Chap 3
Author's Note: This may be uncomfortable reading but I will not apologize for reader discomfort. I have always maintained that in a post-apocalyptic scenario, that humanity will always regress to the lowest common denominator. You will find this story uncomfortable and the brutal truth of the matter is that humanity's mores will fly out the window in the aftermath. In a shelter situation – will there be what's termed as "swinging" – what is termed as recreational partner-sharing will be a necessity in post-apocalyptic earth – as Tom Boone said (in the fic) for genetic diversity.
The news today about 'Atomic bombs' is so horrifying one is stunned. The utter folly of these lunatic physicists to consent to do such work for war-purposes: calmly plotting the destruction of the world! Such explosives in men's hands, while their moral and intellectual status is declining, is about as useful as giving out firearms to all inmates of a gaol and then saying that you hope 'this will ensure peace'. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien
Amidst the Rubble; Formerly Washington DC
A surviving rat scampered its way along a road strewn with debris. Two weeks after the attacks, the radiation levels were descending to the point where survivors were able to venture out for very short periods. But animals subject to life outside slowly succumbed to the radiation that was still for all intents and purposes lethal to survival. Most debris had settled from higher buildings to the ground. However there were many spots that were still considered too hot for humans or animals to survive for longer than an hour exposed.
Yet there were survivors: ones for whom the radiation was slower to react allowing them to live a life that was austere subsistence at best; most foodstuffs were irradiated unless they were canned goods and the supply of those was rapidly dwindling. The ground was too irradiated to grow anything of consequence and cattle and other farm animals had died of radiation poisoning, their bodies too riddled with infection and bacteria to even bother with. The survivors went after foodstuffs – looting abandoned towns and homes to get to the canned goods.
What survivors were left were becoming desperate and warred amongst themselves with what meager weapons they could find. When one band came upon another, they usually warred until one band was wiped out rather than absorbed. The survivors on the surface had reverted to savages: the code of the surface was 'kill or be killed'.
The weather still hadn't settled. Storms were frequent due to the change in the climate which had been thrown into absolute chaos. It had been said in a study of a one hundred bomb exchange between Pakistan and India; that the world wide temperature would go down one point one Kelvin or about three degrees Fahrenheit. An all-out nuclear exchange would reduce the world's average temperature eighteen degrees Fahrenheit plunging the world into a cataclysmic nuclear winter from which civilization would not be able to exist. Any humanity that survived would be resigned to living underground for several lifetimes, if even the planet surface was able to be reclaimed. Yet humanity had been too stupid to realize their eventual demise and had knowingly pulled the trigger of their own Russian Roulette against their survival too many times. Eventually the chamber with the bullet had been hit.
Australian High Command Nuclear Bunker, Alice Springs, Australia
The Southern Hemisphere had been spared a lot of cataclysm by virtue of the fact that there really were only a few targets that were of military significance in Australia. The US-Australian joint facilities in Nurrungar and Pine Gap were targeted by 800 kT missiles. Damage was severe yet Australia had gotten off lightly in comparison to the Northern hemisphere where the radiation levels still soared a month after the devastation. But prevailing winds and the tide as predicted by the scientists had brought the rain of death to Australia's shores.
It wasn't just a plot-line to a movie. It was all too bloody real. Captain Michael Brumby, Royal Australian Navy Judge Advocate General and naval officer thought to himself. After being told by Admiral Robert Smithlee to head for the Alice Springs bunker, he had been sealed into this bloody tomb and left there along with fifty other Aussies and Yanks. The bunker had rumbled and shook as two massive explosions had hit, but the shelter had held. With only fifty personnel in the bunker, food to feed the shelter residents wasn't a problem. It was trying to keep themselves from going mad.
All shelters had radiation suits, carefully inspected that they were fully sealed. But even at maximum, the radiation suits were only able to be used for an hour. They would do best holing up inside the shelter for at least six months in order for the radiation half-life to come down to a point where they were able to venture out without suffering lethal doses of radiation.
Checking the interior perimeter of the shelter and tunnels to make sure that there was no seepage of radiation into the shelter itself by virtue of the few radiation monitoring devices that were sealed in there with them, the Australian officer continued his way down the corridor.
"Bloody way to go, isn't it?" Squadron Leader Roger Lancaster, Royal Australian Air Force, radar officer stated. "Never thought we'd be living underground like moles. So how are you finding living in close quarters with Yanks?"
"Doesn't really matter." Mic stated, giving Rog a hard gauging stare. "We're all survivors. There's no more United States, there's no more Australia, mate. We're all trying to survive. There's only us and we're trying to keep from going bonkers here. Let's just stick to the routine. Maybe the radiation's gone down so that we can get out of here in about six months to a year without microwaving ourselves to death." Turning back to the radiation counter, he paused for a moment before he stated. "The Seppos brought us to this point." The bitterness in his voice was caustic. "…and as a result, no more roos, no more koalas…no more anything that made Australia, Australia. We're all in the same bloody boat and we'd better all get used to it if we're going to survive because for the next six months, there's no getting out of this tomb." He snorted sardonically. "Now are you marking down the counts?"
"Yes, sir." Rog replied, his tone betraying the fact that he was nettled by the Captain's response. Frankly Mic didn't give a fuck that Rog felt insulted.
"High Command has been trying to get a hold of Cheyenne Mountain, but because of the bloody piss-poor weather; we haven't been able to get anything other than Nurrungar…at least we know some other poor bastards are still around this shithole." Rog stated. "Maybe the radiation has genetically altered roos and they're playing with the radios now." He stopped as Mic gave him a sharp look as if to assess whether Rog had gone completely wacko. "Don't worry, sir, I'm alright."
"Was wonderin' if you had a bad batch of vegemite and you were seeing dancing sheilas." Mic raised an eyebrow. "Let's get this inspection done and go grab a cold one from the fridge. At least this routine keeps us from being bored shitless."
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia – 12 weeks Post-Apocalypse
Sarah Mackenzie was pissed off at Tom Boone. While that wasn't anything new even before the cataclysm, she was homicidally pissed off now. The simple fact that Boone would think of something like rotational intercourse for the purpose of procreation annoyed her to the point where she was looking for escape routes within the facility to get away from having to deal with this matter. The fact that she was seeing a former enlisted, Meg and a few others having what she termed as a "roll-in-the-hay" with Harm sent her blood pressure levels sky-rocketing through the roof. Whatever happened to morals? Whatever happened to the intimacy of knowing your sexual partner? Some women had fifteen partners in the course of a week. With the bonds of marital faithfulness sundered, some women and most men thought it was a golden opportunity to have sex with no holds barred.
Then she had to consider Lia – Lia was out of the rotation; evidently her one time with her husband had netted her a reprieve. She was pregnant according to the medical doctors in the facility. Three weeks along – according to the doctor. But Mac knew for a fact that Animal and Lia met up with each other to satisfy their own desires contrary to the rotation posted by Boone. Because Lia, even when pregnant, had womanly desires and needs as well and who better to take care of that than her husband – even though Boone had ruled out former marital status. The marriage certificates being burnt to ashes in the cinders of the nuclear cleansing of humanity.
…and the hypocrisy of Meg, Jen, and Lia taking up the position that they wouldn't allow any other men to touch them except for three: Harm, Animal and Victor - because the three women trusted only those three and Boone allowing that. And Meg, that slut, was enjoying the attention that she got from Harm and Animal as she screamed herself to completion time after time. After all the walls were nothing but bare metal supported by steel i-beams. Did they think she was deaf?
Harriet and Bud were yet another thorn in her side as the two of them were granted exception as they were already a family and had kids. Harriet along with another female became the nursery Mom and the potential teacher for any new children that came along. In the meantime, her family was the only one with children at the moment.
How long would it be before the doctors found that Mac was infertile thanks to endometriosis; that she was taking up space – eating food that someone with a chance of reproducing could eat? Oh, yes, Sarah Mackenzie was bitter. Now that fear had subsided, the next emotion to run its course through Mac was anger and it was an emotion that she was familiar with – all too familiar accompanied by a second emotion – jealousy. Harm was fucking another woman and that didn't sit too well with Mac. Boone said he was impartial…his ass. He was playing favorites just as he always did, giving others boons while playing hard-ass with others, just as he did on the Seahawk.
Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Cheyenne Mountain, Wyoming. Office Commanding Officer,
North American Aerospace Defense Command
Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth "Skates" Hawkes thanked her lucky stars that she had been posted to NORAD Cheyenne Mountain for an year when the balloons had gone up. As a fighter RIO who had undergone the FY NFO-to-PILOT program for 2003, she was considered for the Cheyenne Mountain position to coordinate fighter response to the threat. And that she was inside the mountain when the nuclear warheads were unleashed contributed to her survival – all the people she flew with were dead with the exception of perhaps her friend from JAG. Her friend Col. Shawn Hanson, Canadian Armed Forces had lost his wife and kids when the balloons went up and the pain of that loss was visible in his eyes. Beth's heart ached for him as she knew the feeling of loss of family and friends. Everyone had lost loved ones after this war.
Most of the cameras were knocked out – vaporized in the initial explosions against the side of the mountain. The second attack from the backup high powered megaton weapons never came from the Russians, evidently the US response cut the head from the bear resulting in complete destruction of Moscow and the Kremlin.
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia – 12 Weeks Post-Apocalypse
There were other things to do around the facility; routine maintenance was a big one as the machinery essential to the living conditions in the shelter needed to be maintained and those who were in charge of that task scrambled to train others in the necessity of maintaining them. Harm and Animal oversaw the training sessions and who was assigned to them. Over the course of the next two weeks, three more women from the shelter were diagnosed as pregnant and were moved to the maternity section of the health ward.
Tom Boone had cocooned himself in the blanket of authority and governorship of the shelter; and held himself separate from the rest of the shelter occupants. To others, he had appeared to become almost hermit-like in his behavior. The only people who saw him face-to-face were Animal and Harm and the fact that Tom Boone was rarely seen served only to spread questions and rumors and of those – Has our leader gone insane was chief of the ones that were the least insulting. Harm and Animal knew, from serving with him, that Tom Boone wasn't a people person at the best of times, but with the crushing weight of knowing that he was the one responsible for ensuring humanity's survival, Tom's people skills were quickly eroding. So they realized that they were the faces of Tom's orders, that they were the ones who had to run interference for him or the resultant slide into anarchy would cause an insurrection.
His orders were not popular – no orders in a situation that one had to ensure the survival of the populace would be – since with the eradication of civilized behavior, human beings had reverted to the lowest common denominator – what brought pleasure of life was what they could do for themselves or get for themselves. Of the military personnel who survived, Tom Boone was the one person who knew the most about the capabilities of this shelter and his life was of utmost importance.
Animal, Harm and Victor had taken to wearing side-arms at all times outside of intimacy with those women that they were assigned their rotational moments. The looks on the faces of the other males in the complex were nothing short of antagonistic if not opportunistic. Men watched Meg and Jen, as well as this one other Air Force female lieutenant and Lia with avaricious eyes wondering why the four females were kept sequestered from the rest of the occupants of the shelter and the three of them knew it. Lieutenant Lisa Reiner, a buxom brunette with hazel eyes, had no problems with enjoying the pleasures of consorting intimately with a Marine Gunnery Sergeant, a Navy Commander or a Navy Rear Admiral (upper-half); all of whom were reputedly in the shelter leader's inner circle. The three "inner-circle" members decided that they should make their sleeping quarters within the armory and sleeping in rotational shifts so that all weapons were to be cleared through them and that they could prevent any attempt by other shelter occupants to storm the armory for weapons. Bud was also a member of their inner circle and wore a sidearm as well and he stood double duty as security for the nursery as well as doubled the guard contingent of the armory. As it stood, the three women wore side-arms as well and guarded the armory against attack.
Those who were diagnosed as pregnant were kept sequestered as well. To the others it seemed as if Tom Boone was playing a game of favoritism with the shelter population and that didn't go over well with the rest of the populace of the shelter. Things finally came to a head when Tom instituted rationing of food as several crops failed and seeds had to be replanted. Assigning bigger portions of food rations to the pregnant women to make sure they got the necessary nutrition to carry to term caused several fistfights to break out in the cafeteria – Tom Boone became markedly harsh in his punishment of those perpetrators by sending them to the shelter jail with nothing but bread and water for one week.
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia – Maintenance Tunnel Five
The two men snuck down a tunnel located to maintain the springs that kept the shelter steady when the missiles struck the mountain outside. These maintenance corridors were still sealed to the outside atmosphere but they were technically outside the shelter. John Hambly, formerly a sergeant and a Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration technician in the United States Air Force and was cross-trained in maintaining the mechanical aspects of the shelter as well, looked over at his partner, Scott Mauch, a civilian technician who was well-versed in maintaining the heavy duty springs on the shelter.
Looking over at Mauch, Hambly checked first to see if anyone else was in the tunnel. When he was assured of their privacy, he leaned over. "Hey; what do you make of the reduced rations that the shelter leader has us on?"
"What of it?" Mauch replied as he adjusted a heavy duty bolt that held the spring in place.
"So what happens if another crop fails. More reductions?" the tone in the voice of Hambly caused Mauch to look up at him. "You know we're never getting out of here. The radiation is too thick right now. And we're going to suffer if the Privileged keep hoarding food." So that's what it was, bitterness and jealousy; Mauch thought, but Hambly had a point. Mauch didn't like the Privileged any more than the rest of them did. The Privileged had the best women and the choice quarters. They were also assigned to the best jobs in the shelter. Mauch knew the Privileged because they were the ones wearing the side-arms – the de facto arbiters of life and death in that shelter. Mutschler and Simone were sent to the brig on bread and water two weeks ago for starting a fight in the cafeteria because the food rations were so small. Right now there were three women less in the intimacy rotation as those three were pregnant, so the men didn't even have the luxury of relaxing. The shelter may have been split fifty/fifty, but there were less women now available than there were prior and that made the men antsy.
"So what are you advocating?" the question was harshly whispered in Hambly's direction.
"Nothing right now. We just have to wait until more people get disgruntled with the direction in which this is going." Hambly replied, his eyes cold. "Then…" he left the rest of the sentence unsaid, leaving the ominous threat hanging.
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia – Maternity Ward, 12 weeks Post-Apocalypse
Former Army Lieutenant Sandra Cashman gazed at the nurse taking care of her. "So…what's the verdict?" she said.
"You're coming along nicely." The nurse stated. "I think you're off the rotation."
"Will I ever know who the father is?" Sandy asked, her eyes brimming. Damn the hormones.
"Probably not. How many partners have you had?" the nurse asked sympathetically.
"I've lost count." Who the hell knew before the bombs went off what sort of havoc a nuclear war had played on the social structure of human interaction? Now there would be kids growing up with only one parent and not knowing who the hell the other donor to their genetic pool would be.
The women in the shelter had two choices, they could refuse the rotation and be assigned to scud work by the shelter commander or take their chances with the rotation. Being off the rotation meant going on equal rations as the men. There were whispers about the Privileged who were favored by the shelter commander. They knew who the Privileged were. They walked around with side-arms and answered only to the shelter commander. They were hated, yet the position was coveted. But as of yet, only one person had been promoted to the Privileged. Even that woman that came in with that Commander Rabb; that Marine Lieutenant Colonel was not a member of the Privileged – that was reserved for Rear Admiral Boone, Rear Admiral Nakamura, Commander Rabb, Commander Austin, Commander Nakamura, Legalman Coates, Gunnery Sergeant Galindez, and Lieutenant Reiner. Even Lieutenant Commander Bud Roberts and Lieutenant Sims-Roberts and their children were members of The Privileged. It was suspected that they had more rations than the rest and exclusive access to the armory. The rumors were flying fast and furious and that had driven a wedge between the shelter commander, his chosen and the rest of the shelter occupants – the disgruntlement was rapidly growing to anarchy levels.
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia
Jen shuddered and collapsed against Harm's chest. "You know how much trouble we'd have gotten into if we did this…" she gasped… "before the Apocalypse?"
Harm grinned up at her, his hand caressing her bare shoulder, as they intimately intertwined their bodies. "Yeah… Grounds for conduct unbecoming an officer…" He thought …and now we're just a man and a woman doing what was intended to make her pregnant…as ordered by Tom Boone. "Guess we're lucky that the UCMJ got turned to ashes too."
"You can say that again." Jen sighed as she curled up next to him. "Who's guarding the armory door?"
"Victor and Reiner again, armed with Berettas and M-16s." Harm replied.
"What are Meg and Animal doing?" Jen asked curious as to what their armory shelter-mates were doing. Privacy was a thing of the past. Considering there were only so many places in the armory slash personal quarters, there wasn't much room for giving people their space.
"Probably same as us." Harm said. This rotational sex business was for the birds. "Since Lia is pregnant, she's off the rotation, though I know that she goes behind Tom's back and meets up with her husband. Animal and Lia don't like the rotation, but he does it because of the continuity of the human species order."
"At least we're not rotating through the entire shelter populace." Jen said shuddering, not in coital ecstasy this time, but in utter revulsion. "I don't think I would have maintained my sanity. We'd just be unpaid whores." Leaning her head up, she met Harm's lips in a kiss. "At least this way we can maintain some semblance of intimacy with people we care about."
"You care about Animal the same way?" Harm asked pointedly, his eyes glinting with merriment diffusing the potential land-mine of jealousy.
"You seven are my family, however dystopian our situation is." Jen replied. "Even if I'm frankly, bluntly put, fucking Animal's or Victor's brains out, at least I know that there's some semblance of love in the equation. We protect each other and there has to be some caring in there for this to work out."
"How'd you get so smart?" Harm asked.
"I was always smart." Jen winked at him wickedly as she reached under their fleece blanket and started stroking. "Now…let me see if you're up to another round…" she smirked.
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia
A knock on the door of the armory caused Victor to point the muzzle of his M-16A2 at the door. "Who's there."
"Lieutenant Commander Roberts." Bud's familiar voice caused Lisa to relax her guard stance. Victor Galindez with Beretta in hand opened the door slowly. Bud's smiling face caused Victor to relax as well…as Bud swiftly slid in with several bags in hand. "Food." Bud stated smugly. "I got the stuff from the cafeteria so that we don't have to deal with the crowds there."
"So…the natives restless?" Victor asked.
"Yeah…it was pretty uncomfortable standing in line. I think we may have to go off-hours to go get food from the cafeteria or get people from there to deliver." Bud replied, his countenance somber as he remembered the hostile atmosphere as he stood in line, his sidearm drawing undue attention to his status as a Privileged. "I don't think the natives, as you called them, are happy and…" his voice lowered as he looked intently at Victor. "I think things are going to get ugly…pretty soon."
Victor looked grave as he pondered the ramifications. "I don't like the sounds of that. Boone has actually set it up that we look like we're the bad guys and the natives don't like that – if they go after anyone, it's going to be us first then Boone. We're his buffer."
The three looked at each other. "Who do we have to convert…we can't leave the general populace with people who can rally them." Lisa stated, her hazel eyes flashing. "That's going to leave us defenseless."
"The security team…" Victor replied, snapping his fingers, his eyes intent on Bud and Lisa. "They need to be a part of this group. One's a US Army Green Beret. The other's Marine Force Recon and there's two others who can maintain repairs and take care of weapons. We take a sizeable chunk out of the group's rallying if we get those guys in with us." He looked over at Lisa who nodded. She agreed with him on the selections.
"So…" Animal said as he looked over at the three conversing people. "who's going to tell Boone that he needs to back down on some of the stuff that he's advocating?" All three being addressed looked up startled as the admiral grinned. "I've heard rumors." Meg was beside him, looking a bit ruffled, hair disheveled, as she overheard what Animal was asking.
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia – 65 minutes previous
Meg looked at Animal; as they stood there in the shower together, as they took a Navy shower together to conserve water. "I know you're faithful to your wife and that you hate this situation." She stated calmly; but Animal knew that was a lie as Meg's eyes looked wet and brimmed over with tears, "…this is absolutely unorthodox and I'm not liking the situation either, but we have to stick together. The only people I can stand touching me in that way are you or Harm and that's why Harm suggested this. It keeps us at least from being used like camp whores and we, at least, feel like we're loved. We've become a dystopian family." She chuckled, tone gallows-humor, her voice shaking as she lathered Animal's bare back. "Twisted, huh?" After a meeting together with everyone of their little group, Meg and Lia had decided that they would only mate with Animal or Harm and stated so. It was their preference and Jen and Lisa didn't mind that fact but Jen and Lisa stated that they be open to all three men thus keeping Victor able to comply with Boone's request.
"Yeah…" Animal said, his voice disconsolate "I just can't get used to the situation we're in. I thought I wouldn't have to make this kind of decision. The bombs would go off and I'd just cease to exist because I would be on the bridge of the carrier when the balloons went up. Ten years, Meg, that's how long Lia and I have been together." The shower went on again as the two of them showered the lather off. "At least we're still together, even through all this."
"It seems like no matter what, our hearts still intertwine pairing off. I guess it's just that it intertwines a little wider gathering all of us together." Meg responded, as she leaned into Animal and even though he tried to reject having to do this as much as he could, his body rebelled and responded to her delicate fingers' ministrations. "Just make me feel something…Tosh." And two hurting individuals took what solace they could intimately. Meg knew no matter what, her own heart sinking, the majority of Tosh's heart still lay with Liandra even as she and Tosh made love. All this was trying to further the cause of the human race; what was left of it. At least Harm felt the same way as she did and their couplings tended to be an exercise in endurance. At least they all loved and protected each other as a group. That was all she could hope for with Tosh.
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia
"The natives are getting restless, Harm." Victor said as he looked over at Animal and Harm. "Animal. They're not going to be docile much longer. If we wait too long, we'll have a full-scale insurrection on our hands."
"So what do you suggest?" Harm asked. Harm's mind was churning as Jen sat beside him.
"Harm, I propose that we divide and conquer them. We need to add a few members to our group. In doing so and selecting those who can do the jobs outlined, we are able to prove to others that they are expendable if they don't fall in line – that they can be replaced easily. So they either toe the line or they get removed." Victor stated as he looked for confirmation of his position. "Our main goal is survival; not power. And the only way is to make certain that we don't lose our position so that we can maintain control of our objective."
"That's understandable." Animal said. "We don't need them causing trouble because then the infighting will doom us." Harm nodded in agreement.
"So…what are we going to do?" Harm asked. "I like the idea of pulling guys from their ranks so that we have more people." He paused and looked a moment at the list that Victor had compiled. "The more we get to fifty/fifty in terms of Privileged/General Population, the less likely it is that we are going to have an insurrection because the masses don't feel like they have enough mass to start anything."
"…and we quell the disruptive types. Target those…and eliminate them, unless they're absolutely necessary to the running of the facility." Jen suggested.
"Are you getting ruthless, my dear?" Animal quirked a raised eyebrow at her.
"No…just practical." Jen replied with a return smirk.
Animal looked shocked. Meg and he looked at each other. Did Jen have megalomaniacal tendencies? Doubt it. She just looked too innocent for that, but considering they had all been through hell, their darker sides were coming out. It was only their deep friendship that caused them to keep from turning on each other and the fact that it was what kept their friendship alive even when they were intimate with each other in a heterosexual coupling of females and males within their group.
What was surprising was that Boone didn't make an attempt to couple with any of the eligible females. He had held himself apart from the rest of the group. His excuse was that he had to govern and that he had no time for such frivolities. So he behaved much like a eunuch and kept to himself.
Mac had gone off by herself. She didn't take part in the rotation and stuck to herself. She no-longer was a part of the group that had come in from JAG and Harm often wondered if Mac was slowly going insane. She was vetoed from carrying weapons as an outsider and she relegated herself to the open quarters, but anyone who forced himself upon her came away with missing teeth and broken limbs; and after one too many incidents, she was left alone to fend for herself. The rest of the outsiders learned not to mess with her.
Both Harm and Animal had assessed themselves and deep-down they knew that if it came down to violence…that they'd have no problem in pulling the trigger on an outsider. The only people that mattered to them were the people that they were intimate with and who protected each other. The nine of them in total who made up the core group of those whom the outsiders had termed the Privileged.
Victor and Lisa had gone through the armory and looked for man-stopping rounds so all the Privileged now carried hollow-points in their 9mm magazines. The 9mm rounds were not noted as man-stoppers, but the frangible hollow-point tip expanded on impact with the body and mushroomed, causing catastrophic damage to the individual internally, ripping internal organs to shreds. The armory also had the ability to reload cartridges and make new bullets; getting the weapons tech on their side would enable them to start reloading without exhausting their supply. Victor and Lisa would make a point of approaching the people to get them on their side.
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia – Maintenance Tunnel Five
John Hambly saw five other techs walk out of the fog that was prevalent in Maintenance Tunnel Five.
"So what did you want us for?" Andrew Simone asked. "I brought my other guys with me. You already know Mauch. This is Muschler, Gordon and Griffon. They're all facilities techs."
"You know that Boone's an autocrat, right?" Hambly asked. "Cut to the chase." He paused looking around at the tunnel as if he expected to see a security camera pointed at him and then went on "He runs this thing like a fucking military camp. And there's no military any more. That got blown away twelve weeks ago. He's a bloody autocratic dictator. There's not enough food to eat and people are starving. We got crops failing and the Privileged get the best food."
"He's trying to survive. We all are." Griffon said. "What's the problem with that? We've gone short rats back before the Apocalypse. Boone always made it up to us before."
"Well…he didn't have his favorites with him before now. We were all he had. Now he's playing favorites and he's trying to set them against us." Hambly said, his eyes stapling Griffon to the wall.
"You got proof of it?" Muschler asked. "If you do, I'm in. I don't like Boone any more than you do."
Simone's eyes were rabidly crazy. "Yeah…don't like the bastard. If you're going to take him out, I'll do it." Boone had sent him to the slammer on bread and water. "A man don't forget that." He muttered. "Bread and water. Had me sick for days." His face contorted in a snarl.
"We're gonna start slowly." Hambly said nixing Simone's idea of going for the jugular. "A few mechanical disruptions here and there." He paused. "Nothing major…" he looked around at his co-horts gauging their reaction. "…then we're going to ramp it up. They've only got a few techs other than us that can repair the place and if they get rid of us, it's going to take them that much longer to do it."
"Well, we need more guys than just us…or they'll overrun us. I hear scuttlebutt that the Privileged carry manstoppers." Another tech, Kelly Gordon, chimed in. "If they see any of us messing with the facilities systems, they'll shoot us."
Hefting a large monkey wrench, Simone grinned ferally. "They can't do nothin' if they're too close when we attack 'em."
Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia – Shelter Commander's quarters
"Tom, the Natives are restless." Animal said, impaling Boone with a hard-stare. "Some of the rules are pissing them off and we're going to end up with an insurrection on our hands. Not to mention that everything's going to hell in a hand-basket. I'm hearing rumblings of discontent."
"After the Apocalypse, democracy is not a state of government that I'm going to consider." Boone replied as Harm raised an eyebrow. "Our primary goal is survival and someone needs to make the hard decisions – that falls to me." He pointed his index finger towards his own chest and tapped it twice. "And I'm going to keep making those hard choices, regardless of what it does to my popularity amongst the shelter occupants" He stared back just as hard at Animal. "I'm not here to win a popularity contest. I'm here to make sure that we all survive." The countenance on Boone's face was all too familiar. He wasn't about to give an inch.
"…even if it starts another war?" Harm asked quietly, his words more a statement than a question.
Boone nodded. "…even if it starts another war…"
Harm and Animal looked at each other.
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