The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning (33 page)

LT Gray’s officers are squeezed between both groups of rioters. He’s about to order firing into the mob when his radio reports similar riots taking place at the Holland Tunnel along Canal Street, he’s told there are over one hundred stores looted and burning out of control. He also hears reports that Times Square has been overrun by yet another mob. The hotels and stores are being looted by flash mobs numbering in the thousands. LT Gray calls for air support in the hope that dropping water on the mob will slow them down. The water might have slowed the mob down, however, due to spotty radio communications the helicopter crews only heard the call for help and the word fire. Five NYPD helicopters fly over Times Square firing into the mob. The NYPD by mistake fires on the people standing on the sidelines watching the flash mobs strip stores bare before torching them. The mobs reacts to the attacks by opening fire on the helicopters and every police officer and car they encounter. Anyone wearing any sort of uniform is shot at. The mobs begins taking over the key subway transfer stations completely shutting NYC down. They hang banners all over the city demanding payment. Mayor de Blasio calls a press conference to announce he’s calling upon President Obama to reinstate the welfare payments to the poor people of New York City. He says most are suffering because most New Yorkers only have a couple of days of food in their homes.

New York City’s electrical workers union demands an immediate pay increase to cover their loss of buying power due to hyper-inflation. Mayor de Blasio issues a press release stating the City can’t afford any pay increases due to the high number of unemployed in the City and loss of tax revenue. He also publicly reminds the unions the terms of their contract are fixed for an additional two years. The electrical workers union President responds by cutting electrical power in New York City, saying, “Maybe after two years in the dark the Mayor will reconsider his decision.”

People are trapped in high-rise apartment buildings, thousands are stuck in elevators and subways when the power is cut. Tens of thousands of street gang members use the power outage to loot all of the stores in their local area. Many plan attacks against their rival gangs knowing it’s going to be very hard for the police to stop their battle since they’re already tied up with the existing riots and now the blackout.

Two days into the power outage, large sections of New York City are burning out of control. Mayor de Blasio begs the federal government for help putting down the rioting. The Department of Home Land Security sends twenty MRAPS loaded with armed security officers to assist the NYPD. The convoy is attacked at exit nine on the New Jersey Turnpike just outside New Brunswick, New Jersey. Members of militias standing on overpasses fire stolen anti-tank missiles at the convoy, destroying it on the New Jersey Turnpike. The militia members wait for the undamaged MRAPs to stop and dismount their troops before they open fire with AR15s and AK47s, hundreds of the DHS security troops are killed. The militia leaves them lying on the Turnpike. The attack forces the NJSP to close the turnpike stopping all movement along Interstate 95. When the NJSP approaches the scene of the attack, they come under the militia’s fire stopping them 200 yards away from the location of the attack. Mobs in Newark hear about the closure of the Turnpike, they attack the New Jersey Parkway, closing it just before exit 14 for the Newark Airport. All North-South Traffic through New Jersey is stopped.

Hundreds of thousands of people watching the news reports coming out of New York City are motivated by the scenes, they too take to the streets. The people are scared and depressed, they are afraid and angry at the system for letting them down. Cities across America watch what’s happening in New York City, they watch the mobs close the tunnels and bridges, they watch the mobs tear the city apart, they see large sections of Manhattan on fire and the flash mobs taking what they want. People copy the tactics used in NYC in their local cities. 165 cities across the country are set on fire from unhappy, scared, hungry people demanding the government live up to their commitments.

President Obama orders the US Army to bring order to the country. The Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staffs (CJCS) General Dempsey looks at the written order from the President, his aide hears him explode in anger. “Damn him, he caused this mess. If he’d let us take on the Chinese before he shrank our forces, we wouldn’t be in this vise. I’m not going to order US troops to fire on US citizens. We’re the protectors of the people, not their murderers.” General Dempsey composes a message back to the President informing him that US troops are not going to patrol or fire on US citizens. The President sends back a one-word reply, “RESIGN.” General Dempsey looks at the message and smiles, telling his aide to call the remaining chiefs together so he can inform them he’s been fired. Twenty minutes into the meeting with the remaining service chiefs, President Obama receives the resignations of General Dempsey and the resignations of the chief of the US Army, Air Force and the Chief of Naval Operations. President Obama smiles thinking to himself,
that’s one way to get rid of these right wing nut jobs. I’ll simply promote someone who agrees with me to run the military and who knows how to take orders.

President Obama asks the Secretary of Defense for suggestions on new chiefs. The new Secretary informs the President he can’t accept the US military being used against US citizens. He’s fired for his honesty. The President appoints his National Security Advisor to the position of Secretary of Defense. He does so without the consent of Congress, telling Congress he doesn’t care what they do. Susan Rice becomes the first woman Secretary of Defense and the only one not approved by the Senate. Her first order is for the US Army to put the rioting down in New York City. She orders the 10
th
Mountain Division located at Fort Drum, in Jefferson, New York to mobilize and move into New York City. The 10
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’s commanding general, Major General Stephen Townsend and his executive officer, Lieutenant General David Baker, both refuse the order. They demand it be sent in writing from the President. Secretary Rice fires both senior officers for requesting a written confirmation. The troops of the 10
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Mountain Division, one of the US Army’s Light Infantry Division, watch their senior officers are fired for not obeying the Secretary's order to fire on Americans. The troops fight among themselves whether to obey the order or not. At the end of the day, only 2,500 troops out of 12,000 agree to follow the orders. Unknown to the 2,500 troops, militias in New York City have broken into Fort Hamilton, where they were able to convince the commanding officer to open the armory. The militias oppose the orders sending the army to restore order. They arm themselves with M16s and M4s, Army body armor, hand grenades and anti-armor and anti-air rockets. They dig trenches along the road the 10
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has to use to reach NYC. They're in high spirits while they wait for the arrival of the army. Thousands of cases of liberated MREs are distributed to the hungry people. First aid materials found in the armory are used to set up mobile aid stations to provide a small degree of medical support for the city’s people. Mayor de Blasio orders the militia to disband. He’s rewarded by having himself dragged out of Gracie Mansion. He’s stripped naked, tied to a pole as hot tar is poured on him and he’s covered in chicken feathers. The militia dumps him at the Holland Tunnel, telling him not to return. The militia opens Gracie Mansion to the homeless and needy. The flash mobs continues to strip the city bare of food while the militia are arming people they trust with the weapons they stole from the armory. The New York City militia leader, John Green sends messengers to invite all of the gang leaders, two hundred citizen leaders and leaders of the mobs to a sit down to discuss the defense of the city before the Army arrives.

Green breaks into Madison Square Garden to hold his city leadership meeting. The militia strings generators to provide cooling and lights for the meeting. Leaders of fifty different gangs and twenty mob leaders arrive to hear what the militia leader has to say. John welcomes everyone to the meeting. Outlining the situation, he shows them images some of his people have taken at Fort Drum of the troops moving towards the city. The room explodes with threats, claims of false bravado and joy they were going to get the chance to kick the government out of the City. John fires his sidearm into the ceiling to get the attendees to quiet down and listen to him. “Listen up assholes, this isn’t the normal army coming here. This isn’t some video game, these people will shoot back, in many cases they will shoot first. The best troops refused to obey the order, the troops coming here are ones who shouldn’t have been accepted into the army. These people are going to enjoy killing and raping us. We have to work together to prepare for them. If we work together, we can defeat them and teach the government a lesson. I know that usually the gangs would rather kill each other if one stepped into the other’s territory, the mobs just want to take what they want, and the average citizens want law and order restored. The only way we’re going to survive is for us to find a way to work together, or we’re going to hang together.”

Two of the mob’s leaders stand saying, “Who made you mayor? We don’t want to trade one asshole for another. Why should we do anything you want? What’s in it for us and our people? Our people are hungry, we’re tired of having to obey, we want to rule ourselves.”

“Then go, pick an area, move your people there and rule yourselves. I won’t stop you, nor will I aid or support you.”

“What about food and clean water?”

“You want to rule yourselves, you figure it out. Either you can work with the rest of us or you can leave. We don’t have time for silly games. I think a third maybe up to a half of the NYPD are going to join the army to fight us. I wouldn’t put it past the government to use air strikes against us. They’re worried if the rest of the country sees us beat them back, the country will explode in insurrection and revolution, something that we should have done years ago.”

Three people representing five multistory apartment buildings say, “We’re not an army, most of the people in the city just want things to return to normal. Why can’t we offer to sit down with the Mayor to negotiate a truce and return to the status quo?”

John shakes his head responding, “There isn’t any more status quo. We tar and feather the mayor before kicking him out of the city. The government is out of money, China is making plans to invade the west coast. It won't surprise me if Russia invades the East Coast. Millions of us are going to die from starvation and a lack of medication. Forget the way your life was two months ago. It’s not returning for a very long time if ever. If you don’t have the stomach to fight for your rights, you can join the flash mobs and try to rule yourselves, we won’t help or support you either. Life is hard, our time is short. How many of those stuck in the upper floors of the apartment buildings are going to die? How many people are too scared to venture outside? They're going to die in their apartments, aren’t you here to help them?”

The citizen representatives sit down confused and worried about their future.

John is able to work out a temporary truce between all of the parties. He partitions the city on a large wall map which will be the responsibility of each of the groups. John assigns one of his militia members to assist each group. John announces his plans to feed most of the people in the city. He sets up feeding locations that are protected by armed members of the different groups pledged to protect the city. The food comes from warehouses and surviving food stores. John is smart enough to know even with a reduced caloric intake of 1,500 calories a day he’s going to run out of food in four or five days when he knows the city will really explode.

Chapter 17

Nashville is known as the center of country music. Country music performers are known to be more conservative than many of the other musical performers. Many country music stars help open soup kitchens similar to those who helped feed the hungry during the Great Depression. The largest common kitchen is set up in the Nashville Music Center, which takes up an entire city block between Demonbruen Street, also called the Music Mile and Korean Veterans Blvd. Twenty-five country stars support forty cooks from local restaurants feeding Nashville’s hungry. Tony and I are proud of them stopping everything so they can help feed the hungry. With the stars feeding the hungry, most people delay leaving Nashville. This gives us time to complete our shelters and the homes for Tony’s extended family who moved into their temporary homes three weeks ago. Tony and Nancy moved into our house until his was completed. We moved Sammi and Ricky to the pool house until Tony’s home was finished. While Ricky was happy, Sammi was disappointed in moving out.

My largest concern is fall will soon be on us. The weather will change, the evenings are starting to cool down. Even Nashville gets cold in the winter, the city gets its share of snow. I’m very concerned that as the weather cools people will use fires to stay warm. These fires could easily catch homes on fire, which could spread uncontrolled through the city, creating a firestorm which will destroy many blocks making even more homeless.

Tony’s security advisory Ex-Marine Captain John DeFranco smiles looking at the progress we’re making in finishing the shelter complex. The main shelter’s shell is finished and covered with the removed soil, new crops have been planted on top of it. People are still working on the inside of the shelter, building rooms, adding plumbing and moving supplies to the storage areas. John inspects the fighting trenches, making notes for the changes he wants to make. John calls Tony asking, “Tony, can you get your hands on a couple of mortars?”