New America 02 - Resistance (4 page)

“No, I don’t think it’s worth it.”

“Why?”

“Well, the most obvious answer is The Silent Warriors.  They were an issue before The Pulse and they’ll continue to be an issue no matter what we do.  That being said, they’re not the primary reason for my answer.”

“What is?”

“Damage has been done t
hat I doubt can be reversed.  The Pulse Zone is becoming a wasteland in more ways than one.  The only way people feel safe is to band together in fortified communities.  Even if we could wave a magic wand and put the broken pieces of The Pulse Zone back together, the people are far too frightened to consider themselves part of something larger than their own communities.  The idea of contributing anything outside their own strongholds has become foreign to them.  They simply don’t trust in anything.  If they venture outside their own walls, they face being kidnapped by slavers or murdered for the clothes on their backs, or even worse – for sport.”

“Even when we restore their utilities?  Ele
ctricity and clean water don’t make a difference?”

“Not really.  They’re still starving and dying from common
place diseases that weren’t even a threat before The Pulse.  It might sound silly, but I also think they’re still getting over Internet addiction.”

“That does sound silly.”

“It might, but it’s true.  We lived in a connected society that was used to having the world at its fingertips.”

“We lived in a
spoiled
society is more like it.”

“I agree.”

“Thank you for your frankness. I trust everything went according to plan?”

“Perfectly, Mr. President.”

“Does Jim suspect anything?”

“Not a thing, sir.  He trusts
me implicitly.  I told him I would do everything in my power to ensure that what happened to his grandchildren would never occur again.”

“Good. Y
ou were right, young man.  This fiasco proved the perfect opportunity to discover where loyalties reside amongst the eight people I’ve chosen to help me run this country.”

“What did you think of the outcome, Mr. President?”

“I wasn’t surprised by the three that refused to go along with the idea.”

“What do you want me to do about Jim?”

“Kill him; make it look like an accident.  Then we’ll see how the others react.

CHAPTER THREE

Christina Dupree awoke in the back of an eighteen-wheeler.  She assumed it was the middle of the night because light wasn’t peeking through the tiny air holes in the roof of the fifty-four-foot-long container.  The ten-year-old had given up trying to keep track of the days.  If they were lucky, the thugs would let them out once a day to move around and go to the bathroom.  Every time they opened the doors, someone would scream, begging to be set free. 
My father will give you money!  My son is in the military; he’s a very important man!  My children need me!
 
The answer was always the same – a bullet in the head.  Chrissy and the other children would cry at the sight of it; no child should bear witness to the atrocities taking place within that sweltering metal prison cell. Angry glances from the armed men prompted the adults to calm and silence the children. 

It had been a long time sinc
e the last break, and Chrissy needed to use the bathroom.  She knew the other people around her weren’t waiting to stop and had been relieving themselves on the truck floor. She could smell it and occasionally had to shift her body away from the warm streams of urine trickling past.  She had curled up in the arms of an elderly woman and eventually fell asleep.  The kindhearted woman stroked Chrissy’s hair and sang soothingly to her until she drifted off to sleep.  Chrissy wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn the old woman called her Angela several times during the night.  It seemed strange, but Chrissy was too exhausted to correct her.

Chrissy had been separated from her brother and grandparents two summers ago on a camping trip t
o Yellowstone. She’d met a younger girl in an RV park along the way, and they became the best of friends.  April had a baby sister, and Chrissy loved playing with her.  Her mother’s boyfriend, Chad, had befriended April’s dad, and they agreed to let Chrissy stay with April’s family for the rest of the trip into Yellowstone.  Chrissy tried to go back to her RV to say goodbye to her brother and grandparents but for some reason Chad wouldn’t let her.  He and April’s dad told her that April’s family was leaving right away and she wouldn’t have time to say goodbye.  Chrissy thought it was odd but was happy to hang out with her new friend’s family.

Chrissy began
to worry when April’s dad said he would spank her if she asked anyone about when they were going to get to Yellowstone.  Chrissy was scared of April’s dad and made it a point to stay close to April whenever he was around. When everyone laid down in bed at night, April’s dad would look at her funny.  One afternoon when they were eating lunch at a rest stop, April’s dad caught Chrissy alone in the RV and began tickling her.  Chrissy kept telling him to stop, but he wouldn’t listen.  As Chrissy began to cry, April’s mom came into the RV.  April’s dad swore he was just tickling her and apologized to Chrissy for not stopping.  April’s mom got really mad at April’s dad and said something about him being sick and how he had promised the last time that he would get better. 

Th
e next day, April’s parents got into a big fight.  He left with some guys and never came back.  When Chrissy tried to be nice to April’s mom to help her calm down, April’s mom starting screaming at her and saying it was all her fault.  Chrissy tried her best to not make her mad, but April’s mom starting slapping and kicking her.  Chrissy ran away as fast as she could and didn’t stop until she couldn’t hear April’s mom screaming at her.

Chrissy was lost
. She had no idea what she was supposed to do.  She didn’t know where she was or how to get back to her grandparents.  She walked for hours and eventually made her way into a small town and started knocking on doors, desperately hoping someone would help her.  Eventually, someone let her in and drove her to a nearby church that had been converted into a homeless shelter.  Chrissy was welcomed in, and the church staff took care of her.  She bounced back and forth between three church families and lived moderately well for the better part of a year.

Chrissy had taken a liking to the church staff and enjoyed helping out
with the smaller children at the homeless shelter.  One day while she was playing with a little three-year-old girl, a bunch of men with guns came into the church gymnasium and started firing at the ceiling.  They kept screaming, “Get your hands up!  Nobody move!”  The preacher obeyed and slowly walked over to the men, trying to reason with them.  One of the men with guns shot him in the chest, and the preacher fell to the gym floor.  Although the sight of so much blood frightened her, Chrissy wisely snatched up her little playmate to protect her

A fearful silence hung over the gym. Those who had witnessed the death of their beloved preacher knew they had no choice but to cooperate or be killed themselves.
The kidnappers forced them all to walk outside and line up in two lines.  The slavers sized all of them up. Any people who were sick, weak, or disabled were shot in the head.  Chrissy hugged the little girl to her chest to keep her quiet, raising her gaze from the ground only once in an attempt to make eye contact with the child’s parents for reassurance. 

F
ifty men, women, and children were loaded into the back of the semi and locked in muted darkness, the bullet holes in the roof providing an eerie star-like illumination.    Chrissy returned the little girl to her desperate parents, found a place to sit, and began to cry. She missed her mother and her older brother, Timmy.  She missed her grandparents most of all.  They weren’t really her grandparents; they were the parents of her mom’s boyfriend.  They insisted on being called Grammy and Pappaw.  They were the closest thing Chrissy had to loving caretakers.   She tried her hardest not to think about the evil men and what they would do when they opened the door to let them out.  She had no idea where she was going or what was going to happen to her. 

Chrissy tried her best to wiggle free from the old woman’s sweaty embrace without waking her, but it didn’t work.

“Angela?  What are you doing, dear?”

“My name’s Chrissy, ma’am.”

“Oh, Angela, don’t be silly. You always like to play your little make-believe games.  Is something wrong, dear?”

“I just want to stand up and stretch, ma’am.”

“Sweetheart, you start calling me Granny. Stop being silly.”

“Uh…
you’re not my grandmother.”  Chrissy practically whispered it for fear of angering the confused woman.

“Angela, dea
r, be a good girl and ask your father to pull the van over. I need to use the restroom.”

Chrissy finally understood what was going on; the
poor old woman had something wrong with her mind.  She wasn’t sure, but she thought the men with guns had killed all the old people. Chrissy was scared for the lady; if she acted like this in front of slavers, they would surely kill her.

“Granny, Daddy told me earlier that we’ll
stop at the next gas station. We’re in the middle of nowhere, and it will be a long time before we can stop.

“Such a little sweethea
rt; there’s my good girl.”

“He wants you to get some sleep.
I’ll wake you up when we stop.”

“Okay, dear.  That’s probably a good idea.”

For the first time since all this madness began, Chrissy began to feel a bit more confident and less fearful. She had a purpose now, something to keep her mind occupied.  She had to take care of this woman and make sure she was safe.

As the truck slowed
to a stop and the cab door slammed shut, Chrissy’s fear returned with a vengeance. Once the engine was silenced, she was blanketed by the frightened mewing of her fellow captives. Angry people could be heard pleading for divine intervention.

“They can’t do this!  We have to do something!”

“Shut up!  You’re gonna get us all killed!”

The doors opened
and two rounds were fired into the roof of the truck.

“Get the fuck out!  NOW!”

“Listen here!  You can’t do this to us!  This isn’t right!  I demand to…”

Another shot was fire
d; silence followed.

When will these people figure out that the bad guy
s will kill them if they don’t keep their mouths shut? 
Chrissy closed her eyes and prayed.

“Anybody else have any fucking demands?  Huh?  Anyone?  No?  Good, that’s what I thought.  Hurry the fuck up and get out!”

The first two people stepped out.  Both were grabbed and flung to the ground.  “You’re not moving fast enough!  Hurry up!  We don’t have all day!  Everybody out! Get in a double line, now!”

Chrissy started to panic.  She had to come up with something quick to keep the old woman safe.  “Granny.  Granny!  It’s time to wake up now.  C’mon, let’s get going.”

“Are we there, dear?  I hope your father found a place to eat.  I’m very hungry.”

“Uh…  y
eah, we’re at a restaurant now.  They want us to line up outside so they can get the tables ready.  We need to be quiet and let them figure out where we’re gonna sit.”

“Okay,
Angela, that sounds nice.”

Chrissy helped the old woman to her feet
, and they shuffled from the truck and stood in line.  Everyone was staring at the ground, terrified to speak or move a muscle.

Chris
sy held the old woman’s hand as they waited quietly on the second row.  Chrissy’s mind was racing, trying to figure out what she would do if the old woman made a scene.  If she couldn’t keep her quiet, she wasn’t sure if she was brave enough to stick her neck out and run the risk of getting shot.

Chrissy cautiously raised her head and surveyed the scene around her.
They had stopped in the biggest parking lot she’d ever seen. There were signs all around. The one that caught her eye said “We Hope You Enjoy Your Stay at the Magic Kingdom.”  There was another one with a picture of Mickey Mouse on it but she couldn’t make out the words.

The bad guys brought us to Disney World?

The group waited in silence for several minutes while the slavers talked with another group of men with guns.  Then they just stood there and said nothing; it looked like they were waiting for something to happen. Chrissy began to shake. 
Are they going to kill us?

Chris
sy glanced to her right and saw the apparent cause of the delay.  An important-looking man was slowly walking toward the group.  He shook hands with one of the slavers.  The slaver gestured toward the group and the two men started to walk up and down the rows of frightened people.  As they made their way down the second row, Chrissy let go of the woman’s hand, tears of shame streaming down her grimy face.  She didn’t know what she would do if the old woman got confused and drew attention to herself.  She prayed harder than she ever had before that the old woman would remain quiet.  If they shot her, Chrissy would blame herself for the rest of her life.  Chrissy heard the two men talking as they approached.

“You should be able to
get a lot of work out of them. Plenty of good, healthy men to do some labor; plenty of women to fuck when they’re not cleaning.”

“Why’d you bring kids?  What am I supposed to do with kids?”

“I’m sure you’ll find use for them; they’ll grow up soon enough.  Better to train ‘em now so they learn what’s expected of them when they get older.  You can also
train
them to do other things… if you catch my drift.”

“How much
you want for the lot of them?”

“
I have a list of things in high demand on our routes.  We can discuss that over dinner.”

“Of course.  How many men you got with you?”

“Six.”

“Round ‘em
up and we’ll take them to the chow hall.  I bet you guys could use some drinks and time to unwind after your long trip.”

“Damn straight! L
ead the way.”

T
he men were herded toward a building a hundred yards away.

The man in charge walked
to the front of the group of slaves he had just agreed to purchase.  He said something to two of his men and shook his head.  The two men ran forward ten yards, stopped, and raised their arms, pistols in each hand.  In a deafening roar of bullets, all six of the evil monsters that Chrissy had feared with every fiber of her being dropped to the ground.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the Unified American Empire has decided to put
an end to the slave trade.  I never tolerated it, and I think it’s time they did something about it.  You’re all free men and women.  My name is Benjamin Black, and I’d be pleased to have you join our community.