Chapter 5
Crawfordton
Phil was listening to the hand crank-power shortwave radio. He spent hours every day scanning the world band for news from anywhere he could get it, and trying to parse the propaganda, considering the source, to determine what was really going on.
The Continental Army controlled a far-flung piece of ground from the east all the way somewhere into the plains.
From the best he could tell, it sounded like the Continental Army had been successful in holding the Homeland Security - United Nations Axis in check. The Axis controlled the entire northeast.
The southeast of the US was now a mess of apocalyptic proportion. There were no organized entities in the southeast. No one to stop the killing. So the killing went on for all reasons, any reason, and no reason, all the time. Undoubtedly, some power from outside the region would wait until southlanders beat themselves down, then easily move in and take over.
With Chinese backing, the Mexican Army had encroached into the southwest, seizing most of New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California.
The Republic of Texas and the Mormon Republic were the natural allies of the Continental Army.
Many in Washington and Oregon and throughout the northwest were trying to form the nation of "Cascadia". Many in that region were also in favor of uniting with Canada, as Alaska already had done. A large contingent of pro-Axis people resided there as well. Almost no one liked the status-quo.
Hawaii was an independent country, the last that Phil knew. Whether or not it was still that way, was unknown.
Angela came in to bug Phil. She was carrying her new favorite book, The Art of War. As long as Angela was studying and learning, or otherwise keeping busy, she was less likely to see haunting memories of the past in her mind's eye.
"Phil," Angela said. "Soonzoo says 'all warfare is deception'. Deception is tricking, right?"
"Sure is."
"So is war strategy a bunch of lies?"
Phil thought for awhile, "I never thought about it like that. But you know, God's People used deceptive war strategy in the Bible. So I guess it's all good. You want to win; I mean; in a war, right? "
"We always win."
"We do okay. God lets us win. We have to pray."
"We pray at deception?"
"We pray they will fail, and we won't."
Angela was perplexed by the paradox. "What if the Axis bastards pray?"
"You know you got me in trouble with that one. Personally, I don't care, but you got Amy thinking I'm teaching you to talk like a sailor, not a little girl."
"I don't know nothing about sailing. You aren't teaching me to be like a little girl."
"I'll give you that. Can you hide it a little better?"
"You mean deceive?"
"There's a difference between lying and telling all kinds of truth that people don't like to hear. You used to be pretty good at it. Now you have a knack for saying the worst. . . stuff."
"Is it still okay if I ask you anything I want?"
"You know you can, but don't get me into trouble."
"Did you ever see that Ella has big boobs?"
"What?! Uh. . .yea, how can you not?"
"Boys look at them, don't they?"
"Yea. . .so?"
"Why do you boys like them?"
Phil wanted to send her to Amy but Amy would only shut down the conversation anyway. "God made. . .boys so they want to do that."
"So God wants boys to stare at boobs?"
Is all that talk in that book you got there?" Phil wanted desperately to change the subject.
"No. I thought you read it already."
"You better NOT bring up anyone's boobs at the dinner table. I swear. . ."
"Do you think I will be pretty?"
Phil was surprised once again by the turn in the conversation. "Child. You are beautiful now. Don't waste any time thinking about something like that. Even if you turn out to be as homely as a toad, some crazy boy, or a bunch of them, will want you for a wife anyhow. I can guarantee that much."
"Toads aren't that homely. Boys always talk mean to me."
Phil sighed, resigning that he could never win with her. He knew that Angela's past carried a stigma among the townspeople. Little boys were no doubt saying vile things to Angela's face that they had heard coming out of their own parent's mouths. "Little one, you gotta put up with their crap as much as you can, then a little more, but don't get over reactive when the time comes to put a stop to it."
"I won't. I will do what Soonzoo would."
That comment sent Phil's eyelids fluttering. He was trying to mentally cross-reference what was in Art of War with Angela's unpredictable little mind.
Elijah was at the Troy, Ohio exit on I-75. He was getting tired. Real tired, and never ate very well. Would he wear himself down and end up being afflicted with something like Jason did? Getting a boil from hell on his neck like his friend Jason? Then he wondered how much it really mattered.
He saw a guy on a bicycle coming his way on the northbound lane at a good clip. Travelers on the highway kept to their traditional right-hand lane to help keep their distance from other travelers.
As the bike rider got closer, Elijah could see that the guy was wearing a red ball cap. He had a large pouch. He was a mailman.
Elijah never heard back from the letter he sent to Rene and Matt. That must have been months ago. It was close to a certainty that they were not in Cincinnati any more. Was this trip even worth it?
That red hat meant you better not screw around with that guy, or a relentless Postal Inspector would make sure you regretted it. The Postal Union Inspectors were starting to get the distinct reputation of being extremely tough. Maybe with brave and dedicated people like them, civilization had a chance. Or maybe it was all futility, doomed to perpetual zombie bandenkrieg.
It seemed like most people had never learned to get out of their normalcy bias, even after all that had happened. People went on thinking the collapse of the US would never happen no matter what, because it had never happened like that. Now it seemed like people would never accept the idea that the Ohio Coalition might someday collapse because society was starting to stabilize over the past couple of years. There were no guarantees about anything.
The road going through Troy seemed dead. Most of the City was to the east of the road. It was always a wonder to pass through cities. What could be going on over there right now? So much unspeakable horror had happened. God only knew what depravity had taken place. What was national news before was commonplace now.
Elijah was startled by a dog barking behind him. He turned, and there was a pack of five feral dogs. Dogs were returning to their natural wolf-like behaviors. Eventually they would probably micro-evolve back into a type of wolf. Dogs also had a difficult time finding something to eat. A couple more of the dogs were growling, creeping closer.
Elijah thought, the white and black one is too small. That big one, the alpha hound looks like he would be tough. Here we go, you there. . . look just right. . .BLAM! . . .for dinner.
One shot was all it took to drop the mutt. The alpha hound lunged at Elijah while the others ran away. Elijah beat the dog in the mouth with his pistol before it could do anything to him. Then it also ran away. Elijah could have easily eliminated all of them, but those canines would make a nice meal for someone else.
Elijah looked around. Didn't see anyone. He pulled the dog off to the side and pulled out his pocket knife. Looks like eating was going to be pretty good tonight.