Free Camp Zero (Book 2): State of Shock by Jack Hunt Page B

in?”
    “We did. There are problems everywhere. If it’s not the Commander and his men we are running into it’s—”
    My brow knit together. “Commander?”
    He nodded. “The one in control of Hayden.”
    “What happened?”
    He breathed in deeply. “Well. After the blackout occurred, the community worked together to try and make sure everyone was taken care of.” He snorted. “Actually it was pretty impressive. I mean the town was always a close-knit group but I’d never seen anything like it. To think that it took a disaster for all of us to get to know each other, seems like a joke, right?”
    I took a sip of the soup. Oh my god, it felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Potato had never tasted so good. It wasn’t creamy like the kind found in cans. Obviously it was homemade. They had added something to it, to give it some flavor. Maybe herbs or salt?
    “Anyway, the town wasn’t that big to begin with. After a month, some left hoping to see what was happening in other towns. They never returned. When the Commander and his group breezed into town, we thought we were saved.” He shook his head and looked down. Every few seconds I would see the tobacco in his pipe go a deep orange. “When he… um… arrived, we were told that they were the clean-up crew. Government had sent out teams of people, the Army National Guard, and those who had survived. They ordered everyone to hand over their weapons.”
    “What was their reason?”
    “They didn’t need one. When we demanded to know they said it was a mandate given by the United States government. Just temporary they said, until they were certain that no one was a threat. Some agreed. Others didn’t. Those who didn’t were arrested and taken away. No one was ever shot in front of us as I think they want to avoid a revolt. But we know people died.”
    “And your family?
    “They killed my son.”
    His chin dropped.
    “I’m sorry.”
    There was silence for a minute, maybe two as he tried to collect and reel in his emotion. How many others had been affected this way? How many others had died trying to hold on to their rights?
    He continued. “We were arrested and brought into a house. At first they were using homes to hold people who were dissident.”
    “Keith mentioned that.”
    “Keith Landers?”
    “Yeah.”
    “He got out?”
    I nodded. “We met him along the way. He was the one that told us about the town and well, our friends are there. Ally’s father and Kiera’s mother.”
    He blew smoke out the corner of his mouth and squinted. “And you thought you were just going to breeze in there and get them?”
    I coughed and looked over at Luke who was still out.
    “No. One of us had a different idea. One thing led to another and…” I trailed off. “Anyway, I appreciate what you did for us out there. We would have died had you not shown up.”
    Hank acknowledged what I said but he didn’t seem to gloat or revel in it. I had the sense that he wished that none of this had happened. What they were doing was being done out of necessity not because any of them had a hero complex.
    “How did you all manage to escape?”
    “In the beginning they were unorganized and spent more time dealing with people like myself who refused to hand over weapons and those who wanted to know where they were taking some of the women.”
    “The women?”
    “They would take a few of them in under the pretense that they wanted answers to questions. They didn’t want answers. They wanted women for their men.”
    I frowned thinking back to what the skinheads had done. Even though some might not have wanted to believe it, it was reality. Without the law, some men, depraved ones, would do whatever the hell they wanted with whoever they hell they wanted.
    “Those that did return were told not to say anything otherwise they would make it worse the second time around.”
    “Then how did you find out?”
    “A friend of ours. His wife shared what had happened. Then when