Part 10: Jericho - Part 7

17th of December 2077 - Jericho’s Settlement:

It has been a month since Kaidan, Anna May and the Green brothers came back from the hospital, and a lot has happened since then. To start off with, the next day after returning from the hospital, they had a run-in with one of Ravenwood’s squad leaders, a John Goetz. He came to town as he found Eric’s wallet that he left behind at the hospital.

They came to Jericho and pretended to be from the federal government, to collect supplies for them and their cooperation was mandatory, that they had to help them. At that time, it was only Jake, Gray, Robot and a few Spectres that Kaidan had helping Jake to protect Tacoma Bridge, the bridge that Jake believed the Ravenwood’s people would try and cross. Which he was right. Thankfully, the wall that Kaidan set up around Jericho was near that bridge, so if anything would go wrong, they could fall back to the wall where more men would be waiting to help.

Thankfully, with trained men there, nothing happened other than Ravenwood turning back, but with a warning that they would be back. And if the bridge weren’t cleared by then, they would clear it themselves. Kaidan was glad that he turned down the volunteers for help this time, as he was afraid of what might have happened otherwise, townspeople could have been killed seeing how they had no training.

For the rest of the day, they build up a defence around the bridge, ready to fight if need be. Jake and Gray both agreed that they might have to blow up the bridge, something that Kaidan found foolish, as they might have a L’Cie that could create their own path across the bridge. But as Jake pointed out, they had no idea how many there were, they could have more than them that they could handle right now, even a few powerful L’Cies. Jake even suspected that with the world ended, the Spectres that once meant to protect people might join people like these Ravenwood’s. With luck, blowing up the bridge and killing a few of them, might give them some time to build up a better defence before they come back with reinforcements.

Hearing this, Kaidan had to admit this could be helpful, but it should only be used as a last resort. As they might need to cross the bridge in a hurry for some reason and rebuilding the bridge would take some time. Both Jake and Gray agreed to this, the only people who didn’t agree were Eric and Johnston Green. Thanks to the medicine, whilst not fully recovered, Johnston was up and about, resting in his bed. They believed that was a better way to deal with this, that with the wall and the Spectres, there was no reason to blow up the bridge. Even after hearing the reasons and that it would be the last resort and that it could be fixed in a few weeks once they dealt with Ravenwood, they wouldn’t listen.

Kaidan was somewhat surprised about this, as he knew that Johnston was an Army Ranger who knew that there are times they would need to do things if they have no other options. It would seem that his time as a Ranger changed him, not wanting to create conflict and take the peaceful route. Sure a peaceful route is good and all if things were normal, but these aren’t normal times and so you need to be more willing to do things that you wouldn’t normally do.

In the end, it was sort of a good thing. Later on that day, Ravenwood returned with more men, a few were L’Cies as suspected, but Kaidan’s worst fear, Spectres. It would seem that Jake was right, with the world ending, there were some former Spectres who joined groups like Ravenwood for self-gain instead of protecting people. The problem wasn’t the Spectres, as there were only two of them, but how many there were. Unlike those here, they were well trained and had experience in battle. Kaidan couldn’t get all his fighting force here in time and so had to use some of the townspeople to guard the bridge.

With being outclassed and knowing that they might lose, Jake was going to blow the bridge, to give them time to build a better defence and get the right people in place to fight. But before he could though, Eric who left not long ago returned and with him was Jonah and his men, which helped to surround Goetz and his men. This gave Goetz second thoughts about attacking, but when Kaidan informed the man that he knew that he was conning people as he knew that there was no government and there wasn’t one for months, Goetz attacked, as he couldn’t let anyone else know this.

This was foolish of him, as he and his men were on a bridge and had very little room for movement, not only that but they were surrounded. But Goetz was intent on keeping the information about him not working a secret, so he ordered an attack to prevent the info getting out. Because of his anger and misjudgement, Goetz, the two Spectres and three other people were killed, which made the rest of Goetz’s run for their lives

It didn’t mean that it was good news for Kaidan, as there were casualties on his and Jonah’s side. A few were injured on both sides, some serious, some not so serious, but on Kaidan’s side, there were two deaths. Now after the battle, Jonah agreed to join the village and Kaidan’s new settlement just so that he or anyone else don’t think of destroying the bridge or anything else stupid that could cause him problems Whatever the case, Kaidan was happy that the man was on his side instead of against him, although, his daughter Emly wasn’t happy about this seeing how the two didn’t get along. But Kaidan didn’t care, every family had their problem and these two had to sort their problems out sooner or later.

Johnston was upset to see two of his townspeople died in this fight. Kaidan explained that this might not have happened if they blew up the bridge, as he could build up a better and stronger force for when Goetz returned. Kaidan didn’t like to put the blame onto Johnston and his son, but they had to learn that this world isn’t the same as they used to and they would sometimes be forced to do things that they wouldn’t normally do.

Then there was Jake, after what happened, he wanted to train a certain group to become better fighters and could protect the town when the Spectres couldn’t. Kaidan admitted he was more than happy for him to do this, as he had plans to do this, as he knew he needed more people to protect the town and the settlement. He even told the man that he would give him two Spectres to help with training, one to help with weapons and one with hand to hand. Jake was more than happy for the help.

The only two people Kaidan saw who were willing to do what it takes was Gray and Jake. Jake was the only one of the two that Kaidan trusted, Gray was more of a problem maker instead of a problem solver. He doesn’t listen to others and tries to undermine everyone’s authority, because he wants power and control. He might genuinely want what is best for his town, but arrogant he was too impulsive to do any real good for the town.

Then a few weeks after the bombing, there was an aid drop that seemed to be from the NCRA, but Kaidan and Jake weren’t too sure about it. The drops had food, water, clothing and other essentials, but this was suspicious and conspicuous. They were an out of the way town, only those looking at the map, living there or had family there, you wouldn’t even know it was there.

So for them to get a limited amount of airdrops instead of major countries and other important places made Kaidan suspicious, so hold off sharing anything out. He wanted Doctor Kandel to make sure they were safe to have. This made many really upset, seeing how the food was limited and they needed clothes, they wanted it now. So he put the dropped loot under armed guard with orders to shoot to maim, Kaidan didn’t want to do this, but this was to protect them from themselves. As they weren’t thinking reasonably and might try to use force to get these things, and if they weren’t safe, they could end up ill or dead.

It didn’t help that Gray was fighting him over this, seeing how he was with the fact seeing how the drops were meant to be from NCRA. So it should be safe and be shared with the rest of the town.

Now, during all this, Kaidan allowed Mitch out of his cell. As there wasn’t much he could do with him, there were no holding cells that he could place him in, there was, but they won’t be ready for people. So instead of wasting time guarding him all the time, they let him go. It helped if he was the only criminal who was being held when there were others seeing as there was no way to uphold the law right now, it would more than likely start a riot and create more unneeded problems, so Mitch had to go free.

As for the new settlement, Kaidan was glad that three of the floors were dealt with and people have moved into the second. Because of many deaths and people leaving the town in the hopes to find a better place where they could live, people didn’t have to use the third floor, as they only had about three thousand people now instead of about seven or so thousand people. He had plans to put about three and a half thousand people on each of these floors so that they had room to grow and if they had children, they could also alter the floor to be more homely and have others from the other floor come to them. Seeing how four thousand had either left the town or died, he had to rethink his plans for the third floor. Although, there were talks about growing some food on these floors and the teams that were already out there finding seeds, were asked to find extra if possible.

As for the fourth floor, this seemed to be where they created all the tech that they needed and where they made all the drugs and serums that they used to test on, on the second and third floors. Not only that but they also created weapons and vehicles here too. Because of this, Kaidan assigned this area as a blacksmith and training area. In fact, they had already begun to make weapons and armour, things like slingshot guns, baseball bat axes for weapons and for armour, they created shields from road signs and fridge doors.

In fact, Kaadan had sent people out to get ice skates for the blades, barrels to make more shields, they were also getting railroad nails, saw blades, baseball bats and garden tools with certain blades so that they could make more weapons. And although the townspeople didn’t like it, Kaidan was having the cars stripped down for the metal and rubber and anything else of use. Kaidan was working on melee weapons, as he knew that sooner or later gunpowder would run out or be very rare unless they can make more, which would be hard in the future. Although he knew that he needed range weapons, which is why he was working on the slingshot guns, he would be working on bows and crossbows soon, he just wanted people to learn how to make slingshot guns first.

If the equipment weren’t destroyed or badly damaged, he would have made this floor a research centre instead of having it in the dome. But seeing how the hospital had all that they needed, there wasn’t any need to change things about. Instead, he would design part of the floor to be a medical wing, so if anyone is injured or such, they could go there instead of going all the way to the hospital above ground.

In fact, they were slowly making the dome bigger so that they could fit in more greenhouses so that they could grow more Garlic, Aloe, Achiote and the like so that they could make some basic herbal healing items. In fact, Kaidan had people get some indoor bees to make some hives, not only to pollinate the crops that they’ll have but to make honey. Honey added to certain herbs could make better healing items, so apart from food, they could use it for medical items.

Kaidan was in fact thinking about creating an underground farm under the dome, as they would need more and more vegetables for them to feed off. The space that they had would be enough for now, but in years to come, they would need more space. This meant they would need more power to power the generator that creates the artificial sunlight for the crops and plants, it also means they would need more generators to create artificial sunlight. But for their future, this was something he would have to look into doing.

The last floor was where all the holding cells were and the power generator room. It would seem the cells were where they kept their prisoner/test subjects, it made Kaidan sick as he thought about what these people did to their prisoners, because of them, L’Cies were born. Whilst this is neither a good nor a bad thing, Kaidan had to wonder what these people did to them to make the L’Cie and knew what else they did to them.

During the search of the last floor, they found a door that led down to the maintenance area, where all the water pipes, air vents, wiring and everything else that was needed to maintain the facility was being kept. Most of it was fine, a few areas needed to be cleaned up or fixed, but all in all, the area wasn’t as bad as Kaidan expected it to be when he found it.

One of the reasons that Kaidan hadn’t been using these cells was that there were dead bodies in them and had no idea how they died, so it would be foolish to put them in there until he knew it was safe to do so. If it was poison and there was even a hint of it left, it could kill anyone else who he put in there and he couldn’t allow that.

There were two other reasons he wasn’t using them, the first is that he wanted them tested, to make sure that the strongest of the Spectres couldn’t escape it. If he placed someone in there and they escaped, they could cause problems for the settlement if they want payback.

But the main reason was the generator room, the room had old fashioned generators that run on fuel instead of Fusion Cores. So he had to have his people redesign the room so that it could store Fusion Generators, this meant that they had to rewire the place too, which would take some time. Because of this, to save power until the Fusion Generators are sorted out, the lefts were limited, unless they were going to the loading dock to go outside or using the lefts to transport the Fusion Generators and other stuff, the lefts were out of bounds to be used. So people were forced to use the stairs to get between floors one to five. It’s the same as the lights, they were limited too, only on for a few hours a day. The rest of the time they would need to use barrels with fire in them or fire torches, to save on power.

Whilst there are those who understood this, even if they didn’t like the idea, there were many, like Gray, who didn’t agree with the idea. They believe that they should use the power all the time, even if they knew that if they would only have power for a few months instead of at least three years. That they could get the Fusion Generators working in a few months and so don’t need to save power.

The problem is they didn’t see the big picture, that there might be errors or some sort of setbacks that could prevent the Fusion Generators from being turned on. Not only that, but they were using the old generators to heat up the floor two when it gets too cold for a few hours, which takes up a lot of power too. The rest of the time they would be wearing warm clothing, but even that isn’t ideal and people need real heat and so needing to heat certain areas for a few hours a day is needed too.

So, to shake things up and try and get his way, when he learned that Kaidan was, apart from a few farmers, moving people into the underground settlement they should vote for a new mayor for the place. He said that they should start looking at a return to normal, have some normalcy in these dark times, have someone that people vote for to lead them, not someone who more or less forced his way into it. He also believed that Johnston wasn’t the ideal mayor for these times, needed someone who could take control, like him (Gray, ) and so he called for an election for a new mayor.

Kaidan knew what Gray was after, to gain control, but he agreed with him. To make things easier, these townspeople needed to follow a leader that they voted to be their leader, not someone who as Gray said more or less forced his way into it. That’ll only create problems down the line. Not only that but whilst he liked the man, Johnston wasn’t the ideal man for these times. He was too soft-hearted, not willing to do what is necessary unless pushed, at least what he had seen so far.

However, unlike Gray, Johnston is willing to listen to reason most of the time, unless he has a strong belief not to do something. With Gray, apart from not being a good leader material, he doesn’t listen to anyone’s council apart from his own. He makes decisions based on his personal viewpoints and acts rashly, not taking in what others might say or evidence. It’s not like he might not become a good leader over time, but at what cost? Kaidan was afraid that these lessons that Gray needed to learn, may come at a long time and a high price. Something that Kaidan couldn’t afford. So he ran for mayor too.

He told them that he did agree that Johnston wasn’t the ideal mayor for them right now, as Gray said over and over again, they need someone who is willing to take action and willing to do what needs to be done. However, unlike Gray, they needed someone like Johnston who would listen to those around him and have compassion, something from the little time he was in town Gray didn’t have. All Gray wanted was power and control, to get his own way.

For him, Kaidan, as everyone has seen so far, has done everything in his power to save as many lives as possible or help them in any way possible. Sure Kaidan admitted that he’ll do things that many won’t like, but he is the kind of person who’ll do what needs to be done, not what people want to be done. Like with airdrops, they want them all shared now and Gray was willing to give it to them if voted as a mayor.

But as Kaidan told them, what they really needed was to wait for Doctor Kandel and her team to make sure everything was fine and not tampered, so that when they finally had the food and clothing, they didn’t end up ill or dying. That’s what makes a good mayor. So with Gray, he didn’t think about this or he didn’t care if they got ill or not, but because of these two things, it didn’t make him the mayor they needed, want maybe, but not needed. What they needed was someone who would look out for them, even if by doing that the mayor had to do things that they might not like at first but do later on. Someone who won’t put peoples lives at risk because they would look out for themselves first, and not think what their actions might lead to.

With this talk, Gray lost a lot of supporters, as they didn’t like the idea that Gray was only out for himself and did not want to look after others as well as he said he wanted. Gray tried to deny this, but the seeds of doubt were planted and people weren’t too sure about him.

It all came ahead the day before the election, a few days ago, where they found the body of Gracie Leigh on the third floor of the settlement. With no cameras working yet, no one knew when or why she came down here, although this was the place where some of the backhand deals were made, something that Kaidan gave a blind eye to. As long as no one was getting hurt, he didn’t mind what they do and where they get their things. If people didn’t want others to know their business, that’s down to them.

He knew that one of the people that Gracie had been working with was Jonah, who was able to get her some things that the Spectres didn’t bother to get as they weren’t important, wine, beer and the like. To Kaidan, these weren’t important right now, warm clothes, seeds for plants, herbs and vegetables were more important than beer and such. So if Gracie wanted to get someone else to get these things for her, so be it. The problem was that with how cold it was getting, and how dangerous it was getting, be it radiation or fly like monsters that were appearing, so Jonah was asking for more in payment or at least that’s what Kaidan could figure when he walked in when the two were fighting over it.

It got bad in that a few people knew that two fought and sometimes things got heated, but nothing bad happened. That was until the day before the election when Gracie’s body was found. The problem was Mitchell Caffrey, he told them that it was Jonah who killed her, that Jonah told him and his gang that he killed Gracie to make a point not to cross him nor break deals with him. Because of Jonah’s actions in the past, both Gray and Johnston believed this story so they went in search of him. Johnston had the Sheriff Department looking for him, whilst Gray had a manhunt for the man whose order was to bring Jonah in by any means necessary, these people would kill Jonah if given a reason to.

Kaidan on the other hand didn’t believe a word that Mitch told them. Yes, they had fights about the cost of things and how each other was undermining each other in one way or another, but he knew that Jonah wouldn’t be foolish enough to kill someone when he got a safe place for himself and his people. Mitch, on the other hand, had a chip on his shoulder with Jonah, as his leader left him to route in the cell and he wanted to pay the man back.

Not only that, but he had heard that Mitch and a few others thought that Jonah had become weak, they were survivalists and that they should rely on themselves and their own group, not on others. In fact, they believed that they should take what they want from others, and survive on their own skills, cunning and roughness, answering to no one.

Kaidan suspected that Jonah saw things differently, like a true survivalist, he knew when to turn to others for help. As there are times when you can’t survive on your own, like now with the nuclear winter, where the food and water are scarce and getting more would be tougher as time passes until the world heats up again. So like a true survivalist, Jonah did what he had to, to survive and joined them until he could figure out another way to survive without their help.

Whatever the case, Kaidan knew that he had to find Jonah before anyone else and find out the truth, was it an accident, was it really him or someone else. Kaidan needed to know the truth so he could make sure the right person was punished.

Thankfully, Jake and Anna May, who Kaidan had to follow Jake for backup, found Jonah at his daughter’s, Emily, house. A long time ago, he hid some supplies just in case he ever needed them, under the shed in the back garden. Because of his injuries, Jake found Jonah there patching himself up and keeping warm as best as he could. At the same time, Gray and his mob arrived at the house, thinking that Jonah might be hiding there. Fearing what Gray might do if he got his hands on Jonah and try and do something stupid, Anna May arrested Jonah under the name of the Spectres. That meant if Gray or anyone else tried to take Jonah by force, she could use force or kill them without problems, everyone more or less knew this law. As there have been a few who tried in the past when people tried to prevent them from taking someone in, they soon learned not to get in the way of Spectres and those they have arrested.

Kaidan didn’t like using this method, as he liked to do things without getting into fights or upsetting those with who he might need to ally with later. But if pushed to do so, to get information for those he hunted, he would do so if it meant he got his information.

When he was brought to the settlement, Gray and his mod wanted Jonah punished, to be hanged, not only for this so-called crime but for what he put the town through in the past. Kaidan could understand their problems with Jonah and what he did in the past, but for Kaidan, at the moment that didn’t matter, like it or not they needed Jonah, he was one of the few people in town who is willing to do what is needed, no matter what it might be. But they couldn’t punish a man who didn’t commit the crime they believed he might have done.