G Hopf - The End

“I guess the president wasn’t joking when he said he wanted to stop me.”

“I’ve known you for a long time; we had the pleasure of working together years back on that Wes-Pac. You’re a gung-ho Marine. I know your wife, I know your children. You’re a good man,” White paused for a moment to collect his thoughts then continued. “When they told me it was you, I knew you wouldn’t just do something like this without a damn good reason, I couldn’t just destroy these ships and kill you and those Marines and sailors without hearing from you what’s going on.”

“First, let me thank you for not sinking my ships. Second, what I’m doing is taking my Marines and these sailors back home to their families. Our initial orders were to go back and assist the others in the recovery effort back east. With the intelligence we’ve received, it seems as if the entire power grid is down across the country. This leaves our families vulnerable. I could not in good conscience take the men to the opposite coast from their families to help dig up dead bodies. What has happened at home is catastrophic and we may not fully recover for years. If we don’t get back to California soon and help our families there, there may not be a home or family to go back to.”

White just nodded and looked at Barone.

“I thought about this carefully, and our country is gone. It was destroyed within seconds. You know these scenarios, you take away food, water, medicine, law and order and every city will destroy itself within weeks. We may not be able to help everyone when we get home, but we’ll protect our families and there we can start to rebuild with what we have. David, there is a 99% chance that our country will not look the same in a year, hell; could be less time. The way I look at it, I’m not committing treason or mutiny when there is no country to mutiny against,” Barone finished and took a drink.

“Well, I’ve had a few days to ponder what the hell you were doing and I knew you wouldn’t just do something foolish. I knew you had a plan and a damn good reason,” White reached over and grabbed the bottle and poured himself another drink. He took a sip and exhaled loudly. “As you know, the Topeka ’s home port is San Diego, and we have family back there, too. Colonel Barone, may we join your pack of wily mutineers?” White lifted his glass in the air to toast.

Barone was shocked and overjoyed, he lifted his glass and tapped White’s glass and said, “Capt. White, you and your men are welcome to join us.”

“Thank you Tony. Now let me tell you how lucky you are we found you first.”

That comment sparked Barone’s interest. He leaned forward and asked, “What do you know?”

“I know that they have a few destroyers looking for you. They also have Hawaii on alert and plan on using land-based aircraft and even missiles to stop you.”

“I guess I’m not getting close to Hawaii then. Is there a way you can keep tabs on where the destroyers are by communicating with them till we are in a safe area?”

“Exactly my plan,” White responded with a grin.

“Cheers again, my friend,” Barone said lifting his glass.

San Diego, CA

Gordon and his team had just returned from outside the gates. Each day brought lighter loads and more news of the destruction and collapse of the city. Every new day they pushed further and further into areas they had not gone before only to find few supplies but more death. They constantly encountered hungry bands of people begging for food. Gordon was sympathetic, but he would not budge and commanded his men not to assist anyone unless they could offer value to their community. Resources were tight and adding more people would only take away from their own. It was tough as he looked upon the gaunt faces of those hungry and dehydrated women and children but he would remind himself of his own children and the responsibility he had to them. His teams also were encountering more executions and more graffiti that said, “Villista.” He knew now there was a group operating that was organized and lethal. A new startling development had started a couple days ago; smoke plumes on the skyline were becoming a common sight to the south. No one knew the reason, but someone was setting buildings on fire.

The dwindling food supplies started to create stress on the community. There were some in the community who never had much food in their pantries to start and with the rations being limited and not adequate those people were going to bed hungry. His security force had already broken up three altercations between neighbors over food rations. Gordon knew it was going to get worse unless they could find more large caches of food. The gardens were planted but would not produce food for some time. He had created hunting teams to help supplement but after a few days of hunting they had only brought back a couple of coyotes of which most of his neighbors refused to eat.

Gordon started to see the physical decay in the community now, the grasses had just now started to brown and many of the previously well-maintained flowers were starting to look wilted. Dust and dirt were slowly starting to gather on the abandoned cars. The smell of feces was becoming more prominent as people were not disposing their human waste properly in the backyards. The one fortunate statistic after 12 days after the attack was that only one person had died.

Seventeen families had left the security of the gates to try their luck outside. Gordon never attempted to convince anyone if they decided to leave; he felt it was their choice. He did warn them of the dangers on the outside, but he never would work hard to get them to stay. The thoughts of leaving had also come across Gordon’s mind more frequently now. He did not know how long they could maintain what they had. If the size of the loads that were coming back continued to get smaller, they would run out of food. However; before that happened the community would probably turn on itself.

Ever since he had been subjected to Mindy’s “court,” Gordon had started to work on an alternative plan. He kept thinking of their place in Idaho. Their mountain cabin was located in the town of McCall. The town was surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of public land. It was pristine alpine country and the wildlife was abundant. He had discussed this idea with Samantha, who was supportive of whatever he thought was best. Because of his quick response immediately after the attacks, he had secured enough food to last his family months. Fuel was not an issue, he now had a vehicle himself and sufficient medical supplies. Making the journey to Idaho would be tough, but if he could get a convoy to go with him they just might make it. Gordon had yet to discuss his plans with Nelson or Jimmy.

Gordon had not seen Jimmy for days and was concerned for him. He thought of them often and hoped that he and Simone were doing okay. Gordon also thought often about his brother; he was curious how far the attacks had gone. Every time someone knocked on his door or he was called to one of the gates because a stranger had approached requesting aid he’d look up and expect to see Sebastian. The thought that he’d never see him again also crossed his mind. He’d never see a lot of people again. So many people were a part of his life before. The girl who was a clerk at the grocery store or his daughter’s dance teacher, where were they now? His clients whom he’d chat with regularly over the phone, how were they making out? Samantha’s many friends were scattered throughout the county, their situation was unknown and would most likely remain that way. She had remained relatively calm about her parents; he assumed she knew there wasn’t much they could do for them. The Midwest might as well be half way around the world. So much had changed in a blink of an eye, it sometimes was overwhelming.