Survivors (15 page)

“No,” I said, “I’m looking for a legal opinion
about what rights we have. Tell us what’s legally
correct.”

Patty laughed, “But there’s no legal precedent for any of this. Then she stopped herself; wait
a second, I think there may be. Give me a couple of
minutes to think this through. I’m getting some
coffee, and I’ll be back with an answer in a few
minutes.”

We continued our planning for the next
day’s adventure and Patty returned a half hour later. She sat down and looked at her notes. She had
our attention.

“Okay, here’s what I’ve got. It is logical to
assume there is no longer a Federal or State Government. All of the governmental structures in our
country have dissolved. Therefore, I believe it is fair
to conclude in a country where there are no longer
established rules concerning property rights, the
new societies have a right to establish new rules as
long as there is due process. The five of you are the
governing body of our new society and therefore
have a right to establish new rules for how our society will function.

“Now the question you have asked is who
has legal rights to the property located at the Publix Replenishment Center. I think there is an example in maritime law that provides legal precedent.

“If a ship is abandoned at sea, then people
have a legal right to lay claim to the ship and salvage the contents within said vessel. It seems to
me by analogy, if stores or other property are
abandoned, then whoever lays first claim to the
property has the legal standing to have ownership
rights transferred to them.

“Therefore this already established and internationally accepted rule of salvage in the sea
should provide us with the legal justification to
take the food from Publix.”

I was impressed with the clarity Patty
brought to our legal issue. I asked her to write up
her legal opinion and give it to Margaret to publish
in the newspaper, and I insisted it be known as
Patty’s Doctrine.

As Patty left to write up her opinion, she
cautioned, “Please be very careful. “We need you all
to stay alive.”

A total of nineteen residents were taking
part in our little adventure. Manny reluctantly
agreed to remain on the campus as our lone governor in charge of the community.

After an early breakfast we brought everyone into my apartment for a final meeting. I had
set aside a number of guns behind my kitchen
counter. I explained what we were doing and the
ethical question raised regarding our legal right to
confiscate this property. I read Patty’s recently finished legal opinion, and then discussed our need
for caution. I summarized the problems Ralph had
experienced on his recent trip to the campus, and I
took out the weapons from behind the counter
along with ammunition and passed them out to
each person. “I want them all returned to me after
we get back. Does anyone have a problem with
that?”

The looks from around the room gave the
clear impression everyone understood this might
not be a cakewalk. Everyone appeared to be in
agreement to return the weapons after our little
adventure was complete.

Our convoy consisted of six refrigerated sixteen-wheelers and three moving vans. Stan drove
the lead truck, and I was driving in the second position. All six refrigerated trucks were heading for
the Publix Replenishment Center. Jessie and Isaac
were in the last moving van, and they were going to
head over to the Verizon headquarters in Lakeland.
George and Bill were taking the other two moving
vans to Opti-Solar’s supplier located just a little
north of Kissimmee to gather up all of the equipment needed to manufacture the photovoltaic cells.

For security reasons we decided to stay off
the main roads once we left the Fort Myers area.
We started out on Interstate 75, and near Punta
Gorda we switched over onto Route 35 and eventually passed Arcadia.

Ninety minutes into our trip we saw two
adults wandering along the road walking south. A
man was supporting a woman as she limped slowly
along the road. Our convoy came to a halt, and we
all left our trucks to see what had happened.

Bruce Klein and Debbie Foster introduced
themselves. Bruce was sporting a swollen lip and a
large cut on his forehead, and Debbie’s blouse had
been torn to shreds. She tried to cover herself up
but without much success. Jessie brought them
some water, and all of us listened to their story.
They were the only survivors from Bartow, a small
town about five miles north of where we were
stopped.

Yesterday, a group of a dozen men entered
the town and began looting the place. They found
Debbie and Bruce hiding in a house. They beat
him up and then raped her. Bruce said, “They were
all drunk and high on some drugs. They’re wellarmed and just looking to loot and pillage. They
had us tied up, but we escaped last night.”

Bruce comforted Debbie, but she was still
clearly visibly shaken by what they had done to
her. I explained where we were from and what we
were doing, and I asked them if they wanted to join
our community. They readily agreed. Jessie’s moving van had a bed in the back of the cab the previous owner used to get some sleep during long
hauls. Jessie insisted Debbie lie down on the bed
while Bruce squeezed into the front of her truck.
Our caravan continued north, and we stayed in
constant communication on our CB radios. A mile
south of Bartow, Stan alerted us; two pickup
trucks were blocking the road. I checked my weapon, and we were all on high alert as Stan slowed
down at the blockade.

I hid my pistol in my back waistband and
stepped out of the second truck. Stan and I approached the four men at the checkpoint. “Hi
guys,” I said, “It’s good to see some more survivors.
What’s up, and do you need any help?”

A fat ugly guy about forty stepped out in
front of his friends. He was clearly in charge. He
drew a gun from a holster and said, “This is going
to be the worst day in all of your lives. This is our
territory and you never asked permission to pass
through. What’s in your truck?”

“Nothing, I said, we’re just going to Orlando
to pick some stuff up. We won’t bother you; we’re
just passing through.”

A shot rang out from the front of Stan’s
truck. The fat guy dropped to the road, and his
three friends drew their weapons searching for the
source of the gunfire. Before I could draw my
weapon, a dozen shots rang out, and the four men
were dead as soon as they hit the ground. Bruce
appeared from the front of Stan’s car. “Those were
the guys who raped Debbie.”

I didn’t really know what to say. I guess this
new world was going to be a lot like the Old West:
instant justice, no trial, no jury, just instant retribution. I thought about Bruce’s actions. I understood why he had shot the guy. Was a death sentence appropriate for a brutal act of rape? The bottom line was I wasn’t sure. Our community was
clearly going to have to deal with incidents such as
this in the future.

The bodies of the rapists were dragged to
the side of the road, and Stan moved the cars
blocking our path. Everyone was silent as we continued on with our mission.

After passing through Bartow, I got on the
CB radio. “We’re not going to risk coming back this
way. I don’t want another confrontation with any
more of these guys.”

Jessie’s truck left us a few miles north of
Bartow heading for Lakeland. The rest of us took
Route 17 north to Route 92 and then shifted onto
Route 441. A few miles later the other two moving
vans split off heading for the photovoltaic cell plant
just north of Kissimmee. Our six refrigerated
trucks continued north until we reached Route
527A. We were close to the Orlando airport now,
and we finally arrived at the Publix Replenishment
Center located on Landstreet Road just off West
Osceda Parkway. Josh directed Stan’s truck to the
back of the plant and the loading docks. We
parked all the trucks far away from the main road.
There was no point in attracting attention.

We had worked out the breaking and entry
part yesterday, and we unloaded a heavy duty pallet truck. Josh drove the forklift to the front of the
entrance with two others following on foot. A few
minutes later we could hear the shattering of glass
as the pallet truck destroyed the front entrance to
the plant. Five minutes later Josh and the others
were manually lifting the doors to the loading dock.

Josh had a smile on his face. “The freezer
and refrigerator rooms all have power, and they’re
fully stocked.”

The experienced truck drivers in our team
backed up all six trucks into the loading docks,
and soon six forklifts were entering the various
cold storage areas, Beth and Josh had worked out
the priorities, and Josh was moving from room to
room giving orders to the forklift drivers. It took
three hours of non-stop effort to fill our six trucks.
I walked around taking pictures of the remaining
food still on pallets. Two of our workers found the
underground gasoline storage tank, and an electronic control system indicated the tank was still
half full.

We could make additional trips to this center, but we would have to figure out how to refill
the gasoline tanks to keep the electricity operational. We drove out of the plant a little after three
o’clock. We decided to take an alternate route back
to Naples, and the trip home was uneventful.

Jessie’s truck was sitting in the North Lake
Village parking lot, but the two trucks visiting
Opti-Solar’s supplier had not yet arrived. I wasn’t
worried, just a little concerned. I found Jessie talking to Margaret. She turned to me. “Debbie is with
Mary right now. She’s checking her out. She’s still
in shock. Bruce wants to move in with Debbie, and
Margaret registered them both. We were successful
in Lakeland. The Verizon server’s in the truck, and
we found a couple thousand cell phones, and all of
Verizon’s standard operating procedures. We’ll set
up the server tomorrow.”

I reviewed our visit to the Publix plant, and
as I was finishing up, I heard two moving vans pull
into the parking lot. Jessie and I met the photovoltaic cell team, and they were all smiles. George
said, “We found everything we need to make the
solar cells: raw materials, manufacturing equipment, and all of their operating procedures. We’ll
be in good shape.”

I patted George and Bill on their backs, and
then with Jessie standing next to me said, “We
need to find Manny and talk about what happened
today.”

I summarized what had happened out on
the road for Manny and Patty. They both listened
carefully. Manny was the first to respond. “I’m glad
you killed the bastards. They deserved to die.”

Patty interrupted, “There wasn’t due process Manny. You guys were vigilantes; acting as
jury, judge, and executioner. So what do you want
from me?”

Patty thought for a few moments. “Here’s
what you do. Bruce was not officially a member of
our community at the time he killed the guy. He
hadn’t registered with Margaret yet. From now on,
we have no jurisdiction over anyone until they officially sign in with Margaret.

“Now for the easy part. You told me our
people didn’t fire at these guys until they had
drawn weapons. Under Florida law, we had the
right to use deadly force because we believed our
lives were in imminent danger. So you’re all off the
hook.”

With this final comment, Patty stood up
and stormed out of my apartment. She reappeared
ten seconds later and apologized. “I’m sorry; I
wasn’t there. If I was, I probably would have killed
the assholes myself, but here’s the thing, we cannot have anarchy. We must live by a set of rules,
reasonable rules we all can live by. That way we
will once again become a civilized society.”

One by one the weapons used during the
day arrived in my apartment. Many of the men who
had pulled the triggers on their guns appeared to
be hesitant, almost ashamed, but not one person
talked about it. I think they all understood they
might have failed a certain basic test of humanity.

I visited Debbie in Mary’s apartment. Mary
met me at the door. “She just took the Plan B
Emergency Contraceptive pill. She’s okay physically, but emotionally it’s going to take a long time.”

Debbie was awake and staring at the bedroom wall. Bruce was sitting in a chair near the
bed. I sat down on the edge of Debbie’s bed and
touched her hand. It was limp, and I held it in both
my hands. She finally looked at me. I smiled and
said, “Welcome to our community Debbie; you’ll be
safe here; I promise you’ll be safe here.”

I patted her on the hand and stood up.
Bruce followed me out of the room. “What’s going
to happen to me?” he asked.

“Bruce, at the time of the attack, you were
not officially a resident of this community, and
therefore legally not within our jurisdiction. Now
that you have signed in with Margaret, you are legally a resident. My advice is to never do anything
like that again or we will have to prosecute you. Do
you understand?”

During breakfast Janet walked through the
area and rang a large bell. She shouted, “School
starts in five minutes. All children of school age
meet out in front of Building H in five minutes.”

Five minutes later about twenty children
were gathered in front of the building, and then
Janet led them all to one of the other buildings for
the beginning of school. This brief act of normalcy
was a true sign that we were once again becoming
a real community.

My euphoric state was short-lived as Jessie
sat down next to me. “I’ve been thinking about
what happened yesterday.”