When The Fault Breaks: Life Will Never Be The Same Read online

  Like many of you here I lost family and friends in the quake so I can relate to your pain. I want to hear from each of you about what you think is the best way to approach this. After the meeting we will adjourn and I will have each of you join me in my make shift office, one at a time. After that we will meet again and go over what I think we will be able to do given all your assets and those of Canada. Okay who is next?'

  A big dude wearing fatigues, in front, stood up, 'I am Captain Bill Rogers and I am the leader of the Northern Indiana Militia. We are over five hundred strong and made up of many of the citizens of what's left the northern half of Indiana. I was born a Hoosier and by God I will die one as well, not Chinese. I understand the need for one leader for this type of operation and we will support you all the way.'

  The Captain turned to the rest of the people gathered there and pleaded

  with all of them to work together to get the Chinese bastards out of our country.

  'Thank you Captain Rogers and I look forward to hearing your take on how to do this. Ok next.'

  'My name is Captain Raymond Miller. I'm the leader of one of the Wisconsin militias. Now that those damn Chinese have taken over my home state, I'm already chomping at the bit to get them out of there, so Captain Rogers I can tell you we are with you. I don't have the kind of numbers Captain Rogers has but we are highly trained guerilla fighters.

  We took out several columns of Chinese when they made their way north out of Chicago and we have confiscated every piece of Chinese military hardware we could get. We are more than ready to follow your orders, he said with a salute.'

  General Pander saluted him back and thanked him.

  'My name is Colonel Jack Magee. I'm in charge of the militia out of the Great State of Missouri. I have twenty individual groups now under my command and will fight with our neighbors to the north to the death. I know you want them out of here as badly as we do, hell yea we understand your terms and agree to them.'

  'Thank you Colonel, I look forward to hearing your point of view.'

  'My name is Gerald Transom; I don't hold a military title but I do command over two hundred fighters out of Ohio. My parents lived in Chicago and I'm ready to kill all those bastards that killed them so, yes sir we are with you.'

  'Thank you Gerald, and even though you don't hold a military title I will still hold your input with just as much meaning as any of the military trained men we have here.'

  'My name is Stanton T. Filber III.' He said in a greater than thou manner, 'And like Gerald, I do not hold a military title but I do command my own army. I will share our numbers with you in private but not in this group. I do understand your orders and agree to them, but after we get rid of the Chinese we will not be working with any of these groups again.'

  'Thank you Stanton for your frankness and I hope we will be able to work as a team despite your harsh feelings about some of your co-leaders.'

  'Despite my feelings, we will work with them for our common goal no matter what. The enemy of your enemy is your friend, at least until you all kill them.'

  'Okay, thanks again Stanton, I'm sure you will.'

  'I'm Major Frank Bear and I have been tasked to lead the Northern Illinois militia based out of what is left of Freeport, Illinois which is a bit west of here. Before the quake I had been the leader of the Northern Illinois National Guard and the leader of the Northern Illinois Freedom Fighters. We have complete control of the guard unit and all of its weapons. We completely understand the need for uniformity and will throw all of our assets at those bastards.'

  'Thank you Major Bear, I look forward to working with you. Okay then now that we have covered all the pleasantries we have much to do. I believe lunch is ready for us and I don't know about any of you but I'm hungry. Let's all head in to the restaurant and get something to eat.'

  The group of men all agreed and got up and headed to eat. As they left they all talked with each other and started down the long road of freeing us from outside control. Lunch was a good opportunity for all to get to know each other and trade stories about their lives since the quake. Hopefully the six men would form the bases of a free country once and for all.

  After lunch, one by one, they each met with the general and told him about their individual ideas on how to free Milwaukee and get the Chinese out of the country once and for all. It was well into the night before all the men were able to make their way through the meetings.

  As each finished their meeting with General Pander he told them that he would be going over his plans based on what they all gave him in the morning. The next morning, they all met at the table again and he explained his plans. The general gave each of them a task based on their strengths and assets and provided information on how he believed they should free Milwaukee.

  It took a week to get the word out to all the smaller groups and to amass their forces into position. Meanwhile Glenn, the Canadian Ambassador, went to Milwaukee to try to end the occupation peacefully but found it was not going to be good. General Pander was under orders to wait on his offensive until Ambassador Boarder had a chance to resolve the matter without a fight.

  The Chinese had different plans for the Ambassador, the second he entered their compound he was taken into custody. He was brought before a brigade of Chinese soldiers and made to kneel on the ground where they shot him in the back of the head. They threw his dead body on the street and closed their gate. With that, General Pander ordered the offensive to begin.

  Two days before the impending attack multiple groups of people snuck into Milwaukee to warn the residents. Fortunately, many were able to get out safely, the Chinese did their best to try and stop them, but even more stayed to join the fight. The Chinese figured we would not attack if Americans were still there, but they bet wrong.

  It turned out it was a good thing that the gun control nut cases did not get their way, if they had the citizens would not have stood a chance of fighting them. I will never understand why the politicians in this country think that the guns are the problem.

  Thousands of militia forces surrounded Milwaukee and closed in on the Chinese. The day of the attack the Chinese were in for a big surprise. General Pander had coordinated with The Great Republic of Texas to lead the attack. Under the cover of darkness, they brought in a Carrier Battle Group and created not only a naval blockade, by a no fly zone for the Chinese.

  Several destroyers fired precision guided low yield Tomahawk BGM-109A Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles at painted targets on the ground. The missiles were armed with low yield warheads and were used to take out their command and control as well as their communications, with minimal damage to the city. They also hit the Chinese air bases but with high yield warheads.

  The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford enforced a no fly zone over Milwaukee and provided support for the forces on the ground. The Chinese thought they had a surprise for us because they fired their carrier killer missiles thinking they would take out our carrier, but they were the ones that were in for the surprise. The Ford was armed with multiple 100w precision lasers that made short work of their missiles.

  Texas, however; was not done with the Chinese. The night before the attack on Milwaukee, the Texans positioned themselves just off shore from Beijing. From where they sat, they launched an SLBM on the Chinese capital and destroyed the city before their military could even react. With Beijing gone, Texas knew that was the end of their occupation in North America.

  That day the Chinese forces agreed to an unconditional surrender. The Chinese were allowed to pull ALL their forces out of the country, but they were not allowed to take any of their weaponry with them.

  It was a great day. For the first time in almost a year there were no Chinese forces in our great land. And to everyone's surprise the Canadians kept their word and pulled all their forces out of the country as well. Unlike the U.S., and our, 'Helping hands', they did not stay where they were not welcome. As soon as the job was done they exited the country and left it up to us to d
eal with the mess. Besides it was not like they had trillions of dollars, paid on the back of the taxpayers, to throw away on a people that didn't want their help."

  Amanda continued telling her story.

  "Shortly after Jonie finished telling me about what had happened up north we came to a stop. Two men came to the back and pulled her out of the van, they slammed the door shut and took off, that was the last time I saw her. After another few hours passed, we came to a stop again. At this stop they pulled me out of the van and drug me to a waiting SUV.

  Behind the SUV was a large semi-truck, as I approached the SUV a man motioned to one of the men that brought me there to get the truck. The man jumped into the already running truck and pulled away as they lead me into a limo waiting for me.

  As I got in the car I could see for the first time the scum that had bought me. From what I could tell, I was sold for the truck and its contents. It made me feel like a piece of meat sold at a bazaar.

  After a couple days of driving we ended up at that warehouse and I was kept there as his property. He took every opportunity to remind me of that and I was forced to do as I was told or I was beaten and starved. I had not been there very long when my hero Doug here saved me."

  We thanked Amanda for sharing so much with us. The tragedy that she and others experienced made us even more grateful for what we had. We were happy as life in Little Haven continued on with no problems. Everyone was content, healthy, and enjoying our new lives. Some; however, had embraced their freedoms more than others.

  Chapter 41: A Necessary Evil?

  One day late in our second summer in Little Haven we were relaxing in the pond cooling off after a long hot day. We all had been drinking the hooch Brandon's men made, so we were a bit relaxed when we heard Roy call out.

  "Hey there, we knew you guys would be here."

  "Hey Roy you were right. What are you guys up to?"

  "Judy, Lacy and I were looking forward to a dip in the pond."

  Ben replied, "Then jump in, the water is great."

  The three of them all stripped off their clothes and joined us in the water. They splashed around for a bit then came over to the rest of us and sat down.

  Roy said, "You guys sure are laid back for a bunch of old folks."

  Fred mocked him with a breaking old man's voice, "Thaank yoou ssoonnyy," and laughed; we all did including Roy.

  "Well Roy I think if you hung around us more you would see how laid back we are; you might even be in for the surprise of your life. None of us in this group go for any of that oppressive crap that has been crammed down our throats by the cults of the world. We had to live with it all our lives and now they no longer control anything, at least not here."

  "Just look at Ann and I, we live with Sandy and Tammy. In the old world we would be shunned even though the four of us don't have sex. We have noticed that the three of you live together. We don't know if there is anything else, but if there is more we wouldn't care."

  "Well Peter funny you said that because that was really the reason the three of us came here. We knew you guys were here and that the seven of you are the ones that influence the council in many areas. We have been living together for some time now and though Lacy and I were legally married before the quake we both love Judy the same as we do each other."

  Fred handed a Mason jar with hooch in it to Roy and said, "Here have some rot gut."

  Roy reached over took the jar and threw back a nice swig of it. Then as he reached to hand it back, Fred, asked, "What about the girls, don't they want some too?"

  The three looked at each other with a smile and Roy replied, "They can't have any."

  We all raised our eyebrows.

  Ann jumped in, "Oh My God, you guys are both pregnant."

  Lacy smiled and replied yes we are. We both love Roy with all our hearts and we know he loves us too," Roy nodded in agreement.

  "And I love Judy as well. The three of us are as happy as you guys clearly are and want to all be married."

  Tammy had to jump on that one, "Now that is what I am talking about, how dare anyone tell us we can't be married? Sandy and I have loved each other for over ten years, it was great when the Supreme Court ruled it was legal to get married. As soon as we could get the word out to our friends we got married."

  "Easy girls easy, you know how I feel. As the Chairman of our little village I don't see any reason why you can't. As a matter of fact, after the court's ruling some people interpreted it to mean that you could have more than one spouse. I think that as the leader it would fall on me to be the one to actually marry you guys too."

  With tears of joy, Judy came running over to me and said, "Thank you Peter thank you, I love you."

  Then she grabbed my face with both hands and gave me a huge kiss square on the lips. I looked over at Ann and she just smiled at me.

  "Hold on now everyone, this is not a done deal I think this is something that needs to be brought to the council, even if not for a vote but at least to get a feel for their take on it."

  This time Ben jumped in, "Well I can't speak for the rest of the council but this member is all for it. I would be all for more than one wife."

  He looked over at Beth who was looking at him with her eyebrows raised, slightly pursed lips and this REALLY!? Look on her face.

  I had to add, "With them both being pregnant that brings up a very important issue."

  Now I had Ann's attention, "And what issue would that be you horn dog."

  She asked in an inquisitive manner, I looked at her with that sly smile I know makes her laugh and replied.

  "There is this little thing about breeding in this small of a community. With this small of a genetic pool, we are setting ourselves up for what I like to call the hillbilly syndrome."

  Ann looked at me now shaking her head with an I can't believe you just said that look then in a long drawn out manner.

  "WWHHAATT are you talking about?"

  Everyone laughed at that. Laughing too I replied, "Think about it, with the limited number of men and women we have, and everyone living in a monogamous relationship, there would be inbreeding in just a generation or two and all the problems that come with it."

  Fred had to jump on that one and spoke up, "I have to say he is right guys, I don't know about you but I don't want any buck toothed deformed kids running around here calling their sister mommy."

  Ann replied to that, "Really Fred, are YOU going to stereotype people like that?"

  "I don't know if I would call it stereotyping, I just know I lived with a hillbilly for some time and met her family, so I know what I have seen."

  I spoke up, "All right you guys that's enough. I will take this to the council and see how it flies."

  Roy spoke up again, "It's not like we are the only ones living like this. Crystal is living with Jason and Braxton, and there is no question what type of relationship they have, and there are several more as well."

  Judy jumped in, "Look it's not like we are hurting anyone. We just want to get married."

  Ben turned to Roy and the girls and said, "Well guys trust me, if I have anything to do with it you will get your marriage."

  Ann decided to really join in on this one. I think she thought it would make me change my mind about it.

  "So let me get this straight, you are ok with me having sex with another man?"

  I stood there for a long moment then replied, "CLICK….."

  Ann smiled and said, "Not this time sweetie, it's safe, no land mine here."

  I paused again, then with that cheesy smile I'm known for replied, "If you were trying to have another baby then yes."

  "Talk about double standards, so because I can no longer have babies then I would be stuck with just you, and because you can it's okay for you?"

  "If it means I would be doing my civic duty, sure."

  Ann replied, "You are so full of shit, just admit it you are just a horn dog."

  All I could do was just smile and shrug my shoulders. Now Tam
had something to say about this.

  "So let me get this straight too, you all believe that all the women should sleep with all the other men to stir up the genetic mix."

  "Not necessarily all but…"

  Surprisingly Sandy stopped me from digging myself deeper and said, "I have this one sweetie. The answer is sort of, any childbearing women should have only one child by any one father, be it their husband or someone else. After that when or if they are ready to conceive again it should be with a different guy."

  "But what's to stop the husband from being the one that gets her pregnant again?"

  "That's easy, when they are trying to have another baby they don't have sex with their partner. But if they do it's not like it's a crime."