J. Curtis: Calexit: The Anthology

The fortified boundary of the redoubt had expanded as militia members chose the most desirable homes for themselves and installed water tanks for a gravity feed on each of them, absent pumping capacity. Diesel generators provided light to the facility and to the residences. Labor, which lived outside of the wire, worked for food and water, which arrived as relief supplies from other nations and were stored specifically for the use of the militia.

A regional governor had been appointed but his entourage was ambushed on the freeway on the way to Fort MacArthur by persons unknown, who used anti-tank rockets to punch through the armored cars. Larry Marcus used the opportunity to reinforce the intelligence that well-armed roving gangs had taken over much of the city, and that the militia lacked the strength of numbers, vehicles, fuel and ammunition to sally forth and take them on. Another governor, dispatched by sea, also met his end before he could arrive. Pirates infested the sea lanes around the formerly prosperous and populated city. At D+54, there were no more trusted members of the inner circle who would volunteer to act as an administration in Los Angeles and there had been talk of elevating Larry Marcus to Colonel and increasing his legal authority to one of viceroy for the People’s Republic in Los Angeles.

CALEXIT

D+62

Colonel Marcus pinned the new eagle devices on his collars and looked into the mirror. Then he depressed a hidden catch on the mirror and it slid silently on hinges to expose a satellite telephone cradled in a charger.

He called preset #1 and heard a voice on the line, “Green Tree”. He replied, “Blue Hummingbird. The progressive cipher would change the next time that it needed to be used with the query and the response shifting.

“Good morning Larry.”

“Good morning. We are keeping to plan but I need more watercraft and crews to control sea lines and approaches, looking and behaving sufficiently like pirates. They need to sink a few of the aid ships that are arriving to jack up insurance rates and turn others around. We’re getting so much in here, even working glacially on unloading, that I am running out of room.”

“Understand and will advise.”

Larry Marcus ended the connection.

CALEXIT

D+120

The militia lined up at Huntington Beach, arms stacked, wearing their best uniforms, and greeted the gray ships disgorging Landing Craft Air Cushion and Marines in their amphibious armored fighting vehicles. The U.S. arrived to save Cali from itself.

What a difference four months, and several million lives had wrought. The place was a ghost town. The social experiment ended. Order would be restored, services restored and the flags of the People’s Republic of Cali would become trophies of a sort to insanity that infected and destroyed a region.

The rest of the state followed closely on the heels of the capitulation of Los Angeles.

JL Curtis -

JL Curtis was born in Louisiana in 1951 and was raised in the Ark-La-Tex area. He began his education with guns at age eight with a SAA and a Grandfather that had carried one for ‘work’. He began competitive shooting in the 1970s, an interest he still pursues time permitting. He is a retired Naval Flight Officer, having spent 22 years serving his country, an NRA instructor, a retired engineer in the defense industry, and now a starving author. He lives in North Texas, He currently has two series in work. The Grey Man, a Texas based current fiction series revolving around LEOs and Marines. And the Rimworld Series, started with a short story that was an Amazon Best Seller for five days after its release. His Novella, The Morning the Earth Shookis the genesis for the anthology. His Amazon Author page is HERE.

Bob Poole -

Bob Poole is a U.S. Army Gulf War Veteran, former Ford Autoworker and presently working in the aviation field, you can find him at www.mydailykona.blogspot.com

Cedar Sanderson -

Cedar Sanderson was born an Air Force brat in Nebraska and spent her childhood enroute to new duty stations. Her formative years after her father left the Air Force were spent being home-schooled on the Alaskan frontier. She removed to the “more urban” climes of New Hampshire at the beginning of high school. She has had the usual eclectic range of jobs for Fantasy/SF authors, ranging from balloon twister to apprentice shepherdess. She counts the latter as more useful in controlling her four children and First Reader. Her fascination with science dates to her early childhood spent with her grandmother on the Oregon coast studying the flora and fauna and learning to prepare a meal from what she could glean from a tidal pool. This lead to a lifelong interest in science, cooking, and wildcrafting. Her Amazon Author page is HERE.

Tom Rogneby -

Tom Rogneby is a curmudgeonly husband and father who spends his time in the wilds of suburban Louisville, Kentucky. He lives with his wife, children, cats, dogs, fish, and various transient outdoors mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. His hobbies include reading, shooting, playing with a nine-year-old (It’s great to finally have a companion at his level), and writing. He is a veteran, and has gone to many exciting places to do many boring things. He blogs at DaddyBear’s Den, http://daddybearsden.com. His Amazon Author page is HERE.

Alma TC Boykin -

Alma T. C. Boykin is a historian, lapsed pilot, and writer who lives on the High Plains, as far from floods as it is possible to get and still find flat ground. She discovered military science fiction in high school after growing up reading military history, and has never recovered. She is the author of over 40 novels and short stories. Her Amazon Author page is HERE.

B Opperman -

Born in Illinois and raised in rural Indiana. An electronics engineer by training, he left that field and ran his own business for 20+ years before selling out and retiring. He’s currently an NRA instructor and a fledgling pilot. This is his first published story. He would like to dedicate this story to his parents, Molly and Skip, and Stephanie.

LB Johnson -

A former airline Captain, L.B. Johnson grew up out West where she later received a doctorate in a Criminal Justice related major — the field she works in after hanging up her professional wings. She lives in Chicago with her husband and rescue dog Abby Normal Johnson. Mrs. Johnson donates 100% of her writing proceeds to animal rescue and Search Dog Foundation.

L.B. is two times Reader’s Favorite International Book Award Winner — 2015 SILVER for the Amazon #1 Best Seller “The Book of Barkley — Love and Life through the Eyes of a Labrador Retriever” and 2017 GOLD for Christian Fiction “Small Town Roads”.

Her second book — “Saving Grace — A Story of Adoption” was also a #1 bestseller at Amazon. Her Amazon Author page is HERE.

Eaton Rapids Joe -

Born in Lansing, Michigan in 1959. He graduated from Michigan State University with an engineering degree in 1981. Three decades of experience in the automotive industry with areas of expertise in design, engineering and manufacturing. Special interest in improving throughput and quality. In his retirement Eaton Rapids Joe blogs, writes, and gardens.

D. Lawdog -

Born in Malta, he learned his miscreant ways at the feet of oil engineers in Africa, then returned to the states as a teenager. Finishing his ‘education’ in Texas, he embarked on a career in law enforcement, and has over 20 years with Bugscuffle County, Texas. The author of two books, one detailing his law enforcement career, and one his childhood in Africa. They can be found via his Amazon Author page, HERE. He continues his trenchant observations on life from The Law Dog Files blog, HERE.