William Johnstone - Phoenix Rising

“Do you have any patients depending on you, this afternoon?”

Karin thought of Colonel Chambers. She had cleaned and doctored his wound this morning, and he was resting comfortably when she left. She had no other patients who were at a critical stage.

“No, not really,” she said.

“Then don’t go back to the hospital. Take the rest of the day off and let’s go out to Lake Tholocco.”

“What? You mean now? Just leave?”

“Why not?” Jake asked. “What are they going to do? Kick us out of the Army?”

Karin laughed. “You are right. What are they going to do?”

Leaving the theater, Jake drove not to the lake, but to the post commissary. When he parked the car, Karin started to get out, but Jake reached out to stop her.

“No, you stay here and listen to music,” he said. “I’ll be right back out.”

“Are you sure? I know how you hate to shop. I’ll be glad to help you.”

“I may not want you to see what I’m buying.”

“Oh, a mystery? I like mysteries.”

Ten minutes later Jake came through the checkout line. When his purchase was rung up, it came to six hundred and fifty-two dollars.

“What, and no cents?” he asked with a sarcastic growl.

“We don’t mess with anything less than a dollar anymore,” the clerk replied with a straight face.

“Tell me something,” Jake said. “How do the lower-ranking enlisted personnel handle this?”

“They don’t. Since the one hundred thousand dollars everyone was given ran out, I haven’t seen anyone below E-6 in here.”

“Where do they go? As expensive as it is, groceries are still cheaper in the commissary than they are off post.”

“Tell me about it,” the clerk said. “I work here, but because I am a civilian, I can’t buy here. And the truth is, I couldn’t afford it if I could.”

Jake returned to the car carrying all his purchases in one sack. He set the sack on the floor behind his seat.

“I thought you were going to listen to music. What is that noise you are listening to?” he asked.

“Top Dollar.”

“That’s not music.”

“What do you call music?”

Jake punched a button to switch to a classical station.

“There you go,” he said. “‘Emperor Waltz.’ That’s music.”

Lake Tholocco is a six hundred fifty-acre lake located entirely within the confines of Fort Rucker. The lake officers’ club was at one time a favorite hangout for the young bachelor officers, but when the Army and the other branches of service did away with officers’ clubs, the lake club lost some of its cachet.

The lake was still a popular place to go though, with swimming, skiing, boating, and even fishing. There were also several rustic cabins around the lake in an area known as Singing Pines, and Jake pulled up in front of one of them.

“You have a key to this cabin?” Karin asked.

“Yes.”

“You mean you planned to come out here? This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing?”

“Karin, you know me well enough to know that I plan everything,” Jake answered.

There was a beautiful view of the lake from the cabin, and, because none of the other cabins were occupied, there was a great deal of privacy.

Getting out of the car, Jake reached into the back to retrieve his commissary purchases.

“When do I learn what you bought?” Karin asked, also exiting the car.

“Two steaks, two baking potatoes, two prepared salads, a loaf of French bread, garlic, salt, pepper, two root beers, and a bottle of cabernet sauvignon. You wanted romantic, I’m giving you romantic.”

“Is a secluded cabin on the lake a part of that romantic scene?” Karin asked.

Jake smiled at her. “Yeah, it’s the biggest part.”

Jake made use of the charcoal grill outside the cabin to cook the two steaks. There was no charcoal available, but there were pine cones, and they made a suitable substitute. Karin put the potatoes in the oven and the salad and drinks in the refrigerator. That done, she came back outside to stand with Jake.

“I wish I had known we were coming to the lake, I would have brought my bathing suit in to work this morning.”

“You can always skinny-dip,” Jake suggested.

“You tease, but as deserted as the lake is now, I believe I could do that. I know it is still duty hours, but there is almost always someone here. Where is everyone?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if half the people on the base were gone by now,” Jake said.

“Gone where?”

“On their way home, wherever that is. Karin, did you know that Clay Matthews knew about this even before the general announced it?”

“How did he know?”

“It’s the NCO underground,” Jake said. “I learned a long time ago that NCOs and even the lower-ranking enlisted personnel tend to find out things a lot faster than the officers do. I doubt, very much, that there was one enlisted man on this base who did not know what the general was going to tell us, even before he told us this afternoon. There’s no telling how many of them have packed up and left today.”

“You mean they’ve already gotten their RIF orders?”

“No orders, they just left”

“Deserted, you mean.”

“Who deserted, Karin? Did they desert the Army? Or did the Army desert them?”

“Yes, I see what you mean. When you think about it, I don’t believe they deserted the Army, and I don’t believe the Army deserted them,” Karin said. “It is Ohmshidi who has deserted us all.”

Jake lifted up one of the steaks to examine it; then he looked back at Karin. “That’s about the size of it,” he said.

They had an early dinner, then sat out front and watched the sun go down over the lake.

“Karin, have you given any thought to what lies ahead?” Jake asked.

“I try not to. Every time I think about it, I just get more frightened. Have you thought about it?”

“Yes, I have given it a great deal of thought. It’s like flying, and always anticipating the worst so you can be prepared for what might happen. I believe we must think and plan ahead.”

“Plan and think about what?”

“Survival.”

“I know what you mean. Unemployment is now at thirty-six percent, or so they say. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it is much higher than that. If we are riffed, it is going to be very hard to get a job in civilian life.”

“I’m not talking about getting a job,” Jake said. “Very soon there aren’t going to be any jobs anywhere, for anyone. I’m talking about survival as in staying alive—the kind of survival when there is a complete and total collapse of civilization.”

“Jake!” Karin gasped. “You don’t mean that, do you?”

“I do mean it,” Jake said. “Believe me; it cannot go on like this. I believe our republic is going to have a complete breakdown.”

“If that happens what will we do? What will anyone do?”

“I’ve already started,” Jake said. “Actually, I started a couple of months ago, but I didn’t say anything to you about it then, because I didn’t want to worry you. As if you didn’t have enough sense to be worried, just by listening to Ohmshidi.”

“You already started what?” Karin asked.

“Do you remember when I told you I was going to see to it that you and I would survive? I am putting together a team,” Jake said. “A team of survivors.”

“By team, you mean there will be others?”

“Yes.”

“Who do you have in mind?”

“Sergeant Major Clay Matthews, for one. I’ve already got him getting things ready. He is the kind of person I will be looking for, people who possess skills that can contribute to the survival of the team. Like your medical skills.”

Karin hit him on the shoulder. “What? You mean the only reason you want me is because I’m a nurse? And here, all this time, I thought you wanted me because I am me,” she said in mock mortification.