Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

The HQ replied to him. “They can bring their group in and we can talk in here.” Haliday looked at the guy and shook his head no.

The man spoke, “Listen, you’re safer out here and they ain’t buying that come inside BS.”

“All right, we’re coming out, give us about five minutes.” Haliday put everyone on high alert and they watched as two guys made their way out of the admin building.

They walked up and looked Haliday up and down. Haliday looked at them and said, “You guys want a date or what? I don’t have time for bullshit here. You guys have caused me enough grief to last a lifetime.” Rob looked at them. He knew one of the guys, but wasn’t sure about the other. Haliday said, “This is Brad, Chuck and Rob; they will negotiate along with me.”

One man looked at him; “You’re an outsider. What gives you the right?”

Haliday answered, “Listen shithead. I’m not going to explain it. If you’d rather we continue to reduce your ranks, we can end the conversation now and go right back at it. Now you can talk nice or you can go in there and explain to everyone why they are going to die. So this is what will happen.”

Haliday continued, “First, each and every one of you will surrender. You will all be placed into custody until these guys here decide who to try and who to release. They will hold the trials in a public venue with an impartial jury. The sentences they give out will be final. No appeals. There were some serious crimes committed here. That’s not negotiable.”

“Second, any and all food here will remain in the townspeoples custody and that will be distributed according to how they see fit. There is a community here and everyone will come together and share resources. You guys will be included. You will not be leaving with what you think is yours; too many people paid the price for it already. That’s not negotiable.”

“Third, your firearms will be seized along with all ammunition. Your homes will be searched.. These firearms will not be returned until they see fit to return them to you. This prevents you guys from banding together and playing warlords again. That’s not negotiable.”

“Fourth, you guys are responsible for any women and children from your group who are now left on their own. You’ll take them in and you’ll take care of them. I don’t mean servitude, I mean as part of your family. We will be checking on them. That’s not negotiable.”

“Fifth, you will provide burial for each and every person that has died here. You will dig their graves, you will bury them with respect and it will be done with the utmost dignity. You will do so at the sheriff’s house. That’s not negotiable. You have any questions?”

“I do,” one of the militia said as he moved forward a bit. “What exactly do we get to negotiate?”

Haliday smiled at him. “Your life. That’s what you get to negotiate. You take the terms and live or you roll the dice and see what comes out of it that way. You look smart enough to understand that. I’ll give you guys a few minutes to talk.”

Haliday and his group backed off a bit. There was some arguing going on for a minute, then three of the militia members walked over. “Ok, we accept.”

Haliday pointed over at the fourth man. “What about him, is he going to be trouble?”

One answered, “No he shouldn’t be.”

Haliday said, “Ok, he stays then.” He pointed; “You and you go back in and tell them what’s happening. Call me when you’re ready. We’ll walk you through the process.”

Haliday moved away and talked to Chuck, Brad and Rob. “You guys good with that I assume?”

Rob said, “Ya, how do we try them though.”

Chuck spoke up, “I’ll help with that.”

“That’s good,” Haliday said. “You’ll also need to set up some form of government rule to keep things civil.” The radio crackled. “They’re ready,” Haliday said.

Haliday started with the fighting positions. He would empty one and bring the people in. He emptied the second and then had Rob’s guys move into the first. Eventually all of the positions were manned by Rob’s group. He had the people come out of the admin building two at a time and bring the injured with them.

Everyone was outside now and disarmed. Haliday had them all bound and ready for transport. He’d be sending them to the county jail just down from the police department and would use locks and chains on the cells. They would be the community’s problem now. An hour later they were all in cells.

Haliday walked over to the building where they had kept the prisoners. They entered it and found almost a dozen people inside. They were all still alive, but some were badly beaten and they were hungry and thirsty. They tended to these people and moved them to safety. Haliday asked them who was captured in the woods with the motorcycle and a couple raised their hands. “You guys can leave when you want, we’ll get you to your boat when you’re ready.”

They went through each of the buildings and made sure each was empty and that they had all of the firearms and ammunition gathered up. This was all placed in the admin building. They made sure nothing that could be used as a weapon was left in the buildings at all, especially in the buildings used for housing.

Haliday rounded up all of his people and they stood around and talked for a bit. He told Rob to make sure the people in the jail got food and water and had blankets so they would be warm enough. “Get their work detail busy and get the bodies handled right away. Use the chain gang format.”

Rob looked at Roger, “Why the sheriff’s house?”

Roger told him that if the sheriff ever saw freedom again, he would need a reminder every day.

“Rob, keep this area under heavy security at all times, and move everything to a secure location as soon as you can.” Haliday looked around. What a hell of a couple weeks this had been. “Rob, good luck, we’ll be in touch.” They shook hands and parted ways. Haliday and Mark took the rest of the guys and they all headed home.

They arrived back at the house. They all passed on dinner and opted for showers and fresh clothes instead. Afterwards they settled for soup. They were sitting around in silence. Kayla had security set up for the night. It would be Rich, Bev, Karen, Sarah, Dawn, Diana, David and herself taking turns tonight. They let the guys sleep through the night.

It had been three days since the last assault on the airport. Roger sat at the table drinking his coffee and eating his breakfast burrito. Both Max, the mutant dog and Romeo, the cat, were eyeing his plate. “I don’t think so, animals,” he said. Romeo had his own food and Max was given scraps and leftovers to eat. The byproduct of that, however, was mutant dog farts which Max seemed to enjoy sharing with Roger.

Blake was sitting next to him, and Alan was across the table with Kevin. Mark was sitting in a chair next to Lisa who was doing much better now. In a couple more days, she would be ok and as long as Haliday was certain no infection or issues would arise, he would let them head back with Mike and Linda to Mark’s parents’ farm. They all reflected on the past couple of weeks.

Kayla walked over and sat down as well. “Hey Dad,” she said, “how much more of this we gonna have to deal with?”

He looked at her, “I hope none, but we still don’t know what the hell is going on in this country. I’d really like to know what the hell the government is doing about this, and what the hell even happened. I think the immediate threat is over for now. I don’t suspect we’ll get a lot of activity during the winter. Not too sure many plow trucks are working these days, so it’ll be hard to get around.”