Diversion
For weeks through the cooling autumn the rumbling of tires along the highway came as a looming threat. Sloane worried she wouldn’t have everything in place by the time they discovered her and the girls within their little deception on Horseshoe Lane.
By now, out of the thirty-three homes in the neighborhood, they’d scavenged through each one and secured the doorways to keep out prowlers. They took just what they needed and ensured that they were in fact alone in the neighborhood. At first, she thought she might discover a holdout somewhere and actually hoped old Mrs. Howard might still be inside her house, but when Sloane checked over the home, she found it abandoned.
That’s when reality began to hit home. She and the girls were alone and on their own…truly. It was a somber realization as the sky began to gray and snow was on the horizon. She was the only adult in charge and responsible for their sole survival, and winter seemed more a threat to her than the rumbling sounds of military trucks nearing each day.
The only news she was able to obtain from the outside world was from the occasional would-be looters who happened through her little place in this new apocalyptic world, and they were lacking more and more in ingenuity as time moved on. Their visits were lessening by the week. At first, there were several a week and then two to three. Now she found the alarms only sounded once every two to three weeks. They were typically very thin examples of their prior selves before all this started, often alone or with two or three members. They traveled on foot, skittish, dirty and malnourished. She almost felt sorry for them as she fired a few warning shots their way while they fled with her dogs chasing them out of what Sloane considered her territory. If niceties were exchanged in conversation, she asked them for the outside news in exchange for a ration. Their eyes would widen in surprise at her lack of information. The answer was always that the military was rounding up what few citizen holdouts were left and forcing them into FEMA camps. They were often surprised that she was still there, so close but apparently unaware of their presence.
There was also another threat out there, apparently; citizens that had formed a corrupt militia were also out in force and they were almost worse than the dreaded Homeland Security soldiers or whoever they claimed to be. Sloane would then thank them for their information and hasten them on their way in hopes they would go peacefully. If not, she had other methods at her disposal.
It was times like these she’d hoped that her neighbors might return for real, but now the odds were that they’d found a place to stay and though she wished she and the girls were with them for safety, she was happy for them—scared at times to be on her own but happy for them, all the same.
Then it happened while Wren was on watch late one evening. A military truck actually stopped in front of the fallen tree-barricaded neighborhood entrance. Sloane watched them through binoculars from her bedroom window as men stepped out of the Humvee and moved aside the roadblock. Sloane sent the girls into hiding as she stalked their moves. They went from house to house when she decided to pull her typical introduction ruse. She quickly left her own home to confuse the intruders into thinking she occupied another of the houses. She knelt down in the Millers’ front yard garden and worked clearing away spent vegetable garden vines so desiccated mold spores blew away as she lifted them. With her rifle hidden in the debris nearby and her unloaded pistol harnessed on the outside of her right thigh, she diligently worked, ignoring their approach. She worked in the open, pulling up what remained of the tomato plants after she’d picked even the small green tomatoes to preserve for future use, and piled them to the side of the yard. When the men saw her, they approached cautiously.
“Ma’am? Put down your weapon, please.”
Their guns were drawn on her as she stood and turned in their direction, her arms full of dried vines.
“Can I put these down first?”
“Just stand where you are,” the loudest of them ordered.
He was a big man sporting a large belly, which was a rare sign of prosperity in these times. He motioned one of his camo-clad guys toward Sloane.
She made no sudden moves while the soldier approached her.
“Please don’t move, ma’am. He’s just going to secure your weapon. I’m Lieutenant Hyde.”
Sloane complied with his orders, keeping her eyes on the guy in charge until she figured out what exactly he wanted.
“Is there anyone else here with you?”
“Yes, but they’re not here right now.”
The soldier pulled the weapon from her thigh holster and locked the Glock’s slide to the rear, verifying that the chamber was empty, while she still held the Lieutenant’s line of sight.
The soldier released the magazine, showing the lieutenant that it wasn’t loaded, as Sloane let her armload of debris roll out of her arms and onto the ground in front of her.
The big guy huffed a little and said, “Let me get this straight. Your people left you here, alone, to clean up the garden, while they went out to scavenge.”
She smiled. “It’s not like that. They went in search of canning supplies while I cleaned up. We haven’t had any problems here in quite a while. We mind our own business, we work hard. As you can see, we provide for our own needs.”
He paced toward her as he regarded her words and seemed amused with himself. With a condescending smirk, the Lieutenant retrieved her pistol from the soldier and looked at her as if she were clueless and helpless as well. He handed the weapon back to her and then retrieved a folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket.
“Lady, you and your people are ordered to submit yourself to the FEMA camp within three days. Winter’s coming and you don’t want to be out here without heat and running water when that happens. We take care of everyone. You won’t have to suffer through this alone. We’ll relocate you to a better area when we get things under control. The government is working hard to reestablish electricity and communications. We have hospitals up and running. It’s just a matter of time before everything is back to normal, a few more weeks at the most. Besides, there’s still nasty characters running around out here and I’d hate to see what they’d do to you if they found you out here…all alone.”
Sloane tried not to show her disdain for the man in front of her. The way he referred to her made her skin crawl. If anything, she was amused by his scare tactics, though she suspected humiliating a man with an ego as inflated as his would make him a raving lunatic. Instead, she did her best to feign concern and genially asked, “But if everything is going to be recovered soon, why can’t we stay here until then? Just send someone to check on us every now and then, if that works.”
His smile suddenly dropped. “That’s not the way it works, Miss. How many are in your group?”
She stopped and thought to herself. “There’s only nine adults here, and we’re doing just fine by ourselves.”
“Well ma’am I hope you can understand the need for your safety.” He swept his arm around. “It doesn’t need to be this hard to survive. We have all your needs taken care of at the camp. And we can’t risk sending soldiers out here just to check on the nine of you.
“I’m afraid you have no choice in the matter. This is an order. Be willing to leave in three days. Pack all of your resources to take along and I’ll send two trucks to help you pack.”
She watched as his gaze lingered over a few of the dogs roaming freely around. She knew her best dog, Ace, was watching them closely. He wouldn’t attack unless she gave the command. The Sergeant began looking a little wary of her trustworthy canines.
“I’m afraid the strays will have to be put down. We have enough abandoned dogs there. They’re nothing more than a menace anyway, spreading disease and stealing resources.”
Sloane didn’t trust anyone that her dogs growled at. They had great taste in the human species. She scanned the paper order and nodded. “Three days?”
“Yes, is that a problem?”
She smiled again, a compliant smile this time, without a hint of deception; she’d practiced this one. “Of course. It will be a relief to us, actually. Thank you. We were becoming a little concerned about the winter weather.”
She didn’t like the man as soon as she’d laid eyes on him, but what he did next really cinched her lame opinion of him. He patted her on the shoulder like a good little girl.
“No worries, ma’am. I commend you on lasting as long as you have. We’ll see you in three days.”
Then he turned and left. She actually summoned the strength and waved at them as they departed, and then looked down at the rifle that was in plain view at her feet, before she’d dumped the spent tomato vines on top of it. She shook her head. Don’t do it. The thought of just shooting all three of them with their guard down briefly flashed through her mind, but the moment passed. Three days…this changes everything.