William Forstchen - The Final Day

“It’s a start,” John offered, “and if left alone will continue to expand in an orderly way. Groups like the Posse either move out or, if need be, we take them out. We were doing okay with local folks reaching out to the next community and inviting them to join in. Unite or die? Maybe it is unite and live.”

“John, there are a hundred enclaves like yours that are making ‘a start,’ as you put it, from here clear up to Maine. But then what? We devolve into a hundred feudal-like states that eventually balkanize the way Europe did after Rome collapsed? You and your friends have done a masterful job of restoring order, civilization, and—from what I could observe—even bringing some technology back online. But reunite everything? Do you have any idea what some other so-called states have devolved into? You most likely know about Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, even D.C.”

“I’ve heard some stories.”

“You haven’t seen it; I have. D.C. is of course gone, a write-off, same as Florida. There are some whack jobs running what they call a kingdom not a hundred and fifty miles from here that are told to worship their leader as the son of God, and if you don’t go along, you are crucified.”

“So why not go after them first?” John offered.

“Weak argument, John. Bait-and-switch logic. It is precisely places like here, where things are being restored, that old values still hold, that we need in our fold before I can take out places like that.”

“So we are back in the fold, is that it?”

Bob nodded, finally sipping his tea and grimacing slightly. “Damn, this is awful stuff, John.”

“Sorry, but that is what we live on.”

“Don’t take it as a bribe, but once we get this settled, I’ve got a convoy coming in with two hundred thousand MREs. Remember each of them has a packet of coffee. Do you still smoke?”

John shook his head.

“Why, I remember you as being really addicted.”

“I promised Jennifer before she died.”

Bob lowered his head. “Sorry.” John could tell the emotions were genuine. “We can talk later about all that we lost.”

“And your specific orders.”

Bob looked back up at him and sighed, obviously not happy about what he had to say next. “I’m ordered to place you under arrest and transport you in an expedient manner to Bluemont to stand trial for murder, the execution of prisoners, and treason.”

“Oh, really?” John said, and he could not help but offer a sarcastic grin. “Can I have time to say good-bye to my wife?”

“Wife?”

“Guess you wouldn’t have known, or would you? I assume Fredericks, before we killed him, was sending up reports.”

“Actually, I didn’t know. Who is she?”

John offered a brief explanation to his old and perhaps now former friend as to how he and Makala had met on the Day and all that had transpired afterward.

“I had hoped to see my child born,” John concluded, “but guess you need to haul me out of here ASAP.”

Bob shook his head. “I’m not going to do that.”

“Bob, you have orders to follow.”

Bob’s gaze turned icy cold. “Don’t push it, John. I’m putting my neck out as is. The original orders were to take this place by force.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“Again, don’t push it. Just that I knew there was a better way. And part of that better way is to leave you in peace.”

“So I can be a puppet figurehead?”

“Damn, you are hostile,” Bob replied.

“I have every reason to be hostile,” John snapped back. “We were doing just fine until two hours ago.”

“There is a far bigger world out there than this ‘State of Carolina,’ as you call it.”

“I know that.”

“No, you don’t. Not really.”

“Enlighten me, then, sir.”

Bob began to stand up. “I understand your feelings, but if this is how it’s going to be, let’s just cut the crap. I’m not going to put you under arrest and transport you to Bluemont. Nor anyone else here.” He paused. “I just implore you to keep things stable with no resistance. You do that for me, and I can skirt around that other order for a while.”

“Aren’t you breaking orders?”

“Come on, you know there is always leeway for a commander in the field if he knows how to play it.”

“And something called the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Bill of Rights. Does Bluemont even have the right to accuse me of treason, prosecute me for a capital crime? And the Sixth Amendment is about being tried in my state or district where the alleged crime took place by a jury of my peers. Something about our revolution and protest against those being arrested without warning and transported away. It was so important an issue back then that we wrote it into the Constitution. I could cite a few other points from that document as well.”

“Damn it, of course you know I am aware of that.”

“And Bluemont isn’t? I find that troubling, Bob.”

“Again, don’t press me, John.”

“I’m not pressing you, sir. Perhaps it is you who are pressing yourself.”

“Damn it, listen to me! Just listen for a minute.”

John nodded and sat back, breaking eye contact and deliberately focusing his gaze on the portrait of Washington at Valley Forge.

“Asheville and Greenville-Spartanburg are to become the staging area to bring Atlanta back under control.”

“My God, sir. Who is your head of intelligence? Atlanta is a hellhole. You’ll be facing tens of thousands down there, the survivors of a dog-eat-dog existence the last two years. I know. The southern extent of what you dismissively call the State of Carolina is not a hundred miles away from there, and we still on occasion have refugees staggering in from there. Word is that Fort Benning collapsed within weeks after the Day. After that, posse-like groups moved in and looted out weapons from there. Your force might be facing some nasty ground-to-air stuff. Bob, taking back Atlanta…” He sighed. “It will make Sherman’s job look easy in comparison.”

“I already know that. Look, John, we’ve got to get our act together east of the Mississippi, and Atlanta is part of that job. This world is still tottering on the edge of a full-scale nuclear exchange. We are all playing a game of brinkmanship now that we have been pushed off the table as the one remaining superpower we thought we were back in the ’90s. It’s as bad as—if not worse than—when you were a young lieutenant back in Germany watching the Fulda Gap against the Soviets. There’s good intelligence the Chinese have moved surface-to-surface nukes onto our mainland, aimed at here. That is a seven- to ten-minute launch-to-strike time at most.”

“And our boomers out in the Pacific?”

“I can’t discuss that with you.”

“Have we abandoned even that?” John snapped.

“Our only hope of survival is to present a unified nation and do it damn quick. Atlanta is but one part of that equation. To the rest of the world, we look like we’re in tatters. That whole damn experiment with the Army of National Recovery made us look even more the fools. Bluemont has decided to go to whatever extreme necessary to get the job done and finish it before spring.”

Bob fell silent, John returning his gaze to his old friend. He could sense the strain he was under. Something within him felt it was time to finally ask yet again.

“You sent Quentin to try to reach out to me first, and you did so behind Bluemont’s back, didn’t you?”

“Kind of.”

“What do you mean, ‘kind of’?”

“I talked with him about it. Originally, he was to be airlifted down to you as an envoy. I was thinking of dropping him off inside your territory, do it covertly.”