guessing the computer is gone too.”

  “What about the older cars?” Dustin asked.

  “They all seem to be fine. The Malibu is running, same with the Chevelle,” the mechanic said.

  “Get this junk out of here. Find all the old Detroit muscle we can get our hands on. We’re taking the national guard post tomorrow and getting some good rides.” Dustin hoped he was making a good decision. His phone wasn’t working along with everyone else. The land line to the shop wasn’t working either. He wanted to call Isaac to bring him back to the shop. An hour later Isaac pulled into the shop and told Dustin about the police trying to get their cars started.

  “So we have no police?” Dustin said.

  “There are cops stranded in the city walking home or to the station but at the station their cars are scrap. Everyone is on foot,” Isaac said.

  “Tomorrow we ride to the armory. We secure the fuel and get the Humvees running,” Dustin said.

  “There is no going back from this,” Isaac pointed out.

  “That’s the point. We are going to own this town.”

  The early morning hours were filled with the roar of choppers and muscle cars racing their engines. They waited for their leader to give the order to leave. Isaac sat on his chopper and watched the bike shop. Dustin walked out of the office and the men cheered. The testosterone was mixing with the smell of exhaust and oil. Dustin ran up to a picnic table outside the office and jumped on top of it. He raised his hands in the air and the men cheered clapping their hands. From the back of his pants Dustin pulled a .357 magnum out and aimed it in the air. He fired a shot and Isaac pulled out of the yard. The convoy of cars and bikes followed behind.

  Isaac didn’t drive fast down the streets. There wasn’t traffic they were fighting with to get to their destination. The streets were clear except for cars stranded on the curb. People stepped out their front doors when they heard the ruckus. The loud mufflers and random gunfire had people on edge. People familiar with the movie Mad Max wondered if that was what the world had come to. The bikers faces were stoic as they smiled inside. They rode feeling they owned the neighborhood and nobody would tell the otherwise.

  When they reached the national guard post Isaac stopped his bike and waved the lead truck ahead. An old 1970’s Chevy hit the gas and blew through the chain link gate that was padlocked. The sparks flew as the gate crashed into the asphalt. The bikes and cars were careful to drive around the fallen gate with the barb wire still attached to the top.

  A handful of soldiers walked out the front of the armory watching the bikers driving in. They turned around and ran inside. The bikers parked their rides and followed after the soldiers. No
ne of the soldiers were armed. The officer in charge turned the dial on the vault unlocking it to the weapons. The steel door slowly swung open to the M16s waiting inside. The half dozen men on post ran inside and grabbed the closest rifle. Before they could load a full magazine the bikers were standing in the doorway, guns aimed telling them to drop the weapons.

  “Do you know who you’re messing with?” the officer in charge said.

  “Do you?”

  The biker in front raised his Winchester lever action and shot the soldier in the chest. He coughed and choked while the bikers ordered the other men out into the gym area. A minute later the man was dead. His body dragged outside before the rest of the gang went inside and grabbed the guns they wanted. The mechanics were in the yard looking under the hoods of the Humvees. The diesel motors were easy enough to work on and the electronics were simple. Some fuses were switched out but everything else appeared fine and the Humvees purred to life. The men gave high fives and the people who rode in the cars and trucks each took a vehicle to drive off the base.

  Isaac walked into the gym and looked around.

  “Wow, state champs for National Guard Basketball in 1989. Impressive. Looks like you haven’t been on the winning side of much for the past few decades.”

  The soldiers looked at one another wondering if this was the end. None of them expected to have the base raided.

  “Our organization, if you would like to be a part of it, has some room for growth in the coming months. You, although unprepared today, have skills and experience that my men do not. I’m not going to let today count against you. Until now the federal government was the top paying organization in your field. But they don’t exist anymore, and we do. So, if you are looking for a new job we are your best option.”

  “What about my wife?” one of the men asked.

  Isaac pulled his pistol out and shot the questioning soldier in the head.

  “Does anybody else have any attachments preventing them from this great job opportunity?”

  The soldiers shook their heads in response.

  “Good, go join the rest of the men. When we are confident that you will be loyal you will get a weapon, in the meantime you will be part of our motor pool. If we have any reason to believe you are trying to sabotage or hinder our advancement in anyway…” Isaac looked at the body on the gym floor. “Everybody move out.” The men exited the gym and the convoy was ready to leave the parking lot.

  The truck left, all weapons were loaded in the beds of the supply trucks. The generators and fuel trucks were taken with them. The operation lasted three hours and no police or back up arrived at the base. Dustin now had his army to take control of the city one bullet at a time.

  Chapter 9

  It was now two weeks after the Day. Many of the Reverend's followers had shown up on the church’s door steps asking for help and answers to what was happening. Collins helped set up places for people to sleep and tents for people to stay. Everyone agreed it was better to stick together until the Government arrived or the power came back on. Most people had already figured out it wasn’t a power outage with the cars not running and cell phones not working.

  When news came to the church that people were going door to door looting and stealing supplies panic set in with everyone. Police didn’t appear to be anywhere. They turned to the Reverend for answers.

  With his followers becoming concerned and impatient he was in a panic for finding answers. He flipped open his bible and found himself in the book of Exodus. He read about the Israelites raiding villages and wiping out entire populations; men, women, children, crops, and cattle. Nothing was left standing. In order to find the promise land they first had to cleanse the world of the impure heathens that lived in the land. It gave him an idea.

  Some people were becoming frustrated with their situations. People had become needy and demanded immediate satisfaction. This was coming through with their demand for hot showers, warm food and laundry. He had to take the focus off himself. He had to point the finger at someone else.

  The congregation gathered together in the church and waited to hear what the Reverend had to say.

  Collins sat in the front row as he always did.

  The Reverend took a few minutes before he approached the pulpit. He wanted to choose his words carefully. To do this kind of trick took a level of delicacy he used once in awhile but not to this extent.

  “When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt they were promised a new land that would be there own. They spent 40 years in the desert after receiving the ten commandments. They raided villages and cities. Destroyed everything God commanded them to. Every man, woman, and child. Every head of cattle, they even burned the fields. This was the level of devotion it took for the Israelites to earn their promised land. We had a promised land. This was a pure nation at one time. Then we allowed it to be soiled by the followers of false faiths. Anti-Christian propaganda and so called open mindedness destroyed this nation. Don’t think for a minute that what happened in our nation’s capital didn’t have something to do with those that had been plotting to destroy us for years. They take our holy land and we take it back. They tried to conquer the world and we took it back. They come to our country and we have to take it back.”

  The church roared in applause as the Reverend stop for a second to continue.

  “We had a president that reached out to our so called Muslim brothers and in return they spit in our faces. You have known me for years. Some of you out there decades. I have always been against this liberal notion that we have to be tolerant of these heathens. They call Islam a religion of peace. Does anybody here call this peace? Is there one among you that would call this a world of peace? I don’t have to wait for the authorities to announce who destroyed our beloved capital. I can tell you without a doubt who destroyed it. Just like we all knew who destroyed the World Trade Center on 9-11. Was there a doubt in anyone’s mind who did that? We knew who was responsible. We know who needs to be banished from this land if we are ever going to be in a peaceful world. They have their place and it is not here. And I think there are those of you out there that know what needs to be done if we are ever going to have a world that we feel safe in ever again.”

  Some of the men and women stood up clapping as the Reverend paused. Whistling started and the crowd was in an uproar. The Reverend put his hands in the air to try and calm them down. Now the focus was off of him. He had someone to blame for everyone’s misery. They felt like they were getting the answers they wanted hear. Regardless if it was the right answers the Reverend was happy the responsibility was off of him. He didn’t think the congregation would really act out on what he was saying. He wanted to hear the Muslims were to blame and there weren’t that many in town to worry about. He smiled having out smarted the masses. He knew they would continue to follow him and in turn take care of him as they continued to struggle into the future. When he did pray it was for the government to finally arrive and save the day so he could say he was right.

  “As we all know food is already starting to dwindle in the storage we have. I never would have guessed our pantry for the homeless would ever be used for us but I’m thankful we had it. As of tomorrow we will start to send out teams of people to look for food and bring back what ever we can find. By the grace of God we will make it through this. I have no doubt that if we remain together we can make it through. God will not abandon us as he never abandoned the Israelites. We are on our march towards a promised land. There will be hard times but if we follow the word of the lord he will grace us with the Christian nation we deserve.”

  The church was filled with clapping and cheer. The Reverend waved everyone away after finishing his sermon. Finally the responsibility was off of him and with the search parties going out into the local areas what happened was due to God’s rewards for their hard work and not due to his leadership. Sometimes the Reverend wondered why he didn’t go into politics, but he was glad he hadn’t.

  Chapter 10

/>   The morning sun hovered over the trees on the horizon. The rays of sunlight appeared as beams being cut from the sun by the branches of trees. The mornings were warm now compared to the early spring frost.

  Collins put together a group of three men for his search party. Chris, a Iraq war vet that had a medical discharge. The third member was a younger easily influenced man named Frank. He was married with no kids. Regardless of the situation Frank always had a smile on his face and proclaimed his love for the lord. Sometimes Collins would refer to Frank as Job because of his positive attitude in the face of adversity.

  The three men walked out on foot and went south where Collins guessed there might be food. The question came up how they would carry food back if they found it. Collins replied with “improvise.”

  Being the leader of the group felt good to Collins. He often thought he should have joined the military. Now he could go back and live the life that he thought he might have been better suited for.

  Walking two miles away from the church they finally started knocking on doors and looking in windows in search of food. Some houses were abandoned. Others had the sound of a shotgun being pumped behind closed doors. The first time Frank heard it he stopped in his tracks and slowly stepped away.

  “Oh, ok. God bless you!” Frank said as he quickly moved away from the house.

  As the trio moved down the street they thought about how they could gather food for the congregation.

  “What about the supermarkets?” Frank suggested as if the answer was that simple.

  “There hasn’t been food there since a week after the day,” Collins said.

  “But what if they have been restocked,” Frank replied.

  “Trucks aren’t driving. How would they be restocked?” as the words came out of Collins’ mouth they heard the hum of a motor coming their way. A older Chevy Impala came towards them with an older black man at the wheel. He was middle aged with white patches of hair on his temples but his face looked a decade younger.