Lamp Black: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 2) (33 page)

She hung her head and began to sob. John resisted the urge to comfort her. He had to remind himself that she participated in a violent attack on a good family, and that her road to recovery was sufficiently acted upon by John’s mercy. He bent and cut the bonds from her ankles, but she remained seated on the tailgate. “I’m leaving you here, Luanne. There’s a town about three miles down the road. Here’s a can of chili, and your pocket knife.” he said, as he sat the items on the tailgate.

John looked at her sternly and added, “Luanne, if I ever see you again I’ll not show you mercy. Survival of the fittest doesn’t mean the strongest or the most violent people will rule the world. People who rely on violence will always find it waiting for them, just like Darrel. In the end, it will be civilized people who survive, people who know how to build instead of destroy, how to cooperate instead of dominate. Of all the struggles between men, Luanne, you must know one important thing, justice always conquers over injustice. It’s written in the stars.”

She looked at John strangely, but then her look changed to one of surprise as John grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “It’s why I’m letting you go. I don’t hate you, Luanne. I sincerely hope you find yourself one day. Now take your stuff and get out of here. I’ve got a damaged family to attend to.”

With that, John climbed into the truck and started the engine. He wasn’t sure if Luanne grabbed the chili and knife off the tailgate before he drove away, but he really didn’t care. For some reason, thoughts of Luanne occupied his mind during the entire drive home. He had a strong feeling that he would see her again, and that she would return with trouble, but he wasn’t concerned about it. John had several other and more pressing issues to worry about than Luanne. But one thing was for sure, he would never forget her.

A
s soon as John returned from his trip to relocate Luanne, he and Paul began making trips between their two homes. For ease of moving the larger items, John continued to use Darrel’s pickup truck. It was perfect for hauling the children’s twin mattresses, as well as several large plastic containers filled with Marissa’s wants. John and Paul loaded the containers with kitchen utensils and cookware, cold weather gear and other seasonal clothing, and some necessary supplies like medicine, toiletries and toys.

With the ditching of Darrel’s pickup completely abandoned, all John needed was a place to stash it. He wanted to convince Paul to let him park it in his garage, and he spent several minutes telling him how valuable it was. But Paul didn’t need convincing. He agreed with John that the truck was too valuable to discard, especially with its remaining half tank of fuel still in it. John and Paul agreed the fuel alone was worth more than the truck, so keeping it was the only logical thing to do.

With the moving and settling in of the Hernandez family, things around the Anderson house were very busy. The addition of another family was easy once Jenna concluded that conventional accommodations were not practical. She solved the problem by dedicating her entire living room to Marissa. John and Paul made short work out of moving the living room furniture into the dining room, and then they hung several thick moving blankets across the entrance for privacy.

Jenna wasn’t happy with how it turned out, and she offered up the guest room, but Marissa declined, saying they actually preferred the
bigger space of the living room and really wanted to stay together as a family. Jenna and Marissa embraced, and the tears flowed freely once again. Not wanting to get caught up in the emotions, John and Paul got to work setting up the new living space. With the twin mattresses on the floor, it looked inadequate to sleep the entire family, so John convinced Paul to return to his house and get the boy’s bunk-bed frame, and Paul’s king-sized top mattress. When complete, the new sleeping arrangements afforded the Hernandez’s plenty of personal space and privacy. Anthony, the Hernandez’s youngest boy, would sleep only with his parents, so the king mattress proved to be a valuable last minute addition.

Thinking of the sleeping accommodations eventually brought John back around to Corbin. He asked him if he wanted his own mattress, but Corbin said he liked sleeping on the cot in Adam’s room, so John dropped the subject. With everyone happy about their sleeping arrangements, John moved on to other important matters, like his daughter. He worried that Abby was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the boys in the house, but she seemed to enjoy the attention, especially from Marcus and Corbin. Her brother continued to treat her like he always did, with sibling indifference, but the two new boys playfully doted on her, and it made her feel special.

Jenna was also happy about having company. She and Marissa became inseparable, and seamlessly fell into a partnership of cooperation and teamwork. Abby was a big help around the house, but Jenna could push her only so far before she would ask for a break. The arrival of Marissa was both timely and appreciated, as she was not only a great cook, but she worked hard and never complained. With her help, Jenna was able to move much faster in canning the remaining food from the garden and freezer.

Sanitation was the first big challenge for the group to overcome. When the generator wasn’t running the water didn’t flow, and when water didn’t flow the toilets didn’t flush. But that didn’t stop everyone from using them. John groused that everyone must think it was just
another day in the park, so he met with Paul to discuss the problem. They called a group meeting, the first of many until things settled into a routine, and discussed the conditions of living in a house without constant running water and electricity.

The sanitation rule to follow was that, when the Christmas lights were on it was OK to use the toilet, but when they were off, which was all night and a good part of the early morning and late evening, everyone was to use the camper’s potty in the powder room. John asked everyone to pee in the empty five-gallon plastic buckets, and close the lid when they were done. He asked them to leave their “solid waste,” which was a new term for the kids, in the pail lined with a garbage bag. John had only one toilet seat for the five-gallon buckets, so he told them they would have to switch it to the appropriate bucket when needed. A large bottle of hand sanitizer sat on the vanity, and John asked everyone to use it before they left the bathroom.

John’s future plan was to use the urine as fertilizer. He remembered reading a Scientific American Magazine article that said urine was loaded with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus; essentially everything a plant needed to grow strong and healthy. When one part urine was mixed with nine parts water, the solution made an excellent garden fertilizer. He saw the benefits of human-waste fertilizing while stationed in Korea. The pungent solution was most often used in rice patties. But for now, their human waste was dumped in a pit at the farthest corner of the property, which was as far from the well cap as John could manage.

Bathing was also highly regulated by John. He didn’t have an infinite supply of propane or gasoline, so the generator, which was their only means to pump water while the solar panels were covered in ash, meant that the hot-water heaters were an endangered species. It was showers only for all of them, and the routine was simple and direct. The shower procedure was; get wet, soap up, rinse off, and get out. Those who didn’t get dirty or sweaty would be encouraged to go a day or two before showering. That policy didn’t please the ladies, but they
agreed to the plan given the situation. As for the kids, they were perfectly fine with skipping an occasional shower.

There was also the issue of laundry. John’s kids were keenly aware of his clothing usage policy, which was to change only their undergarments and socks daily. All outer clothing was to be worn until it could, “stand up on its own,” as Grandma Anderson used to say. Everyone agreed to the house rules, and Paul even developed what he called a, “Power and shower schedule,” which was little more than a way to maximize the use of their available generator time, and put everyone on a predictable bathing schedule. Other daily schedules included look-outs, or security duty, garbage collection, waste hauling and disposal, kitchen duty, babysitting, and laundry, just to name a few. Everyone was busy, but cooperating and getting along very well.

After a hearty spaghetti dinner and kitchen cleanup, two groups naturally formed. The adults sat at the kitchen table to discuss the next day, and the kids went off to watch a movie in the media room. John said they had about two hours of electricity before the generator ran out of gas, so they took off without delay. John told them there was plenty of other entertainment options, such as board and card games, but they said he was “old-fashioned.” He smiled and watched them leave. With the kids occupied with a movie, it gave the adults a perfect opportunity to talk privately.

Earlier, while dinner was being prepared by Paul and Marissa, John found an opportunity to talk privately with Jenna about what had happened to Darrel, and what he had done to release Luanne. John was surprised at Jenna’s lack of remorse for Darrel, and even more surprised at her concern about letting Luanne go. John defended his decision with reason, but he knew Jenna was right, they had not heard the last of her. He told her about it because he wanted her to be aware of the event should it come up in a later discussion, and he was glad that he did.

While sitting at the kitchen table with Paul and Marissa, they took turns examining the leather vest John removed from Luanne. Paul
was particularly interested in the vest, and he closely studied the large patch sewn onto the center of the back panel. He ran his finger over a picture profile of a fat man wearing a large Mexican sombrero and carrying a machete in one hand, and a pistol in the other. At the top of the vest, in large red letters, on a gold background, read the word “DESPERADOS.” “What does the one-percent patch mean?” asked Paul, to no one in particular.

John shrugged and said, “One percent is just that, one percent of all the biker gangs that consider themselves independent of civilized behavior.”

Paul, apparently confused by John’s explanation, asked, “What?”

“It’s like this,” answered John, “most biker groups are law abiding. They don’t have the attention of federal or state law enforcement agencies. But there are a few motorcycle groups out there . . . those who operate outside of the law. They call themselves one-percenters’ because they’re not like the other ninety-nine percent of the law abiding motorcycle clubs out there,” finished John.

“How do you know that?” asked Paul.

“Somebody from the Bureau gave us a briefing on domestic terrorist groups while I was on active duty,” answered John.

“Oh,” said Paul, as he continued to examine the vest, “and the MC stands for . . . motorcycle club?”

“That makes sense to me,” replied John.

“And the bottom patch is where they’re from?” asked Paul.

It was obvious to John that it was. The big red letters spelled “FORT WORTH,” the club’s obvious chapter location. He stifled the urge to say something smart-alecky, but instead answered with a simple, “Yes.”

“Look at all these patches on the front,” said Paul, “there’s more patch than leather. Where do they get all these patches?”

“From wherever,” said John with a shrug. “Some, like this one, you can get on-line.”

“What does it stand for?”

“F.T.W stands for, blank the world. And this one is . . .”

“Blank the world?” asked Paul.

John was beginning to lose patience with Paul, and wondered if he was really so dense. Jenna gave him a look, so he took a second to decide how to politely answer Paul’s question without dropping the F-bomb in his own kitchen. “Yeah, when I was in the army it was F.T.A, for ““blank the army.” “Blank is the F-word, Paul.”

Paul was visibly embarrassed by his naivety and quickly changed the subject. “What about this patch, the one that says ‘Enforcer.’ What do you think that means?” he asked.

“Yeah, I was wondering about that too,” said John. “I think it’s the same as a Sergeant at Arms.” Before Paul could ask the next obvious question, John continued with, “A Sergeant at Arms is someone who works for the club president. He’s usually the toughest guy in the club, and a friend of the president. He can organize the other gang members, and is known to hold them to a particular standard of conduct, whatever that may be.”

It was Jenna’s turn to inquire. She pointed at the vest and asked, “John, what does this all mean? Is this biker group a danger to us now?”

Marissa’s response to the discussion was to bury her head in her arms. Paul immediately put his arm around her and asked, “They can’t be that much of a danger, right, John? Besides, if they have women in their group they couldn’t be all that bad, right?”

John understood what Paul was trying to do. He was trying to reassure Marissa. But idealism wasn’t the way to deal with Marissa’s anxiety about possible future attacks. When an enemy presented itself, whether direct or indirect, it was never a good idea to shelf it out of sympathy for someone’s mental health. At least that’s what John always believed. He knew that being a Soldier tended to focus his perspective, but he hated lies, even lies dressed as uncertainty or unlikelihood. It was never a good idea to put an enemy on a shelf with the hope that a better understanding of their capabilities and limitations will come. In war, realism was the only way to roll, and right now they were at war with nature, and mankind. Yes, thought John, Indians
have surrounded the fort, and yes, they can burn it down around us. They absolutely needed to consider appropriate response measures to such attack threats. John preferred offense actions to defensive ones, but he didn’t have enough information. He needed better intelligence on the gang. They clearly hadn’t seen the last of them, and if it isn’t them it will be someone else. His bigger question was, when will they attack? He needed help.