Desperate Times (30 page)

Dr. Benson had released Ken and was already
scrambling for his bags. He quickly produced a stethoscope and
probed the child’s chest and back with it. He held his large hand
over the boy’s forehead, nearly covering his entire face. He shook
his head. All eyes were on Dr. Benson and his little patient. He
dug inside one of the bags and then in the other. Finally he dumped
the contents of both out onto the dew-covered grass. He rummaged
through the pile and came away with a vial. He quickly opened a
small box and removed something in a white wrapper. He tore open
the wrapper and pulled out a syringe. He plunged the needle into
the vial and carefully drew out what he needed. “Okay dad, I need
an alcohol prep pad. Do you see it, there?” he asked Jenkins. “Open
it. Mom, I need you to roll your son onto his side and take down
his pants. I just need a good chunk of cheek to work with. Do it,
there you go… good. Now swab the cheek, get it nice and clean…
good. There we go,” he said, as he plunged the needle gently into
the little boy’s skin. The boy grimaced and started to cry.

“Thank you,” said Jenkins, tearfully.

“Thank you, so much,” echoed his wife.

“You’re quite welcome. Now, strip him down
into his birthday suit and get him down into the lake. That will
cool him down.”

“No,” said Ken, kneeling down next to the
family. “Bring him up to the house,” he said, turning his head up
to the porch. “Patty! This boy is burning up with fever! Run him a
cool bath!”

“Okay,” shouted Patty. “Send them up!”

Ken pointed them in Patty’s direction, and
the family scurried away. Dr. Benson bent over and scooped his
medical supplies back into the empty bags. They were all quiet
until the screen door slapped behind them.

“Take me to the girl,” Dr. Benson said to
Ken.

“She’s up there,” said Ken, “on the porch.
She’s still out of it. See what you can do. I’ve got to talk to
these two guys. We’ll be along in a minute.”

“All right; just remember this, my friend:
that little boy would’ve been dead by tomorrow morning if these two
men hadn’t sent that family here. Don’t be too hard on them.”

“Don’t sweat it, Ted. We’re just going to
have a little chat. I’ll be along in a little while. I’m just going
to give these two their next assignment.”

Dr. Benson nodded, turned and walked up the
driveway and began to climb the stairs to the front door. Ken
turned to face Jimmy and Jon. He had a strange, satisfied look on
his face. He waved them toward the back yard, not saying a word.
Jimmy and Jon followed.

Jimmy gritted his teeth. He had a feeling
that their next assignment was going to make their trip to Ely seem
like a walk in the park.

Twenty
-
Two

Executive Order 11000: All civilians can be
appropriated for work programs controlled by the federal
government.

Ken sat them down at a picnic table on the
far side of the lawn. The rising sun had yet to top the trees; the
sky was blue and cloudless. They swiped the dew off of the table
and benches and sat down. Ken took the seat across from Jimmy and
Jon.

“Let’s have it,” said Ken, his expression now
humorless, “from beginning to end. Tell me what happened out
there.”

Jimmy and Jon took turns recounting their
journey. They told Ken how they came across Jenkins in the woods.
Jon admitted that he had told the man to bring his family here, but
added that they had no idea there was an entire congregation living
in the forest. They then explained what they’d witnessed in Ely.
Ken’s expression darkened further when they recalled how the
National Guard had ruthlessly gathered up the people from town,
shooting those who resisted and hauling away the rest. They told
him about their walk through the hospital and how Dr. Benson had
attacked Jimmy in the lobby. Ken laughed at this.

“You should’ve seen him in high school,” he
said. “The best defensive lineman in the state; every college
recruited him. He was one mean son of a bitch on the football
field.”

They continued telling their story, repeating
what Dr. Benson had said about starting a revolution. Ken rolled
his eyes at this but didn’t interrupt. Jimmy finished by telling
Ken what Dr. Benson had said just before they had walked up to the
gate:
“Say hello to your army.”

Ken shook his head, his hands balled into
fists resting at the edge of the table. Again Jimmy could see that
his mind was in overdrive. He never took his eyes off of them.

“Well,” he said. “There’s not much we can do
about it now. They’re here and we’ll have to try and look after
them the best we can.”

“Are you sure?” asked Jimmy. “Have you seen
how many people are out there? A lot of them are injured. How can
we take care of them all?”

“I have. We’ve got the last doctor from town,
maybe in the entire county. I know Doc and he’ll do what he can for
each one of them. Doc’s right about one thing: we could use an
army. Lord knows that we’ve got one now. If we take care of these
people and find a way to feed them, I think they’ll stay. Not only
that, I think we’ll have won their loyalty. That’s important. As
far as Ted’s idea of starting a revolution, that’s just crazy talk.
I think he’s been through a lot and needs a little time to sort
things out. Don’t you dare tell him I said that. Still, I’m not
letting the Guard take me without a fight… I say we get ready for
them and make them think twice about trying to haul us away. We’ve
got to make a stand.”

“I agree!” said Jon, pounding his fist on the
table.

“All right,” said Ken. “Here’s the plan. You
two are going to take charge of that group. I don’t care how you do
it, but that’s the way it has to be. I’d suggest that you break
them up into groups and assign a leader to each one of them.
Sally’s place is empty, so start spreading them out. Get them
situated and then we’re going to have to figure out a way to start
feeding them. I hate to say it, but I think you’re going to have to
make another trip to Ely for supplies. This time, you’ll have to
take the Mack.”

Jimmy took a deep breath and nodded. The last
thing he wanted to do was go back into town and step over all of
the bloating, dead bodies in the street. Still, he could see that
it was the only way they could possibly feed all of the people that
had arrived.

“You’ll need to get some volunteers to go
along with you. Make sure they’re armed and ready to fight when you
get there. I doubt the Guard got everyone out. Do you think you can
do that?”

“Can we take a nap, first?” asked Jon. “I’m
beat.”

“Me too,” said Jimmy. “I need some
sleep.”

“Not yet,” said Ken. “The first thing you
need to do is get out there and take control. They’re your people
now. Make sure they all understand that. We’re a team here—share
and share alike. We’re going to have to expand the wall. That’s
going to take a lot of hard work. There are a million things that
need to be done. Explain that to them. Tell those who argue with
you that they’re free to leave. We don’t want them here. Tell them
that if they do leave, there’s no coming back. Now, get them
divided into small groups and assign leaders. Those leaders will
answer to you. You both will answer to me and Doc. He’s one smart
man and I trust him completely. After that, the two of you can get
some sleep.”

“You want us to do that, now?” Jon asked,
with wide, bloodshot eyes.

“Right now,” said Ken, standing up and
stretching. “Go.”

“Can you give me a minute to talk to Paula?”
asked Jimmy, as he stood from the table.

Ken chuckled. “Jimmy,” he said. “You might
want to avoid her for a while. She’s been asking a lot of
questions. I don’t think she’s too happy right now.”

“Oh crap,” said Jimmy.

“Cheer up,” said Jon with a grin. “Things
could be worse.”

“How’s that?”

“It could be raining.”

“Right,” said Jimmy, without enthusiasm.

“Let’s go,” said Ken, unable to hide a grin.
“Let me give you a little advice, kid. You’re going to have to make
a decision, and soon. One of those gals is going to be hurt. You’ve
got to make your choice and stick with it. I want you to do that,
pronto.”

“I know,” said Jimmy.

“I mean that. We’ve got enough trouble around
here without your little love triangle. Sorry, but that’s just the
way it is. Do you understand me?”

“Yes sir,” said Jimmy sheepishly. He was a
little angry with Ken for that last comment. None of this was his
fault. He hadn’t told Paula to go stay with her parents. He
certainly didn’t ask them all to leave home with Carl, of all
people, and travel all the way up to Ely. On the other hand, he
hadn’t invited Julie here either. He had done his best to keep
their relationship strictly as a friendship. The kiss had been
something that had just happened. End of story. He wished that
Patty hadn’t seen it and he knew she had told Ken about it. He
wondered how many people here knew about that now. For all he knew,
everybody would have heard about it by now. Ken had said that Paula
had been asking a lot of questions. Could it be possible that Paula
had heard about the kiss? Jimmy didn’t know. He did know that Paula
had looked anything but happy up there on the deck. Then again,
Julie was seriously hurt and was going to need him to help her
recover. How could he explain that to Paula? She’d be furious. Then
again, did he care?

As much as he wanted to see Julie, Jimmy
forced himself to follow Jon and Ken. He could feel the pressure
building with each step. He had no idea of what he would say. He
had a terrible fear of speaking in public. Thinking of that only
made him more nervous. He hoped that Jon would know what to
say.

“Open the gate!” shouted Ken. “Somebody yell
down to the people out there. Tell them that I’m sending two men
out that need to speak to them!”

Jimmy stopped next to Jon as Glen Putnam
called down to the people outside of the wall. He then watched as
the log was removed from the cradle.

“You’ve got to do all the talking,” whispered
Jimmy. “I’m no good at this stuff.”

“Like hell,” said Jon. “You’d better get
good, and you’d better do it now. I’m going to need your help. This
crowd could turn on us in a minute.”

“Thanks buddy. Thanks for dumping another ton
of pressure on me. That’s going to help.”

“You can do it, I know you can. Just follow
my lead, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

They heaved open the gate and Jimmy and Jon
walked out into the crowd gathered outside. Jon paused, staring out
into the sea of people. Jimmy stood beside him and a chill ran up
his spine.

“People!” Jon shouted. “Can I have your
attention for a minute?”

“Hey,” said Jimmy, “let’s do this next door.
There’s a baseball field over there and that way everybody will
hear what we have to say.”

Jon nodded. “I want everyone who isn’t
attending to the sick or wounded to follow us to the baseball
field,” he said, pointing to the back of Sally’s vacant resort.
This is important, so please head over there if you can! Thank
you!”

“Not bad,” said Jimmy, watching the crowd
turn and walk in the direction of Sally’s.

“Thanks. You’re up next.”

“Funny.”

“Who said I was kidding?” Jon said,
seriously. Then he began to follow the crowd over to the baseball
field, leaving Jimmy standing at the gate with his mouth open.

“This is just great,” Jimmy muttered to
himself as he slowly followed Jon. He desperately tried to recall
how Ken had put this to them. He’d made it all seem so logical. He
also tried to remember what Doc had said. Maybe he’d been right
after all? Why couldn’t he and Jon just lay it all out there and
tell it like it is? What did they have to lose? These people needed
a cause; they all did. Taking on the National Guard to avoid
capture was what—an act of war? Jimmy didn’t know. If it wasn’t, it
was damn close. Why not put it to these people that they were
starting a revolution? He thought that it just might work.
Suddenly, Jimmy was brimming with confidence. He thought of all the
things he had been through since he’d left Crown. This was nothing.
He thought of that and also how much he’d changed in such a short
amount of time.

He then thought of Julie. He needed to see
her. He prayed that Dr. Benson could help her.

The crowd assembled in the outfield. They
rushed in as if they were being timed. Behind the trees, the
morning sun cast long shadows on the wet grass. It was going to be
a warm day. Jimmy and Jon stood in the sunshine on the small hump
in the infield that served as a pitcher’s mound. Jimmy took a deep
breath and thought about how to begin. Satisfied, he held up his
hands and a hush came over the crowd.

“Hello everyone!” Jimmy shouted to the crowd.
“On behalf of our people, I’d like to welcome you all to Freedom
Lake!” Jimmy began to clap and the crowd soon joined in
enthusiastically.

“Freedom Lake?” hissed Jon. “What the hell
are you talking about? This is Hay Lake!”