299 Days: The Community (8 page)

“The Team’s cabin has a washer and dryer so you guys can do your own laundry,” Grant said. “Don’t be lazy bachelors.”

That brought up a good point. People feeling like others weren’t doing enough. It wasn’t a problem now, but it could be over time. Especially with so many people who didn’t really know each other.

“If anyone has a concern about their duties or other people’s, let me know,” Grant said. “No, seriously, let me know. Even if you think I’m not pulling my weight. We’ll all be helping everyone and I’d like it to be as smooth as possible.”

Grant realized he was making it sound like they were in a work camp. So he said, “Hey, we won’t be working all the time. We are out here in a beautiful place and our day jobs, except Tammy’s, have been put on hold. This is a vacation in a sense. We have to do things we normally didn’t have to, like hunt, can food, and guard our neighborhood. But we can still have lots of fun. I think this might actually be relaxing once we get into the swing of it.”

Grant looked at Lisa. She wasn’t fully going for it. She was expressionless again. Not that she disagreed with Grant, she was just waiting to see if this really would be a “vacation.”

Grant continued, “Beach walks, campfires, playing board games, getting to know each other. This could be decent.”

Grant had to close this by tying everything together. “This beats the heck out of what most people in town are having to go through.” More nodding.

He even saw a slight nod from Lisa.

Chapter 80

My Husband Got Himself in a Little Trouble

(May 8)

The first meeting of the Over Road people, as Grant was calling the group out at the cabin, went well. He had a plan, and the group agreed with his approach. He was very proud that things seemed to be going well. So far.

At first, he was surprised that these strangers were working so well together and seemed to understand that things had fundamentally changed. He thought about it and realized there were two reasons why this was true. First, the new arrivals, like Lisa, had seen with their own eyes how things had broken down; riding in an armed convoy tends to prove to a person that things aren’t like they used to be. Second, most of the people there, like the Colsons, Morrells, and the Team, were preppers. They weren’t surprised that everything they’d been planning for was coming true.

After the business of the meeting was done, Grant patted his tummy, which was flat because he was in the best shape of his life, and said, “I’m hungry.” Manda brought him a big plate of pancakes, which smelled delicious.

Everyone was talking with each other. There was a friendly buzz in the air. They were still getting to know each other, as the introductions the night before were rather brief.

After he ate, Grant said to Lisa, “So I’ll go into town and get the ‘feminine products’ and other things.”

Lisa looked scared. She shook her head. She knew something he didn’t know.

“You don’t want me to get those things?” Grant asked. He was relieved.

“No, honey,” she said. “We need to talk.” She motioned for him to come into the bedroom.

This seemed pretty serious. Grant followed.

She whispered, “Grant, you can’t go into town.” She was searching for the words. She might as well just tell him.

“Um, you’re on a list of ‘terrorists,’” she said. “It’s called the ‘Persons of Interest’ list. ‘POI’ for short. It’s one step down from a wanted list. They say they just want to talk to you. Nancy Ringman told me you were on it. I looked it up myself; it is true. It says you work for the Washington Association of Business and something about ‘Rebel Radio,’ whatever that is.”

Oh, shit. At first, Grant thought Lisa was kidding, but he hadn’t told her about Rebel Radio so she must have got that from looking on the internet.

Grant was initially stunned, but then he wasn’t. He knew that it was only a matter of time before this corrupt government of bullies did this. It’s what collapsing governments always did.

Grant didn’t know what to say. He thought he was in trouble when he killed those looters, but this was worse. He assumed he had to lay low because the cops would find out he was WAB and perhaps not give him the benefit of the doubt on his self-defense. His court cases for WAB had taught him that “conservatives” often don’t get a fair shake in the current so-called “justice” system.

Grant didn’t know what to say. He was on a terrorist watch list. What is there to say?

“I’m sorry, honey,” he said finally. “I’m sorry I’m causing you and the kids trouble like this.” It was quiet for a while in the bedroom. Outside, people were talking and having a great time.

“I wish it hadn’t happened, but it’s not your fault,” Lisa said finally. Whoa. That surprised Grant.

“I can see what’s going on,” Lisa said. “People like Nancy Ringman.” Lisa proceeded to tell Grant the story about how Nancy had thrown Cole to the ground.

Grant was not mad. Sure, he didn’t like what Nancy had done, but he knew that he couldn’t just march over to her house and punch her in the mouth. Besides, she was far away. She couldn’t hurt them out there.

Lisa finished the story by saying, “Now I get what they’re all about. They’re crazy. They hate anyone who crosses them. So it’s not your fault.”

She added, “You know, when Cole screamed, ‘Why are you hurting us?’ it got me thinking. Why are they hurting us? They’re crazy and desperate. It’s not your fault.”

Wow. Thank God that’s what she thought.

“The government can’t even keep the power on all the time or the internet up. They can’t put out fires or stop protestors and looters. I don’t think they can start finding the people on their list.” Grant was half serious, half trying to calm Lisa.

“Yeah,” Lisa said. “That’s probably right. Anyway, you can’t go into town. Not until things calm down and we can clear all of this up.”

That was a surprisingly positive way to look at this. Maybe she wasn’t suffering from as much normalcy bias as Grant had thought. Or maybe, the Nancy Ringman thing had changed her. Either way, Grant was glad that Lisa was back on his side.

“OK, I won’t go into town,” Grant said. Then he thought of a new problem. “How do we tell your parents this? They’ll probably be disappointed that their daughter married a terrorist.” They both started laughing, and couldn’t stop. It was a release from all the emotion.

“I’ll have to tell them,” Lisa said. “Should we tell everyone out here?”

“Good question,” Grant said. “I’ll have to think about that. I trust all of them, but I don’t want to freak them out,” he said. “Oh, wait. They’ll probably read it on the internet, anyway. Crap. We should probably just tell them.” This sucked. Then Grant had an idea.

He pointed out toward everyone in the next room, “If they’re all with me, and I’m on some watch list, that makes them accessories. Harboring a fugitive. They’re in this with me. That should give them an incentive not to report me.”

Lisa was impressed. She never thought lawyers were terribly useful. She loved Grant, but she saved lives and he just argued about the meaning of words. However, this harboring a fugitive concept was a useful idea.

“Good idea,” she said. “I’ll tell them. I’m all nice and everything and you’re a terrorist, so I can break it to them more softly than you. What do you think?”

God, it felt great to have her on his side again.

“Sounds good,” he said. Grant paused, “Who else is on the list? Anyone else from WAB?”

Lisa nodded. “All of you. Tom, Brian, and Ben.”

Grant hadn’t thought of them in a few days. He’d been so busy worrying about his own family. Were the WAB families OK? Maybe they needed to come out there?

“I should call them,” Grant said, and then instantly realized how stupid that was.

“No way,” said Lisa. “That’s what they’ll be waiting for. Assuming there are any police or FBI or whatever available to monitor these things. Probably not, but it’s not worth the risk. For either you or who you’re calling.”

Grant thought about Manda’s phone. He could use that one. But he didn’t know a fake phone the WAB guys might be using. He just had their numbers. And a call to one of their numbers could be fatal.

Grant realized that he had no way of contacting them. None. They were totally on their own. He felt guilty. He should have seen this coming and he should have made plans for them to bug out to his cabin. He planned on doing that, but things blew up so quickly. There were too many things to plan and not enough time. Then again, months ago he wouldn’t have approached the WAB with this idea because they would have thought he was crazy. It was kind of their fault, Grant realized, because his friends had treated him as a little crazy for being a “survivalist” so Grant hadn’t pushed it with them. And now they probably wished he had.

Lisa and Grant were silent as they thought about their friends getting arrested and…worse.

Grant needed to use humor to lighten up the mood. “Well, I’ll just tell Pow to go buy you some tampons.” They broke into that uncontrollable emotional-release laughter.

They came out of the bedroom with tears in their eyes. Everyone looked at them, not wanting to ask what had just happened.

Lisa smiled and said, “My husband here has gotten himself in a little trouble. We need your help.” She proceeded to explain about the POI list and how everyone in the cabin were now accessories.

Lisa was trying to gauge the reaction of her parents. Would they be devastated that their son-in-law was a “terrorist”? Or would they realize what was really going on?

She did a great job with the announcement, and reminded them, “It’s not like the police can just send a car out to go get people. There are no police right now. There’s no way they can actually get Grant. Besides, he’s just a ‘person of interest.’ He’s not actually wanted.”

She paused. “Don’t tell a soul about this. Not one. We don’t need the attention. Seriously. Please do not tell anyone. Since this list is just symbolic, and no one can do anything to actually get these people, put it out of your mind. It didn’t happen.”

Chip added, “We need Grant so we can make it through this. He’s pretty involved in what we’re all doing out here. We can’t do anything to put him out of commission.” Chip was concerned that his stash of guns was in the basement of someone who was on a watch list. That would increase the odds of attention they didn’t want.

Eileen was concerned. She wanted to know more about the list. She asked who else was on the list, and found out all the conservative politicians on the list that she had voted for. It was clear that the list was entirely political. She couldn’t really get her mind past the fact that her son-in-law was wanted, but at least it wasn’t a real crime.

The Team thought Grant being a POI was cool. They knew that the guns they owned either had been outlawed by some executive order, or would be soon. They had cast their lot with the outlaws. Now it was official.

The Morrells were excited about it. They hated the government and this made Grant a hero.

The Colsons were OK with it. They didn’t like the government, but Mark and Tammy worried a little that a POI would generate some interest from the authorities about their little community. But they also realized that the government had their hands full right now. Besides, Grant was a lawyer and it was just a “persons of interest” list so, if the authorities restored order, Grant would probably talk his way out of any trouble. It’s not like he was an actual terrorist.

It was time for some humor. Grant needed to show everyone that he wasn’t worried about being labeled a “terrorist.”

“Hey, Pow,” Grant said, “since I can’t go into town, the Team should. Guess what’s on the shopping list?” Grant motioned for Pow to come over. Grant whispered to him that tampons were on the shopping list.

“No way!” Pow said. “I will do anything for you, brother, but…” He looked at Lisa and said, “OK, man. Even that.” No one else got the joke, but it still helped lighten the mood.

Next, they talked about how to go into town and get supplies. They decided that one person from each family would come to make sure they got the right things. One member of the Team would drive them and be armed. Concealed pistols on each guy and ARs in the trucks. Each family member would go armed, except Lisa, who still couldn’t stand the idea of having a gun. Actually, the reason she didn’t want to have a gun was that she didn’t know how to use one. She didn’t want to look stupid, so she maintained the “guns are bad” thing that she had believed her whole life up until yesterday.

They were coming up with prioritized shopping lists. There was so much to get. It was kind of frightening how much they needed for the next…while. No one would put a timeframe on their stay out here. Everyone kept thinking it would be a while, though they had no idea how long it would be.

As scary as it was not knowing how long they’d have to be out there, it was reassuring that they could go to the store, at least in armed groups, and still get things. Probably. Depending on what was on the shelves.

The Over Road people hadn’t initially appreciated how far ahead of the rest of the population they were, but they were starting to appreciate it now. They knew the real situation that America was in. Many people out there—despite the riots, looting, terrorism, power and internet going off sporadically, and the government issuing all kinds of emergency decrees—still didn’t understand that they needed to stock up. The Over Road people understood that, when they went into town that morning, they would probably get the last of the stuff on the shelves and at the gas pumps.

They started to round up cash. They only had a few hundred dollars between them. The ATMs were out of order. No one carried huge quantities of cash anymore and prices would probably be outrageous. They quickly realized they would have trouble buying anything with the cash they had. A sense of doom came over the group. Everything had been going so well until now.

Drew got up and motioned for Grant to come with him outside.

Chapter 81

The Fredrickson Milk Run