Trial by Fire

Jason called down from the wheelhouse. "Everything okay down there?"

"Put Danni on the wheel and both of you get down here," Reagan called.

Jason and Lanston slid down the ladder and White took another step toward the Thayer's. The sound of a shell being jacked into the chamber of a twelve gauge was unmistakable as Sara stepped up beside her husband.

White moved two steps in a blur and grabbed Kierra around the neck, producing a gun in the process.

"I'm a law enforcement officer with the United State Government," he ordered. "Drop your weapons and step back. We're taking over this vessel." He pressed the muzzle of the weapon to Kierra's head.

Mason took a step forward. "There are eight of us and we say you aren't taking over anything," he said.

"Stand down or I'll shoot you and the girl," White said.

"You might do that," Mason said, taking another step forward. "You might miss. Even if you hit me, if you don't get me in the heart or brain I'm still going to get my hands on you, and when I do, you're a dead man. Then the rest of us are going to kill the Senator and your buddy in the boat."

"Hold on, hold on a minute," The Senator cried. "Everybody just hold up a minute. Don't you realize who I am? I'm a United States Senator. You have to give us this boat."

"I know who you are," Jason snarled. "You're a jumped up thug trying to steal our boat. Don't you get it? There is no United States any more. There's no Senators and Secret Service. There's just people, and you're a person that is about to die." He leveled his M16 at the Senator's chest."

"Wait, wait," the Senator cringed away. "White, put that gun away and let's talk about this like reasonable people."

Agent White reluctantly lowered the gun and stepped away from Kierra. She ran to Mason and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Now just lower your weapons and let's talk about this," Senator Johnson said.

"There's nothing to talk about," Reagan said. "Climb back over that rail onto your boat and leave."

"You're a United States Citizen," White said. "Don't you have any respect for your government?"

"You aren't my government," Reagan said. "You're just a river pirate that tried to steal my boat, threatened my family and tried to throw your weight around. You're lucky I don't kill you and throw you to the fishes. Now get off my boat."

The Senator started to bluster and Jason drew his pistol and shot Agent White in the knee. The man collapsed with a scream and the Senator went white.

"Pick up your trash and get off this boat," Jason said. "We don't need your kind around here."

The Senator turned without another word and climbed over the rail, leaving Agent White writhing on the deck. Sara stepped to the rail and aimed the twelve gauge at Agent Thomas.

"Climb up here and get your buddy," She ordered. "One wrong move and I'll blow you in two."

The man raised his hands and came forward to the rail. He helped the injured agent back over the rail where he fell to the deck and lay moaning.

"You won't get away with this," Senator Johnson blustered. "I'll see you hang. The police will be on your trail from now on. You won't get away."

Mason pointed toward the shore. "You mean those police over there?" He asked. "The ones holed up in the jail?"

He took Kierra's pistol and fired a shot into the bottom of the boat. Water began to gurgle up through the hull. "Why don't you swim over and report us," he said.

He cut the line off and gave the boat a shove with a pole. It drifted slowly away and was soon out of sight in the rain. The Senator was a lonely figure standing on the bow.

"That was intense," Lanston said. "Mason, you're a beast. I can't believe you did that."

"I was so scared," Kierra said. She wrapped her arms around Mason. "You were awesome, baby," she whispered.

He held her tight. "Nothing is going to happen to you," he said. "I won't let anything happen."

"I'm so proud of the way you all reacted here," Reagan said. "We kind of got caught with our pants down. We're lucky none of us got hurt. We're going to have to stand watches. Somebody is going to have to be on the wheelhouse at all times. We can't afford to let people get that close to us. Next time we might not be so fortunate, and there will be a next time. We'll just have to wear masks or rain gear. Somebody up there with an M16 will keep things like this from happening again."

The tug began to swing sideways to the current.

"Hey, a little help up here?" Danni called down from the wheelhouse. "Is everyone okay?"

Lanston and Jason quickly climbed the ladder and got the tug straightened around.

"What was all the shouting and shooting about?" Danni asked. "What were you guys shooting at?"

"Three guys just sneaked up behind us and tried to steal our boat," Lanston told her. "They grabbed Kierra and Mason made them let her go. Jason shot one of them in the leg."

"Wow, I'm glad none of us were hurt." Danni's eyes moistened up a little as she stared at Jason. "I can't stand this. Why is everybody being so mean?"

"They're desperate," Jason said. "Things are starting to go to hell and everybody's just trying to survive. By now, everyone knows what happened and they're all trying to get away and survive."

"I just can't tell you guys how thankful Alex and I are that you came along and rescued us," Danni sobbed a little.

Lanston folded her up in his arms. "Yeah, we're glad, too. Jason was as mean as an old bear down there."

"Yeah, we love you, too, kid," Jason said, "especially Lanston."

"Hey, I've seen the way you and Alex look at each other like you don't want the other one to catch you," Lanston joked.

"That's right," Danni said. "Sis told me how much she likes you. She thinks you're a hero."

"Now look, you've got me blushing," Jason said. "How about you two pay a little more attention to learning how to steer this boat and a little less time playing Cupid."

"Not Cupid, Aphrodite," Lanston said. "She's the goddess of love, not the messenger."

"You're impossible," Jason said as Danni punched Lanston in the ribs. "How did such good people like your mom and dad ever get stuck with you?"

"You're just jealous because I've got more game than you," Lanston said.

Jason threw up his hands in mock despair and pulled his charts over the table.

Mason and Kierra spent the rest of the day setting up a sniper's nest on the top of the wheelhouse. The tug had a couple of dozen sandbags aboard and they set them up in a low circle. They stretched a camouflage tarp across the top and weighted it down with a couple of the sandbags. The rain was unrelenting and lightning made them very nervous in their exposed position.

"I feel like a big lightning rod up here," Mason grumbled. "At least we don't have to wear masks as long as it's raining."

"I know," Kierra replied. "I think lightning would strike the boat before it would get us but I jump every time it hits. I sure hope nothing like those men grabbing me happens again."

"We've got to be more careful," Mason told her. "We all are going to have to carry weapons all the time. If we had seen them coming we could have just fired a warning shot and made them stand off and tell us what they wanted. When we found out they had a politician on board we could have sent them on their way."

"We could have helped them," Kierra said. "Why did they act like that?"

"I've always thought that politicians were weird," Mason said. "Why anyone wants the power to control other people's lives has always been a mystery to me. Somehow, they think they're smarter and better than everyone else. They thought they could come in here and just take over and we would just lie down and take it. They aren't used to hearing the word 'no.' They wouldn't have allowed anyone to say no when they had the power. They just don't realize yet that what they were before doesn't mean a thing now."

****

Senator Johnson was furious. How could those people think they could get away with throwing him off their boat? He had never been so shocked in his life. The plan had been to get aboard and take charge. Those people had a great set up. They could have taken that tug, gone back up the Ohio to Louisville and he would have organized a migration south. The National Guard would have backed him up and he could have taken a whole group of the best and brightest south. People were going to need law and order. Just look at what had happened to Agent White. He still couldn't believe that that man had just pulled a gun and shot him in cold blood like that.

Thomas had got the bleeding stopped and done all he could to make White comfortable. The bullet hadn't broken any bones, passing through the flesh of his thigh, but he was in a lot of pain. They had managed to make it to shore before the boat sank, but now they were stuck. Thomas had gone off to the road and found a car that ran. They helped White up the bank and into the car, but they had no idea where they were.

The secret service agents wanted to make their way to a town and contact the authorities. Johnson wasn't so confident that they would find any law and order at all after the fiasco in Paducah. His idea was to try and recruit some locals to help them. Being a Senator had some advantages.

Once they got enough people together Johnson planned to get back to the river, take a boat and go after the people who had humiliated him and shot his man.

They came to a small town. It seemed safe and the Senator walked into the City Hall. It was also the police station, and there were five of the local police there. He explained who he was and told the officers that they had been attacked on the river. The chief of Police was horrified at the story. He couldn't believe someone would shoot a Secret Service Agent. He agreed to get a group together to go after the Thayers.

They bolstered their numbers by adding another five men from the local state police barracks and five more off duty officers from the neighboring town. It all took two days, but they took a police boat and headed down river.

Senator Stephen Johnson was not a man to cross, he told himself. The Thayers were going to pay. Now that he had the law on his side, they were going to learn a hard lesson.

Chapter Eight

The Thayers had fallen into somewhat of a routine. Every morning after breakfast, they made their plan for the day: who would stand watches, who would be on the work party. They had a small, centrifugal hand pump in a long hose that was their only way of getting fuel out of the barge into the tanks of the tug. It took an hour every morning to top off the tanks.

"Well," Mason puffed after 20 minutes on the pump, "At least I don't have to worry about getting a workout. This is cardio and weight training at the same time. Hey, Dad. You need the cardio more than me. How about you take a turn here?"

Reagan laughed. "I guess you're right. Your mother has been complaining about me getting flabby for years." He relieved Mason on the pump and started spinning the handle.

"Don't have a heart-attack now," Sara joked.

"Yeah, I'm the brains of this outfit anyway," Reagan laughed. "If I keel over you all are in trouble. I should let Mason do this while I just sit and think."

Jason and Alex were leaning against the chart table and he was showing her how to read the channel. He couldn't help but feel the warmth of her hip where it pressed into his and the softness of the swell of her breast as it brushed his arm when she reached for a compass. Ever since Lanston had poked him about Alex he had been a little uncomfortable around her.

He was a little surprised that he hadn't noticed before how cute she was. She shared a lot of features with Danni, just a little more curve in all the right places. The same big brown eyes looked up at him.

"What are you staring at? Have you been listening to me at all?" She asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, well I was just thinking," He said.

"Thinking what?" she asked.

"This," he said. He slid his hand under her long hair and around the back of her neck. He turned her head toward him a little and kissed her. She stiffened up a little and then melted into his arms. He felt the tip of her tongue open his lips.

"Eww," Danni said, as she walked into the wheelhouse. "Lanston, look what they're doing."

Lanston glanced behind him. "Yeah, looks like fun, You think we could do that?"

"It's just gross when old people act like that," Danni said. She shrieked and ran around the table with Alex chasing her.

"I'll show you old," Alex panted. "You have the worst timing in the world. I never walk in on you when you're kissing a guy."

"That's because I've never kissed one before Lanston," Danni said as she hid behind him for protection.

"Yeah, right," Alex said. "I'll just tell him about all those guys that constantly hung around our house. She was the most popular cheerleader at school, Lanston. That's because she flirted with any boy that would look at her."

"That's not true," Danni objected. "I never flirted with any of them. Just because I was friendly they all thought I liked them or something."

"Just how friendly were you?" Lanston teased.

"Let me show you." Danni stretched up on tiptoes and pulled Lanston's head down. Her soft lips melted into his.

His head swam a little. "That was nice," he said, "but we're going to have to do something about those braces."

Danni punched him. "It was way better than 'nice,'" she said. Then her eyes welled up. "Alex, what are we going to do about my braces? How am I ever going to get them off? Where are we ever going to find a dentist?"

Alex came over and hugged them both. "Don't worry about it. They won't need to come off for a year and we'll find a way. They have dentists in South America, too. If we can't find one, we'll figure something out. I'm just glad we all have each other. I'm so glad you like Lanston, Danni. I feel the same way about Jason." She glanced shyly at Jason.

He had a big smile on his face. "Well, at least you don't have braces."

"You are horrible," Danni said, turning her face away from him. She leaned against Lanston. "Lanston likes me, braces and all."

"That I do," he said. He put his arm around her shoulder and petted her cheek. "Mom worked in a doctor's office," he said. "She'll know what to do about the braces. There are going to be a lot of things like that, I'm afraid. We can't just pop down the store and get what we need. If we don't have it we're going to have to make it, take it or do without. Even stuff like aspirin and toothpaste. If we get sick, there won't be any doctors. We took a lot of stuff like that from a Walmart, but we probably didn't think of everything."

"We've got a lot of stuff like bandages, surgical tubing, needles and stuff I got off a medical supply truck," Jason said. "But you're probably right. We'll need something and find out we don't have it. Danni's braces may turn out to be the least of our problems."

Reagan and Sara were sitting on the deck of a storage compartment under the wheelhouse out of the rain.

"I'm so scared," Sara told him. "All this violence! I thought the volcano would be awful. I never even thought about people. We're in more danger from people than we are from the volcano."

"I know," Reagan pulled her onto his chest and cradled her head.

"I'm so afraid that the boys are going to get hurt," she said.

He wiped away a tear from her cheek. "They're good boys," he said. "Sometimes I'm afraid they're too good. We didn't raise them for this. They were going to be teachers, lawyers, or something, not survivalists. But, they're holding up. Mason has Kierra, Lanston and Danni seem to be striking a spark, and I think Jason and Alex are becoming part of the family, too. We all look out for each other and we have a chance. We just need a minute to breathe and get used to this."

He leaned his head back against the wall. So much had happened in so short a time. The world they had lived in didn't exist anymore: At least not here. If they could just get further south. This was like living in a nightmare. So much had changed.

He felt pretty good about what they had done thus far. They had a good plan, they had a good group and he refused to consider failure. He looked down at Sara. She was asleep. He stroked her hair. They had been married for 32 years and she was still beautiful. Her flaming red hair was a little lighter where it was becoming streaked with either blonde or grey. It was hard to tell. He still loved her desperately. He still couldn't believe she had ever married him. How on earth one of the most beautiful women in the world had seen anything in him, he never understood, but he knew he was the luckiest man alive. He thought about his two boys. They were men, he reminded himself: huge, in both size and heart. He was somewhat surprised at the ruthlessness they had shown when push came to shove.

He had always known Sara could be fierce when it came to protecting her family, but that the boys had inherited that, he had never known. They were so easygoing and lovable. Just big teddy bears back before the volcano. They had become something else now. He wasn't sure what they were becoming, but they were growing and evolving. He closed his eyes for a minute. The throb of the engines lulled him to sleep.

****

La Garita flexed its muscles. The caldera, covering more than 1000 square miles, roughly three times the size of New York City, was a scene from hell. The titanic initial blast sent ash and lava particles miles into the upper atmosphere. The jet stream, normally carrying the ash from smaller eruptions on a definite pattern was dwarfed. La Garita disdained the jet stream. It created its own wind. As the ash and sulfur exploded into the stratosphere, it began to form a distinct umbrella shape. Prevailing westerly winds carried the heavier particles east, but La Garita was an impartial fire god. It made sure that no one escaped its judgments.

The explosion had destroyed everything within 600 miles. The ensuing firestorm and rain of hot rock and ash had ensured that noting survived. A barren and smoking moonscape surrounded its feet. The shockwave had flattened Denver like a giant fist. No trace of civilization could be distinguished of the mile high city. From Wichita, KS to Las Vegas, NV and from Casper, WY to El Paso, TX, there was not a stir of life. Not a bird flew, not a lizard crawled or a flower bloomed.

Even the skeletons were now being buried in the ash, like a northwestern blizzard of hellish snow. Had the ash been confined to the state of Colorado, it would have been more than a mile deep. Born aloft, it scattered across the continent. The rain soon turned what had fallen into cement and the land was encased in its shell. Millions of tons of sulfur compounds combined with moisture in the atmosphere to produce sulfuric acid, which rained down. The acid completed its work of devastation.

In Kansas City and Los Angeles, roofs began collapsing. It was dark in New York City and New Orleans as the winter skies closed in. The massive failure of the power grid provided no relief from the weather. Static discharges, taking the form of lightning bolts kept the skies in constant illumination, though the source was difficult to see.

President and secretary alike sought whatever shelter they could find. Emergency shelters were instantly overwhelmed as the injured and dying sought help. FEMA had begun to establish camps in the short hours before the arrival of the ash, but the camps became war zones as desperate people scrambled to survive.

Within 48 hours, the United States of America ceased to exist and a post-apocalyptic scenario began to play out. Gangs of starving people roamed the streets of the cities. Doors were kicked down and the inhabitants of the house dragged into the streets and executed for their pitiful supplies. The desperate population turned on itself and was devoured in a deadly storm of cannibalism.