Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse

19 LPCs

The sky was a definite orange blaze now, and everyone was just glad that Malorie had gotten away relatively unscathed. Malorie looked at the map. “It seems like we should be getting to Fort Gay, West Virginia, at daybreak. That’ll be where we cross over into Kentucky. From there it would only appear to be about 120 miles or so to Bradfordsville.”

Megan stirred from the backseat and said, “Well, at this rate we could be there tonight perhaps?”

“If we can maintain this rate, then yes—but there’s a lot to that ‘if,’” replied Joshua.

The Jeep descended the small hill to the checkpoint at Fort Gay. The personnel at the checkpoint were mostly uniformed law enforcement, and Megan pointed out that there was one West Virginia State Police car parked off to the side. “The presence of cops must be good. I never want to go through a checkpoint like that last one again,” Megan said.

Joshua said, “Without getting all Terminator on you four here, ‘I’ll be back!’”

Megan quipped, “Get to zee choppahr!” getting a laugh out of the boys while Joshua just rolled his eyes.

Joshua alighted from the Jeep and kept his coat unzipped and laced his hands behind his head as he approached his law enforcement brethren. He hoped that they’d notice his embroidered badge on his coat. The temperature had dropped significantly, and he was regretting not grabbing his gloves from the Jeep.

As Joshua approached he said, “Good morning. We’re seeking to cross over into Kentucky to go see my…”

The local policeman on duty cut him off and said, “Ain’t no one driving over into Kentucky anymore.” The young cop seemed irritated from having to stay up too long on checkpoint duty. “The honorable governor of Kentucky has seen fit to block all motor traffic into or out of his state as of midnight last night, right about the time we lost utility power in town. They have two semis from the local Coca-Cola bottling plant in Louisa blocking the bridge and a Kentucky National Guard HMMWV with a fifty-cal, to make the point clear.”

Joshua said, “Thank you, brother, I didn’t know that. What about foot traffic?”

“Well, I would highly recommend that you not swim across to Kentucky right now. The temperature has dropped overnight and we’re supposed to get a bunch of snow here in the next day or three. The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting an early winter, too.” Joshua nodded. He noticed that the cop seemed less irritated now and relaxed his arms. “As far as we know, people are still getting over on foot. Rumor has it there is a refugee camp starting up over at the Yatesville Lake State Park just west of Louisa, but I can’t say what the conditions there would be like. You sure are a long way from Maryland; why aren’t you with your force back there? Does that say ‘NSA’ on your service coat?”

“Long story, but we have a pressing need to get to my brother’s house near Danville, Kentucky.”

The cop nodded indifferently; he’d probably heard every sad story that there was to hear, and the Crunch had just begun. “Well, ain’t none of my affair anyways. Danville, that’s a good piece from here, ’specially on foot. Do you have little ones with you?”

“Two women and two children, plus me. Are we allowed to go into town to try to get supplies?” Joshua was trying to hide the panic in his voice over their lack of options.

“Maryland plates, huh? I suppose you have a Maryland driver’s license, too? Does anyone with you have West Virginia identification on them?”

Joshua breathed deeply and said, “Both my fiancée and her sister do.”

“I’ll take your word for it, since you’re a cop and all. But remember this, Fort Gay is a dead end—you can’t go any farther in your vehicle. Y’all shouldn’t bother going to the police station down by the river, either, to plead your case. They’re turning folks away. As you probably know, if you made it this far, Charleston is up in flames and the governor of West Virginia is not going to take the time to hear from the Fort Gay mayor about how he should contact the governor of Kentucky on your behalf.”

Joshua knew the drill and asked in a joking tone, “Someone already tried that?”

“Just as sure as I’m standing here.” The cop cleared his throat and went on. “Any kind of supplies that you need are likely going to be sold out at the sports store—I would check the pawnshops.”

Joshua said, “Thanks, brother,” and turned around and walked to the Jeep.

A quick vote was taken on whether to go into Fort Gay. They decided that they had to get whatever supplies they could find and head west, especially with the bad weather approaching. The Jeep crossed through its last checkpoint and Joshua pulled into town, looking at the sign on the door of the diner, which read CLOSED. Ever the entrepreneurs, the local Boy Scout troop had a propane griddle set up in a parking lot between the auto parts store and the local feed store with a sign that read PANCAKES, ALL YOU CAN EAT $12.

“Twelve dollars seems wicked steep, but who knows when we’re going to see hot food again in Kentucky,” Malorie said.

“Okay, I’m open for ideas here, but hear me out first,” Joshua began. He switched off the ignition and turned to look at both Megan and Malorie. “We’re on foot from here on out, no doubt about it. I don’t think that anyone is going to sell us a vehicle in Kentucky, gas will be wicked expensive or unobtainable, winter is supposedly coming soon, and we are due to get snow. The cop at the checkpoint said that there’s a refugee camp over on the west side of Louisa in some park. I don’t know about you, but I’m not keen on going there. I think it’ll be a crime magnet where either of you or one of the boys could get abducted.”

Megan was past overtired. “True, it could get positively Grapes of Wrath over there. We can’t enter a situation where we’re trapped and where one of us is separated from the group. We’re simply too small a force to defend ourselves. And knowing the history of such camps, they’ll probably disarm everyone coming in. Our primary mission is to stay warm, dry, and unseen. I don’t think we’ll be able to make much progress through the winter. If we find a place to stay overnight and then move westward only to find that there’s nowhere for us to stay, then we’d be highly reluctant to backtrack to our previous camp.”

“Great insight, Megan. I knew that you were the big sister for a reason.” Megan flicked the back of her head as Malorie continued, “It would appear that we have to find a place and stay there through the winter—any chance that we can do that here in town? How about Louisa?”

Joshua winced and said, “I’m not certain that would work. Whoever was prepared enough prior to the Crunch to make it through the winter probably isn’t open to the idea of adding five mouths to feed right now. Besides, we’d have to be very sure that the situation was safe and that people were not psycho or something, and you know what they say about beggars being choosers.”

“Right,” Megan said. “Taking on someone else’s kids is going to be a hard sell.” She squeezed the boys to let them know that she still loved them and continued. “So that leaves us headed somewhere on foot out of West Virginia toward Bradfordsville, but I’m under no illusion that we’re going to be able to make it there in one multiday trek. I’d give us ten miles a day if we really pushed it, and that’s not considering all of our stuff, either.”

Joshua added, “The cop said don’t bother with the sporting goods store because they were likely out of whatever we’d need. But he might have just been thinking of gloves, coats, ammunition, and freeze-dried Mountain House products. What we need is the ability to cover ground with our stuff on foot, like those game-cart contraptions.”

“You mean like what you’d put a deer carcass on to pack out of the woods?” Malorie asked.

“Yes, exactly.”

Megan tilted her head to one side and said, “I guess that just might work. We’d probably need more than one, though, no?”

“And if a batch of pancakes is already twelve dollars, then what is the world’s most useful form of ground conveyance post-Crunch going to cost us?” Malorie asked.

“Just getting this far has increased our chances of survival,” Joshua said. “Think for a moment how many people did not or will not be able to get past Charleston.” The thought was sobering for everyone. “We’ll have to see what we can trade the Jeep for. With the new restrictions, it’s not going to help us reach our destination.”

“Oh, Joshua! You couldn’t bring yourself to do that, could you? What if we stayed here for a while, see if the laws change?” Megan asked with genuine concern.

“I’m not sure what other options, if any, we might have. Staying means certain misfortune. See what you have for cash between the two of you and take the boys to load up on pancakes; we’re going to need the carbs. I’ll go check out the town to see what is still out there between the pawnshops and the sporting goods store.” The boys excitedly unbuckled their seat belts, eager to eat pancakes. “Malorie, can I borrow your Android so that I can take pictures of the Jeep?”

“Of course.”

Joshua snapped a few pictures of the Jeep, especially under the hood, and then walked the family over to the Boy Scouts pancake fund-raiser. He found out where to find the sporting goods store and pawnshops from one of the parents. Turning to the ladies, he said, “Keep an eye on our stuff.”

Joshua passed by a Food City grocery store that looked like it had been picked over rather well, a clear example of what happens when the Crunch meets just-in-time logistics. There was no resupply, and the store was down to nearly empty shelves in less than seventy-two hours.

Rounding the corner, Joshua came to the second pawnshop that the scout leader had mentioned and went inside. There was a pasty-faced teenager with pimples who was clearly a throwback to the grunge era, complete with an unbuttoned flannel shirt hanging over a Nirvana T-shirt. He was holding a shotgun at port arms, leaning up against a wall full of television sets; he nodded politely but was clearly all business. Joshua asked the man behind the counter, “Cash only?” and he nodded. “I need two game carts. Do you have any?”

“I have one that is about the size you would need for a doe, and a bigger one that will hold a big buck.”

“What are you asking for the pair?”

The man behind the counter stood up. He had a small .380 pistol in the top pocket of his overalls and walked with a noticeable limp. He had a very round gut that made his silhouette look like two Solo cups stacked up rim to rim. He labored across the shop over to the room where the outdoor sporting goods stuff was kept. “The smaller one has two good tires, so I’ll take three hundred dollars for that one.” Joshua swallowed hard and tried not to appear shocked. “The bigger one needs a new tire, but we can get one off of the bicycles over there for you—I’ll take just five hundred for it, on account of the tire.”

“Eight hundred dollars for the pair, huh?” Joshua said. The man nodded. “Do you have any mess kits? How about green wool army surplus blankets?” Joshua asked.

“’Bout how many were you needin’?”

“Five blankets if you have them, and I could get by with three mess kits.”

“I reckon that would bring us to eleven hundred U.S. dollars—this is my reserve stock, you understand, and I’m not expecting to be resupplied anytime soon.”

Joshua maintained his poker face. “No, I get it. I might need a few other items, but are you willing to entertain an offer for a trade on that merchandise?”

“It depends on the trade. I am not taking any kind of electronics like TVs or Xboxes if that’s what you had in mind.”

“No, I’m looking to trade a modified Jeep that I rebuilt. I have the title document.” Joshua pulled out the Android to display the photos, keeping one eye on the kid with the shotgun, who had crossed the floor to look over Joshua’s shoulder at the pictures.

The kid spoke up with the savvy of someone who had grown up in a pawnshop and said, “Suppose you need to get on through to Kentucky and the bridge is closed now for vehicles.” Joshua nodded, and the kid continued, “What if we say ‘no’? Then you’ll be stuck without the carts, blankets, and everything. Sounds like you’re the one in the weaker position here. We may need to talk about this price some more.”

Joshua assessed the situation dispassionately, took one look at the pimply-faced kid, and said, “True, I won’t overestimate the strength of my position. I need the game carts to get to where I’m going, but you need to attract the girl of your dreams—this deal could help us both.”

The old man laughed out loud and slapped the kid on the back as his shoulders dropped and he turned bright red. “Ha, how did you know that? Mister, I’ll give you a forty-five-hundred-dollar store credit in exchange for the Jeep!”

Joshua hated to be so crass, but he simply could not get stuck without a way to transport what he and his family needed to get through the winter. Forty-five hundred dollars for the Jeep was a pittance, but he wasn’t going to accept a stack of U.S. dollars, knowing their fate. Joshua replied, “Great, I’ll bring my family back with the Jeep. There will surely be something that my fiancée needs to buy with the balance.”

Joshua stuck to the main roads through town. It was already 9:00 A.M. and he was feeling pressed to get on the road heading west. He caught up to the girls, who had bargained to let the boys count as one person, allowing the three adults to load up on their fill of pancakes for forty-eight dollars.

Making full use of the time, Malorie had gotten a complete rundown from an Eagle Scout with an Order of the Arrow pin about the local lay of land, flora, fauna, and so on. She was not flirtatious, but she wasn’t upset over the attention she was getting, either. The Eagle Scout spread out the Kentucky map and recommended that they head west for two days’ walk to the Olympia State Forest, where the population density is low and there are a lot of caves to take shelter in for the winter. He told her which fishing lures would work to catch fish in the lake there and how to identify muskrat scat, and gave her many other useful tips—he was an encyclopedia on living outdoors, and he was sweet on Malorie. “I could come with you, you know—just as far as the state park if you like. It would take just two days to help you with all of your stuff. I could even show you some good caves. There are lots of caves there.”

Malorie asked for a moment to think about it. She thought about the practicalities and the liabilities. Having an extra strong back to move supplies meant that getting the boys, the food, and the supplies they had to the state forest across unfamiliar land would be faster and safer. He returned with a quart-size bottle of real maple syrup from one of the pickup trucks and then said, “Take this, it has hundreds of calories and you’re gonna need them.” In the end she politely thanked him for the syrup and the information but declined the offer of his assistance. She did send him away with a kiss on the cheek and a sincere “thank-you.”

They loaded into the Jeep one last time. Joshua was solemn but knew that this was the right thing to do for the greater good. At the pawnshop, Megan went in to see if there was anything else that she wanted to buy with their credit. Joshua’s only warning was, “No cast iron unless you plan on carrying it.” Megan emerged with the two game carts, two spare tires and tubes for each cart, a small tube air pump, the blankets and mess kits, an e-tool, a thousand waterproof strike-on-anything matches, a twelve-by-twenty-four-foot tarp, a five-hundred-foot piece of paracord neatly wound up in a skein, a can of mink oil for their leather personnel carriers (LPCs), some extra bungee cords, a hatchet, a quality Henckels stainless steel kitchen knife, and two Olympia State Forest maps. She took the rest of the difference in pre-1965 “junk” silver U.S. dimes and quarters.

Out of the corner of her eye Megan peeked down the hall and saw a clothes dryer. She noticed that the kid was willing to deal, perhaps because she was an attractive woman or simply because he was very happy about his new Jeep.

“You know, you’re getting a wicked good deal on that Jeep.”

The kid smiled and started to blush, so she asked, “Say, would you trade my sister’s toolbox full of tools here for that Gerber multitool, the flint-and-steel set, and that skinning knife with the gut hook?”

After eyeballing the high quality of the tools inside, he said, “Sure, that’d be fine, ma’am.” The kid behind the counter completed the trade as the old man took a turn on guard duty by the front door.

“Kind of a strange request here, but would you let me empty the lint tray on your dryer? You know, so that I can have some tinder for my flint and steel.” The kid shrugged, and Megan placed the keys to the Jeep on the counter and gave him the title, which Joshua had signed over. The old man countersigned it, and Megan came back from the dryer with the lint to shake hands.

When Megan had walked into the pawnshop, Joshua had remained outside and taken one one-tenth-ounce gold coin from his belt and put it in his pocket. He left Malorie to strip the Jeep of their stuff while he took Jean and Leo to the picked-over chain grocery store a few doors down.

It took half an hour to pack the carts. The girls would take turns pushing the smaller “doe” cart, while Joshua volunteered to push his “buck” cart the entire way. Since it was so cold, the cooked meat that Joshua had packed at the homestead was still deep chilled and fresh. Long weapons went on top, and everyone carried his bug-out bags on his back. The boys had small book-bag-type sacks to carry some water, socks, and a few small toys. Megan asked Joshua to pray for the next part of their journey. After the prayer, they set out on their LPCs over the Big Sandy River Bridge into Kentucky.