Chapter 15

Bryan sat down after getting the fire lit. He stared into the flickering flames, mesmerized by the glow and almost organic quality it displayed. The room was not lit and the flickering flames slashing orange light around them gave the stone benches around the fireplace a wild, almost primal feel to the room. He scooted closer to Silver, who was also mesmerized by the flames.

She was chewing on her lip, a sign of worry and concern. Her left hand was draped across her lap and he grasped it gently, squeezing to remind her that he was there. Maggie sat across and to the right of him, her own worry emphasized by the jagged shadows that the fire painted on her face.

She sat simply, her legs crossed, her arms at her side.

"What's going to happen?" she asked simply. "What's going on?" Her tone of voice wavered slightly. Bryan noted, somewhat surprised that he had not noticed it before, that she was holding her cell phone in her left hand. It suddenly occurred to him that she had been talking to her friends. It also occurred to him that some of them might not be as comfortable and safe as she was.

"I explained this the other night," he said. "Things are very weird right now. People are tense. Some people are hungry."

Maggie's eyes darkened. "Some of my friends are hungry," she said sadly. "I have to pretend to be too..."

Bryan recalled a line from a book he had read as a teenager. The book had been called "Lucifer's Hammer" and was a story about civilization after the fall of a comet to Earth created a natural disaster of immense proportions. The line which came to mind said that civilization was "only three meals removed from savagery." Bryan was acutely aware that the second day was closing and the third day, and likely the third meal missed, was soon coming to pass.

He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temple absent-mindedly. "I think," he said quietly. "That this bank holiday will be over soon, and besides, people will be trading unofficially for food soon if they aren't already."

He stopped, wondering whether someone would come to him and ask to trade. He knew that camouflage aside, some people knew of their presence. Some of their friends even knew that they raised a little livestock.

"As I have said before," he continued, looking at her downcast face. "That our long-term survival depends on our silence, and our ability to hide." He took a deep breath, not wanting to say what he intended to next, but felt that anything but the truth would just be a waste of words. They deserved to know the truth

"I do not know what is really going on with the government or the banks, but the whole thing seems kind of fishy to me." He began, knowing that he was going to get wound up and truly needed to keep the tone of the conversation as factual and lacking opinion as possible. "Any government knows, especially men high enough to get to the office of President, that stopping the money supply is detrimental." Both Silver and Maggie looked up, their brows knit with concern, knowing by his tone of voice that what he was saying was going to be profound and probably shocking.

"Government is funded by the economy. It is the blood of the nation. Without money flowing, it's like the heart stops. The blood doesn't flow, and Government loses its legitimacy almost immediately. A good analogy is that this bank holiday is a heart attack for government. If they don't start the heart soon, the people will rebel and replace the government."

Silver cleared her throat to say something but Bryan shot her a look that silenced her. "I'll get to that in a minute, please let me finish my thought..." he said. "So here we are, in a government mandated crisis. The only way to hold down a rebellion, caused by the stupid actions of the government, is to oppress the people."

Eyebrows shot up, neither woman knowing quite what to think at that moment. It all seemed so surreal.

"I think," he said, speaking carefully to inject as little of his opinion into what he felt was an accurate assessment of the overall situation. " ... that we may be looking at a regime change ... A coup d'état ... Our government may have fallen into some kind of dictatorship or something equally oppressive. And with that will come war."

They all sat silently for a few minutes, soaking in the words that he had dared say aloud.

"War?" Silver said finally, breaking the silence.

"First one on the American continent in almost a century and a half," he replied. "I think it's already starting, but the news isn't covering it for whatever reason."

"Now," he continued. "Here is what we are going to do." He looked between the two of them sharply, making sure that they understood the seriousness of the next few sentences. "We are going to stay here, keep our heads down, and try not to get involved. War kills people ... innocent people, women, children, grandparents, everyone..."

He settled back in his seat a bit, grasped Silver's hand and squeezed it tightly. He could feel how clammy it was, the cold sweat of nervousness...

"I believe we are safe here," he continued. "This area is sparsely populated, and a lot of the worst of the problems will probably happen in the cities or when the city people can't feed or protect themselves and become refugees. Our best defense locally is that we can't be found. Hiding can and will keep us safe if these suspicions of mine are correct."

He stopped and looked at both of the women, who as of yet had said nothing and appeared to be in shock. "I pray that I am wrong and that this was just a stupid oversight on the part of a moronic government that didn't anticipate this and this will all be over soon. Things could return to normal and I would be quite satisfied."

The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound from the flickering fire. He looked at Silver, whose eyes seemed glassy, staring into the flaming coals. "Did I answer what you wanted to ask?" he inquired softly. She nodded without speaking, never taking her eyes away from the glow.

Maggie looked as if she were about to cry and Bryan stood slid off his seat, crouching in front of her. He wrapped his arms around the girl as she let out a quiet sob.

"It will all be ok Mags," he said reassuringly. "We will all get through this. Times will be tough but we will persevere."

She nodded and continued to shake a bit; holding her sobs within and she hugged him tightly. "I know," she cried. "It's all just so scary!"

He hugged her tighter and she sobbed for a bit, re-gathering her composure and controlling her breathing. She wiped at her eyes and gave him a shy half-hearted smile. "I think I'm gonna go read and then go to bed," she said quietly. He nodded and kissed her on the cheek.

"It really will be ok," he said, his voice calm and level, trying his level best to believe what he was saying completely. "We will make it. Nobody gets us down for long."

She nodded, sniffing a bit as she did, then with a peck on the cheek for Bryan she turned and walked sullenly toward the kid's rooms. As she disappeared down the hallway, Bryan turned back toward Silver who had been nearly silent since she had gotten home.

He held out his hand to her and she took it without looking up at him. Using his arm as leverage she pulled herself up and turned away from him, walking toward the master suite.

He began to follow and she wheeled around toward him, her face alight with anger and resentment. "Can I just get a moment of time to myself please?! Is that too much to ask?!"

He stopped a puzzled look on his face. She continued to scowl at him angrily as if daring him to speak. "What?" she asked defiantly. He felt his face flush and the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He clenched his teeth and made fists out of his hands, held down at his sides. Slowly, with real deliberate effort, he choked the anger back down for her unprovoked attack. He blinked, noting that the reaction had caused him to sweat so much that it stung his eyes. With Deliberation he took a deep breath and forced himself to take a step back. He sighed and shook his head, turned and walked the other way.

"Oh so walk away!" she yelled after him. He shook his head in disbelief and walked through the kitchen. Even though it was cold outside, he stepped outside in the entryway and slipped his boots on without bothering to put on a jacket. As an afterthought he grabbed the pistol and holster out of Silver's purse which was sitting on the bench nearby.

He stepped out into the night air, feeling the cold burn his lungs. He looked up at the big dial thermometer on the side of the house, which read thirty four. He shrugged, thinking the cold air might actually make him calm down. Bryan clenched his teeth together and walked across the yard toward the shed.

There was a huge pile of canned goods and dry food that needed to be tended to while both of them cooled down. He loaded the truck up again, this time filling it extra full. He drove it down to the house and backed up to the door.

Silver was in the kitchen pouring herself a drink. She said nothing when Bryan entered and turned and walked out with a huff when she finished pouring the alcohol in the glass, her satin robe swishing as she hastily and forcefully stomped out the door.

Bryan stopped and looked at the counter where she had been standing. She had left both the soda and the alcohol sitting on the counter with the lids off. That either meant that she was still mad at him for walking out of the room, or she was hysterical about the situation at hand, probably both. With a sigh he placed the lids back on the bottles and put them back in the refrigerator.

Working with efficiency driven out of frustration he emptied the load of supplies into the storage area, then locked everything up and went back to complete a second load.

The second load went a bit faster since the last of the food was in fairly large packages. He stacked them into the holding area next to the main storage and walked out, closing doors behind him.

He drove the truck up the hill and parked it in the shed again. He noted that there were a few odds and ends that would still need to be put away, but he was not in the mood to deal with them before the next day.

He locked the shed door behind him and walked slowly down toward the house, dreading going in. Suddenly there was a loud barking over the hill to the north of him. The sound was easy to identify: it was Bryce the pit-bull that Bryan used as a guard dog around the farm.