Paul Kirk - Devastation Point

“Josh, bring Matty back here, pronto! He’s over at Dr. Reilly’s”

“Yes, sir!” said Josh, turning quickly toward Dr. Reilly’s quarters.

“Russ, find Tina for me! She’s over at the bakery probably talking to Big Momma.”

“Yes, sir, right away.”

Commander Del Re reentered the command post and approached the three men. “Give me a few minutes, Connor. I need Matty and Tina.”

“Sure thing, Del.”

“In the meantime, where’s this president now? Why’s she not with you? What’s the deal?”

“We’re set to rendezvous with her shortly.”

“Where?”

“At an undisclosed location, Del,” said Connor. His soft tone suggested he was not simply giving the commander a hard time, but rather, was hesitant to provide him any more specifics.

The commander stared at him hard for a few seconds. “I see.”

“Del…”

The commander raised his hand while shaking his head. “No, I understand. You’re protecting your men and the president. You don’t think we can pull it off and I might be captured and relay the info.”

“Del, I would—”

“No. You’re right. But, obviously it’s south of here, probably Uniontown. Probably the high school.”

Matty, the commander’s second in command, came in the door in a rush. “Sir? Dr. Reilly will be here shortly. What’s going on?”

The commander filled him in on the hostile army coming their way and the timeframe involved. He outlined the town’s response; as he finished, Tina entered.

She was concerned. “Honey? Del?”

“Hold on a sec, sweetie.” The commander turned to his second in command. “Matty, see to it that people are moving to leave this place like a ghost town. Make sure everyone knows how time sensitive this evac is. Got it?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll start right away.”

“You’re in charge of all the gold, silver, and other tradeables. You’ll handle that, right?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Make sure Big Mama takes her yeast cultures with her. I don’t wanta hear about how she can’t make her bread and I especially don’t wanta hear that we can’t make ale or whiskey.”

“Understood, sir. I’ll see to it personally.”

“Go, Matty. Go.”

Matty turned for the door, but Connor stopped him. “Hold on a sec, Matty.”

“Yes?” he asked.

“Tell your people that no one is to stay in this town. No one! ”

“Why’s that?” asked Del.

“No last stand guards. No one to give them trouble. No one to try to make their life difficult. This army is less likely to do any damage if you leave the way clear for them to blow right through.”

“I hear you, Mac, but why are you so insistent?”

“If they find even one of you, you can say goodbye to your hideout. I know you think it’s impenetrable, but they’d remember where it is and if they came back this way, they’d wait you out. You’d either starve to death or they’d pick you off one by one when you came out.”

Angry, Del Re’s face reddened and he walked to the front store window to gain better control of his emotions. He came to a decision. “Aw, fuck it. It’s only things sittin’ out there—material shit. We can rebuild anything they destroy. It’s more important that nobody dies. My people are too important to me.”

“That’s good thinking, Del.”

“Matty?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do what the man says. I mean it. No heroics. We need to let this storm pass and live to fight another day.”

“Yes, sir,” answered Matty, somewhat disappointed.

“I’m not kidding, Matty. This is a real as it gets. If anyone stays back and gets captured, we’re totally screwed. Just one man, women or child could get us all killed.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Make sure everyone bugs out. I want head counts every thirty minutes.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll see to it.”

“Okay, go. Go now.” The man left quickly and everyone in the room overheard him in the street, calling for several men to carry out his orders.

Tina walked over to where Del was standing and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turned at her touch and smiled grimly.

“Honey, we got a very nasty army coming our way. I’ll fill you in. In the meantime, please make sure that all the children have everything they need before we bug out. Make sure Betty helps you grab all the first-aid supplies.”

“I will.”

“Pam needs to gather the books and hide them in the vaults.”

McLeod’s ears perked up at the mention of books. “You have vaults of books, Del?”

“Yeah, John. Why doesn’t that surprise me that you would be interested in books? We’ve stashed a few fire-proof safes around—they’re very well hidden and only five people know the combinations.”

“Oh, man, what I’d give for an in-depth review of your collection.”

“I knew you’d understand, John.”

“Understand what, Del?”

“With your expertise in psychology.”

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

“After the Sickness hit, I started analyzing the ‘big picture’. You know, the behavior of men after a serious devastation. How would they react? What would be the general attitude of men? I came to the conclusion it would be about five years before clusters of small armies would begin to show up—most of ’em not very well intentioned.”

“That’s nicely thought out, Del. You continue to impress me.”

Tina walked to the front window and turned immediately to pace back. She was becoming visibly more agitated and the commander noticed.

“We’re gonna be okay, Tina,” said Del.

She remained skeptical, but nodded. “Okay, Del. I’m gonna go help the others prepare.”

“Captain Daubney,” said Connor, “why don’t you go along and help out where it’s needed. Organize the men to ensure this town’s packed and ready to go.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Del, you’ll have to release the animals you have immediately or better yet, have a few men take them far away from here as best they can.”

“Good point. That’s right.”

“I’ll let Matty know about that, sir,”

“Okay. Good, captain. Anyone of ours who needs the dentist should stay back—we have a few hours.”

“You sure, sir?”

“Yeah, captain, I’m sure.”

“Alright, sir.” The captain left to attend to his orders.

“We need to make sure there’s no panic among these people, Mac,” said McLeod.

“That’s a good point, John. Del, can your people handle this on such short notice?”

“Yeah, Mac, we’ve trained for it.”

“You’ve prepped for this?”

“Yeah. I make ’em do it full tilt twice a year. We take a day training and, as a reward, we have a feast the following day. People have come to enjoy it—not for the training, but for the afterparty. Once a month, we practice emergency defense. That’s where we assign a person to nearly every elevated window and see how long it takes them to guard the window with a weapon and ammunition. We got it down to about five and a half minutes.”

“Wow, Del, that’s incredible foresight.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“I’m serious.”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks. I’ve… I’ve hated planning for that awful time when we can’t hold our own. I don’t like it, but I knew we needed to be prepared.”

“You’re a wise man.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Where’s this Dr. O’Reilly?”

“He should be here soon. In fact, we should be getting our sausage and ale delivered about now, too. Gotta have our bellies full. Your men are probably being fed right now.”

“I have to admit that I’m pretty hungry, Del.”