Part 10: Jericho - Part 8

30th of December 2077 - Nebraska, Black Jack Fairgrounds:

It has been a few days since became Mayor of Jericho, and things weren’t going well for him, as an extra fifty refugees had come into town - one of these people was Emily Sullivan’s fiance Roger Hammond. Whilst giving them a place to stay and sleep wasn’t a problem, the problem came in the form of power and food and drink.

With power, they were still using fuel to power the generators, as it was taking more time to install the Fusion Generators. With things as they were right now, they would run out of fuel for the generators in about two weeks, and it would take more than that to install the new generators, as the wiring and the work weren’t as easy to do as they hoped. It didn’t help that some of that fuel was powering the farming dome, so they could power the things in there, like the UV lighting

Because of this, they had to rethink how to do things. Instead of using the generators for heating, they set up heating areas where fires would be set up for warmth for a short while, and when it came to bedtime, they would sleep in groups for body heat. So people were being sent out to find wood for these fires.

Next was the food shortage, sure they had enough food for now, but with the extra mouths though, it wouldn’t last for long. Even with the rationing that they were already doing, they would still have problems in a few months instead of seven or so months, With the rain being radioactive now, farming new food wasn’t as easy as they had to start from scratch and would take time before they are ready, time that they didn’t really have. So they just hoped that they could find food when they sent out search parties.

In the end though, it was Heather Lisinski who mentioned that she and a few others were working on Windmill Generators with Johnston Green before Kaidan became major. But the chief engineer told them that the problem that they were having in making them, was that it was hard to find the parts and because they didn’t have the machining capabilities to make the parts they needed.

When asked what parts they needed, the chief engineer told them that the main parts that they needed were mechanical governors to regulate output. With no power for the computer or no way to get to a decent library, they are starting to research how to make them from scratch. Because of this, they were a long way off in making even one Windmill Generator.

That’s when Emily’s fiance Roger informed them about Black Jack Fairgrounds in Nebraska. Roger informed them that as they made their way to Jericho, they passed the Fairground where it had been turned into a trading post. Here people were trading food, water, information, machine parts and the like.

But Gray and a few others were worried that because of the two hundred miles to get there, it wasn’t worth it on a maybe, as it would take a lot of fuel and gas to get there. Something that could be used on something more important, like powering the hospital. But as Heather pointed out, just one Windmill Generator would save them one month worth of fuel and gas and have enough of them made and they would be off using them for good.

Kaidan could see both sides of this augment, even though he was in two minds. He wanted to save the little gas and fuel that they had to keep the hospital running as there’s still many that were injured and they needed the power to save people. But at the same time though, if they were able to get the parts to make these windmills, they would be set. Then he remembered the Mammothodon, they were breeding mammoths for just this thing, and if they remodelled two of the train carriages, like carts, one for them to use as a living space and the other to put whatever they wanted to sell, even turning into a trading cart. So if they can arrange this, then they could use the mammoths and don’t have to worry about gas or fuel. They could even show off the mammoths and let people know they have something that can be used to get around in the cold. Sure it would take longer to get to the Black Jack Fairgrounds, but they can sell and buy more than they would by using cars.

After hearing this, everyone agreed to this plan, and if they couldn’t use the mammoths, they would use three cars to get there. As the outcome could be worth the risk, being able to get things that they needed.

So for the next few days, they worked on remodelling two of the train carriages so that the mammoths could pull them. Thankfully, with the work that they have done with the Mammothodons, the Elder of the Mammothodons allowed them two of their mammoths.

They worked through Christmas to get things ready, although nobody really celebrated it though, the mood wasn’t there though. Not surprising with the Great War and losing friends and family because of it. Then on Boxing Day, they left to go to Black Jack Fairgrounds.

Before going, they were warned by Roger that they should be careful of raiding parties that they learned about. But once at the fairgrounds, they should be more careful of the guard than the thieves. As the guards got a reputation for being ruthless. As without any cops or National Guard, it’s the only way they can guarantee it’s safe enough to keep commerce going there.

Now apart from Kaidan and Anna May and a few guards, who were coming as back up when they learned of possible trouble, there were six others going. The thirst two were Jake Green and his father Johnston, Jake as when Kaidan asked for volunteers to come with him, everyone looked at Jake as he had done a lot to help the town outside of Kaidan and his people. Johnston wanted to come as whilst he heard what it was like out there, he wanted to see it for his own two eyes. These two people Kaidan didn’t mind, Jake for his powers and Johnston, Kaidan wanted him to see what life was like and make him understand that things had to be different, that they had to be more ruthless if they wanted to survive this new world.

The next three were Heather Lisinski, Dale Turner and his girlfriend Skylar Stevens. At first, Jake didn’t want them to come, as it was too risky and didn’t want to risk their lives, even with Spectres guarding them. But Kaidan said that they could come, with Heather, he hoped that with a pretty lady there, they might get a lower price on things if she could sweet-talk the traders. Not only that, but she knew the parts that they needed, so they could split into two groups to find them.

As for Dale, he had inherited Gracie’s Market from Gracie Leigh after she was murdered and was running it now with Skylar, although it was now on the first floor of their settlement now. He wanted to go to the trading, to restock his store, seeing how he hasn’t got much to sell now and so hoped he could buy something from the Fairgrounds. Although, at first, young Dale wanted to bring a lot of things that Gracie got from trading with the town after the Great War. But the problem was that most of the items he wanted to sell were silver. Skylar just wanted to go with her boyfriend and see what it was like out there and help him if possible.

The problem was that the silver had nickel alloyed all over it and nickel absorbs radioactivity, and such items could make people sick. But when Dale said that none of these things was near radioactivity, it should be fine. Kaidan admitted that whilst that is true, it was better to be safe than sorry, as it has been two months since the Great War and who knows what Black Jack Fairgrounds come across. It is highly possible that they came across such items, and as such, they weren’t willing to buy the items as it could make people ill and so can’t sell them.

This meant that Dale couldn’t buy anything for his store. Because of this, he had to use other items, which wasn’t much, but until he knew what he could or couldn’t sell, it was the best he could do. It helped that Johnston, one of the few people that Dale looked up to, told him that his parent’s and Gracie would be proud of him. Instead of closing down the store, which would be the easy thing to do, he was willing to fight and try and keep his store open.

Last, there was Robert Hawkins, Kaidan learned a few things about the man over the last couple of months. Whilst he was indeed in the army as he said, Hawkins was in fact a deep-cover CIA who joined the army as they needed people to fight China.

But after his time in the army, Hawkins rejoined the CIA doing deep undercover work. His mission, search for information on the Shadow Government known as the Enclave. From what Hawkins told Kaidan, the CIA had rumours about them for a while but did nothing about them. As their main threat was China. However, one day a few years ago, they heard rumours of the Enclave planning to do tests on the public and start a war where they would use nukes. So Hawkins went undercover to find them, by using his cover story that he used for the public: a former Construction Director turned Computer Technician.

The CIA heard that the Enclave was looking for those with such skills, so that should the world end, they would have people who can help rebuild it. So with Hawkins who had such skills to keep his cover going, they used him to find them. The problem was it wasn’t as easy to find them, it took years to find people from the Enclave who would back Hawkins. Seeing how they didn’t trust anybody who wasn’t within the Enclave, even then, trust to get to the top was even harder.

It wasn’t easy, in the end, Hawkins was forced to reveal himself as an undercover CIA agent and play the triple agent. It was hard, even before the Great War, Hawkins wasn’t fully trusted and whilst able to get in with the Enclave, couldn’t get much information. But he did learn that the Enclave had some sort of underground facility in Jericho, and should a nuclear war ever happen, they should go to Jericho. As it would be one of the few small towns that wouldn’t be too affected by the nuclear fallout.

Learning about this and wanting to learn more about the facility and finding out that Jericho was one of the safe zones, on the pretence that he wanted to move his family somewhere safe because of the crime and possible nuclear attacks, Hawkins moved to Jericho.

The problem was that Kaidan didn’t fully trust Hawkins just yet, because he was a member of the CIA. After the collapse of the United Nations, the CIA was given a special status that allowed them to ignore international law - although that didn’t mean that they always did before. Sure the Spectres had any means necessary policy, but they had limits as to what they would do. The problem was that the CIA had no limits, they would kill or/and torture for information that was anyone they thought were spies, sympathizers of the People’s Republic of China or who were one.

Because of this, he had Hawkins partnered with either him or Jake to make sure that he was someone they could trust. This is why Kaidan wanted him here, to go with them to the trading port, for his skills and to see how he would act.

Now, apart from food, clothes and salt, they took some of the homemade melee weapons and crossbows, in the hope to trade with them. Roger did warn them that they aren’t allowed any weapons within the trading post, but Kaidan was hoping that they could sell them.

Here they were now, after days of travelling, fighting off raiders, sleeping close together to keep warm, they finally arrived at Black Jack Fairgrounds. Arriving there with mammoths made quite a statement, seeing how they meant to be extinct. Once stopped moving, Kaidan, Anna May, Jake, Johnston, Heather, Dale and Skylar got out of their carriage, leaving the guards in there for now.

They were approached by six guards who were looking at them in shock, although with Anna May in her human form, they were looking at her with disgust and hatred. Not surprising seeing how many thought that China were the ones behind the start of the Great War. It was only thanks to the Slave Collar that she wore that prevented them from attacking her on the spot.

As they looked around, they saw that the gate had a few signs on it, on the front were plaques saying the following, NO WEAPONS, THIEVES WILL BE STRUGGED UP and finally, BUYER BEWARE. Then on the side of the gate, there were two more plaques, both saying BLACK JACK TRADING COMMUNITY: NO WEAPONS, THIEVES WILL BE STRUNG UP, BUYER BEWARE, GUARDS MUST BE OBEYED AT ALL TIMES, and finally, MANAGEMENT DECISIONS ARE FINAL.

“Wel, Welcome to, to Black, Black Jack Trading Community, how can we help you?” a guard asked them, as he and the other guards held their guns at them.

“We recently came to learn that Black Jack Fairgrounds has become a trading post and as such, we came to trade.” Kaidan informed the guards, not letting them know where they came from. The less they knew about them the better, he would only let them know more should they need to know.

“Where do you come from? Where did you get these creatures?” the same guard said with some more confidence, trying to figure out where they came from and where they got the mammoths

“That doesn’t concern you, I’ll only talk to your management about that information.” Kaidan told the guard, not trusting anyone to look for them and hunt them down. The guard looked like he was going to force the information, but then Kaidan transformed his left arm into a type of Heavy Machine Gun. This made the guards back up as they realized they were dealing with a Technomage, they can be as powerful if not more powerful than L’Cies if they trained properly. Kaidan went on to say, “Now, I’ve forgotten to introduce myself, I’m Spectre Commander Kaidan Alenko.” As he introduced himself, he pulled out an official Spectre Badge that showed he was in fact a Spectre, in fact, the Spectre Commander. As he did so, the Spectres that he brought for backup came out of the carriages with their weapons drawn.

“I, I thought that S, Spectres had code-names.” asked the guard piled as he realized that he just upset a Spectre, a group that they knew were very powerful and people that they shouldn’t cross. Not only did he upset one, but it was none other than the leader of their group, their Commander. If he wanted, the Commander could order the place to be destroyed and it would be down to him.

“Normally you would be right, but with the end of the world I don’t see the point of using them unless the other Spectres want to use them instead of using their real names.” Kaidan explained with a smirk, enjoying the reactions of the guards as they backed off. “Listen, we didn’t come to cause trouble but to trade, but that doesn’t mean that if someone causes trouble, we won’t do something to stop it.” Kaidan informed the guard as he turned his arm back to normal, “So as long as no one bothers us and let us trade and gain information like anyone else, you won’t see any trouble from us.”

All the guards were relieved when Kaidan turned his arm back to normal, as apart from the head guard who was talking to Kaidan, none of them had powers. They were able to handle the low powered L’Cies that came and go here and maybe a few high powered ones, but those like the Spectres, they didn’t think that all of the guards at the Trading Community could handle them. So they wanted to keep the peace with them.

“Th, that’s fine, all I ask is try and not do too much damage if you get into a fight.” said the head guard, not like say much more. They were Spectres, who right now were one of the strongest groups around in this new world, even in the old world too, so getting on the wrong side of them wasn’t good for him or the Trading Community. “Either way though, I’m sorry to say, I would like you to hand over your weapons. As to prevent too much trouble, we don’t allow any weapons beyond this point. Also, those who have L’Cie or Technomagic like yours, have to wear these bands to show that you have powers.” the guard explained to them as he handed them a few red armbands with a black star on them.

“Also, I would like to ask those who are Spectres to wear their Spectre Badges to prevent anyone trying to challenge you to a fight.” explained the guard,” as there are a few L’Cies that are willing to fight other L’Cies as they are bored and have nothing to do. We don’t want our consumers getting hurt as they were foolish enough to unknowingly challenge one of your people.”

“We have no problem with that.” Kaidan told the man as he, Jack and his people put on the armbands.

“Another thing is that, would it be possible if your, umm, slave stays out here please?” asked the guard uneasily, worried how the Spectre Commander would react to this, “Unlike me and my men, there are those who are willing to do something to her because of her race, as they believe that it was her people who destroyed our country. So they might attack her with you being L’Cies/Spectres or not. So to prevent any trouble arising, I would like to ask if she stays out here.”

Kaidan knew that the man didn’t care what happened to Anna May, but he did care about the trading post, so he didn’t want trouble. Something that Kaidan could understand, so he too would do whatever it took to keep the peace. It was a shame that Anna May was the cost of it, as it wasn’t her fault, but people didn’t see this and so would blame her for what China did. But to keep her safe and not start any trouble, she would have to stay with the carriages.

“That’ll be fine.” Kaidan told the guard.

“Thank you for your understanding,” said the guard with a sigh of relief, “lastly, I would like you to hand over your weapons, as other than the guards within, no one is allowed to have weapons on them.”

“Ah, that would be a problem.” admitted Kaidan, “You see, we have a stock of weapons that we want to trade.”

“Trading weapons?” the guard asked in shock, “I’ll have to report to management about this, but I don’t think it’ll be possible.” Here he used his radio to report to his boss, who said he was already on his way and would be there in a few moments, as he heard that there were strange creatures there and he wanted to see what they were. That’s when Kaidan realized that there were more people here than before, all looking in shock and awe at the mammoths.

Just then, a man wearing heavy clothing came out of the gates of the Fairground and walked towards Kaidan and the others. As he got to Kaidan, the man said, “Greetings Commander Kaidan, names Tom Halliday and I’m the one that started this Trading Community.” Tom introduced himself, “Now, as Alex informed me, you wanted to sell some weapons. This is a problem, as we don’t allow weapons with the Trading Community, as having weapons within the place is just asking for trouble.”

“I understand that and that’s why I would like it if we could sell our stuff outside so that they can buy them as they leave.” said Kaidan.

“What’s stopping someone from buying a weapon before entering the place?” asked Halliday.

“Nothing,” admitted Kaidan, “but that’s where your guards come into play, they stop them from doing so like normal. So it would be business as normal. But to sweeten the deal, I’m willing to have one of my men who is able to create buildings, to create a new building for you to store weapons - although, you’ll need to help with some of the materials. That way, it wouldn’t be as easy to retake them without you knowing.”

Tom had to admit that the idea was tempting, as over the months since he started the Trading Community, there have been a few people who stole weapons from the guards when they were busy. So to have a place where only the guards could enter would be a great idea. “The idea is tempting, I’ll admit that,” Halliday acknowledged Kaidan’s idea, “but I was wondering, what weapons are you planning to sell.”

“I’m planning to sell post-apocalyptic style melee weapons, bows and crossbows.” explained Kaidan, “They aren’t fancy sadly, but right now my people have got much to work with.” With that, he signalled one of the Spectres behind him to get some weapons, which they brought out a baseball bat with nails through it, a baseball bat with an ice blade attached to it and a shovel with a rounded end that had its digger part sharpened. Then there were the bows and crossbows, just like the melee weapons, they were crudely made, but workable.

“Why would you want to sell such weapons?” Halliday asked with interest, wondering what the Spectre Commander had in mind for selling these weapons, “Wouldn’t guns be much better?”

“You would think so, wouldn’t you, but let me ask you something, how long do you think ammo will last for them?” Kaidan asked the man, “But in this new post-apocalyptic world, you’ll soon find ammo in short supply and hard to find, and even if people do find a way to make ammo, finding the right ingredients to do so will be another thing altogether as they can be hard to find. In a post-apocalyptic world, melee weapons and bows and crossbows will be much easier to use, melee weapons as long as you take care of them can last for a long time. As for bows and crossbows, as long as you don’t break the arrows or bolts, you can easily recover them from your targets. Even if you break them, making new ones would be much easier than making new ammo for guns.”

Tom had to admit that he hadn’t thought about ammo running out until now, like many people, he thought that over time things would go back to normal and they wouldn’t have to worry about things. He knew it was a foolish thing to do, but like thousands upon thousands of people out there, he didn’t want to face reality just yet. Want to live in hope that things will be better. But these people seemed to face the truth of this new world and were preparing for what is to come, something many wasn’t ready to do just yet.

So after some moments of deep thought, Tom realized it was best to stay on the good side of the Spectre Commander and his people. As they seemed better prepared than anyone else, so whilst the rest of the world had guns and such, like the commander said, ammo would soon run out and would be hard to find more. But these people would have weapons ready for when it happens and who knows what else, so it would be nice to be on friendly terms with them. So with a thoughtful look, he said, “Alright, whilst I might not like the idea, I can see the need for new weapons for the future. As the saying goes: It’s better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them. So as long as you agree to sell them only outside the trading post, there shouldn’t be any problems. As the rules say that you can’t have them within, nothing about outside the place.”

“Thank you,” Kaidan thanked the man, “if there’s nothing else, I would like to get on with our trading.”

“Well, there’s one thing I would like to ask you about,” Halliday informed the commander, “I would like to ask where did you get those creatures from?” They looked like mammoths, but they couldn’t be, as they went extinct millions and millions of years ago, so they couldn’t be here now.

“Oh you mean these mammoths, I’m willing to inform you about them after we’ve done our trading.” Kaidan said with a hidden smirk, “In fact, I’m willing to even trade you some if you’re interested.”

“You mean that you have more of these creatures?” Halliday asked in shock, he couldn’t believe that these creatures were indeed mammoths and they were in fact real.

“Well, I don’t breed them, but I know those who do and they want me to deal with people so that no one knows about them.” explained Kaidan, “I think you can understand, people would hunt them down in the hopes to reincarnate other creatures like them. Which sadly they can’t, so which is why they don’t want anyone to learn who they are.”

Tom could understand not wanting people to know if he could recreate such creatures, as people might think you could do so with other creatures. Some might be able to and some might not, if this commander was right, the people that he was helping could only breed these creatures and nothing else for whatever reason. But people might not believe this and try to force them to do so, so it would be best to keep who bred the mammoths a secret.

“I fully understand and I would love to talk to you about buying some from you.” admitted Halliday, “In fact, how about I show you around the place and once you finish with what you want here, I’ll take you to my office and we can talk more about it there?”

“That’s fine,” Kaidan told him, “let me deal with my people and tell them what has to be done and we can leave.”

“That’s fine, I’ll wait for you at the gate.” Halliday informed him.

And with that Kaidan ordered his men where to place the carriages. Once they were where Kaidan wanted them, one of his men drove a small dune buggy out of the carriage that was going to hold their new stock should they get any. The buggy was pulling a small cart. The plan was to fill the cart up and get another one as people empty the first one and so on, this was to make sure that they don’t have to go back and forth and not have a lot in their hands. Right now, the carts had few things for them to trade, but they were hoping to get rid of that soon enough.

Once that was done, it was time to figure out what each person was going to do.

“Okay, Johnston, I want you and Skylar to stay here to sell our items, trade them for the things we need the most, fuel and the like.” Kaidan told the two, “I’ll be leaving Anna May and the guards with you.”

“Can I come with you?” asked Skylar, wanting to see what the place was like with her boyfriend.

“Not right now, no, as I don’t know what it is like in there, if it’s safe or not.” explained Kaidan, “I’m hesitant in sending Heather in there.”

“What do you mean?” asked Johnston.

“If it’s not safe for Skylar, why are you sending Heather in there?” Jake asked, worried about his girlfriend.

“Let’s start off with Johnston’s question.” answered Kaidan. What he was about to say was something he knew most of these people didn’t want to hear, as although they knew the world had ended, they still had hope in their hearts, they haven’t seen the true meaning of what it meant yet, once they go into the trading post, Kaidan had the feeling that they truly would see it. “What I mean is that the world has ended.”

“We know that.” said Skylar.

“But you don’t, not really. You only know that the world as you know it is no more, but you don’t know the full meaning of it. I see it in everyone’s eyes, you still have hope that one-day things will return to normal.” Kaidan said sadly, “I’m sorry to say that you should give up hope, as the world you want is no more and won’t be fixed. There’s more to the world ending than losing lives and destroyed buildings, and that’s our humanity.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Dale.

“For many, they lose it.” explained Kaidan, “Without law and order, a lot of people will go back to their basic needs and do things that they wouldn’t normally do. All we know, we’ll be heading into a place where things are violent, that they might be selling slaves, women trading sex for items that they might have and might trade things that they normally wouldn’t.”

Kaidan could see the hope going from everyone apart from Jake, who knew this would happen and was one of the few people who didn’t have it. He had seen the world and what it really had, so he knew what to expect.

“If you’re suspecting it to be so bad in there, why are you sending Heather in there?” asked Johnston, “I could go in instead.”

“Apart from me and Heather, do you or any of you know what a mechanical governor looks like and know if it’s in a working order or not?” asked Kaidan as the rest of them shook their heads, knowing that they couldn’t, “This is why I brought her along in the first place so that we can split into two groups to find the parts we need faster. Her group is Jake and Robert, so she won’t have that much of a problem.”

Johnston had to admit that the commander was right, his son alone should be able to deal with any problems that they might face. And Robert’s, he used to be in the army before losing his leg, so he knew how to protect people too. So with both of them, young Heather should be fine.

“In fact, as long as none of us does anything foolish, none of us should be in trouble. We just have to remember, civilization is no more and so we can’t act like it is.” Kaidan warned them, “Meaning, no sticking your necks out if you see something you don’t agree with, that’ll not only get us in trouble but more than likely get us banned from here. Remember, this is the only known trading post around and who knows how long it’ll last with things getting as bad as they are, we need this place as long as possible.”

Everyone knew that Kaidan was right, they needed this place as long as it was up, so they couldn’t act rashly. They couldn’t act if they saw something they didn’t agree with, as they could be banned from ever coming back and thus unable to find the stuff they might need.

“Either way, with Heather being with Robert and Jake, and Skylar being with you Johnston, Dale will be with me whilst we make our first look round the place.” Kaidan told them what would happen, “I’ll have a few Spectres in there too, but they are mainly to help us to get things back here and searching for information that we can’t find out ourselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if people keep certain information to themselves, only giving it to certain people.”