25th Mile (7) “And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance.” “America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world and we stand together to win the war against terrorism.” “Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me." “None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend global freedom and all that is good and just in our world.” “Thank you. Good night and God bless America.” The announcer came back on the radio and introduced what he called the regional spokesman from the UN. The spokesman’s name was Gene Bastiardd, with a pleasant voice and in perfect American English said, “America – we are the United Nations and were here to help.” In the past America has always been a friend to the United Nations and now it is time for the United Nations to be a friend to America. We have food, water heavy equipment and supplies being flown in from secure sites to all your major cities as we speak. Help is on the way. To keep order we will need to maintain control globally and locally until this crisis is over. To assist with the emergency recovery efforts we are asking that everyone remain where they are limiting travel and movement to helping those nearby.” The car was silent for several seconds as the announcement ended and the radio went dead again. The enormity of what they heard astounded them all. “They can’t do that, can they? Bob asked, adding “I guess I don’t really care what they do as long as things get fixed. Plus what could it hurt?” We need the help right?” Maria asked, “Have you guys ever heard of this Bastiard guy?” Clay was silent, he knew the UN and how it operated. In the pit of his stomach, Clay knew that America would never be the same. Paul, switching into what Clay could tell was his “Law” voice pointed out that FEMAs executive orders grossly and fragrantly violate Article 4 Section 4 of the constitution of the United States. He went on to quote Article 4 Section 4 saying “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a Republican form of government. And shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.” He then in simple eloquence Paul added , “Regional government is not a representative Republican form of Government.” Pulling up the side of the road everyone jumped out of the car, all of them paused to say thank you and wished Clay luck on his trip home. People milled around, one man asking if they had food and water. Clay, had both but because he could not fee the entire crowd said no, feeling a pang of guilt as he did so. But needing to save what he had for the rest of the trip home. Looking around he saw that people were starting to get agitated from hunger and thirst. Desperation was starting to show in the faces of the mothers as they panicked trying to find scarce food and water to feed their children. Clay’s heart went out to them, but there was nothing he could do except go home to help his family. Mile 18, After leaving his passengers, Clay drove the trooper down the road to where he was alone enough to look at a map. Looking at the map he saw he was about 7 miles away from home as the crow flies. Excitedly he realized that if all went well he would be home tonight. In any event he was glad to be on a paved road again, even if it was cracked and as twisted as a dowagers back. Looking around he could see that many Trees had fallen across the road. That woul meant a bumpy ride with many detours for the time being, but maybe it would clear up. Moving slowly Clay had covered about half a mile when coming by what used to be a cross street when he saw several people walking quickly down the hill away from the buildings, looking over their shoulder. Pulling up, Clay asked what was going on – since a dark pall of smoke was billowing from the area around where the supermarket was. One man ignored Clay and walked by, but another stopped and said; “the people have gone crazy!!”, “The clinic up the hill opened up, they only had one doctor to help.” “Hundreds of people pushed through a wooden barrier to crowd into the clinic for treatment.” “Then a gang of people kicked everyone out of the old store where they were looking for food and water.” “They had guns and threatened everyone with violence.” “My wife and I don’t believe in guns, so we had to leave……….” The mans sentence drifted off into silence and he hung his shoulders and shuffled back down the hill. Clay, glancing up the hill eased the clutch out and started moving again. Over the next mile he saw residents so desperate to get rid of putrefying corpses that they were burying them in their backyards. At one location workers were using dump trucks to empty more than 100 bodies into a 14-foot-deep hole, it was the first mass grave he had seen in the United States. In the pit of his stomach Clay thought of the disease that would be caused by unburied bodies and animal carcasses, overflowing sewage and lack of potable water, not to mention infections from injuries caused during and after the earthquake. What was even worse was that you could now smell the bodies, but you could not see them as most were eternally trapped in the rubble, with only the putrid smell of rotting flesh denoting the existence of a corpse. Mile 19 The road was relatively clearer now, with mounds of dirt covering it in places where the earth had liquefied. However the Trooper was more than capable of maneuvering around the 4 and 5 ft high mounds of dirt that obscured a major part of the roadway. ¾ of the way through mile 19, Clay saw his first Aid worker. A team of work weary fireman and civilians, all with 100 yard stares were working on rescuing several occupants trapped in an apartment building. It was dangerous work and they all looked tired. Their truck was an older model CDF truck made for backcountry work, it was well worn and dusty. They had just managed to pull a young boy from the wreckage, and a small morale building cheer went up as Clay pulled up. The firefighters were tending to their young charge when another aftershock hit, tumbling the remains of the building they were in to the ground and silencing the weak yet audible cries for help that were emanating from the ruins. As the firefighters took a break a few minutes later Clay approached them hopping to get information on the Poway valley and general area. Offering the firefighter a pull from an old 1qt Canteen that Clay had in the Trooper, Clay inquired about conditions. The firefighter responded……”things are bad all over, but the valley looked pretty good. Plenty of homes destroyed of course. But the people are handling it well and are organizing clean-up crews.” Continuing the firefighter added. “The big problem is starting to be food and clean water. With the amount of broken pipes and contaminated water disease could become a real problem. We are trying to let everyone know that all water needs to be boiled for 20 minutes before it can be considered potable.” “Rumor has it that the CDC is starting to worry about diseases like cholera, and some dust born disease none of our guys had ever heard about.” “In addition to dogs eating bodies that have been left to rot, we have had reports of people being forced to drink water that dead bodies are in.” “Things are going downhill fast, even with immediate deliveries of food and water to the State, we have no effective method of distribution. This emergency is bigger than anything we have experience with or have ever seen, but with God’s help we will pull through.” Mile 20 As he ascended the hill and looked down across the valley where his home resided, Clay saw nothing but smoke and a heavy sheet of dust settling around like thick smog, but his heart rose when he saw a structure standing here and there. It was now 6pm, and he was nothing was going to stop him from being home tonight. Scanning the again, he started his descent of the hill, the Troopers backend sliding occasionally in the dirt. Within 300 yards, where a few days ago 3 cross streets used to unite there was now a plateau, and the road had dropped several hundred feet. Looking to the East and West, Clay discovered that going around it was possible, so skirting along the military crest of the hill he took a circuitous route that led away from his objective but by following the hill he ended up heading in the correct direction, and although he was some 100 yards below the original road he was traveling roughly parallel to it. Listening to the radio as he traveled he heard that the United Nations was rushing hundreds more peacekeepers to Earthquake ravaged America, with the Brazilian general in charge of the U.N force criticizing the slow pace of relief efforts. Saying that the “situation remains critical, and armed UN assistance might be needed to stem looting and other violence in the metropolitan areas.” Passing a by a slightly damaged building that used to be a small pre-school, Clay looked to the right and with surprise his eyes widened as he saw what must have been several hundred people standing in line. Curious to what they were doing, he turned the truck into the parking lot. People looked at him curiously but left the line to ask him anything. Putting the Trooper in park, he shut off the motor and walking over to the line asked what was going on. A man coated in dirt and dust, with a tremor in his voice said it was a food line setup by FEMA. Looking closer, Clay saw that the mans clothes were once a 3-piece business suit made of 100% worsted wool, the kind higher end executives or financial management types wear. The suit was now torn and ripped, His shoes were missing, and his feet were cut and dirty. With tears in his eyes he spoke of the shame in standing in a food line, he had always been a good provider for his family but now, with their home gone and their food exhausted he had heard about the food here and decided to try and get some, telling Clay he had been in line for over 8 hours. The man continued speaking saying that the FEMA was going to be setting up transportation to a tent city several miles away and he and the family were planning to walk to it in the morning. Clay cautioned the man that even several miles in this area was dangerous, and without water, supplies and good walking shoes the trip would be impossible. The man only said “we have no choice, everything we have is gone.” “Anyway, FEMA said they will take care of us. They said that they drew up plans to evacuate some of the tens of thousands of homeless to a tent camp located in Palmdale and we will all be safe.” You should come with us the man continued on, they are not letting anyone into the city, and the National guard and police will soon be sending people away who try to get back to their houses, there is a mandatory evacuation in effect. Clay contemplated this new information, and discarded it. Last fall during the fires, there was a mandatory evacuation and even with that small emergency there were not enough law enforcement around to enforce it. Clay knew this first hand as he was one of the ones who stayed behind to save his house, in the process he saved several neighbors houses as well and became somewhat of a local hero along with 6 or 7 other guys. Karen loved making fun of him saying that all the “jerks” ignored the evacuation order and stayed home. She was right; every hard nose case ignored the Sheriffs department order to evacuate. They stayed in their yards, on their roofs and respectfully and sometimes disrespectfully refused to leave. And when Clay pointed out that all of them had one thing in common then, they refused to yield their property to the protection of the State, and at the end of the day they had two things in common; none of them lost their home. It was this experience that told Clay that staying might be the best thing to do, as it was last fall. Another woman in line who overheard the conversation, said “she came from through the Poway area, walking for over 20 miles of broken glass and cracked concrete, watching the fires burn and listening to exploding propane tanks.” She added that it “was hell.” She added that her neighbor was a nurse and had ridden her bicycle to the local hospital to help in the emergency room, she had not been seen since. The lady added that she had heard rumors that Doctors were performing amputations without electricity or running water. In addition the doctors were starting to see problems with the city’s shattered sewage system spreading contaminates into the mud and dust creating wounds that were threatening to turn gangrenous. Clay thought, if these rumors had even a shred of truth to them, the country was in big trouble. Police and fire departments would soon become demoralized, understaffed; finding themselves poorly equipped to handle this overwhelming disaster, with residents left homeless without the means to barter, at the mercy of the elements and the criminal gangs that were sure to form. Mile 21 Getting back in the Trooper, Clay started up the hill for home. It was now dusk and the moon was still a inky black color with the smoke and dust obscuring it. The drive up the hill went smoothly with only a single detour around a self storage building that had tumbled into the roadway, spilling with it household items and now useless treasures that now lay shattered under the rock and concrete. Looking up, Clay saw some electric lights on the right hand side of the road. It was a surprising sight since until now he had not noticed that the lights were off everywhere he looked. As he drove by he saw a line of people, the line stretched up and around the hill. He could only see about ½ mile of the line, craning his neck he could see that the line stopped in the parking lot of a local Vons store, that leaned crazily and looked to be on the verge of collapse. The crowd was peaceful; however the Vons staff had taken the precaution of hiring armed security. As Clay continued to drive he could only guess what they were after, Food and Water and if they were lucky ice to keep the food for a few days. Clay was glad he did not have to stand in the sweltering heat, waiting for food. By the looks of it the store was in major need of repairs and was only letting five or 6 people in at a time. Clay was pretty sure today was a “cash only” day. Doing a rough calculation learned in a long-ago business class in supply-chain management figured that the store would be out of food very shortly, knowing that their restocking times are around 2-3 days. Continuing on, Clay figured that there was a similar line at Home Depot containing the people who had food. Only this line would be full of people searching in vain for generators, tarps, gas cans and building supplies. In addition any Gas station that had undamaged underground gas tanks would soon have a line in front of it as well. Mile 22 It was the final long uphill stretch to his house, the cars on the road were few and all were traveling slowly in the darkness. The Sheriffs Department had made a feeble attempt at a roadblock, but Clay had simply taken a back road around it. They had not seen him and if they did, they would not have bothered chasing him. They had more important things to do. The streets were littered with broken glass and broken masonry. Clay saw that many people had ignored the evacuation order. He didn’t blame them knowing there was really no where to go. Here and there a generator hummed as people treated the injured, cleaned up debris and helped their neighbors. Power lines hung limply from their poles and water leaked from broken mains in some places flooding roads. Seeing his wife’s friend Janice in front of her house he stopped to make sure she was all right. Upon asking how things were she said “Were OK but This is just too much. This is just unbelievable.” “I had to wait for 2 hours and 18 minutes for ice at the Vons up the hill.” Clay smiled and said, “Be glad you got some the lines a lot longer now.” Janice added, “My husband Bill heard on the radio that 2.3 million people in the San Diego are have no electricity and there is no estimate to when it will be restored. And no one seems to know about the rest of the country. I sure hope things get back to normal in the next week or two” Clay got back in the Trooper knowing that things would not be “normal” for a long time. With the infrastructure heavily damaged and a lack of basic supplies, rebuilding and recovery would be a long and tedious process. Mile 23 The street was dark and empty as the now country road narrowed. It was close to 9pm now. Trying Karen again on the radio he received no response. A sudden shot rang out in the distance, followed by some yelling from up the hill and the cry of “Looters!!” From the darkness three men appeared breathless and running hard, one trying to run while carrying a bulky and awkward bag another was bleeding profusely from a head wound. Running directly in front of Clay he narrowly missed running one of them over and in the process stalled the Trooper. Jumping out of the Trooper with the MAC-10 locked and loaded he prepared for the worst. The men continued on for a few more steps and attempted to fade into the darkness but were unable to before four armed men appeared like apparitions in front of them. The new arrivals moved like panthers and none to gently subdued the first group of men by unceremoniously throwing them to the ground and placing their foots on their necks. The three men subdued, were laying on the ground in a odd position, with a start Clay realized that like trained dogs, the men had naturally assumed the felony prone position used by police. Clay smiled to himself, thinking of the old saying, “go with what you know.” Not moving other than to safe his MAC-10, Clay started to smile. From across the road another man appeared taunt and dangerous looking he moved like a lepard and he carried a old Barrett Model 82A1 50. cal, with a Barrett/Swarovski fixed 10 power scope. Clay recognized him instantly; it was Jimmie who had a home off the road close by. Seeing Clay, Jimmie said “Hey Brother” Clay replied, “Looks like you caught yourself a looter.” One of the looters who was now face down on the ground with a size 12 Vibram soled hiking boot on his neck said, “we aint no looters, we only stole some food and a couple other things and were not talking until we see our lawyers.” “Shut up!” Jimmie said “Looking at Clay he said, “After the quake, several of the guys showed up at the staging area, with their families. These bozos broke into a house up the street. We found out about it when the homeowners 10yr old came banging on my door. I took out one with the Barrett, and the others ran off like dogs.” It was then Clay recognized them, they were the group that attacked Eric. Another looter piped up saying, “yeah we know our rights, you better not mess with us, well have lawyers crawling all over your ass.” Mile 24 Clay drove towards home, looking once in the rearview mirror as three corpses swung from a crazily tilted lamppost, around the center ones neck a sign that read “loot here, die here” hung as a testament to their crimes. After a few minutes of solitary travel, the corpses of the looters grew faint in the distance. Mile 25 Before he left for home Jimmie told him that his family was A-OK, easing Clay’s mind regarding their safety. Clay promised to get together with Jimmie and the rest of the guys the next day, at what was affectionately referred to as Talking Woman Tavern. Everyone present had some serious concerns about the current state of affairs and looters in particular. It turned out that armed looters had been reported in larger metropolitan areas and were even raiding the food convoys that were struggling across the broken earth to help those devastated by the earthquake. Even in town, Jimmie said "At the corner of Market and Third Streets on Wednesday we saw a man attempting to cut the fingers from the hand of a dead woman in order to secure the rings. Three of our men witnessed the deed at the same time and ordered the man to throw up his hands. Instead of obeying he drew a revolver from his hip pocket and began to fire without warning. "The three of us, raised our rifles to our shoulders and fired. With the first shots the man fell, and when we went to the body to dump it into an alley we found 11 bullets in it.” “Anyway the looting and armed confrontations are getting worse, as honest people are getting hungrier and more desperate. We need to come together for our mutual defense and to help the city and town where we can.” Clay agreeing with his assessment said “Lord Willing” he would be there at 2pm tomorrow with his son. The road home became gradually worse, with a large rift running diagonally across it that was several meters wide. He did not want to attempt crossing it in the dark, but because he was well within walking distance to the house, Clay pulled over and removing his Alice pack from the rear of the Trooper walked the remaining half mile to the house, in silence. The house was still standing, but it was defiantly in need of repair. The masonry was cracked and the patio was leaning at a strange angle, The families large Alaskan wall tent was setup in the back yard and the welcome light of a kerosene lantern shone through it. Starting to call out to his wife, and family his shout was interrupted by the sound of a shotgun shell being chambered and a stern young voice barking out, “don’t move another step”. With a smile Clay said, “relax son – Dads home.”. Tell me, “How’s your mother?”
Copyright © 2004 Firsttime Story |