Glen Tate: 299 Days: The Stronghold

“Nope, no AR,” Ryan answered. He pointed to his pistol belt. “Got my Beretta, just like the one I had in the Corps.” Ryan had a 92F in 9mm.

Rich motioned for Pow to come over. “Hey, Pow, what if Ryan worked with the Team?”

“Sure.” Pow said. “Great idea.” Pow liked having a combat-experienced Marine along. Ryan would bring up their skill level and offer some great training. And he seemed like a good guy.

“Sounds good to me,” said Ryan.

“Ryan needs an AR. You got any extras?” Rich asked.

“Yep. Each of us has an extra AR or AK,” Pow said with a smile. “Which you like; AR or AK?”

“AR,” Ryan said. “AKs are for the people who used to be trying to kill me. Kinda puts a bad taste in your mouth.”

“OK, I have an AR for you,” Pow said. “I probably have some odds and ends to set you up with kit. I’ll hook you up when we get back to the yellow cabin at the end of the day.”

“Thanks, man,” Ryan said.

Rich pulled the Team, which now included Ryan, together and described how they would go down the road in front of the Grange and start meeting people in each house. Just to introduce themselves and let people know that they could call on them. Grant and Drew, once they got there, would come with them and take down information on each house. They’d find out how many people lived there, their names, any special needs, like medical conditions, whether they had a CB or other radio, and whether they had any equipment that might be useful to the community, like the mopeds. The Team would also ask if the homeowner had enough food, but wouldn’t pry and ask how much food they had.

“Don’t push the equipment or especially food topics,” Rich said. “I don’t want to spook people into thinking that we’re getting a shopping list together for us to loot.” He was glad Grant would be along, because Grant seemed to be a master at this kind of person-to-person level of politics. And he was the brains behind the idea of using the lot numbers as a census and inventory.

Rich noticed that “his” people like Dan were blending together easily with the Team into one working group. Rich was giving instructions to the Team, the Team had blended Ryan in, and Grant would be carrying out Rich’s plan, which was based on Grant’s idea about the lot numbers. They were working together seamlessly, after only a few days. Rich was so glad Grant and his friends had come to Pierce Point. They, in turn, were glad Rich was out here, too.

Ryan went off with the Team and showed them some infantry moves. The Team had been introduced to these basic movements by Special Forces Ted, but had gotten rusty on them.

The Team’s tactical training was more geared at SWAT things. In their training, which had been on a short-distance civilian gun range, bad guys were at short ranges; typically a room away or one house away. While most of the Team was oriented toward short-range SWAT purposes, Pow was an amazing sniper, and could provide long-range fire with his .308 bolt gun. Grant had no idea how he trained himself. Maybe he got some one-on-one training at a long-distance range from Special Forces Ted.

Ryan’s military training was different than the Team’s. His was trained for bad guys being hundreds of yards out. He was also trained to have tools like grenades, machine guns, and even artillery and air support. They didn’t have any of that in Pierce Point, but between Ryan’s military training and the Team’s tactical law enforcement skills, they were a hell of a force. At least, against meth addicts and untrained gangs. Ryan knew what would happen if they went up against a real military unit.

After about two hours of leisurely paced training, they heard the whine of mopeds. It was Grant and Drew. Chip hadn’t come; he had the day off after a night of guard duty and was sleeping.

Rich used the CB to tell Grant to bring Drew and what they would be doing. Drew had never ridden a moped. Life during the Collapse was full of new experiences for everyone. Drew picked up quickly on moped riding but was a little scared, though he tried not to show it. He was the old accountant guy; he would be patrolling around with the Team today. He didn’t want to emphasize to the young guys that he was old and not exactly a gun fighter. He was honored to be asked out into the field with these guys. He “forgot” to tell Eileen that he would be patrolling with well-armed men. She would deal with it when she found out. Welcome to life after the Collapse. That meant your mild mannered accountant husband might be patrolling with an amateur SWAT team. This was the “new normal.”

Rich was carrying out Grant’s idea for the lot number project and realized they needed a name for it. It would be a “census.” That sounded harmless and it reinforced the idea that Rich and the volunteers out there were…well, governing. “Governing” in the sense of solving community-wide problems with people who voluntarily wanted them to solve them; not the old kind of “government” which stole just about everything and bossed people around.

A man on a bike rode up to the Grange. He was in his fifties with graying and thinning hair. He didn’t have a pistol, which looked a little weird.

“Oh, hey, it’s Pete.” Rich yelled, “Over here, Pete,” and the man came over to them. Rich introduced everyone. “This is Pastor Pete,” Rich said. “He has agreed to do Mrs. Roth’s funeral.” They all shook hands.

Rich and Pastor Pete talked about the funeral service at the Grange. Pastor Pete seemed a little apprehensive, not about using the Grange, but about doing the service. “I’m not really an ordained minister, or anything,” he told Rich. Pete had studied theology on his own. He knew a lot about it, but had no formal training.

“That’s OK,” Rich said. “You’re our clergy out here.” This was another part of the “new normal” after the Collapse: people with no formal training were doing lots of jobs they technically weren’t qualified to do according to the pre-Collapse laws. But, most were doing a great job, despite the lack of credentials, which made everyone realize that pre-Collapse America required too many formal qualifications to do simple things. It made sense to have qualifications to do heart surgery—but to cut hair? The Collapse was the “do it yourself” era again in America. Like it had been up until the past fifty or sixty years.

“Hey, you want to start church services here on Sundays?” Rich asked Pete. Rich hadn’t been to church in years, but with all that was going on, wanted to get back to it, as long as it wasn’t preachy church. He knew Pete wouldn’t be like that.

Pastor Pete’s eyes lit up at the suggestion about him starting regular church services out there. “That would be great. Really great.” He paused. “This is what I’ve been waiting for; a chance to have a church.” He caught himself, “Not like I wanted all this to happen, of course.”

“Of course,” said Rich.

Grant and Drew arrived at the Grange on their borrowed mopeds.

“A motorcycle gang of lawyers and accountants on mopeds,” Bobby said, pointing at Grant and Drew. “We can fight off bad asses like this.” Everyone laughed.

Rich introduced Grant to Pete. Grant starting thinking about how nice it would be to have a church at Pierce Point. It would bring the community together even more. And, because Rich told Grant that Pastor Pete was not a “Bible thumper,” it was unlikely that the church services would divide people.

Grant hated to admit what his next thought was: politics. Having church services would be good for the governance out there. People would meet—voluntarily—over something other than shifts for guard duty or taking turns cooking in the Grange kitchen. It would bring back a sense of normalcy out there. Actually, since most people in Pierce Point didn’t regularly attend church, it could be a new thing for many people; a community thing. Plus, Pastor Pete could perform functions that all societies needed: funerals, weddings, deathbed counseling, giving hope to those grieving after the loss of a loved one. This was important. Surviving wasn’t just about food and water. People needed a society to thrive.